Humanity Unlimited 1: Liberty Station (23 page)

“A small hook will catch the flesh toned exterior. Without a grip, it’s much harder to see. It has a small microphone that allows you to hear as well as you normally would. It’s quite clever.”

Jess picked up the glasses next. Classy wire frames. She’d expected ugly plastic. A quick check showed the lenses had no prescription. A good thing, since her vision was perfect. She wondered what they’d have done if she’d needed glasses of her own. Probably contacts.

There wasn’t any indication of a camera, no matter where she looked.

“Okay, I give up. Where is the lens?”

“It’s inside one of the nose pads.”

She examined them more closely. “Now I see it. That’s a good design. And there’s no chance that he’ll detect it sending a signal?”

Paolo grinned boyishly. “I’ll load an app onto your mobile phone and it will communicate over an encrypted wireless frequency. Even though you don’t know it, your phone is always pinging the towers. That will disguise the signal. The phone will record video, even if you go into an area of the building where the coverage is spotty. When you come back out, it will sync up with the base unit.”

“That sounds a little worrying. What if he asks me something I don’t know while we have no connection?”

“I’ll be with you. The plan is for us to examine everything as a team. I’m the primary security specialist and you are my beautiful American assistant. The camera will keep your security team is apprised of your personal situation at all times.”

That was reassuring. Jess wouldn’t have to bluff her way through a job she knew very little about. The sniper could feed her some thoughts so she didn’t sound like an idiot, if need be.

Sandra pocketed the gear as the waitress came over to deliver their food. The mercenary waited until they were alone again to speak.

“The estate is big. He has a number of vulnerable approaches to the house itself. He was lax in his personal security. He didn’t even turn the alarm system on. Honestly, you’d be shocked how many people shoot themselves in the foot by ignoring the most basic precautions.”

Paolo dug into his food with gusto. “This is excellent. I was up early and fast food is a national tragedy.”

Jess couldn’t argue with that.

“When is he expecting us?”

He checked his watch. “I told him we’d be there in about ninety minutes. We should finish up and be on our way.”

She glanced at Sandra. “Where will you be?”

“There’s an unoccupied house nearby. We’ll set up inside the woods there. All it’ll take to get to you is hopping over a stone wall and running through some trees. I figure three minutes, tops. If I get worried, I’ll get the team moving early.”

They finished breakfast and got on the road. Just outside the town where Romano lived, she moved to Paolo’s car. They’d go in separately, just in case someone was watching traffic.

The estate looked imposing. The tall wall and imposing iron gate would’ve kept her out. The armed men just inside were an added incentive to behave.

Paolo rolled down his window and said something in Italian to one of the men. A brief exchange resulted in the gate opening. It shut with ominous finality behind them as they drove into the lion’s den.

They were committed now.

* * * * *

Harry’s plane landed on schedule and Cradock picked them up. They drove to a different part of the airfield and directly into a large hangar holding four sleek planes.

They didn’t look like transports. They looked like something out of a movie, all aggressive lines and angles. That was probably to help defeat the radar. Based on the engine configuration, Harry thought they were probably capable of vertical take offs and landings.

He didn’t know much about planes, but they looked badass.

“The pilots are in on the plan,” Cradock said, “but not the ground crew. We’ll have a meeting with everyone to plan things, but keep mum on the details even out here. You never know who’s a spy.”

Harry couldn’t agree more. French prisons were better than many others he’d risked over the years, but he’d rather avoid the experience.

He walked under one of the wings. “Is it VTOL? How good is the stealth? How many people can each hold? And realistically, what are the chances you can really evade the French radar?”

Cradock smiled. “These are fully VTOL capable and can switch modes quickly in the air. Each one can hold two of your teams. As for the stealth, it’s good.

“We have two modes. One is passive, which is what the French are buying. One is active, which we’re keeping to ourselves. We’ll give them a taste of what these planes can really do when these babies drop off their screens.”

Harry shook his head. “I’m surprised the US is letting you sell these things to anyone other than them.”

“The American government doesn’t know about the active mode. With the way they’ve gutted the military, they can’t afford them anyway. Rainforest is a true international company, incorporated through a country that doesn’t care who we sell to, so long as they get their taxes. We don’t need the US government’s permission to do squat.”

That bothered Harry, but it wasn’t his fight. The American government had done this to themselves. The incredible polarization in politics meant only the most extreme politicians got into office. Nationally, the liberals had occupied the White House for the last three decades. The Senate bounced back and forth, depending on which party had more seats up for grabs, and the penny-pinching, socially stunted conservatives had a lock on the House.

That meant nothing of import happened to address the country’s woes. The debt was out of control, inflation was through the roof, and any country that felt froggy could push the formerly great nation around like a schoolyard bully. Only international terrorism was able to bridge the gap, and even it never got the attention it deserved.

France was teetering on the edge of collapse. Selling them these planes wouldn’t help. They needed to take their country back from the people willing to burn it down. He doubted they had the will to save themselves.

Well, that wasn’t his problem. Once the country fell, these planes wouldn’t be a worry anymore. The fanatics couldn’t fly them.

“Have all my teams arrived?”

Cradock nodded. “They’re scattered around the area, but they’re here. We’ll pull them in once you’re ready to lay out the grand plan. We can get eight teams into the target building with four teams to cover your withdrawal. The reactor is supposedly loaded into a container.

“Word is that it’s scheduled to leave early tomorrow morning. We’ll probably be able to get you there right after dark tonight. That means security will be lighter than normal. They want more people on duty for the move tomorrow, so some people have the day off to rest up.”

That worked. Harry gave the planes one last appreciative look. Maybe he could buy one for his company. It would sure make some jobs easier.

“Call in the teams. It’s time to get this rolling.”

* * * * *

Nathan watched the excavation with satisfaction. The earthmovers had cleared the area around the underground chamber with astonishing speed. The goal was to open the room below to the air without dropping debris on the spacecraft.

That had sounded impossible to him until an expert explained how it worked. Teams would go in through the side tunnel he’d seen the woman use. They’d fire stabilizers into the roof. A lot of them. The choppers would act in unison to lift the roof off. Then they’d lift the spaceship up on the slings the team was putting into place.

“We’re ready to lift the roof, sir,” the excavation boss said.

A glance at his watch confirmed that they were ahead of schedule. “Excellent. Proceed.”

The local government had failed miserably at sending help to his father’s guards. Most of them were dead. His men were pursuing the rest through the jungle. His mother had sown massive confusion in the Guatemalan government. No one would stop him.

Nathan held his breath as the choppers lifted the roof. The stonework was amazing. It broke into a billion pieces when they dropped it off to the side.

The spaceship looked a little worse for wear in the bright sunlight, but that hardly mattered. The limitless wealth it promised was all he cared about. That and sticking it to his father and brother.

It took them another few minutes to hitch the slings. They’d made an educated guess at the weight. Two choppers should be able to lift it.

In fact, it came up so easily that he made the decision to try one helicopter alone. That would greatly simplify the move.

It worked.

The spaceship headed out on one last journey. Several armed helicopters accompanied it on its way toward international waters and the ship that would carry it back to the US. He had fighter jets that would screen any inquisitive military presence.

He’d disguised them with Honduran markings. He could only imagine what kind of trouble that would cause. He might even be able to get some business out of the ensuing troubles.

Once it was away, he sent his people in. “Pick up every single bit of that ship. Leave nothing. Then plant the explosives. Father can waste his time digging it up to find nothing.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jess tamped her jitters down as Paolo drove the car slowly up the drive. There were a lot of guards on the grounds. A man with some kind of rifle was just visible on the roof.

“Yeah, I sure hope Sandra doesn’t have to come in after us,” she said to the Italian. “I’m not sure she could manage it.”

“You know I can hear you, right?” Sandra’s voice said in her earbud.

Jess laughed a little. “I forgot. Are you seeing all this?”

“I sure am. Don’t worry. We can get you out if push comes to shove.”

The man himself met them at the front door. She could tell it was Romano because his morbidly obese form matched the description Harry had given her. He was almost a cartoon of a human being. To say that he looked ludicrous in a tailored suit was an understatement.

The initial conversation was in Italian, but Paolo switched to English after a moment. “And this is my assistant, Jessica. She’s fresh from our American branch and doesn’t speak Italian.”

The large mobster held out a meaty hand for her. It was sickeningly damp. She resisted the urge to wipe her hand on her pants when she reclaimed it.

“Welcome to Italy, Jessica,” Romano said in a deep, rumbly voice. “If the two of you come inside, I will explain the situation. One of my assistants will accompany you on a tour of the building, of course.”

Obviously. He wouldn’t be making any long trips along the grounds. Stairs must be a challenge.

And, as it turned out, not a worry. He had an elevator.

A man in coveralls was painting the wall beside the staircase. Whoever had done the repair work hadn’t done such a terrific job. Jess could still see a few dimples. Bullet holes, she imagined. That would be an ugly reminder to the mobster of past failures.

Romano pulled a key from his vest and unlocked one of the doors near the end of the hall. It opened into an office. Her heart leapt in her chest. They might be able to get what they needed right up front. That would be a wonderful break.

Jess examined the Egyptian figurines in one of the cases as Romano sat behind his large desk. “This is a wonderful collection. Forgive me for asking, but did someone try to steal them?”

“No,” Romano said with a snarl. “The bastards kidnapped my daughter and took her to America. My ex-wife, an unfit woman with the morals of an alley cat, paid someone to take her. I want this house to be a vault before I bring her back.”

Paolo nodded. “Of course. We’ll do everything in our power to make certain that she’s safe here. Do you know how they obtained entrance to your property?”

Jess walked from case to case, slowly inching toward the one she most wanted to see.

“They came over a wall in the dead of night. They used darts to knock out my guards and myself. I shot several of them, but they overwhelmed me. The man outside is fixing the bullet holes I made. The guards who failed were severely punished.”

“Bullshit,” Sandra said in her ear. “Harry shot him in the ass before he even got his pistol out of the nightstand. One of the guards shot the wall when we darted him.”

The pieces Jess was seeing were good. Some of the paintings looked like authentic Renaissance masters. She wondered if Romano had stolen them. Or paid someone who had. She couldn’t see him climbing through a window in the dead of night.

Paolo made sympathetic noises. “Was the home alarm activated before the intrusion?”

“No. The idiots never turned it on. The intruders made their way in through the patio. The interior guards were no match for them, either. Pathetic. You must look at every door and window, scan every wall. I want no weakness left when you finish. Money is no object, but don’t think to cheat me. I will know.”

Jess stepped in front of the low case that held the pages. They were definitely from the Voynich Manuscript. The lettering was unmistakable.

She listened to Romano drone on with half an ear as she scanned them one by one, looking for any sign that might help them decode the book.

Her heart sang when she found something on the next to last page. It was only a few lines at the bottom, but there was the strange alien script set beside something in what looked like Italian. Or perhaps an older variant of what became Italian. She wasn’t a linguistics expert.

Maddeningly, the page after it had just a few lines at the top. What she needed to see was on the back of the pages and they were under locked glass.

Somehow, she had to get this case open.

* * * * *

It took a few hours to gather the team in another hangar. Harry led the briefing, showing them where they’d be landing, where in the building they’d be going, and running through the timeline for the assault.

The building schematics were a tremendous help. He knew which floor had the loading dock, where his mother stationed her security teams, and which paths might make for the fastest ingress.