Vlad laughed. “Don’t disguise ourselves as one-armed dwarves. Got it.”
Cameron finally looked away from the door long enough to address Vlad face-to-face. He dropped his voice to an almost inaudible whisper. “Look, most of our monitoring has been window dressing. The raids, the wiretapping, the bugs… That’s all come down from Geiger. It’s an extension of his old data thing. DSF. Data Security Force. They technically don’t exist. Their actions go undocumented. We’re aware of their activity only through the required necessity of cooperation. But they keep a lot of info to themselves.”
Vlad knew that was bad. Very bad. “How can we recognize them?”
Cameron looked up at the ceiling. The horrible green fluorescents highlighted his wrinkles. He look old and sick. He looked tired. “If you monitor all the information that comes through the data bank, you can likely detect the DSF’s next move based on the latest info regarding Jayne. Every time info on Jayne comes through, they make moves.”
Vlad felt like they hung on the end of a rope. “So all we can do is monitor the security bank. We’re already doing that, but it’s still good to know.”
Cameron stood away from the shelf, the gleam of inspiration in his eyes. “Wait. I keep forgetting I’m technically the police. We can feed false information into the data bank, and lead them away from your activity.”
Vlad smacked his palm to his head. “By Jove. I’m embarrassed I didn’t think of that.”
Cameron smiled giddily. “As far as our intel goes, you’re still clean of collaborating with Jayne. Feed me false information directly. Tell me whatever will help you guys, and I’ll report it directly in the security bank.”
Vlad furrowed his brow. “That’ll work?”
Cameron shrugged. “We got a choice?”
Vlad and Cameron shook hands. The beginning of a new friendship.
Cameron placed his hand on Vlad’s back and led him out of the evidence room. Once they were out in the hallway, within the earshot of other officers, Cameron loudly lamented to Vlad. “Yep, I’m afraid that’s all the evidence we have on Jayne. Thanks for coming by anyway, Vlad. Your help means a lot to us.”
Vlad didn’t have a lot of faith in his acting abilities, but he did his best. “Of course! I just… love the Federation, and I want to help. Anything to stop that stinking, rotten Jayne! Phooey on her! She’s no good! Why, if I had a chance—”
Cameron waved his hand across his neck to cut him off. “Go ahead, get outta here.”
Vlad shook Cameron’s hand once more and, hoping his bad acting hadn’t ruined everything, walked back out into the streets of Theron Techcropolis. He formulated the first of the false information he could feed to the DSF.
+++
Thurmand Brattix Lecture Hall, Espionage Academy, Avalon Space Station
Alfonso sat at his small desk in the corner of one of Espionage Academy’s largest classrooms. Since working closely with Levitsky, he’d become a more integral aspect of the Academy’s administration. Today, he was serving as assistant to Doctor Barcker Smedley, the academy’s professor of advanced forensics. Barcker Smedley was notorious for demanding absolute silence during his lectures.
Questions were not allowed. Any student who needed to ask a question was too stupid for his class anyway and should simply leave. Many students did just that.
Barcker Smedley stood before his class of 300 students, all surrounding him in the hall’s stadium seating. Barcker used a laser pointer to highlight locations of DNA residue on a hologram representation of an insect that a wanted criminal had swatted with his hand at the scene of a crime.
Amid the silence, apart from Barcker Smedley’s informative yet brutally droning voice, a comm began ringing in defiance of the feared professor.
There was a gasp of terror from the students.
Barcker shut his mouth and glared out across his audience of students, looking for the guilty face of the student he was about to immediately fail. But Barcker couldn’t spot the perpetrator. The students all looked as stunned as he was. Then, he heard a gulp behind him.
A red-in-the-face Alfonso pulled out his comm, which rang again. “I, uh… I’m going to take this outside…”
Barcker looked down his nose at Alphonse. “Yes, I think you should. And don’t bother coming back. If necessary, Levitsky can find another professor for you to assist.”
Alfonso sheepishly darted out of the room. He answered his comm once he was out in the hallway. It was an unknown number. “Hello? And if this is a telemarketer, I swear you almost cost me my job so--”
The voice on the other line was hushed and urgent. “Hey, it’s me.”
Alfonso had no context for who “me” was, though the voice was familiar in a way reminiscent of recalling a dream. “Go on, ‘me.’”
The voice on the other end dropped even lower. “It’s Jayne.”
Alfonso’s heart skipped a beat. “Jayne!?” He was so excited, he shouted her name. In a busy hallway at the center of the effort toward tracking Jayne down, shouting out her name was probably not so wise. He dropped his voice and repeated himself. “Jayne!? How the hell are you… Why are you calling me? Where are you? What the hell has been going on?”
Jayne wasn’t in any place to chit chat, but out of respect for the favor she was about to ask of Alfonso, she addressed his questions quickly. “This call is encrypted, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be decoded. So I don’t have a lot of time. I’m not going to tell you where I am, but I have been all over the place. Chasing wild geese and falling down rabbit holes… Oh, buddy, you will not believe the shit I’ve done. Someday we’ll catch up over drinks. Or you may have to come visit me on death row.”
Alfonso nodded, as if Jayne could see him. He knew where this was going. “Sure, sure. Anyway, what do you need?”
Jayne mocked offense. “Come on, Alfonso. I’m just checking in on my dear friend.”
“Yeah, sure. What do you want?”
Jayne dropped her voice again. “Geiger’s been behind everything. Not only does he want me dead, but he’s the reason I’m in this mess in the first place. I’m his pawn, basically. And he’s been pulling some dirty strings to get me.”
Alfonso could hardly be surprised. “Yeah, sounds like that old bastard. What can I do?”
“Alfonso,” Jayne said in a voice that he had never heard her speak in before. A voice of genuine fearfulness and desperation. The voice of someone willing to do anything. “I need you to get buddy-buddy with Geiger. Then I need you to keep us up-to-date with Geiger. If we can stop them, and clear my name and my team, then we have to stay one step ahead of him.”
Alfonso didn’t hesitate. “You got it.”
“Thank you, friend. I better go. Goodbye.” Jayne ended the call.
Alfonso slid his phone back into his pocket. Timing worked out. He was no longer welcome as an assistant to Professor Smedley. Might as well seek a new position working with Geiger himself.
Wow, Alfonso smugly thought to himself. I really am rising through the Academy’s ranks.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Waiting Room Outside Dean Geiger’s Office, Espionage Academy, Avalon Space Station
Noora Barcellos looked up from Dean Geiger’s densely busy schedule she had pulled up on the panel in her desk when she heard the door slide open. “Hello, Alfonso.”
Alfonso smiled and took a few steps inside. “Good afternoon, Miss Barcellos.”
Noora lifted her gaze upward so she could look at Alfonso through the lower-half of her bifocal ocular implants. “Why are you here?”
Noora Barcellos had gotten very good at screening the visitors who ventured in to visit with Dean Geiger. As his profile rose, so did the number of people attempting to schedule appointments. Noora had already allowed Alfonso to venture further into her office than most, giving him the benefit of the doubt based solely on knowing his affiliation with the Academy.
Alfonso confidently walked up to Noora and stepped out onto a limb.
“I’ve been reassigned from assisting Professor Smedley to assist you.”
Noora raised an eyebrow. “I haven’t heard anything about this.”
Alfonso nodded. “You will. I technically don’t start until next week, but I figured we could… get a head start.”
Now that Alfonso was so close, Noora shifted her gaze to look through the upper-half of her embedded bifocals. The resulting look made her appear more welcoming and less skeptical of Alfonso’s arrival. “Very well. Take this tablet. I want you to go through the Dean’s academy inbox and delete every message that isn’t important.”
Alfonso took the tablet from Noora, who passed it to him over her desk. “How do I know which messages are important and which aren’t?”
Noora returned to her work, scheduling the Dean’s many appointments and appearances. “That’s up to you to decide.” She glanced back at Alfonso, grave seriousness on her face. “And don’t mess up.”
Alfonso opened the tablet and sat on a wide, leather couch against the wall. He wondered if he should actually try to do this job well, or simply delete messages willy-nilly in the hope that Dean Geiger’s reign would soon come to an end.
He was feeling cocky and decided on the latter. As he selected random messages to delete, he began some friendly banter with Noora. “I bet Dean Geiger’s running you ragged, right? What’s working with that old crank been like?”
“I have no interest in getting chummy, Alfonso. Is this job miserable? Yes. But I’m not going to let you trick me into enjoying it by engaging in lighthearted conversation.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Okay, Alfonso analyzed the situation. Better stay in Noora’s good graces for as long as possible. He started to carefully curate the inbox of the Dean’s messages. This was, much to Alfonso’s chagrin but not to his surprise, very basic, non-confidential information. Press agents, reporters, and politicians reaching out about dinner functions, appearances, speeches. Alfonso began to worry he had taken the wrong approach to cozying up to Dean Geiger, but there was no turning back now.
Noora popped two pills in her mouth and washed them down with a glass of water.
“Headache?” Alfonso asked.
Noora looked back to her work. “Yes. You.”
Wow, Alfonso couldn’t help but be impressed. Ice cold.
And then, the door slid open and Dean Geiger marched inside, barking into his comm. “I don’t know yet! To be honest, I don’t care. As long as we kill—” Geiger froze at the sight of Alfonso sitting awkwardly on the couch. “Who the hell are you?”
“You know who I am!” came the voice from the comm.
“No, not you! Goodbye!” Geiger hung up and slid the comm into his pocket.
Noora stood up and walked around her desk. “This is Alfonso. He’s one of the Academy’s best. He’s assisting me now.”
Geiger eyed Alfonso, then directed his harsh gaze to Noora. Alfonso was amazed by how well Noora held her own against Geiger, who was rapidly becoming the most powerful person in the Federation. Noora didn’t falter. “I asked for his help. I can’t run this all by myself.”
Ohhh, Alfonso realized. Noora was rapidly becoming the most powerful person in the Federation.
Geiger loosened his collar from his fat neck. “Noora, step into my office for a moment.” He swiped the panel on his office door and stepped inside.
Noora followed, but not without turning back to Alfonso. She pointed at the tablet in his hand. “Keep deleting. No mistakes, mind you.” And the office door shut behind her.
Don’t move, Alfonso. He tapped his fingers nervously on the tablet. Count to three first…
One… Two…
No, he decided. Count to ten.
Three… Four… Five…
Five is good. You counted five. Move.
Alfonso jumped up from the couch and moved stealthily from the couch to Noora’s desk. He grabbed her glass of water and poured it out in a potted plant on top of the filing cabinet.
Alfonso crouched and placed the open end of the glass against the door. He rested his ear at the bottom of the glass, and listened. He had no idea if it would work, but he had seen it in a flashback in Kill ‘Em All XXXVII.
The words were muffled at first, but Alfonso’s ear quickly adjusted and trained itself. He could just barely make out their conversation. Fortunately Geiger was doing most of the talking, because he was in such a mood he wouldn’t have been able to keep his voice down if his life depended on it.
And in this case, it kind of did.
“Noora, I need you to go out later today and pick up some Preparation H. This whole Jayne situation has my hemorrhoids out of control. I can’t sit down without a volcano going off inside my asshole.”
That mental image Dean Geiger just unknowingly painted for Alfonso was almost enough to make him abandon the entire operation, say “too bad” to Jayne, and claw his ears off. But the stakes were too high. He decided to suffer through the too-much-information dump of Dean Geiger.
He continued with his woes. “And don’t buy that greasy cheap stuff. I mean, come on, I can afford some top shelf ass cream.”
Noora’s voice fluctuated with the Dean. “Yes, sir, of course.” Alfonso guessed the Dean was nervously pacing, with Noora following behind him around his office.
Geiger, thankfully, changed topics. “Did you hear about our assassin?”
“It’s not my job to hear, sir. You have other employees for that.” Noora replied smartly. Her response only reconfirmed Alfonso’s new theory about who was really in charge.
Geiger groaned. “You’re the only one I can trust, Noora.”
Noora barely replied, muttering only an “Mm-hmm.”
Geiger groaned, yet again. “I genuinely need Jayne dead. It’s one thing to run on the cause, it’s another thing to succeed at a promise before I even win the election. Right? Imagine the confidence that’ll instill in the voters.”
“Of course, sir, but you have to kill her first.”
Geiger chuckled. And the chuckle grew into laughter. “Here’s an idea, Noora. Tell me what you think of this. Let’s just double, triple… magnify our efforts to kill Jayne ten-fold. Then, we find an average citizen to give credit to. I am the candidate who puts the power into the hands of the people. How does that sound?”
“Sounds like a great idea, sir.” Alfonso was impressed by the objective flatness of Noora’s voice. He couldn’t tell if she genuinely liked the Dean’s idea, or if simply saying ‘yes’ was the best way to keep Dean Geiger less of a nuisance.
Geiger’s voice grew more distant. “Thank you, Noora.” And soon, it was muffled.
Alfonso could barely make out Noora’s next question. “How would you like to proceed with maximizing our efforts of…”
The voices became incomprehensible warbles. There was an extended silence broken only by foot steps. No, no, no, Alfonso panicked to himself. Please don’t walk away, please don’t go into a different room.
But the conversation died off.
Alfonso moved his makeshift listening device across the entire surface of the door. Nothing.
He even moved it along the walls, but they were too thick. And he had no idea where they could have possibly gone in relationship to Noora’s office.
Alfonso lowered the glass. “Shit.”
He placed the glass back on Noora’s desk. He shut down the Dean’s work tablet and placed it carefully on the side table by the couch. As he picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder, he heard Geiger’s office door slide open behind him.
He could feel Noora’s icy suspicion piercing the back of his skull. “Where are you going?”
Alfonso about-faced to Noora. “Just finished deleting all that spam from Geiger’s work email. Boy! Talk about a nuisance. Really helps me appreciate all the work you do.” He began a crabwalk to the exit. “Anyway, I’m going to go on my lunchbreak.”
Noora raised an eyebrow. “It’s four in the afternoon.”
Alfonso checked the time
on his comm. “Wow! So it is. All the more reason for me to finally take it. Thanks for the valuable learning experience today, Miss Barcellos. Same time tomorrow?”
“Alfonso, I—”
Alfonso slapped the panel and opened the door. “Great! See you then.” He zipped out the door, already halfway through dialing Jayne on his phone.
Noora didn’t like Alfonso’s behavior. In truth, she didn’t like Alfonso at all. Or any young people. Or anyone. She had a cat she was quite fond of, and as she thought about Doctor Puddles she made a mental note to buy cat food on the way home.
Noora sat down behind her desk to begin the thankless task of turning Geiger’s most recent demands into a reality.
She reached for her glass of water and took a sip. Well, she expected to take a sip. She placed the empty glass on her desk. She stared at it, speculating.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Room #34, Geffen Dormitory, Tesla University of Technical Arts, Theron Techcropolis, Amaros
Jessica had long ago given up asking Jayne and her spy crew to be quiet and finally packed up her tablet and notes. “I’ll be at the library studying for the rest of the night. Or the rest of my life at this rate. Let me know when you guys have finally saved the world.”
And she shut the door behind her, finally leaving the vigilantes alone to be as loud as they want.
Right after Jessica left, Jayne’s comm rang. “It’s Alfonso!” she gleefully announced before picking up. Merry, Fred, and Vlad stopped what they were doing and gathered around Jayne in anticipation. Alfonso, hopefully, would have the secret ingredient to cracking the recipe of how to bring down Dean Geiger.
Jayne answered her comm. “Hello?”
Alfonso was breathless on the other end. “Jayne. I have good news and bad news.”
Jayne covered her end of the comm and relayed Alfonso’s message to her team. “He has good news and bad news!”
Exposed (Interplanetary Spy for Hire Book 2) Page 26