“Be that as it may, I suggest we acquaint you with the facts, as we know them, around our rebel faction, the Black Shirts. Their leader is Saldana Ri. Whatever problem you think the Collective presents, I can assure you the Black Shirts are far worse.”
“We are aware of her group and existence; but not much is known. We thought he faction small and meaningless. What do you propose?”
“Cooperation. Let me explain.”
***
Paulo took the next hour telling Adam everything he knew about the Black Shirt faction, and his suspicion that the Black Shirts were behind the incident in London.
“They’ve taken over a good portion of our infrastructure including the means of communication we use in our daily lives to remain connected.”
“Facebook?”
“I wish it were that easy. To remain below the radar, we have used surreptitious ‘means’ of communication. ‘Means’ that are quite vulnerable to hacking. ‘Means’ that we have now come to regret. We spent so much time worrying about the human challenges that we failed to see the threat from within. To our, my, great shame.”
“I feel your pain, Paulo. But unfortunately, I fail to see your point.”
“We, I, need your help in fighting these insurgents. I need your help in gaining back control of our dark web networks, and I need your help in finding these vermin. If you will help us using your resources, we can decide later how we should deal with each other. I will rescind all orders regarding war and I will destroy all our research into the E-5 virus. I can promise you that.”
“And the Serum Project?”
“That may still have some use for both our nations. We can talk about that later, if you like. But on the big items now, I’d like you to consider cooperation.”
“I don’t know what to say Paulo. But, give us some time to consider the gravity of cooperating with a race of beings who want to exterminate my kind. We’ll get back to you.”
“We’re willing to negotiate. And compromise.”
“Let me consider this proposal, and we’ll get back to you as soon as we make a decision. Our decision may be to first discuss the parameters of your proposal further, or it could be a simple yes or no. In any event, don’t hold your breath on a peace accord. Not yet anyway.”
***
Misti asked, “Do you believe him?”
“Not a single word. And whatever he agrees to he will breach at the earliest opportunity for him and his kind. But I am interested in pumping him for more information.”
***
Asinamayov was in the room with Paulo. “You think he will consider your proposal?”
“Not for a second. He’ll want to gauge our level of weakness and learn as much as he can before saying ‘fuck off’.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because that’s what I’d do.”
“Then why the charade?”
“Two reasons. First, buy us some time and, second, he just might be stupid enough to say yes. Eventually we will be in a position to deal with the Human and carry out our long-term plans. But for now, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. We’ll deal with the humans once we eliminate the Black Shirts.”
Chapter 8
The flight from New Orleans to Heathrow was now only about an hour away from landing on time and on schedule and the twins were more than excited. When they were very young, they had accompanied their Mom, Dad and Tawney to Europe for a summer vacation that had been very memorable. Their Dad had saved the life of well-known anthropologist Dr. Edward St. James and his two sons in a deadly encounter at the National Museum of Anthropology in Athens. The then Curator of the National Museum had been discovered by Dr. St. James to be the mastermind to a vast criminal enterprise responsible for the theft of Greek national treasures, bribery, extortion and a host of related criminal activities. Of course, the murder of several Greek archeologists, police investigators and museum administrators demonstrated that this was a man who would stop at nothing to keep his activities secret and his criminal organization intact.
The Curator had been thought to be an old friend and associate of Dr. St. James, making this turnabout both unexpected and almost fatal. The timely intervention of Marcus Aurelius Thierry visiting the museum with his family had saved lives and resulted in the capture, conviction, and long-term confinement of the Curator in a Greek jail.
Today however, the situation was different. The girls, twins Cinna and Macey, were now deep into their teens, fashion conscious and immensely excited about attending school and living in London for the next year. When they heard they might be living with their sister in the middle of nowhere, in the rural and bucolic English countryside, they were crushed. When their Dad told them there had been a change in plans and the family would now be living in spacious, ultramodern digs in the Kensington Borough of London, they were beyond excited. Everything they thought important was nearby. They had read that the new prep school they were going to attend, Woodbridge Academy, was also attended by the children of well-known actors, rockers, and celebrities. They were psyched at the thought of mingling with and maybe even meeting movie stars. What more could anyone ask for? What could possibly go wrong?
Tawney had been in England for over eight months and had reported to her mother that her romance with Dr. Richard Detwiler was going well. Very well. Did Mom and Dad really want to live so far from London? Would they really enjoy the quiet country life? Would the twins?
Mom got the message and agreed with the subtext of her daughter’s message. They would find other accommodation in or near the City and avoid living too near Lansdowne Park. Richard had not been consulted; this was a Tawney and Mom conversation only. When Marcus spoke to Edward, Edward knew he had just the solution. The Loft was now vacant except for the private security detachment and was now only used sparsely for Project meetings in the City and short-term accommodation for transient visitors.
The Manor, in contrast, was now a heavily armed fortress and considered by Edward to be far too dangerous and unappealing a location for the Thierry family, knowing as he did Athena’s thoughts on the matter. The new Barrows Bay contingent was recently arrived at the stronghold, but had far too many strange characters, and armed eccentrics to be suitable for Athena and the twins. When Adam and Edward mentioned the Manor as an option to Athena, she politely declined.
Besides, Edward agreed with Tawney and Athena that London would be a better and more memorable environment and experience for both Athena and the twins. And, as Marcus well knew, his job was only partly mathematics and mostly something else. He would be able to do that job far better in London, so the family requested and was assigned to the Loft.
New security would be put in place and additional training in Loft protocols and procedures would be given. This would not only include Marcus, but Athena and the twins as well. There was always some danger associated with Marcus’s job at the FBI and no additional danger was contemplated here. Nonetheless, this assignment carried with it unknown, unknowns for Marcus and that would tangentially include his family as well.
***
The family was met with great fanfare at Heathrow by Tawney and Richard, as well as the freshly arrived Edward, Adam and Misti. Adam was eager to see Marcus and Athena again and hoped the twins had been away from the negative influence of Tawney long enough to like him a little more. With Tawney and Richard there, and Tawney acting very frosty toward Adam as usual, Adam’s expectations were extremely low for any rapprochement.
Still, the twins seemed to genuinely enjoy Misti’s company and attention; Tawney had no idea what Misti saw in Adam, but love and attraction could be queer, she thought. In this case, very queer. In fact, Tawney thought the whole of the Barrows Bay crowd was a mixture of very peculiar characters. The whole Spanish speaking, Mexican connection thing, coupled with the deeply odd pregnancy of Nocera Lee. Then there was father daughter combination of Alana and Edmund McCarthy, Alana living and sleeping with
both Adam and Misti, seemed not at all normal or a good role model for young women. White folk, she thought, could be difficult to understand, except mathematically.
She decided that these arrangements had nothing to do with her, or Richard, so she would let her Mom and Dad sort that out that state of affairs and explain it to her later.
Or not. Truthfully, she wasn’t all that interested. She and Richard had a perfect life on the Estate his father owned.
***
The group arrived at the Loft, driven by James and Raoul Bentley and were met in the lobby by Murden Wills. They were swept into the building and in the elevator and on their new top floor premises in a matter of minutes.
Across the street, a man seated by the window of a second-floor café was busy snapping photos. He and his team had digitally trailed Edward St. James from Victoria, BC, Canada to London. He had been spotted at Heathrow using facial recognition software and his team had been on site quickly. The identity of these other folks was uncertain, and they most likely didn’t matter. The black guy was quickly identified as FBI.
They followed the passenger vans into the City and to a building in central London, where the vans disappeared into an underground parking garage after letting out their passengers. Then they reported back to their superiors in France who in turn reported the news to the man who had ordered the surveillance in Switzerland. He would analyze this development and decide what if anything needed to be done. He would probably do nothing immediately but try to decide what value this intel might have for the Collective or the Black Shirts. If it meant he could cause mischief or spark a polemic, he might consider sharing. Otherwise he would put the intel away for the time being for later use.
A few hours later, two white SUVs departed from the underground parking. They lost them somewhere in the maze of London side streets and alleys, taking the passengers to the Loft.
***
Murden Wills took Marcus aside while the Barrows Bay folks and the Bentley brothers spoke to the twins. Tawney and Richard were deep in conversation with Athena with Adam, Misti and Edward close by.
Murden said, “I assume you are aware that there will always be some danger posed to you and your family residing here in London? We don’t expect any problems while you and your family are in residence, but we have nonetheless designed this building as a high security facility with multiple redundant systems in place for your personal protection. You will have security in the lobby and access is limited through entrance and elevator key cards. But you will also be up on the top floor which makes egress more difficult if someone gets in the building and up to your floor. I repeat that this is highly unlikely, but it’s a contingency we plan for.”
“How so? Seems like our options are limited to the stairs and the elevator.”
“Exactly. When the building was renovated, the architect’s plans showed that a dumb waiter connecting the floors down to the basement had been removed. But it wasn’t. It was moved and renovated too and is accessed through the walk-in closet in your Master Bedroom. There is room for six, and it goes down to the underground parking. It opens on to a tunnel that leads away from the building to an old storage locker, now walled off from the store it was formerly connected to. From there, you can walk up the stairs leading to an alley behind the storefronts. This feature isn’t on the official blueprints filed with the City. If you’d like, we can do a dry run.”
“Yes, but not today. I’d like to get settled and get moved in first, but maybe you can show me how to access the dumb waiter before you leave.”
“Certainly.”
***
The twins were delighted that Misti had taken an interest in getting them settled and promised them a tour of the City shopping with Raoul and James. They along with their parents were more than welcome to come out to the countryside and visit them at the Manor any time and, if their parents gave their permission, they could spend the weekend. The only restriction: they couldn’t bring classmates and the girls weren’t to discuss anything about the Manor or their father’s work. If they kept their word, there would be shopping with the ladies that would be such fun.
“We promise,” they said in unison.
***
The Barrows Bay crowd got ready to leave and the Bentley boys were made to promise to come back and give the girls a tour. Tawney and Richard stayed behind to talk more and have dinner but would take one of the pool cars back to Lansdowne later that evening.
“We will, and we promise to introduce you to Miss Hannah and Miss Vera. Then we’ll go for a ride and shopping. You’re going to love Old London Town.”
Edward turned to Marcus and said, “Adam and I will be back day after tomorrow to collect you and go out to Lansdowne to get you up to speed on the project. If you need anything, anything at all, just call. I had the placed stocked to what you like most, with Tawney’s help of course.”
“And the Bible?”
Edward laughed, “Hope you brought your own.”
Chapter 9
“Vera, sweetie, can you come into the secure room for a minute? Bring the gang too.”
“Who?”
“The lads and lasses, please. And you.”
Hannah was in the “cone of silence”, a secure room built in the “Tech Centre” of the New Manor Complex, as it was more formally known. While the Adam and his Barrows Bay crowd were back on Vancouver Island, the build out of the New Manor Complex had proceeded apace. It was now mostly complete and habitable, with more work still needing to be completed on the upper floors and wings of all three new buildings.
Tunnels now connected all buildings, including the Tech Centre. This was for safety and security, and for emergency situations. A tunnel ran from the basement of all four buildings taking residents out to the woods, under the stream. It ended with a building underground containing weapons and communications gear.
The Hannah Building, newly constructed, but in the style of the original 19th century Manor House, was occupied by Hannah, Vera, together with the lads and the sisters. The Hannah Building was three stories and a basement, a massive structure built with security in mind.
Edward had suggested, and the entire group agreed, that it would be safer for Doris and Penny to reside at the Manor until things were sorted out after the bombing of 3 Birds. James and Raoul were beyond pleased that Edward considered them all family, and important enough to be part of their growing Anglo-American colony.
In truth Edward hardly thought about it at all. James and Raoul were family to Hannah and Vera, which made Doris, and Penny family. What was there to think about? When he phoned Hannah from the Continent to tell her his thoughts on the matter, Hannah almost cried.
“You’re almost human, aren’t you, old man? You never cease to surprise me. If you were right here right now I might even give you a kiss. Vera might do something indiscreet.”
“What are you going on about Hannah? Why, just last week I tested positive for having a heart. I thought you’d have heard by now. Made all the Medical Journals.”
“Just the same old man, I’m very proud of you. There’s hope for you yet.”
“Enough of this nonsense young lady, call in the troops. We need to talk.”
***
On the north end of the rectangle comprising the Complex was the original Manor House edifice, now occupied by Mark, Julia, and the girls, together with Mom and Pops. Rod and Cindy would stay there while in town, but their schedule would have them away and on assignment more frequently than Cindy, her folks and girls liked.
Directly across the courtyard from the Hannah Building was the identical “Misti Building”. Adam and Misti, together with Alana and Noki, now occupied this building. Edmund, Edward and Bethy also resided there, on opposite ends of the building and on separate floors. Edmund’s main squeeze would also reside there, once her clearances had been secured.
The Misti Building featured a world class kitchen with every gadget and appli
ance conceived by the minds of Adam St. James and Alana McCarthy. Misti thought the pair made a cute couple when chattering away, cooking togs on with sharpened knives in their hands. The meals were truly fabulous and kept the “normal” in the word “family” in an otherwise insane life nobody thought would ever turn out as well as it had.
The final building completing the rectangle of four buildings, the Tech Centre with its enclosed inner court, was the work space, and living quarters for the balance of Team Hannah. The state-of-the-art building was constructed like a medieval fortress with a genteel 19th century façade and featuring a twenty-first century underground nuclear bomb shelter. Comprised of four floors, three above ground and one below, with interconnecting tunnels to all other buildings in the Complex, it was the safest and most secure building in Britain outside of British military compounds and top-secret government installations.
Power was self-contained and redundant, making the New Manor Complex capable of being both on and off the grid. Communications were via secure satellite with multiple redundancies. The latest in electronic jamming, and anti-jamming equipment formed part of the high-tech line up. Water was from an on-site well with massive water tank, or cistern, underground in case public water lines were shut off. Sewage was likewise self-contained on the grounds, underground and state of the art.
Food stored in sealed containers was sufficient for a crew of fifty for well over a year.
The stereo system was reputed to be fabulous with the cable feed providing over five hundred channels in multiple languages. By the time Adam arrived, the utter coolness of the new digs even astounded him. Much had been accomplished in his several months long absence.
***
Hannah said, “Everyone is here Edward.”
“Who’s everyone?”
“Vera, James, Raoul, Doris and her sister Penny. You said everyone, so here we all are. What’s up?”
“Well first let me say how sorry I am that we must all communicate telephonically while I’m here in Paris. I hope everyone is settled in and Hannah is being a gracious hostess. I also understand that Penny and Doris have both now agreed to be the new minders for Miss Vera Capri. She can get unruly at times, I hear.”
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