The Seal of Solomon

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Epigraph

PART ONE: Extraction

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

PART TWO: The Infernal Hordes

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

PART THREE: The Hunt for the Hyena

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

PART FOUR: The Fall of Alfred Kropp

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

PART FIVE: Homecoming

56

57

Acknowledgments

Imprint

To my sons, for their inspiration
And to Sandy, for her love

From morn
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve,
A summer's day; and with the setting sun
Dropt from the zenith, like a falling star.

—Paradise Lost

And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion, for we are many.

—Mark 5:9

Integrated Security
Interface System

[ISIS]

User Warning:
Use of this interface is restricted to Company personnel with security clearances of A-17 or above.

Any unauthorized access of this system will result in immediate termination and forfeiture of all rights and privileges granted to personnel under Section 1.256 of the OIPEP Charter.

For security protocols related to use of ISIS, see Section 4 of the Charter.

User Login:
ChiCubsFan

Password:

Welcome ChiCubsFan!

Please choose a task:

Authorized interfaces:

S.E.S

Dossiers

SATCOM System

Current Operations

Archived Operations

Company Directory

Medcon Protocols

Locator Services

Special Weapons & Tactics Division

ISIS
Secure E-mail System

[SES]

User Warning:
The Secure E-mail System [SES] utilizes encryption software for delivery, storage, and retrieval of sensitive Company data. Any unauthorized sharing, dissemination, or disclosure of secret, sub-secret, or sub-sub-secret messages or documents is strictly prohibited.

Personnel in violation of SES protocols are subject to immediate termination and forfeiture of all rights and privileges granted to personnel under Section 1.256 of the OIPEP Charter.

All e-mail and attachments of the SES are embedded with self-destructing software. Messages and attachments not saved to individual user interfaces will automatically be deleted seventy-two hours after time of delivery. Users are cautioned to back up any non-time-sensitive data.

Enter SES Password

(CAUTION! This is NOT your ISIS password):

Welcome to SES
ChiCubsFan!

You have 1 new message!

Click
here
to read your message.

To:
ChiCubsFan

From:
Aquarius

Subject:
New Operational Protocol re. Sub-Sub-Sec. OpUtopia

The Operative Nine has issued an Extraction Order for Special Subject Alfred Kropp.

Circumstances now demand suspension of Utopia until S.S. Kropp is neutralized.

Therefore, you are authorized to use all means necessary to neutralize S.S. A.K. before extraction can be executed.

For the purposes of this Order, “all means necessary” includes
extreme
extraction of referenced subject.

Aquarius

PART ONE
Extraction

1

I really thought my life would be different after my death. After all, I had saved the planet from total annihilation, and not a lot of people can say that—well, I can't think of a single living person who can. I'm not saying I thought I deserved a ticker tape parade or a medal from the president or anything like that. I'm just saying I honestly thought my life might be a little different.

I was wrong.

Of course, nobody knew I had saved the world. I wasn't allowed to tell, and who would believe me if I did? There were rumors about what happened when I disappeared from school, mostly based on the news reports that I was involved in a plot to blow up Stonehenge.

One rumor had me as a special operative recruited by the CIA to bust up a terrorist cell. Another said that I was a terrorist the CIA had captured, deprogrammed, and returned to normal life, kind of like mainstreaming someone with a mental condition.

But the most popular rumor was just that I was crazy. “Crazy Kropp,” some people called me. Okay, not just some. A lot. Not a terrorist or a mercenary or a spy. Just crazy, off my nut, wacked, loco.

And it wasn't just kids who thought that. Dr. Peddicott, the school psychologist, must have thought it, too, because she referred me to a real shrink, a psychiatrist named Dr. Maury Benderhall, who interviewed me for three hours.

“So, Alfred,” he said. “Tell me about school.”

“Well, I'm flunking most of my classes. Nobody likes me, and about a month ago somebody invented a new sport called Kropping.”

“ ‘Kropping'?”

I nodded. “Kropping. Basically, it's about humiliating me. Or tormenting. Tormention and humiliation. Only I'm not sure if ‘tormention' is a word.”

“It isn't.”

“Well, it should be. Anyway, Kropping could be anything from tripping me in the hallway to giving me a wedgie. You get more points with something like a wedgie, because it takes a lot of determination and strength to give somebody my size a wedgie.”