CHAPTER 56
CHERNOBOG WAS THE NAME of the world’s greatest hacker. Thought to be a myth Russian hackers used to scare their kids into behaving, we’d discovered that not only was Chernobog real, but the greatest hacker in the world was an old lady who looked like Everybody’s Grandma.
She’d been working against us, which was why we’d been hurt so badly during Operation Infiltration. But we’d found and captured her during Operation Defection Election. Circumstances had caused her to flip to our side, and us saving her life while also faking her death—and giving her the greatest setup a hacker could want along with a cadre of loyal sycophants in Hacker International as part of the package—had made staying with us and staying loyal to us something Chernobog found more than acceptable.
Olga had known her back in their heyday in the KGB. They’d been frenemies and then enemies, but age and circumstances had now made them friends.
“What does Olga say?”
“I anticipated that question and with Adriana gone, I had Malcolm contact Olga, since you seem to think that he and Mister Joel Oliver get her clues the fastest.”
“They do and MJO is probably pretty busy right now.”
“He is. He’s on the Coast Guard ship with your husband and the others, getting ready to get the story of a lifetime. Which, all things considered, is impressive, since he’s already gotten every other scoop that matters.” Vance was an MJO fanboy of the highest order. I found it to be one of his more endearing traits, and Oliver certainly appreciated the love, since Vance had been fanboying at him long before the A-Cs had been outed to the world.
“Okay, so what did Malcolm get from Olga?”
“That you need to call Chernobog.”
“Really? That’s it?”
“Yes. Be sure to do it the moment you’re back in your room.”
“Will do. Anything else I need to know?”
“No, but we need things. None of us look like natives. Team Commando needs papers to travel back and forth between the countries we all know you’re going to make them travel through. Yours cannot show you to be the First Lady or we’re all dead. By the way.”
“Gotcha. I’ll ask Raheem for help with that. What else do we need?”
“Raheem? I’m impressed. Sleep with him if you need to, because your team needs transportation of all kinds.”
“And scuba gear, too. You can run the idea of me sleeping with Raheem by Jeff. Let me know how that conversation goes.”
“Ha ha ha, this is me laughing at that idea. And I truly don’t want to know why you want scuba gear and am ever so grateful that I’m vital to Team Subterfuge. At any rate, ask your new bestie for whatever he can give us and be sure you have enough for that baker’s dozen, and extra oxygen tanks. As a reminder, your team can’t be officially known to be doing this.”
“Right, we have to do it Mission: Impossible style.”
“Stop sounding jazzed about it.”
“Can’t, sorry. Okay, text me with whatever we need.”
Got a shot of the “really?” look. “Texts can be hacked. So, no. Have Camilla do information transfer.”
“Gotcha, M.”
Vance grinned. “I’m happy to be the spy who stays in the warm and does the paperwork. People rarely die from that.”
“Don’t say things like that. It’s tempting fate.”
“Duly noted. So, I’m going to get you back to Raheem so that you can continue whatever the two of you are doing in there aside from eating your weight in finger foods.”
“We’re plotting, actually. He’s on our side. And you’re just jealous.”
“Guilty as charged. At least in terms of the foodstuffs and opulence. By the way, assume that he went through your bags and planted bugs.”
“He’s the king, why would he do that?”
Vance shook his head at me as he took my arm. “Why does anyone do that?”
I didn’t answer, mostly because we’d taken all the time Vance had asked to have and more. We hurried back to the private room, Vance knocked, opened the door after Raheem had told us to enter, and handed me back off. “Please remember that the landing will be happening reasonably soon,” Vance said to both of us. “We will send people to collect you when it’s time.”
Vance left and Raheem helped me back into the comfy chair. “Is everything alright?” he asked politely.
“It is.” Well, in for a penny, in for the whole piggybank, right? “My team is, ah, fully aware of both of my missions.”
Raheem’s lips quirked. “And here you thought they were not. That saves time. Good.”
“Let’s see if you still think so after I go over what we need.”
More talking, more planning, lots of helping, done as fast as possible. This was good. Camilla was getting a workout in terms of running back and forth getting information and giving it in return.
Alpha Team coordinated the setup of Field agents and floater gates to get the various important personages to their assigned meeting spot as well as getting the religious bodies into the palace. By now the Themnir ship had been spotted by every country that was paying attention to space, and the world was waking up fast to what was coming.
Technically, these meetings were going to be my Big Moments as the First Lady. However, Raheem had agreed with my assessment, which was that aliens requesting permission to land was going to overshadow anything I might say and prove my point at the same time.
Raheem had given me access to any number of things he possessed, including speedboats, a yacht, a plane, and a whole lot of cars. He’d requested that we not try to destroy any of the things we were borrowing, but also shared that a wrecked car or even a sunken yacht was a small price to pay for saving the world. Clearly he’d read up on how we tended to roll.
Raheem also chose not to take offense when I checked my phone several times, though he did mention that he hadn’t bothered to plant any bugs, which either meant that Vance and I had been overheard or Raheem was just clearer on how things rolled than I was. Fifty-fifty for either or both.
Phone checking was proven to be a good thing near the end of our tête-à-tête, because Chuckie shared some important news, which I shared in turn. “The Themnir have just requested permission to land.”
“How close to us are they?”
“Near Mars.”
“They all seem to travel so much faster than we have yet achieved.”
“Well, Alpha Four has given us plans for ships. And we have other aliens on the planet who are also assisting.”
“Ah, yes, Prince Gustav.” So he’d met or heard of Drax. Not a surprise, since they’d done that whole Aliens Are Our Friends tour. “I was impressed with all the royalty that came from afar to visit us.”
“That was the goal.”
Raheem chuckled. “I’m sure it was. I will now go do my part of our work while you do yours. I wonder, though . . . is your double up to this level of subterfuge?”
Francine was a troubadour, so yes she was. But I considered the question as if she wasn’t. “Well, first off, Mona will be with her the entire time, and I feel confident she can steer Francine toward the right things to say. Also, per what we’ve discussed, Francine’s main job is going to be shaking hands with various royalty that you’re going to introduce her to, and then you’re going to do most of the talking.”
“Yes. However, if someone makes the mistake of being rude . . .”
“I’ll make sure she’s clear to really act like me in all ways.” Francine had a lot of sass, and we’d spent plenty of time together—I knew she could channel her Inner Kitty in all the ways necessary. Just hoped none of them would be necessary.
“Excellent. I’m relieved that you had the workaround for the necessary paperwork. Creating that for one is time-consuming enough. Creating what will be necessary for all of those going with you . . .”
The workaround was that King Raheem would provide us with all the official seals, inks, paper stock, and printing plates for us to create “real” Bahraini IDs, and Centaurion Division would get into the fake ID business, using his supplies to create legitimate papers and passports and all other forms of ID to show that everyone on Team Commando was actually carrying the right documentation to prove they were a legal Bahraini citizen, Adriana included. Myself, too. Myself especially.
“I appreciate you giving us all the items necessary for us to pull this off in a timely manner.” Hyperspeed was, as always, a good thing, and gates were a blessing, especially if I wasn’t the one going back and forth using them. And while printing couldn’t be sped up, having access to all the right materials meant that the A-Cs had created the necessary IDs in about five minutes.
He shook his head. “Your people are amazing.”
“But, ultimately, they’re still just people. Like the ones coming here. The good ones and the bad ones.”
“Yes. Good luck with your mission. I will not be able to do much if things go wrong.”
“I know. Like the State Department, you’ll have to disavow all knowledge of what we’re doing and who we are. I think the world is going to be focused on what’s coming, more than what I’m doing, though.”
“Let us both hope.”