Five years ago, when Ventura had still been in the assassination business, Smith had contacted him the usual roundabout way, and they had struck a deal. A certain influential politician in the Idaho statehouse — if that wasn’t an oxymoron — had been standing in the way of Smith’s acquisition of this very compound, something to do with land use, or butting up against state forestry property or some such. The politician, a state senator, knew what Bull and the boys were up to, and there was too much of that going on in Idaho already, the state was getting a real bad reputation. Tourists didn’t want to come and see the boys playing war games — at least, not the kind of tourists the state wanted. It was bad for business if little junior went out picking berries and got mowed down by a bunch of gun-happy paramilitary goons who mistook him for an enemy, or Bambi, as had happened at least once.
If he couldn’t stop it legally, there were some shadier ways to get things done, and the senator knew how to do them. This, of course, played right into Bull’s conspiracy fantasies.
So. The politician died in what the coroner said was an accident, and Smith got the property he wanted. And Bull was not a man to forget somebody who’d done him a service.
“General, I’d like to introduce Professor Morrison. The doctor here is doing some secret work for the Navy and Air Force, and naturally we don’t trust them to keep him safe for our mission.”
“Understood,” Smith said. He offered his hand to Morrison, who took it. “There are traitors everywhere.”
“Sad, but true,” Ventura said.
“I’ll have my adjutant show your people where to bivouac, and you and the professor can join me for dinner.”
“Excellent idea, General,” Ventura said.
When Smith was a few yards ahead of them, Morrison said, “How are you going to explain a Chinese agent coming here to see me?”
“What, a turncoat chink double-agent? We’re feeding false information to our gook enemies, Doctor, you know that. The general understands how espionage works. He keeps his ears open.” Ventura tapped his own ear, and hoped that the man would remember what he’d said about being watched and listened to.
Morrison remembered. “Ah. Yes, I see you’re right. A man in the general’s position would know these things.”
“Of course. Hell of a soldier, Bull Smith, and a credit to the Race.” He turned slightly so that Morrison’s head would block any camera that might see his face, and gave the man a quick wink.
He also reached around and adjusted the paddle holster in his waistband. The general’s people were probably fairly loyal, not counting the undercover federal ops that must have infiltrated by now; still, Condition Orange applied here, just as it did everywhere else. If need be, he could pull the Coonan from concealment and get off two shots in about a second. Not a patch on John Wesley Hardin out of a hip-slung rig, maybe, but still pretty damned fast from under a vest. And until they got inside with Smith, his people would have his back covered.
So far, so good. Pretty soon, though, it was going to get a lot more interesting.
16
The voice was female, sexy, throaty, and designed so that everything it said seemed like an urgent request to go to bed with it: “Alex? We have a Priority One Com. Alex? We have a Priority One Com. Alex—?”
“All right, I heard you already! Computer answer page off, please.”
Next to him, voice thick with sleep, Toni said, “I thought you were going to change that voice.”
“I haven’t been able to figure out a way around Jay’s program.”
“And you’re supposed to be the head of Net Force.”
“Yeah, well, Jay is the best programmer in Net Force, now isn’t he?” To the computer, Michaels said, “Answer com, visual off.”
“Hey, Boss.”
Speak of the devil. “What, Jay?”
“Sorry to bother you at home this early, but you said I should let you know if I got something on this, uh, Chinese business. Well, I think you might want to see this.”
Michaels looked at the clock. Too early. “All right. You want to download it here?”
“Probably not the best idea, Boss. It needs telling.”
Michaels sighed. “I’ll be at the office in an hour.”
When Jay was off the com, Michaels turned to Toni. “Another crisis.”
“I remember them.”
“Why don’t you come with me?”
“I quit, remember?”
“Your job is waiting for you — I haven’t hired anybody to replace you.”
“Let’s hold off on that. I still need to sort all this out.”
He smiled. “I thought we had done that.” He waved at their mutual lack of clothes under the sheet.
“No, we resolved the personal issue. I’m still working on the business stuff.”
“Come along as a visitor, then.”
“No, you go ahead. I think I’m going to sleep in.”
“Be here when I get back?”
“Maybe.”
They both grinned.
Michaels leaned back. “Okay, you got me down here. Speak.”
Jay said, “Well, I can tell you the theory. Still doesn’t prove that it works.”
“I left a warm bed to come hear this, Jay. I take your point. Go.”
“All right. Background stuff: Generally speaking, the human brain operates over a fairly small bioelectrical frequency range, and while there is some overlap, these are usually divided into four parts:
“The mental state Beta, sometimes called ‘beta waves,’ is from 13 to 30 Hz. This is the so-called ‘normal’ level of awareness. At the top end, at around 30 Hz or a bit higher, you have states of agitation — anger, fear, stress, etc. — but most conscious human thinking is done in this range.
“Below Beta is the Alpha state, from 8 to 13 Hz, and this is normally associated with a relaxed, mellow state of mind, kind of daydreamy, but with an increased ability to concentrate. This frequency is easily achieved by such things as meditation or self-hypnosis. For more than forty years there have been devices — biofeedback, or ‘brain wave synthesizers’—that help produce Alpha, and you can pick up one in any large electronic or new age store. Some people supposedly can do it just by rolling their eyes back in their sockets.”
Michaels nodded. He’d read about this stuff somewhere along the way. It sounded vaguely familiar. “I’m still awake.”
Jay continued: “Beneath Alpha is Theta, at 4 to 7 Hz, and this is generally a state of very deep concentration, such as advanced meditation or devoted prayer, and it includes intense waking memories, and lucid dreaming.
“Under Theta, we have Delta waves, from 0.5 to 7 Hz, and these frequencies were once thought to occur only in deep sleep. Certain people, however, such as Indian yogi adepts or Tibetan priests, have been able to produce Delta states on demand, and while appearing to be asleep, fully participate in and recall conversations later when they are ‘awake.’
“There are some variations, and some people run higher or lower, but that’s pretty much the basic model.”