"Morning, Willy." Buckaroo entered the Gatehouse jail cell where Willy Barker, one of the Whisper's captured men from the previous day's kidnapping attempt, was being held. Willy looked gaunt and nervous, anxious about what was to come next.
"Hey Buckaroo," replied Willy, who looked up at Buckaroo then. "Where's the other guys?"
"Just down the hall. We thought we'd keep you guys separate until after we had a chance to talk to you." Buckaroo sat down across from Willy, while Rawhide kept watch outside.
"You can trust us, Buckaroo. Or me, anyway. I can't hang with the Whisper no more. They got it in for me. I just want out of that whole operation."
"Well, that's all well and good, but just yesterday, you and your pals down the hall tried to off two of my houseguests. And what kind of a host would that make me if I just gave you free run of the Institute?"
"I see your point, Buckaroo. I do. But in all fairness, now, it was never our intention to do harm to Chicago Red. Jeez, she was my neighbor back home. She was just a distraction."
"That's more or less what we figured. But you were planning on killing Sihing Will?"
"Those were our . . . instructions," said Willy carefully.
"Why is the Whisper so interested in killing Sihing Will?"
Willy shrugged now. "Seems he knows somethin'."
Buckaroo leaned forward, folding his arms across his knees. "About the codes?"
Again, Willy shrugged. "I don't know exactly. They don't tell me nothing like that. Only the Whisper and maybe Mr. Lucky could tell you what's up with any codes."
"What about Shorty?" Buckaroo queried.
Willy made a face. "What about that little freak?"
"Would Shorty Burke know?"
"I doubt it. He's in charge of the rough stuff, not the braniac stuff."
A knock on the door interrupted them then, and Rawhide poked his head in. "Looks like you fellas got a visitor."
Chicago Red hobbled in then with her cane, saying, "Well, I always knew I'd see my old pal Willy Barker again. What's the sitch, Willy?"
"Huh?" he replied dumbly.
"Situation. What's up, what's going on?" she cued.
"Uh, I was just telling Buckaroo here that I don't know what's up with those codes. But I do know they're planning something big this weekend."
"What exactly?" Buckaroo asked.
"Well, it's just that - " He looked at Chicago Red now, a little uncomfortably. "You're not still mad, are you Red?"
She rolled her eyes. "Willy, we need answers. And if you come through for us today, shoot, I'll even forget about that time you tried to mug me back in '89."
"Really, 'cause you know, it was just business. Nothin' personal."
"I know, I know. But keep in mind, I can tell when you're lying. Go right ahead, you were saying?"
This seemed to jar him a bit. Willy turned back to Buckaroo, but Chicago Red kept a close watch on his eyes. "Buckaroo, you can understand why I'm nervous about leveling with you about this. But the story is, and I'm not lying-" He shot a momentarily defiant glance at Chicago Red, as if to prove her wrong, "The fact is, Whisper is pretty sure you guys are coming. But he don't know for sure what you know. It's a meeting of the heads of the Crime League from all over, and it has something to do with a global move by Xan to mobilize his troops in a carefully organized move. You know, a whatdayacallit. That French word."
Buckaroo looked at him, not understanding. He then looked at Chicago Red, who said, "Oh! I think he means a coup."
Buckaroo nodded. "Okay. So the coordinates must indicate the locations of things. We thought that was what it was, but why those particular locations, and what's going on there?"
"Sorry, Buckaroo," Willy said. "That's outta my league. It's big, though. If you got friends, now's the time to call 'em. Not that you don't have friends - you know what I mean."
Buckaroo looked at Chicago Red. "What do you think?"
She paused for a moment while she studied him carefully. Finally, she replied, "I think he's telling the truth, Buckaroo. Willy may be a bad penny, but world domination just isn't his game. He doesn't have the brains to come up with this stuff, and he has nothing to gain from making it up. He has a lot to gain, however, from playing along."
Buckaroo nodded as he took this into consideration. "Okay, Willy, we're going to hold onto you and your friends, see what they have to report, and then we'll see where we stand after the weekend. If all goes well, we'll relocate you, give you a chance at a fresh start. Sound good?"
Willy shrugged. "Sounds fair to me."
"Good. Got any family that needs looking after in the meantime? The Whisper can get pretty ruthless when it comes to that."
Willy shook his head. "No, just me."
"All right." Buckaroo turned to Chicago Red as they left the cell. "Why don't you start getting your equipment together with Perfect Tommy? We'll be meeting Zuzu's Petals at the hotel, right?"
"Yeah. Five o'clock. They're pretty excited about getting a whole week there, Buckaroo. Thanks for footing the bill."
"No sweat. I'll need you to stay up there till the equipment's set up. How long will it take?"
"Two, maybe three days. That place'll be wired tighter than a drum. Perfect Tommy set me up with seven great interns, all electronics whizzes. We have total run of the place?"
"Hotel management is with us on this one. They're not particularly anxious to have any of this happening, but I made a few calls and had everything straightened out okay."
"Buckaroo, you old name-dropper," she teased. "I'm not gonna be able to ride the motorcycle with this leg out to the hotel, though. Can I hitch a ride with someone?"
"Yeah. Big Norse'll drive you out in one of the Institute cars. She's pretty knowledgeable about electronics and descrambling, maybe she can pitch in while she's out there with you."
"Oh, it'll be regular giggle fest and PJ party out at the old hotel tonight!" she joked. "I'll be on my way, then. You stopping by later tonight then?"
"Yeah, me and the guys will stop by to see how everything's going out there. Take care of any last minute bugs, ha ha, pun intended." Buckaroo snapped his fingers then as she made a face at him. "Hey, check in with Sihing Will before you take off, okay? See how those codes are going."
"Will do." She veered over towards the Institute then, waving to Big Norse, who was tossing a few bags into an Institute station wagon. "I'll be down in a few."
She found Sihing Will in a locked and guarded room, where he was entering some of the codes in a computer. "Hey, Will. I'm about to take off. What's going on?"
"Nothing good, " he said grimly. "I have some suspicions, and I don't like what they point towards. Mrs. Johnson gave me access to Flyboy's records, and his older files have all kinds of hidden codes in them. Separately, they don't make much sense, but put them together, and it's big trouble."
"What kind, or do I want to know?"
"Mass destruction, if these codes are saying what I think they're saying. The CIA was passing off codes to his files for years without him even knowing."
"You don't say," she said dourly. "A duplicitous government agency? I shudder to think."
"Easy, girl. Anyway, I've still got a lot of work to do here. I'll have it ready for the regroup meeting on Wednesday. You'll be back then?"
"With bells on. That's when Sobriquet shows up - you can finally meet my new boss."
"I eagerly await. Have fun with your wires."
"Oh, I will." She left the lab and headed back out, running into Pecos and New Jersey on the way. "Hey guys. You coming out to the hotel tonight for the early run-through?"
"You bet," Pecos said. "Can I stay? I heard something about a pajama party."
Chicago Red laughed. "Oh, the teen years I never had are finally catching up with me. Sure, stick around. We can paint New Jersey's nails."
"Don't waste your time. I can't do a thing with them," he replied. "Be careful."
"I will."
* * *
Professor Hikita, Billy Travers and Will Chang were in the lab when Buckaroo came to check in on the progress with the codes. "How goes it, guys?"
"Well, good in the sense that I'm pretty sure I know what they are," Chang replied. "Not so hot as far as what they mean. Nothing positive yet, but I have a hunch that these locations of public buildings that were initially identified in the codes are just part of a larger web of locations. I'd say call in the CIA if I trusted them, but I don't, so I won't."
"Yeah, they're the ones that hid the codes in Flyboy's records to begin with," Billy Travers agreed.
"What do these other locations point towards?" Buckaroo asked.
"Locations of hidden weapons. Which I honestly don't think the occupants of those buildings even know are there," Chang told him.
Professor Hikita nodded. "Buckaroo, this means that conversely, they are prime targets for destruction. If each of these sites is destroyed at roughly the same time, there will be total chaos. Almost every city in America and several in Europe are identified here."
"So if Xan's men managed to locate the hidden weapons and set up some kind of trigger at each of these locations - and for all we know, they may have already done that - then -" Buckaroo's voice trailed off.
"Yeah. We're screwed," Billy Travers finished the sentence for him.
"It's not for sure yet, Buckaroo, and I need to firm up all of the locations," Chang told him. "I need another day for that. But by Wednesday, we'll be good to go."
"So we may need to alert the President mid-week. Still, we need to keep it as quiet as possible to be able to go through with Saturday. Okay, Billy Travers, stay here and help Sihing Will as much as he needs. Hikita-San, you'll help too?"
"Of course, Buckaroo," replied Professor Hikita, waving a dismissive hand at Buckaroo.
"Great. Everyone going with me and Peggy to the hotel tonight are to meet at the Bunkhouse at 7:00 sharp. See you there. Will, Billy, I'd like you to stay behind and work some more on this, but I'll leave you some interns as guards. Go nowhere without them, understand?"
"Right, Buckaroo."
"Good. We don't want to leave anything to chance at this late stage."
Almost as if waiting for Buckaroo to say this, a loud boom rocked the grounds. Buckaroo could tell it didn't come from inside the Institute, but knew it was somewhere on the grounds. He grabbed for his go-phone. "Rawhide, come in. What's going on out there?" He waited tensely for a reply, then breathed an inaudible sigh of relief when Rawhide answered.
"Bad news, partner. The Gatehouse just had a grenade chucked at it by a passing motorist," came Rawhide's terse reply. "I'm on my way there from the stables."
"Be careful, Rawhide. I'm coming to check it out."
* * *
"An explosion!" Chicago Red caught Big Norse's eye as she repeated what Buckaroo was telling her over the phone. She and Big Norse were just settling into their room at the hotel around 5:00 when Buckaroo phoned.
"Yeah, it was pretty bad," Buckaroo added, "and we lost a few of the interns that were on the tower. Bad scene. But Pinky's okay. Four of the Whisper's men were killed, though. Obviously it was a strike aimed at them."
"Jeez. Did Willy make it?"
"Yeah, ironically. The only guy who'd really been 100% cooperative. Which makes me and Rawhide a little more suspicious of him, but then how would they know where he was being kept?"
"I see your point. Everyone else is okay, though? Peggy, Pecos, Reno, New Jersey-"
"They're all fine. But we won't be coming up tonight. We'll send you your electronics team tomorrow morning, and we'll all come up for first and final run-through on Wednesday, and have our re-group meeting there instead of here. Think you can be ready by then?"
"Well, I was counting on getting started tonight, but I guess so, Buckaroo. I'm sorry about the Gatehouse. And the interns you lost." A knock on the door signaled the arrival of her band members, and she said, "My band's here, I better go now. I'll check in with you tomorrow." She hung up and let in her three fellow band members. "Big Norse, meet Zuzu's Petals. This is Raven, our singer, Pandora, our lead guitarist, and Tina, our drummer. Everyone, this is Big Norse. She works with Team Banzai."
Raven, a tall slim woman in her early thirties with jet black hair cut in a Betty Page style, stepped forward and shook Big Norse's hand. At 5'11", she was the only one there as tall as Big Norse and almost a foot taller than Chicago Red. Pandora had shoulder-length straight blond hair and was a good deal shorter than Raven, as was Tina, a robust black-haired woman. "So I understand we'll be playing a world dominion gig on Saturday," Raven said. "We also do weddings and bar mitzvahs."
"I certainly hope you guys haven't talked to anyone about this in Chicago," Chicago Red said sternly.
"Outside of all those flyers we passed out, no, we haven't said a word," replied Tina sarcastically. "So what's the scoop?"
Chicago Red informed them all of what was happening, summing up with, "I guess that means that since I don't have to work with the interns tonight, we can at least rehearse a bit for the weekend. The hotel manager said we've got the ballroom for the week, so grab a snack and let's get cracking."
Big Norse sighed, "Well, I guess I'll head back to the Institute and see what I can do there. You girls be good now, and I'll see you Wednesday."
"Later. Thanks for the ride." After Big Norse left, she turned back to the other three. "Well, girls, let's get rockin'."
"Uh, before we do, I think you should probably deal with the bellboy," Pandora said, unpacking a small train case.
"Can't you tip him yourself?" Chicago Red asked.
"No, I mean I'm pretty sure he's with that World Crime thing. I heard him on the phone and he said the name Shorty."
Chicago Red shook her head. "Okay, which bellboy?"
"His name tag said Chet," Tina told her. "What are you going to do?"
Chicago Red bit her thumbnail. "Nothing right now. I don't want to tip our hand. There may be more than one here. Tina, can I borrow your cell phone?"
"Sure." Tina handed her the cell phone. "Why not use the hotel phone?"
"Probably bugged." She dialed the Institute number and asked for Buckaroo. "Buckaroo, there's a Code 24 here at the hotel, possibly more than one. What do you think we should do?"
"Frankly, I was expecting this to happen. Okay, we're going to have to assume that they've already got a few bugs in. You're on a cell, I take it?"
"Yeah. Zuzu's Petals are here and I'm feeling a little responsible for their safety. Big Norse just left, which means I'm it here. Can you send me someone for back-up here, just in case?"
"Yeah, no sweat. I'll send Perfect Tommy and New Jersey. I can reassign their duties here to Reno and Pecos. Meantime, do you have equipment for a bug sweep for your room?"
"Yeah, I'll do it after we do a run-through. So I'll let the guy alone, then?"
"Roger that. Just be careful what you say around him. What's his name, do you know?"
"His name tag says Chet, for what it's worth, " Chicago Red replied. "When can I expect Perfect Tommy and New Jersey?"
"In a few hours, no later than ten. Take it easy, hang loose and act natural."
Chicago Red smiled. "Nice clichés, there. Want to throw in 'keep on truckin' while you're at it?"
Buckaroo laughed. "Sure, why not. Make sure there's a room available for Perfect Tommy and New Jersey, and I'll talk to you guys later on after they get there."
"Okay. Talk to you later." She turned off the phone. "Well, we've got a few hours to practice before a couple of the guys get here."
"Did I hear you say Perfect Tommy?" Raven asked, raising her eyebrows. "I think I've heard of him. Is he perfect?"
"He thinks so. All I can say is, enter at your own risk. And New Jersey scares easy, so leave him alone, okay?"
"Not like I'm any kind of man-eater. I'm practically married," Tina reminded her, alluding to her boyfriend of seven years. "Besides, we know you just like the shy ones for yourself."
"With a name like New Jersey, you can keep him," Pandora replied. "Okay, let's move."
They got in a good three hours of practice before breaking for a late dinner, during which Perfect Tommy and New Jersey showed up, joining them in the dining room. "Chet just took our bags up," Perfect Tommy told them after they had all been introduced. "You know, I've been thinking about the possibility of an inside source at the Institute, and if we could monitor who Chet calls, I bet we could find out how they're getting our information."
"I really don't think it's a person at the Institute, though," New Jersey said, shaking his head. "Everyone is so thoroughly checked out that they'd have to have faked an entire lifetime to -" His voice trailed off then, as his eyes widened. "That's got to be it!"
"What's got to be it?" Chicago Red asked. "A fake ID? I think that would be pretty easy to uncover."
"No, not a fake ID. A fake life. I mean, a real life, but borrowed. Isn't it possible that someone was accepted to the Institute, then has an accident that we never heard of because that person was replaced?" New Jersey said. "This would be hard to confirm, but not impossible. They're bound to have made a mistake somewhere."
"Mrs. Johnson would know what to look for. Fingerprints can't be faked. DNA sure can't be faked," Perfect Tommy said. "We just started indexing DNA a few years ago for positive identification purposes. It's certainly a possibility I'll mention to Buckaroo when we check in." Perfect Tommy looked around the near-deserted dining room. "This place isn't bugged, is it?"
"No, I checked it before we set up for rehearsal," Chicago Red told them. "Clean as a whistle."
The lights went out then, as if to contradict her statement. She took hold of Raven's hand and whispered, "Get under the table, now. Tommy, do you have a light?"
There was no reply.