Bill spoke up. But at least we must test every spirit.
'Right,' said Albert. He turned to Ernie. 'Let me just ask you one more question: Is "Jesus Christ come in the flesh"?'
Ernie answered, 'He would have certainly had to have had flesh and blood to operate on the earth. That's the only way he could have had any authority over the elements.'
'Now, your talkin,' said Albert. 'But this is weird. I've never heard of anything like it. What did you say you were, and who are these "Glaat" guys?'
'We're Zondon. Basically a peace loving, life loving race of beings, friends of the Supreme One, generally satisfied to live and promote life where it exists. The Glaat are a race that hates life unless they control it. They've expanded their empire to include almost the entire galaxy, and they've corrupted many Zondon by tempting them with the opportunity to control others thereby gaining wealth and power for themselves. The knowledge of the Glaat is deep, but it corrupts, and once it has made its entry, it's almost impossible to go back and receive the wisdom of the Zondon.'
'Wow! Almost the story of creation!' said Albert.
'Basically, we're on a mission to disable the Glaat empire and cripple its expansion. The strategy involved being born into human bodies, as humanity has special inherent ability and authority that can be a formidable weapon in the right hands.'
'And in the wrong hands?'
'I wouldn't want to find out,' said May Lin.
'So what is this strategy?' asked Albert, 'Or am I allowed to know?'
'We don't know it yet,' said Ernie. 'We won't know until we've regrouped all seven of us.'
'So there's three of you,' said Albert, 'Rosa is the fourth, and then you have to find three more?'
'We'll only know where to find the fifth one once we've awakened the fourth.'
After that, they showed Rosa the crystal, and soon, she was awakened.
* * *
Now that there are four of you, said Wisdom, you have just enough strength to stand up to the Glaat. In a direct conflict, you would now stand a good chance of destroying him bodily. However, your mission has not become easier, but delicate, as not only will your plan of action now bring you into his sphere of activity, but also the remaining three Zondon have become pawns of the Glaat.
If you destroyed the Glaat bodily at this time, he would only return and take over the body of one of the three, whom it is now your task is to win back to the wisdom of the Zondon. Thus, while you could quickly win the battle, the over-all mission would be that much more difficult, as your success depends on all seven of you being awakened and working in unity. Only then, using the tools you will have at that time can you effectively deal with the Glaat.
Phondesh suddenly recognised the connection between Boz O'Hannan's recent email and the location of Draz, the next Zondon that had to be awakened. Draz would, in turn, lead them to Vrosh and Zikh.
There also seemed to be an indirect connection to Vrosh to be found at the company Boz had discovered.
The job, from here on out, would not be easy. It would require bringing each one to a willingness to renounce and reject the knowledge of the Glaat and once again embrace Wisdom. That would involve denying everything that they have come to value as making up their very being.
* * *
Rosa's fluency in Zondon and the memories of her pre human past were enough to convince Big Albert, Bill and Marie beyond a doubt that this was real.
Everyone agreed that Rosa should, by all means, join the three to Bangkok. The next day, she would go to apply for a passport at the local post office.
Then Ernie made use of Bill's laptop computer to check his email.
Chapter 24
To: Boz
From: Ernie
Subject: Re: Change of email address
on 16 June, Boz wrote:
> My detective friend has done a background
> check on your doctor, and found he's got
> a few strings tied to people in high places.
> Some very powerful ones. Just knowing
> who he knows would put anyone off the
> thought of getting up his bad side. Even the
> detective was nervous, knowing that the
> good doctor would likely have him, or
> anyone else eliminated for looking at him
> the wrong way, and get away with it.
>
> Some facts: He's a major investor, and is
> networked with a financial firm called
> Gilderman and Associates in Zurich, which
> seems to be a major player with fingers in
> just about everybody's pie. He apparently
> departed for Islamabad the day after I
> saw him in the Irish pub. He's kept his
> room at the Dusit, though.
>
> Crayton Securities, is something else.
> They do make a lot of money, but that
> seems to bring out the worst in some
> people. From here, one gets a close up
> view of the seamy side of the expat
> community. "The love of money is the root of
> all evil" for sure. Sean Flynn is pretty
> generous with his bonuses, and seems like
> an all around good guy, often treating the
> whole company to drinks at the Irish pub.
>
> Les Armstrong seems like a good enough chap.
> My detective friend says he's closely
> linked with the doctor but I've never
> heard the doctor's name mentioned. He hasn't
> been in here, as far as I know.
>
> We have had some big names here though,
> including Gil McFray, the tennis champ. We
> sell shares in GillieMcFray-Dot-Com,
> his company, which sells tennis
> rackets on line. There's also a movie
> company called Matterhorn Productions,
> which has done a few low cost films. The
> Australian Securities Exchange Commission
> has us listed on one of their websites
> as a scam, but from where I sit, it all
> looks pretty real.
>
Ernie's reply:
Thank you for that info, Boz. Now it looks like we'll be heading over your direction. Do you think I, and maybe one or two of my friends can get a job at Crayton? I think we should be there by next week.
cheers...
The next day, for the sake of good employee etiquette, they went to the fields for another day of work. Rosa would go to apply for a passport. Since Bill knew the ropes, he would go along and help her. Today, Marie would stay at Albert's house to watch Little Albert. Bill and Rosa could keep her company when they got back. Ibrahim opted to stay with her as well.
That day in the fields began almost like the previous. Mr. Lopez did his usual thing of walking up and down the rows making sure everyone was doing his or her job. Whenever an aeroplane flew overhead, he would look up to study it. The previous day, he had done this, and Ernie had noticed he had looked relieved when it only passed over in a straight line.
Today, one plane appeared to be circling some of the fields. This had Mr. Lopez's attention, as well as that of some of the workers.
'What's all the to-do about the aeroplane?' asked Ernie.
'Probably immigration,' said Albert. 'Most of these are illegals, and it's got them all nervous. They might be here checking i.d.'
At that point, Mr. Lopez clapped his hands and began talking loudly in Spanish. Many of the workers immediately took their hoes back to Mr. Lopez's truck, and got into whatever vehicles they came in, and took off.
When most of them had gone, Mr. Lopez walked up the few that were left, and said, 'We had better call it a day.'
The three of them had come in Albert's pick-up, so they followed Mr. Lo
pez out to the main road.
When they reached it, they found that immigration officials had stopped a pick-up truck. Workers who had been riding in the back were now being herded into a van.
A uniformed man walked up to Albert's pick-up.
'Can I see your i.d., please?'
'Sure you can,' said Albert, and showed him a driver's licence.
'You look okay, and you...' then, he saw May Lin: 'Let me see yours, lady.'
May Lin got her Canadian passport out and showed it to the man.
'This is my wife,' said Ernie. 'We're from Canada -- er -- we're here to observe how the some of the people live.'
'From Canada, are you? Let me see yours then.'
Ernie got out his passport.
The man studied them both, and then took them back to his vehicle.
They were surrounded by several uniformed men with guns.
'I don't see what the trouble could be with Canadian passports,' said Ernie.
Finally, the official returned.
'I'll have to ask you to come with us, Mr. and Mrs. Jones. Will you please step out?'
'Nothing wrong with our passports is there?' said Ernie.
'The passports look okay to us. It's that you're wanted by the F.B.I. We've been asked to detain you until one of them arrives from Fresno.'
* * *
Bill and Rosa were at the post office. Marie had taken Little Albert and Ibrahim to the liquor store to get a slushie.
On the way home, Ibrahim suddenly wasn't hungry any more and handed the paper container to Marie, saying, 'Can't finish.'
He felt funny inside for some reason. He couldn't remember ever feeling like this, and yet, there was a familiarity about it.
By the time they reached home, he decided to try the crystal, which was in his pocket. Instantly he was in contact with Phondesh and Zhondri. Then he knew.
He ran out to the camper and unlocked the door with the key that had been left with him. Inside, he searched until he found the extra passports and whatever other papers came with them. They were together in a brown envelope.
Just as he finished, there came Rosa and Bill back from the post office.
In Zondon, he said to Rosa, 'Phondesh and Zhondri have been arrested and are being taken to wait for the criminal investigators. We must hide these somewhere. Can you keep them at your house?'
It was agreed that they would all go to the other house, as someone would certainly be coming to this one soon to search it.
Rosa's and Marie's house was just a few lanes down from Albert's. It was a small place that hardly contained more than one room.
Ibrahim got back on the crystal, and communicated to the other two their location. They would inform Albert. Then they began to develop a plan of action.
Ibrahim, through Rosa, suggested that Bill go to fetch his laptop computer. Bill had another idea: take some of the clothes and essential items out of the camper, and put them in the lounge to make it look like they had sleeping there, and then drive the camper to Marie and Rosa's house. Ibrahim gave him the keys.
Just so the camper wouldn't be recognised, Bill parked about three more streets over at yet another friend's place. Bill walked back to Rosa's and Marie's house with the computer.
* * *
Albert was asked to go along to the station to give any information that could be useful to the F.B.I. if needed. He sat with Ernie and May Lin in the back seat of a sedan while an agent drove his pick-up. Ernie and May Lin were thus able to inform him of what was happening at home, so he knew to be quiet about their camper and the fact that they had a child accompanying them.
There just happened to be a federal agent in Fresno who had several international terrorism and money laundering cases on his list of things to look out for. They drove him out to the local office.
He told Ernie and May Lin they were wanted in connection with an attempted terrorist attack on the NYSE. The description Hussein Haq had given of his messenger, matched that of the family whom agents had tracked on a flight from Dubai to New York the day before. The passport numbers matched. It was also known that they had been to Kabul.
In addition, their descriptions matched that of a couple that had recently appeared on a watch list of international terrorists.
* * *
Ibrahim could make neither heads nor tails of a computer keyboard, nor did he know anything about website and IP addresses. However, once Bill made the initial connection to the F.B.I. website, Tsav found he was able to map the information highway as they went, noticing turn-offs to this or that server along the way. Drovshi (Rosa) read the details off the screen and through their expanded Zondon senses, they were immediately translated for Tsav to understand. Meanwhile, he found he could navigate the information highway by manipulating the direction with dyni force rather than key presses or mouse clicks. He would send the commands as he had deciphered them, sometimes talking to the servers in simple binary code and Boolean algebra instead of the bulky and complicated HTML and Javascript languages. Whenever they came to a password protected portion of any server, the four Zondon minds (Phondesh and Zhondri were also a part of the process, even at a distance) worked together like a computer network, using techniques no hacker had ever heard of to break the passwords and decrypt the information hidden within. They went from the network of F.B.I. servers to those of the C.I.A. and other federal agencies, and then to Mossad and MI5 and others.
* * *
'Let's start with the NYSE,' said Ernie to the Federal agent. 'You correctly matched the description of the persons who delivered the package to Hussein Haq with the passengers on the flight from Islamabad, and of course, the envelope. Did you then compare that with the Moroccan security guard's description of the one who leaked him the information of the planned attack?'
'Hmmm -- erm well,' stammered the agent, who hadn't told them about the Moroccan security guard, 'but - but why didn't you go directly to the F.B.I.?'
'As I told the security guard, we are on a high level assignment, and can't afford to take the time out for all the explaining.'
'Exactly what kind of assignment?' inquired the agent, 'And for what agency?'
'That, we're not really supposed to tell. Then it wouldn't be secret, and besides it couldn't be verified anyway, because officially, we don't exist. But perhaps I could varify ourselves in a way that would be useful to your work.'
'Maybe you could, but I'd have to be the judge of how useful it is.'
Now, Ernie began digging into some of the information Ibrahim and Rosa were providing.
'I understand you're investigating a drug and money-laundering ring, based out of Ukraine.'
'Uh huh,' was the agent's response.
'You're still not sure of the link between the Kiev establishment and the Bahamas, nor of that between the Bahamas and the man in New York you're after.'
'U-uh huh,' said the agent, more thoughtfully than before.
'I think that Scotland Yard could provide you with vital information on the link between Kiev and Bahamas, as it goes right through London, and they would be happy to do so if you, in turn, provided them with just a bit of background on a certain Mr. Cornelious Hepburn who lives in London.'
Now, the agent was scribbling notes.
'As for the Bahamas - New York connection,' Ernie went on, 'Your friends at the C.I.A. could easily provide that, but I think they're a bit unhappy about the way you handled the Gordon Huntly case. Perhaps a bouquet of roses and a box of candy would be in order. Now, to go farther afield, I think you'll also find that there's a Mr. Nicolai Stanovitch, presently living in Bangkok, also closely connected with the Ukraine ring, providing funds to the I.R.A.'
This was true. Nicolai Stanovitch's name had turned up in a lot of servers. However now, Ernie had the feeling he was just beginning to go beyond what Wisdom thought sufficient, so he came to a pause.
Ernie went on to a few other cases, as Ibrahim was finding and matching them from the various
criminal investigation and spy agencies for a while longer until the agent had several pages full of notes.
'This is all very interesting, Mr. Jones,' he said, finally. 'However, there's still the question of your name being on the terrorist watch list.'
Ernie gave a good-natured laugh. 'Oh, yes. That we were able to infiltrate a terrorist headquarters in Kabul was misunderstood in some quarters, and unfortunately, we've had a run-in with a very powerful individual who took advantage of that fact.'
The session ended with the F.B.I. agent shaking hands with Ernie and May Lin, and saying that he would do what he could to clear their name, and get it off the watch list.
That wasn't really necessary, because Ibrahim had already deleted all reference to Ernie and May Lin that he and Rosa found.
Then they went back to Albert's house and rested.
* * *
They decided to leave the camper with Big Albert and told him he was free to use it, but keep it in good condition in case the Zondon needed it again. Rosa's passport soon came through, and a few days later, Big Albert drove them all to the airport in San Francisco.
Part III - The Flying Irishmen
Chapter 25
Les Armstrong had a seat by the window. Two empty pint glasses stood on the table before him. The second one belonged to Seamus, who had gone off to complete a homework assignment, so Les was alone. His load was light that day, so he wasn't in such a hurry to get back to the dorm. In fact, he thought, if he stayed put until he was hungry enough, he'd treat himself to a meal. He had just received some pocket money from Dad. It wasn't enough for a sumptuous meal every day, mind, but it had just come today so he was feeling extravagant.
It was probably a good time to have a think, while leafing through the course catalogue.
His second year at Queen's University was coming to a close. He really had to start choosing a major field. At least that's what everyone said. His mum and dad said so. His counsellor said it. So did his brother, Len.
Easy for him to say. He was a computer nerd. Everything revolved around computers.
Len was, what you call, 'focused', and he operated on the assumption that Les should prove his normality by becoming more like him.
He had mum's backing too: 'Why can't you be like Len? Your twin brother has found a career already! And you?...'
Len was one of the first to embrace the personal computer revolution. His first one was a Sinclair, more a machine for hobbyists than for anyone trying to do anything serious. However he did manage to earn extra pocket money typing people's term projects. It was when he began to do the household book-keeping in an efficient way that dad saw fit to upgrade him to an IBM compatible PC.