THE ENEMY WITHIN

THE ENEMY WITHIN Chapter 11

11.

Doctor Garner sat beneath the swordfish looking at his two guests. "I'm not sure anything I tell you will have any value. My analysis on this case appears completely off."

Kitamura stood by the window while Colonel Jasper sat across from the Hanover overseer. Outside, teenagers played and chatted across the lawn. The scene looked as if it could have been a snap shot from his high school campus. From what they knew about their subject, it was also probably a step up for Max compared to his previous abode.

Colonel Jasper sipped his coffee then placed it back on the cork coaster with Carl Jung's picture on it. Kitamura wondered if Doctor Garner had a collection with all the great psychiatrists of the world. Who would think to make such a thing? He really needed to sleep.

"Max may be a danger to himself or others. Anything that gives us a clue as to his whereabouts might save lives," Jasper said.

Doctor Garner looked over the NSA order requiring him to provide all necessary documents and information to Colonel Jasper. He appeared reticent to say anything more.

"This isn't a witch hunt, and I assure you, your reputation will not be impaired in any way. I'm just looking for background. Anything you can tell me that would give a sense of who Max really is?" Jasper asked, dabbing his mustache with a napkin.

Garner nodded, his eyes drifted over to Kitamura. "I never saw any signs of rage in him. He has a kind soul. He didn't befriend any other residents, but he was cordial with them." He sat back, seemingly torn whether to reveal something more.

"Doctor Garner, anything you say here will stay with me."

"You might well think I'm insane after this," Garner said, pulling out his iPad.

"There's little you can say that will shock me," Jasper said.

"I'm not convinced ... I'm not quite certain Max is human." Doctor Garner said with a heavy sigh.

"Neither am I," Jasper responded simply. "What else?"

"While Max's intentions may be benevolent, he's had visions of an apocalypse. And I believe he's been in contact with three others ... let me show you," Doctor Garner said.

No one said a word while Doctor Garner played the video showing Max standing before the window in conversation with someone who wasn't there. Jasper took the device and watched it once more. "Anything you can tell me about this conversation?" Jasper asked.

"He said he spoke to a girl named Jamie. If it's the same one who helped get Max out, she has two male companions, all roughly the same age as Max." Doctor Garner skimmed through his notes, "Noah and Vincent. From Max's descriptions, each of them seemed –"

Kitamura leaned in, eager to hear what had made such an impact on the doctor.

"They seemed godlike," Doctor Garner said.

"Indeed. Well, thank you, Doctor. What you've told me will be kept in the strictest confidence," Jasper said, rising and heading for the door.

After they left, Jasper remained silent. Kitamura knew better than to interrupt his train of thought. Forty minutes later, the Intel team had located records of three foster care teens in the region that had run away in the last year. Noah Wyatt, Jamie Torrino and Vincent Barnes. Within a short time they had grainy school pictures of each. Kitamura conveyed the follow-up information that their mothers had died giving birth, all on the same day as Max's mother.

Jasper nodded as if the pieces were beginning to make sense. "The mothers may have been carrier vessels. Only question is what, precisely, were they carrying?"