Page 7 of False Flag

“They’ll line up to vote for the first time ever because Campbell knows things, and he told them who to vote for. And his numbers—the followers who passed the casual-listener phase and have become true fans—have grown exponentially ever since he announced the expedition. This smart man is so certain he’s going to prove Big Archaeology is lying. He’s smarter than every scientist who ever was. He’s ruggedly good-looking, and now he gets to play Indiana Jones. If he can be even marginally convincing with evidence, his influence will be unstoppable.”

“Where is the fieldwork?” Morgan asked. “What is Campbell focusing on for the expedition?”

Staci shrugged. “It’s top secret. His favorite topic recently is his version of the lost continent of Mu, which would mean the Pacific, somewhere.”

“One would think it would be easy to find an entire continent,” Kira said with a snicker.

“Right?” Staci said. “The background research on this is going to be interesting. There’s a group that was active a hundred years ago in British Columbia called the Native Sons. They went all in on Mu. Their efforts to establish white colonizers as superior led to the creation of some of the province’s earliest historic preservation laws.”

Kira frowned at Staci in the mirror as she pinned up a braid. “You know he’ll insist on an NDA. Probably also require that any research you do for the project belongs to him. He’ll demand editorial approval of your report.”

“An NDA is one thing, but I won’t give him final say in the report or findings.”

“FMV has a lawyer on retainer who can go over any legal documents,” Freya said. She rose from the bed and stood next to Kira, meeting Staci’s gaze in the mirror. “You should do it. Need to do it. Take the job, I mean. There’s a good chance Daniels will replace Crawford in the Oval Office at some point, possibly soon. And Campbell is scary. A documentary will only grow his following. We all know he doesn’t have to actually find anything. He just has to get those lovely clicks to stay at the top of the trending lists. Repetition is all that’s required for disinformation to become fact in people’s minds.”

Her gaze flicked down Staci’s body. “You’ll hook a certain demographic to tune in, especially if you’re in a bikini or a wetsuit, but it’s up to Campbell to be charismatic enough to keep them coming back for more.”

“Because Baywatch is available to stream any time,” Kira said. “And has more jiggle than you can provide.”

“Yes. And to be valuable to a politician like Hank, Campbell needs to keep his hold on their minds. The keeper of the truth.”

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past,” Staci recited. “He put it on the menu at the fundraiser. He’s not even hiding it.”

Freya nodded. “He doesn’t need to. His followers interpret it exactly as he intends them to. From him, it comes across as a warning, not the promise it really is.”

“You think I’m up to it? That I can be convincing in this role?”

“I do. You’re an excellent actress. And that’s what Campbell wants. A character on his show.”

She felt a light buzz at the praise. Was it possible Freya liked her and didn’t just see her as Morgan’s bimbo friend? To be fair, Freya had never once treated her that way, but she’d also never given signs of wanting a real friendship. While Morgan knew how to be both friend and boss, Freya was planted firmly in the boss zone.

But Staci’s take could be more about her insecurities than Freya’s judgment. She really had to deal with that. She would put it on her to-do list. It would be somewhere below save the world from a narcissistic pseudoarchaeologist and learn how to knit.

Kira declared her hair done and held up a mirror so she could see the twist at the back. “Wow. It looks amazing. I’ve been so nervous ever since I saw the email, and this… It helps. So much. Thank you.”

Kira smiled and checked the hold of a hairpin that secured a side braid. “You’re going to slay tonight.”

She looked at herself in the mirror and felt a pulse of confidence. She could do this. She would do this.

It was time for everyone to rejoin the party, so they cleared out of Morgan’s bedroom and headed down the stairs. On the ground floor, Staci heard voices coming from the backyard patio. She glanced at her watch. She had a few minutes before she needed to leave. Long enough to say hi.

Rand and Chris stood holding beers by the grill, where Morgan’s husband, Pax, was hard at work monitoring the doneness of the meat of at least three different kinds of animals. A second grill had vegan offerings.

Rand grinned broadly at seeing her and opened his arms wide. She felt a rush of relief that she could hug him in greeting like the friends they’d been before he and Kira were together. She wouldn’t lose this precious group of friends because she’d dated one of them and it hadn’t worked out.

“You look amazing,” he said as he gave her a quick squeeze.

“Thanks!” She stepped back and twirled, showing off the skirt of the dress and twist hairstyle. “Dress by Morgan, hair by Kira.” Near the end of the spin, her gaze landed on the face of the fourth man in their party, and she came to a dead stop.

She shook her head, as if the spin had blurred her eyesight. Maybe she’d conjured him. It made a weird kind of sense, given that she’d thought of him more than once this afternoon, wondering if he was on the expedition team.

But no. It was definitely him. Not a dizzy vision nor a figment of her imagination.

Morgan’s house—and any place where FMV staff lived or worked—was a safe space for archaeologists, women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, people of color, and believers in science. Basically, all people who were targeted and harassed by Campbell’s most rabid fans.

The harm those fans inflicted was why her decision to infiltrate his group was risky, and the fact that they were dangerous was why she was determined to deplatform the podcaster.

So what the hell is one of Gerard Campbell’s apostles doing here?