Roen and Kallis watched as Marco exited the restaurant. She turned and stuck a finger in his face. “Tell me the truth. Was it that bad of a date he had to call you in to bail him out?”
Roen held his hands up in an ‘I surrender’ posture. “You got us. This was all an elaborate ploy so Marco could get away right before the steak came, because he’s secretly a vegetarian. And I accepted his invitation to take his place because as my business partner, he doesn’t allow me to eat meat either back at the office.”
“Really?”
“No, not really.”
“You wouldn’t tell me anyway, would you?”
Roen motioned at her group of people sitting at the other side of the restaurant. “Would you cover for your guys?”
“Good point,” she chuckled. “That’s my family there. God, country, family, and that group of assholes who crashed the first date I’ve had in months.” The group at the round table all looked their way and raised their beer glasses.
“I find that hard to believe,” Roen said. He meant it too. Kallis looked in her late thirties or early forties, and attractive. She had a no-nonsense demeanor that probably scared some people away, but she also seemed to have a good sense of humor. Right now, she was shaking her finger and playing with her guys. In many ways, Kallis reminded him of Jill.
“Hey, you want to take the party over there?” Roen asked.
“You sure?” she said. “I mean, those guys are kind of a handful. They’ll eat you alive.”
“I’ll have you there to protect me, or to egg them on.”
“Let’s eat first. If we bring red meat to those savages, they’ll devour everything.” Kallis grinned. “You know, Rutherford, you’re all right. I have a good nose for guys, and Cornelius is a little too smooth to be real, but you’re an okay guy.” She picked up her glass of wine and toasted him. Roen grinned, taking over Marco’s scotch and doing the same.
A few minutes later, their steaks came, and the two enjoyed a couple of twenty-four ounce New York strips. Afterward, they joined the rest of Kallis’s team at the table, and Roen got to know a few of her people.
Most were ex-military, so he identified with many of their experiences and stories, though he had to hide that from them. Roen did his best to not have to make up any more about himself by keeping the discussion focused on them. By the end of the night, after a couple of rounds of drinks, he had trouble keeping track of what was the truth, and what he had had to make up.
It really didn’t matter anymore, anyway. In a couple of weeks, whenever the hospital released Prie, these IXTF agents would try to transfer him up to Seattle while Roen and his guys would try to stop them. That was probably the last time he would see any of these people, so he might as well make stuff up to fit in while he was here.
The group around the table ended up closing the restaurant. By then, the scotch had gotten to Roen, and he felt weird driving back to the base not totally sober with so many federal agents in the parking lot. Now that he thought about it, they didn’t have a designated driver, either. In fact, the entire team all downed their beers before heading out, insisting they couldn’t waste alcohol. Roen found himself liking these guys, even if they were the enemy. In another lifetime, perhaps, things could have been different.
“Hey, Rutherford,” Kallis stuck out her hand as her group hopped into the Penetra van, “thanks for saving the evening.”
Roen shook her hand. “It was my pleasure. Sorry about crashing your date. I’m sure Cornelius will make it up to you.”
“No, I don’t think I would have had a better time than the one I did. I’m sure it worked out for the best.” The Penetra van’s horn honked twice. Kallis looked over and gave it the bird, and then turned back. “You know, Cornelius is a smooth talker and probably the face of your company, but he’s lucky to have you.”
Roen shrugged. “Old Cornelius is a burden I have to live with.”
“I bet it’s a real heavy burden,” she grinned. “But really. I know who the heart of the business is.”
There was an awkward pause as Roen froze. It was times like this when he wished Tao were here. A guy his age should know how to handle these situations by now, but for some reason, it was a big hole in his education he had never filled.
“Thanks,” was all that came out of his mouth, leaving an awkward pause hanging in the air before he was able to recover. “Why don’t we all hang out again soon?”
Kallis hesitated. “Not sure if I’m going to be able to. You ever up in Seattle?”
Roen paused for only a split second, glancing down on the ground before nodding. “Sure. I’ll look you up.” He watched as the Penetra van pulled out of the lot. Once it was out of sight, he dialed the base. “Sheck, turn that bug on. I think IXTF is on the move.”
32 Finishing the Game
The technology that arose from the Industrial Revolution gave us new hope for this species. It not only allowed humans to experience massive population growth, it also allowed them to expand rapidly in their never-ending hunger for resources. This, in turn, allowed the Genjix to push the boundaries of our Conflict Doctrine even further. For the first time in history, we began to see them as not unlike ourselves.
Zoras
Ever since Baji’s Great Betrayal, the United States had been the most vigilant in the ill-conceived war against all Quasing and had set up the world’s most effective Penetra net on their borders. All flights, sea routes, and border checkpoints were continually scanned. It made leaving the blasted country difficult, and entering near impossible, at least without extraordinary effort and cost. Unfortunately, Canada had extended to the United States the right to watch their borders in a similar fashion. Therefore, any movement to the entire North American continent was expensive and risky, and had to be carefully planned.
Unless you were on the Council, then extraordinary cost be damned.
The trip from Moscow had been physically draining, and had taken much longer than necessary. Enzo had left the same night as the Genjix takeover of the Federal Assembly, routing to North Korea first, and then flying overseas to an ocean-bound freighter. Due to the stringent security of the IXTF, especially across the western coast of North America, the Genjix had to be airdropped a day out of Vancouver. Then it took another two slow days for the damn ship’s cargo to offload into Port Metro.
Fortunately, the IXTF watched the ports in Canada much less stringently than they did the ports in the United States, and all the two hundred Genjix had to do was stroll out of their containers in the middle of the night and board the six transport helicopters waiting to ferry them over. Enzo scanned the landscape below him as his little armada passed from land to water over Great Slave Lake.
It was little surprise that Vinnick had chosen this location for the loyalty haven: heavily wooded area, large body of water, isolated, mountainous landscape. The perfect location for a hidden base to survive the apocalypse. North America was the only continent lagging in these facilities, the inherent government difficulties slowing construction. Because of all these heightened restrictions, building costs for haven facilities were four times what they were anywhere else in the world. Well, except for maybe in Japan and southern Britain. The real estate prices in those regions were out of control. It was all a colossal waste of money in his opinion.
Enzo scanned the vast body of water as they neared the center of Great Slave Lake. Nothing; just calm waters. He turned to Amanda. “Is our man in place?”
She raised a finger to him as she spoke into a comm. He allowed this indiscretion, if barely. Sometimes, when she was busy or stressed, she forgot her place. She nodded a few times, and then looked up at him. “He is, Father. Stand by.”