High Treason (Noah Wolf Book 18) Read online

  “I think that will be lovely,” she said, and they all made their way toward it. Catherine, Noah and Sarah settled onto one of the benches, while the rest of them gathered chairs and brought them closer.

  “Well, then,” Catherine began. “I take it you’ve received word of the situation back home?”

  “We received a message that our company has been forced into bankruptcy, and that we are to continue working as private contractors in the same field. If I understood correctly, any need for our services will be coming through you. Am I right?”

  “Indeed you are. I’ve actually returned just this morning from some rather sneaky meetings at your capital, including with our former boss, Ms. Peterson. Oversight of your activities has been returned to her in her new position, and we have established a secure method of communication by which she can send word to me when you are needed. She gave me to understand that you have sufficient resources, is that correct?”

  Noah nodded. “We’ve got so much money we couldn’t ever run out,” he said. “The cover that was built for us a couple years ago is still intact, and so we are ridiculously wealthy. I’m guessing you have an assignment with you?”

  Catherine grinned. “You are perceptive,” she said. “I do.” She handed him a small thumb drive. “I have been made aware of the contents of the files that contains,” she said. “It seems that a couple of your senators back home have been working to provide information about your government’s clandestine activities to certain entities that seek to expose them. For various reasons, your president is reluctant to make the charges against them public. As a result, he has requested that both of them be eliminated.”

  Noah’s eyebrows had risen as she spoke. “They want us to assassinate a couple of our own senators?”

  “I’m afraid so. These are the very people responsible for the predicament you find yourself in, and it is likely that eliminating them will close up some security holes. Ms. Peterson has instructed me to tell you that there is little likelihood the situation can be properly remedied in any other way.”

  “All right, then,” he said. “I’ll look over the files and make a decision. I suppose I should let you know what that decision is?”

  “Yes, please,” Catherine said. “I have a method for relaying information back to Ms. Peterson. In addition, while we cannot offer any official recognition or protection, an agreement has been reached between our governments that you should reach out to me should you run into any problems. That is, of course, assuming there is a way for you to make contact with me. I was given to understand that you are essentially on your own, but that your government would wish to know of any issues that may arise.”

  “Hmph,” Marco said. “Nice to know somebody at least wants to hear about it, but that doesn’t help much if there won’t be any rescue attempts.”

  “I understand,” Noah said. “Catherine, Wally is our research and development man, sort of like Q in the James Bond movies. If we are going to do this, he’s going to need a new facility. I’m thinking of a good-sized building, somewhere not too far from here. Any ideas?”

  “Well, nothing off the top of my head, but let me make a call.” She took a cell phone out of her pocket and touched a single button, then put it to her ear. “Andrew, it’s Catherine. Looking for some sort of a large commercial building, not far from Guildford. Would anything happen to come to mind?”

  She listened for a moment, then glanced up at Noah. “I think that might be perfect,” she said. “Would it be accessible today? Excellent, please tell them we’ll be there in about a half hour. Yes, I have a potential buyer. Very good, Andrew, and thank you.”

  She ended the call and put the phone back into her purse. “Andrew’s a friend of mine, a properties broker. It was actually he who arranged the purchase of this estate for you when it was needed. He has a former factory building about fifteen minutes away, and one of his agents will meet us there. Oh, I should’ve asked, it was all right to arrange an appointment, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes, of course,” Noah said. “Just give us a minute to get ready and we can head out.”

  “I’m staying here,” Sarah said. “I don’t really want to lug your kid all over creation, and my back is killing me.”

  “I’ll stay with Sarah,” Jenny said, and Renée echoed her. “You boys can go, though.”

  Noah looked around at everyone. “Do you all want to go?” he asked. “Wally and I can handle it if you like.”

  “I’m in,” Neil said. “I’d like to see what it looks like.”

  “Yeah, me too,” Marco said. “Cody, you coming?”

  Cody shrugged. “I might as well,” he said. “If I stay here, the girls will pick on me.”

  “I want to bring Esmeralda,” Wally said. “She can be a big help while I’m getting things ready.”

  “All right, the six of us, then. Cody, get the Land Rover out of the garage while Wally and I gather a few things.”

  Cody grinned and headed toward the garage while Wally, Noah and the rest went to the workshop. Catherine waited by her car.

  “I’m thinking it might be a good idea to take some lights along,” Noah said. “We might want a few basic tools, as well. Old buildings can have issues that might need a little work.”

  “I’ve got some high-intensity flashlights,” Wally said. “And I don’t know what kind of tools you have in mind, but Esmeralda can probably handle anything we might run across.”

  “Let’s bring a toolbox anyway,” Noah said. “I don’t really want to give away any of Esmeralda’s secrets at the moment.”

  Wally grinned and his eyes went wide. “Oh, I gotcha,” he said. “You don’t want the British agent to know we have a robot, right?”

  “Exactly,” Noah said. “I’m fairly sure that was something that has never been shared, even with our allies.”

  Wally giggled. “We never even told the White House,” he said. “Allison and I agreed to keep her strictly in-house.”

  “All the more reason to keep her a secret now. She’s the secret weapon that everybody wishes they had, and we’re the only ones who have her. I want to make sure it stays that way.”

  It took them only a few minutes to gather up lights and tools, and they were just stepping out of the workshop when Cody drove up with the Land Rover. Noah put the tools in the back, and they all climbed inside. Esmeralda found herself sitting between Neil and Marco, while Wally was shoved into the middle of the front seat. They pulled over to where Catherine was waiting beside her car and Noah climbed out.

  “It’s a little crowded in the Rover,” he said. “Mind if I ride with you?”

  “Not a bit,” she said. She opened her door and slid behind the wheel while Noah got in on the passenger side. As she put the car in gear, Cody followed her down the long driveway toward the road.

  “You wanted to speak privately?” Catherine asked.

  “Yes,” Noah said. “I wanted your assessment of the situation back at your headquarters. How much does MI6 actually know about us?”

  “My immediate superior knows that you are here,” Catherine said, “as does Her Majesty, but no one else has been made privy to it. As far as we are concerned, you are exactly what you appear to be: some wealthy young Yanks who like to pretend to be English nobility at times. That keeps us in the clear for whatever we have to do.”

  “We?” Noah asked, his left eyebrow arched.

  “I’m afraid you’re stuck with me,” she said with a grin. “While Her Majesty may not have official power over our agency, my boss is not one who would refuse anything she asks. I am now assigned specifically to provide any reasonable assistance I can to you, short of officially acknowledging your existence or what you do.”

  “Isn’t that going to interfere with your regular duties?”

  “Well, it would if I had any. The fact is, you lot are my entire purpose, now. I’m to be available anytime you need me, night or day, and serve as messenger for Ms. Peterson. Between times, I get to put
my feet up and take life easy.”

  Noah looked at her for a moment, then turned back to look through the windshield. “Good for you,” he said. “We’ll try not to give you too much trouble.”

  “Oh, it’s not as bad as all that,” Catherine said. “Remember that I have sufficient security clearance to learn anything you need to know. The computers in my office have unrestricted access to everything my government knows, and a few more besides, so I’m ready and willing to find out any information you need at any time.” She reached over and patted him on the shoulder. “Noah, don’t look so downhearted. I’ve been a field agent for a number of years—this is a cushy assignment for me. I stand a much greater chance of living to be a grandmother, now, so I’m grateful.”

  Noah turned toward her again. “A grandmother?”

  “Well, I suppose that’s up to my daughter, but I have hopes. At least now there’s a good chance I’ll be around if she decides to give me some grandchildren.”

  “I didn’t know you had a daughter,” Noah said. “How old is she?”

  “She just turned twenty,” Catherine said with a smile. “She wanted to take after her mother and go into government service, but I put my foot down. She is at uni, studying to be a literary agent. Much safer career choice, don’t you agree?”

  THREE

  They arrived at the building a couple of minutes before the estate agent, and Noah was impressed. It was a very large structure, set in the middle of about fifty acres surrounded by a high chain-link fence. Catherine had told him it had once been a farm equipment factory, where tractors and combines were made. The building itself was designed with three large sections, each of which covered nearly two acres, and there was an attached smaller building with a dozen offices on the front.

  “Hello,” the agent said as he got out of his car. “I’m Nigel Wescott.” He handed a business card to each of them.

  Catherine quickly made the introductions, and then Nigel led them to the front door of the building. It took him a moment to find the right key, but then they stepped inside. It turned out that the flashlights hadn’t been necessary, because the power was on in the building. Nigel went to a large panel inside a closet and shoved a lever upward, and all the lights came on at once.

  The building was huge, but it had been sitting empty for several years. There were signs that teenagers or vagabonds occasionally made use of the office spaces, but the building was essentially secure. They found one window broken which was probably where the intruders had gotten in, but it would be no problem to lock it down.

  “Wally?” Noah asked after they’d been all the way through the building. “What do you think?”

  Wally’s eyes were big and round. “I think it’s perfect,” he said, a big smile spread across his face. “This is bigger than the old place, with a lot more room for some of the testing phases.”

  Noah glanced at Esmeralda, who seemed to be paying special attention to various parts of the building’s structure. “Esmeralda?” he asked. “You see any problems?”

  She shook her head. “The structure is sound,” she said. “I think it would be an ideal facility, and should be relatively easy to maintain security for.”

  Noah turned to Nigel. “All right,” he said. “Let’s get down to business. How much?”

  The haggling took less than an hour before they arrived at a price, and Neil was able to transfer the money from their corporate bank account to the estate agency escrow account.

  “I’m afraid it will take a couple of days to get the paperwork done,” he said. “You can, of course, take possession immediately. These are the keys we have, but I would presume you will be changing them.” He handed over the keys to Noah. “I shall give you a call when the close of escrow is scheduled, will that be all right?”

  “That’ll be fine,” Noah said. “Just let me know. If I can’t make it myself, I’ll send a representative.”

  Nigel, who seemed almost shocked at how quickly the deal had taken place, shook his hand and then got into his car and drove away. As soon as he was gone, they all gathered together to start discussing how the new building would be used.

  “The first thing we need to do is make sure nobody knows what’s really going on here,” Noah said. “Any ideas?”

  “That’s easy, Boss,” Neil said. “We start a research engineering business. A lot of the stuff Wally comes up with could easily be adapted to the civilian markets, right?”

  “Well, yes, but some things would need to be kept very secret,” Wally said. “I mean, we don’t need the average housewife turning bread into explosives, now do we?”

  “Of course not,” Noah said. “On the other hand, Wally, you have accomplished one of the greatest feats in robotics ever contemplated. What if you were to develop simpler robots that could do household chores? I don’t mean things that look like people, the way Esmeralda does, but machines that do specific jobs?”

  “Well, yes, I suppose that would not be difficult,” Wally said, his fingers stroking his chin. “Sort of like the cat, only designed to wash dishes or clean toilets or whatever, right? Esmeralda could write the programming in no time flat, so yes, that’s doable.”

  “That’ll be your cover, then,” Noah said. “Developing household robots. That should give you enough leeway to order in any kind of components you need, shouldn’t it? Electronics, computers, even chemicals, right?”

  “Oh, yes, absolutely,” Wally said. “And this building is big enough, we could even set up assembly lines. I would partition off one of the big sections for our real work, and anything we developed for the civilian market would be brought out into the other sections for production. That way, we could even hire local folks to work in the production lines and help out the local economy a bit.”

  “What about your R&D team? Do you think the people you have in mind will come over here?”

  “Of course they will. This is the work they love to do, and they probably will even get a kick out of turning some of it to public use.”

  “Then let’s do it,” Noah said. “Neil, I’ll let you handle getting the company set up. We’ll put Molly on developing a marketing program, she’s a genius at that sort of stuff.”

  “Boss, she’s a genius at everything,” Neil said. “Of course, you’re going to need people who can handle shipping and such. You want local folks for that stuff?”

  “Actually,” Noah said, “I think we’re going to try bringing most of the teams in, so they’ll need cover jobs. This new business will fill the bill nicely.” He turned to Esmeralda. “How soon can you contact the other teams and let them know what’s going on?”

  “If you tell me to, I can do so within minutes. Each of them will get a secure phone number along with the message, so they can call and talk directly to me. I can then explain in more detail, and start arranging their transportation and cover identities.”

  “Can you handle all that by yourself?” Noah asked.

  “I can. I have access to a CIA printing facility that can generate authentic identification documents such as driver’s licenses and passports, and I can access almost any state or federal database to create birth records, Social Security numbers and such. The guidebooks I have read on this process offered great detail on how to create school records, health records and other things that legitimize a created identity.”

  Noah blinked. “Very well, then, please reach out to Teams Aladdin and Pegasus and let them know that we are reforming as a seemingly rogue organization, but will continue to do the work we have always done. Let them know that you will create identities for any of their people who need it, and that they will have cover jobs that secure their income. Tell them I need them as soon as they can get here.”

  “Yes, sir,” Esmeralda said. “I’ve already composed the message, and it is being sent by encrypted email to each of them.”

  Wally giggled. “Hell of an assistant, isn’t she?” he said. “I think I’ll make her my director of research out here.”


  Noah looked at him for a second, then turned to Esmeralda. “Have you created an identity for yourself?” he asked.

  “I have the identity that was created for me when I was built,” she said. “However, it is very limited. With your permission, I would like to create a new one that is more complete and verifiable.”

  “Do it. I think you are at least as human as I am, so you might as well start earning a living. With a complete identity, we can put you on the payroll.”

  Esmeralda smiled. “Thank you,” she said. “I think that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”

  * * *

  They headed back toward the Manor so that Wally could begin the process of ordering the equipment he would need. The online bookstore they owned had earned them more than three billion dollars since it was created, and Noah gave Wally a starting budget of five hundred million to work with. He assured Noah that it would be sufficient to get started, and the plan was for the new company to be able to support itself rather quickly. They all gathered in the Great Hall, where the staff had learned to leave them alone most of the time. Even Thomas would announce himself before entering the room, so Noah was comfortable with holding discussions there.

  Molly was excited about the project, and immediately set to work designing a marketing program that would result in direct online sales. Neil worked with her to create the website and set up the company, which they called, with Wally’s approval, Home Robotics, LTD.

  “Okay, Wally,” Molly said, “can you tell me a couple of robots you are planning to build? We just want to put something on the website, some sort of information to get people’s interest.”

  “Oh, sure,” Wally said, giggling. “I’ve already got it worked out in my head, I mean, I’ve designed the prototype and everything. The first one will do your laundry for you. The way it will work, you just toss all your dirty clothes into the hamper that’s connected to it, and it’ll sort out the whites and the colors and everything else, load them into the washer section and clean them, then it’ll put the whole load in the dryer section because it’s on a pivot, so it just takes the whole drum from the washer section and switches it for the one in the dryer section. That way, it can load the next batch of clothes in the washer section and the process keeps going. When the dryer gets done, the clothes are dropped out onto the folder, and it has a set of arms that pick up each item and fold it properly, or put it on a hanger if that’s appropriate.” He giggled again. “I’m going to call it Laundry Lady.”