“Listen up Crissy; I’m only going to say this once. If I put your life or death up to a vote, you’d be dead in seconds. Hecate will kill you here, now and quickly. If these two women say you should die, the only one who can save you is me. Now here’s the reality. We have everything from all your minds that we need. That’s the memories and emotions, but what we don’t know is how to predict their moves. That’s where you fit in. But if you won’t help, or your advice sucks, then you are wasted air, water, food and space. I don’t need you, therefore I would cast my vote to end your miserable existence as of this very moment. You have no leverage or bargaining power.”
“What? Splatter my blood and guts all over this pretty room. Such a mess.”
“Nope. Hecate works by imploding heads, so that thing that sits on your shoulders would be crushed to the size of a pea. Now, what will it be?”
“I don’t believe a word you’re saying so, no, I pass.”
Adam turned to Hecate. “Pain, and lots of it.”
Eene shouted, “No! If we torture, we’re no better than them. She volunteers and does her job, or I’ll kill her myself. Not Hecate. Not in anger.”
“Just a demo.”
“No. Who has a gun. What’s the vote?”
“Death.”
“Death.”
Eene said, “Then death it is. I’ll go get a gun from Misti and be right back.”
Hecate turned to Crissy. “You remember Misti don’t you, Crissy? Of course you do.”
Eene said, “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”
Adam said, “Hurry. I want this over with. We have important work to do.”
Eene found Misti as said, “Gun. Now!”
“Look Eene, Noki and I …”
“Shut up, Misti. Gun!”
Misti opened her desk drawer and handed Eene her nine-millimeter pistol.
Eene left and returned to Crissy’s room. “Has she changed her mind?”
“No.”
Eene took the pistol, checked the magazine and said, “I’m counting down from five. You have to zero to decide your own fate. I am merely the instrument of that fate. What’s it going to be?”
“Fuck you. You don’t have the nerve to kill me, you little whore.”
“Wrong.” There a was a pop-pop, pop-pop; four shots in rapid succession. Shoulder, shoulder; knee, knee.
“Damn,” said Eene, “missed the arteries. You’re going to bleed out slowly now. I won’t torture, that’s barbaric. But there aren’t any rules on how quick and painless your death needs to be. I choose slow and painful.”
“Stop! Stop, please stop!” Crissy was in shock and now screaming at the top of her lungs for Adam to stop Eene. “I’ll help. I swear I’ll help.”
“Insult me again, fail me in any respect, and you’re dead. You’re in my hands now. You will remain in this room, answer all questions, give advice we can test, and do as you are told. If you please me, I might let you live.”
“I need a guarantee. I won’t give up any information without a guarantee. I walk away.”
“Wrong answer.”
Eene shot Crissy two times in the head. Blood spattered everywhere, spurting in all directions.
Eene handed to gun to Adam. “Sorry about the mess. I’ll clean it up later.”
“Damn,” said Hecate.
“Double damn,” said Adam. “Never saw that comin’; you OK Eene?”
“Yeah. Lost my temper there at the end. Arrogant bi …, I mean witch.”
“Free speech tonight. Let’s get you back to the residence.”
Eene was shaking. “I gotta clean this up.”
“I’ll do it,” said Adam. “Let’s get you home. You need a little rest.”
“Fuck yes I do.”
Chapter 58
After the events of the day before, Adam put Eene to bed. She was suddenly very tired, no energy and very sleepy. She slept well and Adam didn’t wake her in the morning for the after-action meeting and briefing. He needed to discuss contact with Edward and Anna, try to draw them out and end this deadly situation. Some would walk away, others not. Crissy was dead and now was the time, thought Adam, to let Mom and Dad know and see if their greed outweighed their common sense. If he were them, there was no need to show themselves and take a risk. They had the life they wanted and plenty of money. Did Edward really want to risk all that for the fame and fortune of the find of a lifetime, the Cache?
Adam thought he did, because Adam thought Edward could not conceive of being outsmarted by his nerd “son” and a bunch of women. Edward had gotten away, literally, with murder and criminality for decades. In that he had an impeccable record. Why would his streak end now?
It was clear to Adam that he had to speak to his “father” and bait the trap – Edward’s massive male ego and the ultimate reward of wealth and fame on his way out at the top of his game would be too much to pass up.
The ladies all gathered in the kitchen, minus Eene who was still sleeping, as Adam made breakfast. He was quiet, but just as everyone sat down at the large kitchen table, food coming out in rapid succession, Eene made an appearance.
“Look who’s here, still in her teddy bear jammies,” said Adam. Eene came up to Adam and hugged him tight.
“Hungry? Can I make you something?”
“No. Not hungry. I’m going back to bed. I tired and out of gas. When you’re done, can you please take a nap with me. I don’t sleep very well when you’re not in bed with me.”
“As soon as I’m done. I’ll bring Hecate and Hana. We can snuggle.”
“Bye, bye.” She disappeared back into the Master bedroom.
***
“OK, ladies. Let’s talk about our plans and what happened.”
Adam explained what happened the previous day to the Four Nerds, Misti, Hana and Noki. All were astonished that Eene had shot Crissy; they assumed that either Hecate or Adam had done the deed.
“I have old emails and phone numbers for Edward but nothing current. I called the Victoria Institute yesterday, but Edward resigned his position, gave up the house in Barrows Bay, and terminated his relationship with the Vic formally in a letter from Crissy. All financial, banking and other matters are to be routed through Crissy, who also had Power of Attorney. Problematic for Mum and Dad now with her dead, but not insurmountable. Not like there’s a shortage of lawyers in America.”
Noki asked, “How do we find them?”
Adam asked, “Did any of you leave Crissy alone with your computer on?”
“We weren’t supposed to, “said Misti. “But I did several times toward the end. I got ahead of the clearances. She could have accessed my computer. Probably not the phone though.”
“Same here,” said Noki. “Out for coffee but only gone for ten minutes or so.”
Adam turned to Beata. “Could Crissy have gotten off an email to the folks with your new security protocols?”
“Not without a PIN,” said Beata. “If she sent an email without the correct PIN in the email address, it would have come back ‘undeliverable’ to Misti or Noki’s Inbox. But most people don’t look at the ‘undeliverable’ emails unless the outbound email was really important. Since you cannot send emails or use the phone without a PIN, the email could not leave the system. It would still be in the Inbox and we would have the address where it was sent. If their security is lax, like using an existing email account at home, then we could find them easy. I’m sure we would have been discovered them eventually, but not right away. Crissy was probably waiting for a response that never came. Something disguised as spam.
Cori and Cia had already found the emails and the email address that Edward was using and were already hacking into that account. Fifteen minutes later, Cori looked up and said, “Got it.”
Cia said, “They’re back in London. Location is a country estate north of London. Would you like us to monitor the account?”
“Please do. I’d like to see who they’re emailing. Once I send them an email, they’ll
respond, then probably bolt. Any way to follow them?”
“With luck, yes. But not a certainty. What do you intend to say?”
“Hi Mom. Hi Dad, let’s have dinner. Work through the family issues.”
“Really?”
“No. I’ll offer them a deal and a peace treaty. They get the Cache and a non-aggression pact in exchange for leaving us alone.”
Noki said, “They’ll still try to kill us. They’ll take the bait and break the agreement.”
“That’s why I’ll demand that we meet first. They’ll think I’m lying or just double crossing them, and try to kill us first. Which I am. This is ‘first to kill, the other wins’. Like a gunfight or a duel. A winner and a loser.”
“You’re sure about this. We can wait and monitor them indefinitely, wait for them to leave their compound, then catch them off guard.”
“That’s probably the safest plan. I worry that, without any contact with Crissy, they may bolt to be on the safe side. If so, we lose our best opportunity to catch them.”
“They will bolt as soon as you send them that email. Maybe you should get people in place around them to make sure we don’t lose them. We can track them electronically and through satellite tech, but unless we physically have a device on them, we may lose them. Maybe we should think this over a little before we jump to a decision. We need to get this right.”
“Or we use Hecate to implode heads right away, and have your private army buddies together with your people in London as back up to bomb the fuck out of them if Plan A fails. Let’s not make this difficult and overthink it. Adam, I bet you and your computer girls can redeploy the nanite tech into a something lethal. That way, no loud explosions to attract unwanted attention, leaving the three very, very dead.”
It was Eene.
“I say we tap into the military grade Sat tech the DEA uses to find tunnels on the border, then seal the rabbit holes, send in our best assassin and seal the vicinity with our troops. Monitor the situation remotely for now, then move in and fuck them up.”
They all looked at Eene, the eighty-pound weakling and were amazed.
Adam said, “An even better plan. We contact Octavio and James and get the band back together. We’ll need to move fast and still contact Edward but instead of as us, as Crissy. Let’s look at those emails she sent and see if there’s a pattern we need to replicate. Maybe a safe word to convince Edward it’s Crissy and not us.”
“It is us.”
“Not the point.”
Eene asked, “Are you done now? I can’t sleep.”
“We’ll be there right away, my love. Let me pass out assignments, have Noki and Misti make the arrangements with Octavio and James, and get of Nerd Girls started on the hardware and software. Beata, ladies, I’ll come over to your workshop a little later so we can start designing the software we’ll need and get the hardware prepped. Misti, talk to Octavio about ordinance. If we can use conventional arms quietly, we may not need the new tech, as much as I’d like to design and develop it. But we are really short of time, so we may need to go with whatever we can find on the black market and whatever we can make in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. Let’s go for whatever tech we can find that is useful, so have Noki call my buddies at DARPA for any new toys. Nothing traceable. We’re going to light a big ass bonfire. Now go. Scoot!”
Adam turned to Hecate and Hana. “Let’s go put our girl to sleep, then I want to have a chat with Hecate. Cause of death will be by Immortal; the bonfire will be an accident.
***
Edward had not heard from Crissy yet, which was not totally unexpected given what Adam would likely not believe any of her story and keep her confined. He knew Adam and whatever new tech he had would still not be able to get any of the good stuff; that was hidden away in special compartments in Crissy’s mind. Crissy’s facility for jumping between personalities was honed and amazing. She could use whichever personality was called for in the moment, and her darkness was exquisite. Summoning a personality seemed to happen in a predictable way but was never fully understood by either Crissy or Edward. Crissy could do the switch; that was all she knew, or needed to know. Each personality was separate and walled off.
***
Anna said, “Have you heard from your whore, Edward? Is she in communication? She hasn’t found Alana McCarthy, and Laura Baldwin has disappeared along with Gaea Crane. I thought she was running this operation.”
Edward felt a welling of anger, causing Francesca to instantly flee the scene, leaving Anna to both poke and soothe the beast.
“You will bring Francesca to me later. In my bedroom at midnight. I will be busy until then but be prompt. You have both antagonized me today and further agitation would be unwise.”
Anna said, “When do we start officially worrying. I expected her to work this out and get a message to us by now.”
“Adam is clever and will be watching Crissy. She needs to build trust; how, I do not know how, but my daughter is without peer in deception, and she will fool the lesser minds who will make a mistake and then we will have them. We must be patient and let her do her job. She’s been training all her life for this role; she will not disappoint.”
“Is that what you believe or want to believe. Adam is a snake, a viper. I would not be surprised if she was already dead.”
“Dream on. Adam’s not that good.”
Chapter 59
Eene woke up in the afternoon, ravenous and curious about how the plans were proceeding for the trip to the outskirts of London sometime after midnight. Adam planned to take his jet to a vacant estate a few miles away from the Manor, the name of the estate Edward owned. Where Adam was headed was a farm, just right for the nanite landing strip he would have constructed an hour or so before landing. Octavio and his men were already on the ground and had the barrels of nanite materials with them. He also had the other hardware and computer programs necessary to construct the tarmac and a few more items that Adam would need for the assault on the Manor, should an assault be necessary.
Eene and Hana had a light late breakfast and brought their coffee into the Study to join the meeting in progress. Adam fairly beamed when the ladies appeared at the main entrance to the Study; Misti and Noki were there along with Beata and her crew. Hana and Eene brought chairs and sat nearby listening to the group chatter away about the positives and negatives of one issue or another.
Beata had been successful on the main computer, software and hacking tasks; Adam had bad news from Maria and Agustin about the possibility of creating nanite weapons in the short time available. Mom, the engineer, said it would take too much time to design the weapons, develop the correct materials and test it in less than twenty-four hours. Pops, usually supportive of impossible missions, had to concur. However, it didn’t really matter under the new plan of letting Hecate go in, implode three heads and getting out. The men brought in from the US and the UK were there solely to lock down the Manor, and if Adam and he teams were detected and the three bolted, to make sure that the rabbit holes were covered.
Adam explained to Eene and Hana that the mistake made in Kensington, where the three escaped through a new tunnel, would not be repeated.
“I assumed that there was only one escape route when in fact there were two; the second went undetected by everyone on all our security teams. This time our satellite telemetry tells us that there are two tunnels and tunnel entrances, one in the front of the house and one towards the rear. The two meet up in a common tunnel shaft that intersects with the two and runs to the back of the property and emerges next to a roadway. I assume they have a car or SUV there somewhere hidden away amongst the trees.”
“Have you detected a third, possibly new tunnel?”
“Not so far, but there may be ways to avoid detection using new technologies. If so, we might have to have Hecate scout out where that third tunnel might be as soon as we arrive on scene.”
Hana asked, “Why? I thought the plan was to implode and leave. If
Hecate just goes in before you even get there, you may not need to be on scene at all.”
“True. But what if they aren’t there, have found a way to hide, or something fucks up? This is redundancy, I know, but necessary. It’s the ‘just in case’ factor.”
“Doesn’t your presence increase the chance of detection?”
“Could. Depends on whether we believe that they have sophisticated tech and countermeasures, or they have off the shelf stuff. Dad’s not high tech.”
Misti said, “They may be on to something, Adam. Maybe we should rethink the time and placement of where our people are. If we go in too soon, we may shoot ourselves in the foot.”
“Feet?”
“Exactly.”
“All right,” he said. “Anything else?”
Eene said, “Yeah. I’m thinking ‘getting there and killing them’ is the easy part with Hecate there if you are careful and no one fucks up. What’s next?”
“What do you mean? We go home,” said Adam.
“What do you do with three bodies. Heads the size of peas on shoulders and a bloody mess. How does that get explained?”
“They’re dead; no connection to me and us. What’s your point?”
Eene continued, “You should have a plan for disposing of the bodies. It will attract attention and with the heads imploded, some suspicion will fall on you. Tech guy, estranged from father and mother, angry and hostile. Edward has already seeded you as the cause of death with his law enforcement buddies. You, Adam Stephen St. James. Death by technology.”
Adam turned to the other women. “You buyin’ any of this paranoia?”
Misti said, “I am.” The other women nodded in the affirmative too.
“We need a plan to dispose of the bodies?”
“She’s right. Some cop is going to look at three dead on the living room with an odd shoulder configuration and wonder how and who. I would. So would you.”
“Suggestions?”
“I have an idea,” said Eene. “But let me talk to Beata and Hecate first. Then I’ll need to chat with an engineer on our project here.”
Crissy Chance Page 43
