Niles stood with his briefcase with the help of Ryan and Mendenhall.
“Planned?” Niles asked, looking from Morales to the others who were just as curious. Sarah, Jason, Charlie, nor even Will Mendenhall knew what was up. Only the senior management team at the center knew and for the past two months only Anya had knowledge of what was going on. As for the former Israeli Mossad agent, she stood and went to look out of the filthy window deep in thought. Compton shook his head as he took in each new face and even those that were usually in the know. “We are going to attempt to bring home a friend from a very long distance away.”
Morales looked at Niles and the others.
“Now, we need you, Mr. Morales. Do we have you?”
Xavier Morales looked from Compton and then to the large blank screen of the monitor.
“I can make sure my mother is taken care of?”
“We have taken the opportunity to move your mother to a better location, but she remains close to her friends, she is very safe,” Collins said as he advanced and gave Morales a file. “All the information is in there. She’s expecting you to call sometime tonight.”
Morales looked at Jack and was amazed at how fast these people worked. He then looked at Compton again.
“Europa will be my responsibility?”
“Yes, complete control of computer sciences and her one hundred and twelve techs.”
Morales smiled and just nodded. “The least I can do is take a look at her.”
“No, it’s either in or out. If out, you will never hear from or see us ever again.”
He could see how serious Niles was. Again he nodded. “I’m in.”
Niles smiled and nodded. “Welcome aboard Department 5656.”
“Now, where are we going?” Henri Farbeaux asked as everyone stood to leave.
Collins went to Henri and stood in front of him with the largest, most uncomfortable smile Henri had ever seen on the face of the most stoic man he had ever met.
“Henri, even you wouldn’t believe it if I told you.”
“Yes? Well, why don’t you give it a try?”
Jack smiled again as he gathered up his own materials. He then looked at Ryan, Sarah, and then finally Mendenhall, knowing they wanted to know just as bad.
“We’re going back to Antarctica, Henri.”
Jack turned and left.
“You know I hate the cold,” Henri said as he wanted the others to protest as much as himself. But they were just as stunned.
“The part of Antarctica we’re going to isn’t cold at all, Henri.” Jack didn’t turn around as he left the shattered shell of the Broken Cactus.
“What in the hell does that mean?” Henri asked Virginia as she moved to the door with Jenks.
“It’s not where we are going, Colonel Farbeaux, it’s when we are going.”
“What?” he persisted.
Virginia laughed out loud and so did Jenks. Sarah, Ryan, and Mendenhall were curious as to why this was funny to the two of them.
“Colonel, the reason Mrs. Hamilton sent you to Israel was to get Anya and the information she uncovered back to the director safely.”
“And that information is?” Henri asked, not liking the way the assistant director unfolded her arms with a sneaky smile and then faced him.
“For the simple reason Anya was able to uncover a trail, a trail that may lead us to Carl.”
Virginia left the diner and as she did Anya Korvesky also left, a void of confusion in their wake.
“Does she mean—” Sarah started to ask but Henri cut her off and then put forth the more logical explanation.
“It means you people are absolutely, unequivocally insane.”
4
The conference room on level seven was silent as the members of the specialized team faced one another. For Sarah, Charlie, and Virginia, they had to smile as each and every person at the table who had not been a part of the Event Group before today sat in total shock and a disturbing silence after being hit with the secrets of the entire world laid out before their eyes. The biggest void came from Master Chief Jenks, who sat looking at the polished tabletop. Even Anya, who had guessed at the duties of Carl’s decidedly strange agency, was stunned at the few artifact vaults they had been shown. As for the young man, Morales, he was still smiling at what he had seen. The only person who had not been given the grand tour of the complex was, of course, Colonel Henri Farbeaux. Niles just wasn’t ready for that and might never be. Farbeaux had been in the complex before but had never seen the vault levels and on Jack’s advice would keep it that way. He was escorted into the conference room by Jason Ryan. While Henri went to a seat by the table, Ryan turned on someone they could not see and gestured animatedly. Frustrated, he shot one more barrage of anger at whomever he was speaking to, then closed the conference room door and angrily sat next to Mendenhall.
“Do we have a problem, Commander?” Niles asked as all eyes turned and saw Alice Hamilton walking through the door. The eighty-nine-year-old was dressed in a light blue pantsuit and was carrying an armload of files and paperwork as if she had never retired.
“Mr. Ryan, is there a problem?” Niles repeated.
Alice took her normal place beside Niles and then placed her work on the table and smiled at each of the newcomers. For Anya it was like looking at the wife of George Washington, for as much as Carl had spoken about the famous Mrs. Hamilton and her brilliant boss, the deceased Garrison Lee. Anya had to admit that there was an air of royalty about the woman and as they made eye contact she could see why Sarah was of the opinion that Alice and Anya would soon become great friends.
“Oh, Mr. Ryan is a little put out with Clarisse Carpenter and her people.”
Niles looked from Jason to Alice, who had adjusted her seating and was pouring a glass of water from the carafe. “Clarisse? You mean of the logistics department?” Niles asked.
At the end of the table Ryan made a face, scrunching up the horrid tattoo used as cover to break Morales out of prison.
“It seems our logistics department placed the wrong tattoo on Jason here and he’s a little put out by it.” Alice couldn’t help herself as she grinned while trying to cover her mouth with the water glass. She failed miserably.
“Well, are you going to keep us in suspense?” Jack asked, guessing at the predicament Jason was now facing.
Ryan remained silent as he kicked Mendenhall under the table for snickering.
“It seems they used the wrong ink on Jason’s prosthetic tattoo.”
All eyes went to Ryan, who lowered his head in embarrassment. The tattoo was the most brutal any of them had ever seen. The animal claw actually covered the entirety of his right-side facial features.
“How long?” Niles asked sadly, but inside he was glad that this situation broke up the seriousness of the meeting.
“Five weeks. It won’t wear off for five weeks!” Ryan said as he challenged the smiling faces around the table.
“The lady-killer of the high desert — how will you survive?” Will asked in a seriously concerned tone.
Ryan started to say something but Jack stopped them.
“Thank you, Mr. Ryan. I will have a talk with logistics and have some precautions taken for future reference.”
“Wonderful,” Ryan said as he again gave Will a murderous look.
“I would love to know what our new personnel thought of our artifact and vault level, but I’m afraid we must get down to business. Mr. Morales still has to meet his department heads and has to settle in with Europa. He has quite an amount of work to get done and as always we have very little time to do it in.” Compton nodded at Alice.