“I decided I am going to Global Nation in Tel Aviv. I want to be a peacekeeper in Gaza while the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are happening,” Bina said.
Harry’s eyes widened. “Are you crazy, Mom? Why do you want to go there? You and Dad came here to New York to get away from all the politics and now you want to go back?”
“I have to go, Harry. I need a purpose in life,” she said, as her voice broke.
He looked at her for a long time, his anger diminishing. “Are you sure you can take care of yourself, Mom?” he asked.
She smiled. “I took care of you and your father. Makhshava me tumtemet le-gamrei. What a stupid question.”
***
Two months later, Harry received a phone call.
“Mr. Doub, you are listed as the emergency contact for Bina Schwartz. We regret to inform you that Ms. Schwartz did not report to work two days ago at our Gaza office. We are doing our best to locate her and are working closely with Israeli officials to find her.”
Harry decided that his mission was to find his missing mother even if it meant that he had to infiltrate Global Nation from the inside to do it.
Chapter 3
Global Nation 2012
A NEW STATUS ALERT BOX popped up on the bottom corner of his computer screen displaying a familiar avatar—a dark shadow of mist in the silhouette of a woman standing tall, hands on her hips with her long hair blowing wildly over one shoulder like black flames. Cristal.
Harry made sure that the closest members of his team contacted him via the private Truth Seekers’ game messaging system, which he simply called TSVC or Truth Seekers’ video chat. He had overridden the personnel spy software, which the president of GN, Shelley Lionheart, had ordered his team to install on all GN desktops and laptops. Even though he was confident that no one could hack into his system, he made sure that everyone messaged each other using alias names and coded phrases.
Mist: Received the latest mission you sent. Not sure why we need Shadow to be involved. His programming skills suck.
Harry smiled as he typed his reply.
Zero: Your comment is noted. Bring Onyx with you to location.
Mist: You chose her as a recruit without my input. So you take care of her yourself.
Harry started to type a response but paused. He could have easily walked five cubicles down to talk to Cristal in person, instead of texting her via her online alias Mist. Her recent snide remarks about his latest recruits, Kerim and Joanna, were becoming difficult to ignore.
Harry had warned Cristal that upcoming missions would become more dangerous. His warnings, however, seemed to fall on deaf ears. He feared that her cockiness would get her in trouble. So without her knowledge, he had hired former Turkish Army Intelligence Kerim Ilgaz, giving him the alias name Shadow, and assigning him as Cristal’s bodyguard. If she ever found out the real reason behind Kerim’s role in the Truth Seekers, she probably would never speak to Harry again.
As for Joanna, alias Onyx, he couldn’t understand what was Cristal’s gripe with her. Although Joanna was a good programmer and gamer, having one of the highest scores in the Truth Seekers’ game, she lacked the ability to see the big picture—a talent and skill that he found only in Cristal. He never admitted this to Cristal convincing himself that it was a conflict of interest. After all he was the head of the Truth Seekers and also technically her boss at GN.
He had to admit though that Cristal was the only one who could see through him, past his boyish good looks and bravado. His choice of communication was text messaging so he could avoid looking into those kohl brown eyes with flecks of gold, like lasers that could detect his deepest and darkest fears. They were good friends and he wanted their relationship to stay that way.
Mist: I’ll meet you after work to discuss this further.
***
Cristal was standing outside the building waiting for him. He saw her through the glass doors when a gust of wind blew her long chestnut hair away from her oval face revealing her dainty nose and lips like pink rose petals. Her taupe silk dress hugged her curves. I have never been so jealous of silk before, he thought to himself.
When Harry invited Cristal to join the Truth Seekers, she gave up her scholarship at MIT and transferred to Global Nation University. Both of them had been fifteen years old and the youngest students in GN’s history to attend the university. Now at twenty-two, they still felt out of place being the youngest staff working at Global Nation.
“Coffee shop is too busy and we really need to focus,” he said.
“Okay, so where do you want to go?” Cristal looked briefly at her watch.
“Thought we could go to my place,” he said, trying to keep his voice steady.
She raised an eyebrow but then grinned, and said, “Yeah, sure. I’ll be the first Truth Seeker to get to see Zero Doubt’s new crib.”
He laughed. “Just don’t post that on the website, okay?”
“Too late, I already tweeted everyone, posted it on Facebook, and all the gaming blogs,” she said with her usual snappy retort.
A group of GN staff exited from the building and walked past them, chatting amongst themselves.
Cristal grabbed his arm and said, “Let’s go.” She pulled him towards the bus loop.
“Afraid to bump into Joanna? You really have something against her, don’t you?” he asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Come on, Harry. Can we please not open that topic again? I have better things to think about right now. Like, why you want me to hack into Shelley Lionheart’s private folder on the GN cloud network?”
He turned away from her and sighed. “You know, I can’t tell you that. Your job is to complete your mission and not ask questions, right?”
“Yes, Mr. Doubt,” she said, her sarcasm seeping between the words. “So sorry…I forgot that you’re all work and no play.”
Now it was his turn to roll his eyes.
Later that evening, Cristal and Harry were sitting at his dining table with their laptops set up in front of them. Cristal was busy scribbling notes on her pad of paper.
“You have the best laptop money can buy and you’re writing on paper,” he said, shaking his head.
“Writing with pen and paper helps me brainstorm.” She frowned as she concentrated on her scribbles.
All Harry wanted to do was touch the strands of hair that fell seductively on her porcelain cheek. He watched as she snapped a barrette on the wavy locks against her face.
“Geez, my hair is driving me nuts. One day, I’ll lose my patience and shave it all off,” she mumbled under her breath.
Harry stared at her in disbelief. “You don’t mean that, right?” Doesn’t she realize how beautiful her hair is?
She made a face and said, “Long hair is just a pain to keep up. It would be much easier if I cropped it really short, like yours. Don’t you think?”
She put both her hands under her chin, gave him an innocent smile and blinked her eyes. Not only was she amazingly adorable, she had a great sense of humor. He chuckled to himself.
“What’s so funny, Harry? You don’t think I’d do it?” she teased.
She punched him on the arm playfully.
He turned his eyes away from her. “Why do I care if you cut off your hair or not?” he said, shrugging his shoulder.
“Oh, whatever, Harry. I can’t figure you out sometimes.”
From his peripheral view, he could see her sulking in her cute way, her lips in a pout and her eyebrows furrowed together.
Global Nation was behind the disappearance of his mother Bina Schwartz. A conglomerate non-profit organization with offices and universities all over the world, he had enough data to prove that GN hid behind its peace, educational and social activism initiatives to do experiments on innocent people. He needed more data to find out where his mother was and why GN kidnapped her.
Romance was not on his agenda. There were more pressing things at hand.
Focus on the mis
sion, he scolded himself. He didn’t have time to be distracted by anyone. Not even Cristal.
***
Eight months earlier, Harry had put his first mission into motion: landing a job at Global Nation’s head office. It was simple plan and easy enough to pull off by himself. After all, getting his PhD before his twentieth birthday meant that all the biggest companies were lining up and offering him dream jobs with six-figure salaries.
It must have come as a surprise to them, when he applied for and accepted a low-paying job working as a middle manager at the GN central IT department.
“Don’t you think you’re a little overqualified for this position? The pay isn’t even half of what Google was probably offering you,” George Beaver had asked him during his interview.
His first impression of the Beav’ was that he looked like a potato-head Elf—his huge bald head balancing on top of his short, stocky body.
It was obvious that Beaver didn’t understand most of the technical terminology he was reading from the interview questionnaire, mispronouncing terms such as GUI interface. In the IT world, it was pronounced “gooey” not “G.U.I.” Ah yes, a Mr. Potato Head avatar suited Beaver. Maybe he’d add a beaver tail that smacked the ground too.
“I never really had a real job before, so I think I have to earn my stripes like everybody else.”
Harry cleared his throat hoping that he had responded in a humble tone. He would bet his last dollar the Beav’ had a Napoleon complex.
The answer must have satisfied Beaver, because he smiled and wrote a few notes on the paper. Then he asked Harry a few more questions and finally he stood up.
“Wait here a moment, Harry,” Beaver said, grabbing his papers.
“No problem.”
Harry took a deep breath and fixed his tie as he waited. A suit and tie guy, he definitely was not.
Minutes later, the door opened and to Harry’s surprise, Shelley Lionheart entered the room. Stylish, in a manly way, she carried herself like an Amazon queen. She was someone who would stand out in a crowd. She was in her mid-forties, wearing a fitted matte black jacket and pantsuit; her raven black hair cut short close to her scalp; blue-black nail polish and lips painted with a dark burgundy color, which contrasted against her dark chocolate skin, and slanted cat-like eyes that seemed to glow like coal-hot embers. On top of all this, at six feet tall, 200 pounds of muscle, she was definitely not one to joke around with.
Quickly, he stood up and stretched out his hand, ready to shake hers. The night before, he had repeatedly practiced in front of the full-length mirrors in his bedroom. A confident handshake is a good first impression, his mom had always told him.
Lionheart looked him square in the eye and squeezed the circulation from his hand.
Satisfied by his lack of response, she turned to Beaver. Beaver quickly pulled back the chair.
“This is Shelley Lionheart, President of Global Nation and GN University,” Beaver stammered.
Harry waited to see if he would pull out a trumpet to herald her regal presence.
Lionheart sat down gracefully despite her size, almost as if she was floating into the seat.
Harry pulled back his hand quickly and sat back down.
“Nice to meet you, Ms. Lionheart,” he said, trying hard not to let his voice waver.
She folded her hands on the table and leaned slightly towards him.
“Let’s get to business. We have GN offices in every continent. We need someone like you to help set up the security firewall for our networks and database servers globally. We had, what we call, an incident at our GN charitable office in Manila, Philippines. Long story short: The web servers were compromised and we experienced breaches in security after the recent riots. The breach involved unauthorized access to personal data of a number of our very important charitable donors. As you can see, this is a delicate matter, which needs to be resolved immediately. Beaver will arrange for you to fly out tomorrow.”
She attempted to smile, but the expression on her face resembled someone who had just taken a bite into a bad burrito.
“I haven’t been offered the job yet,” he said quietly.
“Don’t be cute. Or maybe I won’t offer you anything, Mr. Doubt.” The glimpse of a smile disappeared from her mouth, as she continued, “We both know this job was yours before you walked in the door. The interview was just a legal formality. The job is yours. As you know, we are a non-profit charitable organization. And our GN universities are funded partly by the state with some funds coming from tuitions and fees. Of course, you already knew this, being the recipient of this generosity. We count on our generous donors to help run our charitable and educational operations. So, yes, it’s not a glamorous job and probably the pay won’t be as attractive as what the private sector can offer you, but at least you’ll get to travel. Or, perhaps, you can call it payback. Consider that a fringe benefit.”
Harry tried not to smirk.
“Before I accept…when I reviewed the current support model you have now for IT, it is no wonder that GN offices are experiencing security breaches in their networks. GN doesn’t have a dedicated IT operations team, despite having multiple offices and universities all over the world. Without the proper security systems in place with regular maintenance and upgrades to the firewalls, it is not a shock that the breach didn’t happen sooner. So, Ms. Lionheart, before I can accept, I’ll need you to provide me with the best team of programmers to be able to do my job,” he replied, trying not to sound too cocky.
The grimace reappeared on her face, as she said, “Call me Shelley. No need for formalities. We’re all one family here.”
Beaver nodded his head like a bobble-head doll.
“Yes, one happy family,” he said.
Beaver started to say more when Lionheart raised her hand.
She tilted her head slightly and said, “Okay, that is a fair observation. What you propose is exactly what we need here. If you take the job, you can hire three people for your team.” She paused for a moment. “By the way, you seemed to have impressed George Beaver in your interview. Lucky for you that he will be your senior manager, and you are to report to him directly.”
Beaver said with disdain in his voice, “We normally don’t offer positions right after the interview. Now you want to create three more staff positions out of thin air? I guess that you must think you’re really somebody special.”
Beaver looked over at Lionheart and stopped smiling when he met her glare. Harry almost laughed. Lionheart put Beaver’s panties in a wad with one look. Classic.
Lionheart continued, “We checked your references, Harry. Your professors all gave you shining recommendations. It seems that your father’s genius has rubbed off on you.” Her eyes seemed to drill into his.
He wasn’t sure if this was a compliment or her way of testing him. It’s now or never.
He took a deep breath and finally said, “My last request is that you let me be the one to interview and hire the programmers for my team. I need the best of the best, and since I’m responsible for this team’s success, I want to be the one to choose who we hire.”
Beaver glowered at him and turned to Lionheart to see her reaction. She was expressionless, which to Harry was a good thing. It meant that she was considering his request.
“The sacrificial lamb, so to speak,” she mumbled to herself. Lionheart drummed her nails on the table.
After an uncomfortable silence, she said, “Very well, then. You will get to hire who you want for your team.”
She waved to Beaver to get up. “We have concluded this conversation. Beaver will get HR to get your paperwork in order and arrange for your plane ticket. Make sure you check into our health services office to get your vaccinations and meds in order before you fly. We don’t want our shining new Manager of IT Operations to get sick on his first assignment.”
She stood up and walked out of the room, or to be accurate, she levitated out of her chair and glided out of the room. Very strange w
oman, Harry thought to himself.
“Let’s go, Harry. There’s a lot of stuff you have to do to get ready for your trip,” Beaver said in a bossy tone.
Harry followed him out of the room.
Mission one accomplished. The next challenge was bringing in online gamers to join him on his crusade. How was he going to convince online gamers to leave the privacy of their virtual world to work with others in the real world?
Chapter 4
Serena (alias Lioness)
SERENA BENT OVER TO KISS her father good night. He barely moved, his eyes glued to his iPad, reviewing his notes from his consular meetings that day.
“Good night, Father.”
He mumbled something that resembled “Good night,” kissed the top of her head, and returned to his notes. She straightened herself, turned, and walked out of the sitting room. Ever since the riot that devastated downtown Manila and the reports of hundreds of people who went missing a few weeks ago, her father had stayed past office hours at the consulate every night.
Her thoughts raced as she walked down the long dark corridor. Due to the blackouts in the city, everyone had to conserve electricity by keeping the lights off as much as possible. The huge three-story house was intimidating in the daytime but even spookier at nighttime. Built in 1926, the maids said that the house was one of the oldest in Quezon City, which, according to legend, the ghosts of the Filipino prisoners who were tortured and killed in the rooms throughout the house during the Japanese occupation, still wandered the hallways.
Suddenly, Serena felt a hand on her left shoulder. Parts of her wanted to start running, but instead, she froze in her tracks. The spicy scent of “Gucci pour Homme” cologne enveloped her nostrils. She must have sprayed that scent on thousands of male customers last summer at her part-time job during the “Shangri-la Plaza’s Back to School” promotion. Definitely, not a ghost.
“Don’t be scared, Serena. We need to talk,” a deep, strong voice whispered in her ear.
This clown was about to learn he was messing with the wrong girl. All she needed was an opening and her training would kick in. She continued walking down the hall. The stranger pressed his hand into the small of her back.