Free The Victor Project by Bradford L. Blaine Page B

underground also gossiped that he was once head of one of the government departments, someone very high up.  The story was that around ten years ago he escaped the system by faking his death, which allowed him to begin his new life as a crusader for the people.  If all that was true then he couldn’t afford for anyone to see his face, a face that would easily be recognized by an old government peer.
         It seemed that there was always one mysterious visionary behind any non-conformist group.  Someone who had somehow gained the respect and loyalty of a number of others who wanted to bleed for his cause.  Mars was that visionary, but when Val looked at William, she saw that same stereotype persona.  Unlike Mars, there were no rumors floating around about William and any questions to extract the history from the man were tactfully averted.
         One crystalline trait of William’s was his plain and simple charm.  In particular, Val always thought he was ruggedly handsome.  He was the kind of man that you could stare at for hours without him saying a word.  It was as if his face emanated feelings and thoughts like a bulb emitted light.  She had never met anyone like him and could see how hundreds who follow him with relentless loyalty.  In the back of her mind, she had always thought that William was really the mysterious Mars.
         William was already seated in the driver’s seat of the B4G as she approached.  Even with the windows tinted his image was still slightly visible in the poorly lit garage.  The vehicle was also parked with its nose facing inward to preclude any passerby from taking notice.   As Val opened the passenger door and slipped into the seat she noticed that William’s mustache had grown.  She always thought it had been a disguise.  Either way she hated it.   
         “You weren’t followed,” asked William.
         “No, you ask me that every time.”
         “And I always will.  It is good to see you again.  How have you been?” he asked.
         “Fantastic,” she replied sarcastically.
         “See, why do I ask?”
         “I’m sorry.  I’ve been fine.  I just don’t like meeting as often as we have,” she said.
         “Neither do I, but our adversaries have become restless and now we must begin a more aggressive approach to completing the overall mission of our group,” he continued.
         “What do you mean?”
         “I mean we have come across information that will help us expose this corruption and free the people, but we need to act on a more accelerated scale than ever before,” he answered.
         “And I have a scary feeling that the accelerated scale involves a faster me,” she said.
         “Correct. You made a contact a couple of days ago.  His name was Rick Mallory?” he asked.
         “Yea, I made the contact.”
         “So what is your analysis?”
         “The potential is there, but I need more time to get him to open up, find contacts, ties, things like that.”
         “There is no time,” said William.
         “That’s what you guys always say.”
         “Yep, and this time we really mean it.  This Rick Mallory is our only real chance of breaking into the department computers.  Unlike you, standard protocol gives each of the Travelers their own individual system ID.  I think with his computer access, we can get our hands on enough data to expose the government.” 
         “So I just drag him in here and get him to listen,” she said.
         “It will be difficult, but I recall that it took minimal persuasion for you to make a commitment,”
         “OK, OK, so I convince this guy that he’s marching to the wrong beat.  Then you’re going to convince him to breach a government secured system and possibly get himself killed?”
         “I am confident that he will see the truth,” William replied.
         “You’re