Revolution World (11 page)

Seth sent an urgent message to both Gloria and Max. "More bad news. The team tells me our outbound communications are blocked. We can't call for help." He could tell when they got that because they both paled considerably.

"Look, we would love to help you, but we are just a satellite office. We have no authority to let you access data, even if we could do it," Max said, trying to sound reasonable. "If your government works with our government and negotiates something, we'll be happy to help. Until then, I'm afraid we must show you gentlemen the door. If you go now without a fuss, we will not have to file a complaint with the UN over the violation of our embassy."

"Actually, this is technically not an embassy yet. Not until the ambassador is present," Bill said, adjusting his tie.

"God bless bureaucrats," laughed the colonel. "So right now you are just a handful of foreigners giving me a serious headache. Now let us look around. If you play nice, we'll just borrow a few files to make sure they don't contain any nasty secrets. We may not even need to take a any of you for questioning, if you cooperate."

Seth felt his stomach sink into his shoes. So that was it. DARPA wanted to poke around their facility and have a look at their servers. They took advantage of a legal loophole to come out here, thinking they'd be pushing around flunkies. With so few Omerta people here, they could all be carted off and tossed in a cell somewhere and no one would ever know what happened to them. He wasn't worried that they would hack the servers, but there were plenty of rooms in this facility that the military should not see. And the American military was not known for returning people once it had them in its clutches.

The colonel raised his hand. The soldiers pulled out their weapons and pointed them at the bewildered Omerta group. Some of the soldiers started herding them towards the door while others set off down the halls, breaking in doors and rounding up the rest of the Omerta people.

"I think we're screwed," said Gloria, suddenly looking like a lost little girl as a soldier slapped magnetic cuffs on her slim wrists.

Things were looking bleak when three blond heads bounced around the corner, looking with wide-eyed wonder at the uniforms.

"Hey, Max," Kalliope called cheerfully. "You know you got some kind of SWAT team on your front lawn? What are you boys doing in here? Making moonshine and stocking up on guns or something?"

Seth groaned as Kalliope, Clio and what had to be yet another quadruplet sister inspected the soldiers like they were an exhibit at the zoo.

"Seth, honey, you boys really shouldn't leave your front door open like that. All sorts of nasty varmints can crawl in." Clio shot a look at the colonel that clearly showed her estimation of him.

"What are you doing here?" Seth asked desperately. He really hoped he was not going to get carted off to some secret torture camp in front of Clio today. He had a horrible thought. What if the colonel took Clio and her sisters too? He couldn't bear that.

"These DARPA boys made a whole lot of noise rolling through town this morning," Clio drawled, nodding at the colonel. "We thought we'd come see what all the fuss was about."

"So your trucks out front say DARPA on them and they spew smog I can see from a mile off," Kalliope said with ill-concealed disgust. She had no use for those who stooped to gasoline. "I'm starting to understand why we are having so much trouble winning all these wars we're in, if y'all are in charge of our stealth technology."

"Hi, I'm Thalia," the other sister grabbed the colonel's hand and shook it enthusiastically. "We don't get too much excitement in this town, so pretty much God and everybody is out there," she said loudly. "Including the news. There must be about twenty people out there filming all this. It's just so exciting! But you know what? We called the Defense Department to ask what was cooking and they had no idea. Imagine that! A plan so secret your boss doesn't even know about it."

She looked about her as though admiring their ingenuity. "Why we got concerned you were really the terrorists so we called just about everybody we could think of."

Bob the Bureaucrat looked anxious and rushed outside, flipping out his handheld and tapping away frantically.

Clio looked steadily at Seth and raised an eyebrow. He knew she was silently asking him what to do next. He had never seen a more beautiful woman than the one he stared at now.

"They are jamming our communications," he told her in a low voice. "We need to call out."

She nodded and strode out the door. The soldiers, unsure what to do with these women, kept their weapons trained on the Omerta people and let her go.

"Oooh, Kalli. Look, this one is cute," called Thalia, batting her eyes at a soldier holding a huge gun. "You married, honey? Gonna be in town long?"

She giggled coyly while Kalliope inspected a gun in the hands of another soldier like she was actually trying to figure out how to get this soldier to let her take it apart. Kalliope gave the nervous soldier a toothsome grin. He refused to meet her eyes and kept edging away from her.

The girls continued their chatter in a desultory fashion. The colonel shook his head as though gnats were attacking him. He looked about with a frown.

One of the soldiers that had gone down the hallways came rushing in. "Colonel, we found a few hardened doors with locks that are resisting our cracking gear. We'll need to get one of them to do it, if we want to get into those areas today."

"Fine," the colonel said savagely. He pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Seth. "Someone open that door or all the clever secrets in this boy's head get splattered across a wall."

"No," Gloria said with terrible clarity. "We have humored you enough. You may not harm him." In an instant, she kicked the nearest soldier and grabbed his gun, her hands still in the handcuffs. She pointed the gun at the colonel.

Everyone in the room sucked in their breath. A shoot-out seemed inevitable. Bob the Bureaucrat walked back into the room and immediately dove to the floor, momentarily distracting everyone.

Simultaneously, the Omerta handhelds began twittering loudly. Also, several large cylinders of what appeared to be old-fashioned television static appeared in the room. The soldiers swung their weapons, startled. Fortunately nobody fired. The colonel lowered his gun, much to everyone's relief.

"Holograms, gentlemen," Gloria announced, recovering her poise and retaining the gun. "Our communications are back up and our bosses are checking on us."

"Cool," said Thalia. "Why don't we have hologram projectors?" she asked her sister. Kalliope rubbed her fingers together to indicate that they cost a prettier penny than Floracopia had for fancy tech right now.

Thalia shrugged. "Just as well. They'd probably make me look fat."

One of the holograms resolved into the image of an older, stouter version of Seth in a very fine suit. "What on earth is going on down there?" he bellowed.

"Spot of trouble with the army, brother," replied Max. "Seems our paperwork is not in order and these nice men were coming to make sure we were all right." The man in the hologram could obviously see the guns. His face burned purple with rage.

"When Max and I decided to join the Texas office, we upset the plan a little," Seth explained to Clio, who had just walked back in. "The guys who were supposed to be the ambassadors got bumped and I guess there was some hold up getting us declared the official ambassadors?" He looked questionably at the bureaucrat. The man ducked back out of the room again. Max just shrugged.

"We'll fix this right now," roared the man in the hologram.

"Is that really your brother?" Kalliope whispered to Max.

Max beamed with pride. "My older brother, yes. He is also Seth's dad and CEO of Omerta and President of Queen Charlotte Islands. I am the family slacker, but I got all the looks, don't you think?"

Another of hologram appeared of a somewhat rumpled older gentleman with gray hair that had not been combed recently. He grumbled in a thick Russian accent, "As the head of the UN Security Council, you would think I could get some sleep once in a while." He looked around and realized people could see him. Bob walked back into the room, talking on his handheld. He paled when he saw the hologram of the Russian UN diplomat.

"What are you doing?" the UN diplomat barked at the colonel, smoothing his suit with a tired hand. The colonel began to sputter about America's need for security, but he was having none of it. "You Americans running around messing up everything you see. You make me tired. I don't care what idiotic reason you have trumped up. You cannot mess with Omerta. Got that?"

The colonel turned beet red while Bob the Bureaucrat started calling up data on his handheld that, he explained, clearly showed that Omerta was maintaining records for the mafia and the terrorists.

"Who cares?" the head of the Un Security Council snapped, mumbling Russian curses under his breath. "Who do you think maintains information security for the UN's computer network and most of the countries in the UN? Omerta. Do you think we want you or anyone else to have access to that? If I hear that you have bothered them again, I swear I will call for a total world war against the United States and I think it will receive whole-hearted approval. Most countries think we should do that anyway, with you arrogant bastards traipsing all over the world, snatching up oil like pastries at a buffet."

"Bah," the colonel shot back, "I don't answer to you. I answer to the United States government. What we do in our own country is our own business." This scenario was clearly not playing out the way he had intended, but he was still trying to bluff his way through it.

"Funny you should say that," grunted Seth's father.

A third hologram flickered into view. This one was a plump bald man wearing the same uniform the colonel had on, but with several more stars on it. He was chomping an even bigger cigar that he spat out to say, "My god, Bucksmith. I was having dinner with my wife and you had to go and create an international incident."

The colonel said nothing and turned purple. The soldiers let their sights dip slightly, but didn't drop their guard.

"Let's clear this up right now," the Russian UN diplomat said. He pointed at Max and Seth. "I hereby confirm these two men here as Omerta's official diplomats to the USA. That means the US has troops in a UN sanctioned embassy. If your troops are not out of there in ten minutes, the UN will consider the US a rogue country showing overt hostility to the UN and its member countries. From there, we will proceed to commence military activities on behalf of Omerta." He squinted at the assembled group grimly while downing two pills with a glass of water.

"No need to be hasty," the hologram general said. "Our troops became confused during a training exercise, didn't they, Buck-smith? They are going to leave peacefully, now." He looked at the troops beadily. "They are leaving right now," he emphasized.

The colonel continued to stare about him in disbelief. Under the glare of the general, the soldiers lowered their weapons and began slowly shuffling towards the door.

"Move out!" cried the colonel, attempting salvage his dignity. Once he was sure they were actually leaving, the Russian UN diplomat briskly said goodbye and his hologram winked out. The US general awkwardly welcomed Omerta's embassy to America and hastily left as well. Seth's father stayed to make sure all was well.

"Excuse me, but I do believe you men are attempting to carry off important equipment," Gloria called loudly. The colonel looked like he would refuse, but Bill the Bureaucrat swiftly intervened. After a whispered argument, the soldiers left the equipment scattered about the hall as they filed out.

As they came to the doors of the lobby, the colonel swiftly turned. He stepped towards Max menacingly. "You'd have done better to help us, boy," he hissed. "You'll be sorry yet. These little girls won't always be here to hold your hand. In fact, something tells me these girls won't be wandering around loose too much longer if they don't start doing their part for the war."

He cast a contemptuous glance at the Somata Sisters. "You are those Floracopia girls, aren't you? We know all about you and that mother of yours. We've got our eye on you too. The US has no use for those that don't help their country." The girls rolled their eyes, although Clio looked worried.

Gloria sashayed over to the colonel with a small box full of electronic equipment. "I believe you men forgot a few things," she said, handing it to him. He looked inside and realized that the box was full of bugs and cameras the soldiers had attempted to hide throughout the building. He cursed loudly and stormed out.

"God, what a drama queen." Thalia remarked as they watched the trucks roar away. Then she went outside to disperse the crowd of locals gathered out there.

Max heaved a huge sigh. "We are the foremost security company in the world and they just waltzed in here and would have carted all of us away if it hadn't been for you. I am so embarrassed. I am seriously considering seppuku."

Kalliope laughed. "We drop by for a visit and you decide to commit ritual suicide? That's hard on a girl's ego, mister. You do that and I might give up and become an alcoholic bag lady."

"Well, I must go and clean up this mess," Gloria sniffed. Her face soured as she watched Seth turn to Clio. "The mess that would not have happened if you two had not decided to put a facility in this nasty little hellhole." She turned and stalked down the hall, the click of her stiletto heels tapping out her disdain for all.

"Ah, Gloria," Max murmured. "She's really quite wonderful with people when she wants to be. And such a colossal pain in the ass when she doesn't." Seth's dad barked with laughter, then drew Max aside for a private conversation.

"She sure can open up a can of the smack down when she wants to," said Kalliope with a whistle. "Did you see the way she grabbed that gun? I've only seen stuff that smooth in movies."

"She practices Wing Tsun martial arts with us," Max replied. "Three mornings a week."

"Oh man, that's awesome," Kalliope replied, doing air karate kicks. "You have to teach me."