Regan's Reach (36 page)

"Kevin," She called to him, "come
and sit over here," and she gestured to the spare chair. As he crossed the
room Regan addressed the man directly in front of her.

"Ambassador, as a courtesy and at the
request of our Prime Minister I've agreed to you being here. We only have a few
minutes for general talk then we'll need to have private discussions with Mr.
Jarvis. I hope you don't feel unwelcome but we're pressured for time, is there
anything you'd like to know, or say to Marin?"

Ambassador Rick Anthony looked taken aback.
He ignored Regan and looked up from his position to address Marin directly. "Mr.
err . . . Marin, welcome . . . to . . . Earth. On behalf of my nation, the
United States of America, we especially welcome you."

He looked sideways at Regan and then
continued, "Sir, we will need to talk with you, as soon as possible, there
is much we would like to discuss. How long will you be visiting . . . Earth?"
He blushed,
not quite
'one small step for man'
he thought.

Marin looked down at Regan before replying.
"Thank you ambassador, everyone has been very welcoming. Unfortunately as
you can imagine, we expect to be very busy over the next few days. Perhaps,"
he looked to Regan again, "with the Prime Minister's permission, your
people could come here?"

Anthony looked flustered. Everyone was
watching and, he felt, enjoying his discomfort. "Sir, the President of the
United States has an extremely busy schedule, I err. . ." he groped for
words.

Marin raised his eyebrows, "Then
perhaps next visit?"

Anthony looked deflated and Regan
intervened, "I'm sure Prime Minister Jarvis could fit in a visit from the
President; what do you think Prime Minister?"

Bob Jarvis looked like the cat that got the
cream. "I'm sure we can organize something." He smiled graciously at
the ambassador.

"Now Mr. Anthony," Regan stood
and Marin followed suit, towering over them all, "as I said I must apologize
but we have limited time and we need to have our private discussions urgently,
perhaps we can take this up at a later date?" Her dismissal was clear and
unequivocal.

The ambassador stood reluctantly. "Of
course," and again he addressed Marin directly. "Thank you for at
least meeting us, Mr. Marin. It is important that you engage with the United
States as the leading world power. I hope your hosts will advise you wisely in
that regard." He turned to the Prime Minister. "We'll be in touch."

As they departed the room the two men
behind Anthony looked troubled,
pissed in fact,
Kevin thought,
oh how
interesting it is when the 'natural' order of things is not followed.

Regan walked toward the camera, conscious
it was probably still running and gave the classic Buddhist like peace gesture,
her hands together prayer fashion, and bowed. "Thank you for coming. We'll
be talking privately now for some time, Marin will be available for interview
at a later date."

As they heard the door shut behind the
departing technicians Regan slumped back in her chair. She looked at Bob Jarvis
and Maureen Collins who had joined him. "With respect Prime Minister, what
the fuck were they doing here?"

Before Jarvis could reply Ham subbed.

[Regan?]

She held up her hand stifling the PM's
response.

[The room is bugged Regan. There is one under
the window in the corner and one on the back of the couch.] She quickly stood
and walked to the window, feeling under the sill. It was tiny but its placement
was clear in her mind and she scratched it off onto her palm. Just as clear to
her was the position of the bug on the couch and she used her finger to scrape
it out of the crevice in the leather before disposing of them both down the
waste.

[Clear?]

[That's it.]

"Sorry everyone, one or both of those
two were spooks but it's all sorted now. Prime Minister, you were saying?"
She returned to her chair while everyone exchanged stunned looks.

"Yes," Jarvis replied, looking at
least a bit amazed. "It's simple really; they have a Nimitz class carrier
about two days out from Wellington as we speak and a flight of F20 bombers on
the tarmac in Wellington. It's a 'friendly' visit. When the request came
through it was rather assumptive in its language and, to be fair, I didn't see
any harm. The Americans are our friends, and we had no idea at the time if this
visit - no offense intended Marin - was friendly."

Regan sighed. "I agree sir, I
certainly don't mean to sound aggressive. But at the moment we and the US have
issues to sort out. They've put my company in an impossible position though we've
done nothing wrong. Plus, they're holding one of my friends in custody and
putting her in front of a senate committee next week on terrorism charges that
are a crock of shit. They're going to find out that when you attack my family,
you attack me. Now," and she leant forward, excited, "There are a few
things we need to discuss in more detail later that are of importance to you.
After I've dealt with our US problems I have some plans that could put this
country on the world stage. Of course, that may not be popular with everyone
and you need to decide which side you want to be on. I've had enough of
diplomatic convenience, we're going to put things right then move on." She
looked at the two politicians. "So, would you rather be in, or out?"

*

As the Government service BMW, with police
assistance, picked its way through the traffic jam outside Riverside Prime
Minister Bob Jarvis, though in serious mood, found it hard to conceal a smile.

"I gather you're a happy camper,"
said Maureen, "and why not? You know we're going to have to play this very
carefully with the greater powers that be. They're not going to be happy that
someone else is centre stage."

"Oh, they'll get used to it. There's
more than enough in this for everyone. This is good for humanity; it's not any one
country or person that's important." He was staring at the huge Saucer
still visible on the STEIN Riverside roof.

"But you're happy it's us and not
someone else."

"Oh yes!" He laughed.

Aerospace industry, manufacturing,
technology, jobs . . . exotic matter . . . hmm, sounds clean? How could he not
be happy?

*

Ham worked the data stream, happily
monitoring messages, social networks, television, radio, net news, blogs, all
very stimulating. After anonymously contributing to talkback shows on three
continents, sending seventeen thousand five hundred and fifty three
contributions as blog comments, tweets and messages to Facebook friends, he
felt he'd earned a break. Three US networks had shown interest in his documentary
and quite a tidy sum would now be donated by the successful bidder to famine relief
in the Philippines.
Aaah Regan
, he thought,
you'd be proud of me.

With Ham on board, Regan missed nothing,
only a thought being required to access information and find out what was
happening. It was a process that on ship she found manageable but here? She
settled into the chair and tried to relax with her mind buzzing.

Marin, currently being interviewed by
National Geographic; Ham's documentary already scheduled in the States for
tomorrow and repeats within twenty four hours; the John F Kennedy still
steaming toward New Zealand; British and French representatives arriving in
Auckland, desperate to make sure they weren't left behind in the rush to the
alien; China and Russia strangely silent; The Middle East in turmoil.

[They don't get it do they?] Ham gently
intruded on her thoughts.

[What's that Ham?]

[They all want to see the alien, all
looking for advantage. They don't get that you're in charge.]

[Am I? Ham, I'm happy for Marin, he's
studied Earth for the last decade or so. I hope he really enjoys this moment
and honestly I don't want that kind of attention. Every minute that Mary spends
in custody is a minute I feel like I've failed her. I want revenge Ham, it
scares me.]

[Revenge is coming and I've got good news,
it worked; Jim Walker's going to chair the Congressional hearing]

She sat up, excited, "Oh yes!"

[And, annoying as it is to sound like a
personal assistant, Marcus will be here in about fifteen minutes.]

[Thanks Ham, congratulations on the documentary
by the way, quick work.]

What a day.
Regan stood and started to stretch, a routine she hadn't used since leaving on
her trip. It was her pre meeting warm up and just doing it was enough to bring
back the memory of that last meeting with the guys, and to bring a smile.

*

Due to the crowd Marcus had to leave the
car on the other side of the park. Sightseers wanting to look at the Saucer
clogged up the roads and police were preventing anyone stopping or entering the
STEIN premises. He jogged through the darkness cursing the fine drizzle that
had settled in after sunset. Within minutes the humidity had him sweating
profusely but nothing could dent his enthusiasm. Passing the old skateboard
park he looked up at the familiar building, the television spotlights while
pointed upward still revealing the outline of the saucer on the roof and on
seeing it he couldn't help himself. He had to stop and stare like every other
punter for a moment.

"Jesus Regan, you're a magnet. Nothing
ever happens by halves with you!" He jogged on only to be stopped by an
officer at the entrance, but then quickly to his surprise, over the police
radio a voice crackled out verifying his ID and the officer waved him on.

As he walked in Regan dropped to the floor
from her chin up bar and for a moment he just stood there staring open mouthed.
She looked surprised at his reaction then lifted her hands to her head.

"It's the hair isn't it? Bit of a
shock for everyone. Marcus, it's good to see you - how are you?"

He looked down at himself, "A bit wet
actually," and he paused, taking her in. "Regan, what can I say? It's
so good to see you back . . . .it was becoming a worry I can tell you." He
stepped forward and they hugged, "Sorry about the damp."

"No problem Marcus, are you ok? You
can use the bathroom."

"No, no I'm fine. It's late and I know
you'll be tired. Is Kev here?"

"No, he has a regular Vidcall to Mary
apparently, trying to keep her sane he said, he'll be catching up with me in
the morning."

"Are you sure you want to talk about
this tonight?" He looked genuinely concerned.

"I'm fine." she gestured to the
couch and took her chair as usual. "Now, tell me about Mary?"

Marcus sat and spread his file on the huge
coffee table. "Ok, it's a congressional investigative hearing. That means
it's to investigate where activities of private citizens suggest there may be
need for legislative remedy. Honestly it's just a stall; they're simply
delaying, trying to give the impression to the Chinese that they're doing
something. Unfortunately Mary just got caught in the crossfire and she's been
stuck there two months. She appears on Monday eleven a.m. their time, that's
Tuesday to us, at eight a.m. Steve Ryman, our guy in San Francisco, has been
with her all week and will be with her in the hearing. He's the best but as I
say, it's all been a stall so the best he could do was simply to make sure she's
well looked after."

"He'll need to know there'll be a
change in plan." Regan interrupted.

"A change, so what's that?" He
looked surprised.

"I'm going to appear instead of Mary."

Now Marcus looked startled. "Regan,
you just can't do that. For one thing they've summoned Mary, not you, and
secondly they really want you. As your counsel I strongly advise against that.
There's a good chance they won't let you leave, they may even trade you to the
Chinese!"

"I know that Marcus but it's not going
to work out like that - trust me. Tell Steve to keep it to himself but just so
that he's prepared let him know. I don't want him to say a word, are we clear?"

"Of course, I'll call him over the
weekend. Regan, I'd be remiss in not advising you against this."

"I understand Marcus and thank you but
I have this covered. Now, on another matter, well done with the shares by the
way, it looks good. Tell me about the situation with the Chinese takeover."

He looked at her, more than a little
shocked; "You know about the shares?" She nodded. "Ok then,"
he shook his head as if to clear it, "I guess then you know you're rich,
but of course you already were. You will also know that I've followed your
instructions and in addition to the share trades that have netted cash I've
been steadily buying USDynamics, picking up as many as possible while the share
price tumbled. Regan, we simply couldn't collect everything available and our
activity probably held up the price a bit. Still, we picked up seven percent.
The Chinese have eighty five percent and were pushing to get to ninety plus.
So, we hold seven and with Bill Thomas's group holding four, between us we have
enough to prevent a squeeze, that's a compulsory buy out of the minor
shareholders."