Chapter 16
CHAPTER 16
H e saw the second Ronnie understood the gravity of what they’d discovered. “I’ve got to get a call started. Has Malice left with Anya?”
“Yeah.” Ronnie sat down and stared at the diagram. “This will light a fire under a lot of big players.”
“You’ve got that right.” Con cleared his throat and hit the combination of keys that would put out a scarlet clearance priority meeting. It was the only way to get all the players on board at once.
He hovered over the enter button. “You ready for this?” The alert would go out to every executive with a scarlet or higher clearance. Higher … Con wondered how much higher the clearances went in Guardian.
“Do it.” Ronnie nodded.
He hit the button and watched as the screen split into sections.
Jewell was the first online. “CCS online.”
“Alpha online.”
“The Rose is online.”
“Dom Ops online.”
“I’m online, and I still don’t have a call sign.” Jade DeMarco was the name under her screen.
“Archangel online.”
“Saint is online.” The one with that name didn’t have a video feed.
“Con and Centurion are online. The call is secure. When reviewing the information found at Eisenberger’s house, we discovered the schematics written in Russian are for a platform that, when launched, is capable of emitting a massive high-altitude electromagnetic pulse.”
“How sure are we?” Archangel asked.
“Malice was one hundred percent positive what he read was correct. He took Anya back to the hotel because this was above her clearance.” Con looked at Ronnie. “The only type of explosion that could cause the disruption indicated in the documents we’re looking at is?—”
“Nuclear.” That came from the person who was cloaked on the screen. “Archangel, I want a conference with you after this is done. Con, do you have anything else?”
Con nodded. “I think so, yes. There’s a playbook of sorts. I’m not sure how it fits into anything here, but it tells exactly what actions each governmental agency will take. So far, I have documents referenced for America, Great Britain, France, Spain, China, and Australia.”
“Nothing about Russia?” the faceless voice asked.
“No, sir, but I’m not done going through the book.” Con glanced over at Ronnie again.
“Do we have any intel on missile or rocket building not accounted for in governmental briefs?”
Jewell answered that one. “Sir, we have three private builds in the files: one in the United States for a satellite launch, one in France, and one in India,” Jewell said as he watched her type. “Additionally, we have disclosed government programs in America, Great Britain, Russia, China, and North Korea.”
“Con, scan those schematics into the system. Archangel, get with our scientists and make sure his assessment is correct. What else do we have?”
“Documents, a lot of microfiche in Russian,” Con said.
“Where do we stand with the embassy inquiry?” Archangel asked.
Alpha responded. “We have a team there now. We’ve been able to narrow it down to three people. Interrogation is ongoing. Giovanni is taking the lead in all questioning.”
“Centurion, expect incoming. Archangel, I’ll handle the POTUS brief. Get this information to our community for verification. Saint is clear.”
Con frowned and looked over at Ronnie. She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Wonderful,” she whispered, so he doubted anyone else heard.
“Jewell, get as much information as you can about any builds or any locality with possible building capabilities. I want satellite images and any intel on the dark web. Also, we’ll need Ring, Brando, and Ethan upgraded to scarlet clearance. Make it happen like yesterday, so we can have all hands working on this information. Alpha and Fury, I need teams available for immediate dispatch. Pull them off rest, off missions that are not a priority, or out of training, and get them ready. Dom Ops, you’re clear unless we have a viable threat. If we do, we’ll need you to work with the police community to ensure we have actions in place for sustainability after an attack. Con, scan that tech in ASAP and hurry up on that book. The microfiche in Russian, scan that in and send it to Flack. Fury, get Smith and Val over to that saferoom and have him decipher them.”
“Harbinger speaks fluent Russian,” Con reminded him.
“Get him in with Flack and the rest. This is crunch time, people. Make shit happen and funnel everything through Jewell and Con. Jewell is the point for information coming to me, and Con is point for information going to Saint. We both get everything.”
“I am?” Con asked.
“You are. Archangel clear.”
“Alpha clear.”
“Rose clear.”
“Dom Ops clear.”
“I’m clear,” Jade said.
“Con, what do you need to help get this information to us?”
He looked at Ronnie. “Do we have a scanner?” She got up and walked over to the ornate wall. After sliding a piece of the metalwork to the side, a latch clicked, and a room of electronics appeared as the wall slid away. Con took in the equipment available. It was a node, just like his and Jewell’s. “I have everything I need.”
“CCS is clear.”
He grabbed the stack of papers and headed into the node. “Why didn’t you tell me you had one of these?”
Ronnie turned on the scanner and the computer system on the desk. “It isn’t mine. It’s Saint’s.”
“What?” He turned around. “Is that what he meant? He’s coming here?”
“He can run a war from this location. He oversaw the rebuild after the Siege from this desk. He stayed here after the Siege. It’s as safe as it gets. His residence has a less sophisticated version of this and is currently being upgraded.”
“So, you know the big guy?” Con asked as he logged into the computer with his credentials and stacked the documents in the feeder tray.
“I do,” Ronnie said as the documents started feeding through the scanner at a speed that blurred the papers. Con dumped the scanned documents into the shared folders and tagged them for Flack. He wasn’t sure how long it would take for the bosses to instruct the man to … Well, not that long at all. He watched as Flack accessed the files. Flack was an evidence guru. He’d secure the information, and when it was translated, the man would have both versions and start his meticulous work. He typed a message to him.
Sending microfiche next. Will send in batches. Much slower.
Copy. Getting up to speed on this end.
“Yeah, I bet you are.” Con sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Okay, the microfiche won’t be as easy.” He glanced at Ronnie. “Could you bring it here? We’ll do it in a processing line.”
Ronnie brought over the boxful of small sheets of plastic. “How is anyone going to read this? I mean, it will basically be a picture of a negative.”
“Yeah, that’s an issue, but if we get a picture, and it’s good, I can blow it up after it’s scanned in. Put the first one on the flatbed, would you?”
Ronnie did as he asked, and he sent the command to scan the picture. He enlarged it and narrowed his eyes. “Turn it over. We have a reverse image here.”
She flipped the film over, and he scanned it again. “Okay, we’ve got a tiny photo.” He enlarged the image until it was pixelated to a degree the letters were blurred. “Hold on.” He called up one of the photo programs he’d worked with in the past. He wouldn’t use AI on that one. It called for old-school manipulation. He used his program to clip out each of the fifty pages miniaturized on the film.
“What are you doing?” Ronnie leaned over, looking at his computer screen. Her long, dark hair fell in a curtain over his shoulder.
“I’m basically walking uphill with each picture. I’m using bicubic interpolation to enlarge the image. It’s a repetitive enlargement in measured amounts, so not much detail is lost. Then I’m using a noise reduction program to reduce the artifacts in the image to make it sharper.”
“Why not use the AI program you used with the photographs?”
“Because of the severity of what this document could mean. The text needs to be exact. If AI changed something as minuscule as the word is to the word as , the meaning of the entire document could change.”
He did four or five of the pages before she tapped him on the shoulder and said, “I can do that. You have to work on that book and then help Jewell.”
“Okay. You know where to save them?”
Ronnie nodded. “This folder on the shared drive.” She pushed him a bit. “Move. If I have any questions, I’ll ask for help.”
Con relinquished the chair behind the desk and walked out to the library to retrieve his computer. He sat down on the wheeled chair and walked-rolled himself, his computer, the book, and his chair into the node. There, he sat up his computer and the book on the other side of the desk and started work.
Con continued to check on her progress and was impressed with how quickly she caught on. “That really helps,” he said, pulling her attention away from the screen.
“What, this? It isn’t much.”
“That’s where you are wrong. Fifty percent of my time is spent doing routine things. Things that someone with your level of competency could do, but due to clearance issues, we can’t have assigned.”
She stopped and looked at him. “Really?”
He nodded. “Yep. See, my life is glamorous.” He laughed and turned his attention back to the work he was doing.
He was lost in the pages of the journal when he heard the doorbell ring. “That’s Malice,” he muttered as he put down the pen in his hand.
“I’ll get it. I need to uncross my eyes,” Ronnie said and stood up from where she was working. Con went back to his work until he heard that voice. Holy shit. The Saint. He was there. The man was a legend in Guardian. He was called Gabriel, and that was all Con had ever been able to find out about the man, well, except he was chosen by the one and only reclusive almost trillionaire David Xavier to run Guardian Security, which he still did. Archangel held the everyday reins, but everyone in the organization knew Saint was the ultimate authority in the chain of command. Con stood up and, for reasons he couldn’t fathom, brushed off his T-shirt. He swallowed hard. Damn . He was nervous. Like to the core nervous. Saint was a legend, and he was going to meet him.
Ronnie walked into the room between two people. The man had salt and pepper hair and an impressive physique for someone who was … sixty? Maybe a bit older? Normally, he could peg a person’s age, but with that guy, not so much. The woman was … Holy hell. His eyes darted from the woman to Ronnie to the man and back to Ronnie again. Their eyes. Ronnie had the exact same eyes as the man, and in every other fashion, she was a picture-perfect image of the woman standing beside her. Holy hell. Ronnie was Saint’s kid. No wonder he couldn’t find a damn thing about her.
“Well, now it all makes sense,” Con said, placing his hands on his hips. “That’s why I couldn’t find you.”
The man stopped and extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you finally.”
“You’re her dad. I’m happy to meet you, too.” Con took the man’s extended hand and shook it. “And her mom. Mrs.—”
“My name is Anna.” The woman smiled at him as he shook her hand. Con released Anna’s hand and then rubbed his neck. “I feel like a fool right now.”
“For what?” Anna asked.
“I thought I could circumnavigate the system to find her.” Con nodded toward Ronnie.
Saint cocked his head as his brows furrowed, and he asked, “And why would you want to do that?”
“Ah … well …” Con snapped his mouth shut and looked to Ronnie for help.
“You promised,” Ronnie growled and elbowed her father.
Anna laughed. “It’s nice to meet you, too, Conner. I’m going to go into the kitchen and cook some food for everyone. The three of you play nice.” She gave her daughter a hug and then took off her coat as she exited the node.
“Malice should be here momentarily,” Con said because the silence was kind of deafening in the most embarrassing way.
“No,” Ronnie’s father said. “He won’t be back until after we leave. I believe he’s taking his wife shopping.”
The man walked past him and went to the back wall. He pushed a button, and Con watched as the entire wall turned—another node. Holy hell. It was another complete node, but one with mesh surrounding it, almost like the shielding of the computer systems at the island where he’d met Ronnie.
Ronnie’s father sat down behind the desk and reached for the phone. When he picked it up, the mesh rolled down to the floor. He could see the man’s mouth moving, but there was no sound. None.
Con pointed at the node. “How … that’s not possible … is it?”
Ronnie sat down at the computer system and looked over at her father. “He has a habit of doing the impossible.”
She started work on the microfiche again. Con stood mystified. He wanted to get a better look at the meshing. He wanted to know how it was wired. Was it wired? How did the sound barrier work?
“Con?”
He jumped and looked down at Ronnie. “Huh?”
“You should probably close your mouth and start work.” She cocked her head at him. “He’s going to be in there for a while.”
He snapped his mouth shut and dropped his ass into his chair. “Right. Work.” He looked at his part of the desk. “What was I doing?”
Ronnie snorted. “Ah … we’re trying to stop someone, possibly the Russian criminal we’re chasing, from nuking the world.”
“Right. That.” He picked up his pen and found his place in the journal. He pushed the weird-ass meeting of Ronnie’s parents from his mind and picked the book back up. As he worked, he summarized each page, including a hyperlink to each of the governmental documents referenced, plus a summation of what that government agency had published as their response.
His stomach growled as a wonderful aroma came from the kitchen. He glanced at Ronnie, whose smile indicated she’d heard his rumbling stomach. “What time is it?”
“Almost dinner time,” she said as she continued to work.
“How many more of those do you have?” he asked as he put the final touches on the document before he shared it.
“About fifty or sixty.” She glanced over at the pile. “I’ve made a good dent in them.”
Con glanced at the completed stack of microfiche. She’d done three-fourths of the stack. He finished typing his summation page and shoved the document into the shared drive, where he watched as people immediately started accessing it.
“I can finish those if you want to take a break.” He stood up, stretched, popping his back, and moved over to her side of the desk.
“Thanks.” She stood up and surprised the hell out of him by toeing up and kissing him. “I’ll go help Mom.” She put her hands on his chest as his hands fell to her hips. “Don’t let him intimidate you.”
Con jerked his head up. “Why would he want to?”
“You’re dating his daughter. Use that big brain of yours, Solomon.” She patted his chest and walked away from him. He watched her walk away and then looked over at the node. Saint’s eyes were pinned on him. Shit.
Con smiled at the guy, dropped into the chair Ronnie had vacated, and started work on the microfiche. His neck tingled, and he swore he could still feel the guy’s stare boring holes into him. “Don’t let him intimidate you,” Con said and then laughed. “Too late, honey. Way too late.”