Alice again raised her brows and then accepted the list from Anya. She looked down at the bottom.
“Dr. Morales, Europa has a certain protocol in her system that is basically a countersign to warn someone if the order actually originated with the Cray system.” She held out the list and pointed to the lower right-hand corner. “If the recommendation originated with Europa, there would be a series of numbers and code right here.” She tapped the lower right-hand corner with an elegant red nail. She looked at Xavier and returned his wry wink.
“It seems I’ve been caught,” Xavier said as he turned toward the glass and the visage of Europa beyond. “You could have said something about the code, Europa,” he said, shaking his head.
Europa didn’t respond. It sat silent with its billions of bubbles slowly rising and falling in their elongated acrylic tanks.
“What does that mean?” Anya asked as Charlie grimaced.
“It means that our new friend here manually entered the mission roster,” Charlie said, knowing what Xavier had done. “If you’re caught, Niles will forego the welcoming party for you and turn it into a necktie soiree. He will hang you, Doctor.”
For once Alice agreed that Charlie had the right call. Her plan was to seduce the young whiz and then if caught do what she always had, pull rank and then take the responsibility. She handed the mission roster back to Xavier and smiled.
“I’ll correct this immediately,” was all he said.
“As of this minute, if asked, you will say you were coerced into issuing the roster by me… understand, young man?”
Xavier looked at Alice and then just nodded. Anya for her part was more of a romantic and leaned over and pecked the computer genius on the cheek. He smiled in embarrassment.
“Yeah, you’ll fit in just fine with us Group of pirates,” Sarah said as she, Anya, and Alice left the clean room.
“You may have gained the respect of Alice, Anya, and Sarah, but if Niles finds out you falsified a Europa recommendation, even for Alice, oh, mama!” Charlie hissed.
“In my short years of life on this messed-up planet I have come to one resolute conclusion: never, ever allow rules to get in the way of discovery and investigation. They deserve to go.”
Charlie looked at Xavier and had to admit that he might be the answer to the absence of Pete Golding, after all. Pete would have done it without having to be asked by Alice, just as the kid had just done.
“Uh, you didn’t falsify my spot on the mission roster, did you?” Ellenshaw asked.
“No, of course not. Dr. Compton specifically called for you to go.”
Charlie smiled, feeling his worth.
“He may just be wanting to get rid of you.” Ellenshaw lost the smile and then looked toward Europa, unnerved by the comment.
Morales smiled at his small joke.
The three women had stopped just outside of the clean room when they came face-to-face with the tattooed Ryan. He saw the guilty look on Sarah’s and Anya’s faces but only a wry smile from Alice.
“All right, what’s going on?”
“Absolutely nothing, Mr. Ryan,” Alice said as she stepped to the side and tried to pass, but Jason stepped to his right and blocked the escape, forcing Anya and Sarah to bump into her backside.
“You’re kidding me, right?” he asked as he took a step back so he could see all three faces. “After all of these years you’re going to claim that, to me?”
“Mr. Ryan, I assure you that—”
“Save it. Now, what are you doing? Does this have something to do with you three being left off the duty roster?”
“I can most assuredly say not,” Alice said as she stared Ryan down.
“Liar, liar, culottes on fire.”
“Okay, Mr. Ryan, I want these ladies to have a spot on that roster. They need to be there. Anya in case Carl is not found, Sarah because she knows it’s in all probability that Jack won’t be coming back. They can handle the danger.”
“Alice,” Jason said holding his ground. “I was recruited into the Group by men who I respect above all others. If they say to keep something to a minimum, like personnel on a mission, I do it. I found out the hard way that going against the colonel’s recommended manpower structure tends to get my ass chewed on, so this is self-preservation.”
“Jason—” Sarah started but then stopped when Ryan became angry.
“Listen, the mission will be hazardous enough, and no matter what coercion you just used on the new kid in there, it won’t change anything. Dr. Compton will see right through it, and if for some far-out reason he doesn’t, Jack will. The answer is no.”
“Damn,” Alice said as she turned to the two disappointed women.
“He’s turned into a snitch for the director,” Sarah said, aghast that Ryan, a usual conspirator in crime with the rest of them, had turned his back on the two women.
“It’s not Jason, it’s Jack.” Alice looked at them and then waved them onward. “Come on, ladies, we’ll be expected in the director’s office at anytime for our royal ass chewing.”
“Great,” was all Sarah said, knowing Jack would be informed of her crimes against his orders.
The three bodyguards had waited inside the outer office area. The visitors to the doorway had not taken the time to examine the equipment in the PIT, even though the gruff little man with the cigar had thrown a fit when his boss told him to wait on someone named Virginia. The large man, Julien, waited by the doors of the elevator as his cell phone chimed.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said as his eyes watched the annunciator above the large elevator rise. “They what? Ma’am, I warned you, the world will find out if we allow this. I will try, Madam.” He closed the cell phone and then looked at his two companions and with just a flick of his eyes they knew they had problems. “Madam is about to be taken into custody by federal authorities.”
The two men immediately spread out just before the elevator doors opened. The large Julien pulled a nine-millimeter Smith & Wesson from his shoulder holster and waited in front of the doors. They opened just as he cocked the weapon.
It was empty.
He felt the brush of cooler air from behind as the pistol cocked. He felt the pressure of the weapon against the back of his head.
“Now what were you planning to do with this?” the voice said as a hand reached around and removed the nine millimeter from his beefy hand. Will Mendenhall tossed the weapon back to Collins as Henri Farbeaux finished disarming the other two bodyguards.
“We didn’t have orders to harm you,” Julien said as he was quickly frisked by Will and then pushed over with his two companions.
Jack looked at the weapon Will had tossed to him and ejected the ammunition clip from its handle, but remained silent.
“Madam does not deserve this,” Julien said as he lowered his hands when he realized they weren’t going to kill him. “She is one of the greatest women of all time, and you have her arrested?”
Jack and the others could see the passion these men had for their matriarch and he respected that. He still remained silent as he studied the three men. After all, this Julien fellow seemed very talkative.
“We were going to ensure the doorway did not fall into government hands. We cannot allow that.”
At that moment Jenks stepped through the door that led to the stairwell that the others had used to sneak back up to the main floor when Jack’s hackles had risen. He suspected a trap after he had informed Niles to take Moira Mendelsohn into protective custody.
“Oh, so your guesswork paid off. They were going to plant one in our heads.”
“No, that is not true. Our orders were to dismantle the laser system, that’s all.”