by David Archer
“Very good,” Noah said. “Now, Molly, go ahead and start scheduling interviews for this afternoon. We need to concentrate on making this a viable operation, or at least to give that appearance to the rest of the world. It doesn’t matter if it actually makes money, as long as it gives us a cover for our real purposes.”
“Do you need us to stick around?” Diana asked. “If we are leaving in the morning, I’d like to go and get a few things.”
“That’s fine,” Noah said. “Neil will drive all of you to Heathrow in the morning. Plan on leaving about six a.m.”
“That means everybody needs to be up and ready before then,” Neil said. “Get everything packed up tonight, so we don’t have to waste any time in the morning.”
* * *
The rest of the day was spent in preparing for the launch of the factory, and they were surprised in the early afternoon by a visit from the Guildford Council. Angela Rosehaven, the chairwoman of the council, insisted on taking a tour of the facility, and on being escorted by none other than Travis Lightner, himself.
“I’ve heard so much about you,” she gushed as Noah led her through the buildings. The rest of the council was following, and Wally had come along to answer specific questions about the manufacturing process they would be employing. “Your butler, Thomas, is an old friend of my family. He has been boasting about the wonderful Americans who purchased Feeney Manor for the last year or more. May I ask what brought you to Surrey?”
“Actually, I think it was our financial advisor who stumbled across the place,” Noah said. “Our website had made some ridiculous amounts of money, and we needed to spend it quickly to keep our tax brackets down. Buying the estate seemed like a good idea from a financial perspective, and when we came to visit, we fell in love with the place.”
“Well, we are fortunate that you have decided to expand your business here locally,” she said. “While our economy is in fairly good condition, we can certainly use the additional employment opportunities. I understand you will be hiring as many as two hundred people?”
“I think we’d better double that,” Wally said from behind them. “We’ll be adding a couple of extra assembly lines, and running three shifts a day is going to mean a lot of people on the job.”
“Oh, how wonderful,” Angela said. “And will you be doing all of your hiring locally?”
“Actually, Mr. Lawson is bringing some of the engineers he’s worked with previously to handle the development departments. They should be arriving over the next few days, and we’ll be helping them get settled in housing in town.”
“Splendid, splendid,” Angela said. “And will that be all that you will be importing? Forgive my curiosity, but it’s been rather difficult of late to bring decent jobs to the area.”
“I can understand that,” Noah said. “And I’m sure we’ll be adding more in the not-too-distant future—Mr. Lawson has a tendency to be rather prolific when it comes to imagining new devices. Of course, a lot depends on finding the right people for our management positions. We have brought in a few for the highest levels, but we prefer to hire our managers and foremen from within the local population.” He leaned toward her conspiratorially. “I know that we are trying to find someone to handle the personnel division, if you happen to think of a potential candidate. Please feel free to have them ask for me directly.”
“Oh, I certainly shall. As a matter of fact, I know that my sister’s husband is looking for a new position. He was previously the manager of human resources at Derby Shire Foods.”
“Then please have him give us a call,” Noah said. “That sounds like the kind of experience we’re looking for.” He took a pen and a piece of paper out of a pocket and quickly wrote down the phone number for the office, the one that Neil had given him only an hour earlier. “This is our main number; just tell him to ask the receptionist to put him through to me.”
“Mr. Lightner, I don’t know how to thank you. I’m certain that Milford will be a wonderful employee.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting him,” Noah said. “I’m sure we’ll all be happy to have him take over those responsibilities as soon as possible.”
A few of the other council members were happy to recommend potential employees as well, and in each case Noah invited them to call and ask for him or Molly personally. Since they were in the process of setting up what amounted to a foreign-owned corporation, he felt it necessary to appease the local authorities as much as he could.
The final surprise of the day came as the council departed. Noah was shaking hands and saying final farewells at the front door of the building as a familiar car pulled into the parking lot. The occupant sat in the car until the council had driven away, and then stepped out as Noah approached.
“Well, then,” Catherine Potts said. “I see you’ve already got the locals eating out of your fingers. Not that I expected any less, since I recall clearly how you charmed me when we first met.”
“There are many kinds of politics,” Noah said. “By keeping the local authorities happy, I hope to keep our business running smoothly.”
Catherine chuckled. “Business, is it? Indeed, we definitely want to keep it running smoothly. Have you a few minutes? I bring messages.”
“Absolutely,” Noah said. “My office is all set up now. Do we need privacy, or…”
Catherine looked around at all the activity that was taking place. Marco and the other men were working on groundskeeping, mowing the overgrown grass and trimming some of the hedges that were decoratively arranged near the building itself, while Jenny and Renée were each supervising office furniture deliveries. Only Sarah was relatively inactive, sitting at the reception desk and handling the interviewees who were waiting to go back and speak to Molly.
“Perhaps just the two of us for now,” Catherine said. “My message is from Her Majesty and the prime minister.”
Noah raised one eyebrow, then motioned for her to follow him. He caught Sarah’s eye as they entered the elevator that would take them to the executive offices on the second floor.
“All right,” Noah said as he sat down behind his desk and Catherine settled into one of the wingback chairs that faced him. “What messages do you bring?”
“The PM would like me to explain what he calls a few ‘rules of tenancy,’ which I would suggest you regard as rather important guidelines you might wish to follow. There are only three of them, and here they are in order of importance. First, while we are aware that you have no official connection to your previous employers, we are also aware that you have every intention of carrying out any orders they deliver to you through me. This is acceptable, so long as none of your missions require you to take action against any UK citizen without acquiring secondary approval from us. This is to avoid the kind of situation we once had regarding Jeremy Pendergrast, who was a valuable resource for feeding propaganda to our potential enemies. His loss while in your custody is still something of a sore point, I’m afraid.”
Noah nodded once. “I understand, and I agree. If any of my orders involve a UK national, I would expect you to know that before I did. I will not approach such a target without first making certain that you are aware of what I’m doing. If you or your government have an objection, I will delay execution of the mission until I can either receive your consent or determine that it is necessary to proceed without it.”
Catherine grinned. “Fair enough, and very well put. We don’t expect you to disobey your orders, but we do want to be aware of any impact they may have on our own government or citizens before they are carried out.”
“Certainly.” Noah looked at her expectantly, and she continued.
“Second, because the US and the UK are at least officially considered to be allies, it is expected that you will refrain from in any way spying on our government or taking any actions against any official of our government. With that said, however, if you are made aware of evidence of wrongdoing by any UK official, particularly anything involving espionage
or other high crimes, we expect that information to be shared. We will then determine what action, if any, should be taken.”
“Again, with the caveat that the circumstance might arise that would require me to abrogate this rule, I agree to do my best to make sure that it is followed.”
“Of course. Now, the third is a bit more complex, and I’m going to quote it as exactly as I can. If for any reason you should determine that it is necessary for you to sever all ties with your former national affiliation, you will then place yourself under the supervision of our Ministry of Intelligence. This does not mean that you will be expected to continue the same kind of work, and in fact it may be required that you and your people completely retire from any such activities, but you would be expected to accept any orders from MI should such an eventuality occur.”
Noah looked at her for a couple of seconds, then nodded again. “Agreed. Is that all?”
Catherine laughed. “That’s all from the prime minister,” she said. “Now, on behalf of Her Majesty, I am to say that should the opportunity for you to accept nationalized citizenship ever arise, she would personally sponsor you, and she would certainly like to see you knighted for your previous service to our country. It would be necessary to do so secretly, of course, since the events to which she refers have never been fully exposed to the public, but she feels that the gratitude of our nation has never been properly conveyed. Oh, and she wishes to invite you and your wife to join her for tea one day soon, and to bring your new baby. Her Majesty does love babies, you know.”
“We’ll be more than happy to do so,” Noah said. “The baby should be born soon, and I’ll make certain to let you know when that occurs.” He looked at her closely for a moment. “Catherine, since I know that you have secure telephones, you could’ve given me those messages without driving all the way out here. What’s the real reason for your visit?”
She gave him a mock scowl. “Am I that obvious? All right, I’ll tell you, and this is nothing but an opinion of my own, let’s make ourselves clear on that.” She took a deep breath. “Noah, while I was designated as liaison for your organization with our government, I became somewhat friendly with a few American intelligence operatives. None of them are aware of your presence here, and yet a few of them have reached out to me with very secret messages they would like me to give to you should I happen to have any contact. Since Ms. Peterson has made it clear that no one but she is aware of your location, I find it surprising that these people have reached out specifically to me. It makes me wonder if someone in your CIA has found out about you and is leaking information.”
“That’s definitely possible,” Noah said. “What are the messages?”
Catherine let out a sigh. “I’m supposed to tell you to be extremely cautious about any orders that bring you back to the United States, particularly to Washington. They believe that a trap is being laid, a trap that is designed to catch you or any of your people. One of them is even concerned that, according to rumor, you are being manipulated to assassinate members of your own Congress.” She leaned forward. “Noah? I know that this is the mission I delivered to you a few days ago. What concerns me is that it was given to me by Allison Peterson, herself. Is there any possibility that she is cooperating in the attempt to lay the trap?”
“Of course it’s possible,” Noah said. “She could be under some kind of influence that requires her to do so, or she may have become convinced that the only way to let the country recover from the exposure of E & E is to arrange for some of us to be caught and arrested. It’s equally possible that she’s being used, and is not aware of it. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about human nature, it’s that no matter how you might trust someone, it’s impossible to know for sure what they might be thinking. I can imagine several situations where she might decide the best interest of the country is for me to be terminated, or even arrested and prosecuted. However, I will admit that I find that possibility to be very difficult to believe.”
“As do I,” Catherine said. “I’ve known Allison for nearly five years, and I find it very, very difficult to imagine that she would ever turn on you or your people.” She sighed again. “Still, one can never be certain, as you say.” She licked her lips and looked him in the eye. “I’ve no doubt you have already planned the mission. Are you going personally?”
“No,” Noah said. “With the baby due any day, I’ve chosen to send some of my operatives, instead. This information is giving me pause, but I don’t know that I can avoid completing the mission anyway.”
“The proverbial rock and hard place,” Catherine said. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No,” Noah said, shaking his head. “I’m going to have to handle this on my own, and it’s probably going to have to play out. If it turns out that there is such a trap, I may have to reevaluate everything I know.”
“I should think so. Have you room for me at Feeney Manor, tonight? I’d like to stay over and discuss this further, see if we can come up with a way to verify what is going on between us. It may sound strange, Noah, but I find myself reluctant to see anything happen to you.”
“Not half as reluctant as me,” Sarah said suddenly, appearing in the doorway. “What’s going on?”
NINE
Noah quickly explained the messages Catherine had brought them, but Sarah refused to believe that Allison would participate in such a plan. Noah acknowledged that he personally agreed with her, but had to maintain an open mind. If it turned out that Allison had been coerced into turning against them, he was still sending his teams into a dangerous situation.
“So, abort,” Sarah said. “Don’t send them. Wait and see what happens, or find some way to be sure whether a trap is waiting before you send anybody.”
“That’s one of the things I’m considering,” he said. “I may have an idea along that line, but I’m not certain about it. I think we’re going to need to sit down and discuss this with everyone, get as many perspectives on it as we can.”
“I can agree with that,” Catherine said. “If we all discuss it together, we might be able to ferret out some kind of clues as to what’s actually happening.”
“That’s the most logical plan I can come up with at the moment,” Noah said. “In the meantime, let’s bring you up to speed on what’s happening here.”
Once again, Noah and Sarah gave the tour of the facility, explaining to Catherine about the new home automation devices Wally had come up with. This resulted in Sarah promising Catherine that she would get the “friends and family” discount, because Catherine admitted that anything connected to housework was anathema to her.
Finally the day came to an end, and Noah sent Cody to pick up pizzas and bring them back. Marco went to the break room, where soft drink vending machines had already been installed, and bought drinks for everyone, and then they gathered together in the conference room.
“Catherine, I’d like to introduce Ralph Morgan, Ben Wiggins, Tom Kelly, JC Monet and Diana Fox. They constitute Team Pegasus, with Ralph as their leader. Guys, this is Catherine Potts, formerly the E & E liaison to British Intelligence, and currently our unofficial liaison with Allison and the CIA.”
“I’m delighted to meet all of you,” Catherine said, and the others echoed the sentiment.
“Catherine came to us with a message, and it’s one that I think you all should hear directly from her. Catherine?”
“Yes, well,” Catherine said. She repeated what she had told Noah previously, about her intelligence friends in the US who were concerned that Noah and the rest of them were being led into a trap. “Frankly, they all feel that the orders to terminate these senators might be nothing more than a setup. If they are correct, it’s highly likely that you will be captured after you complete your mission.”
Ralph let out a whistle. “Boss, this don’t sound like fun to me,” he said. “What’s the game plan?”
“I’ll confess I’m not sure what to do,” Noah said. “If Catherine’s friends are
correct, I’ll be sending you into a trap; on the other hand, failing to obey these orders right now could get us shoved out into the cold for real. I cannot see any logical reason for Allison to turn on us, but I cannot guarantee that it hasn’t happened.”
“So, we go in anyway, right?” Diana asked. “Because it’s the only way you can find out for sure what’s going on?”
Noah nodded. “I’m afraid that is the best course of action,” he said. “On the other hand, I’m very reluctant to allow anything to happen to any of you. If you are arrested, it will be because the government has decided they need martyrs, someone to parade before the public as members of this supposedly criminal organization. If that’s the case, then you would be railroaded through a trial and undoubtedly sentenced to death for treason. The only thing we can hope for then is that we would have the opportunity to break you out, using Allison’s own techniques of leaving bodies behind and letting them claim you committed suicide.”
“And if that doesn’t work?” JC asked. “If you cannot retrieve us, we would certainly be put to death. While I might be willing to die in the service of my newly adopted country, I do not wish to die for no greater purpose than to ease the consciences of politicians.”
“I’m with JC on this,” Ralph said, and the rest of his team nodded their agreement. “If we get arrested and sentenced to death, getting us out is not going to be easy. I’ve heard about some of those maximum-security prisons, and even you might have trouble breaking us out of there, Noah.”
“I’m aware of that,” Noah said. “I’m also not willing to let that happen.” He turned to Molly. “Your input?”
“I want to say there’s no possible way Allison would go along with a plot like this, but I can’t be one hundred percent certain of that for obvious reasons. She could be in a situation where she feels her hands are tied, where there’s no way out for her that doesn’t end up leading directly to an even worse ending. At the same time, I have to agree with your earlier assessment. Failing to carry out the mission we’ve been given could result in our being officially, and genuinely, disavowed. I’m just not sure what to do, Noah, and I’m frustrated that we can’t make direct contact with Allison to find out what’s going on.”