Page 20 of The Society (Spy Girl 3)
"I'm glad you found your way," Lorenzo says, looking up from a stack of printouts. "Your palm and that passcode will get you into any private Montrovian installation in the world."
"Good to know. Have you been up all night?"
"Yes, I couldn't sleep. We've been sifting through everything you told us. Trying to figure out what it all means."
He points to a large whiteboard on the wall. Every fact I told them is written on it in diagram form with headings like Charlotte Cassleberry, Blackwood Academy, Black X, Montrovia, and Von Allister.
"Have you figured out anything?"
"We went through the discovery process with you and then pulled every file we have on all the major players in your story. Everyone you've come in contact with, we've gone through. What we have been doing this morning is eliminating those things we deem unimportant to the case."
"Like what?"
"Well, Ares Von Allister, for one. We have file after file about him. With his brilliant mind, my country watched him closely," Gabriel states, "meaning we knew everything."
"With all due respect, are you telling me your files state that he had children? You knew about Kelley?"
The Mossad agent lets out a little cough. "No, we did not."
"Then you didn't know everything."
"You have a point," the admiral says. "But let him keep going."
"Okay."
"Notice, by Black X, the only information we have is what you told us and what the British agent had told you. No one in my agency has ever heard of it."
"But they did know of Blake and Charlotte Cassleberry and their daughter, Calliope," Lorenzo adds.
"They were in and out of many countries and hit our radar," Gabriel clarifies.
"Then you knew they were spies?"
"Actually, no. They were not suspected of being operatives. And we pride ourselves on knowing every agent from every country. Because of that, I was going to suggest they might have worked for a more covert agency--possibly this Black X--from the start," Gabriel says.
"But I remembered what you said about the director of the CIA," Lorenzo interjects. "We believe it's too much of a coincidence for the director of the CIA not to have been talking about you. Therefore, we have discarded that theory."
"And then we looked into Malcolm Prescott," the admiral says. "From every indication that we have--and there are many. On occasion, he's actually helped Mossad with covers for their agents through his company. He's one of the good guys." He points to the board. "Aleksandr is a little more borderline, but the man makes weapons--and fine ones at that. While there are some people in the world we would prefer he not sell to, to our knowledge, he stays away from straight-up terrorists, if for no other reason than to not hurt contracts with larger military operations."
"We consider the chatter about Montrovia to be true," Gabriel states. "Something is going to happen in Montrovia. It's been verified by multiple sources. No one has any indication, however, of what it might be."
"That leads us to the chatter about Terra," Lorenzo says. "That word continues to resurface--from Clarice's interest in something similar to the photo on your mother's disk to Ares's TerraSphere."
"But, regardless of everything else, we keep coming back to one thing," Gabriel says. "What did your mother know that got her killed? She seems to have been the catalyst in all this."
"I just spoke to the dean of Blackwood Academy. He confirmed a few things for me. And, while he told me not to trust anyone, including him, my gut says he is telling the truth about these items."
The admiral gets up, marker in hand, ready to add more to the board. "Go ahead," he says.
"The dean of my school was formerly at the CIA and was my mother's handler. When she was killed, Black X hid both of us at Blackwood--supposedly, for our own safety. The CIA thinks we are both dead. He also confirmed a few important facts--that Kelley and Charlotte were one in the same and that she and Ares were our biological parents, and that Ares used Ari to bribe General Bradford. Kelley truly believed Ari was dead."
"Men do crazy things when passion rules," Gabriel says.
"And, apparently, Ares was very passionate about the TerraSphere," I agree. "Just a random thought here, but what if the reason my mother didn't tell the CIA about what she was investigating is because it was personal? What if she was investigating Ares himself? We know she took a picture of the TerraSphere that he'd built. What if she found out he was bad? What if he wanted to use that brilliant mind of his to drastically change the world?"
"By conserving energy with the TerraSphere?" Gabriel asks, trying to understand what I'm getting at.
"Right before my mother was killed, she called her handler. Told him that she had discovered a conspiracy that would end the world as we know it. I think that is what is going to start in Montrovia."
"What? Like the zombie apocalypse?" Lorenzo says with a laugh.
The admiral does a little humph. I can tell he is exhausted, but Gabriel suddenly looks wide-eyed.
"Explain this theory," he says.
"I don't exactly have a theory; it's more snippets of a theory. Someone wants to control the Strait of Montrovia. In order to get that control, they wanted Lorenzo's father, Lorenzo, and his uncle dead. They achieved two out of three and then let Ophelia take control. If it weren't for me, she would have succeeded. She had big plans to change Montrovia, and I think that's because whoever is behind it told her she could do whatever she wanted; all they needed was to control the Strait. Clarice was then killed because they were worried her sister might have told her something. And, if I had to guess, their mother might end up dead, too."
"I wish," the admiral says, shaking his head. "She did major damage to Lorenzo's reputation by suggesting that her daughter was promised the crown from her father because no one believed Lorenzo was fit to rule. She insinuated that her daughters were killed on Lorenzo's orders."
"Are you kidding me? Lorenzo, you have to tell the truth about how Ophelia was behind the kidnapping!"
"Their mother just lost her two daughters," Lorenzo says. "We're taking the high road and saying that we are sorry for her losses."
"Continue with your theory, Huntley," Gabriel says.
"Okay, so I think what will happen in Montrovia is because of the Strait. Do you have any idea what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands?"
"It could devastate the European, Middle Eastern, and Russian economies," the admiral states.
"The day the president was killed, the port in Tartus was taken out of Russian control," Gabriel says, squinting his eyes. "Tartus takes out the Russians. The American president is gone. And they need Montrovia. But for what, and how does your mother and the TerraSphere fit into the equation?"
"That's the million-dollar question," Lorenzo says with a sigh.
"I keep going back to the same thing." Gabriel stands up and starts pacing. "What did your mother know that got her killed? Tell us again what was on the necklace."
"It was just junk. Weird conspiracy theories. Old vacation photos. They were just memories."
"Are you sure they were old? What if they were photos from the trip you had just been on? What if you were supposed to give them to her handler or your father, so they would know?"
"Why didn't they just hypnotize me? Maybe we should do that now? Maybe I know something."
"That's a good question and something we also researched," Lorenzo says, taking ahold of my hand. "We believe the reason they didn't is because they wanted to keep your memories pure."
"Pure?"
"Yes, there are studies that have proven, through hypnosis, a suggested memory will be believed as reality when the patient is awoken," he explains. "It's called false memory syndrome. I suspect that they were afraid someone would, even by accident, skew your memory."
"Why don't we do this?" the admiral suggests. "Let's run Kelley's and Huntley Bond's passports and see where they went on their vacation. Then let's try to see if those places match up at all wit
h the photos on the disk."
"I already have my tech guy looking into our passports, but you're welcome to do the same. He said, depending on where we were, it might be difficult to narrow it down since there would be only one point of entry and exit for all of Europe and the United States. I have to stay in London until I complete my next mission, and then I'll try to take a few days off and see if I can figure all that out. I also want to know what is in the safety deposit box in Montrovia."
"After your mission, we will go back to Montrovia together," Lorenzo says sweetly. Then he glances at his watch. "It's nearly eight. We'd probably better get ready."
As we're leaving the room, a thought hits me, and I turn around abruptly. "Gabriel, when we first met, Lorenzo told me that you saved his father's life. When was that, and what were the circumstances?"
He narrows his eyes at me. "It's classified."
"Yeah," I reply with an eye roll and a wave of the hand toward the documents and whiteboard, "so is all this."
He rubs his hand across his forehead, and then he says, "When was your mother killed?"
