Roma blinked in surprise; his expression remained guarded, as if waiting for a zinger. When it didn't come, he smiled cautiously. "Why ... thank you, Mr. Shelby. Very kind of you to say so. It seems we got off on the wrong foot earlier."
"Just a misunderstanding." Jack imagined himself extracting a few of Roma's too-white teeth. "I've forgotten it already."
"So have I." But Roma's eyes said otherwise.
"By the way, where's your better half?"
"My better?"
Jack tapped his own shoulder. "Your affectionate little pet."
"Oh, you mean Mauricio." He chuckled mirthlessly. '"My better half,' indeed. Mauricio is back in my room. He doesn't do well in crowds."
"Not too cool in the one-on-one department, either. He tried to bite me before you showed up earlier."
Roma's grin broadened. "Over the years I've found Mauricio to be an excellent judge of character."
As much as he hated to, Jack had to smile. Score one for you, Sal.
"Later," Jack said, and began to turn away.
"Oh, one more thing," Roma said.
As Jack faced him again, Roma raised his right hand with his three middle fingers raised and curved. He moved it slowly downward on a diagonal in front of Jack's body.
"What's that?" Jack said. "The secret SESOUP salute?"
Roma sighed. "Hardly," he said softly. He shook his head. "How easily we forget."
Jack stared at him, baffled. "Forget what?"
But Roma only smiled and moved off into the crowd.
6
Miles Kenway swirled his scotch on the rocks and watched Roma and the newcomer talking. Something not right between those two. Everybody knew about the showdown between them this morningalmost came to blows from what Miles had heardand now they were smiling at each other. How do you figure that?
Maybe I'm just cranky, he thought.
Not without good reason: When he'd checked into his room today he'd found that it faced east. No way he was staying in a room that faced toward the UN. No telling what kind of devices those NWO types over there would be aiming at him during the night. He'd gone back to registration and got in their faces until they put him in a west-facing room.
He took a sip of his scotch and watched Roma and the newcomer go their separate ways. Roma was okay. Miles had him checked outa professor just like he said; a family man with a wife and two kids, no criminal record, no ties to shady organizations. But the newcomer ...
Jack Shelby ... I'll just bet.
Miles couldn't say exactly what it was, but something about this fellow didn't sit well. Maybe it was the way he looked at people. Those eyes ... just sucking in everything. But sneakily: watch him raise his beer to his lips and scan the room while he takes a long, slow sip.
Wouldn't surprise me a bit if he's already spotted my .45, he thought.
Or maybe it was the way the newcomer moved. Like a cat. No, not just a cata jaguar. A just plain nobody who just happened to lose a few hours after seeing a light in the Jersey Pines shouldn't move like a predator cat.
Miles had seen men like that. He had a couple of them in his unit back in Montana. Always looked ready to spring into action. Both were ex-Navy SEALs.
Was this fellow special forces too? Had the One Worlders brainwashed him, changing him from someone sworn to protect his country into someone dedicated to bringing it down?
He wouldn't be the first.
Another thing that bothered Miles about Shelby was the way he'd appeared out of nowhere and insinuated himself into a supposedly exclusive group.
But why should that surprise me? he thought with a mental shake of his head. The SESOUP folks aren't the most alert bunch.
Lew was too gullible, pure and simple. He took far too many things at face value. And unless Shelby was wearing a pentagram or inverted cross tattooed on his forehead, Olive would think he was okay. And Zaleski ... he was only on the lookout for aliens.
Miles knew that the threat to the world as he knew it would arrive as a perfectly normal human being. Melanie probably knew it too. Were she here, she'd keep this Shelby character at arm's length. Miles and Melanie were the only sensible ones among the members ... and sometimes he wasn't so sure about her. She'd been getting some weird ideas lately.
As usual, Miles would have to rely on himself. And his contacts.
He still had a few trusted moles in the intelligence community. His best was in the FBIa good man, recently converted to the cause, who'd agreed to stay with the Bureau in order to keep an eye on things from the inside. It might be wise to ask him to do a background check on this Jack Shelby, just like he'd done on Sal Roma.
Miles would keep a close watch on Shelby tonight and see where he left his beer bottle. He'd use that as a fingerprint source. An excellent starting point.
7
Jack wandered the room, focusing here and there on the various conversations in progress around him. He heard "JFK" mentioned to his right and saw half a dozen middle-aged men and women standing in a loose circle. He sidled their way.
"Look," said a silver-haired fellow with a neatly trimmed beard, "all the evidence shows that Kennedy was killed because he was going to reveal MJ-12's deal with the grays."
Jack blinked. MJ-12? Grays? Was this some sort of code?
"Haven't you seen the latest?" said a round-faced woman with long straight brown hair. "His driver was the second gun, and he administered the coup de grace because Kennedy was going to pull us out of Vietnam!"
"Going to take us out of Vietnam?" said another guy. "Like hell! He'd just committed more troops to Vietnam. No, you two are looking for way-out solutions when the truth is much more mundane. Kennedy was whacked by the mob for screwing with Giancana's babe!"
They all began talking at once. Just for the hell of it, Jack added to the babble: "Um, how about Oswald?"
That stopped them cold. They all turned to stare at him. He suddenly felt like a caterer who'd just brought a platter of glazed ham to a Moslem banquet.
Finally the bearded man spoke. "Oswald? You some kind of nut?"
They all started babbling at once again, but this time at him. Jack backed away and escaped before they could encircle him, and in the process he bumped into someone.
"Sorry," he said, turning and offering an apologetic smile to a guy holding an eight-by-ten photo.
"It's okay," said the guy, who looked to be about eighty. He thrust the photo toward Jack. "Here. Take a look at this." He turned to the younger fellow with him who sported a Fu Manchu mustache. "Here's a completely neutral observer. Let's see what he says." Then to Jack: "Go ahead. Tell us what you see."
Jack looked at the photo and shrugged. "It's the Earthlooks like a picture of the northern hemisphere of the Earth from orbit."
"Righta satellite shot of the North Pole. I had this part of it blown up. See that dark spot? That's the hole that leads to the inside."
"Inside where?"
"Inside the earth. It's hollow, you know. There's a whole other civilization inside, and that's the entrance."
"Looks like a shadow."
"No, you're not looking closely enough." He snatched the photo from Jack and jabbed his finger at the dark splotch. "That's a huge opening. That's where the saucers come from."
"Saucers?" Jack said.
Over the guy's shoulder Jack saw his Fu Manchu'd companion rolling his eyes and rotating his finger by his right temple.
"Yes!" said the old guy, brandishing the photo. "People have been brainwashed into thinking that UFOs are from outer space. They're not! UFOs are from inside the earth!"
He stomped off with his photo.
"UFOs from inside the hollow earth," the guy with the Fu Manchu said derisively, watching him go. "Some people will believe almost anything."
Jack nodded enthusiastically. At lastsomeone with an ounce of common sense. "A bit of a nut, ay?" he said from the corner of his mouth.