by Ian Miller
"I see," the woman from the White House said. "You're sure they got false documents?"
"According to McKenzie, yes."
"So the damage is limited to the loss of some of our agents?"
"Unless there is other damage I don't know about," Burrowes replied. "The Russians have lost agents as well."
"If you mean the two masked men from the boat, they will probably be exchanged for the two soldiers that were captured trying to get out of Russia," the White House woman explained.
"I suppose," Burrowes said. "On the other hand, we can still extract a price from the Russians."
"How so?" the woman from the White House asked.
"From Svetlana's initial crossing."
"You wouldn't care to expand on that?" Lawton asked.
"Simple," Burrowes said. "For that to work, the American soldiers had to see it. That meant that the Russians knew there was going to be an exercise there at just that moment. That means there was a serious security issue, and we should plug it."
"That's sensible," the White House woman said. "Anything else to add, anybody?"
There was silence.
"Then we close this case," the woman said, and as she was picking up her papers, she added, "Everyone can return to where they were before." Then she stormed out before anyone could restart the case. Ruth Telfar also took the opportunity to leave.
"Charming," Burrowes said. "Does that mean I'm unemployed, or what?"
"You can't go back to Rutherford," Rhonda said with a smirk. "We decided that on balance it was not worth our while to charge him. His defence would be good, and the White House would not like the publicity that would come with a court case. He accepted our demand that he stay silent, and indeed he would anyway, and we have no idea where he's gone."
"And Dennis?"
"We did a deal. He avoids jail and is doing community service."
"Which leaves my question," Burrowes frowned. "What happens to me?"
"First," Lawton said, "there is no blemish on your file with the NSA, and indeed I shall add a commendation, but . . ."
"And here comes the but," Burrowes muttered.
"You have shown some aptitude for field work as well. Seeing you get along so well with Rhonda, there, I am going to offer you the option of being part of a joint task force with the FBI."
Burrowes turned his glance towards Rhonda, expecting to see a triumphant challenge on her face, or at the least, a look of superiority, but instead, if anything, she looked embarrassed.
"It will bring a serious increase in your pay grade," Lawton said, "and I would suggest you take it, unless you want to go private."
"Can I wait until I see more details before answering?"
"Of course," Lawton said. "You will have equal rank with Rhonda there, but she knows more about it, and she will tell you all about it over the rest of the day. Tomorrow I want an answer." With that he also picked up his briefcase and left.
"So," Rhonda said in a business-like fashion, "if you accept you will go to Quantico, where you will join a team of . . ."
* * *
"Well, I'm afraid this is the end of the road for us," Cameron said. "As you've probably heard, the Boss has to lie low for a while, which means I'm looking for employment. So, while it's been interesting with you, and I wish you well, it's time for me to go."
"So Mr Rutherford has finished with his efforts to get Goldfinch?" Janice asked.
"He doesn't think so," Cameron said with a smile, "but he can't do anything while the FBI is all over him. Amongst other things, you can be fairly sure that whatever he did would get back to Goldfinch, so he'll have to give it a rest for a year or so."
"So, what are you going to do?" Janice asked. "I mean, what sort of a job are you looking for?"
"Security, if I can get it," he said. "I also have some experience as an investigator, and I actually have a licence to practice that, so, well, who knows?"
"How do you feel about investigating fraud?" Jason asked.
"Where's this going?" Cameron asked, then added, "I'm afraid my financial knowledge might not be up to it."
"You won't need much financial knowledge initially," Jason replied. "The first signs are invariably simply bad behaviour. Someone living well beyond any reasonable means, or someone firing staff for no obvious reason, other than they might know what was going on. Could you do that?"
"Maybe. As I said, where's this going?"
"Janice and I had a discussion about this before. Goldfinch is actually firing a huge raft of fees our way, so we can afford to hire you. It would keep you in play until Rutherford returns."
"You'd have me chasing Goldfinch?" Cameron asked curiously.
"No. For the time being, Goldfinch is off the table," Janice said. "We don't know where his and our futures are going, and it may well be that if Goldfinch behaves reasonably well over the next year, we would have to ask you to leave if Rutherford wanted you to go after Goldfinch, but then again, maybe Goldfinch will be a right proper pig, and we'll join in."
"But in the meantime, we expect to get further banking proposals, and we need someone to check whether these new clients are real or potential nightmares," Jason added. "It would be a way to stay on pay until you have to make up your mind, or until we find out you're no use."
"That's fine by me, then," Cameron said. "When do I start on what?"
* * *
Irving Goldfinch sat back behind his office desk and stretched his legs. He had learned that Rutherford was the man after him, and he still had no idea why, but he also knew that Rutherford had disappeared. For all he knew, Rutherford may have been deported, or his visa cancelled. He had no interest in Russian paint companies, but his investments were going rather well. Somewhat reluctantly, he decided that the stock raid through the Jays was working a lot better than if his name was attached to it, because his name simply raised the price. That did not mean he would forgive them, but he had to acknowledge that if they were wise with their fees on this deal, they could stay in business for quite some time. But that did not mean they could not be led astray by a little fake news. Yes, the future had all sorts of promise.
* * *
Burrowes opened his email application, and saw the usual pile of junk mail, but there in amongst it was one in Russian. He opened it and saw it contained two photographs. One was of a pair of woman's boots, and the other was of an invoice from Legky Shag, on Ulitsa Lenina, in Kursk.
Burrowes hit Reply, wrote in Russian, "Good value! Glad you made it." And hit Send.
The following day, a longer email arrived. "FYI, those who harassed you in Moscow were always being watched by GRU agents. They are now contemplating their miserable futures in the basement of the Lubyanka. Sveta."
Burrowes smiled as he replied: "Good to see the Russian tax roubles working for me. Charles."
No further emails arrived, but Burrowes had a rather weird feeling that this would not be the last he saw of Svetlana Nikolayevna Antonovna.
Author's Note.
Thank you for reading this. If you enjoyed it, why not write a review? Such reviews really help authors, and I would certainly appreciate such a review.
I have written a number of futuristic novels that together actually form a "future history", and hence comprise a greater overall story. If you liked this, you might like some of the others. The ones closer to the present are more technothrillers, while those in the further into the future are more science fiction.
These books are:
Puppeteer Set in 2030, thanks to excessive government debt and an energy shortage, terrorism and corruption are rife. Governments are failing because they do not have the money to do what has to be done, thanks to debt servicing. It should not be allowed to happen, yet look at Greece. The Puppeteer attempts to shock society into reform, but things do not go according to plan.
'Bot War Set a little before 2040. The quickest way to get rich is to short a stock that will collapse due to a terrorist attack, and James Grey found
the easiest way to get the timing right was to provide terrorists with robotic war machines. The economies of the world are overrun with debt, so can civilised society be saved?
Troubles Set in 2050, an anarchic society is coming out of the energy crisis, thanks to the invention of fusion power. As civilization rises from the ashes, those who move fast and ruthlessly will accumulate great wealth. The aged and decaying infrastructure is gold, life is cheap, and winners take all.
Red Gold Set in 2070, it covers the colonization of Mars, fraud, and when a scientific discovery is made that makes Mars viable, the fraud is exposed. However, the fraudster also has the only guns on Mars, and men to use them.
A Face on Cydonia The first of the First Contacttrilogy. When the rock winks, the question is, how, and eventually a disparate party set out to prove this rock has nothing to do with aliens, but instead each discovers exactly what they do not want to find.A story of corruption, greed, murder, the maverick, and the nature of Mars.
Dreams Defiled Each of the party has a task that will stretch their talents, but the man without talent is given nothing demanding. A story of corruption, greed, murder, the maverick, and the nature of Mars, and of people who are taken to positions where they must fail in some way.
Jonathon Munros The conclusion of the trilogy, where machines begin self-reproduction and threaten the world, and where Jonathon Munro achieves immortality.
Athene's Prophecy is the first book in the Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy, in which Scaevola is sent on a quest to save civilization far into the future. Besides discovering some science and learning military strategy, he must survive the erratic rule of Caligulae and prevent a Jewish Roman war.
Legionis Legatus is the second book in the Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy in which Scaevola becomes a Legatus and has a critical role in the Scribonianus attempted coup and in the invasion of Britain, and also works out how to prove the Earth goes around the sun.
Scaevola's Triumph. Scaevola is abducted by aliens, and we see why he had to do much of what was in the prophecy. All he has to do is to save an advanced civilization from being exterminated.
Miranda's Demons. This brings together the strands of the First Contact trilogy and the Gaius Claudius Scaevola trilogy, in which Scaevola returns to Earth in pursuit of the part of the defeated M'starn fleet, and meets the ugliest woman in the world.
Ranh. Cretaceous life was transferred to a terraformed planet around Epsilon Eridani prior to extinction of Earth by some unknown aliens. One species of the therapods has developed an advanced technological society, they have a theocracy, and one Cardinal thinks it is his holy duty to remove mammals from the planet of creation. Natasha Kotchetkova and Scaevola visit Ranh to try to save humanity from extinction.
I hope I have been entertaining, but I also hope that I have given readers something to think about.
Further details about me and about further books, including those yet to be written, and my scientific books can be found at my website, http://www.ianmiller.co.nz and links to purchase therein.
Table of Contents
The Manganese Dilemma
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Author's Note.