Young Again
Copyright© 2018 by Edward Douglass Patterson
Chapter 20: Finding Allies
Sarah, with Jason Daniels as her security, arrived a few minutes before Ashley at the KoDenKan Institute. “Jason, loosen up. I will make sure you have time to draw before you’re attacked.”
Jason laughed. “Sarah, that isn’t how it’s supposed to work.”
“When things fall apart, we’ll all have to do our part. I don’t expect anything to happen, but if you have to snarl at someone, make it the Russians.”
“We’re supposed to be teaching you.”
“It’s why I’m here tonight. Connie, has Master Chang arrived?”
“He’s observing the advanced class. The other advanced class, not the one you’re in.”
“Good, my friend Sergio is dropping by with his parents. He’s interested in taking lessons. Tell them where we are.”
“Sergio!”
“Yes, his father is Russian but has a horrible accent, so Sergio’s mother, Marsha, is the one to talk with.” Agent Marsha Poe was posing as Sergio’s mother to bring him and Stepan, the man traveling with Sergio, to the meeting.
Ashley and Sarah had been sparring as Master Chang watched when Sergio Shiskin, Stepan Urakov, and Agent Marsha Poe entered the room. The girls stopped and bowed to the two Masters as Sergio and Stepan stared at them.
“Master Lee, Master Chang, we choose this time to meet with a friend who has information about the plane crash I was in. They are from Russia. Agent Poe is with the FBI. We had to get President DeSantis’s approval to let them into the country to talk with us.”
“Your President?” Stepan asked.
“Aga, Stepan Nikolaevich.” Sarah’s reply in Russian surprised Stepan when she used his patronymic name.
“I told you not to underestimate them. Sarah, your accent has improved.”
“I got a chance to practice in Hawaii. We learned some words you hadn’t taught me.”
Sergio laughed. “I didn’t think it was proper to share those with you. My mistake.” He looked at the three Chinese in the room. He looked back at Sarah.
Sarah could tell Sergio was unsure if they wanted to discuss what he and Stepan had come to tell them in front of the strangers. She could tell he had dismissed Sandy and Jason as obviously either FBI or protection hired by Ashley’s grandfather. “Moscow isn’t the only city which was lost in the North Korean attack. You and Stepan are the only ones not US citizens. I think all of us want to find the ones who encouraged the North Koreans to attack.”
Ashley had been watching Jian Chang. He had hidden it quickly, but he had shown a strong interest in the information Sarah had mentioned.
“How do we know there wasn’t someone in China who also knew about what the North Koreans were planning?” Stepan was watching the three Chinese.
Agent Poe was standing behind Stepan. “The Chinese have been searching for information about why the North Koreans attacked. They have been unsuccessful, while we have been very lucky. Between Ashley’s information about the bomber and the information about the terrorists whom I was tracking before the attack, we had places to start. The President feels we would gain by working with the Russian government. He is looking to also bring the Chinese into the search, but we have some problems to resolve first.”
Sergio looked at Ashley and Sarah. “Is that what you want?”
“Yes, Grandfather, Sarah, and I want to ensure we don’t have another surprise attack. We’ll need to work with everyone on Earth to ensure it.”
“Everyone?” Sergio continued to watch the two girls, whom he had thought he knew well. There was something very different about them.
Ashley just nodded.
Sergio nodded back. “Would you tell us what you know first?”
Ashley and Sarah dropped down onto the mats.
“This will take a while. Jason, would you get everyone a bottle of water?” Sarah requested so as to portray him and Sandy more as security than as participants.
Ashley, Sarah, and Agent Poe explained the information the United States had. It took almost an hour.
When they were done, Ashley looked at Master Lee. “Will you go and let everyone know we will be here for a while? It would be better if we weren’t disturbed. While he is gone, does anyone have any questions?”
“You have an idea who is responsible?” Stephan asked.
“There are a lot of people in the Middle East who would have benefitted while we figured out how to deal with the North Koreans.” Ashley looked at Master Chang. “I believe they knew nothing about the North Koreans’ plan to attack Beijing. They probably planned on China delaying the response to the attacks. This would have diverted most of the world’s attention to North Korea. The destruction of North Korea ended the possibility of continued conflict in Asia. It also left the United States in a much stronger position, of which President DeSantis hasn’t taken advantage. When we talked to him, his goals are to help South Korea, Russia, and China recover and to determine who encouraged the North Koreans to attack. He agrees a wide coalition of nations working on these goals would be helpful.”
“Our information would be the first step in forming such a coalition?” Sergio asked.
“There are others with whom the President has talked. He hasn’t confided that information with us yet. I think we may learn more soon.”
“Ashley, you sound like you have talked personally to the President.” Master Chang seemed surprised.
“Yes, we have had several conversations on it. We have a number of things we are discussing with him. All would benefit if we had other countries working with us. There are reasons it hasn’t happened yet. Luckily, the President has the people to handle this type of thing. Sarah and I have school, the tournament Saturday, cheerleading, and a whole lot of other things we need to do.”
“Oh, for such a simple life.” Sergio shook his head. “My uncle is having me trained to be an FSB agent. I’m also getting tutored, but most of my tutors are armed. My father was also an FSB agent.” He looked at Stepan. “Tell them what you were asked to do and what Uncle Dmitry was able to find out. It seems so little, but it may be important.”
“I had been working a smuggling route into Iran. A boat trip across the Caspian Sea. My contact has been the same old man for the entire four years. On the last trip I made, he asked for information on Ashley Sawyer, Sarah Pierce, and Mark Sawyer. He wanted everything we could provide. I told him it was my last run, but I would have the man replacing me bring the information. He said they couldn’t wait for the information and gave me an email address. I reported this to Dmitry Shiskin when I returned. My cousin Yegor was there. He mentioned meeting you, then he mentioned what Sarah had told them. Dmitry Shiskin called his nephew in. We were surprised he knew you. Dmitry Shiskin agreed with your belief that the North Koreans were in contact with someone who those behind the bombing of the plane also knew. Sergio sent the message to Sarah, and we came here on Dmitry Shiskin’s instructions.”
“What information have you supplied them?” Agent Poe asked.
“Uncle Dmitry had people search the internet for information about you.” Sergio was addressing Sarah and Ashley, not Agent Poe. “I then read the information and added small bits of information I knew but you wouldn’t find on the internet. Then it was rewritten like a report from an agent who was here. I reread it and suggested changes. Then it was sent off. We have been well paid for the tales we told.”
“What kind of tales?”
“I added information about you being boy-crazy cheerleaders and always shopping for clothes all the time. I even had Ashley dating the Woodside quarterback, Wilson.”
Sandy and Jason were laughing at the expressions of disbelief on Sarah and Ashley’s faces.
“You got a lot of it right, except Sarah is dating Bert Wilson.” Sandy barely got out because of the laughter.
Later that evening, Sandy, Jason, Marsha, and Mark met at MSI to discuss what was learned at the meeting with the Russians.
“Ashley and Sandy both saw Jian Chang react very strongly to the information which he heard. I expect he’s right now communicating what he learned to those above him. They should request more information, but I’m not sure if he’ll try to use the other members in his spy ring to collect it. Well, it’s the NSA’s job to search through all the electronic communications for any hint of what we discussed.” Marsha told Mark.
“Do you think he bought it?”
“When the girls reacted to Sergio’s fantasy additions about them being boy-crazy cheerleaders, shopping, and Ashley dating Bert Wilson, it would be impossible to believe their reaction as setup.” Jason smiled as he remembered the expression on the girls’ faces.
“I don’t think you and Sandy laughing your heads off hurt either.” Marsha also remembered her smile after she realized Sergio had almost duplicated real facts about the girls when he had sought to make things up about them.
“Yes, I can imagine their reaction. They may be good young actresses, but their reaction would be very hard to fake.”
Commander Whitner knocked on the doorframe of Mark Sawyer’s office in his mountain cabin, which Captain McRae had taken over.
Sheila looked up and saw the frustration on Nat’s face. “What did the EMP weapon take out this time?”
“A chain saw. They got too close to the top of a hill over a mile and a half from the cliff face. They wanted a lever to move some of the rocks, so they were cutting a twelve-inch tree. They figured they would cut the tree to fall over the top of the hill so they would start dragging with a downhill slope.” He stared at the wall for a couple of seconds. “Does the Army still have mules? They could help with dragging the rocks away from the entrance.”
Sheila smiled. “Nat, I think you would need a blue ox for some of those.”
“It wouldn’t be so bad if the EMP pulses didn’t set off every blasting cap within miles.”
“We have MSI working with us. They are the best R&D company in the country. I think I need to give Mark Sawyer a call and see what his people can come up with.” Sheila thought about how being unable to use anything which used electricity within miles of the cliff face was affecting everyone’s morale. “Nat, let’s give everyone a long weekend. It’ll take a while for MSI to come up with a solution to our problem. There’s no use pushing our people under these conditions. One of them might come up with some ideas once they put some distance both physically and mentally from what we are doing here. Sarah, Ashley, Cindy, and Brian are competing in a martial arts tournament this weekend, which I would like to see. I’ll find out from Mark where it is being held. I expect I’m not the only one who might be interested in attending.”
“I’ll let the scientists know we’ll be taking a few days off.”
“Yes, they could also use some time off. Recording with paper and pencil isn’t something they’re used to. No cameras, computers, tablets, or laser measuring devices. They’re back to what people used a hundred and fifty years ago just as we are.”
Cindy, accompanied by Brian Jones, met her family at San Francisco International Airport. After hugs had been exchanged, Cindy waved Brian over. “This is Brian Jones. He’s also competing in the tournament.” She started introducing him to her family, including Cheng’s fiancée Anita Silva and Derek’s new girlfriend, Debbie Page.
Cindy saw the look her mother and father shared. She realized it looked like Brian’s being there was strictly because of the relationship between them, something that was only just starting to develop. She was wondering how to correct their impression when Brian solved the problem, though she suspected he hadn’t recognized there was a problem.
“Debbie, those ‘ball bearings’ you found were the item which convinced me. I look forward to what else you found.” Brian said when he was introduced to her.
“We all searched and found a lot more debris. We don’t know what most of the stuff is.”
“I like a good puzzle. We need to get where we can relax and talk.”
As they collected the many bags the Wongs had brought, Cindy remarked to her father. “I didn’t realize you had found so much?”
“There’s more, but we left it in the ground. Most of it looks to be crash debris, but it had been in the ground a very long time.” Eddie Wong’s eyes glanced to the side. “You know we are being watched.”
“Yes, Sandy Vicker’s people. I’m not sure if Marsha has anyone here or not.”
“Without her help, we would have never gotten these bags through screening.”
Marsha Poe and May Flower were at the same airport several hours later to meet a flight from Chicago. Marsha’s FBI badge allowed them to meet the flight at the gate.
“He’s a big one.” May remarked when they saw Romano Aviles. He was supporting the black woman, Julia Evans, who was the other person they were there to meet.
“Yes, it doesn’t look like any of it is fat. Even helping Julia, he moves smoothly. I think he’s going to cause Brian problems when they meet in the competition.”
They walked over to the two travelers who had started heading towards baggage pickup.
“Romano, Julia. I am Marsha Poe, and this is May Flowers. Elphaba asked us to meet you.” Marsha hadn’t understood the name Ashley used for her covert activities on the internet. An internet search found it was the main character in the play Wicked. She was unsure why she had chosen the name. Sarah’s name of Galinda was also from the same play. She was going to have to ask them about the names.
“You don’t look like a hacker. You look like a flower child.” Julia told May, then started laughing. She was obviously on some heavy pain medication.
“No, I am a surgeon among other things. I am pretty good with a computer but not in yours or Elphaba’s league.”
“Nobody is as good as Elphaba except Galinda. I would like to meet her too someday.”
Romano looked worried about how Julia was acting. “May, can you help her? She got stabbed last night.”
“That’s why I’m here. We saw the surveillance tapes of the attack. You should have taken her to a hospital.”
“I couldn’t have protected her there. Her cousins—.” Romano was unsure how to explain. “You saw a tape of the attack.”
“Galinda showed it to us.” Unlike Marsha, May understood the names Ashley and Sarah used.
“You know Galinda, also. Which one are you with?”
“We are doing a number of interesting things with both of them. Elphaba and Galinda are best friends. They’re just putting on an act when they use those names. Don’t be too upset; they had Wayne Sobczak fooled so badly he wrote a play to try to find out who they were. Of course, the girls loved it, and they are starring in it at their high school.”
“ManMan!” Julia whispered the name Wayne used on the internet.
“They’re only in high school?” Romano asked as Julia started giggling.
“Yes, they’re two very remarkable young ladies. They are also competing in the tournament you both have entered. I need to have a look at Julia. Marsha, can you use your badge and get us in one of the rooms here? I may have to do a bit of work here. We should also see about getting one of those rides the senior citizens use. Julia shouldn’t do much walking for the next couple of days.”
“Badge.” Romano looked very worried.
“FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Marsha Poe.” She showed them her badge. “Julia’s cousins have put a contract out on the two of you. I and some of my agents are here to make sure you get to Ashley safely.”
“Ashley?”
“Elphaba’s real name is Ashley Sawyer. She wants to make job offers to both of you.”
“Sawyer like the ones who own MSI.”
“Yes.” Marsha saw May making motions for her to go find them a room so she could help Julia. “We can talk while May helps Julia.”
As Marsha drove, Romano with Julia sleeping beside him asked questions of May. He was very happy with the changes in Julia’s condition May’s care had made. He was using his tablet to do research as they talked.
“You are almost as good as the girls are at multi-tasking.” May commented. “How many languages do you speak?”
“English and Spanish. I can get by in French. I took it in school.”
“They both speak English, Spanish, French, Latin, Russian, and Mandarin. They read a few more. Most of it was self-taught or more likely the two of them working together. Ken was talking about how the two of them forced him out of the ring. It was the first time it had ever happened.”
“Who’s Ken?”
“Ken Overton. He has a martial arts academy. Former Army Green Beret. He has been hired to set up the combat and weapons training areas.” Marsha spoke for the first time since they got in the car.
May smiled at her, and Marsha blushed.
“Combat and weapons training areas?”
“You won’t find out anything important with your tablet. The girls have our computer system more secure than what they’ve been doing for the government. Wayne and the other hackers have been taking turns attempting to get in and upgrading it since they got here.”
“They are working with the government. What I thought I knew about Elphaba and Galinda would make that the last thing I would expect.”
“They hid their abilities and what they did on the internet from their families until after the plane crash which killed most of the Sawyers. They and Mark Sawyer are leading the efforts to ensure we don’t have another attack like the one from the North Koreans. President DeSantis is in agreement and has the FBI and the military working directly with them. I misjudged him. I’m going to vote for him next year even if he is a Republican.”
Romano decided to try to hack into the MSI computer system. He laughed at the message he got. ‘Caballero Verte, we don’t keep the secrets on the MSI System. Sit back and take care of the Black Queen. You are almost here and then you will have the answers to the questions you have now. The new questions are the important ones, which is why we are going to be working together on them. You will love the toys they have for us. ManMan.’
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.