The Siren Project (58 page)

“I’d say that’s quite enough.”

“Once this is all over,” Gunter said, “Christa’s
mother is going to be studied. They want to figure out what EB did to her. It
could open up huge possibilities.”

Mitch looked at Gunter confused. “You mean,
one day, we can book in for a brain enlargement?”

Good luck with that!
Caroline's thought was tinged with humor, and a certainty that
they'd never figure out what had happened to her, without EB.

“Hey, cut that out!” Mitch said, beginning
to realize she knew their every thought.

Mitch heard the sound of female laughter in
his mind.
You’re lucky Christa doesn’t have my reach, or
you’d have no secrets!

“Cut what out?” Mouse asked confused.

“Nothing.”

“Any word on the Joint Chiefs?” Gunter
asked.

“The FBI are rounding them up now for the
girl- ... for Christa and her mother, to look at.”

Better,
Caroline congratulated him.

“It is a pity EB is . . . dead,” Gunter
said. “There’s a lot we could have learnt from him. About our own potential as
much as his.”

Mouse cleared his throat embarrassed, then
whispered, “He’s not exactly dead.”

They turned to Mouse in unison, eyeing him
suspiciously.

“How can it not be dead?” Mitch asked.

“Well, two things made him aware. The
cyborg part, that formed his super brain, really just immense processing power,
and some really complex software that made him who he was.”

“Yeah, so?” Mitch asked uncertainly.

“I downloaded the software to a safe place.
There’s not enough computer processing power there now for EB to be conscious,
so he’s ... sleeping. Someday, when the computing power grows enough, he'll wake
up.” Mouse grinned. “I was worried there wasn’t time to download everything, so
I checked this morning. He’s all there, sleeping like a baby.”

“And where exactly did you send him?” Gunter
asked.

He ensured no one was listening, then
leaned close to his two friends. “Where is the most powerful computing center
on Earth, now that Sincom is destroyed?”

“You didn’t!” Mitch whispered.

“Yep.” Mouse chuckled. “I did. EB is
sleeping inside the NSA’s own super computer at Fort Meade, Maryland. It’s only
a matter of time before the NSA pump up their processing power enough for EB to
live again. Then he’ll call me, and we'll have pizza. I left a little message
for him, so he’ll know how to find me. When that happens, the greatest hacker
on the planet will be alive inside the most secret computer system on Earth. Pretty
cool huh?”

“You’ll get us arrested!” Mitch said, then
grinned. “But I’ve got to admit, I can see the funny side of it.”

So can I.

Mitch stopped laughing and glanced toward
Caroline, who stood with her back to them. Christa finished with one senator
and turned toward Mitch, giving him a welcoming smile, then returned to
concentrate on the next senator in line.

“I figure,” Mouse continued, “That with EB
on our team, our industrial espionage business will really start to make some
money.”

Mitch sobered. “Interesting notion.”

Forget it. Your
freelance days are over. You boys are coming to work for me. There’s a lot to
do cleaning up this mess, and right now we’re all that’s left of the NSO.

“Wait a minute! I’m through with government
spook agencies. And besides, I was never part of the NSO!”

Mouse and Gunter looked confused.

“You feeling okay?” Mouse asked.

Mitch waved toward Caroline, explaining. “It’s
Christa’s mother, she’s using her psychic crap to listen in on us.”

Their eyes went wide with understanding.

“She can do that?” Mouse asked.

You can either work for
me. Or you can spend the next twenty years in psychotherapy, once I tell the
FBI you three are conditioned.

“You drive a hard bargain lady,” Mitch said.

Female laughter sounded in his mind again.
You better get used to it. I’m a push over compared to my
daughter! And she’s got big plans for you.

Visit the author's webpage at:

http://www.stephenrenneberg.com/

If you enjoyed this book, please
post a review on the site where you purchased your copy.

THE MOTHERSHIP

by

Stephen
Renneberg

A massive alien
ship crashes into one of the most remote places on Earth – cutting all contact
with the region.

Within hours, Major
Robert Beckman and his specially equipped Contact Team are hurriedly dispatched
from Area 51 to investigate. Is it a forced landing, or the beginning of an
invasion - a technological treasure trove, or an extraterrestrial pandora’s box
that spells disaster for life on Earth?

Infiltrating the
vast tropical wilderness of northern Australia, Beckman’s team encounter
strange machines, alien structures and a handful of human survivors struggling
to evade capture.

When Beckman’s team
penetrates to the heart of the Mothership, they discover an answer they never
expected and a universe far larger than they had ever imagined.

Paperback Length
560 pages

ISBN:
978-0-9874347-3-9

THE KREMLIN PHOENIX

by

Stephen Renneberg

In the 21st
century, Craig Balard, a young New York lawyer, is unwittingly swept up in a
conspiracy of global proportions that threatens to trigger the fall of the West
and the rise of a new totalitarian world order.

Hunted by agents of
the international conspiracy, Craig encounters a mysterious woman who knows his
every step – before he makes it – and who intervenes to keep him alive for her
own purposes.

He discovers she is
a hologram, transmitted back in time from the late 23rd century, where a small
group of survivors of a cataclysmic war are trying to use him to change their
past in order to save mankind’s future.

Under her guidance,
Craig becomes the fulcrum of time, where his every move triggers changes in the
timeline that will either save humanity, or guarantee its extinction.

Paperback Length
334 pages

ISBN:
978-0-9874347-7-7