Veil by Aaron Overfield

deep
breath.
    That was that; the time had come. A civilian
scientist had to be eliminated. The scientist’s wife had to suffer
the same fate, and their home needed to be ransacked for any traces
of the man’s research. Every detail required for the job was
included in the pouch under his hands. The General took another
deep breath.
     
    Jin Tsay had to die. There was no way around
it. It was unfortunate, he didn’t deserve it, and it sucked.
However, Jin Tsay had to fucking die.
     
    Now he hoped Schaffer’s candidate didn’t have
to fucking die as well.
     

     
    Schaffer already knew what man he wanted. He
heard about him on NPR. A few times. NPR had an annoying habit of
playing the same show over and over and over. It always irritated
Schaffer, but suddenly … well, suddenly he found himself thankful
for it.
    He didn’t want to wait for the vetting
process but recognized there was no way around it. He submitted the
scientist’s name and employer and listed him as a civilian
candidate to be vetted for consulting on a Top Secret level
project. Immediately . He left all the other information
blank, as he didn’t think there would be another Dr. Hunter
Kennerly at Caltech.
    He wished the military would change the names
of their classification levels. As cool as marking something “Top
Secret” might sound, in reality it made him feel like he was part
of a friggen comic book. He imagined Pollock loved to mark things
“Top Secret.” He imagined every time Pollock did so he probably
took a picture of it with his cellphone and sent it to all the
women he was trying to frak.
    Schaffer sent his request, verified his
office door was locked and picked up his phone. After he navigated
through an annoying automated menu, he finally reached a real, live
human.
    “Biology Division.”
    “I’m trying to reach Dr. Hunter
Kennerly.”
    “Dr. Kennerly is unavailable, would you like
his voicemail?”
    “No, I’d like a live message delivered to him
as soon as possible.”
    That caught the operator off guard. “Ummm,
just a second.” After a brief pause, “Ok, go ahead with your
message.”
    “My name is Dr. Carl Schaffer with the
Department of Defense, and I’d like a return call from Dr. Kennerly
as soon as possible.”
    The operator suddenly sounded less annoyed
and seemed more receptive. He took Schaffer’s information and
stated he’d deliver the message to Dr. Kennerly personally.
Schaffer thanked him and hung up.
     
    Dr. Hunter Kennerly held doctorates in
Neurobiology and Electrical Engineering. He was responsible for
many breakthroughs in brain-computer interfacing. Kennerly’s
research and inventions led to the production of some of the most
cutting-edge brain-computer interface devices, from
neuroprosthetics to video games. The man understood
neuroelectricity and how to manipulate it or have it manipulate
something else. Schaffer believed if anyone could give them what
they needed, it was Kennerly. If anyone could take the mechanics of
Dr. Tsay’s machine, extract the principles, and use the same theory
to design a smaller, more effective device that was capable of
remotely deploying Veil, it would be Kennerly. It had to be
Kennerly.
     

     
    Pollock wasn’t sure exactly how stupid
Schaffer thought he was but figured Schaffer must’ve thought he was
pretty damn stupid. With nothing to do except work on the Veil
project, didn’t Schaffer think he’d notice how he kept trying to
cut him out of everything? Didn’t Schaffer think he’d notice him
running off to meet with the General without including him, only to
rush back and lock himself in his office once again? It was no
secret that Schaffer wasn’t fond of him, and the feeling was
mutual. Personal feelings aside, there could still be room for
professional courtesy.
    Or at least there should be, Pollock figured.
He found Schaffer to be an insufferable, arrogant blowhard.
Apparently, Schaffer didn’t consider how the two of them had