Synarchy Book 2: The Ascension (20 page)

“
That’s awful nice of you.
Isn’t it, V?” Lucien kept his expression humorous as he set the
bags on the table and opened them up.

“
It is. Thank you, Caesar.”
Vasco offered his hand to his enemy again. They hugged once more.
Caesar gave Lucien the same embrace before he left.

After the door swung shut, Vasco waited
thirty seconds before he picked the phone up off of the conference
table.

“
I’m so proud you didn’t
kill him,” Lucien said as he took a seat and pulled out his sub
sandwich.

“
Yet,” Vasco said while he
listened to the phone ring. When the sergeant answered Vasco said,
“When General Zhane gets back on base, ask him to come meet me in
the conference room at the Dion Building right away. Thank
you.”

Lucien watched his brother as he hung
up the phone. “You’re not sending Christopher after him, are
you?”

“
No. But Caesar was in
Guatemala, which means he was watching our team there.” Vasco sat
down next to his brother, pulling a thick sandwich towards
him.

“
Ah. Sending them some
military protection?”

“
Exactly.”

“
Good call.”

“
Where’s Simone?”

“
Having lunch with Caleb in
her office, and plotting to blow shit up like you told her,” Lucien
said around a mouthful. “Those two have potential.”

For just a moment, amusement passed
over Vasco’s face. “Yes, yes they do.”

§

July 4, 2012 - 12:12 PM

Alcyone Island

Dion Corporation
Headquarters

Simone stood with her arms folded
across her chest, studying the hologram floating in front of her.
It was a map of the United States with small red icons shaped like
military bases marking the location of every concentration
camp.

“
I can’t believe they get
away with calling them Illegal Immigrant Detainee Stations. Do they
expect we’re going to be invaded by Mexicans?”

Xavier Terenzio–Zhane’s voice came in
through the speaker phone. “You would think alarm bells might go
off, but no, they’re good at getting away with pretty glaringly
apparent things.” Xavier worked for Alexandro in Homeland
Security.

“
Centuries of practice,”
Caleb said as he shouldered open the door, a deliciously smelling
bag in one hand, and two sodas in a drink tray in the
other.

“
That, too,” Xavier
said.

Simone caught herself smiling when
Caleb walked in. “That smells delicious.”

“
Brain food. Lucien brought
your brother lunch, and I promised him I’d bring you yours.” Caleb
flashed a quick smile, pulled the Italian subs out of the bags, and
situated them on a paper plate for her. “Don’t let me
interrupt.”

“
You’re not. Thank you.”
Simone touched his arm as she sat down. “Keep going,
Xavier.”

“
The National Security
Agency, NSA, has become the top dog. Homeland Security sits right
underneath them. We are responsible for running the camps, and will
be the intermediary during the transition from local law
enforcement to the military, just so you understand who all the
players are. The NSA has compiled three lists. People on the red
list are the ones they consider the greatest threat. Those people
have ascended, for lack of a better word. They’re carrying the
highest vibration, and they’re lifting up others with their mere
presence. They will be taken to the camp just outside of Sedona,
isolated, and made examples of.”

Simone frowned as she dropped her
napkin into her lap. “Do I want to know what that will
entail?”

“
No, you don’t. We’re going
to try to hold off on the torture for as long as we can, for as
many of them as we can, but it’s a slippery line we’ll walk. If the
Brotherhood keeps to the original time table, they’ll only be in
there for a week before you bust them loose.”

“
Okay. Keep
going.”

“
After the red list comes
the blue list. All your outspoken journalists, writers, conspiracy
theorist, spiritualists, people who believe in the constitution,
free speech, democracy, et cetera. Anybody who was getting ready to
jump ship, or had started to pull their energy from the system, is
on it.”

“
How did they determine who
these people are?” Simone asked.

“
Big brother is watching,”
Caleb said around a bite from his sandwich.

“
Exactly, Caleb,” Xavier
said. “One of the reasons the internet hasn’t been censored is so
they could monitor search terms, websites visited, and easily
identify who the ‘troublemakers’ are. The NSA really doesn’t have
to monitor cell phones much anymore. Social networking sites like
Twitter and Facebook are telling them all they need to
know.”

Simone’s frown deepened. “Control
disguised as freedom.”

“
In a sense. They’re really
good at that. Hell, the NSA will buy independent journalists to
purposefully set up control groups, disguised as activist
organizations for some cause, just to spread dis-information. It’s
called Project Chickenfeed.”

Simone snorted and shook her head,
picking up her sandwich. “I bet they get a real kick out of
themselves.”

“
Wouldn’t you if you were
getting away with the crap they are?”

“
I’d laugh a little bit,”
Caleb said. “Thankfully, I’m not that mean-spirited.”

“
You’re secretly a really
nice guy, aren’t you?” Simone shot Caleb a sideways
glance.

“
Well, I’m not
that
nice.” Caleb winked
at her.

“
Few people are. But, we
only need a few.” Xavier chuckled. “Simone, Alexandro has confirmed
that the information Marcello collected on the top five bases is
accurate. Those are the camps your SVT teams will spring people out
of.”

Simone set her sandwich down, dusted
off her hands, and pressed a button the laptop next to her. The
hologram shifted, bringing up a bird’s eye view of the bases with
statistical information on each scrolling down the side. She
drummed her fingers on the table, thoughtfully. “I’m not sure we
can handle all these.”

“
You’re going to get
back-up. There is a pretty large group that will rendezvous with
your team called the White Lotus Society.”

“
Chinese group?” Caleb
asked.

“
Yep. You'd be surprised by
how many organized and really effective groups have been giving the
Brotherhood hell over the years,” Xavier said.

“
Good. The more the better,”
Simone said.

“
Definitely. We’re counting
on a lot of pieces falling into place, the night of. Those bases
are guarded with some pretty advanced artillery, like ROWS, so it’s
vital that Lucien knocks ELIMINT off line. He does that, the solar
storms start, and the base will pretty much shut down.”

“
What are ROWS?”

“
Remote Operational Weapon
Systems.” Caleb looked over at Simone. “They are heat-seeking,
mechanized rifle systems that automatically lock onto anything in
sensor range.”

“
Sounds like we should have
a few.” Simone studied the hologram. “Talk to me about the
underground bases.”

“
Okay. Tony has gotten us
some great intelligence on those. For smoke and mirrors, you’re
going to let Olivia and Amadeo think you’re targeting a phony
list.”

Simone nodded, despite the fact that
Xavier couldn’t see her. “I’ve got that file.”

“
Good deal. Now, for the
bases you’re actually going to hit. You’ll start at Mt. Shasta,
California. There’s a hidden entrance in an abandoned mine shaft.
The base is five levels deep, but you only have to access level
one, where the station is. Set up the bomb, jump on the train, and
you’ll go to Sedona, Arizona next.” As Xavier spoke, the
holographic images in front of Simone shifted to show the bases’
access points. “From there, you’ll head to Dulce, New Mexico.
You’ll see several different destinations on the train, but you
want the Chrysanthemum Bio Genetics facility. It will be written in
a very old Sumerian dialect, but you should have what it looks like
in your file. Some really nasty stuff goes on there. Next stop will
be Mid Way City in Kinsley, Kansas. Mid Way connects the east and
west coast, hence its name. Your final stop will be in Denver, and
this is the one big one. It’s right underneath the
airport.”

“
The train I’ll be taking is
the magneto-levitation train, right?” Simone asked.

“
That’s it. It will take you
ten to fifteen minutes to travel between these spots.”

“
I’ve heard they hit speeds
of 1500 MPH.” Caleb’s eyes lit up. “That’s badass.”

Simone slowly drew her gaze over to
Caleb, studying him. Kyle had said similar things to Lil when he
talked about his airplanes and how fast they could go; but, just
because Caleb liked things that moved fast didn't mean he was Kyle.
Simone sighed silently and came back to the present. She would get
nothing accompli-shed by missing something that had been. “The
train won’t be offline when the bases’ power grids go
down?”

“
Yes, it will, but we’re
going to give you this handy little device the Pleiadians made to
jump start it. Oh, something you probably don’t know. The entrance
points to each base are blocked off by a huge door. That way, if
something goes wrong in one area, they can isolate it from the
others. The Pleiadians have a device for that, too, so you’ll be
hot-wiring them open. Shouldn’t take you more than a minute or two
to do that. You’re also going to get what we call Thermoptic
Camouflage devices. That’s a fancy name for an invisibility cloak.
It will also hide your heat signature, so not even infrared will
pick you up. It’s a small thing. Wear it on your belt, and it will
work in ten minute intervals. Two problems with it, though: one,
it’s going to make you really nauseous each time you use it, and
two, you can’t wear Kevlar.”

“
Oh, goody,” Simone said
dryly.

Caleb chuckled. “Well, if we’re
invisible, I suppose we don’t have to worry about being shot
at.”

“
Compared to your previous
life, Simone, this should be a walk in the park.” Xavier
chuckled.

Simone laughed lightly. “True. But,
there’s nothing like the real thing. Anything else I need to
know?”

“
Not at this point. I’ve
kept this connection open long enough, too. I’ll let you know if
there are any changes.”

“
Xavier, one last thing.
Amadeo and Olivia went to Rome. Do you know who they were meeting
with?”

“
When did they
go?”

Simone glanced down at her notepad.
“June 21.”

“
The day of the summer
solstice. They might have met with Enlil. I’ll see if Tony
knows.”

“
Great. Thanks
Xavier.”

“
No problem. Tell my Dad I
said hi.”

“
Will do.” Simone pressed
the button to end the call, and then looked back at the holograms.
“I never thought that, one day, I’d charge into underground
military bases to blow them up. My ambition didn’t extend beyond
taking control of the black market.”

Caleb smiled. Simone’s goal in life
didn’t surprise him, considering what she’d done in previous lives.
“Just imagine what you’ll be doing after that.”

Simone laughed and shook her head. “I
can’t. I can’t fathom how different the world is going to be after
we’re done removing the powers that be.”

“
Probably a lot more fun.”
Caleb stood up, collecting her empty plate and the
trash.

“
Thank you.” Simone tracked
his movements, caught her mind wandering places it shouldn’t go,
and turned her attention back to the hologram. “I’ve never even
handled a gun this lifetime.”

“
We’ll you’re going to get
five months of practice in. Got some time, now? I could take you
down to the shooting range.”

“
Are you a good
shot?”

Caleb slowly grinned. “Madame
President, I’m not a good shot, I’m an above excellent
shot.”

Caleb’s grin was infectious. Never mind
that it was familiar in ways that Simone refused to think about.
“Modest, too.”

Caleb walked over to her office door
and pulled it open for her, amusement swirling around in his eyes.
“Honest. There’s a difference.”

§

July 10, 2012 - 11:21 AM

Alcyone Island

LT Boxing Rings

“
You’re getting slow, old
man,” Lucien goaded his uncle.

He shouldn’t have spoken so
soon.

Christopher pushed off the ropes and
came at Lucien hard and fast, a barrage of punches breaking through
Lucien’s block and rattling his brain in his skull.

Lucien got stuck in the corner, half
grunting and half laughing. “Goddamn! All right, uncle, uncle
already!”

Christopher backed off, but not before
giving Lucien another strong strike. “They didn’t call me Fangs Out
for nothing.” Fangs Out was the term assigned to military pilots
who liked flying in attack mode.