marines. These men served together as part of the United States First Naval Air Command in Tokyo. All four were dishonorably discharged three years ago for repeated violations regarding the transport of nonmilitary personnel.” Chanez raises his eyebrows and looks up from the report.“They were airlifting prostitutes from Tokyo to the USMC base on Okinawa.” He returns to the sheets. “Since then, their whereabouts and activities have been unknown.”
Chanez lays the reports down on the table and studies me. “That was quite a crew you took on, Scarlet.”
My cheeks flush. “Yes, sir.”
“Cyrus,” Fredericks says as he calmly regards his pen. “I must point out that when I had your job, I never would have assigned that mission to such an incompetent Level.”
“Hey!” I blurt. “I’m right fuckin’ here, you know.” I tap my chest.
Fredericks, unfazed, continues to address Cyrus. “She can’t even control herself in a meeting.”
I holler, “Well, I’m not some lily-livered desk jockey who falls apart every time the shit hits the fan!”
That
gets ol’ Jakey’s attention. Fredericks swivels toward me like a turret on a battleship. “Scarlet, you blew your cover on a Level 12
covert operation
! Not at some damned meeting of the Five O’Clock Club!” He slaps the table. “If I were your boss, I’d put you in front of a review board.”
My lip curls into a snarl. I lean forward and—
“That’ll be all, Scarlet!” Chanez snaps. “Thank you for your input, Director Fredericks. Be assured that Cyrus and I are working with Scarlet to optimize her Development Schedule.”
Fredericks locks eyes with Chanez for a moment. “Very well, Ed. Let’s get on with this.” He smoothes his hair and resumes twirling his pen across his fingers.
“Son of a bitch!” I comm to Trick.
Trick comms back, “Don’t let him get to you.”
“I am
not
incompetent!”
“Settle down, Hot Stuff. Here’s something to consider. Fredericks thinks you were
assigned
to the Hector job.”
I try to slow my breathing and comm, “Huh, yeah, I guess he does. Is Chanez gonna tell him that I, um, took the initiative on that one?”
“It doesn’t look like it.”
Chanez selects another file from his heap and hands it to Harbaugh. “Bill, this is your signals intelligence report. Why don’t you walk us through what your people have found.”
Harbaugh stands up and takes Chanez’s place in front of the blabscreen. He adjusts his tie and clears his throat. “We picked up Hector’s comm signal at the airport in Paris, which is how we knew to tail him when he landed in New York.” Harbaugh informs us that there was no related comm activity until Hector and I got to the restaurant in Manhattan. Once inside, things picked up speed and the comms started flying.
“The comm calls were very heavily encrypted, and their origins and destinations were spoofed in a maze of routers and proxies. We may never unravel the locations except for the comms we intercepted at their origins. But after twenty-five hours we cracked the encryption.”
Ooh, this sounds good. Everyone perks up. Fredericks is especially interested. He sits up straight and stops fiddling with his pen, his mouth hanging slightly open.
Harbaugh says, “The calls were sent without any vox data, so we don’t have their voices or inflections.”
Fredericks shuts his mouth and glances around the room. I quickly look to the front of the room as Harbaugh uses a small remote control to activate the blabscreen.
“We’ve assigned labels to the unknown suspects—XSUS One and XSUS Two—and used names for the suspects we do know. Once Hector went into his meeting with the female Protector, we began directly monitoring the restaurant. This is how we nabbed their comms as they were transmitted. Scarlet, you’ll appreciate the name we’ve given the Protector.”
He brings up a slide of text. On the screen we see:
Jackie-O to XSUS One: “Our guest says,
Chanez lays the reports down on the table and studies me. “That was quite a crew you took on, Scarlet.”
My cheeks flush. “Yes, sir.”
“Cyrus,” Fredericks says as he calmly regards his pen. “I must point out that when I had your job, I never would have assigned that mission to such an incompetent Level.”
“Hey!” I blurt. “I’m right fuckin’ here, you know.” I tap my chest.
Fredericks, unfazed, continues to address Cyrus. “She can’t even control herself in a meeting.”
I holler, “Well, I’m not some lily-livered desk jockey who falls apart every time the shit hits the fan!”
That
gets ol’ Jakey’s attention. Fredericks swivels toward me like a turret on a battleship. “Scarlet, you blew your cover on a Level 12
covert operation
! Not at some damned meeting of the Five O’Clock Club!” He slaps the table. “If I were your boss, I’d put you in front of a review board.”
My lip curls into a snarl. I lean forward and—
“That’ll be all, Scarlet!” Chanez snaps. “Thank you for your input, Director Fredericks. Be assured that Cyrus and I are working with Scarlet to optimize her Development Schedule.”
Fredericks locks eyes with Chanez for a moment. “Very well, Ed. Let’s get on with this.” He smoothes his hair and resumes twirling his pen across his fingers.
“Son of a bitch!” I comm to Trick.
Trick comms back, “Don’t let him get to you.”
“I am
not
incompetent!”
“Settle down, Hot Stuff. Here’s something to consider. Fredericks thinks you were
assigned
to the Hector job.”
I try to slow my breathing and comm, “Huh, yeah, I guess he does. Is Chanez gonna tell him that I, um, took the initiative on that one?”
“It doesn’t look like it.”
Chanez selects another file from his heap and hands it to Harbaugh. “Bill, this is your signals intelligence report. Why don’t you walk us through what your people have found.”
Harbaugh stands up and takes Chanez’s place in front of the blabscreen. He adjusts his tie and clears his throat. “We picked up Hector’s comm signal at the airport in Paris, which is how we knew to tail him when he landed in New York.” Harbaugh informs us that there was no related comm activity until Hector and I got to the restaurant in Manhattan. Once inside, things picked up speed and the comms started flying.
“The comm calls were very heavily encrypted, and their origins and destinations were spoofed in a maze of routers and proxies. We may never unravel the locations except for the comms we intercepted at their origins. But after twenty-five hours we cracked the encryption.”
Ooh, this sounds good. Everyone perks up. Fredericks is especially interested. He sits up straight and stops fiddling with his pen, his mouth hanging slightly open.
Harbaugh says, “The calls were sent without any vox data, so we don’t have their voices or inflections.”
Fredericks shuts his mouth and glances around the room. I quickly look to the front of the room as Harbaugh uses a small remote control to activate the blabscreen.
“We’ve assigned labels to the unknown suspects—XSUS One and XSUS Two—and used names for the suspects we do know. Once Hector went into his meeting with the female Protector, we began directly monitoring the restaurant. This is how we nabbed their comms as they were transmitted. Scarlet, you’ll appreciate the name we’ve given the Protector.”
He brings up a slide of text. On the screen we see:
Jackie-O to XSUS One: “Our guest says,
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