D-Bar saw her looking around. "Don't sweat it, you're safe here." He pointed upward and Anna followed his gesture. High over their heads, vast sheets of silvery material carpeted the ceiling; her first impression was of a giant mosquito net. "Electronic camo screen," explained the hacker.
"Blocks orbital scopes, smothers our EM footprint, that kinda thing. We could have the mother of all barbecues in here and this place would still look dead and empty." He beckoned her to follow him. "C'mon, you'll wanna meet the big cheese."
As they walked, Anna caught sight of a circle of screens and a group of young men and women working at computer consoles. "Is this your hideout? Are they… Juggernaut?"
D-Bar snorted loudly. "Ha! They wish!" He grinned. "You don't just ask to join Juggernaut, Agent Kelso. You gotta earn it. They come to you, through the 'net. Hell, most of us have never even seen each other. Well, not for real, anyhow."
One of the screens showed a replay of the footage from the Picus News report and she scowled when she saw it.
The hacker gave a solemn nod. "That's pretty good work, if I do say so myself."
"I never-"
He shook his head. "The compositing, I mean. The fakery. It's not easy to pull off something of that quality that quickly." D-Bar gave her a level look. "It's okay, Agent Kelso. No one here thinks you're a killer."
"Stop calling me that," she muttered, walking away. "I'm not an agent anymore. I don't know what I am."
"Perhaps I can change that." Anna glanced up as someone approached. The man was a few years her senior, with an easy smile and immaculate brown hair. She couldn't place his origin just from a first look; Anna guessed that by the tone of his skin and the accent he was of mixed Hispanic extraction. "We're always on the lookout for new recruits. You seem eminently qualified."
She looked him up and down. He wore a tailored Highman leather coat in rich brown that hung to his ankles, and a gold Rolex peeked out from under the cuff; the man was wearing clothes worth more than her apartment. "Don't get me wrong, but you seem a little out of place here."
The man smiled. "Rebels wear a lot of faces." He offered her his hand. "I have you at a disadvantage, Ms. Kelso. Allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Juan Ivanovich Lebedev."
Lebedev. The name tripped a memory and she reached for it. "I know who you are," she replied. "Your family are some big shots in shipping.
I've seen the name on the side of airships." If anything, she was making an understatement. Lebedev Global was worth billions of dollars and carried all manner of cargo across the planet via air, sea, and land.
"Sky freight is one of the company's core businesses, that's right. But I assure you, that's not my sole interest."
Anna took a step closer. She was aware of other men, clearly Lebedev's security detail, watching her for any hint of danger. "What would someone like you be doing with a group of militants and infoterrorists?"
He chuckled. "We both know that's just a convenient label for the world governments to hang around the necks of the people who disagree with them."
"Still…" She paused, looking around again. "You're running a real risk, aren't you? Being here? Talking to me?"
Lebedev's calm manner turned cooler. "This is not a game, Ms. Kelso. A long time ago, I decided that there was work to be done to preserve our freedoms, and if our nations would not do it, then men like me… Men with the money and the influence to do something about it… We could either serve, or resist. I chose the latter." He smiled without humor. "And as for risk? That van you were inside is packed with mobile screening gear. If we had found any recording devices or suspicious implants, D-Bar would have dumped you on the steps of the federal building and left you to their tender mercies."
"He told me there would be answers." She folded her arms. "So if you're the main event, why don't you start with what the hell is going on?"
Lebedev glanced at D-Bar, and then nodded. "All right. But first, I must know I have your trust, Ms. Kelso."
Anna frowned. "That's pretty thin on the ground right now."
"Indeed. That's why I'll start by confiding a secret in you." He walked to a table and poured coffee for both of them. "In your briefings from the
Department of Justice, I'm sure you must have come across an organization called the New Sons of Freedom."
She nodded. "Yeah. A coalition of independent militia groups. Idaho, Utah, Arizona, a few other places. Noise-makers mostly, throwbacks to the
1990s. They're on some domestic terror watch lists, but they're not red-flagged."
"Good," Lebedev replied. "That's exactly how I want it." He smiled as she took his meaning. "The New Sons are my creation. We're one of many groups banding together across this nation with an eye to the future. Preparing. Waiting for the day when we'll be able to secede from the corrupt government running this country." He saluted her with his cup. "We're playing a long game, Ms. Kelso. We're getting ready for the fall."
She eyed him. "Are you serious? You're telling me Lebedev Global is backing the New Sons?"
"Yeah, it's a trip, isn't it?" offered D-Bar. Lebedev shot him a look and he fell silent again.
He pointed at the hacker. "My people have mutually beneficial relationships with a number of other, shall we say, extra-legal groups? And
Juggernaut is one of them. We've worked together very closely in the past. That's one of the reasons we've stayed off the radar of the FBI, the
ATF, and all the other agencies." "You're building an army, is that it?"
He shrugged. "It might be that one day. But not today. No, right now we're too small to be a serious threat to those with the real power. So we have to play the game carefully."
"Why are you telling me all this?" she demanded.
"Because all of us, you included, have a common enemy. The Tyrants and the shadow cabal they call master."
Despite herself, Anna tensed. "What do you know about the Tyrants?"
"Bits and pieces," Lebedev went on, glancing at his watch. "We know they're the attack dogs in this particular arena. We know that you are right about them, Ms. Kelso. Your colleague, Agent Ryan. Garret Dansky. Donald Teague. They were all killed by Tyrant operatives."
She felt her cheeks flush red. "So the hit on Skyler was-"
"Cover," said Lebedev. "Two birds with one stone. Dansky was murdered, and Skyler intimidated. Have you seen the senator's most recent public statements? It's quite a reversal from her previous position."
"I've been a little busy," Anna snapped. "You have proof of all this?"
"Of course not. They're very good at what they do, Ms. Kelso. They'd never leave us a smoking gun. And the fact is, the Tyrants have been taking lives and enforcing the will of their masters all over the world, not just here in the United States. Everything they have done has been according to a plan."
"What plan?" Lebedev sat and Anna did the same, staring at him across the table. "I want to know the reason why Matt Ryan died!" He hand was in her pocket, her fingers touching the coin.
Lebedev pulled out a wallet; he drew a paper banknote-a rarity these days-and smoothed it out before him. "The one-dollar bill," he announced, turning it over. "You see this?" He indicated the symbol of the great seal. "The design of the pyramid, here? And the eye in the capstone, looking out? Some people call it the 'Eye of Providence.' But it's more than that." He tapped the banknote. "It's a representation of something that has infiltrated our lives, something lurking in the shadows. Something that has been around for a very long time."
Anna's lips thinned. "Yeah, I've heard that conspiracy theory. Freemasons and flying saucers and Knights Templar, all that kinda stuff. You honestly expect me to believe the Tyrants are part of that?"