Balance (44 page)

Michael, completely disarmed by the verbal ass-kicking he’s receiving, can say nothing
, only
stare at her in
disbelief.

“If you would get over yourself for a second, you might have noticed, I
did fine without you.  K
icked the crap out of three of them. 
If I’m not mistaken,
I beli
eve that puts me up five to two
in
the ‘roider ass-kicking category.  So, I don’t think I need you
to
hold my hand every time
I
go to dinner.”
Her tone acerbic.

Michael, recovering quickly, starts to smile.

“What the hell are you smiling at?”
She
barks at him
,
furious for disrespecting her.

“The ‘
r
oider ass-kicking category
?
”
E
yebrows
raised
in amusement
, he
laughs
openly
.

C
ompletely flustered
,
Rena glares
at him
.
S
lowly
, it
register
s
what he just said,
and she
starts laughing.

Michael, dropping the file on the coffee table, pull
s
her
over onto his lap
so she straddles
him,
his
hands around her waist
. 
He
gazes
into her amazing turquois eyes,
then
kiss
es
her
intensely
.
  After several moments, he pulls away, his forehead resting on hers,
“You
’
r
e
right.  Of
course,
you’re right.  I can’t be there always.  I just felt so powerless seeing you lying on the bed in the infirmary.  I felt stup
id for getting upset about the
Harbinger of Death crap.  It
was
petty.”

“Michael, it’s not petty.  I kn
e
w why you were upset.  You wouldn’t be you, if you just a
ccepted it.  That’s what I love about you.
E
ven in th
ese
com
pletely messed up circumstances
you’re still comple
tely grounded in morality
.  You’re a rock.  I think that might have been why I did it, got involved, because I knew you would have.  I knew going in
the odds weren’
t in my favor, but it was the
right thing to do and I knew you wouldn’
t have hesitated.
” She kisses him, and whispers, “
You didn’t for me.”

“Since when did you become such an expert on m
e?” Michael asks
rhetorically
.

“Since the moment I met you,
my obsession has been to
understand
you.” Rena replies, knowing
Michael does not fully comprehend the extent of her entirely true statement.

“At least some good came out of the event, other than you taking the lead in the ‘roider ass-kicking competition.  If you hadn’t been there,
Meg
probably wouldn’
t have made it past the tryout.”

“Crap
!
I totally forgot to tell you.  I
don’t know if it was a tryout
.  No one was there to observe, not Takada, Still, Smith … no one.  It was really weird.”

“That is odd.  It’s standard
protocol
,
tryouts
for field assets
happen the
ir
first day.  There were three new talents, why would no one have been there to watch.”

“Oh,
shit!
”
Rena exclaims in disbelief
.

“What?” Michael questions
.

“
The tryout wasn’t just for them
…
it was for me, or us
.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Michael … I was …
or I actually think
,
we
…
were supposed to intervene, or at least we were to make that choice. 
Meg
hasn’t been assigned a
position
yet, but she’s been taken under our wing.  The
tryout
, it
was
intended
to spark a bond.
”  Rena shakes her head, frustrated, “
I got played
…
I saw in
Meg
the same scared look.  Michael, they want to add
Meg
to our I
nfiltration
T
eam.”

“So you think
she’
s a plant?”
He
asks
.

“No
,
not in t
he sense that she’
s complici
t. 
You know Takada
want
s
to use us
in
more critical
and complex
infiltrations
.  They
ne
ed us for
these operations; h
owever,
I think
he
value
s
me too m
uch
to immerse me
too deep or too long. 
Ms. Smith
mentioned something to that
effect
today when I
pressed
.
 
We’ve
suspected
Chango was planning something big.
  I bet Meg joining our team is part of that plan.
”

“
Do
you think
she
has training?”

“No,
I doubt it.  T
hey wouldn’t have invested in someone that might not have bonded.  No
,
Meg
is a new talent.  My guess
,
Takada
would’ve
paraded se
veral potentials in front of us
until we picked the right one.  Remember the bond is
critical for the Infiltration T
eam.  Takada would never have forced one
, especially with us.
  He needed at least one of us to make the leap.
”

“So
we back off, try to reject her?
”
He
proposes
.

“I tried that with you before, it didn’t w
ork.  The bond is already there
and they know it.  Sh
e’s like a little sister to me, and
I’m going to guess you feel the same way.  You know what they’ll do if we try to push her away.”
Rena reminds him
.

“
You realize that if you hadn’t stepped in, she’d be dead.  Since you did step in,
they assume there’
s a bond.  If we push her
away,
they might
terminate
her.  They intend to use her as our deep immersion asset, which
puts her in highly dangerous environments.  If
we
can’t extract her cleanly
… Rena
?
”
Michael
explains,
establish
ing
the
terms
of Meg’s
situation
.

“She’s a
n
expendable
asset
.” Rena finishes
.

He
shakes his head
in concurrence
.

“Michael, this is happening becaus
e
Takada
do
es
n’t want me to be
at
risk
. 
He said as much in Chicago. 
He
may have made that decision a
while
ago
and as a
result,
they’
ve been searching for the right girl to drop in
to
this role.
”  Rena
hesitates
, the revelation
clear, “
The
scout didn’t just discover
Meg
…
they were hunting for her.
”

“So
,
you think a bond has developed?
” asks Takada
.

“Yes, they’ve taken Meg
in.  They care for the girl
. 
How long do you think it’ll take
un
til
they
figure
out the reason for
her
addition
?
”

“What makes you think
,
they
wi
ll
figure
it
out?”

“Together,
they’re both pretty smart, they’ll fig
ure it out.  Speak of the devil.
 
Excuse me, I’ve g
ot
t
o
take this”

Takada considers the statement
.
O
ne thing he has learned of late
,
do
not underestimate Rena.  As he had surmised, she most definitely
is
his diamond …
a jewel
…
he is unwilling to risk losing. 
Even
if Rena
does
fi
gure
it out, she’ll
also
realize
,
at this point, no matter what she does
,
Meg will be at risk. 
Rena’s
only course of action
,
turn the girl into exactly what he wants, an extension
of both her and Michael.

“Problem?” Takada asks
.

“No
problem
.  Rena needs me to pick her up
at
the
Immersion Offices
.”

“Together are they?”

“I assume so.  Do you need me to let you know?”

“No, that’s okay.  Oh, but Waters, if something does seem out of sorts, do let me know.”

“Yes sir.”

…

“My biggest fear is that Takada and Ms. Smith will put her in play
,
way too early.”  Rena
states. 
Rising early,
she
and Michael
sit together at thei
r kitchen island discussing Meg.
H
aving deliberated
for
the last
h
our, initially, they contemplated her reprieve, but finally conceding the safest course, her only course, was to remain part of their team.
 

Michael agrees,
“We’ve got to equip her with the essentials, things she’ll need to survive, but we have to be careful.
If she becomes frustrated, she could wilt under the pressure.  She needs to feel she’s progressing, always progressing, always building her confidence.”

“You’re right
.
 
If intended for deep immersion,
confidence will go a long way in keeping her alive
.  The growth has to be instinctive though, if we push her too hard, wilting is one thing … suspecting her fate is an altogether different problem.”
  Rena warns.

“Then we devise
a training acumen that makes her crave more, while showing rapid growth.
  More variety, but smaller steps; build the repertoire versus the individual
skill
.”

Rena
considers his proposal, “I
recommend
we
train
Meg
in hand-to-hand
combat together
.
Pairing our efforts, I’ll focus on how she
learns, her mental capacity to absorb the information, while you show her what she needs to learn.  We’ll
concentrat
e
on surprise
and
short area combat
with an intent
to
kill or immobilize
quickly,
Jeet Kune Do, Judo
, Aikido and Karate
.
”

“She’s not you Rena, not a
s
physically developed.
Meg
’s slight stature will not permit a
prolong
ed
fight
. 
We need to expand her
arsenal
,
teach her
short-range
attack
methods
,
throwing knives or shuriken, combat techniques that keep her out of her opponents grasp, while still close enough to
maximize
her effectiveness.
”

“You’re probably right.” 
Rena
admits, “Are ther
e
other weapons we could consider?  Maybe
whips, garrotes, sai or
large knives
.
”

“I’ll see what I can find.”

Understanding d
eep immersion is all about obs
ervation and information,
Rena proposes,
“I’ll talk to Ms. Smith, enlist
the
Immersion Team
s,
help train
Meg
in observation, recognition, access and
withdr
awal techniques.
”

Michael
nods, “Do you know, did she come in with any skills of her own
?
  H
as
she
any
experience with computer
s
,
hacking or programming?
I
nformation
acquisition
and communications are her ticket out of
an
immersion.
  The faster she can access information, moving the operation to the effect, the quicker we can get her out.”

“I’ll see what I can find out.”

They
continue their discussion
for some time when
Michael
interrupts
the exchange
abruptly, “Who was her scout?  We need to know what they saw, why she
was
invited in the first place?  S
ought out
specifically for us, she
must
have skills
that augment ours
.  We need to find out what those are.”

Rena considers
hi
s logic, “You
’
r
e right, but
i
f we request th
at
information
,
are we tipping our hand that we know the
‘
why
’
and
‘
how
’
,
behind her presence?
D
oes that
even
matter
at this point
?”

“Rena
this is a game of
chess
here.
Takada knows you
’
r
e
really smart.  I
f he
knows
you
’ve
grasp
ed
the ‘why
’
and
‘
how’, he’ll expect
you’ll have
discovered
his
leverage.
Rena …
he
has
your queen
.
”

She sighs deeply,
becoming
frustrated with Takada’s maneuvering,
“Again
,
you
’
r
e
right.
S
o
,
how do we proceed without tipping our hand too far?
We need some breathing room.
W
hat can we show
without giving away the game?”

Michael shrugs,
“
I’m not sure. 
L
et’s deal
with what we can at the moment.
W
e need to get some breakfast. 
We’ll
find
Meg,
and
try to
get to know her better.
M
aybe some fruit will fall from the tree if we shake it a little.
”  Leaning over, he kisses
the top of her head, “
Not to mention, you have a follow up with the doctor
this morning
to see if that sharp mind is still sharp
.
I wouldn’t want you to be all body, no brains.”

She
punches
him
affectionately
, half smile illuminating her face
.

“You know, it would help if we
had
some idea what Chango is
planning
.  If we could establish an operation, we can customize th
e training and work to
a timeline.  Have you gotten any ideas of upcoming acti
vity
?” Michael
inquires
.

“
Ms. Smith
told me about a few, but
nothing seems to fit.  The
one I keep hearing about is Whitemire. 
Ms. Smith
did call it a long haul op.
 
That one could be it. 
The problem
,
it’s
happening
right
now, not enough time for us to get Meg ready.
”

“Can you gather some intel?”

“I can do more than that if I can get the okay to get back on the computer.  Wish me luck with the doctor.”

Michael pushes Rena to the di
ning hall, timing it just right
,
meeting Meg
as she enters
.

S
till nervous over the last time he left Rena alone
,
he
offers to get both young
women their
breakfast
so
Meg
can keep
Rena
company
.

Slowing
as he approaches
the table
,
Michael
watch
es
the two women
,
deep in conversation
.  Rena mentioned
she had formed a sisterly
bond wit
h Meg. 
He
can see it now
;
they do act like sisters. 
Sitting
down
without saying
a word
, trying not to interrupt the
discussion
,
he
expect
s
Rena
to be
manipulating the conversation,
gain
ing
some insight into
the
mysterious girl.
  Or not.

“
Ms. Smith
had me try on several outfits, nothing as nice as the red gown.  Do you think I’ll ever get a chance to wear that
for real
?”
  Meg inquires.

Rena
considers the question
for a second
, “Yes, I think that can be arranged.”

Michael chokes on the bit of food he just put in his mouth, “What?”

“I think
,
taking Meg out for a nice dinner, might be exactly what she needs.  In fact, I’ll
suggest
it to Takada
today
.”

Michael, slightly confused with the direction of the
ir
investigation
, decides
to trust Rena and
go with the flow.  He clears his throat, “
Anything you need me to do?”

“Yes, actually there is.  Under the circumstances, I’d feel a little better with some support.  Can you s
ee if Waters can join us? 
Meg needs a date, no point wasting th
at
dress on someone we don’t know.
  Waters will be a little more at ease around the two of us, as opposed to some random asset.
  I’m sure Takada will be okay with that.
” Rena turn
s
to address Meg, “
Are you okay with Waters joining us?”