by David Archer
Allison grinned. “I’ll bet,” she said.
“I get a kick out of the armor,” Molly said. “Any idea who used to live here? I mean, back when there were knights and jousting and all that stuff?”
“I don’t know,” Noah said. “Thomas?”
“The house was originally built between 1070 and 1072, when it was the home of Lord Tristan Percy, a loyal servant of William the Conqueror. At that time, there were no knights as we think of them; knights were merely lawyers who fought in battle, and not considered to be any part of the nobility. According to legend, Lord Tristan actually wore the armor you see beside the main door into the great Hall when he went into battle. There are three cuts in the armor, and it is believed that they were the ones which finally ended his life.”
“He died in battle?” Catherine asked. She had been sitting quietly, just enjoying the company.
“Indeed. I’m afraid I don’t know which battle it might have been, but there were many during the time in which he lived.”
Thomas, it turned out, was a wealth of information about the history of the house. He told them about several of its previous owners, recited the story of how half of the house had been burned down in 1559, explained the differences in architecture between the remnants of the original house and the restored portions, and even showed them the entrance to a tunnel that was dug under the house during World War Two, when children from several European countries that were under siege by the Nazis were smuggled into England and hidden until they could be adopted by local citizens. Feeney Manor had taken in more than a dozen children from Austria and Czechoslovakia during that time, and some of them—now elderly—still lived around the region.
“This has been fascinating,” Allison said after a couple of hours, “but I’m afraid I’m getting a bit hungry. I’m also afraid that I should not have been drinking on an empty stomach. Travis, would you mind helping me up out of this chair?”
Noah grinned and held out a hand. Allison grabbed it and let him pull her up from the chair, then held onto him for a moment while she got her balance. Sarah held up a hand of her own, and Noah took it to help her get up, as well. Marco ended up helping Catherine get to her feet, and she was suddenly full of giggles.
“I do believe,” she said, “that I have gotten just a little bit drunk. Thomas, you naughty boy, did you double up on the tequila?”
“No, ma’am,” Thomas said. “I made them the same way I always do.”
“She’s right,” Sarah said, pointing at Catherine. “Don’t ever let me drink Thomas’ margaritas again, please? Ooh, you might have to carry me to the dining room.”
Molly, who had already put away three margaritas, shook her head. She got up from her chair on her own and ended up helping Allison walk to the dining room. “You girls just don’t know how to hold your liquor,” she said. “Didn’t you ever go to college? That’s the main thing you learn in college, how to get drunk without falling down.”
“My parents sent me to a Catholic college,” Allison said. “No booze. Seriously, there was no booze.”
“What’s a college?” Sarah asked, and then she broke up in hysterical laughter.
“I did plenty of drinking at uni,” Catherine said. “My problem is that I haven’t done much since then, I’m afraid.” She was leaning on Marco, clinging to his arm. “Goodness, you’re a strong lad, aren’t you?”
They made it to the dining room and managed to get seated, and Noah suggested that they all needed coffee. Surprisingly, there was a fresh pot already on and Thomas returned with a tray loaded with cups only a moment later. He poured coffee for each of them and let them get started on it as Beatrice and Lynn brought out their dinner.
Dinner turned out to be leg of lamb, rather than mutton, with peas, carrots, and the inevitable potatoes. They continued chatting as they ate, and hints of sobriety began to slowly appear among them. By the time they were finished eating, they were all speaking relatively coherently and Sarah had stopped erupting into giggles.
After dinner, they sat at the table for another hour. They had given up the idea of drinking any more alcohol, but Thomas produced bottles of cold Coca-Cola that made them all smile.
By that time, however, they were all beginning to feel tired, and especially Allison and Molly. At Noah’s suggestion, they all decided to retire for the evening and made their way up the stairs. They all said their good nights in the hallway and disappeared into their respective rooms. Catherine took the one that was still unoccupied.
In their bedroom, Sarah looked up at Noah and gave him a sad smile. “Well, this was nice while it lasted,” she said. “I should have known we wouldn’t be able to hold onto it for long.”
“I don’t plan on giving it up,” Noah said. “I had a brief word with Allison this evening, and she’s agreed to let us keep this place. The way it’s set up, it belongs to this Internet company that’s actually one of the businesses she started when she built Neverland. It was never listed as being part of the organization, so it’s been sitting on the back burner until it was needed. According to all the paperwork on it, we and our friends started it a few years ago and it just recently started making a lot of money. As far as the government knows, there’s no connection. We’ll be Travis and Penny Lightner from now on, whenever we choose to use those identities. Same for Neil, Jenny, and Marco, the new identities are solid. We can come back here anytime we want to, as long as we don’t ever let it get connected to who we really are.”
Sarah just looked at him for a moment, then the tears started running down her cheeks. “You know how wonderful it would be,” she began, “to see children running around this place?”
“Maybe we’ll get to see that, someday.”
“Do you honestly think we’re going to live through this? Noah, you’re talking about assassinating the President of the United States. I don’t know how in the world you expect to accomplish that and still manage to escape alive.”
“I don’t either, at the moment,” Noah said. “But I will.”
They got undressed and got into bed. A moment later, Sarah began giggling again.
* * * * *
Donald Jefferson was sitting in his office, a few doors down the hall from Allison’s, when his cell phone rang. He picked it up and glanced at the display, then answered it and put it to his ear.
“Jefferson,” he said.
“How are things going over there?” The voice that came through the line was familiar, and Jefferson smiled. He and Senator Perkins had been friends for a long time.
“Bit of a nightmare, if you want to know the truth,” he said. “How’s it going up on the hill?”
“Let’s just say I’m beginning to wish I had never gone into politics. Have you heard anything about Allison lately?”
“Nothing. We don’t know where she’s at, or what might be happening with her. All we know is that we’ve got FBI agents running loose all over the place, and doing their best to get us to make some kind of mistake they can use against us.”
“Well, don’t fall for it. I don’t know exactly what’s going on, Donald, but there are some screwy things going on back here in D.C. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know who to trust. Some of my colleagues are acting like they’re expecting to hit the jackpot any day, and others are scared to even ask the usual questions. Right now, all I know is that it’s important to some people that your boss lady ends up under one of the oversight committees, and I know that’s not going to go over well in Neverland.”
“You can bet on that,” Jefferson said. “She will resign before she let that happen. The whole reason the president agreed to give her autonomy was so that no one could ever use E & E for personal or political gain. As long as only she can make the determination of whether a sanction will be authorized, and then only based on all of the facts she can gather, then it’s a viable tool. If it comes under any kind of political control, you’re going to end up with the kind of fiascoes they have at the CIA, all the time.”
“I know it,” Perkins said. “If you get the chance to talk to her, you tell her to hang in there and don’t give in. Some of us back here still believe in what she does, and we don’t think much of the idea of anyone being able to push her buttons.”
“Yeah, well,” Jefferson said, “we feel the same way out here. Let me know if you find out anything, will you?”
“You know it,” Perkins replied. “And you do the same. Talk to you later.”
Jefferson cut the call and leaned back, then reached out and picked up his desk phone. He dialed Molly’s number and waited, but got her voicemail message.
“Hey, Molly,” he said, “it’s Don Jefferson. Give me a call when you get a chance, please.”
He hung up the phone and sat for a moment, then picked it up again. He dialed Parker, who answered on the second ring.
“Parker,” the old man said.
“It’s Don. Just wondered if you’d heard anything.”
“Not a word,” Parker said. “Any news on your end?”
“Bill Perkins called a little while ago. He said there’s some strange stuff going on up on Capitol Hill. According to him, some of his colleagues are acting pretty strange, while others seem scared. You heard any ripples?”
Parker hesitated for a moment. “Only thing I’ve heard is that some of the stuffed shirts up there think they ought to be riding herd on top of us.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what Bill said. You don’t think Allison will cave in, do you?”
“You know, normally I would say no,” Parker said. “Under the circumstances, however, she might have no choice. It may be the only way to keep us all together until this thing gets completely settled.”
“Damn,” Jefferson said. “That would not be good. What about Camelot? What do you think is going to happen there?”
“Well, he can’t come back while this crap is going on. He and his team have been given new identities and somewhere to stay off the radar for now, but it may become a permanent situation. I suppose there are worse ways to get out of this business.”
Jefferson laughed, but it was filled with irony. “Yeah, you could say that. What worries me is Cinderella. Do you honestly think there’s any chance she could retire?”
“No. Allison has managed to harness her need for the kill, but if she’s taken out of this line of work, she’s going to go full-blown serial killer on us. The best we can hope for is that Noah will be able to keep her from harming anyone who’s innocent.”
There was a sigh on the line. “Well, if she does, I’m sure he would deal with it. I just hate to see him put in that position. You know that she and Neil Blessing are something of an item, right?”
“Yes, I know. The kid is good for her, so that might help, but not enough. Between him and Noah, though, they should be able to keep her focused on targets that won’t draw attention to them.”
Jefferson shook his head. “Maybe she’ll become a vigilante,” he said. “Just keep me posted. By the way, have you heard from Molly today? She didn’t come in, and all I get is her voicemail on the phone.”
“Did I forget to tell you? She came to see me yesterday afternoon, started feeling sick while she was here. I told her to go home and take a couple days off. It’s not like we can really plan any missions at the moment, right?”
“Yeah, you’re right. Okay, I was just a little worried. Call me if you hear anything, and I’ll do likewise.”
“You got it,” Parker said. “Maybe something good will happen.”
Chapter FIFTEEN
Across the Atlantic, Neil and Jenny were cuddled up in their bed. The past few days had taken their toll on the young couple, and they were trying to relax.
“So,” Jenny asked, a playful tone in her voice, “how does it feel to be married?”
“It doesn’t really feel any different,” Neil said. “We’ve been together so long now, I don’t even really think about it anymore.”
“I kinda like it,” Jenny replied, giggling. “Makes me feel a little bit more—oh, I don’t know, maybe a little more like everything is right, with you being in charge.”
Neil was quiet for a couple of seconds, then grunted. “Yeah, I guess it does feel a little bit more complete,” he said. “Do you, um, do you think about wanting it to be, like, real?”
“I won’t say I haven’t thought about it,” Jenny replied. “We’ve actually talked about it a bit, remember? What do you think?”
“I think,” Neil said slowly, “that every time I think about asking you, I get nervous.”
Jenny raised her head and looked into his eyes. “You little romantic,” she said. “You really think about proposing to me?”
Neil nodded. “Every now and then,” he said. “I get nervous, though, I think because I’m never sure what you might say.”
“Well,” Jenny said, “the only thing I can tell you is that, the next time you really think about it, you might want to give it a try.” She leaned up and kissed him on the nose. “But for right now, I want you to shut up and kiss me.”
“Excuse me? I believe that’s my line.”
* * * * *
Despite the fact that they had separate rooms, Molly was sitting in Allison’s room with her. They were both still mildly feeling the effects of the margaritas, but sobriety was well on the way.
“What do you think?” Allison said. “About this whole idea of robbing banks to finance his operation?”
“Noah’s right,” Molly said, shrugging. “It’s going to take an awful lot of money, and without the agency to bankroll him, it’s probably the only real option. What’s got you so worried about it?”
“Well, that should be obvious,” Allison said. “I’m worried about him getting himself killed or caught. If he gets arrested, it’s not going to be very long before somebody figures out who he is. That would be quite a disaster, from the standpoint of the mission and all of the personal lives involved.”
“If Noah decides to rob a bank,” Molly said, “you can bet on two things. Number one, he won’t get caught, and number two, nobody will get hurt. He may be the most capable killer you’ve ever known, but he has a moral code that is all his own. He’s not going to hurt anyone that he doesn’t absolutely have to, and he certainly wouldn’t hurt someone while he was already doing something he considered wrong. No, it isn’t that way; if he plans a robbery, it’ll be done in such a way that nobody is going to be hurt or killed.”
“But so many things can go wrong,” Allison said. “An off-duty cop inside the bank at the time, somebody managing to dial nine one one on a cell phone, any number of things could go wrong and end up with crosshairs over his face.”
“Wait a minute,” Molly said. “You’re assuming he’s going to walk into a bank with a gun to try to rob it. I don’t think that will happen. He’ll either find a way to get into it while no one is there, or he’ll come up with a plan that lets him walk away with the money he wants with no one even being aware of it. I know him, and I know how he thinks. He won’t take a chance on anyone being endangered over this.”
Allison looked at her for a moment. “I hope you’re right,” she said. “I just wish there was more I could do. I’m asking him to go after people who will have their own armed security around them, and I can’t even give him any actual support.”
“What kind of support do you think he needs?” Molly asked.
“Hell, he needs Wally. If anybody can come up with ways to handle this type of mission, it would be Wally Lawson.”
“Well, let’s think about how we can get Wally involved. Do you think you can trust him to know what the mission really is?”
“Wally? Not a doubt in my mind. The problem isn’t Wally, it’s how we would get whatever Noah needed to him. From what both you and Parker have told me, the FBI and NSA are watching everything that goes in or out of Neverland. I doubt we could smuggle anything out without them being aware of it.”
“Now, wait a minute. You’re saying Wally c
ould come up with the kind of things that could help Noah achieve his objectives, but you don’t think he could devise some way to get those things to him? Sounds to me like you’re selling Wally short.”
Allison looked at her for a moment, and a grin began to spread slowly across her face. “Bitch,” she said. “Don’t you know it’s not polite to correct me, even if you’re right? Good Lord, why didn’t I think of that? All we’ve got to do is tell Wally we need an untraceable way to get equipment and supplies and money to Noah.”
Molly smiled. “See? There’s a reason you keep me around.” She yawned. “But for now, this girl is tired. I’m going to go to my room and get some sleep, and we can tackle this more thoroughly in the morning.”
“That,” Allison said, “sounds like an excellent idea. I am beat.”
* * * * *
Solomon Perkowski was sitting in his office, reading through a file on his computer when a particular icon appeared on the taskbar. It meant there was a message on the secure system, but the desktop in his office was too thoroughly wired into the system for any actual security. Rather than check the special email account that way, he cleared the icon and walked out of his office.
“Liz, I’m going out for a little while. I don’t have any appointments scheduled this afternoon, do I?”
His secretary looked up at him with a smile. “No, sir,” she said. “This afternoon is all clear. What should I say if anyone calls looking for you?”
“Just tell them I’m busy, and I’ll call them back later, tomorrow at the latest.” He nodded and walked into the hallway, then went to the elevator and down to the ground floor. His car was parked in the high-rise garage next door, so he went through the side doors and through the covered walkway that connected them.
As a senator, he had a special parking slot on the ground floor. He used the remote to open his car and got into it, then started it up and drove out of the garage before taking out his phone. Checking the special email only required tapping a single icon on one of the many secondary screens, and it was only a second later that he was able to glance at the message header.