Read The Chronicles of Amon book 2 The Sea of Marmara Page 51
Chapter 11.
Aaron knew how bad the situation was in the cities. It wasn’t safe to be out alone at night throughout most of the city, under anything other than emergency circumstances. He had been fortunate to have purchased the lease on his apartment well back in the 30’s when security systems were built tough and came built-in, as part of the lease. Not the cheap plastic battery-operated sensors that passed for home security these days. Sharon had told him what a good deal it would be to. . . .
He hesitated only for a moment, remembering. . . .
“All right, Leo!” (that was the cats name)
“Let’s get with it!” He walked resolutely down the hall and into the bathroom.
“Outa here, cat!” He thumped the litter box with his toe. “I gotta take a shower!”
A few minutes later he was at the computer. He typed “IT’s TIME” and began typing before the screen came up.
“Thank you, Aaron. I am now in voice mode. How may I be of assistance?
“Thank you, Hal.” Aaron had named his computer after the one in the Space Odyssey vid he had loved so long ago.
“Where are the three, Hal.”
The screen immediately came to life, showing a globe. As each name was spoken, the globe rotated and zoomed to the appropriate location.
“Nahm is in the Central Asian System. Amon is still in South Africa, and Haden last reported in at the Hague. This was yesterday morning.”
“Hal, please. A brief political overview.”
“As you wish, sir.” The globe zoomed in to a tight shot of the Hague Center from satellite. View resolution was good down to about a foot.
“Haden reports the situation there hasn’t changed much. He can’t do a vid for security reasons, but here is a shot of the residence where he’s staying.”
The view resolution immediately went almost crystal clear as the view moved in to show the word DANZIG carved into the dark, stone facade over the front entry. The view slowly began backing out, as thought a camera was being lifted up, out above the empty streets.
Finally the view steadied high above the surrounding structures, high enough to see the flat, gravel covered roofs.
“He says he will probably be able to break free tomorrow late evening.”
“Please tell him to call when he is ready. I’ll make myself available from 7 our time on.”
“Very well, sir. Amon is currently in a small town called Lenasia. It’s about 40 klicks south-east of the Johannesburg ruins. He reports looting still continues, but on a sporadic basis. Most of the population has begun moving south, toward the Suikerbosrand Nature Preserve.
Politically, the war lords still retain power, what little there is. Most of the population is dead or in hiding. Soon the tribal leaders will be fighting among themselves. Essentially, they are down to small arms and machetes. They pose no threat to any plans you have currently in place.”
“I assume Cairo is aware of this.”
“Yes. Sultanih is there now, but nothing much has happened. There’s talk of another summit in a few months, this time in Alexandria. Shall I notify his highness Al-Atrasha of your return?”
“Yes. Please inform him that I am recovering nicely from my recent loss, and look forward to seeing him at his earliest convenience. Hopefully in just a few days.”
“Security forces have already been placed on standby in the Med.” The computer continued. “We have several assets assigned to the casino and hotel in Alexandria. They report only minor activity. Cleaning crews and supply trucks, mostly.”
“Looks like that’s gonna be the place. Let me know when they start shipping in vegetables. Then we’ll know it’s gonna be soon.”
“Nahm reports the Chinese are getting pretty antsy again. The plague in Thailand has stopped spreading, but disease control is getting out of hand.”
“Even the ‘Mongol hordes’ can’t keep up with it, huh? Sounds to me like they’re learning a little late how expensive communism can be.”
“Apparently so, sir. They’ve had to commandeer a small container hauler fleet to help move the bodies. Their resources are stretched to the breaking point.”
“Have Sultanih call as soon as possible. I need to get up to speed locally.”
“He reports that a unit of Forward Air Controllers have been deployed along the West Bank. They haven’t set anything up yet. They’re just waiting.”
“That sounds like an advance security detachment to me. Alexandria may be sooner than we think.”
“There is a high likelihood that this might indeed be the case, sir.” Hal’s voice matrix was a crude re-engineering of the original ‘Hal’ voice, taken from one of the mass-produced discs that were in common use during the time the original was created. Background noise sometimes filtered through, giving the track an almost sandy, hissing sound.
“Please inform the three we must link immediately.”