by Gini Koch
Chuckie had found these guys and become friends with them when we were in high school, so I’d known them since then, too.
Stryker Dane, whose real name was Eddy Simms, was their sort of leader. He was kind of an underground celebrity and also ran a pretty popular website and an even more active blog. He was also a U.F.O. and extraterrestrial languages expert.
In addition to his other talents, Stryker wrote the Taken Away series, where he claimed to have been abducted by aliens and shared his exploits and experiences. His sales had skyrocketed since Operation Destruction.
For some this would mean they’d have bought a palatial estate, gotten a haircut, hired a personal trainer, visited Neiman Marcus, Macy’s, or Express and invested in a decent wardrobe, and given overall personal hygiene serious consideration.
Stryker being Stryker, the only change had meant he had an even bigger set of what he, and admittedly I, would call collectibles and everyone else would call really expensive dolls or sculptures of Darth Maul. Otherwise, he was still overweight, undergroomed, and dressed in khaki shorts, flip-flops, and a vintage Star Wars T-shirt.
Big George Lecroix was tall, skinny, and black, and he wasn’t an author, but otherwise, he was a whole lot like Stryker. He came from France and was Europe’s best hacker. He was also fluent in twenty languages.
Ravi Gaekwad, also known as Ravi the Geek, particularly when we were mad at him, was India’s best hacker, because the best only associated with each other in the world Hacker International lived in. In addition to having a normal-person build, Ravi was also into both the software and hardware sides of the house and was the best reverse engineer around, which had been amply proved during Operation Destruction.
Dr. Henry Wu was small, scrawny, and bald. He came from China, covered all the languages Big George didn’t, and was also a software expert, even better than Ravi, which was saying a lot. Needless to say, in order to be in the club, he was his country’s best hacker.
Last but in no way least was Yuri Stanislav. Yuri was blind and had earned the nickname of Omega Red, mostly because he was Russian and therefore the others didn’t feel he could be called Daredevil. Omega Red was killer with audio cryptology as well as hacking and other pursuits, which included working out, making him the rarity of the group in more ways than one.
They were all dressed like Stryker—shorts, flip-flops, and T-shirts—even though we were in the dead of winter. Hacker International preferred to stay indoors, and since they lived on this floor as well as worked on it, and had the Elves taking care of their every need, they hadn’t left the premises since pretty much they’d arrived. Hence why Jeff considered them squatters.
The other four were in Star Wars shirts, too. I’d made a half-joking comment that they clearly wore a specific science fiction shirt for each day of the week and, instead of proving me wrong and tossing on a polo shirt once in a while, they created a Shirt of the Day chart. Today was Star Wars. Tomorrow would be Star Trek. Had to hand it to them—they were organized and efficient within their ranks.
Of course, all the hackers had good money tucked away, some under their mattresses. Their skills were such that they were paid to do things, to stop doing things, and to stop other people from doing things. When we’d discovered them housed at Andrews Air Force Base they were working for the U.S. Government. Now they worked for American Centaurion.
Because Andrews had been attacked and their underground bunker had been destroyed, we’d moved Hacker International and their government equipment into the Embassy. Jeff had handled them being in our ballroom for exactly a week and a half and had then insisted they get moved. They had nowhere to go and were working on things we needed done, so Pierre had put them in the Zoo. It seemed to be working out.
Raj was already here, as was Camilla. She was busy having Stryker and Big George look something up. Big George was definitely turning on the charm for Camilla, at least as far as he was able to.
His French accent had helped Big George with the ladies in the past—insofar as any of Hacker International could be helped romantically—but Camilla seemed intent, not interested, and since A-Cs really had no issues with skin color at all, I knew it wasn’t because he was black. This was a first for any Dazzler next to someone as smart as Big George was. Maybe Camilla had grooming standards, which would explain her disinterest in the brain trust nearby.
Raj came over to me. “Camilla asked me to ensure that we have the entire Embassy scanned for bombs, bugs, and other hostiles. She said that’s what Mister Reynolds asked her to search for. She found nothing on the first or second floor, but she told me she’s uneasy and doesn’t believe our buildings are clean. While you were gone I did ask Mister Reynolds if he’d sent her over, and he confirmed it. He’s as uneasy about it as she is.”
“Did you ask for Dulce to scan?”
“Yes, I’ve already taken care of that, and advised Walter. No one’s found anything yet. It could be that Camilla and Mister Reynolds are both as jumpy as the rest of us right now, so are seeing things that aren’t there.”
“Or they could be listening to their guts that say we always have someone trying to bug us.” I dug the disc out of my purse. “You know, like now.”
Raj nodded. “Not saying they’re wrong. But your mother had everyone searched before they were allowed to leave, ostensibly for packets of arsenic, but we were looking for discs like that. None were found on anyone, and scans have shown nothing.”
I looked at the disc. “Maybe our scanners can’t pick up whatever these are. Did Gladys or Walter say they picked up anything in my purse?”
“No.” Raj sounded impressed. “And that hadn’t even occurred to me.” He pulled out his phone. “Hello, Gladys. Yes, once more, please. Just the room where I am. Yes, I’d like to hold.” He waited for a few moments. “Good, thank you.” Raj hung up. “You’re right, our equipment can’t find this. They show nothing at all here within the scans.”
“It so figures. Ravi, got a job for you.”
“Wow, Kitty, nice to see you to, how’ve you been?” Ravi, like everyone else in my circle apparently, had a sarcasm knob.
He also had Jennifer Barone. They’d met during Operation Destruction and had had a courtship almost as fast as mine and Jeff’s. Ravi was brilliant, and brilliant nerdy geeks didn’t delay when any woman showed clear romantic interest, let alone a Dazzler. And Jennifer, unlike Camilla, possessed the Dazzler weakness for brains and brainpower.
They’d been engaged for months. Jennifer had been ready to get married within a week of meeting Ravi but they were waiting because his parents would be scandalized if he married someone without a courtship and engagement of a decent length.
Apparently his parents weren’t clear on the fact that when your son, who’s never had a date in his life, scores an incredibly hot and brainy chick, the best thing to do is have them sprint down the aisle to wedded bliss.
“Oh, blah, blah, blah, Ravi.”
“She’s been through a horrible night,” Raj said, troubadour tones of compassionate outrage on full. “More than one person has been murdered in front of her. And we need your help, Ravi.”
“Oh, sure, Raj. Kitty, you know I’m just teasing. You okay?” Ravi liked Raj, in part because they were both from India, and in part because if a troubadour wanted you to like him, you liked him. And clearly Raj wanted the people in this room to like him.
“I do and I am. Besides, you’ll be apologizing in a second anyway.” I handed him the disc. “We found this on Jeff. It’s blocking his ability to feel people. Has a range of pretty much however far it is from here to the basement of the Embassy. And our incredibly complex scanners can’t pick it up.”
Ravi whistled. “That’s strong, and if our scanners can’t pick it up, cloaked impressively.” Chose not to comment on the “our”. As far as I was concerned, Hacker International were part of the “us” that made up American Centaurion now.
“Yeah. So call me exceedingly concerned.”
Ravi’s mouth stopped moving. “Super duper. Can you reverse engineer it?”
“Am I breathing?” Ravi jumped out of his chair at his impressive computer setup and trotted over to the impressive laboratory portion of the computer lab.
Because he was dating Jennifer, Ravi had gotten the full tour of the Dulce Science Center, a fact Jeff still regretted. Because Ravi had come back and then taken the rest of the hackers over for a visit. They’d come back to D.C. with a slew of Dazzlers panting after them and even more equipment.
So while the Zoo’s computer lab wasn’t up to Dulce or NASA Base’s levels, it was the next best thing. It should have made me feel like I was back in the Science Center. But being in here just made me miss Dulce, the Lair, and what our lives had been like. So I didn’t visit here much unless I felt like having fun riling up Hacker International. Hey, I liked to keep in practice.
Ravi had the disk under a magnifying lamp while he fiddled. He was talking to someone over at Dulce while he was so fiddling. “Are you live with me and receiving all data?” Apparently the answer was yes. “Good. Do you have enough to analyze to be able to track? Huh. Okay. Well, we’ll just have to deal with it. Removing the outer shell now.”
Couldn’t say what made me do it. Jeff would call it feminine intuition; my mother would call it my gut. I called it being Megalomaniac Girl. Regardless of why, I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that something bad was going to happen the second Ravi removed the shell.
Which is why I tackled him to the ground as the disc exploded.
CHAPTER 33
THERE WAS THE USUAL BEDLAM. It was stopped quickly. Because we had a troubadour in the room.
“Everyone, calm down!” Raj had total calm authority going in his tone. I’d only heard a few people sound more authoritative, and I was married to one of them. Mom would have been proud. Everyone shut up immediately. “Kitty, Ravi, are you alright?”
“I am. Ravi?”
“If you get off of me, I should be fine.”
“Most people don’t complain.”
“Most of their fiancées aren’t in the room.”
“Good point. A little help?”
Raj got me to my feet, then helped Ravi. “Is everyone okay?” he asked as Jennifer flung herself into Ravi’s arms. I’d never seen Ravi look so proud, happy, or smug.
Took a look around as everyone else said they were fine. There were less everyones than I’d been expecting. And I’d just noticed this room was short about ten people I’d been thinking I’d see here. I was not batting even close to a thousand tonight. “Where’s Olga and Mona and everyone?”
“Under the circumstances, this didn’t seem to be the best place for them to wait,” Jennifer said as she extracted herself from Ravi and went back to being professional. “Len and Kyle agreed. Jeremy took them to the fourth floor. There’s a nice sitting room there, where they could be comfortable.”
“And where Mossad and the Bahraini Royal Guard couldn’t check out what the boys are doing here.” Camilla sounded like she thought whoever had sent them up to this floor was an idiot.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time,” said idiot replied. Without too much resentment or defensiveness in my tone. At least, I hoped.
She shook her head. “We’re under attack. That means everyone’s a suspect, and everyone’s a potential enemy.”
“I don’t normally think that way.” Well, I didn’t normally think that way. Thanks to Colonel Hamlin’s visit, I was thinking that way constantly tonight.
“Time to start.” She was examining where the disk had been.
Chose not to share that Camilla could be proud I’d already started on a full-blown case of paranoia and also had her on the Suspects List. She might be pleased or might be pissed, and since it was a fifty-fifty shot, I chose discretion as the better part of valor.
“Jeremy’s staying with the guests on the fourth floor, just in case a fast exit is needed. And Len and Kyle are with them, too,” Jennifer said, sounding worried. “Was that alright?”
“Yes, that’s great, Jennifer. Don’t let Camilla throw you. She’s still working on her people skills.”
Camilla snorted a laugh. “Takes one to know one.”
“No argument. So, what do you think? Of what just happened, the explosion, I mean. I’m clear you’re not happy with our lack of distrust and stealth.”
She was quiet for a bit. “As explosions went, it wasn’t a very big one,” Camilla said finally. “But it was powerful enough. I think it would have taken Ravi’s hands, and possibly his head. So that means it was a contained explosion, and that takes skill.” She turned to me. “How did you know it was going to blow?”
“No idea. I just did. And I know that sounds totally lame, but it’s all I’ve got, sorry.” I wondered where the Poofs or Peregrines had been. This seemed like a time when they should have intervened.
Then again, I hadn’t been in danger, and maybe they didn’t consider the hackers to be part of our Embassy. Except I knew that Jennifer and Ravi had Poofs. We had so many Poofs, the rest of the hackers probably had them, too. And the Peregrines loved Omega Red for whatever reason and they were warming up to Big George, too. Couldn’t speak for the Poofs or Peregrines, but my cats thought Henry was da bomb for whatever reason, and that meant the Poofs would think he was okay, too. And my dogs loved Stryker, presumably because he always smelled like food and was a crumb smorgasbord. So, the animals certainly considered the hackers part of that which made up “us.”
Maybe it was a simple reason—this wasn’t something that keen animal senses could have picked up. When someone’s about to shoot they give off physical and mental clues, small and many times almost imperceptible, but not if you’re an animal trained for thousands of years to protect. Even a highly trained assassin would give off some smell or vibrations that were different.
But the disc had just been a piece of equipment. It wouldn’t have told an animal it was going to go boom.
So why had it told me?
“Kitty’s reason is fine with me,” Ravi said as he joined Camilla. “I’m happy to still have my hands and head.”
“Is there anything left?” Raj asked as Ravi examined where the disc had been.
“Nothing.” Jennifer brought his Bluetooth over from wherever it had gone when Ravi and I had hit the ground. He put it back on. “You still there? Yes, sorry, had no idea it was going to explode, either. No, the ambassador saved me. Kitty. Yes.” He turned to me. “Serene says that next time you need to bring anything like this you find to her.”
“Serene’s your contact at Dulce?” Managed to stop myself from asking how she’d gotten there. She’d taken the gate in the bathroom and gone to work, was the obvious answer.
“Yes.” He listened again. “Got it. Yes. Absolutely.” He laughed. “I’ll tell them.” Ravi turned back to me. “They got a little before the disc blew. Serene said that she’s going to look for explosive signatures and she’ll let you know what she finds. She agrees with Camilla’s assessment that it was a contained explosion, and she’s got some ideas. She also said to tell you, Kitty, that she expects you to check in with her the moment you find another one of these discs.”
“How did they get anything? That explosion was instantaneous.”
Raj coughed. “Not for us.”
“Oh, right.” If you can move at hyperspeed, some things do indeed seem slower. I still wasn’t seeing things in slow motion. Chose not to wonder if the A-Cs felt they were walking through gelatin every moment of their lives. Jeff had never indicated such, and when I could see people moving at hyperspeed it didn’t make me feel like everything else was moving slowly, so maybe it was all in the perspective.
“Serene’s an explosives expert,” Camilla added. “If anyone could get some
thing from what little we had, it’ll be her.”
“True enough. I wish I had brought it to her, because now we have nothing.”
“I’m sorry, Kitty,” Ravi said. “There were no outward signs of a bomb or a trigger. And I definitely looked.”
“Well, this just goes under the ‘our luck holds firm’ heading. It wasn’t really your fault, Ravi.” It was mine, for not going straight to Alpha Team. And I knew I was going to hear about it from the rest of Alpha Team as soon as they found out, too. “I have a related question for you, anyway.”
“Go ahead.”
“If someone can make a device like what just blew up, that can stop the most powerful empath from feeling anyone within at least a football field radius, could that same person make a device that could put an emotional overlay or similar onto a person? So that, say, I could be furious and ready to kill someone, but all an empath would feel was that I was happy and thoughtful?”
“I’d think so,” Ravi said.
“Absolutely,” Stryker chimed in. “It’s already been done, in that sense, with the androids.”
“But the androids had the full range of human emotions. Jeff was able to find them based on things like murderous rage.”
Big George shrugged. “So what? They were last year’s model.”
“We found them this year.”
“It’s a figure of speech, Kitty,” Big George said. “And you know it.”
Henry chimed in for the first time. “You always strive to achieve more, Kitty. To make something more effective, smaller but more efficient, and so forth. Think of cell phones. The first ones were bricks. Now you can get tiny ones, and even though the trend is going larger again, they’re sleek and thousands of times more powerful than the first models.”
“And they’re always coming out with new models.”
“Right. Every six months or faster. So, you see—”