by David Archer
“With any luck,” Noah said, “we’ll be able to make contact with them before they leave the airport. Then we just have to hope they can get on Wi-Fi somewhere to get the upgrade for themselves.”
* * * * *
The flight lasted almost thirteen hours, and Jenny and Neil slept through half of it, as did Newsom and his men. When they landed, he once again led them through the terminal building, where they somehow bypassed customs completely. Jenny was about to ask him how he’d managed that when she suddenly heard Noah’s voice in her head.
“Noah to Jenny and Neil,” came the message. “Can you hear me?”
“Yes,” Jenny subvocalized, and then heard Neil echo her. “Where are you?”
“Nearby. When you get into any Wi-Fi network, try to get the password and then say, ‘Activate software upgrade.’ The subcom will ask for the password and you just say it, then it will download a new software update that will let the units send signals through Wi-Fi, anywhere in the world. Repeat, in any Wi-Fi network, get the password and say, ‘Activate software upgrade...’” The signal faded out as they passed through the exit onto the lane where a car was waiting.
Jenny kept her face impassive. “Jenny to Neil, did you get that?” she said softly.
“Yes,” he replied. “That’s awesome!”
“Is something wrong?”
Jenny was startled when Newsom asked the question, and quickly shook her head. “No. Why do you ask?”
He narrowed his eyes. “For a moment, it looked like you were deep in concentration. I was afraid you’d seen someone you didn’t want to run into.”
She shook her head again. “No, nothing like that. What you saw was just me shaking off a headache. I’m one of those people who get a headache whenever I fly, but it isn’t too bad, and usually fades when I get back on solid ground.”
Newsom relaxed. “Oh,” he said. “That must be a nuisance, with all the traveling you have to do.”
She grimaced. “It certainly can be. Neil rubs my neck for me at night, though, so it has its good points.”
Neil grinned and nodded, and Newsom looked at him for a second before turning back to Jenny. “I was meaning to ask about him. I take it he’s part of your backup team?”
Jenny let her eyes go wide. “Neil? Not really,” he said. “He’s more like my boytoy. We’re very much in serious lust.” She finished that off with a grin that made Newsom look away.
* * * * *
Noah, Sarah and Marco were sitting in a small restaurant inside the airport, watching as the many arriving and departing passengers moved through the terminal.
“Do you think they heard?” Sarah asked.
“They both responded,” Noah said. “I’m hoping they got the message, but we won’t know unless they are able to pull it off. With no electronic devices of their own, getting a Wi-Fi password might be impossible.”
“I don’t know how it works in Brazil,” Marco said, “but most hotels back home will tell you what it is when you check in, or you can always ask the front desk.”
“That’s worth hoping for,” Noah said. “Maybe luck will be on our side.”
“Okay,” Marco said. “Anybody get a glimpse? The private flights should come through here.”
“Look,” Sarah said, pointing with her chin. “There they go, now. They bypassed customs, Newsom must have some kind of deal with them.”
“Or diplomatic status,” Noah said. “He lives here in Brazil, and he’s a powerful man. It’s possible he’s regarded as a statesman, or connected to the government.” He got up from the table. “If we hurry, we might be able to follow and find out where they’re staying.”
The three of them walked quickly toward the main entrance of the airport, and they spotted Jenny and Neil through the glass as they approached it. They were getting into a limousine with Newsom, while his men were climbing into another vehicle. Both of them pulled out at the same time, and Noah herded the other two through the door and into a taxi.
“Please follow those two cars,” Noah said. “Not too close, we just want to know where they’re going.”
“Sim, Senhor,” said the driver. He punched a button on the meter and put the car in gear, pulling out behind the SUV carrying Newsom’s men.
The cars followed a winding path through Rio de Janeiro, crossing the causeway into the city itself. It took nearly half an hour, but then they pulled up in front of the Hotel Corinto on Rua Maxwell, a main street in the city. Both of the cars pulled in, and Noah instructed the driver to keep going. Two blocks later, he told the driver to stop and let them out, but not to go anywhere. They would be needing a ride again shortly, and the tip that he gave the driver was enough to guarantee the man would wait for them for quite some time.
“We’re close enough,” Noah said. “Noah to Jenny and Neil, can you hear me?”
“Jenny to Noah, I hear you. Are you close by?”
“Neil to Noah, good to hear your voice, boss.”
“We were able to follow your cars, so we know where you’re staying. How soon will you be where you can talk for a moment?”
“Jenny to Noah, give us ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes. We’ll be here.” He looked around for a moment and spotted an open-air bar, and the three of them took seats and ordered coffees. They sat and acted like tourists for a few minutes, looking around and pointing at different things that seemed interesting or exciting, until they heard Jenny and Neil on the subcoms again.
“Jenny to Noah,” they heard. “Okay, we are in our room. Trying to see if there’s anything here about Wi-Fi, but we haven’t found anything yet. The phone in our room does not work, by the way, Newsom had it shut off.”
“Noah to Jenny, give me a second.” He took out his phone and googled the number of the Hotel Corinto, then hit the dial button. “This is Mr. Avery on the third floor,” he said. “Could you tell me the Wi-Fi password, please?”
“Yes, sir,” the clerk said. “It is corintorio star hashtag and the numeral 7, all with no spaces and no capital letters.”
“Thank you so much,” Noah said. He repeated it to Jenny and Neil.
“Neil to Noah,” he heard a moment later. “I’m surprised they gave it to you, since you were not calling from inside a room.”
“Most hotel clerks are too busy to think about such things,” Noah said. “Get yourselves on the Wi-Fi, while we get back to our plane. Once we get there, you’ll be able to communicate with us. All of us have to be on Wi-Fi for this to work.”
“Jenny to Noah, you got it. We’ll be in touch. And, by the way, we met the first member of the board in Germany. His name is Klaus Niemeier and he’s about seventy years old and fat, but I wasn’t able to get much other information about him.”
“Noah to Jenny, I’ll relay that upstairs. Are you having any problems with Newsom?”
“Not that I can tell. He seems to be a little suspicious, but he hasn’t said or done anything to make me think we’re in danger.”
“Neil to Noah,” Neil cut in. “She means not any more danger than we’re obviously already in.”
“Noah to Neil, understood. Try to stay on Wi-Fi wherever you go, because then we can communicate regardless of distance. Let us know if you find out where you’re going next.”
“Jenny to Noah, will do.” She and Neil began talking with each other, simple small talk in case they were being monitored in the room.
Noah got up from the table, and Sarah and Marco followed. They went back to the taxi and got in, then told the driver to take it right back to the airport. Since there was no way to know when Jenny and Neil would be leaving, Noah wanted to stay with the airplane and ready to move on short notice.
The plane had already been refueled by the time they got back, and had been moved to a parking area. It took them a few minutes to find it, and then they climbed aboard. The flight attendant asked if they wanted lunch, but they all decided to wait a while longer.
As soon as they logged onto the airpla
ne’s Wi-Fi system, they heard Jenny and Neil. Their subcom units were on, which meant that the three of them could hear every word they said. They listened for a moment, and then Sarah’s eyes went wide. She turned off her subcom a moment later, her face red.
“Marco to Neil,” Marco said with a sub-vocalized chuckle, “you guys got to learn to turn that off when you start doing things like this.”
The channel went silent only a second later, and Noah blinked. He took out his phone and dialed the number for the home office.
“Brigadoon Investments,” answered the receptionist. “How may I direct your call?”
“Allison Peterson,” Noah said. “Noah Wolf calling.” Hold music began to play, but Allison picked up only a few seconds later.
“Camelot, report,” he said.
“We were able to make contact, and even followed them to their hotel. They got the upgrade installed so that we can communicate over distance, now. Jenny met with one board member in Germany, a man named Klaus Niemeier, approximately seventy years old and apparently obese. No further information available about him, so he might be hard to track down.”
“No problem,” Allison said. “I’ll get our people on it right away. Any idea where she’s going next?”
“Not yet, but they’ll let us know in advance if they can. We should get a heads up when they leave the hotel, so we can at least make contact with them as they pass through the airport.”
“Very good,” Allison said. “Keep me posted.” As always, the line went dead as soon as she finished speaking.
* * * * *
Newsom came and took them down to lunch, which they had in the hotel restaurant. Afterward, they went back to the room to wait for the meeting to be scheduled, but it was more than two hours later when Newsom knocked on the door again, and Neil let him in.
“All right,” Newsom said, “it’s time for the next meeting. We’ll be meeting Alexandra Hofmeyr, who handles a lot of our financial matters. She’s actually the one who will coordinate the payments we give to you. Are you ready to go?”
“I was born ready,” Jenny said. “The sooner we get through these meetings, the sooner I can get to work.”
“I agree,” Newsom said. “I’m afraid, however, that this time you need to come alone. Alexandra is not quite as friendly as Niemeier, so she wishes to meet with the two of us in private.”
Jenny started to protest, but Neil caught her eye. “It’s okay, Victoria,” he said. “I can understand them being cautious. I can kick back here and relax, watch some TV till you get back.”
Jenny looked at him for a moment, then slowly nodded her head. “All right,” she said. “I’ll see you when we get back.” She kissed him quickly, then followed Newsom out the door.
As soon as it closed behind her, Neil turned on his subcom. “Neil to Noah, you there?”
“Noah to Neil, go ahead.”
“Newsom just took Jenny to meet the next board member, a woman named Alexandra Hofmeyr. Apparently she doesn’t like to be around too many people, because I had to wait in the hotel room. We’ll give you more information when she gets back.”
“Good job,” Noah said. “We’ll be monitoring.”
“Good. I’m going to shut it off for now, because I don’t think you want to listen to me watching old Western movies in Portuguese. Unfortunately, that seems to be all that’s on this TV.”
“Understood,” Noah said. “One of us will monitor at all times. Just call out when you need us.”
“I will.” He turned off his unit and picked up the TV remote, then started flipping through channels.
It was almost thirty minutes later when the door opened again, and Neil smiled. “That was a short…”
The smile faded quickly, because it wasn’t Jenny coming through the door. It was two men Neil didn’t recognize, and both of them were holding pistols in their hands. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“You come with us,” one of the men said. “Newson order us to take you.”
“Yeah, okay,” the tall, skinny kid said, “but where are we going? We going to Victoria?”
“You come, no questions.”
It dawned on Neil that these were apparently some local muscle. Since they were armed and he was not, he didn’t see much choice but to comply. As he slowly got to his feet, he whispered the activation code for his subcom unit.
“Neil to Noah,” he subvocalized quickly, “I don’t know what’s going on but I’m being taken somewhere. Local guys just came in with guns, not any of Newsom’s men but probably working for him.”
“Noah to Neil, I copy. Try to stay in touch as long as you can, tell us which way you’re going.”
“Will do.” He slid his feet into his shoes and followed the two men out the door, and they slipped their guns into their pockets. A moment later they walked out the front door, and Neil was put into the back of a car with one of the men beside him, while the other sat in the front. The driver put the car in gear and pulled away from the hotel.
“Going east,” Neil said softly, “no idea where, don’t know how long I’ll have network. Maybe going to use me for leverage, don’t…”
The nearly silent hum that told him his subcom was active disappeared, and Neil knew that he had lost connection to the Wi-Fi, and therefore to Noah. He turned and looked at the man beside him. “So what’s this all about? Where are you taking me?”
“You don’t talk,” the man replied. “You find out later.”
Neil started to protest, but the look on the man’s face made him think twice. He leaned back against the seat and looked out the window.
* * * * *
“Neil? Neil, are you there?” Noah turned to Sarah and Marco. “Neil has been taken, no idea why. Be ready, this could mean there’s a problem. If Jenny has been compromised, the whole mission could be a bust.”
“Well, is there anything we can do?” Sarah asked. “Noah, we can’t leave him. We have no idea what these people could do with him.”
“We have no kind of intelligence on the matter, we know nothing and can do nothing. We need to wait until we hear back from Jenny, or maybe Neil will be able to get onto a Wi-Fi network. Once you know more about what’s going on, I can make a decision about what to do. Until then, all we can do is wait.”
Marco shook his head. “Oh, man,” he said, “if there’s anything I hate worse than waiting, it’s not knowing why I’m waiting. Didn’t they say we can get a GPS location on these things?”
Noah nodded. “Yes, but only when they’re connected to a Wi-Fi network. We just have to wait, there’s nothing else to do.”
SIXTEEN
“Alexandra’s family,” Newsom said as the car pulled away from the hotel, “has long been involved in the intelligence community. Like many Brazilians, she is descended from some of the Nazis who relocated to South America during the last days of the Second World War, but her people never lost many of their contacts. She has literally grown up in the intelligence world, and some of her family are deeply entrenched in other countries. As result, she is often herself a source of incredibly valuable information.”
“Sounds like a good lady to have on your side,” Jenny said. “And it would explain why she would be on your Board of Directors. I’m assuming she also wants to see the world change for the better?”
“Indeed she does. Sometimes, her ideas of what will make it better differ slightly from the rest of us, but we’ve learned to trust her judgment. Between the siblings and cousins who work with intelligence agencies all around the world, and her own somewhat surprising insights, she’s become quite valuable to us. When she speaks, we listen.”
“Then I’ll pay attention. Maybe I can learn something from her, as well.”
Newsom smiled. “Oh, I’m quite certain that you will. We’ll be there in just a few moments, and you can form your own opinion of her.”
True to his word, they arrived at a large house less than ten minutes later. Newsom and Jenny got out of the car and he led
her up the front steps, where a man decked out as a butler opened the door for them. The man said nothing, but immediately led them down a long hallway into an ornately decorated office. A woman who looked to be in her fifties sat behind the desk, and looked up at them appraisingly.
“Alexandra,” Newsom said. “It’s lovely to see you again. May I present Victoria?”
Alexandra Hofmeyr looked Jenny over, then pointed toward a chair in front of her desk. Jenny took the seat that was indicated, and Newsom sat beside her.
“I’m pleased to meet you,” Jenny said. “Mr. Newsom has been telling me quite a bit about you.”
Alexandra looked at Newsom for a moment, then turned back to Jenny. “I spent a lot of time studying you,” she said. “One of our people suggested you for the assignment you’re being given, so I made it a point to learn everything I could about you. Peter has probably told you of my family’s connections to intelligence. Perhaps it will surprise you to learn that two of my cousins are Mossad officers.”
Jenny kept her face impassive, but a chill went down her spine. “Why would that be surprising? The Mossad are one of the most effective intelligence agencies in the world. Or, if you’re referring to your family’s past connections to the Nazis, I learned a long time ago that many Nazis had Jewish relatives.”
“This is true,” Alexandra said. “The reason I thought it might surprise you is because you have had the nerve to walk into my office. You see, Victoria—no, I tell a lie, your name is not Victoria at all, is it? I know this because the real assassin known as Victoria died some days ago at the hands of the Mossad.”
Jenny let her eyebrows go up, but put a grin on her face. “Is that the current rumor? Over the last two years, I’ve heard that I was killed by the CIA, the SVR, MI6 and several other agencies. I’m happy to say that the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”
Alexandra grinned. “And you quote Mark Twain. How bold. Actually, I have been doing my research. Peter was kind enough to get photos of you to send me, and I circulated them amongst those I trust. Would you care to guess what I learned?”