Other than the news playing on the hotel television, there was little noise as we sat in the central living area around the suite’s dining table. Several maps and aerial photographs covered the table’s surface, but pride of place was held by a full-scale set of blueprints of the shipyard building.
Seth had found them and somehow gotten them out of whatever government office had them. Oddly enough, he was now watching the news rather than poring over the plans like the rest of us.
“Big-ass building,” Alice noted for the second time. Not that she was wrong. It was huge, and a big portion of it constituted the majority of the yard’s shipbuilding infrastructure, at least whatever portion of building a seagoing vessel that didn’t occur in the dry docks. According to the blueprints, it was actually a whole bunch of buildings under a bunch of connected roofs.
“See, it’s gotta be this section here,” Mitch said, pointing. We were having a great deal of trouble finding the part of the building that was leased to LOA. It was a very confusing layout and it didn’t seem to jive with the photos Agent Jay had taken of the building with her phone.
“Seth, are you sure these plans are the most up-to-date?” Chana Mazar asked. Seth didn’t respond.
“Seth? Hello… I’m talking to you?” Chana said, snapping her fingers at the same time.
“What? Oh,” he said, glancing our way. “Sorry, this news is kind of fascinating. Huge worldwide controversy over the submarine earthquake.”
“I asked if you were certain of these plans,” Chana said.
“Yes, the date is in the lower corner. Less than three years old, I believe,” he said, his eyes back on the screen.
“What’s the controversy?” Agent Jay asked.
“First there were groups saying Omega caused the quake with his drone, and others were saying he stopped it. But now, apparently, several sources in the administration have leaked that the drone had people on board and that the Warlock was one of them. Social media exploded, or maybe imploded would be better. Enough to cause internet slowdowns and even a few outages. Your ex is getting smeared all over the place. It’s worldwide and now various governments are getting in on the act,” Seth said.
Jay moved over to look at the screen while Mitch pulled up a news compilation site on his computer. “Drudge is full of it,” he said, Alice and Chana reading over his shoulder.
I found myself reluctant to look at either screen. “What are the governments saying?”
“It’s a mixed bag. A lot of the smaller countries are crying victim, saying that the computer is exploiting them under a false flag of world defense. Russia is saying the computer is under US control and the alien threat is just an excuse to take over the world,” Seth reported.
“Yeah, and most of the European Union and Japan are saying that the only thing that prevented a major catastrophe was the presence of the Warlock,” Mitch chimed in. “China has locked down its internet and says it stands with Omega. North Korea is siding with Russia.”
“What does our own government say?” I asked.
“President Polner has scheduled a press conference for nine o’clock Eastern Time,” Agent Jay said, eyes locked on the television.
“Those blog sites that originated the Vorsook false flag stuff also jumped on this with both feet,” Eve reported.
Two of the team’s laptops were Skyped into headquarters, one showing Eve, the other showing Morris. They were both typing like crazy on their keyboards.
“It’s a perfect event for the Vorsook to exploit,” Agent Jay said.
“How can we counter it?” Alice asked.
“Oh shit!” Morris said before Jay could answer Alice’s question. “Sorry, but Bristol Chatterjee just announced an interview with the Warlock himself—tonight, live, at ten p.m.”
“I was going to say that we couldn’t counter it. Looks like the people that can… are,” Jay said. “Her article on the Demidova stock was pretty solid. This might be good as well.”
“You think this was O’Carroll’s idea?” Chana asked.
I couldn’t help myself. I snorted out loud. They all looked at me. “He would never come up with that! More likely Tanya or Lydia came up with it. They’ll have to duct tape him in place for an interview. He hates any kind of notoriety or publicity.”
“It was Ms. Chapman’s idea, in conjunction with Ms. Chatterjee,” Omega said through our conference phone.
“You’re back,” I noted.
“I have been… distracted.”
My phone started to buzz at the same time that Agent Jay’s did.
“That will be the White House. They want to know what Father will be saying, as the president is reluctant to hold his own conference first,” Omega said.
Jay answered her phone a second before I hit my own and I heard her say, “Yes, Director Tyson?” But then I hit the answer button and Sergei was speaking before I could. “I’m here with the president, Agent Jensen.”
“Hello Mr. President,” I said, which brought every set of eyes in the suite my way.
“Agent Jensen, have you been following events in the news?”
“Just in the last few minutes, sir. I just found out about the scheduled interview seconds ago.”
“I need you to make contact and find out what he’s going to say. You understand how it would look if I go ahead with my conference and he says something totally from left field?”
“Yes sir. Loss of credibility, sir. Perhaps you could speak to him directly, sir?” I suggested.
“We tried. Our calls won’t go through, Miss Jensen. We had the phone company attempt to force it, but it failed.”
“They’re up against Omega, sir. What if I could get him to call you directly? You’ve met him before, right?”
“Yes. Briefly. If you could arrange that, it would be ideal.”
“Yes sir. Let me call him and I’ll see what he says, sir.”
“You’ll need a number to get through,” President Polner said, wry humor in his voice.
“No, sir, I don’t. If Declan wants to speak with you, Omega will put the call through directly to you, sir.”
“Yes. I suppose he might at that. Good luck, Agent.”
“Yes sir,” I said, before the phone went silent. My whole team was watching me.
“The president just called you?” Mitch asked.
“You heard her say Mr. President, didn’t you?” Alice asked like he’d lost his mind.
“Yeah, but I’m still checking.”
I ignored him and turned back to my phone, touching the screen. Nothing happened. I did it again, but the screen stayed dark.
“Omega? Are you blocking my call to Declan as well?”
“He doesn’t like to talk to politicians.”
“I’m not a politician,” I said.
“You work for one.”
“Omega, are you going to let me through or what?”
The phone buzzed and started to call the contact listed simply as Dec.
“You heard,” Stacia answered unexpectedly.
“Well, yeah. Personally, I think it’s a great idea. But President Polner wants to speak to Declan and see if they can be on the same page. Back-to-back press conferences and all that,” I said.
“Why didn’t the White House call on its own?” she said. I drew a breath but she spoke before I could. “Ah. Omega. Got it. Okay then. He’s getting dressed; let me grab him.”
She must have set the phone down because I could hear her moving away and calling out his name at the same time. Distantly I heard him answer but even with enhanced hearing, I couldn’t make out their conversation. Then came the sounds of multiple footsteps approaching.
“Hey,” Declan said.
“Hey yourself. How are you feeling?”
“Better. The headache is gone. Most of the aches too. Still kind of wobbly though. Stacia said you heard about the interview?”
“Declan, the whole world heard about the interview—including President Polner. You might imagine that he’d like to compare notes before he goes on the air tonight?”
“Oh. So I tell you and you tell him?”
“That’s not ideal. Better if you spoke to him directly, don’t you think?”
“But you have a perfect memory. You can recite it word for word.”
“Yet it still won’t reassure him or his advisers as much as talking to you directly. Man up, O’Carroll. Talk to the president.”
He was silent for a bit and I kept my mouth shut. Around me, the others all watched, fascinated, I think.
“Yeah, I suppose. Alright, I’ll call him.”
“How’s everything else?” I asked.
“Magic or no magic you mean?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“ I haven’t tried anything yet. At least with my magic,” he said, a note of something I couldn’t identify in his voice.
“If not magic, then what?”
“I’ve been… talking… with Draco. And Robbie.”
“Talking? You say that like it’s different?”
“It is. I don’t mean that I talk and they listen. I mean they talk back.”
“Didn’t they always?”
“They sent images or feelings but not words. This is actual words. Ones I understand.”
“So that’s… new?”
“Very. Like a channel opened that wasn’t there before.”
“That’s good, I guess. Right?”
“It’s very good. Caeco, it means that I can still communicate with elementals, only now I can use words, sentences. I’ve never been able to do that.”
“Well, that would mean that if you…”
“Have lost my magic, I can still help direct the elementals.”
“Well, that’s awesome. Maybe the other thing will come back?”
“Aunt Ash is being very cautious not to get my hopes up, so I’m clinging to this talking thing.”
I thought about if I lost my nanites or my genetic enhancements and thus many of my abilities. Immediately I stopped that line of thought, a shudder going through my body. “Yeah, I can see that. Just keep doing what she said. And call the president!”
“Okay. Omega will put me through right now. Thanks Caeco. And good luck with your own mission. Omega told me all about it.”
“Of course he did. Thanks.”
We disconnected at the same time.
The others were still staring. “So… you just brokered a conversation between the Warlock and the president,” Agent Jay said.
I shrugged, not really clear what I was supposed to say to that. Jay looked at me for a moment, then nodded. “Okay. Caeco’s liaison duties are done for the moment, so let’s get back to our mission. After thinking it through, I believe that our next step should be reconnaissance of the shipyard. Thoughts?” she asked the team.
“So we have two interesting targets; the studio at the Morrell residence and this shipyard warehouse thing, right?” Alice summarized.
“Yes,” Jay answered.
“Both exhibit some kind of technological protection. At the studio, it appeared to be regular, if sophisticated, human-type intrusion detection gear, while the warehouse might have alien tech. And you think we should tackle the alien tech?” Alice asked.
“Valid point. But we’re here to find a Vorsook influence, right? And this is the first clear indication of Vorsook. Juliet is hiding something at her home but using regular protection equipment. What Caeco ran into is different and if it’s alien, we need to verify that before we let it slip away,” Jay said.
“That makes a disturbing amount of sense, ma’am,” Mitch said, frowning.
“Glad you agree,” Jay said, voice dry.
“But how are we going to slip past alien tech?” Alice asked.
“We,” Jay said, pointing a finger at Alice and then herself, “won’t. But she has a built-in detector, and she was, very literally, built for spy work.” The senior agent’s finger now pointed squarely at me. “You up for it?” she asked me.
“You know, in case breaking through state-of-the-art detection gear at the house is too easy,” Mitch said.
Actually, it was. I already knew exactly how to get through the studio’s protections, thanks to the handy diagram that Omega had put in my phone. It was well done, but it had a few weak spots and let’s be honest, my nanites made short work of most alarms anyway. But the warehouse? Hell yeah!
“Yup. Let’s do it. When?” I asked.
“Tonight, late. We’ll gather every bit of intel we can and study the blueprints for the next few hours. Figure the best approach. Then, after midnight, we’ll head over and see what you can find out,” Jay said.
“Hey, that means we get to watch the interview,” Mitch said, face lighting up in a smile. Alice rolled her eyes, Chana looked thoughtful, Seth blinked like a sleepy owl, and Agent Jay ignored the comment altogether, her eyes on the plans. On the laptop screens, Eve did a fist pump while Morris just kept typing on his keyboard. When Mitch turned my way, still grinning, I just grinned back.