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"All set?" Matt tried to not look startled. "Damn you Indians," he said. "Still sneaking up on us." "Only been a couple of years," Roger replied. "Takes time to get used to us." Matt himself was slightly native American, according to family lore. His great-grandmother had been a Cherokee from the Nations. Roger, on the other hand, was mostly indigenous, as his grandmother had been a Cherokee and his father had an Indian father, allegedly a Blackfoot. "Ready when you are," he replied. "I just talked to Charlie, all clear this side." "Let's do it." Roger had parked his Jeep near a small grove of pine trees about a hundred yards away. Matt followed him and climbed into the passenger side, and Roger started the vehicle and drove onto the dirt road that bordered the grove. "Cigar?" he asked, passing a small case to Matt. Matt took one of the cigarillos and stuck it in the corner of his mouth, passed the case back. The cigar looked like most of the contraband tobacco, and tasted of rum. He lit it and watched as Roger negotiated the twists and turns of the road. By the time he had smoked the cigar most of the way down the road had changed to a wider one of graded gravel. "Keep an eye out," Roger said. "Once we hit the highway there's a pretty good chance we'll have birds overhead." Matt knew the Alliance could detect the drones but rarely bothered to do much about them. An attack drone could be dealt with, but the swarms of throwaways were too numerous. At least half of What the surveillance birds saw was deliberately planted to mislead the enemy. "Worst they can do is see where we're going," Matt said. "Or do they know enough to try to hit us?" "Possibly. We should get a warning if there's anything looking like a shooter, but be ready to bail and disappear if they don't get us with the first shot." Matt surveyed the landscape, sparsely populated farmland mostly. An occasional patch of woods might offer temporary cover, but he didn't want to be out here with a disabled vehicle. They arrived at the highway and Roger ignored the stop sign. "One thing we don't have to worry about is traffic cops," Roger said. Matt knew that Roger would be immune to any local law enforcement. As an Alliance operative he was literally above the law. And if a killer drone was targeting them stopping would give it a better chance at a shot. Not that it couldn't hit them easily enough moving. About ten minutes later they rolled into a small town. Lowell. Population 1,283. Ideal place, Matt thought. Middle of nowhere, big enough to have some essentials like a gas station and a connection to the communications and energy infrastructure, such as they were. Small enough to keep tabs on everyone. He guessed the 1800 some residents included at least a few Alliance operatives. Roger turned into the parking lot of a small convenience store and parked in one of customer spaces. There were only two other vehicles in the lot. "Pretty dead here," Roger said. "Mostly only older people left, younger ones out in the countryside or gone to the perimeter. Let's go in." Matt followed Roger into the store. The young woman behind the counter appeared to be in her twenties. Reasonably attractive. Pretty, but not too pretty, Matt thought. She ignored them as Roger headed towards one of the small tables occasionally used by customers. He sat down at the one already occupied by two men, and Matt took the remaining seat. "Hiya, Foxtail," Roger greeted them. "Lucy says don't forget to water the tomatoes," one of them replied. "I did it before I left. The gardener will be back later today." The man who was apparently Foxtail was in his forties, nondescript. No facial hair, uncommon in the Alliance. The other man at the table was younger, likely in is thirties at most. He had a conservative beard, well groomed. "Foxtail, this is Matt." Roger said. "Matt, Foxtail and Thorn." Matt nodded, waited for Roger to elaborate. "Foxtail and Thorn are going to escort us to meet Sir Walter," Roger said. "We'll follow in our vehicle. It's about a half hour away. How are you armed?" Matt pulled the left side of his vest back to reveal the Beretta 96A1. "Got a kobun in my belt," Matt said. "And a couple of other useful tools." "Good enough?" Roger asked. Foxtail nodded. "Ready when you are," Roger said. Foxtail and Thorn were the ones driving the two vehicles that were there when they arrived. "Business must be slow," Matt said as they left. "Pretty much," Roger replied. "Town's pretty much an ops center these days. The locals are all clued in, know they're safer because we're here. Mostly older folks, just want to be left alone. Any infiltrators would be spotted pretty quick, and they know it. So it's pretty calm here." Another twenty minutes found them atop the nearby ridge, in a small compound with a handful of metal buildings of a type commonly found on farms. "OK," Roger said. "Sir Walter awaits."
Sir Walter was an older man, but it was difficult to say how old. Matt had heard rumors he was over a hundred years old, but found that hard to credit. He would have guessed the man was in his seventies. "Greetings," Sir Walter said. "Welcome, Matthew. I've heard a good bit about you. I hope we can interest you in working with us." Matt nodded noncommittally. If he was in his seventies he was looking good for it. If he was even older he would be impressed. "Foxtail will fill you in on the details," Sir Walter said, "but for now let's have some drinks and dinner. No need to rush things, rush invites mistakes. And dinner is about ready. Foxtail, if you'll show our guests in..." Sir Walter departed. "This way." Foxtail said. Matt and Roger followed Foxtail and Thorn through a side exit and down a corridor metal walls and a tile floor. A turn at the end brought them into a small dining room, with a dining table with eight places. "Sit on either side here," Foxtail said, indicating the seats. They were next to the head of the table. Foxtail and Thorn took the next two seats. They were barely seated before two waiters wheeled in a cart containing an assortment of beverages. "Help yourselves," Thorn said, getting up and going to the cart. Matt and Roger joined them. Matt poured a glass of something called Southern Storm. He didn't know what it was but it looked interesting. Foxtail and Thorn partook of the same bottle, so Roger followed suit. "From Sir Walter's estate in Idldrid." Thorn said. "From the second generation vineyards." "Idldrid?" Matt asked. "The southwest coast," Thorn said with a grin. "Southwest coast of where?" "Atlantis." "Atlantis?" "You can't be surprised," said Thorn. "No, I guess not. We've all heard rumors that Atlantis was involved, almost to the beginning. I haven't encountered any of their people." "Not that you knew of," Roger said. "They were interested from the beginning. We're approaching an inflection point." "It must be pretty serious of one of the Lords is here, in country," said Matt. "It is that serious," Sir Walter said. "Apparently you know more about us than I was told." He looked at Thorn and Foxtail. "We had no idea," Thorn said. He looked at Foxtail. "Did you?" "None at all." "I'm told you're a remarkable man," Sir Walter said. "Just how much do you know?" Matt wondered if he had finally miscalculated in a major way, somewhere. That they didn't know he knew... "It's all right," Sir Walter said. "You're completely safe. Although I am surprised. Tell me, how much do you know about us." "Mind if I smoke?" he asked. "Be my guest." Sir Walter took out a cigarette case and offered them around. Matt took one instead of reaching for his own. The small cigarillo smelled faintly of vanilla and something he could not identify. Drugs? No, nothing so obvious. "Before you begin," Sir Walter said, "I've read your dossier, and Roger's too, several times, thoroughly. You are remarkable, among a company or remarkable men. We are looking beyond the end of this conflict, to matters far more important. The reason we intervened so soon was that we need for it to end quickly, as some of those matters can not wait, and the Euro-American hegemony is important. What we want you to do is contribute your considerable talents to making that happen." "I know what the conventional wisdom regarding Atlantis is," Matt said. "I don't know accurate it is." "You know about the Lords," Sir Walter said. "Our existence is largely a rumor, even among the world's intelligence agencies. You not only knew it was a fact, but you recognized me as one." Matt grinned wryly. "Obviously," he said, "I don't know enough to know what I'm not supposed to know. I'm guessing you know about Mantis group." Sir Walter nodded. "They you know Russell Becker. Knew him." "I see. He mentioned you only in passing. I didn't know how close you were." "He didn't expect to die. None of us ever do. Actually we do, but we put it out of mind." "I understand," Sir Walter said. "Was anyone else in Mantis as close to him as you were?" "I doubt it. Russ and I knew each other from back before the war." "We know that. Not that it matters. A lot of people know a little something about Atlantis. Russell knew a lot. How much did he tell you?" "The basic history I suppose. It began long before the rising, in the 1970s, maybe earlier. He wasn't sure. A secret society that somehow knew, or at least believed, that Atlantis would emerge from the ocean near the end of the century, or the beginning of the next. They began preparing to colonize it, building a large population, dispersed around the world. When the rising began they were prepared to claim it and establish a nation, and repel any attempts by any others to do so. "Most of the world knew about the seaborne communities, but their plans were apparently not known. So when the first land appeared it was immediately occupied. And successfully defended against any attempted incursions." "Correct," Sir Walter said. "As it happened - and as we expected - events elsewhere in the world preoccupied the major powers, and the rising gave them even more distractions." "They were busy with the tsunamis and earthquakes,' Matt said, "and weather disruptions. That helped us too." "We anticipated that as well. That's why we engaged the Alliance and the Republic in their early stages. They have an important part in this." Matt grinned. "Engaged as in infiltrated?" "Pretty much. A small number of the Freeholds were composed entirely of Atlanteans. A few others contained Atlanteans. We kept a low profile, observing and little else outside of discreetly providing assistance that would have otherwise been unavailable, or at least hard to come by. The Fleet had considerable resources and was composed mostly of Americans, or their descendants born at sea." "The Fleet?" "The colonists." Sir Walter replied. "Most of it was relatively invisible. The big ships - old cruise ships, some tankers and container ships modified to house large populations, were obviously easy to see. Most thought they were cults, or groups of people seeking refuge from the repressive societies, not considered a threat while floating around the oceans. We of course encouraged that thinking. But a few hundred old ships filled with crazy people - the governments were happy to have them gone. "What they didn't see was the smaller pieces, hundreds of privately owned vessels, one entire ocean freight company with about two dozen ships, and nearly a hundred large mothballed ships reconditioned and ready for use. There were several hundred private aircraft as well, and several small air charter companies. "All told, Atlantis had over two hundred thousand citizens when the first dry land appeared, and the funds and supplies to begin building immediately. As it expanded we landed more people and supplies and began building. "It was two years or more before the world took notice. And then they started by sending diplomatic missions and inviting us to join their community of nations, as they called it. By then we were two years into our work. We were organizing in the U.S., parts of Europe, and a few key places in Asia and Latin America." "The big insurrection in the U.S. began about that time." Matt said. "Your work?" "Some. It was happening already, as you know. When the government used the emergencies caused by the upheaval to go forward with their plan to finally eliminate the Republic and take total control, the rebels rebelled. We had some people in by then, and we assisted. "In unobtrusive ways, we supplied money, equipment, technical assistance. Our agents made suggestions here and there, and with some help from us the Alliance and the Republic were able to seize, between them, well over half the continental U.S. "Once they were firmly established and old regime was nearing the end we mostly left you to your own devices. But the end is coming, Matt. You and Roger, your other comrades, have been important forces. Without you things wouldn't have gone so well. The old regime is like a wild animal brought to bay. It's not only cornered but wounded. Fear, rage, desperation all directed at its attackers. It's most dangerous now." "How long do you give it?" Matt asked. "A year, maybe. How it ends is another matter." "You have a preferred way of ending it?" Sir Walter reached for his cigar case. "We do." "And that's why we're here." "Exactly."
Matt
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