Thought about what Hughes had just said and where Ronaldo and the others had been running. “Uncle Mort, why were you at Guantanamo?”
“We had a high level terrorist in captivity.” He nodded toward Mahin. “I was on site to ensure things remained . . . calm.”
“Who knew you were there?”
“Only your mother. Top Brass wasn’t advised. Neither was the base commander.” He grinned. “In these kinds of cases, I use a gate to come and go. Much easier that way.”
“So it’s very likely that the Mastermind didn’t know you’d be at Guantanamo. Which makes a lot of sense. So, let me ask this—let’s say that you hadn’t been there. The base commander was mind controlled, but that was only one part of the plan. Where would someone like, say, Lieutenant Pierce have ultimately taken the prisoners?”
“There would have been no prisoners left alive if not for your Poofs,” Uncle Mort pointed out.
“Yeah, but I was always supposed to be there—remember, Gladys said she thought Ronaldo had sent her the dream to ‘come’ to him. So the expectation was always to catch me and the Poofs. And I’m sure the related expectation was that Jeff and some others would come after us. You were the wrinkle in their plans, not me or the others. So, Uncle Wrinkle, tell me where they’d have taken those prisoners, because I have a guess and I’d like to know if I’m right.”
Jeff and Christopher both sat up straight. But Mahin spoke first. “They’d have been taken to those old buildings, where the helicopter crashed, right?”
Uncle Mort nodded. “I don’t know why you children ask questions when you already know the answers.”
“Because we like to keep you oldsters on your toes. So, the idea would have been to have a riot far away from the main area, or even to have a prison break where they all got to head right into Cuba and be likely welcomed with open arms. This would follow right after Guantanamo bombed our Science Center. I’d say that a war between the U.S. and American Centaurion, let alone however many other countries, would seem likely.”
“It would take the Pontifex being in agreement with Alpha Team and the Diplomatic Corps for that to truly happen,” Reader said.
Looked at Naomi and Abigail. “Paul has a breaking point, and I’d have to guess that seeing his brother murdered and then having most of his people blown up by the United States military would send him well damn past that point.”
Naomi nodded. “Hell yes. I’m sure he’s close right now, but that? That would send him and the rest of us over the edge. If there were any of us left that is.”
“Yeah,” Abigail agreed. “Jeff and Christopher, you know what you’d do.”
Jeff nodded. “It’s all too easy to see. Even if we believed the attack was an accident, that’s a direct act of war.”
“We’d be looking to move,” Christopher said. “We’d want to pull the rest of our people out of U.S. territories, go somewhere we felt was safer. Maybe leave the planet, if we could. We have options now that we didn’t have before, ACE or no ACE.”
“Where are those prisoners now?” Mom asked.
“Had to send them back to the Detention Camp,” Uncle Mort said. “And now I’m glad of that. Kitty, do you really think the goal is war? And why war with American Centaurion?”
Chuckie’s phone rang. He looked at it and groaned. “Horn’s calling. I’m sure he wants to know where we are on finding the new superdrug.”
Stared at him. “Oh. My God. I know what the hell is going on, all of it. And why.”
CHAPTER 76
“DO I TAKE VANDER’S CALL OR NOT?” Chuckie asked.
“Take it and tell him you’re in a meeting, making progress, and that you’ll call him back. And hurry. I’m saving this until you’re done.”
This earned me a dirty look, but Chuckie got up and walked out of the room as he answered. “Vander, it’s been so long since we talked. What, half a day?”
“You’re really going to make us wait until he’s back in the room?” Christopher asked.
“Yep.” Took the opportunity to eat some more and get my thoughts into a semblance of order. “Len, Kyle, we need Adriana. Can you guys see if she’s free?”
“Mister Joel Oliver’s at the Romanian Embassy,” Len said. “Olga asked him to stay. You want him, too?”
“Could my saying no actually keep him away? Besides, he’s always good for insights. And of course if Olga wants to come over and see if any of us have caught up or caught on, she’s always welcome.”
Len and Kyle trotted out. Without calling or texting anyone. Had a feeling Adriana, Oliver, and Olga were already all on standby and just waiting for their official invitation.
Uncle Mort got up. “I’m going to send in an order to keep all those prisoners at Guantanamo. Some politicians won’t like it, and I’ll be sure we note which ones. I’ll be back when Charles is.”
“While we wait for you to actually tell us what you think is going on, Kitty,” Stryker said from Hacker Headquarters, “you want what we got on Chernobog?”
“Yes. She’s in Cuba, near Guantanamo, maybe actually physically on the American side, and absolutely using their computer systems.”
All five Hackers had clearly been taking glaring lessons from Christopher, because I was getting a full pantheon of glares from them, even Omega Red.
“Way to steal a guy’s moment,” Stryker grumbled.
“Part of my charm. Why pick Guantanamo unless someone they needed to work with was there? There are plenty of bases around the world, hell, they were at Home Base originally, so that one had to be chosen for more reasons than Mahin being taken there.”
“Fine, still don’t see how you made the leap that Chernobog’s on the American side,” Stryker said.
“That’s because you’re convinced I’m a moron and I rarely waste time trying to convince you otherwise. As for the rest, they had too easy a time getting onto the base and running around it. Hyperspeed’s great, but that’s an active base loaded with personnel—someone was going to spot a bunch of civilians they didn’t know and ask questions. Meaning our gang was staying somewhere close to the Air Station but not necessarily right on the base. However, being on the American side means access to all that great equipment and energy, and, let’s face it—Chernobog’s an old woman by now. Why would she choose to rough it if she doesn’t have to?”
“She wouldn’t,” Olga said as Len and Kyle returned, confirming my suspicion that Team Romania had been waiting at their front door. Well, better to have allies who were eager, right?
Chuckie and Uncle Mort came back. “All taken care of,” Uncle Mort said as they seated themselves.
“Vander wants more than platitudes, Kitty,” Chuckie said. “So I want to know what you figured out, and I want to know now.”
“Dude, was only waiting for your Secret Agent Ears to return to the War Room. And that’s what this is all about. Not so much the war, but what Gaultier, Titan, and YatesCorp gain by us being at war.”
“Titan makes weapons, so I can see that one,” Uncle Mort said. “But I hope you have more than just good guessing.”
“Et tu, Uncle Wrinkle? Et tu? Of course I have more. We were more than halfway there earlier, when we were discussing what we’d have done if the Guantanamo attack had worked out how the Mastermind wanted. We’d be in chaos and running scared. We’d be looking for a new safe haven. It’s amazing how your morals shift when you think the country you swore allegiance to has betrayed you in the worst way possible.”
“You think we’d join with our enemies?” Jeff sounded appalled. It was always endearing when the reality of how basically decent the majority of A-Cs were waved at me. The humans in the room were all nodding their heads in agreement with me. The A-Cs looked shocked and uncomfortable.