said Tiamat. “There’ll be a
pitched battle between the Americans and the British.”
“Two years?” said Lucifer dubiously. “You realize I’ve been
working on this for close to a decade. These people do nothing but talk. The
British pass an outrageous law and the Americans tear it up and send an angry
letter to the king. That’s all they’ve done for five years now. It’s like
trying to start a fire underwater.”
“Give me two years,” said Tiamat. “You’ll have your war.”
Lucifer shrugged. “Then you’ll have France, my dear.”
Chapter Eleven
San Francisco; August 2016
“So this Mercury,” Suzy said. “Is he
an angel or a demon?”
“Ehhh…” Eddie replied.
“What does that mean?”
“Well, you remember when the Moon got imploded?”
“Doesn’t ring any bells.”
“Seriously?”
“Of course I remember when the Moon got imploded. How would
I not remember something like that? A third of the Moon just disappeared, and
nobody knows why.”
“Yeah,” said Eddie. “That was Mercury.”
“Um, no. It was the Moon.”
“No, I mean Mercury was the one who imploded the Moon.”
“Whoa,” said Suzy. “So a bad guy then?”
“He was actually trying to keep Earth from getting
imploded.”
“So a good guy.”
“Ehhh…”
“You’re not being very helpful.”
Eddie sighed. “Mercury is basically a good guy. He’s gotten
into some trouble in the past though, because he doesn’t always follow orders.”
“But that’s good, right?” Suzy asked. “He follows his
conscience instead.”
“Ehhh…”
“Stop doing that!” Suzy snapped.
“Mercury tends to do his own thing,” Eddie said. “But I
think he could be convinced of the seriousness of the problem. He’s a good guy
to have on your side, if you can keep him focused.”
“So how do we find him?”
“Well, he’s easy enough to spot,” said Eddie. “He’s about
six foot four and he has silver hair. Also, he tends to stand out for other
reasons.”
“Like?”
“He’s… well, he’s just… Mercury.”
“Milhaus, Texas has a population of 2 ,014 ,”
said Rosenfeld, looking it up online. “Shouldn’t be too
difficult to find an unusually tall guy with silver hair in a town that size.”
“Unless the feds have already found him,” added Suzy.
“What’s the date on that PowerPoint?”
Rosenfeld peered at the screen. “File was created August
ninth.”
“Shit, that’s two days ago,” Suzy groaned.
“Hang on,” said Rosenfeld. “The date on the title slide is
August twelve.”
“So that’s the date the presentation will be made,” said
Suzy. “With any luck, nobody’s even seen this yet!”
“Nobody except whoever made the presentation. And whoever
they got the intel from.”
“Is there a name on the presentation?”
“Not that I can see.”
“It was probably put together by some low-level
paper-pusher,” said Suzy. “Look at the rest of this crap. It’s all standard
project management jargon about low-hanging fruit and core competencies. This
is probably just a standard weekly project status update.”
“They buried a serious threat to their entire program on the
sixteenth slide of a PowerPoint presentation?” asked Rosenfeld skeptically.
“You have to understand how these guys work,” said Suzy.
“This isn’t a military intelligence operation. These guys are mostly software
geeks and engineers. So when they see a potential problem, they make a note of
it and it goes on a PowerPoint presentation for some manager to deal with
eventually. Somebody at the FBI or some other agency probably spotted
Mercury—if he stands out as much as Eddie says, he’s undoubtedly on some
terrorist watch list—and they reported it to their higher ups. Somehow that information
eventually filtered over to somebody inside Brimstone, and they put it on the
PowerPoint for next week’s meeting.”
“So it might have been days or weeks ago that Mercury
pitched battle between the Americans and the British.”
“Two years?” said Lucifer dubiously. “You realize I’ve been
working on this for close to a decade. These people do nothing but talk. The
British pass an outrageous law and the Americans tear it up and send an angry
letter to the king. That’s all they’ve done for five years now. It’s like
trying to start a fire underwater.”
“Give me two years,” said Tiamat. “You’ll have your war.”
Lucifer shrugged. “Then you’ll have France, my dear.”
Chapter Eleven
San Francisco; August 2016
“So this Mercury,” Suzy said. “Is he
an angel or a demon?”
“Ehhh…” Eddie replied.
“What does that mean?”
“Well, you remember when the Moon got imploded?”
“Doesn’t ring any bells.”
“Seriously?”
“Of course I remember when the Moon got imploded. How would
I not remember something like that? A third of the Moon just disappeared, and
nobody knows why.”
“Yeah,” said Eddie. “That was Mercury.”
“Um, no. It was the Moon.”
“No, I mean Mercury was the one who imploded the Moon.”
“Whoa,” said Suzy. “So a bad guy then?”
“He was actually trying to keep Earth from getting
imploded.”
“So a good guy.”
“Ehhh…”
“You’re not being very helpful.”
Eddie sighed. “Mercury is basically a good guy. He’s gotten
into some trouble in the past though, because he doesn’t always follow orders.”
“But that’s good, right?” Suzy asked. “He follows his
conscience instead.”
“Ehhh…”
“Stop doing that!” Suzy snapped.
“Mercury tends to do his own thing,” Eddie said. “But I
think he could be convinced of the seriousness of the problem. He’s a good guy
to have on your side, if you can keep him focused.”
“So how do we find him?”
“Well, he’s easy enough to spot,” said Eddie. “He’s about
six foot four and he has silver hair. Also, he tends to stand out for other
reasons.”
“Like?”
“He’s… well, he’s just… Mercury.”
“Milhaus, Texas has a population of 2 ,014 ,”
said Rosenfeld, looking it up online. “Shouldn’t be too
difficult to find an unusually tall guy with silver hair in a town that size.”
“Unless the feds have already found him,” added Suzy.
“What’s the date on that PowerPoint?”
Rosenfeld peered at the screen. “File was created August
ninth.”
“Shit, that’s two days ago,” Suzy groaned.
“Hang on,” said Rosenfeld. “The date on the title slide is
August twelve.”
“So that’s the date the presentation will be made,” said
Suzy. “With any luck, nobody’s even seen this yet!”
“Nobody except whoever made the presentation. And whoever
they got the intel from.”
“Is there a name on the presentation?”
“Not that I can see.”
“It was probably put together by some low-level
paper-pusher,” said Suzy. “Look at the rest of this crap. It’s all standard
project management jargon about low-hanging fruit and core competencies. This
is probably just a standard weekly project status update.”
“They buried a serious threat to their entire program on the
sixteenth slide of a PowerPoint presentation?” asked Rosenfeld skeptically.
“You have to understand how these guys work,” said Suzy.
“This isn’t a military intelligence operation. These guys are mostly software
geeks and engineers. So when they see a potential problem, they make a note of
it and it goes on a PowerPoint presentation for some manager to deal with
eventually. Somebody at the FBI or some other agency probably spotted
Mercury—if he stands out as much as Eddie says, he’s undoubtedly on some
terrorist watch list—and they reported it to their higher ups. Somehow that information
eventually filtered over to somebody inside Brimstone, and they put it on the
PowerPoint for next week’s meeting.”
“So it might have been days or weeks ago that Mercury
Similar Books
