On Stormy Seas by Eric Thomson

Author:Eric Thomson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sanddiver Books Inc.

***

A middle-aged man with a forgettable face, wearing nondescript casual clothes, leaned against the bar beside Vincenzo and dropped three untraceable cred chips on the polished wood.

Without looking at Vincenzo, he said in a low voice, “Hey, Vince. It’s been a while. Uncle Josiah says hi.”

The chief replied in the same tone, without turning his head, “Hey, Lou. Fancy meeting you here. How is our uncle?”

“Still nostalgic about the days of furious faeries.”

“Same as our Aunt Si.”

The two men finally glanced at each other, satisfied each was who he purported to be, and neither had spoken words that would have signified danger — abort the meeting. Lou, or at least it was the name in the message from counterintelligence on Earth laying out the recognition pattern, picked up the cred chips — they’d been another recognition signal. Obviously, Lou had seen pictures of Vincenzo so he could identify him, but the man’s face was totally unknown to the chief.

“Gus is waiting outside. How about we take a walk? You got your hardware?”

Gus was the name given to the other agent in the message. “Always.”

Vincenzo and Lou left the bistro, a small, quiet place in one of the suburbs near Joint Base Dordogne, and crossed the street to where another unremarkable man sat on a park bench, watching the last of the sun vanish behind the rooftops.

“Found cousin Vince,” Lou said.

“Hey, Gus.”

The second man was unknown to Vincenzo as well.

“Vince. How are they hanging, my friend?”

“The way nature intended.” Vincenzo reached into his pocket and pulled out his jammer. “I’m active if either of you wants to confirm.”

“Already done,” Gus said. “I caught you on the way out the door.”

“Then we’re good.” Vincenzo nodded at the park. “Let’s take a stroll and talk. You can start by telling me about the last report from either myself or Aunt Si you read before leaving home. Then I can fill you in on what happened since.”

Lou gave a concise and accurate summary of Dunmoore’s latest report, the last bit of proof he and Gus were the Naval Intelligence Special Operations Section agents he’d expected.

“Okay. Plenty of things happened since you lifted off, my friends.” As they ambled along, eyes looking for anyone suspicious, Vincenzo recounted the intervening events, especially the gala at the Grand Casino and Calvert’s covert attempt to bribe Dunmoore.

“The corollary to that offer,” he continued, “is what they’ll do when she uses the 101st against the traffickers again — and she will if she sees a risk — instead of just shuffling 3rd Fleet around and leaving things at that.”

“What’s your assessment?” Gus asked, one undercover professional to another.

“They’ll take her out,” Vincenzo replied flatly. “Just as I suspect they did with Hanno Berg, her predecessor.”

“Okay. That’s one thing you need to keep us informed about. In the meantime, we’ll look for potential targets among the opposition, people whose removal will seriously mess with their chain of command and their ability to operate. We can retaliate in ways they’ll always remember if they try anything.

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