“This is not my decision,” she replied. “My efforts have been in assessing the situation with what facts I have on hand and trying to come up with the method that gives us the best chance of success…and failing that, the best chance of survival.”
“Something nobody has done in over two hundred years?”
“Correct. But I have some new information, which combined with some very old information has allowed me to develop a theory about that. There might be a way to approach them they will not dismiss out of hand and start shooting. But unfortunately we are right up against the ‘need to know’ issue again, and I can’t go further into it.”
“Right,” Adam sighed, “I’ll just take heart in the idea that if the boss man is willing to be part of this adventure, then it can’t be a suicide mission.”
Olivia looked as if she were about to reply when her computer tablet buzzed. She picked it up, frowned, tapped on it rapidly, then slid it into the shoulder bag she had brought with her.
“I’m afraid I shall have to leave now, Mr. Sellars.” She stood. “Duty calls. Thank you for the games.” Shouldering the bag, she moved with brisk purpose over to the door.
“Anytime,” Adam replied, somehow feeling the response to be inadequate. “If nothing else, I should be a better chess player after this. I suppose I ought to thank you for that.”
She paused at the door, and gave him another one of those puzzled looks.
“You’re welcome, Mr. Sellars.”
Then she was gone.
###
“There you are,” Antonio spoke as Olivia entered his office. “Where have you been? I need your assessment on something.” He held up a thin newspaper in one hand before putting it down and sliding it across his desk.
“I was visiting Mr. Sellars,” she replied with calm equanimity, moving across the room and picking up the newspaper, “making sure he was ready for travel, as you ordered. What am I looking for?”
“Cole County Chronicle. Page two…top story. It seems an old farmer and his wife disappeared under mysterious circumstances, right on the edge of the Spider People’s territory. What do we have on them?”
Antonio watched, drumming his fingers as Olivia folded the paper to the correct page and scanned it. She furrowed her brow then reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out her tablet. He stayed quiet as she tapped and gestured on the slim instrument’s surface. She studied the results then reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out her laptop, too. Setting the tablet on the desk, she placed the laptop next to it and turned it on. Her fingers danced across the keyboard as she glanced from one device to another.
After another long few minutes of furious typing, she straightened and walked over to a nearby picture hanging on the wall. Pressing a concealed button under the frame, the image of the painting faded to be replaced by a large computer screen. She then returned to her laptop, pushed a couple of keys, and pointed to a photograph of a late middle aged couple that now filled the picture frame.
“Curtis and Abigail Morlin,” she pronounced. “This was taken seven years ago at their fortieth wedding anniversary. They would now be in their early seventies. They have been longtime neighbors to the Spider People, but all indications are they are not affiliated with them in any way. I highly doubt they had any serious dealings with them, as the Spider People tend to avoid involvement with outsiders. But…”
“But?” Antonio pressed.
“But, the paper reports the couple was apparently considering selling their land, as a generous offer from Ronald Weston was found on their table.” She tapped a few more keys on her laptop and gestured at the screen on the wall. It now showed a map, with the thin blue line of a river running down through it. “This is where their farm is. Notice, these four larger and adjoining farms…they were bought by Ronald Weston, Arthur Weston, and Amos Clayton over the course of the past year.”
“So,” Antonio frowned at the screen, “they now own everything between Weyrich and the Brazos. They’re expanding their territory.”
“It appears so,” Olivia concurred, “but in a way that is reckless, to say the least. They are using almost all of their people they can safely use for official matters without drawing attention. There is something going on here, and I don’t have enough information to understand it. I feel compelled to repeat my warning about the inadvisability of this mission.”
“And yet you insist on being part of it.”
“It is where I belong,” she replied with flat emphasis. “No matter how debatable the wisdom of the venture is.”
“Actually,” Antonio replied, steepling his fingers, “I think you have demonstrated this mission to be more important than it was before. If they are being reckless in this matter, just like they are in the matter with Mr. Sellars, then perhaps the two issues are connected. We need to know what’s going on, and Adam Sellars might be the key to finding out.”
“You do realize,” Olivia folded her arms and gazed across the desk at him, “the likelihood you are setting Mr. Sellars up to be killed is very high.”
“Not if your theory regarding the Matriarch is correct.”
“It’s called a theory for a reason, Uncle. It fits the data I have, but the data I have is also old, incomplete, and unreliable. I’ve been as careful as possible to account for this, but it still leaves me with a theory I can only put a limited amount of confidence in. We are operating in the dark here.”
“Which will hopefully change soon.” Antonio continued to scowl at the map on the computer screen. “Mr. Sellars may prove to be a valuable asset in that endeavor.”
“Speaking of which...” Olivia tapped her screen and brought up a fuzzy close-up of Tucker Sellars cropped from the family picture in the car, “Assuming Mr. Sellars survives, and we even help him recover his nephew, then what? You have already let him know of the existence of veneno, and if he meets with one of our adversaries he could possibly learn quite a bit more. Not to mention, young Tucker surely knows quite a bit by now.”
“I suppose it will be a matter for the council.”
“I see,” Olivia replied dryly. “Would you like a snap prediction on what the outcome of that session would be?”
“Things are what they are.” Antonio rested his forearms on the desk and clasped his hands together. “If Mr. Sellars performs well for us, I’ll put in a good word for him in the Council.”
“I’m sure Cesar and Marcos will fall right in line with a ‘word’ from you.”
Antonio spread his hands helplessly, almost wincing at her sarcasm.
“That’s all I can do, Olivia.”
Not wishing to get into a stare down with her, he changed tactics and pulled a cigar and a lighter from his desk. He raised an eyebrow at her, then flipped open the lighter. Radiating disapproval, Olivia made a dignified retreat for the door.
“But for the moment,” he called after her, “let’s concentrate on surviving the next few days.”
###
“You want me to meet these people dressed like this?”
Adam limped down the basement hallway, with Olivia at his side. He gestured at the huge pair of white cargo shorts he wore, offset by the black tee shirt. The outfit left his braces exposed to view, but as bad as that was, it wasn’t the worst of it. The tee shirt featured a yellow rubber duck with a bullet hole in the middle of its forehead and X’s for eyes.
“I’m sure your wardrobe will not hamper your mission, Mr. Sellars.” She walked briskly beside him, eyes firmly ahead.
“Don’t you think it might tempt Miss Crazy-Amazon-Lady-With-A-Cannon more than she can resist? I don’t really want to be giving her ideas.”
“She has already had that idea.”
“Yeah, but this is kind of like reminding her.”
“I doubt she needs reminding either.”
“Sure. It will just rub in the fact she missed and needs to try harder next time,” he sighed. “But it’s all going to be okay, because this is all part of the plan I don’t
have a ‘need to know.’ Right?”
“Correct, Mr. Sellars.”
This wasn’t your idea, was it. Adam glanced over at the woman beside him. And you don’t approve of it one bit. You just won’t say so.
Olivia wore her usual sphinx-like inscrutability like a cloak, and he knew his guess was based as much on his own wishful thinking as any miniscule clue he might pick up from her. Still, it felt right. She had shown up at his door earlier with the outfit on a hanger covered by a bag.
Adam had barely noticed.
She wore a dark green to almost black sweater, matched by a paler green skirt, neck scarf, and shoulder bag. The outfit made the emerald of her own eyes almost glow against her olive complexion, and Adam had to force himself not to stare. She had sat him down and done one final check of his arm and shoulder before pronouncing him as fit as he was going to get within this time frame.
When he met her afterward in the hall, wearing his new outfit, there had been the briefest of pauses on her part—perhaps a fraction of a second—before she turned and led him toward the elevators. There had been no change in her expression whatsoever, and he had wondered at the time if the pause had been in his imagination.
Now he had the sneaking suspicion it had been Olivia’s version of doing a double take…a suspicion confirmed when he stepped into the basement garage a few seconds later.
“Adam! There you are!” Antonio beamed as he walked out from behind the van at the end of the line of cars before them. “What do you think?”
Adam could only stare at the scene before him.
He wouldn’t have recognized Antonio if the man hadn’t addressed him first. With his pony tail undone and his gray hair hanging loose, he seemed to have aged ten years. Add the rose tinted, John Lennon style glasses, the tie-dyed T-shirt and ratty jeans and sandals, and the overall effect was of a burnout of a man who had never quite found his way out of Woodstock.
The van behind him only cemented the impression.
Painted in a wide variety of psychedelic colors, it featured tinted bubble windows on the sides and top, with large sliding doors on both sides. The front grill featured a large metallic peace sign welded into its design and the license plate read “LOST CZ.” It looked like the sixties had enjoyed a wild night out with the seventies, and this was the offspring.
“This must be one hell of a plan,” Adam murmured in awe at the display before him.
“Apparently, it has been expanded upon,” Olivia folded her arms grimly across her chest, “to include getting stopped by every highway patrolman between here and your destination.”
“Now, now, Olivia,” Antonio chuckled as he approached. The big man turned and stood between them, laying an arm over each of their shoulders so they faced the van together. “Your plan is intact. But operational details are my specialty, so you’ll just have to trust me on this. There is a method to my madness.”
“Yes, sir.” The two words reeked of resigned acquiescence as opposed to agreement.
“Good girl,” Antonio patted her shoulder. “Now stop alarming poor Adam with your barely unspoken reservations and let’s get this operation underway.”
“Yes, sir.”
Olivia stepped forward and turned to them while reaching into her shoulder bag. She produced two wallets, one of them Adam’s, and held them up.
“Your new identities are Anthony Milagro and Adam Sinclair. You have new licenses that will withstand scrutiny if checked by the police, and you each have a minor offense or two on your new record. The information on those and other parts of your new histories is in the folders I’ll send with you. I recommend you find time to familiarize yourselves with them between bouts of getting in touch with your inner hippies.”
“Olivia.”
“Yes, sir. Mr. Sellars, I especially recommend you study this as it might be convenient to simply make this new identity permanent in your case.”
“Permanent?” Adam took his wallet and stared at the new license with curiosity. It was his face but the age, name, and birthday were all different.
“Yes. It’s very sketchy now and only designed to get you through any checks you would likely run into on this mission. Given more time, I can tailor it and flesh it out to be a permanent identity. Then I will kill Adam Sellars.”
“Wait…what?” Adam shook himself out of his examination of the new license and refocused on Olivia.
“I will kill Adam Sellars,” she repeated with level seriousness. “A missing Adam Sellars will always be somewhat on the radar of the authorities. A dead one will not. But that is an issue for another time. At the moment, the matters at hand will be more than enough to keep us all busy.” She handed over the folders to Antonio and Adam.
“Thank you.” Antonio tucked his under his arm and headed around the front of the van for the driver’s door. “And since we have a long drive ahead of us, I recommend we get started.”
Even though he knew they were leaving this morning, now that the time had come Adam found all this to be happening too fast. He realized with sudden clarity he could be dead before the sun set this evening…and this time he was the one initiating the confrontation. His next encounter with the people trying to kill him, and possibly the woman at the hospital, loomed mere hours away.
On top of that, if he did survive the encounter, he would be coming back to a life completely different from the one he knew. He would have to start over. He would have to learn a new name, a new identity, and forever be part of something he didn’t even currently understand. And he would be taking Tucker into this with him.
This just kept getting deeper and deeper.
“Adam? You coming?”
Antonio’s voice startled him out of his musings and he looked over to see Antonio grinning at him, leaning against the now open driver’s side door. He had put on a straw hat with a tie-dyed headband, and wore it at a rakish angle. The ying-yang button pinned to his hatband completed the ensemble. Adam looked at him in open dismay, then back at Olivia.
“Mr. Sellars,” she intoned, with the same arch reserve since entering the garage…whatever lessening of her façade she had allowed over the past few days had vanished. “I assure you, Antonio is an expert at missions like this, and his experience and competence is unrivaled when it comes to surviving encounters with our adversaries. And despite his current antics, I would advise you to follow any advice or order of his without hesitation. I know for a fact one or two are going to seem odd, but immediate compliance will increase your odds of survival many fold.”
Somehow, hearing it come from her reassured him.
“Gotcha,” he quipped, putting on a cheerful face to match his driver. “Listen to Antonio…he is wise in all things.”
“Indeed,” she muttered dryly, “just ask him. Nevertheless, in this matter that is exactly right. I will emphasize again, do as he says and the odds I will be having dinner with the two of you this evening at our rendezvous point improves dramatically.”
“Right.” He opened the passenger side door to the van then paused. “Rendezvous point?”
“Yes, Mr. Sellars. This operation will take longer than one day. We will meet at a designated point after Antonio and you make first contact, so we can assess the initial outcome of our efforts. Then we will proceed accordingly.”
Adam found himself torn between delight and alarm to learn of Olivia’s future presence on this venture. On the one hand, as pitiful as it was, he thrilled at the thought of spending more time with her. On the other, the idea of putting her into this kind of danger appalled him. The last thing he wanted was for Olivia to be confronted with that Hell-Valkyrie because of some mission involving him.
It’s not your business, Adam, he reminded himself. She handled herself just fine when she and Antonio rescued you, and she probably knows more about this kind of thing than you do. Save your knight-in-shining-armor attitude for Tucker. He’s the one who needs it. Not to mention, as knights go you aren’t the most convincing specimen.
<
br /> Besides, he was staring again.
“Okay,” Adam recovered with a curt nod, “then I guess we’ll be swapping stories around the dinner table tonight.”
“Very well, Mr. Sellars. I will be most interested in hearing how this encounter goes. Any new information on our adversaries, especially from fresh eyes, is always valuable.”
“Then with information we shall return,” Adam announced stoutly, then winced inside at how lame it sounded.
“Indeed.” Olivia’s face was unreadable and she turned her attention to Antonio. “And I trust, sir, you have the item I constructed for you already stowed.”
“Right here.” He patted a long, flat cardboard box that lay on the floor of the van and ran between the two front seats and all the way to the back doors. “You really think this will work?”
“If my reading of the new information is correct, then this should get a different response than the usual hail of bullets…although I can’t predict what that response will be. Also, sir, they will not be expecting it so you might want to find a way to buy time for them to react to it. Their initial response may likely be to shoot first and notice things like this second. In addition to that, if my theory is correct, there may also be a time lag between their initial noticing of it and it coming to the attention of…somebody…who appreciates its significance.”
“Understood. Use it, and then move. Give it time to work.”
“Sir, that’s assuming it will ‘work’ at all.”
She spoke in the same flat, level tones as always but Adam noticed the tightness in her stance and features.
“There’s only one way to find out.” Antonio grinned across from the driver’s seat as Adam pulled his legs into the van. “Adam, are you ready to go?”
“I’m ready. Let’s do this thing.”
Adam pulled the door shut and looked out the window to see Olivia regarding them both with folded arms. Despite her lack of expression, he still felt she had mixed feelings over this operation. It made him wonder what odds of success she truly gave them.
Spiderstalk Page 18
