Highest Order

by David Archer

  “Bubble and squeak?” she asked. “It’s actually called bubble and squeak?”

  “That’s what the man said,” Jenny said with a giggle. “He says it’s pretty much like hash, back home.”

  Sarah shrugged. “When in Rome,” she said. “So, we’re going shopping today?”

  “Shopping?” Jenny asked. “I’m up for some shopping.”

  “I think we all need clothes,” Noah said. “I thought we’d take the Bentley into London and see what we can find. None of us really brought appropriate clothing for the weather here.”

  “Now, that’s true,” Jenny said. “I can definitely use a new wardrobe, and so can Penny. You guys, you probably don’t care what you wear, but us girls have to think about it all the time.”

  “Okay, that’s settled, then,” Neil said. “I wanted to check out some of the electronic shops, anyway.”

  Beatrice and Lynn came in a moment later and began serving the breakfast. Each plate got a large pile of the bubble and squeak, which did resemble a sort of hash, and then two poached eggs were laid directly on top. As quickly as they had come, they vanished back into the kitchen and the five of them sat and stared at the plates in front of them.

  “Well, I’m going to try it,” Marco said. He picked up the salt and pepper shakers and applied both, then took up a fork and cut off a piece of egg so that he could scoop the mixture into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully for a few seconds, and then his eyes smiled. He swallowed quickly and grinned, then said, “Hey, that’s really good.”

  The rest of them dug in, and agreed that the new experience was a delightful one. Noah, Neil, and Marco even had seconds.

  When breakfast was over, they all made a point of telling Beatrice how much they had enjoyed it, and then took the keys to the Bentley and headed for London.

  * * * * *

  The plane touched down at Heathrow airport at just before ten a.m., London time. Allison and Molly had slept through most of the flight, and were slightly groggy as they made their way down the stairs and into the terminal. Luckily, the customs line was empty at that moment, so they were able to walk straight up to the counter and present their passports.

  “Do you have anything to declare?” The customs officer spoke with a German accent, but smiled politely at the two ladies.

  “Nope, nothing,” Allison said. “Not yet, anyway. Wait till we’re headed for home, though. We’re on a shopping safari.”

  The customs officer grinned at them, stamped their passports, and let them go. They took their bags and headed out through the front doors, then got into a taxi and asked the driver to take them to Westfield Mall.

  Once they were moving, Alison took out the cell phone she got with her ID kit and scrolled through the contacts. She found the number for Leon Kendall, the station chief, and hit the button to dial.

  “Leon Kendall,” he answered.

  “Hello, Leon,” Allison said. “Seen any dragons lately?”

  Kendall recognized her voice instantly. “Actually, I haven’t,” he said. “I understand they’ve become an endangered species.”

  Allison chuckled. “Rumors of my misfortune might be somewhat exaggerated. I happen to be in town, and need to get together with you. This is about as highly classified as you can imagine.”

  “Sure, no problem,” Kendall said. “Where would you like to meet up?”

  “We’re headed toward Westfield Mall,” Allison said, “and we’re going to be ready for lunch when we get there. What’s easy to find and easy on the stomach?”

  “Westfield? Let’s just meet up at Burger King. I haven’t had a good American burger in months, anyway.”

  “Sounds good, we’ll see you there.” She ended the call and dropped the phone into her pocket.

  The taxi got them there in fairly short order, and they carried their bags into the mall. There were lockers available, but they ended up having to rent three of them to make all the bags fit. Parker had instructed the costume department to give them both a complete tourist’s wardrobe.

  Once the bags were secure, they found a map and started toward the Burger King. It took them ten minutes to walk it, but there was no sign of Kendall when they arrived. There was a bench in the common way outside the restaurant, so they sat down to wait.

  Fifteen minutes later, Kendall spotted them and came toward them, smiling.

  “Ma’am,” he said, “it is a relief to see you. What on Earth is going on back home?”

  “More than I can go into, Leon,” Allison said. “For now, you need to know that I am here in cover, and as far as anyone else knows, I’m still in custody back in the States. Leon, we need to get to Noah, ASAP. Can you take us to him?”

  Kendall’s eyebrows went up. “Camelot? Ma’am, you know he’s actually considered persona non grata, here, right? He’s got to keep a very low profile, or the Brits will kick him out in a heartbeat.”

  “Don’t worry, Leon, we’re not going to activate him here. There’s a situation I can’t go into that I need to brief him about, but it won’t involve any actions in the U.K.”

  Kendall nodded. “No problem, I just wanted to make sure you knew. To be honest, I was pretty surprised when I got the call from Jorge to set him up over here, and if it hadn’t been for Catherine Potts, I might not have been able to do it. I think she twisted some arms up high, but then I got dragged in and questioned about some other things, so she took him out and got him set up for me.”

  Allison grinned. “I’ve heard a lot about her,” she said. “See if you can arrange for us to meet while I’m here, would you?”

  “Sure, no problem. Let’s grab a bite to eat and I’ll give Noah a call.”

  The three of them headed into the Burger King and placed their orders, then sat down to eat. As they did so, Kendall took out his phone and dialed the number that had been assigned to Noah’s phone.

  “Travis,” Noah said when he answered.

  “Hey, Travis,” Kendall said. “It’s Leon Kendall from the embassy. I was calling to make sure you’re going to be around home today, I want to come out and see you.”

  “Hey, Leon,” Noah said. “Actually, I’m on my way to London right now. We need to get a little shopping done, get some appropriate clothing for the local climate, stuff like that. Should I come by your office?”

  “No, no. Where are you planning to do your shopping? I’m actually hanging out at Westfield Mall at the moment, and I got a couple people here who need to speak with you.”

  Noah muted the phone for a moment, then came back. “I’m sure we can find whatever we need at Westfield,” he said. “I’ve got Gary checking now, and he says we’ll be there in about fifteen minutes. Will that work?”

  Kendall broke into a big smile. “That’ll be perfect,” he said. “We actually just sat down to eat at Burger King. We’ll just wait here for you, okay?”

  “Sounds like a plan, Leon,” Noah said. “See you in just a bit.”

  Kendall got off the phone and smiled at Allison. “As it happens, he and his team are on the way here. They were planning on doing some shopping, and decided they can do it right here at Westfield. They should be here within the next quarter hour.”

  “That’s a stroke of luck,” Allison said. “I don’t want to talk here, though. We’ll go back to their place with them when they get finished with their shopping.”

  “Yay,” Molly said.

  * * * * *

  Noah put the phone back into his pocket and turned to Sarah. “Something’s going on,” he said. “That was Leon Kendall, he’s our station chief. He said he has a couple of people who need to talk to us.”

  “Okay,” she replied. “Do you think this might be a problem?”

  “This is why I hate being without a weapon,” Jenny said. “Crap...”

  “I didn’t get the impression there was a problem,” Noah said. “He was pretty cheerful. I think we’re okay at the moment, but I’ll confess I’m wondering what it’s about.”

  “We’
ll know when we get there,” Neil said. “Take the next right.”

  They followed the directions on Neil’s GPS app, and arrived at the mall in slightly less than the fifteen minutes the app had estimated. They all climbed out of the car and walked inside, found the same map Allison had looked at earlier, and then followed the directions to Burger King.

  They had actually gone inside and were looking around when Noah spotted familiar red hair and pointed toward Molly. “Look,” he said, and Sarah turned to do so, and then she and Jenny both squealed and ran to throw their arms around Allison.

  Chapter THIRTEEN

  “Okay, okay, settle down,” Allison said, her smile threatening to split her face. “I’m glad to see you kids, too, but there’s a lot going on. Let’s go do your shopping, and then we can go out to your place and get down to business.”

  Kendall smiled and got to his feet. “Looks like you’re in capable hands,” he said to Allison, “so I’m going to head back to the office. I’ll speak to Catherine as soon as I get a chance, and see if she can get out to see you.”

  “That sounds fine, Leon,” she said. “Thanks for everything.”

  Kendall shook hands with the men and walked away, while Molly and Allison got up to go with Noah and the rest. They spent a couple of hours with Sarah, Jenny, Allison, and Molly all going into several different ladies’ clothing shops, while Noah, Neil, and Marco found everything they wanted at one store. When they were all done shopping, they met up near the entrance and collected Allison and Molly’s bags, then carried them out to the Bentley.

  Luckily, Molly was fairly small. With her squeezed into the back seat with Neil, Marco, and Jenny, and Allison riding shotgun beside Sarah and Noah, the Bentley was a bit of a tight fit. Allison waited until they were out of the parking lot and then began giving Noah a brief explanation of what was going on.

  The ride lasted slightly over forty minutes, and everyone in the back seat was ready to climb out by the time they got to Feeney Manor. Noah parked the car in the circular driveway in front of the house, then he and Marco carried the bags for Allison and Molly while Neil and the girls brought in the shopping bags.

  Thomas met them at the door and tried to take the bags.

  “Here, sir,” he said. “Had you given me notice, I would’ve had the lads here. Please, sir, allow me.”

  Noah smiled at him. “Thomas, we’ve got it,” he said. “You don’t want us to get fat and lazy, do you? These are our friends, Judy Walker and her daughter Emily. They actually surprised us, we weren’t expecting them for a week or two, but I know there are enough rooms that would put them up, right?”

  “Of course, sir,” Thomas said, his feathers obviously ruffled. “Will the ladies be sharing a suite?”

  “Sure, that’s no problem,” Allison said, and Molly nodded.

  “Are you sure?” Noah asked. “Trust me, this place has plenty of bedrooms.”

  “Well,” Allison said, “if it wouldn’t be a problem. No offense to Emily, but I really do tend to like my privacy.”

  “None taken,” Molly said with a giggle. “Besides, remember when I had to stay at your place a while back? You snore, loudly.”

  “Yeah? Let me tell you about that lasagna you made,” Allison shot back, grinning.

  “This way, if you please,” Thomas said. He cast another glance at the bags, but then just led the way up the stairs.

  Allison and Molly took the first two suites they came to, and decided to freshen up after their long flight. It wasn’t long before the rattling of the pipes in the old house made it clear that both of them were taking showers, and they both appeared a half-hour later with wet hair. It was just getting close to three o’clock by then, and Allison suggested that all seven of them might find someplace private to talk.

  “In that case,” Noah said, “I think we should take a walk out into the fields. There are some picnic tables set up, so we can ask Beatrice for some snacks to carry along.”

  Allison nodded. “That sounds like a good idea. What we’re going to talk about isn’t something you want your staff overhearing.”

  The weather was nice, so they all trooped down the stairs together. Noah and Sarah went to the kitchen and spoke to Beatrice, who was delighted to put together a large picnic basket—she actually had four of them stashed in the pantry—with sandwiches quickly prepared with roast beef and Swiss cheese, bottles of ginger beer, and a towel-wrapped, chilled bottle of wine.

  “Go on with yourselves, now,” she said, “and have ye some fun. There will be mutton for dinner, but we shall hold it until seven thirty, since ye’ll be having a mid-afternoon, all right?”

  Sarah gave her a big smile. “Thank you so much, Beatrice,” she said. “Seven thirty will be perfect.”

  Noah picked up the huge basket and carried it out to the great hall, where everyone was waiting. Marco took it from him then, and they traipsed out the front door and toward the woods to the west. They had seen a picnic area there the day before, and Noah thought it would be perfect for a private conversation.

  It took them fifteen minutes to get there, but there was virtually no chance of being overheard. The grass on the grounds had been mowed recently, and it was still another half mile or so to the woods, leaving no place for anyone to hide and listen in. Marco set the big basket on the picnic table and started passing out bottles of ginger beer as they all sat down.

  “Noah, I told you about the Ascension Project, the faction that is working to undermine the Constitution,” Allison said, “but I’m afraid I haven’t told you nearly enough. I’ve held back a few things until now, because—well, frankly, because they involve the hardest orders I’ve ever had to give.”

  “I could tell you were stalling,” Noah said. “I figured you’d get around to it when you felt it was the right time.”

  “Unfortunately, that time is now. Noah, some of these people are folks that I’ve known for many years, some of them I even counted as my friends. Others, let’s just say I’ve known them by reputation and find it somewhat difficult to believe they would be involved in such a thing. We don’t know for sure what the three events are that they plan to use to coerce the American people into giving up their freedoms and rights, but we do know that the first event is supposed to involve the deaths of tens of thousands of children.”

  Sarah and Jenny gasped, and Neil and Marco simply stared at Allison.

  “Children?” Sarah asked. “They plan to kill children?”

  Allison nodded. “Again, that’s the only part of their plan we’ve gotten. What we don’t know is how or where or when, except that it’s supposed to happen within the next six to seven weeks. I’m sorry to say that if they manage to pull it off, they are absolutely correct about we’ll be willing to accept limitations on their freedoms if it means keeping children safe. It may be the most despicable thing I’ve ever heard, but it would be effective.”

  Noah was looking her in the eye, and she could tell that he was deep in thought. She waited half a minute, then cocked her head to the side.

  “Noah? What’s going on in that head of yours?”

  “I was thinking about how I would go about it,” Noah said. “If I were going to stage an event that would kill that many children, it would have to involve schools. You say ‘tens of thousands…’ Do we have any idea how many tens of thousands? Are we talking twenty thousand, fifty thousand, a hundred thousand?”

  “I’m afraid we don’t know that. When they refer to tens of thousands of children, no matter how many it ends up being, it’s far too many.”

  “I agree,” Noah said. “I’m thinking of schools in the major cities. They could be planting bombs, but since we’d be talking about at least a fair number of schools, there would be an awful lot of risk that one of the bombs would be discovered. I suspect we ought to consider truck bombs, or something from the air. Now, if we assume an average of a thousand kids per school, then the fact that they referred to ‘tens of thousands’ means we are talking about t
wenty or more schools. The only way I can imagine being able to hit so many of them all around the same time would be with some sort of vehicle, whether it’s ground or air based.”

  Allison stared at him. “Good Lord, Noah,” she said. “How the hell could we stop something like that?”

  “The only way would be to establish a major security presence at every school, and that just isn’t possible. Of course, even if it were, it would only tip them off that we were aware that something like that was coming. That would probably force them to abandon their initial plan altogether, and then we would have no clue about even one of the events.” He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. “How many people are involved in this plot?”

  Allison grimaced and shrugged. “We honestly don’t know,” she said. “I have a few names, but that’s all.”

  “Then I’ll start with those,” Noah said. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? These people have to be eliminated, and they’re going to be watching you and E & E constantly. You certainly can’t send any of your current teams after them, so that leaves us.”

  “I told you he’d figure it out,” Molly said.

  “Shut up, Molly. Yes, Noah, that’s why I’m here. The problem is that I’ve got to ask you to go after these people, but I can’t give you any kind of support. You’re going to have to handle it all on your own, from planning to weapons acquisition to strike. Now, in theory, I can still order you to take on the mission. In reality, since I won’t be able to have any contact with you, you could take this opportunity for the five of you to simply disappear, and I wouldn’t blame you if you do.”

  “But he won’t,” Marco said. “None of us will, even if we wish we could.”

  Allison looked at him, a sad little grin on her face. “Are you sure about that? That you all feel that way, I mean?”