Chapter #46Tempting the Devil by: Seuzz   It's on account of Verity that you decide to return to Saratoga Falls. She isn't sure she wants to be part of this new world, and she wants to return to someplace familiar. Either way, you want to be around to help her.
Especially if, as seems likely, she and your brother break up. She will need lots of support in that case.
And -- it's far from the back of your mind -- returning quickly to Saratoga Falls will lead to the quick rescue and restoration of Robert.
It's nearly nine o'clock by the time you're ready to move. You and Rick and Frank and Joe have discussed what to do and what to say and who to say it to. Rick, Swann, your "number two" and Verity all return to more private quarters to await the conclusion of the second step.
But you start with the first step, which is simply to send an email to a superior alerting him that you'll be calling later about taking a brief vacation. That only takes a minute, after which you call Steve Patterson at his Diana office.
* * * * *
He picks up after the sixth ring. "Morning, Julian," he says in a very neutral tone. "What can I do for you?"
You twist a small crick out of your neck, and the Fane personality comes to the fore. "My boys tell me they had a little talk with you yesterday," you tell him in a very pleasant voice. "I thought you and I could have one now."
"What do you want to talk about? The bill I'll be sending Vulcan for damages at Huntress?"
"If you want. But bring it over, and I'll treat you to breakfast."
"If it's all the same, I'd like to do this by phone."
"Don't be like this, Steve." You settle back in your chair. Julian Dey enjoys this kind of thing, and you let yourself partake of the pleasure. "There's rules of hospitality, you know that. As for last night, well, that was just my boys playing bad cop. Let me play the good cop this morning." You doubt he'll go for it, so you add a sweetener. "To show you there's no hard feelings on my end, I've got some new toys to show you."
"Didn't I meet them last night?" Acid drips from his voice.
"Want to see how I made them? Or have you already got people inside Vulcan telling you?"
"No comment, and I'll wait for the trade show."
"Steve, I'm trying smooth things over here. My boys got rough because you were interfering with a very delicate mission, that's all. We were just doing a test run, proof of concept, and you almost fucked it up. I'm not going to describe it over the phone. But if you come over, I'll show you the toys, we'll talk about a licensing deal, and maybe a joint venture."
Patterson breathes heavily into the phone. "Just the two of us there?"
"Well, my boys will be here, but they're leashed."
"Then I'm bringing--"
"You don't have to bring anything except that bill for damages you threatened me with. My boys are only here so you can see what kind of things I can make with these toys."
"I've already seen, Julian. But alright. Be there in an hour."
* * * * *
The outer offices are humming busily by the time Patterson arrives, but Frank and Joe are the only company in the office when your nemesis arrives. Frank looks serene; Joe looks tetchy; and Patterson looks chalky and exhausted when he saunters in on those great stilts of his. "You said something about breakfast?" he asks, and looks warily at the two Stellae flanking your chair.
You buzz your secretary, and she wheels in a large dining tray whose plate is surrounded by three chafing dishes. Patterson spears a couple of sausages and a slice of quiche and some fruit, but pushes the coffee away. You notice that his hand is trembling slightly. "Tired?" you ask him.
"I was up all night." Again he glowers at your two boys. "They did a real number on my place."
"Of course they did. They're Stellae."
He keeps his voice neutral. "Except they're not really, are they? They'd hardly be working with you, or you with them."
"That's true. They're altered, slightly. You recognize them?"
"Of course. Jamie caught them the same time he hired me."
"Technically, it was your friend Prescott who caught them, I believe," you correct him. His eyes, already cold, chill further. "But we've brought some very exciting research to bear on them. They are our creatures now, and with their powers unchanged and undiminished, and their change of allegiances undetected." You let Dey's smile of pride creep onto your face. "We've got agents inside the Stellae now."
"Good for you. Are you trying to kill my appetite with your gloating?"
"I'm only explaining the situation, Steve, though I'm sure you're already up to speed on it. But this is why I had to slap at you yesterday. Your guys were attracting attention to them, and the committee wouldn't like it if they learned that this very promising operation had been compromised by your meddling."
For a moment you think Patterson is going to throw the food -- tray and all -- at you, but he masters himself. Through gritted teeth he says, "You said something about sharing some toys."
"Exactly. My boys are only proof of concept, and the only reason I tried infiltrating them into the Stellae -- something that should have been a Diana operation -- is because Jamie, when he was running Diana, had set up an infiltration plan using them. I merely executed it."
"And I'm sure you'll be well compensated for it," Patterson growls.
"No, I think you will. I'm going to give you all the credit."
Patterson rears back. But his expression of surprise is heavily leavened by one of suspicion. He knows that Julian Dey does not share credit. "What's the story?"
You sigh. "The story is that the infiltration is huge success. But infiltration ops are not in Vulcan's portfolio. They're in Diana's. Even if I earned some credit with the committee, I'd get slapped. I'm sure you'd see to that. So this is a pre-emptive surrender, Steve." You shrug. "Or call it a gesture of good will."
You turn to gaze out the window onto the London skyline as he remains mute. "The instruments we used to make them are naturals for Diana, and the infiltration of the Stellae must be carried out by Diana. If Diana doesn't carry it out, you know, ithe op will be reassigned outside Dark Stars, to some other Fane project, and neither of us want that. Because anyone who gets control of the Stellae is going to get access to all of their secrets." You turn back to him. "If this op gets reassigned outside Dark Stars, you lose your chance to control the oldest and best occult agent team in the world, and I lose my chance to add their tech to my own. That's why we have to cooperate, Steve, why we have to ally. We hang together or we hang separately, as a wit once put it."
But Patterson's expression, though thoughtful, remains dark. "You have a funny way of showing you want to be my friend, after what you did to Huntress last night."
"I had to show you I'm not weak, Steve. This is a marriage of equals. Which is why I am keeping some insurance." You lean forward, elbows on the desk. "I'm giving you control of the operation, the infiltration and control of the Stellae, but I'm doing it by giving you my boys. They'll work for you, take orders from you. Won't you, boys?" Joe and Frank smile coldly. "But they're loyal to me. They'll make sure you don't try a double cross. You'd do the same in my place, wouldn't you?"
Steve drops his eyes briefly, and snorts.
"Obviously. But I'm giving you a toy of your own to go with them. I'm giving you Prescott."
"Prescott? Why do I want him?" Patterson's sneer is only a tiny prick to your ego, but a deep one. "By the way, why were you so interested in him?"
"Up until yesterday, only as a red herring. We made sure everyone thought he was vitally important so they'd ignore the really important guys." You point to Frank. "But suddenly he is important. It turns out he's also a Stellae, one that even they hadn't discovered."
Patterson's jaw drops a little. "Prescott? A Stellae?" Then he turns shrewd. "I thought it was Verity Walker who was a candidate."
You shake your head. "You mean that truth-telling thing trick? There's definitely something weird there, but she failed all our tests. We want to put her back, but we also want to keep an eye on her. Or, we want you to. She's close to Prescott's brother, and we want to give you Prescott as an agent, the way we've got Frank and Joe here as agents."
You lean forward. "We want to do to him what we did to these two. That way we have three agents inside the Stellae. Two belonging to me, and one belonging to you. Of course," you add, leaning back again, "you'll be able to add more. I only advise that you go very slowly. Our guys came close to being found out."
Patterson, having abandoned his breakfast midway through, pushes the tray aside, and leans back to steeple his fingers. "Okay, Julian, I'll admit I'm intrigued. Explain how you do it."
"It's a modification of P3. We found a way to extract it and purify it so as to cleanse it of all mental phenomena. Turn it into pure will. We remove the subject's P3 and replace it with a purified version of the puppeteer's P3. Then they look and act just like their old selves -- they still have their old bodies and memories. Only their will is identical to the donor's, so they obey the donor's wishes."
Patterson's eyes dart between Joe and Frank.
You answer his unasked question: "For them I used my P3. But for Prescott we'll use yours." You have the following choice: 1. Continue |
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