Cloud Invasion: R-D 2 (R-D #2)(75)

"Yeah. He's a piece of crap," she said, sipping her tea.

"I've only seen him once-on television, right after he took office," I said. "He seemed like an empty-headed twit, so I switched to another program."

"Zoran's an easy target for Baikov and his clones to lead around by the nose. Or the balls," Opal huffed.

"Until he didn't want to die at the hands of the insurgents he invited into his country," Ilya said, taking the seat next to Opal. "Cabbage, come sit with me," he patted the seat next to his.

I'd been restless and uneasy ever since I'd handed out a death sentence to nearly four hundred insurgents. Ilya was asking me to sit.

"All right." I walked around the island to sit beside him.

"Stop fretting," he said, dropping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close for a tight hug. "Things will go as they will."

"How soon?" I turned to Opal when Ilya let me go. "How soon will that meeting with President Zoran happen?"

"Don't know, yet. The President has to get the other countries on board without them calling for Russian blood-whether they believe him or not, the Russians are ultimately responsible for the downing of those planes."

"That means the Secretary of State has a tough job to do," I said.

"True. But look at it this way-they may want that meeting soon, so the fires of their grievances will still be hot."

"But getting all of them to agree," Ilya pointed out. "That may not be so easy."

"Also true. We may be here for a while. I have the feeling that Madam President will want us there in one capacity or another."

"Great. I love politics," I said, recalling the meetings I'd gone to when I'd been to Camp David before. "I'll be interested to see whether a Baikov and Mary clone are included in Zoran's entourage."

"We should get a list of attendees before they arrive," Opal observed. "Matt will insist on it."

"Any word on Iraq?" Ilya asked, pulling me into a hug again.

"Matt said Iraqi physicians are still attempting to determine how those men died," Opal said. "It looks to them as if their hearts just stopped, with no discernable reason for it."

"They don't know who to blame for that, whereas they know-or think they know-who to blame for faulty rockets," Ilya offered.

"Do you think the Russian version of the Program will go underground until this mess blows over?" Nick asked after walking into the kitchen and setting a cup beneath the brewer to make coffee.

"If that's the plan, it'll just give them time to create larger problems for us," Ilya said. "I would prefer to eliminate it completely. That will not happen until we find their cache of the drug and destroy it, then destroy all their drug survivors and clones."

"What about our cache?" I asked. "Shouldn't it be destroyed, too?"

"Now we're treading unsteady ground," Nick said, taking a seat on the opposite side of the island. "We can say we want to keep some, just in case, but then what happens when somebody comes along and wants to live longer, or make clones of us?"

"Holy shit," I almost dropped off my barstool, I moved so quickly.

"What?" Ilya was off his seat, too, steadying me before I fell.

"We have to find Merle Askins," I snapped. "Now."

*

Notes-Colonel Hunter

By the time Matt's agents tracked Askins' personal cell phone, Askins was nowhere to be found and his assistant held up the former CIA Director's phone when he raised both hands in surrender.

He was brought back to Matt's office, where Matt and I were waiting-with Rafe and Corinne. Warren Brownlee, the assistant who was sent packing the same day Askins resigned, swallowed uncomfortably when he caught sight of Corinne.

He'd seen her before-when she'd gone to see Askins and offered a cure for his cancer. Askins was likely on his way to getting the drug, if it hadn't happened already. He'd left his cell phone with Warren, to keep up appearances.

"How long has he been gone?" Matt demanded.

"Th-three days," Warren mumbled. Corinne nodded her agreement-he was telling the truth.

*

Corinne

Warren Brownlee, Askins' assistant, was about to wet himself, he was so terrified. He also had no idea where Askins was; he only knew when the phone had been handed to him, with an excuse that Askins just needed privacy.

Askins had disappeared off my radar, too-leading me to believe he was with the enemy. That spelled the drug to me-Askins was either going to die or survive-as something other than what he was. It was an easy way to beat the cancer and any charges leveled by the Justice Department.

While he knew Askins had connections, he wasn't aware of who they really were-he only knew code names.

"Who did you think this Spinner person was?" Matt demanded after Warren revealed Askins' contact.

"Somebody highly placed who had a reason to hide his identity," Warren shrugged. "I thought we were uncovering vice and illegal activity."

"Let me guess-Matt and I were involved in all that?" Auggie snapped.

"He said as much-Director Askins did. He told me you were involved in very suspicious endeavors."