Near Future 1: Awakening (26 page)

Miranda laughed and said, "That would be fine by me."

#

After she settled in, Miranda knew it was time to pay up. She made a VR call to Doctor Ted, quietly telling him everything that had happened. Having been through it all once, she was able to give him a quick synopsis of the events without leaving out any significant details. He did ask her at the end about how long she had known she could shoot so well and she had to explain her experiences at the shooting range, how much sniper training she had actually received, and her later heavy use of the VR simulated shooting range. Of course, he had already known about her shooting out the lasers at the school along with the Sarge, but he hadn't realized how remarkable that had been. "I didn't want to think about what it meant, so that is why I never told you about it," she admitted. "Plus, I really thought I would be able to keep it from being a problem since you told me to keep everything under the radar."

He burst out laughing at that and said, "Apparently, you do not know what keeping everything under the radar means. However, I think you are safe, but you need to be even more careful from now on. I also expect you to immediately tell me about anything that happens out of the ordinary." He frowned, "There isn't anything else you are holding back from me, is there?"

Miranda looked at him steadily. "No, not really. I suspect you already knew about me practicing against Andrea and some of her former special forces friends. After all, I quickly figured out you two were working together. And there was the one incident here at the school where I may have had to defend myself and maybe slightly overdid it. But it was at night and only those of us involved know the details about it. And, I don't think they will bother me again. It certainly paid off there with those elite guards, or we wouldn't be talking now."

She sighed. "I'm sure you know I'm pretty good with a VR, but I think I probably have exceeded what you have seen using the full-sized VR system in the library. I sometimes really get into it and catch myself with something like a dozen things going on at once. Nobody knows about it except Zeke, and I haven't shown him anywhere near my full capability. And I know I can trust him."

Doctor Ted digested the new information, trying not to let his emotions affect his answer. "Ok, I sort of knew about your enhanced abilities with VR, although not the level of it. I think next time I see you, I want to see you demonstrate using the full-sized system." He then considered for another moment. "Also, we need to get you some more advanced training with the defensive skills, even though you're obviously already highly advanced. I'll try to figure out a way for you to take a class off campus or even better, set you up with a really good dojo I know of..."

"We are supposed to be flying back in the morning," Miranda said, "A direct Air Force flight I think, but it probably will take several hours anyway. Maybe later this week I can meet you at the library and walk through some of the screens with you? Your usual visit to check the status of my nanites? I came close to having one of my migraines when I fought the ninjas, but I managed to keep it under control."

Doctor Ted continued to look worried to her but he said, "That should work. Hopefully your flight back will be a quiet one."

"Yeah, hopefully. I'm planning to sleep all the way back."

#

Unknown to Doctor Ted, the link that had been set up in his office came active a few hours after his conversation with Miranda. It sent out a burst signal that contained the information from the day's activity. It had been keyed to record all VR calls so that was also included. That meant the complete VR call with Miranda had gone out in the signal with the other VR calls he had during the day. The signal was set up to run the same time as the local daily backup and update process in his office, and hence was totally undetected by the hospital security.

When the man in hiding received the signal, he immediately pulled it up. He was getting tired of this business of hiding out, and he was itching to get out into the local casino. Thanks to all those people who kept looking for him, he was stuck here in this seedy hotel with mediocre food and nothing to do. He should be living high on the hog instead of this.

As soon as he heard the conversation between Miranda and Doctor Ted, he immediately perked up.
Now we are getting somewhere
. He set about hacking into the doctor's workstation, and within an hour he had everything he wanted. The security at the hospital was nothing like that at the lab. Child's play for him really. He pulled up the medical file on Miranda, and suddenly it all came together.
Of course!
It was brilliant and none of them figured it out. But he did!

This time he was going it alone. The idiots had messed it up every time, but he wouldn't need their help with this one. He would be way ahead of them and this time he had the information he needed. With what he knew about nanites, he would be able to take a little insurance with him. If he built the device he had in mind, it would allow him complete control of her nanites and there was no way she could get away from him. He would make them pay him even more because he would be the only one with the control device. He set to work building his little toy, smiling and whistling to himself.

#

Carla had been promptly debriefed by the intelligence officer at the military base where they had landed. Realizing the importance of the information she had, he immediately arranged transport for her back to the US, wanting to make sure her message reached the ones that needed to know. To her surprise, she was escorted out to a US fighter and they immediately prepped for launch. "Never flown on one of these birds," she told the pilot as she strapped on the helmet she had been given. "I jumped out of planes, so I always flew on the big ones."

"Albatrosses," he told her. "This is going to be like nothing you've ever been on before. Better hold on tight." With that, he punched the controls on the plane and they shot down the runway, quickly taking off to climb steeply up into the air. To Carla, the rush was similar to that she felt when she jumped out of a plane and she exclaimed in glee.

"We're going supersonic," the pilot told her again, after they had circled the airport to head west. He punched another control, and again she felt the rush as the plane's rocket thrusters pushed her back in her seat. "Short of the Space Tech shuttles and a few assorted riffraff," he went on, "this is the fastest plane on earth. I don't know who you are but you must be really important."

"Just a messenger," she told him. "Guess they decided the message was really important."

"Well, enjoy the ride. We will be at the edge of space shortly, and before you know it, we will be descending and heading toward the ones who are waiting for your message."

#

They flew in silence for the rest of the flight, and when they landed, she was rushed to a waiting SUV. It was late evening Washington time when the car arrived at their destination, the Pentagon! There she was met by a young officer and told to follow him.

"Where are your presentation materials?" he asked her, seeing that her hands were empty. "And you are not in uniform, either."

"I have no materials with me," she told him. "And since I was undercover a few hours ago, my uniform is nowhere near here. Where exactly are we going?"

"You are presenting to the President's task force on that same country, including the President's Chief of Staff. Guess no one told you; typical Air Force, don't let the left hand know what the right hand is doing, I guess."

Her escort spoke very briefly into a microphone under his chin, his voice so quiet, Carla was not able to understand a single word. Listening briefly to the response, he motioned for her to follow him, leading her down the corridor. They walked a considerable distance, making several turns onto different corridors, so that Carla was completely turned around when they arrived at a conference area. Before her escort knocked on the door, he told her, "Good luck!" Then he rapped lightly on the door.

"Send her in," came the response from inside. As soon as Carla stepped inside, she found herself in a small antechamber outside of what she suspected was a large conference room. She was met there by a Air Force officer in dress uniform. Colonel Landon, according to his name badge, which also indicated he was from the intelligence area. Carla quickly gave him a salute.

"Dispense with that stuff," he told her, giving her a very brief salute in return. "Especially since otherwise you won't be able to talk where we are going without constantly stopping to do that. Besides, as your young escort relayed to us, you are not in uniform and so aren't required to salute anyway. Apparently you had no idea where you were going or why. We are presenting to the Special Presidential Task Force created to handle the situation due to the coup in Kinza. What I need is for you to give a short and concise description of what you know of the situation in Kinza, and any insights you have as a result of your operations. Can you do that?"

"Yes, sir. I believe the information I have is significant and will be of great importance to this task force," Carla answered him. "I do apologize about the uniform."

"It's not a problem. I will explain it to them," he told her. "Let's go then. They are all waiting, despite the late hour. The President wants to be able to formulate an immediate response to the demands of the coup."

He led the way into the next room, a room which held the largest number of senior officers and presidential level cabinet members Carla could ever imagine. Speaking to the group as soon as he had their attention, he said, "This is our agent from the field, and she has literally just now arrived here from location, so please forgive her appearing out of uniform. We were told her message was very important and extremely urgent, hence the rush to get her here. That is all the information I have." He took his spot in the remaining empty chair. Everyone turned to face Carla.

The leader of the group, a distinguished older gentleman, spoke up quickly. "We are sorry for the short preparation time we've given you, and I know you've had absolutely no rest. So we will try to make this as brief as possible. What can you tell us about the coup that we've been told is extremely important?"

Taking her place at the small podium at the front of the room, Carla grabbed the VR pointer and aimed it at the mountains of the country Kinza currently being displayed. "The coup in Kinza is nothing short of an attempt by the Organization to corner the market on zechronium."
 

Carla paused briefly, watching the reaction of the task force. Most of them immediately recognized the importance, but a few had blank looks on their faces. So she quickly continued, explaining, "Zechronium, for any that might not know, is one of the rarest ores on earth, and it contains a rare mineral that is used in all current space technology. Ninety percent of the mineral in the world is found in these mountains. If they are able to get their foothold established, the whole world will be at their mercy. Even Space Tech is not able to produce enough of this mineral from their space-based mines, and they are still currently getting a significant portion of their supply from the Kinza mines.

"If this situation is allowed to continue, it could become very significant to both the US and our strategic partner Space Tech, potentially giving a huge advantage to the Organization."

An immediate discussion broke out throughout the conference room with everything from expressions of shock to demands for immediate action. Finally the leader of the group was able to gain control, and he asked Carla, "Do you have any recommendations?"

"Yes, sir. The hold the Organization has is very tenuous. They only have one contact that is supporting them, but he holds a lot of sway. He is one of the local warlords, and he controls the other members of the coup because he has been known to kill anyone who disagrees with him politically. For this reason, they all tend to follow along with him. If we can take him out, I believe that the rest will be more supportive of us."

"Ok, provide the details to your superiors, and we may well follow up on it. Again, thank you for your time." Carla started to leave, but he stopped her briefly, "Later, I personally want to question you about the young lady that was so prominent in your escape from Kinza. We are putting her up for the Medal of Honor and we will need your testimony."

Carla stopped at the door to answer him. "Yes, sir. She is one of the most remarkable people I have ever met. I can tell you that we will be seeing much more of her."

Following her escort out the door, Carla overheard as the door was closing, "We must tell the President immediately..."

In a relatively short amount of time, Carla was safely set up in a hotel room, and shortly thereafter, she was sound asleep.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Attempts, The Weasel and a Rescue of Sorts

US officials have announced that all of the American students who were held hostage in the country of Kinza during the recent coup were able to safely return home. No details on how this was accomplished have been released at this time.

#

As she had predicted, Miranda's flight back did not arrive until late afternoon. A bus was waiting for them at the airport, so the trip back to the school went quickly. When they arrived back, all of the students were told to take the rest of the week off from school. As she stepped off the bus, Miranda was surprised when Caitlyn and some of her soccer friends came toward her. Before she could react, Caitlyn stepped forward, making herself the spokesperson for the group. What she said caught Miranda even more by surprise.

"I know I have made life very difficult for you, and I am very, very sorry. We all are, although I accept the blame for all of us. I think you just saved all of us from a terrible fate, and I want to say thank you. If there is ever anything we can do for you, let us know." Then she turned around, leading the group off toward the athletic dorm. Miranda stared after them in amazement. She had not seen that coming.

Zeke and Emily came running up to her, Zeke beating Emily there to give her a huge hug. Any hope she had that everything had been kept quiet faded when Zeke touched her arm with a fake reverent look on his face and said, "Wow, girl! What are you going to do next, save the world?"