Mithras had been one step ahead of us the whole way. He’ d created his own duplicate of the Firehorn and Rinteau had switched his fake with the real one we had rightfully stolen. What a dirty trick.
Time now for some personal growth.
“ Guys, I’ m sorry. I was wrong about Rinteau. You were right all along. Especially you Alex,” I said. He didn’ t say anything still. The pressure must have been killing him.
“ I’ m afraid I’ m as much at fault as anyone, Rachel,” Mr. Kim said. “ I had hoped that Michael would find a place here. A home. But it appears that I reached him too late and Simon found him first,” There was sadness and resignation in Mr. Kim’ s tone.
“ There is something I wanted to tell you Rachel, it’ s about Rinteau,” Pilar said.
She shoved her pad that she’ d been doodling on across the table. I looked at it as she explained.
“ I’ m not sure why, but something about the name Rinteau was bothering me from the beginning. It sounds French but I looked up the name on some genealogy web sites and couldn’ t find a reference for a name like that anywhere. Then I figured it out. It has to be a fake name. Rinteau is an anagram for Tarurine,” she said.
“ So? What does that mean?” I asked.
“ Tarurine refers to the zodiac sign Taurus. The bull,” Mr. Kim said.
It felt like someone had punched me in the stomach all over again. Mithras had been laughing at us the whole time while he sent one of his little minions right into the nest.
“ So now what?” Alex inquired.
None of us had noticed Brent wasn’ t sitting with us at the table. He’ d wandered over to one of the consoles at the computer banks.
“ How about we go catch him?” Brent said.
Good old Brent. Always chiming in with the positive thinking.
“ Well, that’ d be great, but we don’ t even know where he’ s at, he could be anywhere,” I said.
“ He’ s almost to downtown Philly,” Brent said. “ I’ ve been tracking him by satellite for the last five minutes.”
Huh.
Chapter 22-- If It Were Easy Anyone Could Do It
We were in the Henderson’ s Dry Cleaning van driving fast toward Philly, with Mr. Kim at the wheel. He was talking into a wireless headset trying to scramble a tactical team to move in on Blankenship’ s position. The problem was it was going to take time for a team to assemble and rendezvous with us. Right now we didn’ t know for sure where Blankenship was headed. Brent had a laptop on his knees connected via satellite uplink to an FBI Recon Filter that traveled in orbit attached to a US Government Communications satellite. His screen showed the progress of the black van carrying Mithras, Rinteau and the Firehorn as it moved along the freeway approaching the Philly airport.
“ It’ s simple really,” Brent said. “ There are several satellites passing over the school and the surrounding area in almost constant rotations. The FBI, CIA, DEA, DIA and several other A’ s all share coverage responsibility and pass off the signal as each bird moves in orbit. It’ s just a matter of locating the right one and bouncing the signal back to the FBI Filter, because it has the highest frequency rotation and the with megahertz calibrated to...”
“ Brent,” I interrupted. “ I love it when you talk all techie, but the gist please… ” I said. He blushed. He was even cute when he blushed. Maybe I needed to go to a secret spy school where only ugly guys are allowed to attend. All this cuteness was distracting.
“ Right. Sorry. Each bird records digitally, so I went back to roughly the time the van would have picked up Rinteau, found which bird had coverage and pulled up the its recordings. I fast forwarded through them and could feed coordinates into the computer and caught up to the real time image as the van continued to move toward the city. Piece of cake.”
Sure. Not. Though I do like cake.
“ But how do we know it’ s the right van? What if we lost it temporarily and then picked it back up and Simon had switched things around? Taken another van or something? He must have known about the satellites. He’ s a tricky one,” I said.
“ The coverage is pretty consistent so once I fast forwarded through the sequences I didn’ t find a spot where he would have had enough time to make a switch. And yes, he would know we’ d try to track him by satellite but remember he doesn’ t know that we’ re onto him. He’ s going to ditch the van soon and try to get away before we even notice. Or so he thinks,” Brent said.
When he explained it that way, it sort of made sense. Of course not the satellite sequencing, digital recording, upload coordinates while rotating coverage part. I had no idea what he was talking about there. Just the part about Simon not knowing we were on to him.
Mr. Kim disconnected from his call.
“ Mr. Quinn has confirmed it. The Firehorn that we thought we took from the mansion is indeed a fake. You were right Rachel. Rinteau has duped us and switched his own fake for the real one.”
“ How did we let this happen?” Alex said.
“ Such thoughts are no longer fruitful Alex. It has happened. We must now focus our efforts on finding Simon and at the very least, getting the Firehorn back.” Mr. Kim said.
“ How did it go with the tactical team?” I asked.
“ Not well. The Philadelphia based FBI team is at Quantico for a training exercise. They were the closest team and they are scrambling now, but it will be at least an hour before they can even reach the metro area by chopper. The local PD will be willing to assist us with backup but their team is undermanned and certainly not trained to take down someone as dangerous as Simon,” he said.
“ So it’ s just us for now, huh?” I asked.
“ I’ m afraid so,” Mr. Kim replied.
Well that wasn’ t so bad. I mean okay, it was pretty bad. We’ d managed to escape Blankenship a couple of times before. And we’ d done a pretty good job of mucking up his plans. Truth be told, we had the Idol of Fury safely locked away, something he needed if he was ever going to try and pull off his wacky plan. Even if he got away from the Firehorn, the score was tied. Except for the fact the Book of Seraphim was missing also. We didn’ t know who had that. We didn’ t know a lot of stuff, come to think about it. And the not knowing was starting to cheese me off.
The fact was our luck wasn’ t going to hold forever. Simon was going to win one of these little engagements at some point. He was too smart and he had too many resources to keep letting us get away with it. I just hoped this wasn’ t the time.
“ Okay, I have a location,” said Brent.
Feeding the GPS coordinates from the satellite into his laptop brought up a street address. The van was parked in a small warehouse in an industrial park near the Airport.
Mr. Kim hit the gas and the van picked up speed. We’ d be there in about twenty minutes.
The van was silent as we drove, broken only by Mr. Kim speaking with the dispatcher for the FBI team that was now airborne and on it’ s way from Quantico. We got like this sometimes. Brent, Alex and Pilar weren’ t exactly chatterboxes by any stretch, but when things got tense, we sometimes went quiet.
“ Rinteau is mine,” I said, quietly to the three of them, so Mr. Kim wouldn’ t hear. Alex shook his head, but then saw the look on my face and changed his mind. He just nodded. He mouthed ‘ be careful’ to me, but didn’ t say anything else.
In a few minutes we were there pulling up across the street from the warehouse. Mr. Kim parked the van and we sat there for a moment studying the warehouse. It was in a row of similar sized buildings. It had a large door, big enough to drive a truck through, with a regular door beside it. No light came from inside and there was no one around we could see.
“ Brent, did you see anything or anyone leave from the satellite imagery?” Mr. Kim asked.
“ No sir. Nothing. No activity at all,” he said.
“ Strange,” said Mr. Kim. “ All right. I’ m going to take a look around the back. You are to remain here until I return. Do not leave the van o
r attempt to follow me. If anyone appears before I return you will remain in the van. If a vehicle should leave you will not follow it. Brent can track it on the satellite. Am I clear?”
And of course the whole time he was making this little speech he was looking directly at me. Like I would do anything. Me cause trouble? Okay, good point.
He handed Alex a smart phone from his pocket.
“ I will stay on an open channel. Keep this on speakerphone. If you see anything, give a shout and I’ ll return quickly,” Mr. Kim said. He opened his door and quietly left. Quickly he ran across the street and peered through the window in the door on the warehouse. Apparently he couldn’ t see anything through the window so he went around the side of the building and disappeared from sight.
“ Now what do we do?” I said.
“ We wait,” said Alex.
“ Ha. Ha. No seriously. Now what do we do?”
Alex let out a big sigh and rolled his eyes. He pointed to the cell phone. Reminding me the Mr. Kim could hear everything. I sighed myself and reached over the seat to grab the phone but Alex held it away from me. He did push the mute button on the microphone though.
“ Not this time Rachel. We are not stepping out of this van until Mr. Kim tells us to. We’ ve had enough of your hi-jinks,” Alex said.
He actually said hi-jinks. He’ s the king of cool that Alex.
I sat back in my seat, crossed my arms and began tapping my foot. I squiggled around in my seat trying to get comfortable, and looked at my watch. Mr. Kim had been gone for almost two and a half minutes. He could be in serious danger or captured by the bad guys. Well probably not. But maybe. Waiting is not my thing. I am, I have discovered, a woman of action.
“ Okay, I’ m going to check it out,” I said.
I quickly tried opening my door but thudded against it as the door refused to open. It was locked. I tried pushing the little button to release the lock but nothing happened.
I looked up at the three of them, sitting there, all smug in there, ‘ we knew you were going to try that and how dumb do you think we are anyway.’ Cheaters.
“ Hey!” I said. “ Let me out!”
Pilar just shrugged her shoulders as if she had no idea what had happened. Brent suddenly got very interested in his computer screen. Alex snickered and held up a little remote control key fob.
“ Don’ t even think about it,” he said. “ This controls the locks. Nobody gets out unless I say.”
“ Who put you in charge?” I asked.
“ Mr. Kim did when he gave me this remote,” he answered.
Oh. Dang that Mr. Kim! How am I supposed to save the world from the evil tyranny of Mithras when I can’ t even get out of the van? Here I am stuck with a bunch of goody two shoes while an evildoer makes off with our priceless artifact. I glanced at my watch again.
“ You do realized he’ s been gone nearly fifteen… ”
Brent interrupted me. “ Three and a half minutes and see, the satellite is picking him up behind the building, he’ s totally fine.” Et tu, Brent?
“ I need to go to the bathroom,” I said. Alex shot me a glare.
“ Nice try,” he said.
“ Seriously. I can’ t hold it. If I hold it, that has dire medical consequences. Pilar back me up here?”
“ I’ m staying out of this one,” she said.
Dang it.
Time to try a new tactic.
“ Brent, can you still see Mr. Kim on the satellite feed?” I asked.
“ No, he’ s entered the building and is not currently visible,” he said.
“ What? Why didn’ t you say something? He could be hurt or in danger! Alex open the door! We have to go rescue Mr. Kim! Hurry!”
Alex just sat there.
“ Come on! He could be bleeding or something!”
“ Just because I can’ t see him doesn’ t mean he isn’ t there. He’ s either still inside or keeping to the shadows while he checks things out,” Brent said.
You’ re not helping!
I threw myself back in the seat, thoroughly disgusted. I smiled when it came to me.
I put my hand on the button controlling the lock on my door. It was an electrical lock. Back in Hawaii, somehow my body channeled enough electrical energy to recharge the dead batteries in a flashlight. I had been under severe stress at the time. After we got back, Brent and Mr. Quinn ran all kinds of tests on me to see if I could replicate what had happened. I’ d never been able to.
Until now.
Placing my index finger on the button and closing my eyes, I tried to remember what my thoughts had been in Hawaii, right before everything happened and my hand went all Green Lantern on me. I concentrated. For some reason I thought of the Goddess Etherea. I imagined her floating in the air in a beautiful white gown.
Once again an amazing thing happened. My hand began tingling. It felt like it had fallen asleep and I resisted the urge to remove it from the door lock and shake it. I felt a brief sense of pressure on the palm of my hand and the next thing I know the lock popped open.
Alex’ s head snapped around at the sound.. I snatched the door handle and pulled it open before he could react.
“ What are you doing?” He nearly shouted.
“ Leaving!” I said.
And I did.
Chapter 23-- This Didn’ t Happen Like I Planned
I heard Alex’ s muffled shout as I quickly slammed the car door shut. I didn’ t stop to look, just sprinted toward the front of the warehouse. When I got there, I turned around glancing at the van to see if they were going to follow me. I heard the locks click again, so I guess I had my answer. What a bunch of chickens.
The door had a window in it and cupped my hands around my eyes to look through the glass. There was a dimly lit office with a counter and a couple of chairs and then another door behind the counter I bet lead to the warehouse in the back. I tried the handle. It was locked. No surprise.
My motto is to always try to be prepared for any situation. Actually that’ s not true. I don’ t really have a motto and if I did it would most likely be something like ‘ try not to screw things up too badly’ or ‘ never, under any circumstances wear plaid’ but I’ ve gotten a lot better about trying to think a couple of steps ahead in the last couple of months. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the zip gun I had brought with me from Mr. Kim’ s Situation Room.
A zip gun is a small device used to unlock doors. It looks like a tiny gun and you put the small point or ‘ barrel’ of it in the key hole and pull the trigger. Out pops a series of wires that are like lock picks. They shoot inside the key and find all the right tumblers tension springs and unlock the door quickly and silently. Brent used this same device the first time we broke into the Top Floor at school. Um. I meant to say Brent had used this same device when we were attempting to save Mr. Kim from a surprise attack and needed to make a quick and unauthorized entry to the Top Floor area. Yeah. That’ s it.
I pushed the ‘ barrel’ of the gun into the keyhole and pulled the trigger, hoping the place didn’ t have an alarm. In a couple of seconds the gun had done its work. I heard the lock click open. I opened the door and stepped quickly inside. There wasn’ t much time. Alex had for sure let Mr. Kim know what I was doing and he’ d be coming after me any second.
There were no buzzing or beeping sounds to greet me. I looked around the doorway and didn’ t see any cables or keypads or anything indicating the door was wired to an alarm. I didn’ t waste much time searching around the office. It was mostly deserted anyway. I rounded the counter and went to the door that led to the back door. The warehouse was what I was interested in.
Okay. My nerves started to titter a little bit. I put my ear to the door and couldn’ t hear anything. No sound or movement coming from anywhere. I cracked the door open. It led directly to the garage area of the warehouse and I could see the black van sitting there, parked in the middle of the space. Again, no sound or movement.
I crossed the thresh
old into the warehouse space. A few low voltage lights lighted the interior, and I had a pretty clear few of everything. About the only thing in the whole place was the van. There were a few boxes piled up along one wall. At the back wall I saw another big garage door and a regular door behind it. I wondered if they could have pulled in here with another car waiting and then pulled out with the Firehorn. We could have missed it somehow. But Brent felt he had been able to keep the van in sight for the whole time and it hadn’ t stopped anywhere else.
Maybe everyone was still inside the van, waiting for me to show up and they would pop out and scare the bejabbers out of me. That was probably it. Ha. I don’ t scare that easily. Well, okay, I sort of do. But this time I’ d be ready.
They couldn’ t be hiding anywhere else in the warehouse, so I cautiously tip-toed over to the van. The front windows were tinted. No view of anything or anyone inside. The back door had no windows.
With a deep breath I put my hand on the rear door handle and was about to open it when I felt a hand grasp my shoulder from behind. I screamed and jumped straight in the air and spun around ready to fight.
It was Mr. Kim.
“ Oh my god! You scared the daylights out of me. Don’ t do that,” I said.
Mr. Kim was not amused. Not amused at all. He stood there staring at me with a look of pure agitation on his face. In Mr. Kim’ s case this meant that his face looked like it usually did, expect for slightly turned up lip that indicated he was mad at me again.
“ What do you think you’ re doing Rachel?” He said.
“ Why are you always sneaking up on me?” I countered. I’ ve found the best tactic with Mr. Kim is to keep him off the subject. The subject is usually me about to do something stupid or dangerous.
“ I gave you explicit instructions...” He started.
3 The Spy Who Totally Had a Crush on Me Page 13
