Balance (68 page)

Then Rena sees it
.
I
mmediately
she
glanc
es
at
Ms. Smith
,
relieved to see her attention still on the mannequin riddled with knives, missing the top of its head
, completely oblivious to the act of Michael … opening his eyes.

“Oh my god!
  That was amazing
.”
Ms. Smith
announces, startling Michael to their presence.

B
reathing deep and rapid,
perspiring heavily from an obviously intense workout
,
he stands
and
walks toward
the two women
.  Rena,
having stepped
back slightly
,
just out of
Ms. Smith
’s
periphery vision, closes her eyes and
subtly shakes her head, opening them to see that
he
understood.

“Oh t
hat, just an experiment on hand-
eye
coordination, it surprises me how much
I use knives versus
guns.”
Michael explains, c
areful to imply
using
his
vision
.

“I can see why.  It’s your modus operandi and I believe
the calling card
the media looks for when identifying with
the Harbinger of Death
.  Speaking of which, the Whitemire extraction seems to be generating massive
social
interest
.”

“How’
s that?”  Michael
inquires
, looking at Rena
.  She’s the only person that understands
his apprehension to all the
notoriety
.

“Well, when
you have surveillance video of
, how did you put it my dear, a ‘Dark Angel of Death’ descend on a group of armed guards, just to whisk away an injured damsel
.  Well, let’s
just say you’ve become a celebrity.  There are several sites setup to track and discuss your exploits. 
It s
eems people are paying big money for footage.”

“Shit, I forgot about the surveillance.  Not that I
would’ve
stopped to deal with
it
,
having
more important matters.” 
He exclaims, voicing
his frustrations
.

“What did Takada say about it?
”  Rena
i
nquires
.

“
He’s still trying to decide.  He feels
the
press
is exaggerating
the
sensation
and
elevating the credence as
to how dangerous
Michael
can be
. 
Based on this display, it’s warranted. 
Chango is concerned
about direct association
with the Harbinger
.
W
orried
a
retaliation
might
be leveled at the organization
for your actions, or simply out of fear
.  Takada would like to us
e it as a show of power. 
Complicating matters
,
there are a lot more
incidents
linked to the Harbinger,
than
Michael
has
actually been involved. 
His reputation
has snowballed
and that can be dangerous to not only
Michael
,
but
also
anyone associated with him. 
I
do
know
,
Takada
wants to keep
actual
videos
on the net
to a minimum
,
worried
someone
might
figure a way to stop
you
.”
Ms. Smith
explains
the company line on Michael
.

“Credence … you mean ‘
fear’?
” Rena comments
.

“P
o
t
ā
to – P
o
t
ă
to
.”
Ms. Smith
replies
.

“Regardless, I don’t want to
be
viewed
as
some mindless mass murderer.”
Michael appeals.

“That’s
just it,
Michael
.
Y
ou’re not.  The only truly confirmed accounts of your activity involve saving a young girl from
a team of
trained killers and an injured wom
a
n from a building
,
surrounded by armed guards.  RamSteele involved the clean assassination of a slime-ball flesh trafficker.  To many of the masses, you’ve become sort of a
folk
hero.”

“You’re kidding me
!
” Michael exclaims in utter surprise
.

“Not at all.  A
nyway
,
hero boy, a
re you done?”
Ms. Smith
deftly changes
subject
s
.

“What’s going on?”
Rena asks, knowing
Ms. Smith
is up to something.
“Y
ou’ve been acting
strange
since the
Ready Room
.
”

“
Okay, I confess.  Well … Y
ou were so upset earl
ier
,
and you did such an amazing job with the profile search strategy, I thought you deserved a nice dinner alone.  So
,
while I’ve been distracting you two, a meal has been delivered to your quarters.”

“You shouldn’t have, really. 
However,
thank you. 
Will you
join us
?
”  Rena asks politely
.

“How about I keep you company
my dear, while your beef-cake showers.  He’s a bit gamy for a
nice
sit down.  I’d feel better if you weren’t alone to think about things too much tonight anyway.”

Returning to their quarters, Ms. Smith
out did herself; dinner was wonderful
, complete with
wine
.
  S
tay
ing
for
an hour,
she
chat
s
with
Rena and Michael
before leaving them to enjoy the rest
of their meal
in private.

Rena and Michael arrive at the
Ready Room
the next morning
,
prepared
to brainstorm more strategies. 
On their way
through the tech
center
,
they observe
a
n
overabundance
of activity
,
distracting
everyone
from even noticing them.
Rena
comments that the search probab
ly crashed the system over
the
night.
  Headed
into the Ready Room
discussing the crashed servers
,
they’re
stricken by
the celebration within
.

“
Rena.  It worked.  Oh my god did it work!” 
Ms. Smith
announces
excitedly over the crowd of people
amassed
in the
r
oom
.

L
ook
ing
around
,
Rena
finds
everyone staring a
t her, nodding in appreciation. 
“What happened, what do you mean it worked?
” She
asks,
embarrassed
by
the wealth of
attention
directed at her
.

“The facial recognition not only located a large
number
of viable
people, it has identified a large
contingent in a single location.
 
Facial has also recorded many of the viable attendees interacting with
each other.  Whatever Drakos has
,
it’
s
bei
ng regarded as a very big deal.
”
 
Ms. Smith
explains
the results of the search
.

“So
,
where is this happening?”  Michael asks
.

“Detroit
.”
Takada
replies
walking in
behind them
,
“
W
hich
is
where you
two will be
departing
for shortly.
”

“Sir
,
we don’t have ample time to set up
an effective
immer
sion.  How can I protect Rena
without some planning?”

Ms. Smith
interjects
.
”Michael, the best and safest immersion
has
Rena go in as an interested delegate and you
g
o in
as her bodyguard.  It will
provide
you
a legitimate reason for
comms
,
connecting you
to the
Bunker
while
still maintaining close
proximity to
her
.  I suspect
Rena
will not be the only person with a bodyguard.  I have already prepared your
cover
;
wardrobes were
loaded
on the jet
an hour ago, along
with your
equipment and
armaments
.”

Michael responds, “How will we know the where and when of the actual
address
?”

Ms. Smith
continues, “
We have you
set
up in a hotel,
downtown Detroit, with a limo and driver.  Michael
, you
will be connected to comms the entire time.  Wh
en we identify
a large
contingent of candidates in procession
to
,
or
clustered
in
,
a single location,
we’ll alert you, providing
you additional
details in route. 
Without an actual invite, Rena,
you’
ll have to work your magic to
gain
access
into
the presentation.  If you have an opportunity to extract Drakos beforehand, you have the
authorization
. 
This one’
s being
play
ed
close to the
vest
, so Rena will take lead and facilitate from within the immersion.”

The room
goes
silent
,
a
waiting further
instructions
.

“Okay people, we’re wheels up in sixty-min
utes.  Rena and Michael, if you wi
ll please
remain
a second
,
we can go over the
final
details.
E
veryone
else, you know your assignments
, w
e
’
re on a tight schedule here.” 
Ms. Smith
directs
operations
.

Takada steps over to Michael, pulling him to the side.  “Michael, there’s a very good chance you two will not be the only operatives on site.  We got a late jump on this one, so protect her and yourself.
  You
’ve
trained for this.  You a
re the best I ha
ve
ever
seen
.”
 
Takada turns and leaves the
Ready Room
, glancing at Rena
on his way
out.