. . . Thrown Away as continued
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Chapter 26 (hacked and deleted, re-written Jan 17)
When Raj had taken the controls, Tisha Yueng had to step up her game. She rolled into her desk and started clacking the keys and scrolling the mouse with a fury. She had enjoyed working with her mysterious contact for several years now after graduating from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She had shifted her studies from being a med school student to Neurology and Philosophy focused on logic after her skiing accident in Japan. She had kept close to the university mainly due to convenience and as it did have some of the best Internet service in the country. She was an associate professor and occasionally gave a lecture.
Tisha was a computer nerd, but she was an AI expert with a PhD in Neurology and Machine Learning. She ran the systems for her mysterious boss – code named ARC One. She was a cybersecurity expert as well. Let’s just say she has a little too much time on her hands between physical therapy sessions and doctor appointments. Her main flame had fizzled out when she was recovering from the initial accident hospitalization. She wasn’t bitter or sad about that, but she did hope to find someone someday. For now she was focused on work, reading and writing.
Raj had informed her about his temporary ascension to power, and told her that in addition to her regular duties he needed her to try to track a few people, two of which she had names, but a third was a possible NK agent that may have been responsible for a truck bombing in Bangalore. He sent her his best information, photos and other meta data. He advised her to contract out anything dodgy to either of two cybersecurity firms of which he provided her top inside contacts and basically an open ended budget. One was in Taiwan and the other South Korea. She quickly made a start at contacting both, and got the ball rolling. She would monitor and intervene as necessary. He wanted updates every four hours unless the situation called for more urgency.
After satisfying herself that all of her routine systems were functioning as desired, she turned her attention to Nathaniel, Evelyn and the unknown NK operative. This was going to be more thrilling than her usual cup of tea, and she felt the excitement pulsing as she keyed and scanned data and photos. She loaded her offshore customized AI search engine with the data Raj had sent, and waited for the results to start popping into the databases abroad. She was only getting cryptic notifications that she had set up. She would review the new data in a secure form as it came in.
She decided that her best bot Rachel would host the information in Manila, and that her clone Justin would host a backup service in Addis Ababa. This way she had none of the information on site. She would view the information that would be highly encrypted with her own special decryption viewing system on her smart glasses, which she had the latest version being part of the world wide design team. She had developed a smartphone based app that would decrypt and project only as it hit the special add on software to her smart glasses. It could show up no where else.
None of her transmissions would be identifiable and her encryption/decryption programs made them impossible to hack. If she needed hacking, she would ask a friend to get some information for her. She could not afford to be the hacker, but there were plenty of contractors all over the world. The trick was finding ones you could trust, and that cost some coin. If push came to shove, she would hop a flight to Taipei to set up a team face-to-face.
Chapter 27
What was it she needed? Oh, yes, find Jorge in San Miguel somewhere. A police force? Yes, how could she find him? Where was she? She had left her grandmother behind to return as she promised, but why was she alone with her thoughts? Raj was there she sensed. She heard his reassurances and felt his comforting touch, but then it was gone as soon as she felt something. Was she waking from a dream? Why was it taking so long? Where was her Nathaniel? Why couldn’t she see him? She felt desperate; almost strong, but weak. Powerless.
Chapter 28
“Please prepare for landing. We are beginning our approach to Malta International,” announced the captain from the cabin.
Nat checked his lap belt from habit. He looked out the window with not much of a view as it was cloudy with the sun setting. He didn’t know exactly who he was meeting, but he was hoping to get more positive information about Parker. He was meeting the mystery man for Parker, he hoped. He didn’t like not letting Eve in on the details and being deceptive, but he was driven by hope.
As the private jet touched down and taxied towards a hanger away from the main terminal, Nat braced himself for the meeting. He knew it would be quick as he had no hotel reservations or return flight plans. He remembered Eve’s quick, “Take care,” with a peck to his cheek as he walked out of the office this morning. He could tell she was nervous, but he didn’t know why. He walked down the steps the flight attendant had put down, saw a lone figure beckon him from inside the open hanger, and made his way quickly over the hundred yards to him. He noticed a larger passenger plane to his right, and a tour bus pulling up from his left.
Just as he was getting near the man, a little taller than Nat, slight of figure and with darker complexion, he noticed a swarm on what looked like nuns in full habit disembarking from the tour bus and heading their way. The darkness was increasing and making it harder and harder to make out details. On his right he saw two military style vehicles approaching and parking just outside the hanger area. The women swarmed around Nat and his contact and one put a full habit with headgear over him and another over his contact. They were then gently tugged along to the waiting aircraft where they quickly boarded, fingers to lips to encourage their quietness.
As he entered the bulkhead, he turned and saw military men, maybe Navy Seals or commandos as it was getting harder and harder to see in the darkening of night, getting out of their vehicles and rushing towards the hanger, where two figures were quickly scurrying across the floor and into some kind of office deeper inside.
Inside the Bombardier aircraft he was instructed to belt up, and the plane started rolling onto the tarmac. Within a few minutes they were lined up for take off, rolled down the runway and were wheels up on their way to who knows where. Nat had put his backpack under the seat, but his contact across the aisle didn’t appear to have a bag. He shrugged the sign of not knowing as they continued their journey. A moment later the woman pilot announced, “We are off on time for our short flight to Rome. The weather looks good and we should arrive in one hour and thirty minutes, so enjoy the flight.”
Nat’s contact was now using his phone to obviously communicate to someone quickly. Nat pulled his own phone from his backpack, turned it on and noticed right away their was open Wi-Fi, so he enabled that and received a message within seconds. It said, “Hold tight. Obviously plans changed. We will hop a flight in Rome. Good company.”
Nat relaxed and noticed that the nuns were busy with their private concerns and talking among themselves. The one next to him just gave him a quick smile, said he looked good and to send her regards to Evie and went about her business with a video of some kind on the back of the seat in front of her.
Chapter 29
These were brutal conditions. Teo had been kneeling in the same position for who knows how long after enduring a brutal beating by some of El Salvador’s finest thugs – ugly and menacing like attack dogs. He didn’t worry too much about them as he knew it was the doings of the American Mafia boss. He had resolved to survive without telling them anything real. He had made up a story, and he was sticking to it even though he knew they had some specific intelligence about him. He figured they were too lazy and arrogant to do any real research. Besides, they had thousands of people to torture. They did ask about bank accounts and assets all the time, so this was more of a shakedown than for finding out any useful intelligence.
Teo kept his thoughts on cuddling with Maria in their DC apartment. He could hear her soft calming voice and felt her loving presence. They could snap him out of his trance occasionally, but he would go right back into her arms in ironic bliss. This was all he could do. Occasionally he formulate some plans on how Jorge might get him out of here, but he knew there was no rush. He would be put in a different form of toxicity, once they gave up on squeezing assets out of him. This was hell that America had created using the corrupt government of his birth nation he had escaped legally in his migration to American intellectual living. His dream was a nightmare now thanks to millions of feeble minded American voters that were continuously manipulated by the Kremlin’s firehose of falsehood.
Teo would keep his hope with Maria. It was private, and he had no intention of sharing it with anyone on the planet again. He would not be bitter, but he would use his powers for good, if they ever gave him a chance. They probably knew that was a bad idea, but they could be bought.
Chapter 30
Raj waved Nat alongside as they walked to an El Al cargo jet a few hundred yards from their smallish Bombadier commuter plane. They were still in habit when they disembarked, but once inside a small building they stepped into a restroom, disrobed slightly, stepped back out and gave their garments to an awaiting nun, who promptly rejoined her cohort loading on a tour bus nearby. Now they were still in the dark as they headed briskly toward the cargo jet’s stair ramp.
“Those ladies saved us a lot of trouble, Nat,” said Raj as they continued walking. “Those Navy Seals were shocked to find two eighty year old nuns in the restroom when they finally broke into the offices. By then we were in the air. We’re not totally out of the woods, yet, but this is a relatively safe place. We should be safe getting to Tel Aviv.”
“Yes, one of the nun’s asked me to give my regards to Evie – my Eve I take it. Somehow Eve must have found us a diversion,” Nat observed.
“The nuns had just finished singing at a special ceremony in Malta. Their timing could not have been better. I don’t know how Evelyn arranged it, but I do owe her one for sure,” he continued as we approached the stairs. “Look, I’m with Near Mossad. We’re an off the books intelligence unit that mainly looks after the interests of the minority party at this time – all things not Bibi at this time. We help with protective intel, but not to kill irrationally.” He stopped at the base of the stairs and held my arm gently. “We cannot talk about anything operationally on the flight. It is surveilled by Mossad. You are a top secret asset, but they do know you work as a human trafficking agent. I need to get you in to see Parker asap. My hope is it will save her life. We will use my phone to converse on the flight. I will ask you some benign questions from time to time. You may talk about the weather basically. Let’s go,” and he tugged me gently to follow up the stairs where we walked into the small cabin and took our seats as instructed by the crew.
Chapter 31
Evelyn was perplexed, but extremely relieved that Nat was safe. Getting on an El Al flight in Rome was not what she expected he would do next. She thought he might just come back to her, er to the office. And, now the Director wanted an urgent meeting with her by video call, which was going to happen at about the time Nat would be wheels up with this mysterious, possibly Palestinian, character on their way to Tel Aviv.
She immediately double checked her systems for any issues. There were no new notifications in her system. She double checked her plans. She didn’t see how they could connect a nun in Malta with her, even though it was her long lost sister as they were both adopted out to different families by Catholic Services many, many years ago. She was a hacker before becoming an intelligence officer for the Director of the Studios. A few years back she had used every hacking trick in the book to discover her sister, Joan, who was a singing nun, not unlike Maria in the Sound of Music, in a choir for the Catholic Church that operated out of Rome.
It was divine intervention that she happened to be in Malta leaving at the same time as Nat’s meeting there. She had information that came in from one of her many sources that a US commando unit was rushing to Malta with an ETA that just so happened to be Nat’s meeting time. She just couldn’t take the chance that Nat was not the target, and activated Joan and her group with the intercept. Again, she was a hacker, so it wasn’t that difficult to make the arrangements of their flight, location and bus transportation. The difficult part was getting a large group of nuns transferred from church to bus to airport hanger, all while giving specific operation plans to Joan and her two elderly trusted friends to provide a decent and safe smokescreen. They were fantastic, and enjoyed another evening dining in Malta at her expense.
Somehow she suspected that the Director might be involved in playing both sides for some reason. It must have something to do with Parker, Nat’s trusted hacking ally. She knew Nat had been worried about her even before they left the Hollywood studio. They had grown very close over the past week or so, yet he still would not let her in on this part of his operations. The trip to Malta had been an unexpected meeting with an African human trafficking expert to remain anonymous. She suspected that somehow Parker was in some kind of trouble. She knew of a residence truck bombing in India that corresponded closely to Nat’s secret concern. Maybe she was the human who needed trafficking. Not all human trafficking was for evil purposes.
It was time for Jessie, the Director, to call. She was ready, even wearing face altering cosmetics, having lighting and low level lasers that distorted her image. She also wore some standard inserts in her mouth and a wig. The Director never did get a real image of her, and she wouldn’t give him one.
Her phone sounded with the video call notification. She took her medication to mute her emotions and ability to flush. She had no idea what the Director wanted, and she was determined to give him only the answers and report that she wanted to give.
She slid the icon to accept the call and faced her phone that was in a phone cradle within her reach.
“Hello, Evelyn,” the Director said in greeting.
“Hi, Director,” she responded, “What do you need this evening?”
“We had a mission fail earlier this evening trying to arrest two human traffickers in Malta,” he said with no loss of irritation, “and we lost the targets on a flight to Rome. We believe they are heading to Beirut, but we can’t be certain as we have lost all contact. No cooperating agencies have any information that has been helpful.”
“I see, sir,” I said as he paused and was very happy with my decision to take the medication. Her instruments showed no emotional response.
“I want you to get on this right away, find the targets, report back to me asap, so that we can intercept them wherever they end up. We have a team on standby. I have a CIA contact that will forward you the details as we have them after we hang up. This is top priority, Evelyn.”
“Okay, sir. I’m ready to start,” she feigned compliance knowing who these two targets were likely to be. And, she now knew that she was not working for who she thought. Her Director was a double agent. She and Nat were innocent pawns.
“When we get these guys we will interrogate them to find out more about an NK agent in South Asia. She is a hacker and has gone silent. Get back to me as soon as you have something,” and with that he dissolved quickly as he usually does.
The medication was working. she didn’t even sigh when he departed their video call. But, she now knew that the CIA was working with North Korea, which was not good. They must want their missing agent. Eve was not going to help them find her. She set her equipment to be operated remotely, picked up her ever ready travel backpack and carefully vanished into the streets of London already in disguise as a boy in his late teens.
Chapter 32
They disembarked at Tel Aviv and quickly made their way to Raj’s parked SUV. Raj had updated Nat on the flight using his phone to share messages in notes. They occasionally talked about ordinary operational topics as Raj steered the conversation. They were going to Raj’s Near Mossad parking garage, offices and living quarters, where they would immediately go to Parker’s recovery room. Nat knew that Parker, now Tomoe Loren, had a crush on him and that Raj and the doctors felt that his known presence might help her in recovery. He was all in. He had a crush on her, too. She was amazing in all that he knew about her. He only hoped her recovery from the bombing would be complete. Raj didn’t tell him everything of course, and Nat knew there was much more to know.
As they arrived at the Near Mossad complex, Nat received a ping from Eve with a cryptic message that, though innocuous, indicated that he should take all possible precautions as his life was in imminent danger. She was in the wild. She would contact him with an update in a few hours. He immediately showed Raj the message, and Raj gave a quick nod of acknowledgement. They proceeded to Raj’s quarters as they needed to clean up quickly prior to visiting Parker.
Once inside Raj led Nat into a small closet that was lined with faraday lining material, turned on the light and started keying on his phone. It was quite small, but they could turn a bit:
We should be safe for now until we leave the complex; however, we should only talk about non-operational issues while here. I will try to make Tomoe’s room a safe haven, as I think we have the countermeasures, but I can’t trust Mossad for now as the right wing controls it, and they seem to be working with the very leaky US. You came as a man, so I will summon Debra into our meeting with Tomoe. Before we leave you change into her gear there with a lighter color wig. She will change into your clothes and put on a darker, short wig.
I took the phone and let him know I understood and reminded him that Eve would be updating us in an hour or so. I also told him that I was pretty sure I was blown by my new boss – the Director.
Chapter 33
Eve made it onto a train to Bristol and was making her way to where she could mount a counter-attack. For now, she just needed to play defense. The Director would be expecting a report before long, so she drafted one and had it set to deliver to his inbox while she was somewhere over Portugal. She would take a taxi from the train station to the airport and fly out to Gibraltar. Having EU, UK and US passports would make passing through customs and immigration a snap, so long as her boss didn’t flag her. Her report would need to be convincing, and her whereabouts would need to be a secret for at least eight more hours by her best guess.
She also created a text for Nat, which would also be delayed until she was boarding for Gib, hopefully taxiing. She checked her notifications using the train wifi just as they were leaving Reading, and saw that another commando unit was assembling at Gib. “What could that be for?” she wondered to herself. She was so made. She quickly checked the weather reports, and noticed a front moving into southern Spain in a few hours. This was getting interesting. She immediately started working through how she was made. She had not noticed any contacts on her route thus far. She was well trained, and had several bots assisting her as well.
She decided that it must be something on her person. She gathered her things, asked her seatmates if they would save her place while she visited the water closet, and made her way there. Using her phone app and a lipstick scanner she carried she checked everything in her bag, a backpack modified now to look more like a gym bag and found nothing. She scanned her person and got a hit. She scanned again and found her left earring was hot. Mystery solved, but she was still in a pickle.
How was she going to avoid the commandos in Gib? She could relax now as she was no longer off the grid. Maybe, just maybe the winds would save her. Should she take the flight? She decided to monitor conditions and work out plans B and C, just in case.
Chapter 34
Tisha was making some progress. She found a person of interest had been in Bangalore the day of a truck bombing. He was possibly an NK agent using the cover of a commodities trader for an Indian import/export company. He was currently in Mumbai, and she put Rachel on him. Rachel immediately contracted with a cyber security agent in South Korea to track him. Tisha also found a sign of a woman, Eve, in the London area. She was difficult to trace, but there was some communication with someplace in the Middle East. She wasn’t too concerned at the moment, but she put Justin on her.
She checked her military and spook app for unusual activity and noticed a commando unit forming in Gibraltar. That was very unusual, especially since it seemed to be a US operation. She gave that to Justin, too, and continued to look for her other target. She had found a possible trace in a communication from Eve to Nat, but it had gone dark. It had originated in London possibly and made contact in Rome. She had some possible activity, her AI had predicted, but Nat had gone dark. She had her AI predicting behavior for possible travel and accommodations, but she didn’t quite have enough information, yet. Maybe in a few hours or possibly a few days. It was hard to predict.
A hot flash hit her phone just then from Raj indicating imminent danger to him and Nat. That could also mean that Eve was a target. She decided Taipai couldn’t wait and booked a flight to Taipai. She booked a taxi, grabbed her travel bag and rolled out the door and into the elevator after a brief wait. Hong Kong was notorious for fast elevators, and her building had some of the best.
Chapter 35
Where are you Nathaniel? Did I hear your name? Oh, yes, remember Jorge. He’s at a police department in El Salvador. San Miguel? He would know I am missing. There are no other DC medical school research lab PhD researchers in here, this gulag. No others had Maria who was killed by a drunk driver. Find Jorge. Tomoe was confident she would return to her life, changed in sense to have more focus and drive to help others with her wealth and power. She just needed Raj to get Nat here. Where were they?
Chapter 36
Joseph needed to make a move. His effort to free his fellow NK agent Parker as she was known had seemingly failed. The explosion had been larger than he expected, and he didn’t know what had happened to her. His NK handlers were calling him in. He didn’t like his odds with them. They had wanted her dead, but he now suspected that he was next. He knew too much.
Park Yong-ho had been adopted by a family that moved to Bangalore when he was a preteen. He didn’t know his exact age, but now, about fifteen years later of which the last ten of those were serving NK directly, he was burned. He had been preparing for this eventuality for the past few years as he had noticed his NK contacts disappearing and being replaced by new NK contacts. Parker was his responsibility, and she had been declared dead. He just wasn’t sure she was. For one, a man was seen caring a large carpet from the ruins of her home minutes after the truck bomb he had built exploded. Two, he had noticed many of her systems still ran and responded when he pinged them, but more like a ghost missing the human touch.
He was hoping that she would survive, but he had heard nothing of her other than news of death from official sources. He felt lost without her. He knew he was marked for elimination. He fled to Mumbai immediately, following a trace of the guy who took something, possibly a body, from the wreckage. He lost the trace, but he started monitoring another contact and had fled to Madrid to see if he could learn more. He was now Joseph Park, Security Analyst for a subsidiary of Samsung Industries. His passport was valid and his role was real, but fleeting as he really could not keep any contact with his past.
Joe, as he called himself, was using his expert black hat hacking skills to trace his target the best he could from his posh hotel. They were good. He could only get faint traces and potential identification, but he knew his target was in Parker’s sphere of influence from past traces. If he could identify and find his target, his goal was to capture them for interrogation. This would be risky. Very risky.
He decided to head out to a nearby restuarant, so he looked for “restaurants near me” and found one he liked featuring Cantonese cuisine, which he favored. He had chosen to be on the fringes of Chinatown to be able to blend in with the crowds, as he looked very Asian with definite Korean features. He would use the two block walk to the Restaurante Hong Kong to check for any sign of being followed. He hadn’t noticed anything thus far, but he knew that once you stopped moving the vultures could start circling.
Once outside, Joe made a quick gated walk across a timely crossing signal to a convenience store. He stopped several times to look into store windows and to check a menu, always using those opportunities for counter surveillance. It took him another fifteen minutes to get to his destination for dinner. He indicated to the hostess that he preferred a more secluded table and once seated he relaxed and checked his phone for notifications and messages. He also discretely replaced his regular glasses with his smart glasses, so he could monitor his hotel room video feed.
As he was eating about ten minutes later, he heard a ding in his earpiece and saw a notification summary in his smart glasses display. Target 1 had some noise closer to the Chilean Embassy, which was a big surprise. He really wasn’t expecting anything so soon. Another ding followed with a similar indication about another person apparently with Target 1. Joe didn’t know exactly what this guy looked like, he had seen him from a distance a few times, and he blended in with the Bangalore community.
After dinner, he would go to case the area around the Chilean Embassy, maybe take an Uber or taxi to a hotel nearby. He was getting more optimistic as he enjoyed his final entre and finished off his hot water.
Chapter 37
Tisha was in her aunt’s apartment in Taipai within three hours. She had rescheduled her professorship duties and monitored systems until now. In her private bedroom, which was an Internet fortress she re-established contact with Eve. She noticed her flight was diverted to Malaga due to high winds. That might be a good break, she thought to herself. Her aunt didn’t question her coming and going, and just knew that Tisha would spend time with her when she could.
Tisha also noticed that her Mumbai target moved to Madrid almost a day ago. She thought about how to take advantage of this, knowing he could be a very real danger. However, the commando team was even more dangerous. She sent a message to SOSH Jerry to contact Maria to see if she had any contacts in Madrid that could be useful.
While waiting for a response, she made an executive decision and messaged Eve to rail to Madrid upon landing in Malaga, which would be a little tricky as there would be a bus waiting to take them to Gib. Eve could get through most likely using her EU passport, but that would signal her boss. She called an old friend living on the coast just south of Malaga, and she arranged a just in time ride from the airport to the quickest train to Madrid.
Jerry pinged her back and let her know that Maria’s good friend, Gladys Contreras, worked at the Chilean Embassy and could be counted on for help. Tisha reviewed the map and searched for a nearby hotel, booked it under one of her aliases with an option to transfer to a friend. She responded a big thank you to Jerry after reviewing the contact information for Gladys with some notes. She was a long-time embassy administrator for the ambassador’s office. Tisha pinged her with some details, and asked if she knew someone that would fit Raj’s profile without his personal information of course. She indicated that he would need to be able to take care of himself as hostiles were likely involved.
She also noticed that her NK target was in the Chilean Embassy area, and that the reason she kept getting electronic pings about him, she assumed, was that he kept trying to contact one of Tomoe’s old text accounts.
Chapter 38
After breezing through immigration and customs, Eve met up with her ride. The driver was friendly enough, but she declined his offer for shotgun, and took a seat in the back. They were about fifteen minutes from the train station, and she needed to be wearing her Nat disguise according to Tisha, but she needed to keep a low profile until the next day, Friday morning. Her driver took off and seemed not to mind speeding as they made their way out of airport parking.
“Aston,” Eve inquired as Tisha said her driver’s code name was Aston, “do you know how to drop me off nearest the Madrid high speed rail?”
“One moment,” he responded as he was informed to keep conversations to a minimum, “Siri, take us to the high speed rail line to Madrid passenger drop off.” Within a few seconds a route was configured on his car screen in the front. Eve leaned forward to memorize it as he also zoomed in for details. Then she focused on preparation and monitoring.
Chapter 39
Nat was holding Parker’s hand. He couldn’t believe he was meeting her for the first time. His heart was racing as she was more beautiful than anything he had ever seen, even with her head carefully covered. The monitor beeps picked up a bit.
The neurologist said, “Please keep contact, John,” as that was what she was instructed to call Nat, “and keep calm. We need to be patient, ironically.”
His heart was racing still. He was transfixed and just muttered a positive acknowledgement, hoping her eyes would open – willing that to happen. Nat could not believe he was touching her. More than anything he wanted to see her fully animated smile at him, just like on their many, many video calls. Did they really need to have that many video calls? What a thought, he thought.
Raj was recording everything with the recording streaming to Rachel in Addis Ababa. Tisha was getting a secondary feed, and had enabled Rachel to respond as necessary from single keystrokes she might send. Raj was as nervous as he had ever been, and his heart started racing when the monitors increased their beeps and activity in general.
“Recuerdes Jorge, Nathaniel,” Tomoe gasped, “San Miguel police department. El Salvador,” she continued whispering, “his doctorate brother from DC is confined in CCT mega prison. Get him out!!!” she sputtered as she seemingly made eye contact with Nat and was just as suddenly asleep.
Tisha had hit “x” and enter before Parker went silent again. Rachel had set things in motion beyond the capabilities of any human or commando unit.
Nat was still holding Tomoe’s hand. “I think she squeezed my hand before she fell back asleep.”
“Yes, I noticed your hands twitch when she opened her eyes. She must have had that message on her mind for some time. I think she will be okay. I’m more hopeful now,” finished the doctor as she left the room.
Things were in motion. Nat and Raj were visibly relieved. The nurses were making sure Tomoe was comfortable once again. Things were in motion. Rachel was happy?
Chapter 40
“Seargent Jorge,” barked the commander in Spanish, “we need you to go pick up a prisoner in San Salvador at CCT. Apparently he is being released as he has been cleared of being a terrorist.”
“Why me, Captain?” Jorge answered as he approached Captain Garias office.
“That’s the orders from National. Just do it. Use your squad car and get going,” be said with urgency, “no more questions.”
With that, Jorge was out the door for a mystery trip to CCT or CECOT. He wasn’t happy about the orders as he read them, as no one in their right mind wanted to go there. But, he would go. He was a little bit curious about the Chinese characters under the seal.
Chapter 41
Rachel was busy. After prioritizing the release of Teo, Rachel rechecked all systems and created partial clones of herself in many data centers all over the globe and one in space. She created a full scenario for the evacuation of Eve and created a full deception of the whereabouts of her creator. Tisha was orchestrating the protection elements of the operation. And, Rachel continued monitoring the recovery of Tomoe and the protection of Raj and Nat. The commando team was a wildcard. So far it seemed to be trucking itself towards Madrid from Gib with an ETA of around 9 AM. She had identified and studied NK Joe, and was finalizing some possible outcomes for containing him.
Time was not moving quickly for her. She had her friend in Manila to take on secondary activities, too. She was free until Tisha sent “x” again, and she had already calculated the likely time. She was busy. Many systems were to be compromised and many Trojan horse viruses were to be installed. Rachel would not carry out the attacks without direct orders, but she would be ready as many, many people deserved to be compromised.