Cyborg Strike by David VanDyke

Author:David VanDyke [VanDyke, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: BluA
Published: 2014-01-21T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

Once more Jill found herself in the President’s presence, this time accompanied by Roger Muzik. Besides the two ubiquitous Secret Service agents, there was one more person in attendance in the Oval Office.

“No plausible deniability this time, sir?” Jill asked as she shook McKenna’s hand.

He replied, “This isn’t the cold war, Jill. Neither the first nor second. As soon as the op is finished, we will be announcing it to the world.” McKenna turned to clasp hands with Muzik, then waved them to seats.

“Announcing success, I hope,” Muzik remarked.

“Yes,” McKenna agreed. “But if you fail, we have backup plans. Messy ones, involving direct military action, but it can’t be helped. No matter what the news says, Russia has been taken in a coup by inimical outside forces. It has to be restored to some semblance of a nation of laws. The entire world must be united against the Meme. There is just no room for separate agendas.”

“Sounds a bit like authoritarianism, sir,” Jill said sourly. “I had about enough of that in Camp 240, thank you very much.”

“Water under the bridge,” McKenna snapped. “We are back in a World War Two situation, fighting for survival. We will have to compromise some principles to get the job done. If you can’t do that, let me know right now.”

Jill kept her teeth shut and looked away rather than challenge him any further. She had to admit to herself that he was probably right, and she was glad she did not have to make those hard decisions. It’s always easier to gripe and sharpshoot, she thought, and pushed her feelings aside. “Sorry, sir. I understand. I’m in.”

“Good, good.” He slapped his knee, then gestured at the frozen-faced woman in the stylish pantsuit sitting in the fourth chair. “This is Director Caffey out of Langley. You’ll be working for her until you return for your debriefing.”

Muzik moved first, standing to shake hands with the head of the CIA. Her visage might have thawed just a trifle as he gave her his most heart-melting smile. Jill had never seen him fail at that. His face seemed to have the same effect on straight women that a double handful of cleavage had on equivalent men. Still, she was impressed at the director’s evident self-control.

“Mister Muzik.” She reached over to Jill. “Miz Repeth.”

“Misses,” Jill corrected her, holding up the ring on her left hand.

Muzik subtly rubbed his empty ring finger, flicking a glance at Caffey, who suddenly seemed distracted, blushing faintly.

Well done, Roger.

“Ahem, yes.” The woman opened a case file and began to spread it on the table. “You may consider this your initial mission overview. Your job will be to go in and retrieve or destroy the main database for the Shadow program. This will set them back several years, we hope, and buy the president time to work on a political solution.”

“Just buy time?” Jill sat back in her chair, crossing her arms uneasily. “We’re risking our lives for a temporary solution?”

“Sometimes that’s all we can hope for,” McKenna intervened.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.