Russell
Who's it gonna be? I've got about a dozen good candidates here, all expendable. Russell Peterson is not
because he's me.
Unlike the names on the list Russell Peterson was a real person. And definitely not expendable.
This Philips guy looks sufficiently dodgy.
One of the phones rang and he looked to see which one it was. Erika. He swiped the answer button.
"How's things in Coppertown?" he asked. Coppertown was the joint operations base in north Texas.
"The usual," Erika replied. "Meetings and briefings, nothing getting done."
"You stuck there for a while?"
"Unless I can find an excuse to get away."
"Maybe I can help. What do you know about the Mirages?"
"No more than I'm authorized to know," Erika replied with a laugh.
"Got it. How much are you authorized to know?"
"Just the basics. A phantom army, or a virtual force as Callahan calls it. People that exist only as data."
"Anyone down there that can clear you for an operation using them?"
"I can ask the Chief. Does he know what you're doing?"
"Maybe, maybe not," Russell replied. "I'd guess he knows something, whatever comes up in staff meetings.
If he can clear you and send you up here you might enjoy it."
"Why don't you ask him if you can borrow me? So it won't look like my idea?"
"Yeah. That might be best. What kind of mood is he in?"
"The usual. But he's pretty busy with Aurochs, he'll probably say yes to pretty much
whatever you ask for."
"All right. I'll get back with you."
Any excuse to see her, huh?
He had to admit she was his first thought. But she was also eminently qualified. She had a way of
making him look at things in different ways sometimes. He should get a selection of candidates ready.
He looked up at the monitors as the gate alarm buzzed. Erika's silver 1972 Stingray was outside.
He punched a button and watched the gates open, then closed them after the car passed through.
It was time for a break anyway. He went downstairs.
Erika was standing by the car as he came out the door. She was wearing tight faded jeans with motorcycle
boots and a white satin MA-1 jacket. Black Ray-bans. Cool almost but not quite smile.
Not falling for it. Known you too long girl.
He stopped a couple of paces away and waited. The smile appeared and she came towards him, putting her arms
around his neck.
He held her for a few moments and let her go, she stepped back and took off her sunglasses.
"Took you long enough," she said.
"I needed to make it good. And it is, come on."
He'd missed her but knew feelings had to be subordinated to the mission. But if she
was wasting her time at Blackridge...
The chief had been suspicious but he was suspicious of everyone and everything. Nothing got
by him though. Almost nothing.
Erika followed him up the outside stairway to his office. She took off her jacket and tossed it onto
a chair and sat down, her dark auburn hair spilling over her shoulders. Erika Sommers was a
startlingly beautiful woman, her appearance giving no hint of what Russell knew lurked behind those dark blue eyes.
Russell opened the full-sized refrigerator in one corner.
"The mango strawberry is quite good," he said. "Unless you prefer something more robust. We have a cherry
moscato."
"Cherry sounds good."
He poured two glasses and took them over to a table by the window. Erika took a sip, then leaned back and put her feet up on
the window sill. Russell did the same, taking out a box of Al Capone cigars.
"Smoke?"
"Don't mind if I do."
They lit the little cigars and smoked and sipped wine.
"I've missed you," Erika said.
"Same here."
"Now that you've sprung me, what's up?"
"I'm putting something together for Stonetalon," Russell replied. "There are some folks that need a wakeup call."
"To be delivered by a phantom force? Is it who I'm thinking about?"
"If you're thinking about Internal Security."
"I expected as much, sooner or later. What took so long?"
"We've wanted to," Russell replied, "for a while. Getting it done and leaving them with no way to retaliate is the trick.
When they get hit by attackers who don't exist they'll have trouble striking back."
"Phantoms," Erika said.
"Exactly." Russell grinned. "They need to be taken down a notch."
"I don't need to ask if you have a plan. You never bring anything up until you're sure of it."
"I just need clearance to use some Mirages," Russell said. "I figure four or five. Low-level,
generic, expendable. Let me show you."
"That may be crossing a line," Erika said. "Entrapping regime agents and killing them,
effectively assassinating them."
"Damn right," Russell replied. "They crossed it long ago, from Waco back in the nineties
on. They've got thousands of people locked up, some old people that will die in prison.
And they killed those three boys at Mansfield, unarmed and unprovoked. Making an example
of them."
"No disagreement here," said Erika. "Mary Ann lost her brother that way. He was like
a brother to me too."
That was hard on her, never seen her so angry.
Erika was an only child and Mary Ann was one of her closest friends since childhood. She and her brother were like family.
His death had jarred her and Mary Ann out of the complacency that afflicted most of the population.
"How is Mary Ann?" he asked.
"Good as can be. Staying busy helps, especially doing something that makes a difference."
"What kind of scheme have you cooked up?"
"How about a honeypot?"
"A honeypot with what bait? A phantom bait? Or a virtual bait?"
"There's an old joke about computers," Russell said. "If something is transparent it's there but you can't see it, if it's
virtual you can see it but it isn't there."
"So you bait the trap, the prey can see the bait but..."
"It isn't there."
"That's what you want the Mirages for."
"Exactly. Something pops up on their radar, a favorite target. Small anti-government gang, rural, probably not too smart. Talking about
striking a blow against the regime, maybe an assassination or two or blowing up something. Throw in a little white supremacy and religious
fundamentalism."
"Let's not get carried away," Erika said, laughing. "I like it."
"I've got a few candidates. Want to take a look?"
"Sure."
"I'm thinking four or five should be about right," Russell said. "That's about the average size of these operations they bust.
They'll have at least one agent for each member. Actual agents or people they've got something on and are acting as
informers. We'll set them up a an expendable site - maybe a safe house we figure isn't safe any more. That's the only
piece we're giving up, along with four mandroids."
"Mandroids?"
"Artificial people, like androids, only they're digital."
"I get it. Clever. Can you get them authorized?"
Russell pushed the keyboard and mouse over so she could use it.
"I believe so. Take a look at the plan and tell me what you think."
Erika clicked and scrolled for a while.
"Looks like a plan," she said. "They fit the stereotype. I'm guessing they were created for this purpose."
"Mostly. They're all in their thirties, a plausible age for a domestic terrorist. All have an average presence - employment history,
bank accounts and credit cards, digital presence with the right profile. We can put them on some subversive channels we know are being
monitored. See how long it takes the regime to make overtures. Then we reel them in."
"How do you work the warm bodies," Erika asked, "once they need a physical presence?"
"I've got some candidates, any of whom would like a shot at this. I'm going to shoot this up to Charlie at Dresden, see what he
thinks. He'll keep it under his hat while he puts out some feelers.
Erika watched as Russell bundled some files and sent them to a relay that would bounce them through a dozen or so other relays and turn
up on Charlie's screen.
"How do you figure on making happen?" she asked. "I suspect you want to be hands-on."
"I do," Russell replied. And waited.
"All right," she said after a while, "it's personal. Is that a good idea?"
"What would you do?"
"It's because of Dino, isn't it? Yeah, I'd want to be in on it too."
"Dino was't just a friend and patriot," Russell said. "He was a decent human being. He probably
wouldn't do what I'm about to. Or at least he'd have to be pushed a little harder."
"I'm with you. Dino was a good guy, he deserves some retribution in his column. Let's get to work."
"I needed an expendable site as well as expendable people," Russell said. He clicked open a window.
"That's a satellite view of a lonely place in Arizona," he said. "They might prefer something closer to
civilization but this will do. It's close enough to a major city that they can get the news crews out
for the show. And it's just right for our purposes but perfect for something like this."
"Where is that? Somewhere south of Phoenix?"
"Casa Grande. About forty miles. Not much around, the nearest small towns are some distance away. A house
here and there, a few groups, some deserted properties. One of those is owned by one of our mandroids."
"Convenient. Did he just buy it recently?"
"Nope." Russell grinned. "It probably wouldn't arouse suspicion if it was a recent transfer but the League has quite
a few throwaways like this, and the mandroid owners prevents them being traced to them."
"Our mandroid gets together with a few friends there and talks about overthrowing the government?"
"Something like that. Once the government bites we reel them in all the time looking like we're the ones on the hook."
"We?"
"Warm bodies are required. I haven't decided whether to be one of them."
"You'd go in there? No..."
"No?"
Erika wasn't smiling.
I should have expected that."
"Why not?" Russell asked. "I have to be on-site. We'll know when they're prepared to move and
have the place locked down well before. And I won't be in there when they arrive. None of
us will."
"Who is us?"
"I'll put out a call when I get approval. I don't expect any shortage of volunteers."
"There won't be," Erika said. "But I'm not crazy about the idea of you being in there.
If you're in I want in."
Should have expected that too.
"This is five rednecks drinking cheap beer and grousing about the government. There aren't
any hot babes in the script. And you're way too hot."
And I don't like that smile.
"I dirty up pretty good," Erika said. "It's mostly in the wardrobe, and I can look suitably
slutty when I try."
He had to admit she was pretty good at role-playing. He didn't want her exposed, but it was too late.
"Where do you figure on fitting in?"
"Four or five rednecks drinking and talking smack," she said. "One of them has a girlfriend, she comes by once in
a while, brings them pizza or something. It will add some realism."
"Could work. I haven't worked out all the details."
"This seems suitably desolate," Erika said. "How far is the nearest human habitation?"
"Probably back in Stanfield," Russell replied. "Occasionally you find a hermit out here but they
stay closer to civilization than this."
"How did the League come to own it?"
"They acquired a lot of places like this. Cheap and useless for most purposes."
"It looks like someone tried to make a go of it," Erika said, "and failed."
"Sometimes someone comes out here and lives, maybe a retired person with that wants to
get away from it all. When they die whoever inherits the property doesn't want to live there
and neither does anyone else. So it sells cheap."
The house was relatively modern, probably from the 1970s. The brick exterior was still in good
shape and the inside was dirty but not decayed. Things didn't rot as fast in the desert. A small
barn and a small outbuilding were beginning to fall apart and would be better off being burned down
if the plan was to fix up the place. The small building turned out to be a pumphouse.
"I doubt the pump would work," Russell said, "even if we had electricity. We'll see what the water
situation is, if it's good we can install a new pump and use a generator. Might as well take a look
inside."
The house was empty except for some cans and bottles and what may have been food containers. And dirt.
All the windows were broken and dust and leaves had accumulated on the floors.
"It doesn't look like they stole the wiring," Erika said. "There'd be holes in the walls and ceilings if
they had."
"Yeah, we may be in luck there. We don't want it fixed up too much for a bunch of broke rednecks. Just get
it cleaned up and basics working. Too fancy and our friends might get suspicious. Steve should be able to
get some locals to fix it up, the realtors in Casa Grande should have some recommendations. The story will be
that it's being fixed up for sale or rental."
"Are we staying in Casa Grande or Maricopa?
"I'm thinking both," Russell replied. "You'll rent one and I'll rent the other. Or rather Amber Lynn and Randy Cooper
will."
"Our phantoms."
"Right. Steve is handling the docs. Where is he anyway?"
"That must be him," Erika replied. "Or it had better be."
A vehicle had stopped in the driveway. Russell and Erika drew their guns and went to the open front door.
A man was dismounting from an old Army jeep.
"Stay here and listen," Russell said, and stepped outside.
"How you doin' man?" the man asked. "The wizard was delayed but will be joining us shortly."
"What kept him?" Russell asked.
"The blue lizard went missing."
"Too bad, those are kinda rare. Did he find it?
"Yeah, it was in the laundry room."
"Well, come on in and see what you think."
"Steve, this is my esteemed colleague Erika," Russell said as they entered.
"Good to meet you," Steve said. "Russell doesn't have many esteemed colleagues."
"I've heard a lot about you," Erika replied. "Nice to meet you at last."
"Nothing good I hope," Steve said.
"Not a bit," Erika replied.
"That's a relief. Shall we get down to business?"
"We can use the airports both Casa Grande and Maricopa," Steve said. "and probably will. We want our presence here spread out as much as possible.
Where are you staying?"
"We'll be renting places in Maricopa and Casa Grande," Russell replied. "One will be a fallback in case we're compromised."
"OK," Steve said, "we'll put a couple of the guys in each place, or maybe one in Florence. It's big enough for them to not attract attention.
We'll have a team in Phoenix monitoring the operation. We have a couple of safe houses there as well. The other four guys will be coming in over
the next few days - we don't want any connection between them being made except this place. We're spreading the nets now, so the feds should notice
they fairly quickly."
"Sounds good," Russell said. "How do we get this place ready?"
"I have a contact in Phoenix that can take care of it. He has access to a pool of workers, no paperwork, pay them and they disappear. They can have
it ready in a few days. By the time they're settled in this place will be ready. We expect to get their attention fairly quickly."
"Any particular reason?"
"A couple of guys who they believe are informants. They feed them tips, keep them busy with things that look promising but never quite pan out. This
one will. There's a good chance they'll put the informant in with their agents."
"This could get complicated," Erika said. "We'll have to be seriously careful."
"Indeed," said Russell. "Every move we make will be carefully orchestrated, unlike the typical target. To them it will look like we're reacting to their
actions while we're setting them up. If they plant one of the informants as an agent provocateur - and that's the usual procedure - he'll actually be one
of us. We're in control but we have to be careful just the same."
"I'll have a team in Maricopa monitoring the situation," Steve said. "Amarillo will have hourly updates the entire time. We have contingency plans
for getting our people clear if something goes go wrong. If it does we may have to sacrifice this place and a handful of mandroids, but it's only money. If
this works out the payoff will be considerable.
"The place is habitable now," said Steve. "Everything works - plumbing, electricity, reasonably clean. There's a 500-gallon
diesel tank for the generator. It will probably last for the duration but it'll be easy enough to have refills brought in
if we need it. Whatever surveillance they're running will be easy to detect out here."
"We'll need several guys to shadow them," Russell said. "They'll most likely have some staying in the nearby cities, same as us.
That will make things easier."
"This is about the most remote setup they've ever worked," said Erika. "As far as we know anyway. The one in Michigan was some guys
meeting at a house in Lansing, the one in St. Louis was in Arnold. I don't know them doing anything like this, so they probably deploy
some to the area."
"That'd be good," said Russell. "Be funny if they rented a place close to us. OK, the feelers are out and we're getting some bites.
Just the usual stuff so far - our mandroids hooked up through the IronPhalanx network. It's a small site but it's been on the fed radar for a
while. They don't know that we provided much of the content that put it there. All of the mandroids - except Erika's - have been inserted
over the past several months. We'll put this place into the mix. You're here for the duration?"
"All the way. I'm your liaison with Iron Butterfly. Anything you need from the locals just holler."
"We'll probably have to get back to base occasionally," Russell replied. "In fact, long as it's likely to take we almost certainly will. We can
use either airport as needed. In the unlikely event they're sufficiently competent to be keeping tabs on us we'll have to be careful about
taking flights to Texas and back on private aircraft. We'll have to keep them under 24/7 surveillance - we'll have a squad here for that."
"When do the other mandroids arrive?"
"Carpenter and Barrett are already here," Russell replied. "They arrived last night, driving in from Memphis. They left a nice trail, gas stops and
staying at a Super 8 last night and they're now staying at a motel in Maricopa. I gave them the coordinates. Spencer and Deason are en route, same deal."
"Sounds good. What's the deal with you, Erika?"
"I'll be in and out. Randy Cooper's girlfriend, my only connection. You never know how they'll react though - they may try to recruit me, they do that sometimes."
"We're gonna be playing it by ear quite a bit no matter what," Russell said. "They're fairly predictable - especially since we're essentially programming them - but you
never know that they'll do."
"Yeah. The Butterfly guys have a tight network here - there's not much action out here, they'll be happy to have something like this to work on."
"If you'll get them together once they're all here," Steve said, "I'll set up our communications protocol. Since you'll presumably be here most of the time
it will be easier but any time you're out I'll stay on top of it."
"Sounds good. I need to get air service set up. Stonetalon can get what we need cleared, short notice if we need it, but we're not likely to have emergency needs.
They have several small aircraft that can do it. We should be able to schedule our trips well ahead of time until the final phase, and they we'll be here all the time.
We do have to go back in the next few days, once the guys are settled in."
"I have a base in Tucson," Steve said. "I'll get a place in either Maricopa or Casa Grande and work from there for this operation. They're both have plenty of people
coming and going so I won't be noticed."
"Sounds good. We'll go back to Casa Grande and wait for Spencer and Deason to arrive. They should be in tonight and tomorrow we'll get them all out here to set up."
"Good deal. I have the monitors set up so we can keep an eye on the place until it's occupied full time. See you tomorrow then."
Russell and Erika had waited until after midnight before going to bed without having heard from Spencer and Deason. He looked at the time on his
phone when the call came - 0334. He swiped the answer button.
"Silent serpent."
"Ruby star nine," the caller replied.
He had never met Spencer or Deason but the code was right. The chances of being compromised at this point was remote.
"You guys all set?" Russell asked.
"Just checked in. We're gonna try to get a few hours of sleep if that's all right. We got caught in a traffic jam outside Phoenix,
big wreck."
"Go for it, give us a call when you're ready."
"The boys here?" Erika asked.
"Yeah, they got hung up in traffic. It'll probably be lunch time when we leave. Let's get another couple hours of shut-eye."
"Good idea," she said, repositioning her pillow and snuggling a little closer.
He felt guilty. Even the best-laid plans can go awry. What could go wrong with this one?
The random unforeseen element. One of the government guys doesn't act like they usually do. Sometimes one of them actually is kinda smart.
Not often, but...
He set the alarm for 0800 and tried to sleep.
By 0815 they were having Pop-Tarts and black coffee. Each bedroom had it's own bathroom and by 0900 they were both ready. Erika was wearing a
Clay Morrison T-shirt from a recent tour and jeans with worn and stained hiking boots.
"Trashy enough?" she asked.
Russell grinned.
"Close enough for government work," he replied. "I'd see through it though. Got an old baseball cap to complete the look?"
"I'll see what I can do."
"Cliff and Tommy are ready," Russell said. "They're at the Quality Inn on I-10. They've already checked out - we texted description of
our cars - they'll be waiting in the parking lot, just fire up and follow us."
Cliff and Tommy were in a thoroughly innocuous grey Toyota Camry that Russell guessed was about ten years old. It had Texas plates but it would shortly be
exchanged for one with Arizona tags and with a digital trail connecting it to the mandroid named Clifton. Spotting the car he drove slowly by and watched
as it left its parking space and followed them.
Steve, Spencer and Barrett were already at the house when they arrived. Introductions were made and they got down to business. Steve had brought a computer
with a large monitor and inserted the USB stick Russell handed him. He clicked a link on the file list that appeared.
"Here's the essentials," Russell said. "Choose your aliases from the list - I'm Randy and Erika is Amber Lynn."
The others looked at each other for a few moments before Barrett said "I'll take one for the team - give me Sherman."
"C'mon man," Hayes said. "Not Tommy Lee?"
Barrett grinned. "It was close."
"Guess I'm Tommy Lee then," said Hayes, "unless one of you really wants it."
"I'll be Clifton," Brandon said looking at Aaron, "unless you want it."
"Nah, I'm good with Ricky," Hayes replied.
"OK guys," Russell said. "Your mandroids have a digital footprint going back several years, and in the past three or
so have gradually become more interesting to the regime. They have the usual Facebook accounts but use them
very little and most activity is innocuous with just an occasional hint of subversiveness. They have accounts
at IronPhalanx, inserted over the past year or so and are messaging each other regularly - the feds can't see
the messages without seizing the servers but they can see the guys talking about it. Once they know they're all
here and apparently planning something they should make contact.
"They generally set up accounts on the network the targets are using and make contact that way. We monitor the site
24/7 and archive all activity so we'll know when it happens. They deliberately choose people they believe are of
sub-par intelligence so that's the look you're shooting for. I'll be in here with you the whole time and Steve will
be in in Maricopa - your rentals in Maricopa and Casa Grande are being set up."
"So we have some time to practice," mandroid Barrett said. "We need to get comfortable with our identities.
I'm guessing none of us have ever done this."
"You're all virgins," Russell said. "I've only done a few, short projects, some just one or two actual meetings. What we need to
do is get into a routine, go over the recordings to see if there are any slipups. One advantage we have is that the feds expect us
to be deceptive and glitches may be ignored. They also expect us to be dumb, but we don't want to give them unnecessary red flags."
"OK then," Russell said, "we'll be working on our routines, hanging out in our rentals and meeting out here periodically, sometimes
all of us, sometimes just two or three, sometimes spending a night or two, mix it up. They should - and I'm giving them credit for
more smarts than they usually display - be watching us over in Maricopa and Casa Grande. And we'll be watching them, or at least
"This guy has got fed written all over him," Erika said. "Almost if he wants us to know."
"That would be scary,"said Russell , "if I thought that's what it is."
"Like they're trying to do to us what we're doing to them? Are they that smart?"
"I doubt it, but we can't be too careful. Thus far Ryan and I are his only contacts. We'll work with that
for a while."
They were using their mandroid names at all times. Once their targets made contact they wanted to be comfortable
with them, their real names for now forgotten.
"He says he's in Albequerque," Russell said, "so he could be in the office there or someone brought in - question
is which. Once we meet we can tail him and get an idea. I get the impression they're in a hurry to get something
going - that's likely to make them careless. He didn't wait to see what we're pissed about - Ryan and I were just
grousing about big government generally and he brings up Second Covenant. That hasn't been in the news since they
massacred most of them and locked the others up. He mentioned it twice in as many days."
"I haven't heard much," Erika replied, tapping some keys and clicking the mouse on the computer she was using. "Let's see
what the latest is."
"The last thing I saw was about a month ago," Russell said. "Some people in Phoenix - that's where they originated - were
having a demonstration, wanting prisoners released. Apparently there were a few members from well-off families."
"Yeah... I see it. There's a lawsuit, naturally. Seems some of the demonstrators were arrested for disorderly conduct,
that's about it."
"There's some traffic on some of the boards," Russell said, "occasionally someone brings it up, people talk about murdering
feds, but that's about. If it's visible enough they might decide to use it to set up some wannabe partisans. We'll see
where it goes, he's talked about a meeting. We'll talk a bit more before we set something up."
"He calls himself Snake," Ryan said. "His name on the Tektonix board anyway. He wants to be called that, nothing else. He has a
tattoo of a cobra on his left bicep, a sword with flames wrapped around the blade on his right forearm. Another snake on his right
forearm, wrapped around a spear or an arrow, I'm not sure which it's supposed to be."
"Real tattoos?" Russell asked.
"Hard to say, they've got some pretty good ones these days and if you're careful they work well. I'd guess fake, he isn't going to be
around us all the time and we wouldn't be seeing them all the time anyway - long sleeves fix that. I suspect he wanted me to see them -
he was wearing a shirt with the sleeves ripped off, it looked kind of fake."
"If he doesn't go sleeveless much," Russell said, "they probably are fake. Anyway he can reapply them whenever he wants."
"Yeah. I had a feeling he was putting on. Something to keep an eye on."
"What do we have on his base?" asked Russell.
"The Vultures tracked him to an apartment in Albequerque. They're checking on the rental history now."
"Cool," Russell said. "If that turns out to be his base we can have him under 24/7 right out of the box. When does he come out
to see your base?"
"He's ready now, like he's in a hurry."
"Like they have something in mind already. Wonder what it is."
"Him mentioning Second Covenant so much," Ryan said. "makes me think there's some connection."
"We looked into that," said Russell. "There was a demonstration a while back but that's about it. We'll check some more. What about we get him
out there, next day or two?"
"I'm good with that. Say when."
"OK, make contact and see of day after is good. Let me know."
Snake looked decent for a fed plant. Maybe a little young, Russell guessed him at early thirties trying to look older. The wardrobe was
pretty good, beatup cowboy boots and jeans that looked to have actually been banged around in for quite a while. The Coors T-shirt could be
considered a misstep but you couldn't expect them to get everything right. These guys had pretended to be neo-Nazis wearing knakis and polo
shirts. He dropped a cigarette on the ground and ground it out as they approached.
"Snake, I'm Randy, he's Sherman," Russell said.
"Ready when you are," Snake replied.
"We're out of town a few miles," said Russell. "Your ride here?"
"Grey Dodge over there," Snake replied. "Lead on."
Russell started the Jeep and drove towards the exit of the parking lot, checking the mirror to
make sure Snake was with them. Arriving at the base Snake parked beside them in the driveway.
"We rented this place cheap," Russell said. "It was a wreck and we get a good discount for
fixing it up - just pay for the utilities. It'll take longer to finish the work we're supposed to
be doing than we need."
"How long is that?" Snake asked.
"A few months," Russell replied. "As long as it takes."
"To do what?"
"Retribution," Ryan replied.
"Against who?"
"People that kill women and children, got a problem with that?"
"Sounds good to me," Snake said. "There's a lot of women and children killers in the
government - you have any particular ones in mind?"
"I suspect you know," Russell said. "The Second Covenant massacre. My girlfriend - one of her
best friends since they were in school was there. She and her two kids, but I expect you know
about that already."
"I knew some of them," Snake replied. "I was there some, they seemed like nice folks. Didn't deserve
to die."
"What was your business with them?" asked Ryan.
"Couple of guys I know live up that way. I do some gunsmithing and have parts for a lot of guns.
I fixed a couple of things for them, sold them four old M1 carbines I had. They had some people
that liked them, wanted a few more. I had about, a little over a thousand rounds of ammo too, sold it
to them for just a little over what it cost me."
"They only wanted those for defense," Ryan said. "They were legal, no reason for the feds to go in there."
"I don't know why that happened," Snake said. "They seemed pretty sane to me. The stuff about drugs, child
molesting, I didn't see anything like that. I spent a couple of nights there."
Sonofabitch knows why," Russell thought. "He does a pretty good act though."
"They wanted something for TV," Ryan said. "The governor had an election coming up and wanted to prove she was
tough on what she called white supremacists Nazis. A joint operation with the feds, arrest a bunch of people.
They were supposedly some funny religion that kept to themselves."
"It was pretty dirty," Snake said. "Damn feds just want to kill people, they know they can get away with it. Use things
like that for training."
"That's pretty sick," Russell said.
"Somebody needs to pay," said Ryan. "And somebody's going to."
"How do you plan on doing that?" Snake asked.
"Start at home," Russell replied. "With the governor. Send a message to other governors, or the next one here. Don't be a stooge for
the feds."
"I can see that," said Snake. "In fact I agree. What should happen to her?"
"She should die," Ryan interjected. "But that's just me."
"They got innocent people killed," Russell said. "They didn't care, they were nobodies. Yeah, someone should pay
up."
"Assassinate the governor?" asked Snake. "That probably wouldn't be hard for one or two guys I know."
"Guys like you?"
Russell watched his reaction. The guy was pretty cool.
"You want someone killed," Snake replied, "there are always ways. For a governor, unless it's New York or California. The security
isn't that much. A sniper would be the easiest way but there are other ways."
Go ahead Ryan.
"Somebody shoots the governor," Ryan said, "who knows why? Even if we make an announcement we did it. They could deny it. Or admit it and
use it as an excuse to go after someone else."
"True," Snake said.
"They need to be made afraid," Russell said. "There were state police involved, a couple of big dogs couldn't wait to get in
front of the cameras and brag about their part."
"That makes sense," said Snake. "It's what I was thinking. Something I didn't tell you - while I was there there was a guy that did
gunsmithing, we talked a lot. He had a wife and kid. I found out later they both died in that big fire, the fire the feds started."
Pretty sure he made that up just now. Or maybe he had it ready.
"The state police supplied the APCs they used," Snake continued. "The flamethrowers and gas."
"We should go after the ones in charge," Russell said. "Sure, the regular cops are probably mostly dirtbags as far as we're concerned
but they were lied to."
"I'd say you're right," said Snake. "You said there were several of you. Are you all in agreement about objectives?"
"Pretty much," Russell replied. "There's three other guys, they should be in tomorrow. You can talk to them then."
"Vino?" Erika asked, holding up a bottle.
"Call that wine?" Russell asked. "Yeah, we probably should take it easy while this is going on."
Erika poured two glasses of Arbor Mist and came around the kitchen counter into the living room. The apartment in Casa Grande
was their primary base, the one in Maricopa was more likely to be a target for surveillance.
A small table held a couple of computers and some other gear, including the hotspots they used to bypass regular Internet channels.
Erika set the wine on the table and sat down.
"How's it going?" she asked.
"Ricky, Clifton and Tommy will be in tomorrow," Russell replied. "We'll get them set up and comfortable before we meet with Snake again.
I told him it would be a couple of days - we'll want it to be clean, simple. The simpler the less chances of him getting spooked. You
can come out before Snake and get familiar with it. We'll work you in a little later."
"What's your impression of Snake?"
"I'd say about average. FBI, government generally, don't attract the best and brightest and they purged the ones that were there
long ago. The guys there now are about average but you have to remember dumb people can be cunning and crafty. We'll be recording
24/7 as a matter of course but we'll need to go over the sessions carefully, look for any possible slips."
"If Snake is the only guy they put in he'll be easier to handle," Erika said, "but they like to recruit infiltrators. And they might be
smart enough to bring in someone we don't know."
"Yeah. Or maybe someone they think we don't know. We'll have to see how that goes but we may have it covered."
"Someone they think?" Erika asked. "Let me guess...."
"We've got a half dozen casual other engagements with this dude," Russell said. "In addition to the five or us. Not even connected with a physical
person but if necessary we have one or two that can step in. From what I've seen just about every connection this guy has made is one one of ours - there's
about three or maybe four I can't account for. Chances are if he does that he'll hit one of ours."
"How likely are they to bring in other agents?"
"At this point I'd guess fifty-fifty. Maybe a little more towards doing it."
"One or more?" Erika asked. "They've been known to have a handler for each pigeon, although that was a pretty
weird case in Oregon."
"Yeah. One thing they don't have is manpower like they did then, and those guys were so erratic they were a handful. We'll
give them the impression of five guys that are all so in the tank they can be herded like sheep. And there's a temptation for
this guy to try to do it solo, get all the attention."
"Let's hope he does - that will make it simpler."
"Ricky, Clifton, Tommy," Russell said, nodding towards each one in turn. "Ryan, you already know Ricky and Tommy. Guys, this is Snake.
He's interested in getting in on some action."
"How do we know he's not a Fed?" Tommy asked. Russell watched Snake's reaction closely.
Not bad.
"You don't," Snake replied. "I understand that. How about we talk some?"
"Sounds good to me," Tommy replied. "How about you guys?"
"I say let's talk some," Ricky said. "We've been talking to him all along and agreed to meet. If
he's a fed there's plenty of places out here to dispose of the body."
Snake laughed.
"That's for sure. Look, you guys - we - were talking about doing something to get the attention of
the regime. Hurt them some. Nobody thinks we're gonna win the war all by ourselves, but anything we
can do helps. Besides some people need to pay."
"What's your plan for making them pay?" Tommy asked. "And who pays? The governor? The state police?
The feds?"
"Ideally all of them," Snake replied. "But we can't have everything at once. What can we do, realistically?
And I don't figure on going to prison or getting killed - either one."
"You were talking about Second Covenant," Russell said. "I know you said you knew someone there. So did I.
Is that why?"
"Pretty much," Snake replied. "But even if I hadn't known any of them the whole thing pissed me off. They're not going to stop
until they start paying."
"If we go after the governor, the state police, even the FBI," Russell said, "whoever we take out will be replaced by someone who'll do
the same thing. How do you get the rank and file cops to refuse to do these operations?"
Let's see how he handles this one.
"Go after the regular guys?" Snake asked. "I suppose you could but finding them, and the ones most responsible, would be hard. Maybe making
an example of some would be a good idea. But still the ones at the top need to pay."
"I agree," Russell said. "How about you guys?"
Consent was unanimous, as planned.
"You want to do the governor?" Snake asked. "Do her how? A simple sniper job? Blow up her car?"
Looking good. Let's play along.
"That would be a big show," Ryan said.
"Not as easy as just having someone shoot her," Snake said, "but like you said, spectacular."
"Harder to do though," Tommy said. "Probably a lot harder."
"It's doable if you know the right people," Snake said.
"You know some right people?" Ryan asked.
"I know a lot of people," Snake replied. "Different types, some ex-military types. Know about explosives."
"Car bomb?" Clifton asked.
"That would be one way," Snake replied. "Other ways... you could put one where her car would run over it. She's driven everywhere
by a state trooper, with a two-car escort - one in front and one following. Each escort carries four troopers armed with HK UMPs
in .40 Smith."
"What's a UMP?" asked Tommy.
"Submachine gun," Snake replied. "The governor's security detail and one SWAT team, and some CID types are the only ones that have them."
"You seem to know a good bit about police hardware," Russell said.
"I do," Snake replied. "I know a lot about guns generally, it's my main source of income. Some guys that are into guns talk about them a lot.
I listen to them talk. When the governor was elected two years ago she wanted a lot of fancy new stuff for the state police. Seems some guy on
her staff figures he knows a lot, recommended all kinds of stuff and got most of it."
This guy could fool someone that hadn't already made him.
"She travels in a three car convoy," Clifton said, "with guards with automatic weapons. Attacking that would be
suicidal."
"You could say that," Snake replied.
"How would you get her car to drive over a bomb?" Ryan asked.
"I have an idea or two," said Snake. "We'd have to do a good bit of surveillance to see if it
can be done."
"That seemed go pretty well," Erika said. "What do you think?"
"Let's go over the recordings," Russell replied. "See if anyone made any mistakes."
"Pizza's ready," Erika said. "Let me get it out."
Russell took a jug of Jim Beam and poured three fingers into each of two highball glasses. Another four fingers of Coke and some ice.
He took them over to the table with three large monitors.
They each took a swig of Beam and Coke before beginning on the pizza. Afterwwards they refilled their glasses and lit cigarillos before turning their attention to the recordings.
"I don't see any glaring errors," Erika said after they finished. "I watched it live and didn't flinch at anything."
"Nah," said Russell, "it went pretty well. I believe we'll see what Snake does. He pretty well left us expecting him to come
up with something. I got the idea he may be in something of a hurry."
"Something the regime has in mind?"
"Maybe. Or it may be him. Wanting to make his bones."
"Which do you think it is?"
"We'll have watch him some more," Russell replied. "Where did he go after our meeting?"
Erika indicated a point on another screen.
"A place in Maricopa, an apartment in a working-class area. We're running down the history now."
"That suggests he's isolating himself," Russell said. "Being careful. We need him under 24/7 surveillance. If he's grandstanding,
wants to pull this off alone, he probably won't have much contact there but there may be some."
"Right," said Erika. "Steve has a couple of guys on it."
"I have an idea of how he may proceed," Russell said. "If he does it will make our job easier."
"What's that?"
"He mentioned planting a bomb. For the governor's car. If he does what I think he might this should work out
nicely."
"A Popeye?" asked Erika.
"Possibly. They know about it and can guess how it works. We're the only ones who've used it."
"You think they've produced working copies?"
"Hard to say but I'd guess yes. In any case they don't need to - in fact they wouldn't want a
functional one."
"Yeah," Erika said.
"All he needs to do is get us talking about it, describing how it works, the materials. Conspiracy is what they're looking
for."
"So at some point he gets you all together to make the bomb. He even brings the materials, or some of them. Or what he says
are. And then notifies his superiors the gang is ready to bust. Usually they way they do it."
"Right. I like it. Let's see how close we are."
"Hi guys."
Erika stood in the suddenly opened front door. Russell and all of the mandroids except Tommy Lee were sitting in the living room drinking beer.
"Guys, this is Erika," Russell said, getting up. Going over to Erika he put his arm around her waist and kissed her.
"She's cool with everything," he said to Snake. "I trust her with my life."
"Good enough for me," Snake replied.
Erika was wearing another Clay Morrison T-shirt, this one from the most recent tour. Morrison was one guy the
regime would like to take down but he was too popular just now. His concerts were often attended by large numbers
of young men who were scary-looking enough that the feds would be careful in how they handled them. Russell had little
doubt the regime was trying even now to infiltrate a group of them, or perhaps create a fake group of their own, a common
technique. It was a nice touch though.
"I like what you've done with the place," Erika said. "I'm on my way to Maricopa. You need anything? More beer?"
"We could use a pizza delivery," Russell said. "I doubt anybody'll come out here."
"I can grab some in Coolidge and bring it back," Erika replied. "Can you wait that long?"
"Sure babe," Russell said. He pulled a folded sheaf of C-notes out of a pocket and peeled off several. "Here ya go.
You guys got any special requests?"
"Pizza's pizza," Sherman laughed. "Couple more beers we won't know the difference."
That got a general laugh. Erika stuffed the bills in a back pocket of her jeans.
"I'll bring some more beer too," she said. "Be back in a few."
"Let me show you something," Snake said after she left.
He took a folded paper out of a pocket and spread it on the coffee table.
"That's a crude diagram," he said, "but it's a crude device. Simple and easy to make."
They all leaned forward to look.
"What is it?" mandroid Beaton asked.
"A pizza box filled with C4," Snake replied. "Actually a section of steel pipe with a sheet of steel on one side.
Easy to make, you don't even have to be a decent welder."
"I'm a good welder," mandroid Barrett said.
"All you have to to is attach it," Snake said. "Tack weld it so it doesn't fall apart while you're handling it.
Put a layer of C4 in it, a layer of thermite on top."
"Where do we get C4 and thermite?" Barrett asked.
"Thermite you can make," Snake replied. "You can buy the components at Amazon. The C4 is fairly easy if you know the right people.
And I believe I do."
Bet he does," Russell thought. Not that it matters if he produces the real thing or not.
"How does it work?" mandroid Hayes asked.
"That's the fun part," Snake replied. "You get the target, in a car, somewhere you can slide one of these babies under it.
City traffic, catch the limo in line at a traffic light, whatever. Guy on a bike slides up alongside and throws this thing
under and skedaddles. Get a few seconds away and press the detonator button - or have someone nearby to do it."
"What happens then?" Barrett asked.
"The C4 goes off," Snake replied. "This configuration will blow a car to hell and gone. The thermite gets sprayed over the
inside of the mess. More for effect than anything else."
He's exaggerating, but plausible. And to rubes like us...
"Anybody in the car is toast?" asked Hayes.
"Pretty much."
"I like it," Russell said. "Who's the bikers? Ricky, Clif?"
"Looks good to me," Aaron replied.
"I'm good with it," Brandon said.
"I can get the C4," Snake said. "It may take a while, a week or so. The rest is simple.
I know how to make the thermite. It's more for effect anyway. If you want to go this way
I'll get the ball rolling."
"What do you think?" Russell asked. "I'll see Tommy tomorrow or the next day, update him."
Look at each other for a bit, like they're thinking.
"Looks good to me," Ryan said.
"Same here," said Aaron.
"Go ahead," Russell said. "When do you want to meet again?"
"Let's say Friday," Snake replied.
Russell poured four fingers of Wild Turkey into each of two glasses and added five fingers of Coke, then added ice. He took the glasses over to
the cocktail table.
"How does it look?" Erika asked.
"Good," Russell replied. "I'd guess our pigeon is eager. He offered to get us some C4 to make an IED."
"Already?"
"As I said, he seems eager. These guys aren't the best and brightest - just the best and brightest of those who are
willing to be minions. He's reasonably intelligent, but not smart."
"What happens next?"
"We'll see," Russell replied. "What do we have on him?"
"He went back to his place in Maricopa. No visitors so far, as of an hour ago."
"He probably won't have any visitors, at least not right away. He may not have any meetings there, even if
he doesn't suspect we're keeping tabs on him."
"True," Erika said. "They're pretty confident."
"No one has ever done what we're about to to," said Russell. "Should be interesting to see how they act after this."
"I can't wait," Erika said.
That smile... would seem sinister under the circumstances but she probably hates them more than I do.
"We'll see what he comes up with," Russell said. "They usually get aggressive, believing it's an easy mark.
From experience I'd expect him to take the lead. We follow along, he sets the stage - get us at the site with the
materials - and bring in a squad to arrest us. With the local news outlets there to report it."
"From the videos I'd say you guys looked suitably churlish."
"Churlish? I like that."
"You didn't give anything away," said Erika. "A pretty good performance."
"I am a country boy," Russell said. "All of us are pretty small-town. If we didn't
slip any so far we should be good - let me know if we do."
"Will do."
Russell took out a small cigar case.
"Smoke?"
Erika took one and they lit up.
"Nice," Erika said. "Where'd you get these?"
"Alex sent a care package up from Mayakoba. Cherry vanilla, kinda hard to find anywhere at any price."
"That's for sure. When's he going to be back?"
"Probably next week. One of the parties is having some logistics problems."
"This guy," Erika said, "you've only had a couple of meetings - he's already offering to get you C4. He even suggested
the way to make a bomb. Surely they're not that ignorant - I don't know whether I want them to be or not."
"That's the risk," Russell replied. "Can they really be that stupid? A stupid adversary is dangerous because they could up and
do any dumbass thing, the last thing you'd expect."
"Yeah, what I was thinking."
"We have to be extra careful," Russell said. "And vigilant. Keep eyes on these guys good, know what they're doing. I hope it is
just the usual dumbassery but you never can be sure."
"He may peg you as the leader, give you some extra scrutiny."
"Yeah, I actually want him to. If they put tails on us I'll be the first to get one."
"Good idea."
"I'm about ready for bed," Russell said.
Erika grinned.
"About time. I was beginning to worry about you."
His hands cuffed behind him, manacles on his legs forced him to a shuffling walk. Two men in front, he knew the other two
were behind him. The light was dim. In an elevator, then out into a corridor. Big doors, into a room lined with pews,
big desk on a podium, flags. Courtroom.
The black-robed judge was there, more cops. Walking up towards the judge. Suddenly the courtroom exploded into a cacophony
of noise and flashes of light, the sound of gunfire and explosions. Masked men in black were moving around him...
"Fuck!"
He jerked awake. Erika was already awake, leaning on an elbow watching him.
"You all right?" she asked.
"Yeah. Bad dream."
"You were restless. Thinking about the operation?"
"Probably. A dream, I was in a courtroom, judge about to send me away. They came close to nailing me in Illinois.
If they'd gotten me into a cell..."
"But they didn't," Erika said.
"I knew if the cuffs went on I was done," said Russell. "I had no choice."
"They chose sides," Erika replied. "The wrong side."
"Back then they probably didn't know," Russell said. "Just serving a warrant. The fact that they
were delivering me to the executioner, they didn't know."
"They were on notice," Erika said. "Had been for months, not to mess with us."
"Yeah, just following orders. Those guys probably weren't mad dog killers, just cops doing their job.
Arresting people so they could be killed privately. No, what gives me bad dreams is they almost got me.
If they'd gotten me in cuffs, locked up, I'd still be there. If I was still alive. We need to get going."
Two U.S. Marshals dead in a hotel lobby, two more lucky to be alive. Russell had abandoned his real identity
and now his mandroid was an alias for another artificial person. He had gotten used to it and had thought of himself
as Russell Peterson for so long the other him was hard to visualize.
The real me no longer exists and the fake me is pretending to be yet another fake person. That's somehow funny,
or something.
"Since we're awake," he said, "might as well get going. What time it it?"
The clock on the nightstand indicated it was 0536.
Erika slid off the bed and stood up, picked up a robe and put it on.
"I'll make some coffee," she said. "Take a few minutes if you need to."
A second cup and a cigar was calming. He and Erika reviewed the status reports.
"Your Snake seems to be pretty independent," she said. "He isn't making any contacts in the local area,
unless he's fiendishly clever. He's at HQ when he's not here in Maricopa."
"With any luck he thinks we're pretty dumb," Russell said. "In which case he may just move on with getting us
to start planning the operation. If he thought he was being really smart he'd try to get someone wearing a wire
to join us. I still expect it."
"It should be soon if he does," said Erika. "He seems eager to get it going."
"Yep. He does. That will add some time. But I've got a feeling he will."
"You guys know anyone named Dennis Harper?"
All five were present, each artistically looked at the others and a couple shrugged.
"He's got a beef with the feds," Snake said. "You remember Craig Thomas?"
More looks.
"Guy out in Colorado," Russell said after a moment. "FBI killed him. Old cripple."
"Right." Snake said. "His grandson lives in Phoenix. The old man was like a father to him
when he was a kid. A harmless old man who said some stupid stuff, they sent an FBI team out there
to kill him just to show they could."
"Yeah, I remember," Sherman said. "Saw him on TV."
"He's SolomonCain on Tektonix," said Snake. "You may have seen him or talked to him."
"That sounds familiar," Clifton said. "I remember some people talking about it."
I haven't told the guys yet he's one of us. Let's let this play out and see.
"He would like a chance to strike a blow," Snake said. "Against anyone available. He knows
what they did at the Second Covenant affair."
"I remember," Aaron said. "He talked about his brother-in-law. You guys want to talk to him?"
Russell was watching Snake - he was playing it pretty cool.
"We could talk to him," said Tommy Lee.
"If you want I'll tell him to come down," Snake said
"I'm good if you guys are," Russell said. Nods and OKs all around. "Have him come down."
"I know that grin," Erika said. "I'll get you a drink and you can spill it."
Russell had just returned from the meeting. He sat down at the table with the computers and waited as Erika
went into the kitchen. She returned shortly with two glasses.
"There you go," she said. "Let's have it."
"Looks like our man is in," Russell said.
"Dennis Harper?"
"Yep. Name is Jackson Miller, there's his dossier."
Erika clicked the link and read the file.
"You figure Snake is going to wire him?" she asked.
"Miller has been setting up for that sort of thing. We had five fake accounts fishing for something
like this. Miller will adopt the Harper identity, get himself recruited as an informer."
"Snake will try to turn him?"
"Already is, look at the next file."
"We're two steps ahead," Erika said.
"Pretty much. I don't know yet how Snake will be handling him. If he just
tells him to show up - and we'll know if he does - it will be pretty easy.
If he's half smart he'll have him under surveillance the whole time. We'll
have to set up a way to communicate."
"The web is becoming tangled," Erika said. "The spider has to be careful."
"Indeed we do. But we know who and where all the pieces are. When he chose one
of our guys as his mole that makes that part of it easier."
"Snake is going to have him come see us?"
"Yeah. I'm in contact with Dennis, he's expecting it."
"Cool. This should get interesting soon."
"All right guys, Snake is coming over introduce you, Jackson. I want you guys to
be comfortable."
Jackson Miller had joined the other conspirators and Russell was briefing them.
"You all are up to date on his story," Russell said. "Snake may be planning to use him as an
informant. You have the background, play along. Talk smack, say as little as possible of stuff that means
anything, keep up the appearance. They've been going over the videos of our meetings back in Amarillo
and all looks good - just keep it going with no slip-ups. Erika and I are talking to them every night,
if they see anything that doesn't look good they'll alert us.
"You've noticed he's been taking the lead. Let him think we're in the bag, follow along. Jackson,
you're going to be the focus now - if he's going to use you the way I believe he will you'll be a little
more involved but mainly he's probably gonna just want you to put on the wire. He'll caution you about
getting caught - we have the advantage of knowing it's there and not giving him any alerts.
"Day after tomorrow he'll bring you over, Jackson. Any questions?"
There were none. Russell reflected that that his bunch of amateurs might well be more competent than the
professionals. But that was often the case - partisans could be unpredictable. Anyway these guys had more
real-world experience and native smarts than ninety-five percent of government goons.
It's that five percent you got to watch out for.
"Snake sure isn't doing any business outside the office aside from us," Erika said, "unless it's over lunch.
"He goes to Albertsons on Tatum about once a week, a deli a couple of blocks from the federal building, and
gets gas at the Exxon on Union Hills. Whenever he goes out for lunch he's with guys that look like they're
FBI types - government types anyway. Doesn't go to bars, just to home after work."
"Same when he's in Maricopa," said Russell. "He comes over in the morning, goes to meet with us, spends the
night and goes back to Phoenix. That's good - I'll be worried if he's meeting with people we can't ID.
If he thinks he's got his pigeon in Jackson he'll probably plunge ahead. I hope that's what he does."
"That's been the M.O. on the others," Erika said. "I guess if something is working you stick with it."
"Yeah. Wonder what'll happen after this one. He said he wants to meet tomorrow night, I'd like you to be there.
Drop in and deliver pizza and beer again, distract him a little. And put another tracker on his car."
"He lose the other one?"
"No, it's still there. Malfunctioning, dropping the signal. I need to see if the other one is just damaged by accident or if
it's been tampered with. There's always a chance they'll be detected - even on a car like the one he's using. If it was a
regular agency car it would be checked regularly - this one is one they picked up locally. It was registered and licensed
three months ago - we traced it to the Auto Outlet over on John Wayne. Buyer paid cash, salesman said he looked dodgy.
"You can scope out the setup when you arrive, see where he's parked. The tracker is in the usual place. Replace it and bring
the original one back."
"Got it. Want me to be extra sexy?"
"Nah, don't get him too distracted. Just the jeans and T-shirt deal. Maybe a Gadsden shirt, or a Pepe."
"How about a Gadsden shirt with a Pepe pin?"
"I like it. A big one."
"I've got a Pepe baseball cap."
"Even better - he might miss a pin. OK, you'll have your monitor on the inside mikes - when you hear Snake talking is
a good time to move on the car
"Okey-dokey. Anything else?"
"Nothing I can think of just now. If I think of anything, or you do, we'll talk about it."
"You bringing the pizza tonight?" Sherman asked as Snake entered carrying a large Domino's box.
"Nah, something else," Snake replied. He set the box on the table they usually sat around.
"Something special." He opened the box.
Inside was a large round steel plate with a rim around it.
"What's in there?" Ricky asked.
"In a real bomb that stuff will be C4," Snake replied. "The plate is quarter inch steel. This depends on getting
someone close to where the target car is, ideally stopped in traffic. It happens often enough that we've got a
good shot at it. You get a man close enough to slide the box under the car and split, as soon as he's clear the
guy with the detonator blows it. It'll gut the car, whoever is inside is toast. If you can find a car to test it
on I'll show you."
Won't actually work, but he doesn't intend to actually do it. Just record us talking about it. There's his conspiracy.
Russell was the leader and took the lead.
"How do we get her where we want her?" he asked.
"We'll have to know when she's in a good place," Snake replied. "Her activities are public knowledge, any time she's going
somewhere for something - and she does that a lot - we case the route, look for opportunities. It may take a while but she
runs around so much doing photo ops we'll have plenty of chances to get the routine down."
"Just about have to be in city traffic to work that way," Russell said. "We should look at what opportunities are available
locally, locally as in Phoenix."
"There'll be plenty of those," Snake said. He turned to the computer on the table and opened a browser window.
"This site here," he said, clicking on link, "has her schedule for the next month. They keep it updated daily so we've
always got a look at where she's gonna be on each day. You guys ever go to Phoenix?"
Various responses, mostly amounting to occasionally, know the area generally.
"I got a girlfriend or two there," Snake said. "So I'm up there often. Tell you what, why don't we go up there and spend
a couple of days..."
Erika entered with several pizza boxes.
"Beer's in the car," she said, and Tommy Lee and Ricky got up and went outside.
Right on time.
Russell watched Snake as Snake watched Erika. Erika had made it obvious that she was in a relationship
with him, and Snake seemed to be undertain as to how deeply she was involved. She never stuck around and
joined in or even sat and listened. He was giving her a thorough scan though, and not just one of lust.
He was pretty sharp on observation.
Erika is giving him the idea she's just a bimbo infatuated with a bad boy, and she's doing it well. But
he's gotta figure from the political attire she's somewhat involved, if only emotionally.
Tommy Lee and Ricky came in with the beer and put it in the refrigerator.
"Gotta go," Erika said. "I have to go over to Florence tomorrow morning, to talk to someone about a job."
"Bank job?" Russell asked.
"No silly," she replied. "Job job. You know Sarah, from high school. She works for a clinic there, they need a
transcriptionist. I'm thinking about going back to work part time, to stay in practice."
"Doesn't pay as well as robbing banks," Russell said, "but nothing wrong with a real job if you can't to that."
"See ya later," she said, and went out.
They opened the pizzas and began eating. Erika had given him the signal indicating that the tracker replacement should
be a piece of cake.
Snake is close to getting what he wants, the trip to Phoenix should be the clincher. If he's got Jackson to wear a wire
by then.
Miller hadn't yet been been approached, and Snake hadn't dropped any clues that he was not just another militia wannabe.
Russell suspected he would do so before the trip to Phoenix.
"OK," Snake said after they finished eating. "We want to put this box under the governor's limo while it's stopped in
traffic. At least that's where we start."
Sure. He's got a wire on now. Whatever it records can be edited later, leaving him out wherever necessary.
"So how do we get her where we want her?" Clifton asked
"That's what we have to figure out," Snake replied. "We need to scout the routes she's likely to use in the next few
weeks, the ones we know about."
"What about outside of Phoenix?" Russell asked.
"Not as many opportunities," Snake replied. "But something to look at. For now we have several possibilities locally."
"Got it," Russell said. "What do we have?"
"I don't believe the tracker had been removed," Erika said. "It was covered with dirt like that, as if it hadn't been touched since
it was put there."
"That's good," Russell replied. "These things can be touchy, and bouncing around on the underside of a car doesn't help. It may be that
he was in some places that interfered with the signal. Maybe somewhere he went - I'll have Steve analyze his movements. Let's see what
happens with this one."
"What does Snake have planned?" asked Erika.
"He wants to go to Phoenix Thursday. Him and me and a couple of the guys in one car and the others in another. Go around and case
some places. Jackson said Snake came over to where he's staying, wanted to talk. From the conversation I'd say he's preparing to try
to turn him."
"What did they talk about?"
"There's the transcript," Russell replied, moving the mouse and clicking. He waited as she read it.
"I'd call that an overture," she said. "He has no idea we're recording everything."
"Nope. They don't think that way, about us anyway. They figure were a bunch of rubes."
"We'll see if that changes," Erika said. "What do you expect?"
"Hard to say. If they're smart they'll immediately stop these operations, at least done this way.
Which we want. How they'll retaliate is impossible to predict."
"They'll have an interesting problem," said Erika. "Not knowing what happened. Who do they retaliate against?"
"Yeah. Probably some will want them to do something, quickly, whether or not they know who was responsible. Just make an example of
someone. There are probably still some with some sense who won't go for that - they want to know what happened and
how, so they can go after the threat."
"Who do you think will win?"
"Probably the hotheads," Russell replied. "The decent people in those agencies are long gone and the ones that had
good sense are mostly gone as well. They'll choose some soft target and whack it, have press conferences, maybe
drag some survivors in for show trials."
"More innocent people will get killed."
Russell looked over at her - she had a pensive expression.
Yeah. Me too.
"Innocent people have been killed, are being killed," Russell said. "We've already put the word out - elevated threat. We have contact with almost every organization of
any size that isn't affiliated with us, even little groups of a half dozen. Everyone will have the word to be ready for something like that. If they try anything they'll most
likely get either an empty net or another nasty surprise. The ones that just want to be left alone will go to ground and disappear for a while."
"That's good. By now most people are so far underground they'll be hard to find."
"They can always attack one of the fake groups they set up," Russell said. "I wouldn't put it past them."
"The Ducks?" Erika said. "Hard to feel any sympathy for them."
The Ducks was the generic name for the groups used in demonstrations for news media consumption and for false flag attacks. Most of them were
actual agents and the rest were willing participants. If some of them got whacked by their employer it would be no less than what they deserved.
"We have to be ready for anything," Russell said. "The problem with a deranged enemy is you can't reliably predict what they will do."
"He's doing it."
Erika set down two cups of black coffee and a plate with a couple of frosted cherry Pop-Tarts and looked at the screen.
"Moving on Jackson?" she asked.
"Yep. Thought he was being slick - yesterday he got Jackson to meet him in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Showed him dossiers on
me, Sherman and Tommy Lee. We're dangerous, done time for assault, attempted murder, child pornography, drug trafficking.
Suspected in a couple of murders. He wants to put us away before we do something really big."
"Dossiers on people who don't exist?" Erika laughed.
"He thought Jackson didn't know us," Russell said. "Had no idea we're all part of it."
"Jackson must have had trouble keeping a straight face," said Erika.
"That's why I picked him. He did undercover work with the St. Louis police, Missouri DPS. He's good."
"Snake showed him his badge and told him he was a fed?"
"Yep. To be fair our setup is pretty airtight. You'd have to get physical custody of one us
to prove they're someone else. Some of us may have fingerprints on file somewhere, some don't.
And you'd have to be suspicious to do that. When all the data is in the right place and it all
jibes most people just accept it as real. And our mandroids are solid - as long as doesn't get
caught... and even then it's just the one."
"What does he want? Wear a recording device?"
"For now. He'll want Jackson in the car with him when we go to Phoenix."
"In the car with him and you."
"Right. And he has no idea of he setup while we know everything."
Erika's smile was tempered with.... something...
There's a lot of things that can go wrong. Have I got them covered?
"I'll be careful," he said. "Steve and a team will be covering us. If it somehow gets
blown..."
"Snake is one body that will never be found," Erika said. No smile now.
We didn't ask for this. She knows it but it bothers her.
Russell put a hand over hers, leaned over and kissed her lightly.
"I get it," she said. "I wish we were somewhere... somewhere where it isn't like this. But
I know there is no such place and there won't be if someone doesn't do something."
"Who is Myles?"
Russell looked up. Erika was reading something on her screen.
"I think this is for you," she said, sliding and clicking her mouse. Russell looked at his screen as a message box appeared and read it.
"Myles Fletcher," Russell said. "You wouldn't have met him - he's with Alcerias."
"Who is that?"
"An organization we know very little about. About a year ago they made contact with the folks at Citadel. We've
done some joint operations - they're a shadowy bunch. Shivarrian believes they're connected with Atlantis."
"Atlantis? What's their interest in us?" Erika asked.
"Your guess is as good as mine. All we know is that a bunch of people who think that Atlantis is going to reappear
have collected a huge fleet of ships out in the north Atlantic, presumably where they expect it to appear. They're
mostly Americans, so there might be some connections there."
"You said we did some operations together. What was that about?"
"You and I don't need to know."
"But you do. You know all kinds of stuff you're not supposed to."
"About this I only know - or suspect - that there's a fairly large operation probably connected with the Atlantis
people. The idea sounds crazy but I've learned not to dismiss anything even if it involves some people that may
be out there a ways. Alex is as sane as anyone I've ever met. He's in my private files."
"Here?" Erika moved her mouse around, clicked. Russell waited as she read.
"Myles Allan Fletcher, thirty-something. Five-nine, about 160, dark blonde hair, beard short and neat. Athletic.
Military experience, probably US Air Force. Good with weapons and unarmed combat. This is pretty vague."
"Read on." Russell took a sip of Turkey and Coke.
"Where did you get this?" Erika asked after a while.
"The first part is some notes I made after meeting him during the operation. I was interested - and
impessed - enough to do some discreet digging."
"Age thirty-three. Has a sister three years younger and apparently is the closest thing he has to a significant other.
That's weird. Visits her whenever he has downtime, she is unaware of his activities but knows or suspects he does something dangerous
because he has a lot of weapons around and disappears frequently and doesn't talk about what he does.
"Both of them have other lovers, some of hers are women. He doesn't..."
"As far as is known he's completely normal in that respect," Russell replied. "Men and women are different, and... what do you
think about it?"
"I know... I believe it is possible for a woman to... what.. hell, stop laughing."
"I've never seen you at a loss for words."
"As long as he's normal I'm good with it," she said, looking back at the screen.
"Parents died when they were young, mother anyway at thirty-eight. Father died four years
later in a plane crash. Was he a pilot?"
"He was flying the aircraft, alone," Russell replied. "Whether it was his profession I don't know.
I still get bits of info in now and then."
"I suppose losing their parents could have brought them closer together," Erika said. "Depending on their
environment... sibling... relationships sometimes happen. The ones I know about were kids who didn't have
a close bond with their parents - wealthy families where the parents were distracted or just didn't keep a
tight rein. I figured once they were grown and out of the house they stopped naturally. Or not. Still,
I guess I find banging your sister weird."
"Their family was wealthy," Russell said. "Quite. Myles and Sarah were young idle rich kids. Myles got into
flight training in the Air Force, got out when his commitment was up and worked for some charter companies.
Flies several different corporate jets. Or did, I don't know if that's his main job now.
"You ever think on it much? I mean just having the thought come into your head and you analyzed it?"
"Stop being cute," Erika replied. "Of course I have. Who doesn't? Did you ever think about banging your sisters?"
"In the way I just described - analytically - of course. As you said, who doesn't? But my hot sisters had hot girlfriends I lusted after once I
was old enough. How about... sorry."
Her brother... dammit...
"I worshipped Kyle," Erika said. "I never thought of him as anything but my big brother. We need to get ready
for Snake's tour tomorrow. Or did Myles' message have something to do with it?"
I hurt her, dammit. Make her think of her brother, knowing how close how they were. Still hurts, she just does't show it.
"He wants to see me," Russell replied. "Didn't say why but whatever it is is probably important. Let me message him."
"I'm going to show you a few places that might be good," Snake said. "Take notes if you need to, take pictures discreetly. We don't want to attract
attention."
Sure we don't. They'll have extra cameras at the places we look at.
"Dennis, I'd like for you to ride up front with me. Russell ann one of the other guys in back. Sound OK?"
Russell?"
Russell nodded.
"Sure. Cliff, wanna go with us?
Clifton nodded.
"OK, follow me. We won't need to talk much but we'll use these radios. Any questions?"
There were none and they got underway.
First up was a drive around the capitol grounds. Snake explained that the governor would be leaving and entering
the grounds frequently. She arrived in the morning and left late in the evening in a black Cadillac Escalade, a
stretch job from a company in California. It was not easy to distinguish from a regular high-end Escalade. Snake
had showed them photos.
"We may or may not see it," he said. "When she's going somewhere or returning from somewhere is the only sure way.
What we want to do is find out when she's going to some event where we can case the route and set up the hit."
They spent several hours driving around while Snake pointed described them and the possibility of the governor visiting
one of them at an opportune time.
"Mafia dudes whack each other at restaurants a lot," Russell commented. "Any chance of that?"
"She rarely goes out to eat during the day unless it's with guests," Snake replied. "She's likely to have one or more
in the car. We want her alone, or at least with no one other than staff, and the driver and security personnel, in the
car."
There would be one guard in the limo, the driver was also armed. The remainder of the security detail would be in cars
in front of and behind the governor's car.
"We might blow up her secretary or something?" Russell asked.
Snake shrugged.
"Anyone in there is part of the machine," he said. "Got a problem with that?"
"I don't," Russell replied. "We'll have to ask the other guys."
"Fair enough. We'll have to get everybody on the same page."
Before heading back to their base they had a late lunch at a dive bar on 16th Street. It was dark and noisy but Snake had a reserved room.
"Owner's a friend," he said. "We do a lot of business, mostly in here. The making arrangements part anyway."
That meant the place would be wired six ways from Sunday. There would be photos of all of them, the minimal disguise probably wouldn't
fool the enemy for long. The mandroid identity was their best protection - convinced of the existence of the artificial digital characters
they would engage in a long and fruitless search. In any case most of them were already fugitives and assuming that status was to be expected
at some point. And the place needed to be reported as a probably regime connection.
They drank beer and talked smack for a couple of hours and then headed back to base. It was after sunset when Snake left in his grey Dodge.
Russell suspected he would be busy for a while going through the treasure trove they had provided.
"What did Myles want?" Erika asked. They had finished their usual breakfast of Pop-Tarts and black coffee and had gone out on the back with a second cup.
Russell got his Backwoods cigar going before replying.
"He's coming out here. Says it's too important for anytihing but a face-to-face."
"That serious? Does he know what were in the middle of?"
"Dunno. Best guess is maybe."
She waited as Russell chewed on the cigar for a few seconds before continuing. The message had been a surprise if only because he and Myles had never communicated
outside of an operation they were both on. And Myles could have gotten that address from only a few sources.
"Must have been someone at Amarillo with the clearance to put him in touch. So likely either Sterling or Maddox. Sterling is heading up Blue Jade and that has some
super-secret stuff going on. Maybe Atlantis."
"So Myles," Erika said.
"Yeah, could be. If so I would have appreciated a heads-up. Tomorrow at the Coolidge airport."
"Coolidge? Yeah, makes sense, low-visibility."
"1400," Russell said. "Let's let the guys know we'll be gone most of the day. It's an old Army airfield, a few miles out of town. One of the runways is
a mile long, not much going on around there. An aircraft dropping off a passenger who gets into a car and disappears might be noticed if anyone was there
looking for it, but at this point it's extremely unlikely. In any case we'll drive him to a motel in Maricopa and check him in. He goes out and doesn't
come back - Steve will have someone check him out the next morning. We pick him up and bring him back here."
"Cool," Erika said. "Did you just think all that up?"
"Pretty much. Have to be able to think on your feet."
"Where does he stay?"
"Depends on his plans. I suspect he's prepared - he'll have credentials and credit cards that can't be traced to him. I don't know if they
have anything as sophisticated as our mandroids but they have their ways of getting things done."
"That should be him," Russell said as an aircraft descended towards the end of the runway a half mile away. "It may be the only flight today from
the looks of it."
They had been sitting in the car for close to an hour and there had been no aircraft activity and only one vehicle had arrived. It went to a big
hangar that was probably built during World War II. A couple dozen single engine and a handful of multi-engines were present
A King Air 260 rolled past and they waited as it taxied to the parking area. The door opened and a man descended the steps. He was carrying two
of what looked like B-4 bags and headed towards their car. They got out to meet him.
"Myles Fletcher, Erika Sommers," Russell said. "Erika, Myles."
Erika and Myles acknowledged the introduction with a nod - small talk was not something any of them were into.
Erika popped the trunk lid as they approached the car, Myles tossed bags in and closed it. He got in the back seat, Russell took the front passenger seat
and Erika drove.
"You have a place to stay," Russell asked.
"Yeah," Myles replied. "Harrahs. I've got reservations as Thomas Howard."
The guy had two of his nieces get their heads chopped off? He being clever?
"Got it," Russell said. "Is that the ID you're using?"
"In the unlikely event I have interactions with anyone but you and your people. Otherwise I'm just Myles."
"Blue Jade?" Russell asked.
"Check. Andrew gave my your contact. He said you might be planning to take a few days off and go fishing."
Sideways glance from Erika.
"He said that?"
"Yeah. I said I don't care much for fishing but asked how the hunting was out here."
"I figured as much," Russell said. "You know what we're doing?"
"Just that you're planning to put some major hurt on the regime. And I've got and idea of how. I'd like to watch.
I won't get in the way."
"You want to go to your hotel first?"
"Yeah. Drop me at Hertz, I've got a rental. Are you free for a day or so to discuss some things?"
"We're pretty flexible," Russell replied. "We're setting the schedule, only one possibly problematical element and
that one is not very likely to come up."
"Can you guys meet me at Harrah's tomorrow morning?"
"Can do."
"Alright, I've been on the road for over twelve hours - I'd like to get a drink and a shower and another drink or two.
By the time I do that I'm ready for bed. I'll be up and ready to go by 0900 - ask for Thomas Howard.
"Got it. We're staying in Maricopa so no problem."
After dropping Myles at the Hertz place they went back to the apartment.
"What do you think?" Erika asked.
Russell set down two glasses of Irish Mist on ice.
"He wants to watch what we're doing," Russell said. "And maybe contribute some ideas. I would guess he knows pretty much
the general plan if not the details."
"Something seems strange," Erika said. "Like he has an ulterior motive."
"Like trying to recruit us?" Russell asked.
"Pretty much. But Sterling should have seen that."
"I suspect he did."
"And he's OK with it? That suggests the folks up there - some of them anyway - are
mixed up with the Atlantis people."
"Probably. I don't know much about the Atlantis angle. We've been too busy to keep up with
what's going on there. I trust William, if he's good with Myles being here I am. I do plan
to have some discussions with him when this is wrapped up - I want to know the situation. And
after this it'll be kind of hard for him to stonewall if he's so inclined. But I don't expect
him to."
"I guess we'll know more some time after 0900. You hungry?"
"Suddenly I am for some reason," Russell replied.
"Probably because we haven't eaten since seven or so this morning," Erika said. "Let me take a look in the fridge."
Thomas Howard had a suite on the top floor. He was dressed in jeans and an oxford shirt with a tweed jacket, only the ostrich
boots were a little ostentatious. If Tecocas were ostentatious - Russell liked their boots and didn't care if anyone knew how much
he paid for them. The Rolex Air King that was occasionally visible under the shirt sleeve cuff was more so.
"Come in and sit a spell," Myles greeted them. Without waiting for a reaction he turned back into the room, Russell and Erika following.
"Grab a seat," Myles said. "Can I get you a drink?"
"Little early," Russell replied.
"Same here," Erika added.
"It's a mild blend," Myles said as he joined them and set a tray on the cocktail table. "A cherry brandy, about 40 proof."
He picked up a glass and took a sip, leaving the bottle and a pair of glasses for Russell and Erika.
"Don't mind if I do," Russell said. He glanced at Erika who nodded.
Russell poured two glasses and they sampled the drink.
"Not bad," Russell said. "That's not the hotel stock."
The bottle had a white, mostly blank label with what looked like a coat or arms and some
hand lettering.
"Private stock," Myles said. "From Atlantis."
"Imports from Atlantis? I didn't know there was enough of it above water to grow anything."
"There isn't," Myles replied. "Our Atlantean friends have substantial real estate here and
some other places. That's from one of Sir Walter's estates.
Sir Walter got his own head chopped off.
"Sir Walter?"
"We'll discuss Atlantis in detail later," Myles replied. "Sir Walter is part of the Atlantean liaison. And my contact with them. Sterling told me
to make contact and if you had any problems you would contact him. He's pretty busy and trusts you to figure things out."
"I presume he knows what I'm doing," Russell said.
"He does. I told him I wanted to observe, I'd stay out of your way. After it's over there are some other things I'd like to discuss."
"Got it. What's your interest? And how did you know about it?"
"I'm part of Sapphire too. We only crossed paths once because I'm mostly involved with stuff related to Atlantis.
It was a note on page three of a briefing that had been boring for two pages. I saw your name and was curious.
Sterling was there and I asked him what was up. I asked if I could observe, he told me to ask you."
"What's your interest?"
"It looks like you're about to do something that is going to make a big splash, if it's what I think it is."
Russell took a package of Al Capones opened it and offered it to Myles. Myles took one and Russell offered it to
Erika before taking one for himself.
"What do you think it is?"
"You're setting up a sting operation," Myles replied. "Or a sting within a sting. The regime is setting up a
false flag event and believe the tools they've chosen are some rural rubes like they've used before. In reality
the rubes lured them in. I can only think of one reason why you'd do that."
Russell waited, took a sip of brandy.
"All right, when they move in to make the pinch you kill them," Myles said. "Look, I don't blame you. They've got
a lot to answer for and it has to start somewhere. Do you know that the reaction will be?"
"I don't know," Russell replied. "That's one of the reasons we're doing it."
"I've been thinking along the same lines," said Myles. "I'd like to see how you do this, and the results. As I said, I'll
stay out of the way."
"Sounds good. I don't see a way at this point for you to be interacting. We've got the fed who initiated it on the hook,
and he's convinced he has us snagged. We're at a point where he may try to set the hook. I don't want to risk blowing it."
"I understand," Myles said. "And you're right. As I understand it you have a group of five guys - yourself included - and the
fed has introduced what he believes is a plant but he is in fact another of your agents. A masterpiece in the making."
"We weren't going for artistry but it is pretty impressive," said Russell, "if I do say so myself. Having an adversary that isn't
all that bright helps."
"Yeah. Like being cops. If there were very many smart criminals the cops would be in trouble. We're in the position of having to
be the smart criminals."
"They made us criminals," Russell replied. "Too bad for them we're not as dumb as regular criminals."
"What's your next move?" Myles asked.
"Short story so far is this - our guys chatted up this dude on Tektnoix. You know that that is?"
"Bulletin board for subversives. Well-known, government doesn't try to shut it down because they figure they can use it for things
like this. Which explains why you were probably able to do it fairly easily."
"Wasn't hard," Russell said. "We were careful, took our time. As you know the operators flagged him in twenty-four hours of him showing up. The
word went out to all the in crowd. Since they monitor all traffic and look for this stuff any potential innocent parties - Joe Sixpack that likes
to vent with others of like mind - if we see a fed making contact with one of them we warn them off. So the only successful contact they can make is
one that we allow.
"Once we had him talking with the ones we wanted we let him take the lead. He did the usual, getting us to sit around and talk about blowing things
up and killing people. Then he suggested wasting the governor. Then he introduced what he thought was an insider. Day before yesterday we got into
two cars and drove around Phoenix most of the day, talking about different places to make the hit, he showed us a nuclear pizza. So that's where we
are now."
"When do you meet again?" Myles asked.
"Tomorrow or the next day. I'm waiting for him."
"I presume you know he may be close to pulling the trigger," said Myles. "He's got enough. He's been recording, the recordings are
being edited where necessary. They've got all they need to get a grand jury go indict on conspiracy."
"Correct," Russell replied. "We'll have some warning, partly the delay and then Snake warning Dennis."
"Who's Dennis?"
"The guy Snake thinks is his plant. He'll probabyly want him away from the site when they do the raid.
At the very least he'll warn him, he thinks he'll be a star witness.
"Right. That's the usual procedure and these guys are pretty reliable on using the same playbook as long as it works.
After this they'll have to change."
"Yeah," Russell said. "I figure this will probably shut down this sort of operation for a while. They we'll have to figure out
what the new method is."
"They're not very smart," said Myles. "They're gonna be big mad. Especially after what happens. What do you have for them?"
"My control is handling the logistics," Russell replied. "The only way they can work it is to arrest all - or almost all - of us
at the meeting site. Snake doesn't even know - or have the ability to find out - where the various guys are living. They have to
have the raid there. What it will look like we don't know so we've got a good-sized force to deal with it."
Myles drained his glass and set it on the table.
"OK, that looks good. I'm wondering where your fed - Snake - got the idea for a nuclear pizza but that can wait. You guys want to
do lunch? The prime rib last night was about what you'd expect at a Harrah's - I may try something seafood."
"Sounds good to me," Russell replied.
"You didn't get to say much," Russell said. "What do you think?"
"Pretty good-looking guy," Erika replied with a mischievous smile.
"I saw you sneaking looks," Russell said. "If he was you brother would you..."
"Stop it already!" Erika said. "You know there's only one man I'm interested in."
"What if I was your brother?"
Sorry, had to do it.
"That's not fair!"
They were sitting the couch in the back lounge. She leaned over and put her head on his shoulder
and her arms around him.
"I know you were just needling me. I enjoy it when you do it, so there!"
"He seems pretty normal," Russell said. "I won't judge him - I haven't lived his life."
"Same here. He seems all right, I guess people deal with things in different ways."
"I'm not sure where this fits in with his plans," Russell said. "Not that I know what all he's into.
He said we would discuss Atlantis later. It would seem that may be the main purpose here - not watching
an operation."
"The war is going on all over," said Erika. "When or whether Atlantis takes a hand - beyond whatever it's
doing now - is hard to say."
"C'mon," Russell said as he got up. He went into the work area.
"OK, let's see what the latest is." He scrolled and clicked and opened a file. "Here you go." They spent the next few minutes reading.
"This was updated a couple of days ago," Erika said. "Supposedly the rise of Atlantis as they call it is to begin sometime in the next
six months. Seems pretty weird, but apparently a lot of people believe it."
"Quite a few," Russell replied. "There was a mass exodus from the US and smaller ones from several other countries a couple of months ago.
Enough to be noticed - thousands, tens of thousands. Going out to the colonies around where the appearance is supposed to happen. People
who appear to have prepared for years to pack up and leave. Reportedly many of them accumulated large amounts of gold and silver. Some
had multiple credit cards with large lines - a hundred thousand or more in some cases - and used them to buy stuff before they left."
"There have been end-of-the-world cults," Erika said, "but nothing like this."
"There was that one bunch that thought they were going to ride off on a comet," said Russell, "but they killed themselves. Who knows?"
"Yeah. Well, these people are out there in the north Atlantic on a bunch of ships. I guess we'll find out at some point."
"Yeah. Myles seems sane enough. I wonder what this Sir Walter character has that convinced him."
"With it happening now it's especially strange," Erika said. "I guess for now we play it by ear."
"Yeah."
"How about we sleep on it?"
I oversleep? When's the last time I did that?
Erika was not there - he almost always knew if she got up during the night or before him. He rolled over and swung his legs off the
bed and stood up. The bed was centered in the large room so either could get out of bed without disturbing the other. He pulled on
a pair of pajama pants and a T-shirt and went towards the kitchen. Erika was pouring coffee when he entered.
He looked at the clock - 0834. He had slept late.
"You seemed tired yesterday," Erika said. "I let you sleep. You're not very late."
I'm usually out before 0800. Something in that brandy or whatever it was? Nah, Erika drank some.
He sat down and took a sip of coffee.
"Yeah, it was a long day."
"You're sixty-seven," Erika said. "I'm thirty-two. I'm supposed to have more energy."
"Now's not the time to be slowing down," Russell replied. "There's work to do."
"You've got plenty of backup. You don't have to do everything yourself. Isn't there someone you can trust
to be a second-in-command? Someone younger."
"I guess Steve would be," Russell replied. "But I don't know if the head shed would let him go to work just
for me. Or if he'd want the job."
"When this is over why don't you see how he feels about it?"
"Yeah. I might do that. What do we look like?"
"Message from Snake," Erika replied. "Take a look."
Russell picked up the plate with the frosted cherry Pop-Tarts and his coffee and went over to the
workstation. He deliberately ate an entire pastry with several sips of coffee before looking at the
screen on his computer.
Getting nervous. Not good.
He looked at the message. 'Something that may interest you. When is our next meeting?'
Okey-dokey. Know he's already talking to Jackson. Get with him first.
Erika was looking over his shoulder.
"What next?" she asked.
"First get with Jackson and see what he's got. Proceed from there. My guess is he's ready to make his move
but we have to be sure. We're in the driver's seat and he thinks he is."
"That's how I see it," Erika said. "How do we handle it? He figures Jackson for a tool, is he likely to have
a bubble around him?"
"Not likely, but we have to presume he has it. I'm gonna set up a Radion link to run 24/7. I want to know everything
Snake says from here on."
"What's a radion link?"
"The wire Jackson is only active when we're in meetings with Snake and a few other times when we say things we want
Snake to hear - mostly irrelevant but an occasional bit of something he'll think is important so it looks like he's
trying. And the important stuff is misdirection. I'm going to give him another one that transmits here 24/7.
We'll hear all his conversations with Snake. When he's on the phone we'll be able to hear Snake's side as well
because his phone can feed its speaker to the Radion box. At whatever point Snake lets him know the raid is going
down we'll know."
"You don't think he'll spring it without alerting Jackson?"
"Possible. We have to be ready for that. Our reaction force is ready now. I believe I'll have
Steve put them on alert - any meetings will be covered by the same Centuros squad that will do
the job when they pull the trigger. Enough firepower to handle a half dozen SWAT teams. Either
way it will go down the same - one way it's a little less spontaneous. He's coming over this
afternoon to go over the plans."
"I have some shopping to do," Erika said. "Want to go, do lunch?"
"Yeah. Steve will be here at 1400. Let me text him and give him the door code in case
we're delayed."
Steve arrived shortly after they returned, with a man he introduced as Brad Kirk, commander of the Centuros squad.
Kirk was a stocky man, not short but close to it, but he moved like an athlete in peak condition. He was wearing a
double shoulder rig with what looked like 1911-style pistols with long barrels. Russell didn't see a knife but would
have been willing to bet there was at least one somewhere on his person. He had black hair graying at the temples and
the modest beard was beginning to show some as well. Steve handed Russell a USB stick.
"That's the setup," he said as Russell plugged it in. "We'll be staged by tomorrow at what the locals call Greentree,
there where the red X is. It's about five or six miles from the house. If you've been there you'll know how it's set."
"Several houses," Russell said. "Couple of pole barns, two or three mobile homes. Some junk cars and a lot of weeds."
"Pretty much. The only inhabitants are a couple of guys and their girlfriends, look like modern-day hippies. They've been
taking care of the place for a year or so, checking for snooping by bad guys. Never a sign. Brad has his squad on the way,
they'll be in place by this time tomorrow.
"They have seven SWAT vans, disguised as old delivery vans. Four armored cargo vans with gun ports. Thirty-six men not counting
Brad and two squad leaders. We're watching the roads and the sky - they might chopper a team in but I doubt they will. But if
they do we'll see it."
"If they hit the house they'll be in several vehicles," said Russell. "They way they've always done it - a couple of SWAT vans and
several cars. We have to figure on TV crews, Phoenix for sure and maybe Maricopa but probably just Phoenix."
"They may have outside observers," Steve said. "Foreigners. Something this small though maybe not. At Crane Creek there were several
foreign intel types there."
"One or two of those dudes get hosed it could get interesting," Kirk said.
"Yep."
"That's the biz," Russell said. "We figured on it."
"No problem here," said Kirk. "The news people are another matter."
"Personally I'd find it funny," Russell said, "if the airhead chick with the mike
got it but it would be bad for business at this point. The government will keep them
at a safe distance so there's no danger."
"We can't be certain of anything," Steve said. "If it goes sideways we'll have to improvise. We
have the advantage of having the whole picture. The only thing we don't want is for it to run long
enough that they can bring in reinforcements."
"That's the only thing that could be a problem," said Kirk. "If they show up with APCs and a couple
hundred troops we're screwed. They either get what them came for or they kill us all. Not without
heavy casualties but..."
"In that case you'd have to let them take us," Russell said. "Spring us later."
"We can do that?" asked Kirk.
"We can," Steve replied. "We have two or three contingency plans. They're pretty much single-use -
can't be done more than once. Not exactly the same way anyway. But if any or all of the team are
taken into custody we can get them back. Unless they take them directly to a supermax and even then
we have leverage. For now things are being done nominally by the book so we can spring them fairly
easily."
"Good to know," Kirk said. "Seeing as how conceivably some of us might get pinched."
"I'll let you know whenever we have a meeting," Russell said. "Any other times you can work out there,
get to know the place. There may not be - probably won't be - many more meetings. In fact the next one
could be the last."
"This is C4," Snake said. "Have you ever used it?"
Snake had taken the plastic-wrapped block out of a large black duffel bag.
I have but I'm not about to say so.
Head shakes and nos.
"It's safe to handle. About the only way to set it off is with a detonator. It's like putty, you can form in into whatever shape
you want, like a big pancake."
Jack picked up one of the blocks and examined, handed it to Ryan. Ryan put it back on the coffee table.
"How much of this do we need for a pancake?" Ryan asked.
"You mean a pizza?" Snake replied. "About four more. Can you guys make the casing?"
"The pizza pan?" asked Russell.
"Right," Snake replied. "You need a piece of sheet metal about a quarter inch thick, about fifteen by
fifteen inches. Like the one I showed you. Ideally cut into a circle - it can be square but a round
one is easier to handle. Use a piece of three inch to make the rim."
"I know a guy that can do it," Russell said. "Lives in Maricopa. He doesn't ask questions."
"Good enough," Snake said. "We can make the container out of pizza boxes, at a casual glance it'll look like
a pizza."
Why didn't he leave the one he showed us? Wants us to actually do it.
He's got plenty now. Wonder how far he'll go. Actually build it? Not likely. Conspiracy is all they're after,
and they've got that."
"How well armed are you?" asked Snake.
"We all have AR-15s," Russell replied. "And handguns. We all use .40 cal, mostly Glocks."
"This might be useful," Snake said, removing a gun from his bag.
"What's that?" Ryan asked.
"Uzi," replied Snake. "Not as sexy as the new stuff so you don't hear much about them. Israeli, pretty big back in the 1970s.
As I said a lot of people got to have the latest and greatest - these things are reliable as anything can be. Nine millimeter
but you can plug a guy three or four times with one squeeze."
"Cool," Jack said. "Think we need them?"
"Things can go wrong," Snake said. "You're prepared for that, aren't you? Mentally at least? This can
be the difference between going to prison or escaping."
A little extra insurance. Illegal weapons, maybe stolen."
"I've got these two," said Snake. "That should be enough for insurance. There's about five hundred rounds in there if
you want to do some practice. Have you thought about a location?"
Head shakes and nos and mumbles.
"I'll check with my guy and see about getting the pizza pan," Russell said. "We can discuss targets while
we're getting that done."
"Cool," said Snake. "How about some actual pizza? And beer."
"Should be here any time," Russell said. He activated his phone.
"Any minute now," he said after a minute.
A couple of minutes later Erika arrived carrying a stack of pizzas.
As the others put the boxes on the table and opened them Russell and Erika went
into another room for a few minutes. When they emerged he walked her to the door and
gave her a long kiss.
"Bye guys," she said as she left.
"I've got a feeling we're close," Russell said.
"You're probably right," said Erika. "He brought the Uzis to add something extra to the
charges. No telling where they came from - stolen or from an FBI or ATF warehouse."
"Very likely. All we can do is wait and see how he plays it."
An alarm flashed on the screen of his computer. He clicked the message open.
'Snake contact wants to meet me. Maricopa Casa Grande Highway.'
"Big shopping center there," Erika said. "The Wal-Mart we went to."
'When', Russell typed and waited.
'Today at 1400'.
'Let's check the wire', Russell typed.
He opened the monitor app.
'OK, active.'
'Talk to me.'
'Testing 1 2 3.'
'Got it. Erika is about to call you'
Erika called and Russell listened as they conversed.
"Both sides good," he said.
'OK, all good,' he typed.
'OK'.
'Call me' Russell typed.
A minute later the phone rang.
"Looks like we're all set," Russell said. "Any time you're with Snake we'll be recording everything. It's 1130 now.
We'll be standing by here until it's gone down."
"Got it," Jackson. "See ya in a few."
"OK, we've got a couple of hours," Russell said. "Let's check everything twice, then check it again."
It was just after 1400 when Jackson's Radion channel went active.
"Here we go," Russell said.
"It's going down," Snake said. "Day after tomorrow. We can do it two ways - you can be there, you'll be arrested and
processed with the others. We'll put you in protective custody. The other way is for you to not be there. Whether you
want protection or you want to go do your own thing is up to you. We'll need you to stay close - the prosecutor will want
you for trial preparation. Whether or not you have to testify or not remains to be seen."
"I'd rather go on my own," Jackson. "These guys don't know me, even where I was living. I told them I was from Phoenix -
I usually stay at Flagstaff, have family there and know a lot of people."
"You plan on going there?"
"Yeah, might as well for now. I guess you can find me whey you need me."
"All right. Maybe you can work for us again sometime. We'll stay in touch. You weren't planning on meeting with
them again in the next couple of days, were you?"
"No. Russell told us it might be a few days before we got together again."
"Perfect. Are you going to stay in town a while?"
"I'll probably head back to Flagstaff in a few days."
"OK, is the phone you're using your regular one? Not a burner?"
"Yeah, it's the only one I have."
"OK, as I said we can always find you - you know that. We can put you in
protective custody if necessary. If anyone gives you trouble or if you think
they're after you, call me. These people are dangerous."
"Got it. Put'em away and I won't worry."
"There's a chance some or all might get out on bail. I'll let you know if they do."
"Alright, I'm good."
"Thanks for your help. You may or may not know how important this is to national security."
"Got it all?" Russell asked.
"Got it," Erika replied. "I don't know how Jackson kept a straight face through that."
"Probably using his dumb yokel act. He's pretty good at it. And when it's what's expected
it's easier to pull off."
A few minutes later the phone rang. Russell swiped the answer button.
"Is this you only phone?" he asked.
"Nah." Jackson laughed. "He bought it - deluded hick, not real bright, saw the light."
"Good. Wonder if he'll be there with the SWAT team?"
"Bet he will," Jackson said. "Is he in for a surprise."
"It looks like you're done with him for now," said Russell. "If he does contact you alert
us pronto."
"Will do."
"Here's the preliminary plan," Russell said. The entire group was present as were Steve and Kirk.
"Snake is accustomed to seeing the same vehicles, every time he's been here it was the same. We'll
park the cars as usual and take up positions outside. The closest cover we have is about two hundred
feet away. With even a little luck when they don't get a response they'll bust the door and go in.
Kirk's crew rolls up and surrounds the place and isolates any civilians - the news people. Then we
engage.
"We're just spectators - depending how many they have Kirk may just deploy a couple of SWAT with the
armored vans in reserve. The idea is to shoot them all, and how that gets done depends on them."
He looked at Erika who was as expressionless as the rest.
She would like to shoot a few. But it's not personal.
"Now if they show up with a couple hundred troops and armored vehicles, we'll stand down. They come up
empty and look stupid but they have no way of finding us. Snake may or may not have made some pics that
they could use if they could find us but finding us is the problem. The most likely scenario is they
show up, holler at us to come out with your hands up and when they don't they bust in. Then they all
get shot."
Russell knew he was setting up an ambush massacre but the regime had killed enough citizens who had never
given any reason. Maybe this would save some lives. Or not. Many of the men in the Centuros squad had
friends or family who had died at the hands of the state or were in prison. There would be no mercy.
"We're 24/7 surveillance on the FBI facility," Steve said. "Any movement we'll know about instantly and
the radio traffic will probably alert us first. Once they move we'll know what they're bringing. Kirk
and his guys will be in position, keeping their distance until they see the setup. Once it goes down
they'll move in and deal with it."
"Video rolling?" Russell asked.
"Half a dozen cameras on the ground and a couple of drones."
"The news people will have some too," said Russell. "Whether they show it is another matter."
"Yep. Once we put ours out there it won't matter. See what their explanation is."
"Normally some guys plotting in relatively isolated house," Russell said, "would get nervous
if some TV trucks rolled up. We won't because we know what's going on - and won't be in there
anyway - but how do the feds figure on handling that?"
"They'll coordinate. They've done it before, alert them and tell them to hang back, roll up
in time to see the fun."
"Figures. Well, they're gonna see a show."
"They will," Steve said. "You guys ready?"
"Yeah. We'll put the cars there the night before and then camp out and wait."
"We may be looking at a couple of days," said Steve. "Greentree has accomodations for you.
You'll just be a few minutes away. That's where I'll be as soon as I can get there. Anything
else?"
"Nothing I can think of now. Ten minutes from now I probably will."
"Call me on the primary if you do. It's clear."
"Not bad," Erika said, looking over their quarters. "From the outside you'd never guess."
"No sense in being uncomfortable while we wait," Russell replied. "There's quite a bit of
excess capacity here."
They were inside an old mobile home of the type used for temporary housing for people dislocated
by disasters. Ten by forty feet it was more comfortable than a travel trailer, even a forty foot
one. Russell plugged a USB stick into each of the two computers on the table.
"OK, let's get set," he said.
Erika sat down beside him and configured one box while he did the other. A half hour later they had
a mirror of the essential parts of their command center.
"OK, we're gonna have to sleep light. It's about twenty miles from Maricopa to the site, add ten
minutes getting out of the city. Call it a half hour. We're ten minutes away so if we move as soon as
we know they're on the way we can be in place easily."
"This is really it," Erika said. "I've never been in combat, not really even in danger. How did you
feel the first time?"
"I didn't have time to feel. We had no warning. I don't know what I would have thought if I knew it was
coming. I probably would have been scared silly."
"I'm trying to imagine you being scared."
If you only knew.
"OK, apprehensive."
"I'm apprehensive."
"That's normal. Good actually, don't be over-confident."
"No danger of that." Erika smiled but...
This is pretty serious. I'm not as cool as I'm acting.
"When they roll out of Maricopa," he said, "tomorrow or the next day, we'll get the
heads-up. We'll take our positions and wait for the bad guys to show. Once they do
Kirk and his crew will surround them and kill them."
"I know. It's one thing to talk about it, something else to see it happen."
"You know it has to be done. These teams aren't just regular agents - evil and corrupt
as the entire force is these are special. They've done it before. It's not improbable
that some of these were at Mansfield or Cedar Ridge. They're killers and they enjoy
their work."
"I know. I worry about, as Nietzsche said, becoming the monster we're fighting."
"Yeah," Russell said. "I do too. But were a long way from that at this point."
"How about a drink?"
From the outside the old barn looked ready to fall down, inside it was quite comfortable.
Steve had joined Russell, Erika and the rest of the mandroids.
"Yesterday Snake met with Jackson in a parking lot in Maricopa," Russell said. "He advised
him not to go to any more meetings but gave no indication of when the operation might go down.
He must figure we'll be suspicious if Jackson suddenly disappears, to they'll have to move fast
if they want to take us here. And since they don't know where else we might be it's their only
option.
"We'll hang out here for a few days and see what happens. Kirk has his men set, waiting for
the signal..."
"They're rolling."
Kirk was standing in the door.
"Convoy leaving the staging area over on I-17," he said. "Two SWAT vans and six cars. Several TV trucks are
rolling this way as well."
"OK, let's get in position," Steve said.
Less than fifteen minutes later they were at their observation posts around the house. A few groups of
trees and thickets scattered over the area less than two hundred yards away would conceal them even if
any of the force happened to look their way.
When the force rolled into view they watched through binoculars as they deployed. About twenty personnel
exited the vans and surrounded the house. Four of the cars were parked along the road and the occupants jogged
towards the house, several carrying submachineguns. The other two parked across the ends of the circular
drive way and the occupants stood behind them. Russell and Erika turned activated their headsets to listen
to the action.
"This is the FBI," one of them called using a loudhailer. "You are surrounded by more than twenty agents.
Come out, one at a time, with your hands up. We know how many of you there are."
"Figuring on Jackson not being there I expect," Russell said. "they'll figure on there being five. When
nobody shows they'll probably shoot the place up with gas and flash-bangs."
Erika looked down at her Commpad.
"Kirk and his guys are just over that rise," she said. "Less than a mile. When do they move?"
"Any minute now. Get him on the horn. "If they shoot up the house they'll go in to clear it. Have them rolling as
soon as they enter."
"Got it."
The man with the horn repeated the command as several members of the SWAT team ran towards the housed and positioned
themselves against the walls well away from the windows.
"No response should be getting to them," Russell said. "There should at least be someone peeking out a window.
They have Xraydar, can see any movement inside."
"Think they'll figure it being empty?"
"Maybe. Either way the entry is the same - as if it is occupied."
"Last chance," the megaphone man called. "You have one minute - then we're coming in."
"Tell Kirk to be ready," said Russell. "Wonder where the TV folks are?"
Erika fiddled with her pad for a few seconds.
"I see something about three or four minutes out. It should be in view shortly.
About two dozen thumps announced the launch of gas shells and shortly afterwards some wisps of
gas and smoke drifted out of the broken windows. Most of the team began putting on gas masks.
"One more minute," megaphone man called. "Then we're coming in."
The first TV truck arrived.
12News may get the first shot.
Several man approached the front door, two carrying a breaching ram. A guy with a radio was standing close to megaphone man, seeming
to be talking to someone.
Snake? He's been in there and knows the layout.
Snake would also know that the doors were ordinary residential doors. The men with the ram moved into position while another looked back towards
megaphone man and the guy who might be Snake. About a dozen men on the front side of the house - the side Russell and Erika could see - aimed
their grenade launchers. Suddenly they all began firing again - this time explosions indicated the use of flash-bangs along with the gas. The
door men swung the ram and the door swung open.
They should've tried turning the knob first.
Something inside the house exploded with a very loud bang. Erika looked quizically at Russell. He grinned.
"A little something extra," he said. "Tell you later."
The string of cargo vans was approaching and the megaphone man and his group had noticed it. Another TV truck was approaching. The crew
already on site was filming. As the vans passed the two cars in the driveway two gunners hosed megaphone man and anyone else nearby.
If that's Snake it may be over for him.
The shooters in a couple of the vans had raked the area around the house and the personnel in front of the house were running towards the back.
All four made U-turns and came back, this time the lead van drove through the two cars in the driveway and into the yard, the others following.
The area around the house was clear except for a handful of trees and the pumphouse a couple of hundred feet away. The vans circled the house,
the gunners firing at will. Their targets could do little more than throw themselves to the ground. After completing the circuit the fans
exited the property and turned back they way they had come.
"We'd better clear out," Russell said. "How long it will take them to find this place is anyone's guess but they
probably will, unless they're more incompetent than I give them credit for. You all right?"
"Yeah," Erika replied. "I'm all right, just adrenalin."
She looked shaken but Russell didn't comment. She had seen Mary Ann's brother killed - on television. She wanted
revenge and had had some.
"I'm a little shaky myself," he said. "Let's get this knocked down and packed. Kirk is evacuating his people. We'll
have passive sensors here to monitor any visitors."
They carried the computers out to the old Ford Taurus behind the trailer. Slate grey or something close to it and dusty
it looked like any number of old cars on the roads out in the hinterlands. But it was designed to go fast when
necessary and not attract attention when being driven otherwise. The driveline had been rebuilt for performance and
some suspension tweaks made it competitive with newer cars. After a final sweep of the trailer they departed.
"We'll meet up with Steve when we get back," Russell said. "He's staying, all the other droids are going into storage
for a while. They'll be on vacation for the foreseeable future while we see if anyone is on to them. As long as they're
pursuing the 'droids they won't be looking for the guys that used them."
"What do Kirk and his men do?"
"They're based in Tucson at present. Steve and some of his guys will keep an eye on things here - see if there are any
investigations into them. If they feds are asking questions around here we'll know."
"I'm glad this is over," said Erika. "I'm ready to get back to... how do I avoid going back to Coppertown now?"
"For security reasons you have to stay at Coppertree for a while. Everyone involved has to lay low for, say
six months or so."
He looked over to see the first real smile in a couple of days.
"I like it."
Back at the apartment they watched the television news for a while. Not much information was being released
but then there wasn't much. A sting operation had gone wrong and the authorities had no idea why.
"Twenty-four dead," Erika said during a commercial break. "Did that big bang you were going to explain have
something to do with that? The something extra?"
"Probably," Russell replied. "That light fixture in the living room that didn't work wasn't a light fixture.
After we had everything set up and I said no one was to go back inside under any circumstances I armed
it. A ball of C-4 with ball bearings around it, like an omnidirectional Claymore. At some point someone hit
the switch and bang."
Erika was silent and Russell looked over at her.
"Was that necessary?" she asked after a while.
"It depends," Russell replied. "If it discourages them from trying any more operations like that I'd say it was
worth it. We've both lost friends, even people we didn't know well, who were killed by those people or others
like them. I believe they'll think twice before they try something like that again."
"I hope they will," said Erika. "It just seemed... vicious. Like becoming the monster we're fighting."
"When we lock people up and torture them," Russell said, "we would be. When we kill noncombatants indiscriminately,
even children, that's monstrous."
"Yeah, I get it. You're right, every one of them bought the ticket. What now?"
"We keep an eye on things. Myles is coming over tomorrow with Steve. Steve is making arrangements for us to fly
out of Coolidge. Mainly we make sure they're not onto us until we're out of town. Once we're back at Coppertree
we're safe."
"Six months at Coppertree? What will we do with all time on our hands?"
Smiling again. She'll be all right.
The King Air looked like the same one that had delivered Myles. Russell hadn't looked closely but how many King Air 260s with blue and gold
stripes did anyone own? They boarded and were soon in the air.
"You guys going back to Arkansas?" Myles asked.
"Yeah," Russell replied. "Your people have pretty good intel. Few people know where my place is."
"There's little we don't know," said Myles. "But it stays with us."
"What did you think of the operation?" asked Russell.
"Impressive," Myles replied. "I suspect you put a crimp in their plans."
"The question is how they'll react," said Russell. "It may be a while."
"I suspect you're right," Myles said. "They couldn't possibly have expected it.
I'm a little surprised you were allowed to do it."
"Me too," Russell said. "Where are you off to next?"
Don't like that smile.
"I figured you might invite me to see your place," Myles said. "I don't know when
I'll get back this way again."
Anything he's likely to see he probably already knows. Maybe I can pick up something.
"If you've got the time come on out. I figured you'd be on the next flight out."
"Nah. I've got some time. I've been wanting to discuss some things. And I wouldn't pass up
a chance to see your place."
"Something special about my place?"
Myles grinned.
"Yeah," Russell said. "Word gets around."
"Back in the day," Russell said, "both sides of my family were farmers in this area. I grew up on what farmers called the home place, if they had one.
It was where they lived and usually had most of the farm stuff there - equipment sheds, shops and barns, usually some grain storage. We're standing
in a corner of a section of land - a square mile - that was part of the farm. Down that roar about a quarter mile is the house we lived in and some of
the buildings. I built this place about, I guess ten or eleven years ago."
They were standing in the front courtyard of the main house. Four cylindrical towers of corrugated steel stood at the corners of the walled area.
The towers at the front were about forty feet high while the ones at the back were a few feet higher and wider. The wall was about twenty feet high.
"As you can see I used old grain bins," Russell said. "They're all over the place and a there are a lot not being used any more. There's about two
acres inside wall. Let's go inside."
They were met at the gate by two young men in khaki uniforms with minimal adornment - each had a Mike Charlie patch on the left shoulder and a badge
above the left shirt pocket. Myles knew what the Mike Charlie patch signified but the badge was unfamiliar to him. Both were wearing sidearms - big
black auto pistols.
"Eric, Steve, this is Myles," Russell said. "He'll be visiting for a couple of days."
"We had a suite prepared," Steve said. "We were advised that you had a guest. Second floor. Is dinner in an hour about right?"
"That's good," Russell replied. "We'll be in my office, just have them ring us."
Four more men in khaki livery emerged and took the luggage.
After a brief tour of the grounds they repaired to a conference room across the hall from Russell's office. Just under two months ago he had been sitting in the
office when Erika called and Operation Virtual Warrior was born. Now that it was over he had a feeling he couldn't quite categorize - something approaching
apprehension but not quite there. He wondered what the chances of the regime tracking down him and Erika - or any of the mandroids. All were always on alert
and he knew that he was a special target.
"Brandy, whiskey, beer and wine in the fridge," Russell said. "I'm partial to Jim Beam but there's several good brands there. We have access to some pretty
good sources."
"Beam sounds good," Myles replied. "You do seem to have been prepared."
Erika took three tumblers to the refrigerator and dispensed ice into each and set them on the bar. Russell poured seven ounces of black label into each and handed one
to Myles. Erika took her glass and joined them at the table.
"Cigars there," she said to Myles, indicating a humidor.
Russell opened the humidor and Myles selected a cigar. Russell took one and sat down. Erika had produced a small case and took out a pale brown cigarette.
"I'm guessing you have something in mind besides observing an operation," Russell said.
"Something more," Myles replied. "If you don't have anything scheduled. I'd like for you to take another trip."
| Russell Peterson | -- | Agent of Coppertree | |
| Erika Sommers | -- | Agent of Coppertree | |
| Randy Cooper | -- | Mandroid - Russell | |
| Sherman Reynolds # | -- | Mandroid - Ryan Barrett | |
| Ricky Carpenter # | -- | Mandroid - Aaron Hayes | |
| Clifton Spencer # | -- | Mandroid - Brandon Beaton | |
| Tommy Lee Deason # | -- | Mandroid - Jack Stevenson | |
| Amber Lynn | -- | Mandroid - Erika | |
| Dennis Harper | -- | Mandroid - Jackson Miller - uknown to FBI | |
| Steve Jackson | -- | Agent of Coppertree | |
| Myles Fletcher | -- | Agent of Alcerias | |
| Sterling Breedlove | -- | Chief of Alcerias | |
| Sir Walter Lawrence | -- | Agent of Atlantis | |
Ike Ray Cooper Dwayne Rowan Jed Orville Jessie Sherman Blue Bart Buck Lester Jessie John Boy Wilfred
Randy Clifton Spencer Elmer Ricky Winchester Joe Bob Cy Blue Casey Lenny Ottis Rowan Otis Roscoe Buck
Winslow Donny Tommy Lee Vinton Merle Bud Dwayne Abner Audrey-Anne Melody Lilah Kandy Bobbie Sue Harmony
Cherry Desiree Vicki Lynn September Roxxy-Lynn September Randee Leigh Lexus Dakota JoLener Jaylnn Jo
Mercadies Jerleecia Kandy September Ruby Jane Shayna Leanne
Mary Beth Jicelle Melody Tammie Stasha Ellie Mae
Casa Grande -- 55K 15
Stanfield -- 650
Coolidge -- 13K 30
Florence -- 26K 40
Maricopa -- 66K 15