by J. M. LeDuc
“So you’re okay with it . . . with me leaving?” Brent said as he stood.
She nodded with a smug expression. “Don’t make me think about it again. I might not come up with the same answer.”
“Wise ass,” he mumbled, pulling close for a kiss.
“And you love it,” Chloe kissed him, gently biting his lower lip. She broke the embrace and gave him a hip bump. “Let’s say goodbye to Bennie and go get some sleep.”
CHAPTER 5
After returning from Vatican City, Maddie told everyone to take the following couple of days to get their lives in order and to spend some well deserved time with their families. As for herself, the newly married Mrs. Oliver would use the time to move into her husband’s townhome. It made sense to start their married life in Seven’s home due to the fact it was built over an entrance to Endowment tunnel system as well as their proximity to Brent and Chloe.
During the past couple of weeks Joan and Charlotte, the newest member of the Phantom Squad, now called Scarlet, due to her expertise with a bow, had become the best of friends. Being new to the Strategic Intelligence Alliance and to Palm Cove, Scarlet had jumped at Joan’s invitation to room together. The only problem was that Joan’s apartment was a one bedroom loft. This problem was quickly rectified when Maddie asked them to move into her now vacant waterfront penthouse.
When Maddie brought up the subject, Joan rolled her eyes and smirked.
“What is that all about,” Maddie said. “If you don’t want it, just say so.”
“Don’t want it? Of course we want it, but unless you plan on giving me a huge raise or are willing to eat a great deal of your mortgage payment, there is no way we can afford to live there.”
Putting her arms around both Joan and Scarlet, Maddie smiled and said, “Let me clue you in on a little secret. The penthouse is owned by the Alliance. It’s really just government housing, sweet government housing, but still government housing. So, it is paid for in full by Uncle Sam. All you have to pay are the utilities, so I’m afraid you can forget the raise. Now are there any other snide comments, or would you like to move in before I rescind my offer?”
The girls looked at each and squealed like school girls as they hugged Maddie. “I love you, mom,” Joan whispered in her ear before letting go of her embrace.
“Me too,” Maddie whispered back. “Now get out of here, I have work to do.”
“Not so fast, ladies.” They turned and saw Seven standing at the door to Maddie’s office. “I have orders from the Colonel. Joan, he needs you to meet him in his office in fifteen minutes with your laptop, and Scarlet, I need you down in the arsenal in ten. You’re giving the squad their first archery lesson today.”
“You mean I get to be in charge?” Scarlet beamed.
Seven sucked on the tobacco that was packed into his lower lip and then spit into the paper cup that seemed to be permanently attached to his hand. Looking up from his cup, he smiled that sly smile only he could and said, “Enjoy it while you can, soldier. Now if you would excuse me, I would like to speak to my wife in private.”
The girls whispered something to each other and then looked back at Maddie and Seven and giggled as they left the office. “What have you created, Madame Director?” Seven said, shaking his head.
“Hey, don’t look at me,” Maddie smiled. “I think we have our illustrious squad leader to thank for that coupling.” Stepping towards Seven with a sultry wiggle, she said, “Now is that all you have to say to your new wife?”
Wrapping his arms around Maddie’s waist and pulling her to him, Seven said in his thickest southern drawl, “I thought I would work on my non-verbal communication skills for the next few minutes before heading to the armory.”
Maddie purred in his ear, before biting it, and then drawled back, “Not with that stuff in your mouth, you won’t.” She then burst into laughter as Seven moved with lightening speed to the bathroom to wash out his mouth and brush his teeth.
After a few minutes of passionate kissing, Maddie broke the embrace. Straightening the wrinkles in her blouse, she said, “You’d better get down to the armory before their imaginations get the best of them.”
Leaning in for another kiss, he said, “Let ‘em talk.”
Holding him at arm’s length, Maddie said, “Down boy, there will be plenty of time later for what’s on your mind. Right now, you are needed in the armory.” Before Seven could respond, she added, “and that’s an order.”
Seven took his dip can out of his back pocket and pinched off some tobacco. Placing it between his lower lip and gums, he said, “Can I call you Madame Director when we’re. . . you know?”
Laughing out loud, Maddie said, “I’ll see you at the meeting, now git.”
CHAPTER 6
Minutes after leaving Maddie’s office, Joan arrived in Brent’s office with laptop in hand. “You called for me, Colonel?”
He was so deep in thought that Joan’s question didn’t even register in his mind. “Anybody home?” Joan said, knocking on the door.
Startled, Brent jumped in his chair. “Sorry, Joan. I didn’t hear you come in.”
“For someone who usually has ice water in his veins, you sure spook easy. What’s going on?”
“I just received some intel about a secret society that is consumed with the Ark.”
“Someone new?”
“Don’t know, information is sketchy. Intelligence is still trying to break the encoded messages from the middle-east. The only word they can figure out is Ark.”
“Can they be any more specific than the ‘middle-east’?”
“‘Fraid not, the messages are being bounced off so many satellites and cell towers that even SIA is having a time trying to pin point anything closer at the moment. I would like you to try to crack the code. They might be our country’s best code busters, but I know what you’re capable of.”
Joan nodded. “I’ll need all the intel they have.”
“You’ll find it’s been patched through to your computer.”
Again she nodded, but she continued to stare at Brent. She wasn’t used to seeing him with such a strained expression.
Sensing her fear, he wiped his long brown hair from his eyes, saying, “I’m sure it’s nothing, I’m just consumed with this mission. I’m getting almost hourly e-mails from the Vatican, telling me how important it is for us to move quickly.”
“So, why are you still here?”
“You know how important preparation is. If we are not ready for every situation that might come our way, it could end in disaster. I just want to be sure that all scenarios have been thoroughly worked through before we leave.”
Nodding her understanding, Joan took a seat in front of Brent’s desk. Opening her computer, she said, “So how can I help?”
“I need you to tap into the ‘Knights of the Endowment’ and see who we have in Jerusalem.”
Brent watched as Joan’s head bowed down toward the keyboard and listened to the ferocious quickness of fingers tapping keys. With all the encryption bridges that needed to be crossed in order to be able to access the list, it would have taken Brent close to an hour to navigate the high tech highway. Joan, on the other hand was able to break through the encryption in about ten minutes. By the time she was finished there was a glistening of perspiration beading up on her forehead.
“Alright, I’m in. Is there anyone I’m looking for in particular?”
Brent walked around the desk and sat in the chair next to Joan. “I just want to know how many people I can count on in case of trouble. By the looks of that list, it’s not many. Are you sure that is the entire list?”
“The program runs on a perpetual clock. If ever someone is added to the outer circle, the list would be updated by midnight of that day.”
“How, what if they are not reported as Knights of the Endowment, or the list is not ame
nded on their end?”
“That’s not a problem.”
Brent and Joan jumped at the sound of a third voice entering their conversation. Turning their attention toward the door, they saw Joseph standing there with an all-knowing expression.
“Great,” said Joan, sarcastically, “now I have to worry about two people who’re able to move around here like ghosts. That really makes a girl feel comfortable—NOT.”
Walking into the room and kissing Joan in a grandfatherly way, Joseph let his hand comb through Joan’s wild frock, “I know it’s a generational thing, but I don’t understand why someone so sweet and pretty would want to look so scary.”
Brent laughed, as he looked at Joan’s spiked pink and green hair, not to mention her eyebrow and lip piercings. “You’ll find that she grows on you, Joe.”
Joseph smiled. “She already has. Like a granddaughter, she’s grown on me.”
Joan began to blush and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Now, if you have finished embarrassing me, would you like to clue us in on how the list continually gets amended?”
Joseph sat down and began talking, “During the nineteen-eighty’s, we were having a lot of trouble keeping up with new members of the outer circle. There were a lot of leaks in the system back then, so I decided to implement a very controversial plan. An identity chip was implanted in all of the Knights of the Endowment. It also works as a GPS.”
“I’m surprised there wasn’t a lot protest,” Brent said.”
“Oh, there was some.”
“And?”
Joseph smiled again. “Let’s just say, Maddie used her cunning ways with men to calm any fears.”
Brent looked confused, “Maddie wasn’t even aware of the Endowment back then. How did you manage that? She didn’t use the perfume scheme, did she?” Brent said.
Brent thought back to the perfume Maddie had invented many years ago using her pheromones to ‘ease’ men’s apprehensions.
“There is a time and place for everything,” Joseph said. “At the time, we were having a lot of agents’ identities compromised, so she thought it was SIA business.”
“How did she get to everyone? There are thousands of Knights all over the world.”
“We had a mandatory meeting in Geneva. When Maddie spoke, we simultaneously piped the scent she had compounded through the air conditioning ducts. Once it infiltrated everyone’s olfactory system, there wasn’t much of a protest.”
Brent sat back and shook his head in disbelief, “And what about the women?”
“Surprisingly, the scent had the same effect on women as it did on men. It was like watching the Pied Piper. The people in the room would have agreed to anything she’d suggested.”
Brent shook his head. “The power of the female pheromone.”
“Okay, as Big Brotherish as that is, I can go along with it because it is for their safety,” Joan said, “but it doesn’t explain the new recruits.”
“As you know, except in very unusual cases, most new members of The Endowment’s outer circle are offspring of previous members,” Joseph explained. “Each family Patriarch or Matriarch was sent home from Geneva with a scented box of syringes. Any new members, after being run through security, receive their implant.”
“Is this legal?” Brent asked.
“You know as well as I do,” Joseph said, “The Endowment and the Ambassador are not governed by any country, therefore legality is moot.”
“Incredible. So this list is as complete as it can be?” Joan asked.
“The chips are run through the mainframe at midnight each day. So as of twenty four hundred hours yesterday, it’s complete.” Sensing Brent’s next question, he continued. “The chips are sensitive to body heat, so if someone in the outer circle passes away, their chip is automatically deactivated.”
“You did some amazing things as Ambassador,” Brent said. “I don’t feel worthy to follow in your footsteps.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. God seems to pick the right person for the right time. Besides, it wasn’t my idea.”
Brent cocked his head slightly with an inquisitive look.
“Your grandfather, Jacob had passed all of this down to me in his writings. We just had to wait for technology to catch up to his thinking.”
Brent closed his eyes and smiled. The thought of his grandfather brought him confidence. Opening his eyes, he put his game face back on.
Looking at the list again, he said, “Not a lot of back up in Jerusalem. We’ll have to be extra cautious.”
“We can handle it,” Joseph replied.
Brent’s skin flushed with goose bumps. He knew he had to tell Joseph of his decision. “Joan, sync the list, complete with addresses and phone numbers to my squad phone and have it ready for me at our general meeting at eighteen hundred hours.”
“Yes sir, Is there anything else?”
“Get to work on that intel.”
“I’m on it,” she said, walking out the door.
“Joe, I need you to stay for a moment.” Brent stood up and leaned against the front of his desk. “I’ve given this a lot of thought and prayer and I have come to the decision that you will better serve this mission by staying here in Palm Cove.”
For a moment Brent didn’t want to look at Joseph. He thought that if he saw the expression on his face, he might change his mind. When he finally did look in his direction, he saw his mentor looking down, which he took as a sign of disappointment. “I’m sorry if you’re angry or disappointed with my decision, but it is final.”
Joseph sat silently and continued to hold his head in his hands. Placing his hands on Joseph’s shoulders, Brent said, “Say something. Tell me how you feel about the assignment.”
Picking his head up, he looked at Brent with no sign of emotion on his face. A few seconds later, a broad smile enveloped it. “You truly are amazing, or your mother is. . . or both.”
“Come again, I’m a little lost.”
“Lucille and I have been discussing the mission. I told her that whatever your decision, I would abide by it, but if given my choice, I would rather stay put. She told me that she had no doubt that you would come to the same decision. Truthfully, I wasn’t so sure. Do you mind if I ask what changed your mind? The last we spoke, you were pretty adamant that the four of us would be going to Israel.”
“I wasn’t one hundred percent sure myself until last night. First and foremost, my decision was based on your knowledge of the inner workings of the SIA. Maddie is an incredible woman and an even more amazing director, but if these terrorists make their way to Palm Cove before we get back, she is going to need your support.”
“You really think they’ll head this way?”
“I do. If they are able to follow the clues to the Ark of the Covenant, they will stop at nothing to reunite the three Arks.”
“How would they even know to come to Palm Cove?”
Shrugging his shoulders, Brent answered, “Like the Pontiff said; ‘Evil finds a way’.”
Nodding in agreement, Joseph said, “You said first and foremost, what were your other reasons?”
“There is just one. Lucille. It wouldn’t be right to take you away from mom so soon.” Moving towards the door of his office, he said, “I don’t think she could emotionally handle your being taken away from her again.”
Joseph stood up and squeezed Brent’s shoulder. “You’re a great Ambassador and even a better son.”
Brent blushed, muttered a thank you and shook his hand. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for archery practice.”
CHAPTER 7
Down in the armory, Scarlet was instructing the squad in the basics of archery. Brent was pleased to see that she wasn’t being arrogant in her approach. After all the ribbing she had taken as the new member of The Phantom Squad, she could have tried to exact some revenge on he
r brothers. Fitzpatrick and Seven seemed to get the hang of the compound bow and the finesse that it took. Malcolm, on the other hand, appeared to be all thumbs.
“Having a little trouble, Sergeant?” Brent asked, surveying his squad.
The Phantom Squad was the most covert combat squad in the world. It was comprised of soldiers from different branches of the Armed Forces and civilians. Each member was handpicked and trained by Seven. Once chosen, their identities were washed. They did not exist as far as the world was concerned. Though they were financed by the United States, if ever caught, they were on their own. The government would never come to their aid, nor would they ever admit they existed.
Although they were trained and chosen by Seven, Colonel Venturi was their leader. All orders came directly from him. The squad was under the auspices of the SIA, and their orders came directly from the Director of the Alliance, Maddie Smith.
Brent stopped when he reached Scarlet. “He’ll get it, Sir. With his size and strength, the light weight of the bow is a little hard for him to get used to.”
“Would you mind if I gave you a suggestion?”
“No, sir, not at all,” Scarlet answered.
“Seven, I’m sure you remember that you had the same problem when you taught us how to throw knives and Chinese steel stars. Jefferson was all over the map with his throws. Do you remember the solution you came up with?”
The other members of the squad’s eyes lit up as they remembered the solution. “Lead,” was all Seven said.
Scarlet seemed confused. “Lead?”
“Because of Malcolm’s size and strength, we found that he has much more control of an object if it’s heavier than usual. With his knives and stars, we incorporated a lead like substance into the metal. That made the weapons much easier for him to master. Instead of the fiberglass bows, that everyone else is using, let’s have the guys in weapons fill the bow with the same material and have them design some heavier arrows. I have a feeling that will be the answer to your problem.”
