Alex

Don't know if this is the middle of nowhere but it must be somewhere close.

Alex stopped on the side of the road - he hadn't seen another vehicle since passing the small town of Pinedale but one never knew what might appear even in places like this. He activated the Commpad and checked his coordinates. His destination was supposed to be just over a mile away, straight ahead. Straight ahead was flat as a pancake.

Red dot is where I'm going, white dot is me. Looks right. And looks like a ridge about a quarter mile away. Looks like a Dragonfly just about overhead.

He activated the speaker and tapped a button.

"Hiya Alex. Car trouble?"

Ginger? Charlie said I'd have air cover but didn't say who - Ginger is with Mantis.

"Nah, just stopped to get my bearings. How'd you get in on this deal?"

"You really need to ask?"

"No. Should have figured Charlie would figure some way to get you in on it."

"I volunteered."

"Figures, saved him the trouble."

"I try. Just over that ridge you'll be able to see your... final destination."

"Cut it out. I'm already beginning to have reservations."

"Your reservations are quite nice from what I hear. Wish I could drop in."

"Me too. I'll take you word for it."

"Trust me. Be safe and I'll catch you later."

"You too, can't wait."

It was visible from the top of the ridge. Like a small town surrounded by flat grassland. The road was in good shape - almost as wide as a two-lane highway and smooth. The crushed rock surface seemed to be well maintained. The ditches on other side were wide and the sides nearest the road were apparently mowed regularly.

The place was surrounded by a chain-link fence about ten feet high with the usual barbed wire arms angled outward. Alex had seen tire tracks in the bare area on either side of the road and expected expected the outside area was patrolled and intruders were unlikely to get to the fence. Sentry towers were spaced at about two hundred yard intervals, an easy shot for the guards.

A guard shack was about fifty feet from the open gate. Several men were standing around, only two had rifles but all were wearing sidearms. The ones with the rifles were wearing red berets while the others wore camo boonie hats. The guy in the shack was wearing a regular black baseball cap. Alex ran the window down and handed his credentials.

"How was the traffic?" he asked.

"Terrible," replied Alex. "Especially that herd of buffalo."

"They're a bloody nuisance," the guard said. "Straight ahead and park in front of the big building."

If Alex had been under duress it would have been elephants instead of buffalo and in the unlikely event of an imposter arriving at the gate in his place he would have had no idea how to answer the question.

The big building dominated one side of the square but it was a smal square, not much over an acre. The crushed stone drive was paved once inside the gate and the streets were all paved. The asphalt looked to be no more than a few years old but with light traffic it wouldn't deteriorate as fast and the mild winters were easy on it.

There were four rows of windows and the building was the right height for four floors. Alex hadn't wondered if there was a helicopter pad on the roof but the presence of one gave it away. A 1980s Bell from what he could see.

Alex had never learned to fly a helicopter and didn't even like riding in them. He'd known a few helo pilots, mostly military and said you could tell which ones they were in a large group of pilots.

Those guys always look like the only reason something bad hasn't happened is because it's about to. To be fair in a fixed-wing as long as you have some altitude you have a pretty good chance.

A dozen or so vehicles were present, several in the flat dark gray common among most of the rebel organizations. His 2000 Ford Explorer was a semi-custom job as most of those produced at the facility were four-doors. He had been one of several requesting two-door models and willing to pay extra. There was just something sexier about two-door anythings.

There was enough space for him to park with no other vehicles close and he did so. As he dismounted he saw a couple of people approaching. Both were wearing khaki BDUs and red berets like the guys at the gate. One of these wasn't a guy though.

"Erika Sommers," the woman said. She looked to be in her early thirties but you never knew. Jet black hair and just a bit of either Asian or Hispanic - there was no way the hair color wasn't natural and there was a slight duskiness to her skin.

"Pleased to meet you," Alex said. He wasn't much on ceremony but meeting a beautiful woman was always pleasing.

"I'm Gerald Duncan's chief of staff," Erika continued. "Alan here is my chief of security."

Shouldn't the chief be in his office bossing the other security types?

"Actually," Erika said, "my security staff is four people. Alan wanted to meet you."

Got it.

Alex nodded an acknowledgement. Alan was a good-sized guy, six-plus and a good two hundred. He had a large pistol in a vertical shoulders draw holster, bigger than the one Erika had in a similar rig. His was a big auto with fancy wood grips.

"Gerald is waiting for us," said Erika. "This way."

It was a short walk to the doors. Past the four guards was a large lobby with a high ceiling, taking up the two lower floors. He accompanied Erika and Alan to the elevators.

Pretty uptown for something this far out in the sticks. Back at Mesa Verde we got stairs. They got a helipad so probably fairly new.

"Gerald's office is down there," Erika said, pointing towards the end or the corridor. "I'll catch up with you later."

Alex was wondering whether to knock when the door opened. A young woman about Erika's age and looking remarkably like her motioned him in. She was wearing black parachute pants and a red T-shirt and snow-white sneakers. A silver ring held her long hair in a ponytail.

"Just go in," she said, pointing towards another set of doors. "He's expecting you."

Alex had seen photos of Gerald Duncan but had never seen him in person. About Alex's height of five-ten but of slighter build. Looking younger by a few years than the sixty-three years his dossier indicated. He moved like a man with considerable combat experience behind him, whether hand-to-hand or battlefield or both. He had been around.

"Have a seat," Duncan said. "Can I get you a drink?"

Alex looked down at his Air-King. 1137. Good enough.

"Sounds good," he replied. "Whatever you're having."

Duncan sat down and tapped some keys on a keyboard.

"The libations will arrive shortly," he said. "How was your journey?"

"Dull. You guys are way out here."

"We are," Gerald replied. "It has its advantages."

"I can see how it would."

"We're far enough out we have to have our own wells and power generation. The windmills and solar farm handle most of it because our needs are small but we have fuel delivered a few times a year. We're pretty much self-sufficient."

"How'd you get the wells done?" Alex asked. "If you don't mind my asking."

"A couple of years ago," Duncan replied, "before most were deported we got crews of Mexicans to drill four wells. Six inch eighty feet deep and windmill and solar pumps to back up the diesels. Quite a few had it done that way from what I understand."

Yeah, got mine done that way at Cherry Valley and Pinedale.

"They've come in handy for a few things," said Alex.

A young man and woman entered with trays. They looked enough alike to be siblings. A bottle of Jack Daniels and one of Wild Turkey with glasses, ice and several Cokes in an ice bucket. They prepared drinks and set them on the table.

Vanilla Coke. Got everything right.

All the players had top-drawer intel on the others. Nominally they were allies but one never knows - infiltrators had gotten in and in some cases people had turned or been turned. Sir Walter of the Atlantean had nearly bought it when one got too close.

I had her made but he said watch her for a while. I watched her too long.

The drinks were made about the same way - two fingers of whiskey and three of Coke. Four ice cubes brought the mix up to the rim.

Conrad took a sip of his drink and Alex did the same.

"Mark and Marie Turner," Conrad volunteered. "Twins, Bradley Turner's eldest. Brad is one of our arms masters."

"Heard of him," said Alex. "Considerable experience. Didn't figure figure him to have kids so young - what's he, sixty or so?"

"Or so. He married a young woman half his age. Mark and Marie are fifteen, he has two younger ones. You'll meet him later."

"I saw a chopper on the roof," Alex said. "Much traffic?"

"I use it occasionally. I prefer not to and we have a four thousand foot runway about a mile from here with several aircraft with a good range."

"I don't like helos either," said Alex. "Four thousand feet?"

"We have a Cessna Citation and several other fair-sized aircraft and six of the ten A-7s we ordered. The remainder should be here in the next six months."

"Like to fly an A-7 if I get the time. Word is it's a nice machine."

"It is. Maybe we can arrange it."

"The Dragonflies based here?"

"No, much as I'd like to have some. You picked up on the one watching you?"

"I know the pilot," said Alex. "How else is Mantis involved? Assuming I need to know."

"I go back a ways with Mantis," Gerald replied. "As do you. A couple of their agents are here working out the plans for Emerald Spark. Which is why you're here. Mantis is helping out with security - four Dragonflies operating out of Warington with one overhead most of the time. About ten minutes one way so they can loiter for close to two hours. The drones are up 24/7 and if they pick up something that needs human eyes on it they can have a Dragonfly here that quickly."

"I've seen the name and that's about it," said Alex.

"Good to know some things are still secrets," Gerald said. "Emerald Spark involves Atlantis and that's reason enough to keep it quiet."

"Atlantis? You have my attention."

"Atlantis is the main reason we're here," Gerald said. "About two years ago as things were winding down with the main war Carl Spencer contacted me. I didn't know who was behind it for quite a while but when he told me it made sense. A pretty much unlimited budget as long as it's going for something useful. And they do run a tight ship but as long as you play it straight they're good to deal with."

"They do seem to be well funded."

"I haven't seen it but from multiple normally reliable sources they're fabulously wealthy. As if the continent wasn't well off on its own with oil and gas and minerals - this is just rumor - some of the ancient parts contain considerable wealth. Atlantis has zero debt and massive cash reserves and who knows how much potential. They can buy about anything they want."

"Including nukes?"

"Presumably they bought them," Gerald said. "But conceivably they could have built their own. They had two years and no shortage of scientific and engineering expertise - the best from the U.S.A. and numerous European states. And probably some Russians."

"And money," Alex said.

"Definitely. So if there was anything on the market they could outbid anyone."

Alex had heard about it. The small nation of a few hundred thousand on a continent the size of Australia was threatened by the United Nations acting on orders from Russia, China and the U.S.A. and the western European cabal. The Lords of Atlantis invited representatives to visit them and watch as a small missile was launched at a ship anchored over six thousand miles away in the south Atlantic. It was a small two or three kiloton but the ability to do it cause the world powers to have second thoughts.

"Either way it seems they're not to be trifled with," said Alex.

"Indeed. Sir Walter will be visiting day after tomorrow. He is among other things the head of Atlantean aerospace operations. Most of his work is in military aviation and space operations. Aviation is a big part of Emerald Spark."

"I'm guessing I'm expected to have some part."

"Multi-talented men of your sort don't grow on trees," Gerald said. "I asked Charlie to have you come up and talk. The situation we're in requires subtlety and flexibility in addition to the ability to deploy force as needed. You have all of that and more - and you know when to use one or the other."

"I like to think so."

"The war is over for most of us," said Gerald. "It's in the hands of the politicians and bankers. It should be stable for a while - the new government was mostly hand-picked by the Allies with the League having quite a bit of input. Not that they weren't pretty much all on the same page. The new constitution had some safeguards added and will be harder to punch holes in. Still they'll try and then we'll see how good the contingency plan is."

"We've had practice in removing and replacing," Alex said. "And being constantly prepared to move the next time may be even easier."

"Possibly. But it's better not to get it go that far. That's where Atlantis comes in."

"What part does Atlantis figure to play?"

"Like us they would prefer that things not fall apart. Whatever the eventual goals Atlantis is extremely interested in the U.S.A. remaining stable and as... they don't want the corruption coming back. That's where Emerald Spark comes in."

"If I had to guess," Alex said, "Atlantis figures on the U.S.A. becoming something of a client state, ridiculous as it might seem."

"They wouldn't put it that way," Gerald replied. "It would be an alliance. But with the wealth and growing power of Atlantis, along with its rock solid socio-political state, would eventually make it the senior partner in any alliances. The U.S.A. and about every other developed nation has tons of debt and Atlantis is filthy rich. But North America - Canada and Mexico are part of the plan - a stable North America - under Atlantean influence would be the only true superpower. Russia and China with their client states and dependents would still be small by comparison. Most of Europe would eventualy be folded in as well.

"That's pretty ambitious."

"One would think," Gerald laughed. "They don't lack confidence but they've accomplished some pretty amazing things. And as for resources Atlantis is pretty well off. The size of Australia - larger with the island groups - they already know they have oil various minerals and they're just getting started."

"How do they figure to manage us?"

"They had a hand in setting up the government." Gerald replied. "They have official liasons and what you might call diplomatic relations with both the North and South factions of the Allies and with the League of Freeholds. The main idea, as I said, is to foresee problems and if possible nip them in the bud.

"A shadow government?"

"Actually we already have one," said Gerald. "The Parallel Commission."

"Like the Trilateral Commission?"

"I suppose someone may have had that in mind," Gerald replied. "The Alliance and League with Atlantis in an... advisory role."

"As you said," Alex said, "they're all pretty much on the same page. What do they do?"

"Monitor and take corrective action as necessary."