Airborne Over Australia
The private plane knifed through the clouds like a bullet. In the main passenger cabin, Cesar Faison held the phone in one hand and a smoking cigar in the other. At the moment, he was having a heated call.
"Are you certain without a doubt about your information?" he asked.
"Yes. You wanted a thorough analysis and report on Peter. In the course of that research, I came across these other vectors. I've checked each one through at least three independent sources," came Donatella's voice. "Granted, they are circumstantial. However, one incident can be ignored. Three cannot. Taken all together, the picture formed is compelling."
"All this time Constantine has been plotting against me? I trained him myself. Why?" asked Faison. "I find it difficult to believe."
"Perhaps in the beginning he was loyal but not any longer. Why not put him to a test?" asked Donatella.
"I want to know who turned him against me? Who was it? Was it Hans and his cabal of traitors?"
"Constantine helped Hans in the past however I do not believe that he was ever truly a part of Hans' main group," said Donatella. "I suspect that Constantine is working for his own ends."
"I sense Scorpio's hand in this," said Faison.
"I find that unlikely in the extreme," said Donatella. "At no time in his past history has Scorpio shown an inclination to be a … a master puppeteer. Nor does he have the requisite ambition and guile."
"If not him, then Sean Donely," said Faison. "He has the means and the nature."
"He is an unlikely candidate given his age and his other business interests. Besides, if he hurts you, it will be like hurting himself. I do not believe he would take that risk," said Donatella. "There is one other possibility."
"What?"
"Not what but who - Anna Devane."
Faison hand seemed to spasm and his cigar shook. He managed to say, "No, not Anna."
"She played you for a besotted fool not once but three times," said Donatella. "Who is to say she is not again? She is certainly clever enough to devise this plan."
"What would her motivation be?" asked Faison. "It is nonsense."
"Cesar, lift the blinders from your eyes!"
"My vision, dear cousin, is quite clear where Anna is concerned. I am fully aware of her deceit and how skillful a web she weaves. But I also know that she is not deceitful without cause."
"I can think of several reasons. Revenge. A mother's need to protect her children. Hatred."
"She does NOT hate me," said Faison.
"But neither does she love you."
"She is not IN love with me, no. There is a fine distinction." Faison pursed his lip. "She has made her … preference obvious." He waved his hand dismissively. "It is NOT Anna. Put her off your calculation."
"But she-"
"No! All she wants is to be a mother and … soon a wife. She is not plotting my downfall," said Faison. "But two people come to mind."
"Who?"
"Helena and Charlotte," said Faison. "Put them in your calculation. Now, let us discuss Peter."
"You have reviewed the information I gave you?"
"Yes. I agree. He is a problem."
"What do you propose to do?"
"Seek out others who hate him more than I do to do the job," said Faison. "It's a tactic once used on me to unexpected effect by Sean and Robert."
"I feel that Charlotte Devane must be attended to," said Donatella. "She is too clever and brazen for her own good."
"The problem with clever people is that they forget that there will always be someone cleverer than they are," said Faison. "She will be dealt with."
Gem HQ, Milton Keynes
Warren entered Arnold Vandenberg's office. Inside he found Chase and Arn deep in conference.
"Warren, I'm just updating Arn on Minerva," said Chase. "Have a seat."
"Uh, I have an update, too."
"Let me go first," said Chase. "I've instructed Chemical Research to reverse engineer the next batch of Compound A that comes in. I've increased the size of the order to allow for test samples."
"We've tried analyzing it before. We never could get it right," said Arn.
"That was years ago. We have better equipment and better personnel," replied Chase. "Let give it a try. If we fail, then I'm prepared to offer Sinclair a buy out price for it including any manufacturing process he employs."
"It's no good," said Warren.
"What's no good?" asked Arn.
"The vial of Compound A Sinclair delivered," said Warren. "The imprints don't last."
Chase straightened in his chair. He gave Warren all his attention. "What's wrong with it? Did you follow Sinclair's directions?"
"To the letter," said Warren. "I personally administered the first dose to the subject. We waited the requisite hours. The subject was in the mental, emotional and physical state as Sinclair described for that step. We then began the same knowledge transfer and training procedures that we use for Compound X."
"Go on," urged Arn.
"The subject made it through the knowledge transfer portion fine. She remembered everything she heard and saw with near perfect recall," said Warren. "She was moved on to the training phase. As is our normal course, I would periodically test her knowledge transfer status with questions becoming progressively difficult. By the time she reached Training 2, I had added testing for Training 1 material. This is the same thing we've done over and over again."
"Did she have issues with recall? Is she unbalanced?" asked Arn.
"The knowledge recall becomes faulty and as of twenty minutes ago, she's forgotten EVERY bit of knowledge transferred. All of it," said Warren.
"That can't be!" exclaimed Chase.
"Ditto for the training knowledge. She's also experiencing memories - her own real ones - coming back to her bit by bit," said Warren. "As far as I'm concerned Compound A is a dud."
"There had to have been a mistake," insisted Chase. "Compound A is the BASE of Compound X. If there was something wrong with A, wouldn't it have shown up in X by now?"
"Yesterday, I released a Compound X-influenced agent into the field, Chase. The one for the Hornsby project," said Warren. "He passed all our exit testing - knowledge transfer, training, operations briefing. He passed everything. I can't believe that Compound X is the problem here. Maybe Sinclair made a mistake. Compound A is an old … old recipe."
"Sinclair is not an idiot," said Chase. "He wouldn't give us anything less than what we ordered. We've never had a problem before."
"He's slipping, Chase," said Arn. "Look at the mess in Vladivostok."
"I'm just as upset about that as you are, Arn, but we can't cut Sinclair loose. Not yet," said Chase.
"When is the next batch due? Maybe, this first one was a fluke," said Warren.
"In one week," answered Chase. "For now, continue using Compound X."
"We should tell him about his bad product," said Warren.
"No. I want to test Sinclair," said Arn. "Let's see if he catches the mistake or apologizes."
"You don't like him," said Chase.
"I didn't like how we got acquainted. Anything tainted by the DVX rubs me the wrong way," said Arn. "Is there anything else, Warren?"
"No. That's my update," said Warren. "I have to get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."
After Warren left, Chase closed and locked his door. Arn's casual expression did not fool him. Chase said, "You don't think it was a fluke do you?"
Arn shook his head. "Compound A never worked except for that one time - Test Case Eve. We've tweaked it. Sinclair tried to change it. Nothing worked but we KNOW it CAN work. What was so special about Eve? Why didn't Sinclair replicate that test? I think he's hiding something."
"Why?"
"Little things that are coming together in my head," said Arn. "SInclair wasn't entirely truthful to Hunter. In fact, he misled our team to their deaths."
"That's harsh."
"Not harsh enough," said Arn. "I have to go back to the old notes about Eve. Maybe there's something we missed."
"Or I could drop Ross' request. Then we wouldn't need Compound A," offered Chase.
"I've come around to your way of thinking, Chase, on Guardian. We need it,"
"What changed your mind?"
"We're taught that information is power. But recently, I was shown that information could be a very intimidating weapon," said Arn. "At the airport, I told you that I was visited by one of Scorpio's people."
Chase nodded.
"I had no idea who he was. But he knew who I was and what we do," said Arn. "I haven't felt that out of balance and afraid for a long time."
"He could have been bluffing or fishing for information."
"No. He was rock-solid sure of every word he was saying," said Arn. "I had a lot of time to think things through on the plane. The information about me had to come from somewhere. And, the details about what we do, we're about as shadowy as they come. We take enormous pains to stay in the background, not reveal any more than what we have to. But with proper analysis, any secret can be ferreted out." Arn looked directly at Chase. "I think Guardian knows about us."
"No way."
"We need to see what it knows and make adjustments on our end. There's only one way to know for sure and that's to have access to Guardian."
"If Compound A doesn't work out, then what?" asked Chase. "Your preferred solution of gaining the knowledge in-house is doable but, Arn, it'll take years."
"I found a shortcut," said Arn.
"Robert Scorpio?"
"Yes. We need to get close, cultivate his social circle. Find out what we can help him with," said Arn.
"Well, we have Sean on our side," said Chase. "There's one more person I'd like to recruit to be a friendly ally - Frisco Jones. He's leaving the service. You and I both know that re-entering civilian life can be an adjustment. We can … help him adjust."
Sydney General Hospital, Sydney, Australia - 9AM
Vincent adjusted his amber sunglasses pretending to peer into the vending machine's dubious selection. He had styled his hair differently and stopped shaving. It made for a marked difference in his appearance. He loitered by the machine until all the WSB agents save their superior had left the room they had put into use as a makeshift office. Down the hallway, he could see the secure ward where Andrew's double lay recovering. Vincent sidled over to the door and stepped inside.
"Frisco?" he asked.
Frisco looked up, "Can I help you?"
"Felicia must have told you about me." Vincent extended a hand. "I'm Vincent Cassini."
Frisco shook his hand and peered at his face. "I've read your dossier. Why the disguise?"
"Long story."
"Where have you been? People are going nuts looking for you."
"That is part of the long story," said Vincent.
"And you couldn't check in beforehand?"
Vincent shook his head. "I need to speak with Ivan. Is he conscious?"
"I think so," said Frisco. "Listen, Anna needs you back at the ranch ASAP. I'm leaving here in an hour. You can come with me."
"I cannot," said Vincent.
"The long story?"
"Can you let C and C know my status?"
Frisco nodded. Vincent left the room. When Raine's face appeared, he said, "Hi, Raine. I have the prodical shepherd on site."
Dani nodded. "Details?"
"No idea. He said he had a long story to tell."
"At least I'll have something to tell Robin," said Raine "She calls me every fifteen minutes."
Frisco grinned. "Yeah, sounds like my godchild. Very conscientious."
"That's not the word I would use," said Raine. "I can already tell she's different than Eve."
"Really?"
"Robin will simply not take no for an answer. Eve was more serene by comparison."
Frisco laughed out loud. "I'd never call Robin serene. I ought to warn you that, ah, she can be more stubborn than her parents combined."
"Anything else?"
"Sorry. The Robin I remember best was a teenager. I expect she's a lot different now," said Frisco. His expression turned serious. "Kids grow up so fast. You blink and they're in their twenties. You wonder where all the time went." Frisco blinked and seemed to realize where he was. "Anyway, expect a call from Vincent."
"Will do. Thanks, Frisco."
Frisco held up the front page of the local paper so Raine could see it. "Seen this?"
The headline read: Famous assassin fells DigiMaze founder.
Frisco added, "It says that Scarecrow has taken responsibility for the failed assassination attempt. It also says that Scarecrow send a note to the reporter confessing that he was responsible for the murder of that Greek tycoon Pompey Valakos and murder of five men in Vladivostok."
Raine groaned. "We didn't know about the blame game in Vladivostok."
"This is a smear campaign all the way," said Frisco. "What are you doing about it?"
"Right now, nothing but ignoring it," said Raine. "We're more worried about the still footage from the Foundation. More and more prints are leaking out. One day they may get lucky and identify one of us who were there. I can't hide behind diplomatic immunity anymore."
"Any leads to the leakers?"
"Jackie Templeton traced the pictures to several wire services. Someone posts pictures anonymously. The press agencies confirm the pictures then they're printed everywhere," said Raine. "The actual trail of the leak is hard to find under all the noise."
"I'll keep an eye out on my end. Whoever they are, they're bound to make a mistake," said Frisco.
Vincent closed the door and approached Ivan's bedside. Fortunately, Ivan was awake if groggy. Vincent leaned close to Ivan's ear and began to speak in Russian.
"Listen. I've had contact from your mother. She and Nina are in Sochi. Both safe at the family house," said Vincent.
Ivan started to speak.
"Shhhh. Your father sent her away. Told her to run," said Vincent. "Our connection was poor. She gave me a name - Joe Skinner - and a number. I've called the number and so far no contact back."
Ivan tried to rise. Vincent put a hand on his chest. Ivan laid back.
"I will see Ava and Nina out of Sochi. I promise," said Vincent. "I have not heard from Mama myself. That is concerning. I will be flying out to Turkey today. I do not want to wait for this Skinner person."
Ivan spluttered. "My father?"
"Still in Moscow," said Vincent.
"Papa won't … can't leave. He will stay and … and do his duty," said Ivan. "What happened?"
"Aunt Ava said Faison knew something. Your father ordered her out to deliver something to Skinner while she was still free to travel," said Vincent. He took a card out his pocket with a phone number scribbled on it and handed it to Ivan. "Memorize this. You will be able to leave messages for me and retrieve messages I may have for you using the code on the card. I'll check that number at least every other day. I will leave a message for you when I check in."
Ivan clutched at Vincent's sleeve. "Thank you."
"Of course. This is family."
"And Aunt Pavla?"
"I cannot contact her or Papa today. I won't worry yet," said Vincent. "I will have some friends check on them. You get well."
"The boy double?"
"I believe he will live," said Vincent. "Andrew is safe at another location."
SHRACK!
The window glass cracked then shattered. Instinctively, Vincent grabbed his cousin and they hit the floor as several more bullets were fired into the room.
BANG!
Villa Scorpio - 6 PM (10AM Down Under)
The first set of wedding guests came in via the loggia. They passed through the dining room where the large trestle table was bedecked in linen, tableware, flatware and a beautiful centerpiece. Two monitors were hung against the wall. Several cubes hung from the ceiling.
From the kitchen drifted the smells of a delicious dinner. Two chefs buzzed around the counters preparing a feast. There would be buffet style service with seating in the dining room.
They all goggled at the reaaranged living room. The enormous monitor screen hung down from the ceiling. The couch and love seat and armchairs had been repositioned to have the monitor in full view. Short tables with cube like objects atop them were arranged in front of the various seating choices.
"Tracy, Edward and the others will be here later. We're early I know," said Tiffany.
"But we couldn't wait," said Bobbie.
"We don't want to miss a thing," said Felicia.
Dani began giving a detailed description of what the cube cameras did what as the wedding guests found their seats. "Since the wedding is so last minute, we've designed a camera system that allows for both sides to interact with each other in as near real time as possible. Using the remote, the large screen can be used to display one large picture the four smaller pictures below the larger one. You'll be able to see multiple locations at any time. The cube cameras can be, ah, pointed at whatever room or person you want to talk to. Select the room or person and the system will find the objective and activate the nearest camera." Dani began activating the equipment. "Okay, it's on."
Felicia picked up the remote and began to check out what rooms had what images.
"I want to see her when she sees the dress," said Maxie. "I checked. It's there!"
"Besides, we wanted to start the party early," said Monica.
The main screen came to life. They could see Robin, Alex and Anna in what looked like a messy room. In a bathrobe with damp hair, Anna was tidying up the bed. Impatiently, Robin held up a garment bag.
"Mom, we should have had a test fitting earlier," said Robin.
"I was … was busy," said Anna. She put a crushed pillow under the coverlet. "But we have the time now."
BEEP. BEEP.
Robin's head turned and she was looking towards the camera. "I think the camera's on. The green light is flashing."
Everyone at the villa began to say hi and hello at the same time but the pickup at the ranch side wasn't activated yet.
"Robin, turn the monitor on over there so we can see them," said Alex.
Robin's face loomed large as she faced the camera above the monitor. "Open sesame!" Her face broke into a wide smile. "Oh, my gosh! You're all there!"
Anna rushed over and hugged Robin as they greeted their friends and family. The chatter quieted down in time.
"I just don't believe it," said Monica. "You're really there, Robin. Our Robin."
Robin nodded. "Yes, Doctor Quartermaine, it's me."
"Monica, please," said Monica. "You do look remarkably alike."
"I'm so sorry about Alan. I can't believe he's gone," said Robin.
"He lives on in his patients, the family and the pavilion will make sure that no one forgets him," said Monica.
Bobbie put in, "Robin, you look younger than Eve. And you're so thin. When are you coming home?"
Robin and Anna shared a glance. Robin answered. "Soon."
"We have to figure out a few little things like who she's going to be," said Anna. She hugged Robin to her. "Oh, everybody, I have to apologize for this rush wedding. I wish we were all together."
"The point is to get married," said Bobbie.
"We do expect a wild reception when you get back," added Tiffany. "No holds barred, you understand?"
"Done!" exclaimed Anna. "How's Patrick? Emma? We left in such a rush."
"Patrick is busying himself with work. I've had to force him off the surgery rotation twice," said Monica. "He needs time. We all do."
Tiffany added. "Emma's fine. No shortage of minders or sitters."
Maxie's high pitched voice was heard. "Can we please get to the dress?"
They all laughed.
"Okay, okay," said Anna.
She made a show of unzipping the garment bag. With Robin holding the hanger steady, Anna pulled the bag off. The dress poured out of the dress and over the bed.
The ladies at the Villa held their breath. This was the moment of truth. Anna lifted the dress and pressed it against her. She studied her image in the mirror.
"It's modern," said Anna.
Robin narrowed her eyes at the dress. "Is that the current fashion?"
"You don't like it?" squealed Maxie.
"Don't listen to me. I'm so behind on … on everything," said Robin.
"Who picked it out?" asked Anna.
Fingers pointed at Tiffany.
"Wait a cotton pickin' minute, it was a group activity," said Tiffany.
"Yes, but-" began Felicia.
"I fell for this WONDERFUL dress, Anna. It would have looked DIVINE on you but no one voted for it," said Tiffany.
"There was a vote?" asked Robin.
"Not exactly a vote," said Felicia. "Sean was supposed to decide you see."
"Sean?" asked Anna. She turned this way and that still studying herself with the dress against her body.
"That man could not make up his mind. We had to buy five dresses, bring them to the house and force him to choose," said Tiffany.
"It was a huge decision for Sean," said Felicia. "Do you like it?"
Anna faced the camera and grinned. "Yeah, I do. Now that I've got the dress, I'm ready to get married."
Robin said, "Third time is the charm, Mom."
Anna laughed. "Yes, it is. After dragging my feet on this decision, I feel like I'm already married. Let's do it formally and then we'll party!"