“Former Agent Alexei Rector. You think he’s responsible for Nick Rojas’ death?” asked Director Edward. “The man was working for us, why would he turn?”
“He has no particular loyalty to any group,” Bertrand replied. “He helped in the plan to get the backdoor code, yes, but now that our dealings with him are over Rector may now be putting his own causes first. He most likely has suspicions about our plans for Kratos. He views himself as a patriot, fighting for the common man. Mekhos was the enemy before. Now the TranSilica board is the enemy.”
“How would he have gotten control of the RAKER?”
“As former NSA he has connections and expertise. High level operators like Rector are trained in RAKER simulators, and he probably has a great deal of experience with them in real combat. I wouldn’t be surprised if he and an accomplice killed the team while sitting behind a control console two miles away.”
“But why kill them at all?”
“Perhaps to spread fear,” Bertrand replied. “To let us know that he’s out there.”
Edward thought for a moment.
“His method was brutal and efficient. These field agents can’t be trusted. Some of them are psychologically unbalanced. Once Kratos takes care of the current problem, we can direct it to help track down Rector so he can be eliminated. But we have another pressing concern, Carl.”
“Mekhos.”
“Yes. Mekhos may eventually work its way through the equations. Cutting off access to power may only delay that recovery. It has the ability to eventually tap into other power sources. We must ensure Mekhos is destroyed, even if it means destroying the MC complex.”
“We can blame Virtue,” Bertrand said, “and alien operatives from the Twin. What we’ll do about a citizenry that concludes we and the NSA are utterly incompetent for letting it happen is another matter, Director.”
“Just get it done, and soon,” Edward said tersely. “Have you at least had the RAKER disabled?”
Bertrand paused.
“The MC complex has been searched top to bottom. The RAKER’s internal locator appears to be offline. We don’t know where it is.”