Cooper dropped his duffel on the bed and sighed as the heavy bag bounced. He looked around the sparse accommodations and grunted. “Not exactly the Ritz, is it?”
13 leaned against the wall by the hotel room door, her long, flame-colored hair draped over one shoulder. “Just be thankful you’ve got a room to yourself. Most of the other staffers are doubling up. The summit has officially taken over Edinburgh.”
Cooper took a quick glance around the room. Plain, striped wallpaper adorned the walls in muted creams and blues. A large mirror hung on the wall over the small wooden dresser supporting a flat-screen television. He stepped around the bed and its plaid quilt, moving to the curtains—in matching red-and-black plaid—that stretched floor to ceiling.
“Must be a hell of a view—” he began, throwing the curtains back. “Or not.” The brick and mortar wall of the adjoining building blocked two-thirds of the view. If he craned his neck to the left and pressed his cheek against the cool glass, he could make out the castle in the distance, lit up for the approaching night’s festivities. The people of Edinburgh seemed to celebrate something every day.
He sighed. “Well, at least I can see the castle.”
13 stepped away from the wall and glanced at her phone. “You’re not here as a tourist.”
“Why exactly am I here?” he asked.
She arched an eyebrow and reached behind her right hip to pull out a small, black rectangular device. She tossed it to him. “Switch it on.”
Cooper turned the piece of plastic and aluminum over in his hands. It was about the shape and size of an iPhone. He was about to open his mouth to inquire how to turn it on—whatever the hell it was—when his fingertip brushed a little nub of plastic on one corner. He flicked the switch and a red LED glowed at the opposite end of the little box. It flickered, then turned green.
“That’s a portable low frequency jammer.”
Cooper held the jammer up to his eyes and whistled. “Never seen one this small before.”
“No one has. It was developed by your CIA. How I got it is irrelevant. We can talk freely now—any bugs that are in this room, and I promise you there are some—are now useless.”
“What’s the range?” Cooper asked, placing the device on the dresser as he checked the stubble on his chin in the mirror. The long plane ride left him looking…scruffy. If he wanted to fit in as an upper level security staffer, he’d have to shave before venturing out of his room.
“Range is fifteen feet, so if you need to use it, make sure you’re close.” 13 crossed her arms. “We have a problem.”
“I suspected as much, or you wouldn’t have moved mountains to pull me out of retirement.”
She frowned. “It wasn’t that bad, and you weren’t retired. ‘Medical leave,’ is what I believe Oakrock called it.”
Cooper stepped the business coat off his shoulders and stretched his back. “Whatever you say, I’m here—what’s the sit-rep?” he asked, grimacing as vertebrae popped in his spine, relieving the pressure of being pent up in a coach class airplane seat for ten hours.
“Senator Tecumseh has decided to adjust the timetable for his arrival. He’ll be here in just over ten hours.” She glanced at her watch. “In fact, he’s likely headed for Dulles right now.”
Cooper scratched his chin, stifling a yawn. “So he’s coming early. Anyone expecting him to be here in two days will be in for a surprise. That should throw off any plans to—”
“Normally, I’d agree,” she said, cutting him off. “But this isn’t a normal situation. The remnants of the Council are still out there. There’s too much at stake for this summit to be allowed to go off without a hitch. They’re going to make a move. Even if I didn’t already capture one of their operatives, I’d still bet on someone making a move to disrupt the conference.”
Cooper crossed his arms. “Whoa, beep beep, back the truck up—you caught one?”
13 grimaced. “A low-level operator, but yes. It didn’t take much to make him talk,” she said, her eyes dark and hard.
“Remind me not to pick a fight with you,” Cooper said, hoping to ease the tension a little. It didn’t work—she glared at him.
“This is serious. As long as some of the upper-tier Council survive, their organization will live on and continue to be a threat to…pretty much everyone. Leaderless, they’re going to be unpredictable…and angry.”
“We’ve got ‘em on the run,” Cooper said, then checked himself. “Well, the government does. I’m no longer part of that effort, but what I hear is that we’ve got ‘em on the ropes, all over Europe and Asia.”
13 snorted. “For every operative you take down, for every Councilor you capture, ten more remain hidden. This is how it’s done—the Council has not lasted for almost a thousand years by being in the lime light. They are not so easily swept aside,” she said through clenched teeth.
“Roger that,” he replied. He moved around her and opened his duffel, yanking the coarse zipper back. “So let me get this straight,” he said as he unpacked. “The U.N. is trying to prevent an all-out war between the U.S. and North Korea. But the Koreans have already invaded America, so as far as we’re concerned—being an American and all—there’s already a war going on.”
13 nodded. “Agreed.”
Cooper held up a folded white undershirt and sniffed it. He hadn’t had time to do a proper load of laundry before Atkins’ helo had landed next to his lake cabin, so he’d been forced to grab what he could before he left his rustic retreat in the Northwoods of Michigan. He set the shirt aside.
“The U.N. is worried about World War III breaking out—if we wipe the NKors off the map, China’s going to have to step in—at the very least, they’ll take advantage of the chaos to take back Taiwan.”
Another flame-red nod. “That is the general thinking, yes.”
Cooper frowned, pulling out three pairs of slacks and placing them on the plaid quilt. “And who knows what’ll happen in the Middle East while all the big kids are dealing with Asia. Let me guess,” he said, turning toward her, his toiletry kit in his hands, “the Russians are making noises like they might want a piece of the action too?”
“Unfortunately, yes. And the Germans are still smarting over the treatment of their soldiers in Boston…”
Cooper sighed. “Well, that was a shit show from the beginning. They’re lucky they weren’t all wiped out or infected. The Sons of Liberty really showed up for a fight.” He pulled a dive knife from the middle layer of clothing in his duffel and tucked the sheath under his waistband at the small of his back.
13 held up a slim, porcelain hand. “How did you bring that on the plane? That must be an 8” blade,” she asked, her voice no different from someone inquiring about the weather.
“Ceramic,” he replied. “It’s not the strongest in the world and I can’t jimmy doors open or anything, but it won’t set off a metal detector, either and will still cut someone.” He pulled his shirt back into place. “I read the briefing on the flight—well, I skimmed it. Mostly I slept. But what I remember was that the good senator is part of a group of congressmen and women who are trying to get a declaration of war to the president’s desk. This,” he said, gesturing at the hotel room with a pair of rolled-up boxers, “is an attempt by the U.N. to try to calm shit down before the big vote in the General Assembly.”
13 leaned against the wall again, watching him with those half-closed, icy eyes of hers. “There are several member nations in the Assembly that want to see the United States fall. With the recent…instability…”
Cooper snorted. “That’s putting it nicely.”
“…they’ve managed to gather a voting bloc solid enough to pass a binding resolution. They want the current truce extended until they can sort things out.”
Cooper shook his head. “I heard about that bullshit. They do realize we’d veto the hell out of that as soon as they voted, right?”
“But if China and Russia join the vote, your veto can be overridden.”
Cooper stared at her. “I’ll be honest with you, I don’t give two fucks about politics, but even I’m savvy enough to know if they override Harris on this, it’ll guarantee World War III.” He tossed the boxers in an open dresser drawer and turned back to his open duffel bag. “You know he won’t pay any attention to U.N. resolutions—neither will Congress. They’ll launch our missiles and North Korea will cease to exist.” He paused. “Why the hell would the Council want to stop that—the U.N. would have a mandate to take direct military action against the United States…and North Korea is going to get waxed no matter what happens.”
“But if the U.N. can enforce a truce, there will be time to investigate what happened. And when it becomes clear that the North Koreans were acting on behalf of the Council—”
“That shouldn’t matter—we know the Council is evil, we know they’re the ones that tried for a regime change in England. We’ve almost kicked their asses—”
“If their involvement in North Korea comes to light,” she said, cutting him off again, “it will unravel a lot more than just the Council. Think of the ramifications of finding out they manipulated the Koreans, the Americans, the British, the Germans—even the Chinese. That kind of information could bring down whole governments. With everything so fluid, assets that are hidden in supposedly safe zones could very easily be brought into the light and exterminated…on both sides. Remember, plenty of governments around the world were in bed with either the Council or their individual members, willingly or not.”
“But why would the U.N. want that?” asked Cooper. “If we all fall apart, they do too…”
“Not all the member nations are as closely tied to western civilization as you might think,” she replied. “The Islamic State is on the verge of creating the Caliphate they’ve dreamed about for years. The world is pretty distracted with the North Koreans and the Council at the moment.”
“Those assholes again,” he said, then sighed. “Well, when you put it that way…”
13 crossed her arms. “Make no mistake, we’ve dealt the Council a serious blow, but these people have their claws in everything. It will take a long-term, concerted, international effort to root them out and destroy them. We’ve only just begun the process.”
Cooper sat on the bed. “How did they get away with it for so long?” He shook his head. “I mean, you’re talking…if the people of the world rise up to overthrow their Council-corrupted governments, it’ll be like the sudden end of western civilization.”
13 nodded. “A new Dark Age. Which is why we’ve got to make sure that vote happens.”
“But that will start World War III, too,” Cooper said. Jesus, this makes my head hurt.
“Wars take time—there will at least be a chance of cooler heads prevailing if the vote works as it should. Revolutions can happen overnight, a coup can take place in an hour. But for the major powers of the world to gear up for a long, sustained, global military conflict, it’ll take weeks and months—that gives the peacemakers time.”
“You’ve got to understand that my country is bleeding,” Cooper said, squeezing the shirt in his hand like it was the neck of a North Korean. “Tens of millions of Americans are still sick, I don’t know how many millions died from the NKor flu, not to mention the Occupation. The survivors are fighting mad and we want blood.”
“So does Senator Tecumseh.”
Cooper forced himself to relax his death grip on the shirt. He smoothed out the wrinkles and hung it up in the small closet. “I read what he did during the Russian occupation of Idaho. That was some serious shit—he’s got the street cred, but he’s a rookie politician. How’s he going to handle all this?” Cooper asked, gesturing at the room again. “This is the big league, you know?”
“It doesn’t matter how he handles it, only that he gets the chance to try.” 13 sighed. “If the remnants of the Council can disrupt the summit or God forbid, assassinate some of the attendees, then all bets are off. When I caught that piece of shit yesterday, he told me the surviving Council are fighting each other to see who’s going to take over when the new heir is found.”
“So what about this new heir…there had to be someone behind this king of theirs, right? Aren’t the Brits going after them?”
13 smiled, but it looked more like a grimace. “The British are beyond livid. They’re going to hunt down anyone directly involved. I’ve heard MI-6 was given carte blanche, no restraints. It’s going to be bloody—like Israel-hunting-Nazis bloody. But it’ll take more than MI-6 to bring them all down.” She grew quiet for a moment and stared at him. “And Jayne is still out there.”
Cooper stood. “Harris wants her head on a plate. CIA’s turning the world upside down to find her—she’s the new Bin Laden.” He looked down at the remains of his duffel. “It’s only a matter of time before we catch her.”
“It took your government—with all its power and money—over a decade to find one man…and that was before the chaos of the Korean Flu. How long do you think it’ll take now? Most of Europe and Asia is still digging out of the flu…you Americans developed the treatment from Chad’s blood, but it’s going to take time for the rest of the world to catch up—even if you do give it away.” She shook her head, the red locks swishing against her shoulders. “The Heir will be hard to find, and Jayne harder still. She is a hundred times more formidable than that goat herder who caused your country so much trouble.”
Cooper frowned. “So what are we doing here? Why aren’t we looking for the Heir?”
13 pursed her lips. “Because Jayne knows everything I just told you. She’s going to position herself to take over, I can feel it. Remember, she’s got all of Reginald’s files and his money—she took everything when she fled Dunkeith Castle.”
“So we’re going to protect this summit, to let the vote happen—whatever the outcome—and hopefully draw Jayne out of hiding in the aftermath? Why is she so damn important?”
“Because,” 13 said patiently, “she was the one who orchestrated the North Korean invasion—well, Reginald was, but she has his files, she has everything. If we can get our hands on that, we can not only stop a world war, we can bring down the Council at the same time. Permanently.”
“All we have to do is keep Senator Tecumseh alive long enough to vote?” asked Cooper. “The same senator that pushed up the timeframe for his arrival?”
13 snorted. “The same senator that’s going to be in Jayne’s crosshairs for an extra two days, yes.”
Cooper frowned. “This job just keeps getting better all the time.”