Darren Wearmouth - First Activation

“I met Martina two years ago. She lives with Ron because her mother died of some kind of cancer. She doesn’t know who her dad was.”

“This sounds just like a Jackie Collins novel,” Jerry spitefully chuckled.

“Jerry, this is your last chance. Any more from you and you’re spending the rest of the journey in the trunk, got it?” I said.

“Okay, I love listening to liars anyway.”

I pushed the muzzle of my rifle into Jerry’s side and he winced but remained silent.

“After we’d been together a few months, Martina scored me a job working for Genesis Alliance.”

“Doing what?” I asked.

“He needed an Administrator and Logistics Coordinator. It was easy work and paid well. Ron was a bit odd though.”

“Anyone who turns people into murdering, suicidal maniacs, is more than a bit odd,” Jack replied. “What did the job involve?”

“Ron owns a small warehouse on the edge of Monroe; he would tell me when and where the containers within it needed to be shipped. My job was to arrange a courier to ship specific units to worldwide locations, I could do it all from home.”

“So you distributed the devices around the world?” I asked.

“I didn’t know I was doing that. The description on the packing slip was always ‘Scientific Testing Equipment’, I’ve no interest in science. It was just a job. Would you question it?”

“No,” I admitted.

“There was nothing suspicious about that part. I visited the warehouse once, it had a security guard and the inside was nothing special, just lots of large boxes stacked in columns. I’m trying to think of a place where we didn’t send one of those things.”

“Fair enough, was that all you did?”

“I had to do some other general admin work. One of the tasks was looking after the company’s online banking. At first, I couldn’t believe how much money went through the account. I asked Ron about it and he told me it was normal for an import/export business to have that kind of turnover. I don’t really know much about business, so I just went with it.”

“What about Ron? What’s he like?” Jack asked.

“He’s a bit of a creepy bastard. But he kept giving me pay raises and I took lots of vacations. I didn’t want to cause trouble, as I was onto a good thing. Martina really loves him.”

“Creepy?”

“Yeah, I went away with him to one of his meetings in Florida. I didn’t attend the meeting, but he tried to book us into a double room and said it was the only one available. When I checked with reception, they had a few spare, so I took one of those. He was wasted in the hotel bar that night and tried to persuade me to go up to his room, and offered me fifty bucks to give him a back massage.”

Jerry laughed, I looked across at him.

“I didn’t say a word,” he smirked.

“Carry on, Lea, how did you meet Jerry?” Jack said.

“It’s pretty much like he said. Ron took me to a few meetings; one was at Jerry’s barn. Martina came down with me and we had a weekend in Manhattan afterwards.”

“Why did he take you to meetings?” I replied.

“I took bank details from people after the meetings and set-up payments to them through the company account. Jerry’s account received thousands of dollars from Genesis Alliance. He was one of the people I met who stuck in my mind.”

“I can understand that,” Jack nodded.

“So how many were on the payroll?” I asked.

“I can’t remember, maybe a few hundred. I tried to keep clear of Ron after what happened in Florida, that’s why I tried to get Martina along. It was difficult; she covered Latin America, so she was often on trips abroad. It started to put a strain on our relationship.”

“Do you think she knew more about this? Did you tell her about Ron?”

“We didn’t really talk about work; I found it all pretty boring. She might know more, as Ron and her are close. I was scared that if I told Martina about him, she’d dump me. She worships Ron and if I made it a choice between him or me…”

“Was there anything else? Thinking back can you think of anything suspicious?” Jack replied.

“No, that’s just about it. If you were in my shoes, would you have guessed what was going to happen?”

“I’ve no idea, probably not. So how did you end up on a flight to New York? I’m surprised Martina would let you go if she had any feelings for you.”

“I had a massive argument with her on Thursday night. Ron had planned a company party somewhere out of town, I refused to go and she went crazy. I was in a bit of a state and booked a New York flight to go and see a friend for the weekend. I needed a shoulder to cry on. Martina called me on Friday morning and was really pissed. I was already at the airport by then.”

“What did she say?” I asked.

“She wanted me to go straight to Ron’s house. She said I was letting down the company at an important time and they needed me back in Monroe. I hung up and switched off my mobile.”

“It sounds to me like she knew what was going to happen.”

“I don’t want to believe that yet. When the plane landed and I saw what was happening, I didn’t connect any of it with Genesis Alliance. I had shipped boxes and set up some payments. Would you get suspicious off the back of that?”

“I suppose not,” Jack replied.

“I was going to try and find my friend in Manhattan; I hoped that he could help me. That’s why I joined the group on their trek into the city. But in the apartment, I decided my friend was probably dead.”

“Did you hear from Martina?”

“I received two direct messages from her on twitter. She told me in the first not to tweet anything about G.A and asked me to stay indoors for the next seventy-two hours. That’s when I first started to become suspicious. I replied asking what was going on. The second message told me not to answer the door to anyone and keep it locked.”

“She sounds like she definitely knew what was going on,” I replied.

“You don’t know that, she might have asked Ron after it all started.”

“Yeah right. Come on, Lea, you’re blinded by love. What happened next?”

She shook her head.

“This is where you guys came in. After Chris was killed, and you turned up at the parking lot, I thought you might have been one of them. I needed help to get to Jerry’s farm. If Genesis Alliance had anything to do with what was happening, I thought he might have some answers, it was the closest meeting place to Bernie’s I could remember. I still didn’t believe it though. I also wanted to get back to Martina.”

“So you used us?” Jack said.

“We all wanted to leave. All three of us are finding out what’s happening, right?”

“It was four of us.”

“I’m just as upset about Bernie as you are. Give me a fucking break.”

“Hold on, why didn’t you go straight to the farm when we arrived in Orange County?” I asked.

“I planned to sneak out and confront Jerry if he was still alive.”

“When?”

“I was making my way out the first night, but you two were outside chatting. You weren’t leaving the front of the house any time soon and started giving me whisky. I watched you leave the house from the upstairs window and started to get nervous. I was relieved to see you both made it back in one piece. When you told me Jerry was alive, I wanted to sneak away the next morning, but Bernie wouldn’t go to bed after his shift.”

“Why didn’t you tell us any of this?” Jack replied.

“I was convincing myself that Genesis Alliance had nothing to with it. It would mean that I played a part if it was true. When Jerry attacked the house and Bernie was killed, I couldn’t deny it to myself anymore.”