The Salem Project

By Geral Martel

A school for wizards is the latest suspect for being a front for terrorism. The only problem is that the people sent to infiltrate and investigate the group are always shunned by the group. They cannot find evidence and they cannot embed personnel - how are they going to combat this threat? That is, if it really is a terrorist cell and not simply a school training magicians.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Martian Publishing
• Release date: Dec 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005286507

Book preview

THE SALEM PROJECT

By Geral Martel

MARTIAN PUBLISHING

Copyright © 2022 by Martian Publishing Company

Smashwords Edition

All rights reserved.

No portion of this volume may

be reproduced in any format

without the express written

permission of the copyright holder.

This is a work of fiction.

Any resemblance to persons or

organizations, living or extinct,

is entirely coincidental.

CHAPTER ONE

625… 631… 637… Brad read off the numbers to himself as he walked down the row of lockers.

Which one you looking for? The fellow standing at an open locker down a bit, putting his gear away, interrupted his search.

Six-fifty-one.

He waved a hand. You're right next to me then.

Brad stepped forward and set his duffel on the bench. Thanks. I'm the new kid.

Hey, aren't we all? He put out a hand. Dirk Weathers. Brought over from NCIS.

Brad shook the hand. Brad Northrup, ATF. He looked around at the mostly empty room. Is all this for newbies?

Dirk shrugged. You know Homeland Security. They assemble their teams from any or all of the forces in the country. Must be something big with this new team they're starting up.

Yeah, I guess. He opened his locker, unzipped the duffel, and began moving the articles from the one to the other. Don't know much about it yet. Something about a homeland terrorist organization?

Dirk shrugged again. Haven't heard much myself, but that would figure, wouldn't it? He finished stowing his gear and sat on the bench, looking around. I know several of the guys here and from their specialties I can't figure what we're up against.

I guess they'll tell us sooner or later. He fished around in the duffel to make certain it was empty. I heard it was a week's training here before the op starts.

Yeah, I suppose. I generally do crime scene investigations, information research and the like. What's yours?

Brad thought a moment. Infiltration. Getting to know how a group operates.

Now that's interesting.

When I first got the assignment I thought it's gotta be about terrorists but I don't look like I could infiltrate Al Qaeda or speak Farsi or anything. He zipped up the duffel and turned toward the locker. But hearing that it's some sort of domestic terrorist group, I might be of some use. He rolled up the duffel and stowed it in the locker before closing the door.

I can understand illegals and foreigns hating us but our own kind?

Brad stood back as the other stood. I think that's the lowest form of vermin there is: people who get where they are by using this system and then try to destroy it.

Yeah, Dirk nodded. Bite the hand that feeds them.

They went out of the locker room then down the hall to the conference room. After entering the room they took a couple of empty seats.

Whoa! Dirk leaned forward and lowered his voice. Would you look at that? He nodded toward the doorway. Two attractive young women had entered and were looking for a seat. Twins, and lookers too. I wouldn't mind being on a stake-out with them.

Brad nodded and looked to the front of the room to see if there was anyone he knew. Apparently none of the brass from ATF were in attendance. He was feeling like a fish out of water.

They don't have much up top, Dirk went on, still staring at the twins, but they do have a matching set of trunks. Man-o-man!

Brad began to wonder if Dirk had ever been hit with sexual harassment charges. Still looking around, he noticed most of the people filing into the room appeared to be female. What sort of assignment was this?

A balding gentleman stepped up to the podium. Gray slacks, white shirt with the top button loosened and his tie loosened as well, informed the group this was to be a rather casual assembly. Nodding to a couple of agents near the front, papers were passed along through the group, row to row and across those gathered.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered here today to launch an assault on what appears to be a domestic-based terrorist training facility. In the handouts you will find all the current intel on the organization. Previous operatives have been sent into the group but have all somehow been discovered. Apparently, they have some very well-trained psychic operatives – believe that or not as you will – who can detect such infiltration. So, we are trying a different tack in the present mission. We will be sending in several teams over a period of time, each through different means and with variant backgrounds. We don't want a repeat of the prior attempts. Too much time has already been lost.

"Most of the group we have assembled here has been chosen for their empathic rating. The remainder are specialists in detecting minute nuances in the data compilation. We do not have adequate resources to tell us exactly what this group is up to but we are certain they are enlisting American citizens – entire families in some cases – and training them in weapons and martial arts.

"What their plans are, we will not know until someone can get in deep cover in the group. Tracking their funding has also been problematic, but several off-shore accounts have been identified with one of the sources lying in the Middle East.

As your duties will differ from person to person, we are using several different infiltration methods in varying capacities. As I call your name, you will receive your assignment. He consulted a list on the podium. Benjamin Adler…

The names were called by group assignment. And the roll call took a half hour. A timetable for individual assignment briefings was posted outside the conference room. Brad looked it over and saw he had about forty-five minutes to kill.

Empathy? That's all it took to get a field assignment here? Dirk shook his head. And I get stuck at control central. Damn! I'm all about the empathy.

Really?

Hell, yeah! But they got down in their files that as a kid I'd pull the legs off of grasshoppers and wings off flies.

Brad stepped back. That sounds more like sadism.

Naw. Sadists do that because they get pleasure out of it. I was four years old, fer crissakes! It was just simple curiosity. Since then, I'm all about the empathy. Just ask my exes.

Brad shrugged but seriously doubted the man's sanity. He was glad he would not be doing any deep cover work with this man.

And you get to go in with the twins. He shook his head. Some guys have all the luck.

Luck, Brad thought, would be sent to party with them. Being assigned the same work detail would preclude anything more. Ever. He had been through that once before. Working in close quarters may bring people closer for a time but it does nothing for enduring romance.

~~~~

CHAPTER TWO

The older agent sat at the small round table and looked around at the small group. Ben Gruber. And you, he looked at Brad, must be Brad Northrup, and these two would be Jessica and Danielle Huntingdon. He glanced back down at the folder. Yes, good. Twins. He chuckled. Wanted to make sure I wasn't seeing double. Now, which of you is which?

The one with the longer hair, obviously dyed jet black, spoke, I'm Jessica. She's Danielle. She hooked a thumb toward her sister. She's the older one, by a minute and a half.

Very good. At least your appearances are dissimilar enough that there should not be too much confusion. He turned back to the file. First off, you were chosen for this assignment and matched as a team by dint of your psych profile. That means, he looked at each of them in turn, that you are supposed to be able to work together as a team. If anyone knows any reason why that may not be possible, please tell me now. He paused a moment.

Brad felt like that moment in a wedding when the preacher asks if any person who is present who objects. He felt no compulsion to speak up but waited to see if one of the girls objected. Neither did.

Good. In that case, we'll carry on. He flipped another page. You've already gotten the basic rundown on the assignment but you'd probably like a few details. Has any of you ever heard of the 'Dinsmore School of Practical Magic'? Either in the news or in a news story? He paused for any response. When none was forthcoming, he continued, Not too surprising as this group keeps a very low profile.

Brad interrupted. A school for magic? This can't be for real, can it?

I'm afraid it is. I mean to say, I cannot vouch for their ability to train anyone in magic but that is the front operation they are running. And they don't advertise heavily, either. A few small ads in 'New Age' magazines and hints dropped at various websites have people flocking to be fleeced. He grinned at his witticism. And this is all to cover what they are really doing – at least what we think they're doing – training terrorists.

Danielle leaned forward. If, as you say, we haven't gotten any decent intel, how do we know this is a cover for a terrorist training camp?

Good question, Miss Huntingdon. Sources I am not able to reveal – because they have not been revealed to me – reported strange activities in some financial transactions appearing in the weapons black market. The source of the transactions appear to be none other than the Dinsmore School of Magic.

He checked the dossier again. There is evidence of them sending people to the Mideast for training. We assume they must be hiding a stash of weapons somewhere. And, he looked over the top of his glasses, some bright boy in the department even thinks they might be trying to locate real psychics to 'weaponize' them – whatever that means – to work as subversives. Perhaps mind-control… that sort of thing.

She followed up, Any physical evidence of weapons shipments?

Agent Gruber looked through a few pages. Not that I recall and I see nothing in the file. And that brings us to the nature of this assignment: to uncover confirming evidence of the terrorist link.

And all we do is enroll in the school to learn magic? Brad could barely keep the grin off his face.

In a nutshell, yes. He paused when Jessica released an