-(SVC) Contact has been made. I don’t think we should do any more than what we have done so far; it is already bordering on suspicious. Tomorrow they’ll make their big push, and we’ll see how that goes.
-(SRB) Ahh, see here, Director, I must be going. I have work to do, you know. I can’t be dallying here all day.
-Oh, no, I need you to stick around. I’m enjoying your company. Plus, it’s time for lunch, right?
****
H assim accompanied us as we strolled away from the government buildings toward the center of town to find a hotel room for the night. After traversing back toward the lake and almost the whole length of the Eixo Monumental, we reached a row of hotels stretching out on both sides of the main thoroughfare. It was dusk; there were quite a few people on the street who appeared homeless, and an occasional small group of teens, some of whom seemed suspiciously like they were looking for people they could steal from.
We had decided to stay in the same hotel as Hassim, which we thought would be convenient, and it was about a kilometer further north. As we neared an intersection, a group of four young males came around the corner, and Hassim said, “Don’t worry, friends. Let me handle this.”
He approached the young man at the front of the group and said, in Portuguese, “We have nothing for you to take. Please, just pass by and we will do the same.”
The young man pulled aside his jacket and showed a knife. “Just give us your cell phones and money and we’ll let you go. We might take that girl with us, though,” he growled, pointing to me.
Chuckling, Hassim said, “I don’t think you will be able to get her to go with you. Look, just put the knife away and no one will get hurt.”
Another of the group pulled out a knife, and then Hassim flew into action; his foot flashed out, catching the lead thug right in the nose; he went down in a lump as Hassim spun low, using his other foot to sweep the legs out from under the second thug, who fell backward, smacking his head on the pavement. Hassim held his hands out to the other two thugs, as if to say, ‘Well?’, and they dashed off around the corner, their shoes flapping on the concrete.
Some of the homeless people nearby clapped and hollered as we turned to go. “You have to watch where you are at night around here,” Hassim said as we strolled past the two unconscious hoodlums.
“Hey, not bad,” said Cheri, glancing back, “but next time, I have dibs.”
We didn’t run into any more trouble on our way to the hotel and checked in easily. Our room and Hassim’s were on opposite sides of the hotel, and before going to our rooms we decided to go to the hotel’s restaurant. As we tried to enter, though, they stopped us because I was still wearing the tank top and shorts, and Cheri was not wearing a shirt with a collar. Hassim argued with the host briefly, then said, “I can’t believe some places still have these arcane rules. They won’t let us in, so let’s take a walk. I’m sure we’ll find something nearby.”
We strolled further north along the row of hotels, and as we did Hassim fiddled with a cell phone; when he finished, he dropped it into a garbage can. “Burner phone. Gotta be careful, eh? Okay, here we go,” he said, pointing to a casual-looking restaurant a few doors down. “They won’t care what we’re wearing, I’d wager.”
We pushed aside some strings of beads hanging down in the doorway, and entered a lively, noisy, colorful room full of people sitting at mismatched tables and chairs, with hundreds of hats pinned to the ceiling for some reason. As we made our way through the restaurant, I noticed almost all the men in the place glancing at me, their eyes going from head to toe and back up again before glancing away. It’s been a while since I was in my girl disguise, so I kind of forgot how it feels… like you’re on display all the time or something… it gives me a queasy feeling, but… I don’t know, maybe men can’t help it, maybe their biology forces them to at least look… that seems like too easy of an excuse, but if I were in here and a cute girl walked in, I might look too… I’ll have to remember that when I’m not in my girl form… I don’t want to make some girl feel this way… the whole thing is weird and gross…
We found a table near the front, and I noticed both Cheri and Hassim scanning the room, although they were trying to act casual. Hassim, his scanning completed, glanced at Cheri and grinned. “Notice anything?” he asked.
“You mean the Russians?”
He raised his hand to give her a high-five. “What tipped you to them?”
Now it was her turn to smile. “You don’t expect me to give up my secrets, do you?”
He chuckled and said, “Let me guess. The shoes?”
“It’s always the shoes. That’s where everyone, I mean everyone, slips up.”
“Too right. Why do you think the Russians are here?”
“That’s a better question. If I were to guess, I would say they’re here because the Russians support the current president from behind the scenes, and they may be trying to break up the protest groups through spreading disinformation. They’ve been doing that kind of crap forever.”
“Hm. Could be. Notice anything else?”
“There are a couple of Americans in here, but I think they’re just tourists. How about you? Did I miss anything?”
He leaned forward and placed his hand on the side of his mouth so only we could hear. “I think you’ve done splendidly. I know I’ve mentioned this before, but those disguises are amazing. Ms. Kim, if I didn’t know, it would not cross my mind that you were anything other than a particularly cute Asian man. And you, Lucas… well, you could fool a fooler, as the saying goes. Bloody brilliant.”
“How about you? You’re MI-6. There’s not a person on earth who would look at you and guess that,” Cheri whispered, covering her mouth in the same way as Hassim.
He snickered and said, “A bit of an underhanded compliment, but I’ll take it.”
Just then, a cute young waitress with long auburn hair came to the table, and Hassim spoke to her in Portuguese. As she hustled away, he said, “I ordered us a couple of their local brews, but water for you, young lady. You’re not old enough.”
“My name is Lucinda, by the way.”
Ahh, of course it is. My apologies.”
Then, Ava’s voice popped into my mind. “Go ahead, ask him what you’re wondering about. I’m wondering too, and neither of us wants to be a boiling frog.”
How does she know what I want to ask him… maybe our brains are getting more connected… and what the heck does she mean by boiling frog? Oh, boy…
“Um… I don’t want to be insulting or anything but… how do we know you’re here to help us? Maybe you’re just leading us into a trap or something. I mean, I don’t think so, but how do we know?”
Cheri kicked me under the table, and I glanced at her. She gave me the barest of winks, which I thought meant that she was wondering the same thing and was glad I asked. Hassim leaned back in his chair and stared at me for a second, then leaned forward and whispered, “It’s a good question. I don’t imagine you can know, can you? I could be fooling you. All of this could be some elaborate game, designed to lure you in for the kill. Fooling you would be the only way anyone could really beat you, right? Now listen to me. I have taken a leave from MI-6 and followed you from Pakistan to Australia and now to Brazil only because I believe you are exactly what you appear to be: an innocent who somehow has been given an unbelievable gift and an impossible challenge at the same time. Me, I mean my father believes in you as well. There are things going on behind the scenes… schemes within schemes, plans only a handful of people on earth know of. I… I can’t tell you how I know of this right now… perhaps when this is over, I will be allowed to. For now, just know that my father and I are both dedicated to helping you avoid being controlled by anyone. There is something about you… I don’t know what it is, but the moment my father met you, the focus of his life changed. I can’t explain it, and neither can he. That’s all I can say. If you still feel you can’t trust me, I will leave and not contact you again.�
��
“Okay, he’s legit. Keep your eyes open, though. It might not be him we need to worry about. It could be that someone else is manipulating him.”
Man, when she speaks to me it feels more and more like it’s just my own thoughts… that’s weird…
Just then the waitress returned with two glasses filled with golden, foamy liquid, and one with water. “One of these days you’ll get one of these, Lucinda,” said Cheri, holding her drink up.
“Yeah, if I live long enough.”
Suddenly, I realized why Hassim had arranged our seating so he could see out the restaurant’s window. “Ahh, here we go. Here comes the cavalry,” he breathed, and through the door strode a wiry man in a black suit and short, carefully combed black hair, which made him stand out as an obvious American official in the casual restaurant. One look, and I scanned the room for a way out, because it was… Agent Oakes.
22
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
MEETING WITH SVC, SRB, IG
121452 20:43
-(IG, seated, hands ziptied) This is outrageous! You cannot hold me here. I have done nothing. Just wait until the rest of the LFP here of this!
-Yes, just wait until they hear how you attempted to sell us out, for money, no less. And lest you forget, we are not the government. We will hold you permanently if we need to. The parameters of entry to the LFP are clear: we are to remain secret, and we will deal with any attempt to reveal our organization in whatever way is necessary. You’ve put yourself in an untenable position.
-It was not for money! They were going to pay me, yes, but we are not above the law. What we were planning was illegal. I have a moral duty to report it.
-(To SRB) You see why I wanted you to watch him closely? (To IG) The law breaks down when survival is at stake, you know that. Let me ask you both a question. Let’s suppose we are on a sinking ship. Would you attempt to save yourself, or would you go down with the ship because it is your ‘moral duty’? Or alternatively, would you simply ignore the water rushing in, pretend it wasn’t happening? And how long would you spend trying to convince others to leave the sinking ship before you realized that we cannot convince them? We are in precisely that situation. We have been prescient enough to realize that there is little hope of preventing humans from destroying our world and us along with it, and resourceful enough to make a way out for ourselves. We can’t possibly take everyone, and most would not go, anyway. Your ‘moral duty’ would have ruined our chances of at least saving ourselves, you idiot. No, not idiot… fool. That’s more accurate. All these things are common knowledge in the LFP, and the fact that I have to recount them here is almost funny. (SVC), take them away for further ‘questioning’. Let’s see if we can get any more information out of (IG), and if (SRB) can come up with enough info and alibis to save himself. I’ll tell you, we don’t need these distractions right now. We’ve got troubles over in New Zealand with the fusion project, the kid is in Brazil trying to get himself killed, and our mission to rescue his father needs a hard reboot.
-(SVC) We have ‘interrogators’ at the ready for these two. Shall I arrange for some dinner?
-You read my mind.
****
C heri and I both stood, but Hassim held his hands up as Agent Oakes made his way toward our table. “Relax, everything is okay. Sit, sit. This is good, you’ll see.”
I glanced at Cheri, and she shrugged. “I guess there’s not much he can do to us. Or, at least not to you,” she hissed as she returned to her seat. I sat as well, and when Agent Oakes got to our table, he nodded to us and said, “I bet you didn’t expect this.”
“Have a seat, Jeffrey. I know you all have met, but these two probably look a little different from the last time you saw them, eh?”
He chuckled with the hacking sound of a compulsive smoker and said, “I’ll say. If I didn’t know who they were, I wouldn’t know who they are. I assume you noticed the Russians?”
“Of course. They might as well be wearing clown noses.”
“And the Americans?”
“Tourists as far as we can tell.”
I had no idea what to think or say; I thought of Agent Oakes as an enemy, or at least as working for the enemy, and now here he was, sitting at our table as if he was our long-lost uncle or something. “Hey, you’re gonna need to bring us up to speed here, or we’re gonna bolt,” hissed Cheri, leaning forward.
To my extra-sensitive nose, Agent Oakes smelled strongly of cigarettes, mints, and cologne as he also leaned forward. He glanced at Hassim and said, “What have you told them?”
“Nothing, I thought I would leave that to you.”
“No wonder they have that ‘deer in headlights’ look on their faces.” He glanced around the restaurant, and I followed his gaze; it was noisy, boisterous even, and it did not appear that anyone was paying us any attention. “Look, I can’t say too much here, just in case. Suffice it to say that I’ve been working with Hassim and his father, and some other rather significant individuals, for quite some time. I’m on your side, no matter how things appear.”
“Wait, a minute. How can that be true? Aren’t you an American agent?” Cheri whispered, leaning forward even further.
He looked down for a moment and said, in his low, raspy voice, “I am. I work for the defense department, or they think I do at any rate. Look, let’s wait for any in-depth explanations until we’re in a more private location. I’ve been here for a while, working behind the scenes. I contacted many of the dissidents and sent them to Hassim. Laid the groundwork that got them to trust us. To trust you. You probably think you are on your own during your trials, but there are many of us who are doing what we can to get you through. At significant risk, I might add.”
Oh, this is too much. Agent Oakes is on our side? How am I supposed to believe that? I mean, he’s never done anything to hurt us or make things harder on us, but still… if it’s true, the Americans would hunt him down and kill him if they found out…
He made eye contact with me and smiled, just for a second.
“I know what you are. There are many who would say you are an abomination; did you know that? Unnatural, an affront to God, things of that nature. There are others, like me and the significant individuals that I mentioned, that think you represent the way forward, perhaps the last, best hope for our sorry species. An end to disease, perhaps an end to death itself. That’s why I’m here. When I found out about you and the work your father and his friends were doing, I began contacting the right people, and now… well, I do my best to smooth the way.”
So, these people want what I have… that’s logical, I can’t blame them for that… what they don’t realize is there’s only one Ava, and without her, none of this would work…
“Well, it’s about time you recognized. I was feeling a little unappreciated in here.”
“No, I always…. Wait a minute, you heard me think? How did you do that?”
“You mean you didn’t say that out loud? Oh, my… we’re getting closer than two peas in a pod, sonny boy. We will reach a point where we’re we’ll have to make a decision pretty soon.”
“What kind of…” I looked up, and Cheri, Hassim, and Agent Oakes were staring at me. Cheri was grinning, but I couldn’t tell what the expressions of the other two meant.
“Is he, she, okay?” asked Agent Oakes, to no one in particular.
“Aww, she’s fine. She does that once in a while, right, Lucinda? She’s just working through things in her head,” said Cheri, patting me on the shoulder.
“Fascinating. Is that a consequence of her system?” asked Hassim, staring at my face.
“No, Lucinda has a condition… she won’t mind me telling you. She has Asperger’s syndrome, and she has some minor quirky behaviors as a result. That’s all it is.”
Thanks Cheri… that was a good cover… it’s true, too, but that’s not why I was talking to myself… and I know I look like a girl, but it’s weird to hear them all calling me she and her…
&n
bsp; The waitress returned to take our orders, and brought Agent Oakes a glass full of the foamy amber liquid, too. He took a long guzzle of it, put down the glass, and looked directly at me. “Look, as long as we’re being honest and sharing our issues, I need to tell you, maybe just so I can clear my conscience, that I am interested in you, and your tech, for at partly selfish reasons. I have ALS. I’m not having much in the way of symptoms yet, but it’s just a matter of time. There are treatments to minimize the symptoms, but no cure, and it will eventually kill me. So, please allow me to cleanse myself of any claims of altruism. I do want to help you, and I would even if I didn’t have this bogey man waiting to catch me, but helping you is not my only motivation. I also want to save myself.”
Oh, boy… how can I tell him it won’t work without Ava? Maybe someone else will develop something like her… wait a minute, can she…
“That’s a good question you’re about to ask, sonny boy. And the answer is, I think so. I probably could, through you, tell scientists working on post-quantum computing how to recreate me. The real question is, should I? Should we? Just like the nano-tech that makes up most of your body, if it got into the wrong hands, it would be a real problem. Also, did you say that out loud or did you think it?”
I thought it, like I am right now. What should I tell him? He’s hoping that Dad can save him, and I can’t blame him for that.
“This could get confusing. Tell him this.”
I did as she said: “I hope we can help you, but we won’t be able to help anyone if we don’t get my dad out. He’s the one who can make all this work, not me.”
Agent Oakes took another long drink, then grinned, and I realized it was the first time I had seen him really smile. “Yes, we do need to get him out. I have some thoughts about that.”
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