The envoy pulled into the drive, with Thug bringing up the rear. There was a small grove of trees and a man-made pond that Dennis personally stocked with fish. There weren’t even any power lines nearby. She told Wyrm to keeping monitoring the data streams and not to try and eavesdrop, but she wanted everyone else at the meetings. Wyrm seemed to realize that she was serious, and that he shouldn’t goof around.
The envoy consisted of a single woman, apparently in her early thirties. Eliza knew this had to be a crafty woman, as it was difficult for anyone this young to have as prestigious a position without being good at what she did. She was actually beautiful in a severe sort of way. She had blonde hair that was pulled back in a severe bun and deep blue eyes, and her well-pressed dress-suit did little do hide her hourglass figure. The only part of the woman’s body that Eliza could see were her calves, but those seemed strong and well toned. Eliza was willing to bet that the rest of the woman was in as good of shape. Everyone else in the convoy was either a police officer or a security person.
“Hello,” the woman said in a crisp, clear voice. “My name is Veronica Adams, and I am an official envoy for the president of the United States, here under the authority of the president of the of World Council. We have come to employ the services of your company, Miss . . .”
“Just call me Eliza. I don’t think you could pronounce my last name. And we’re a security group,” Eliza said. “What would the Council and the U. S. Government actually need help protecting?”
“I am only authorized to tell you that if you agree to work for us. You would be paid twenty million world dollars for your services, plus expenses, to assist us in this venture.”
Eliza maintained her cool, but Dennis and Allyson’s jaws dropped to their chest. They could buy their own island with that! It was more money than any of them had heard of anyone making in one job before. None of them would ever have to work again. But Veronica had one more selling point, and it was this last that would get Eliza’s attention.
“And for what it’s worth to you, what we are asking you to do might someday help us find a way back to your dimension.”
Eliza was almost caught flatfooted by that. If there was something like that floating around, why hadn’t she heard about it? “Why us?” she asked cautiously.
Veronica Adams looked her straight in the eye. “Because you are the best at what you do, and you’re the only company of your kind with both humans and Terrans, which might provide an advantage. And because I realized that the Purity didn’t truly make a play for the Heaven’s Eye until after it had left your care, indicating that the Purity would rather take on a large team of armed U. S. security than you.”
Eliza looked her over, then looked at Dennis. “Go get Wyrm, and tell him to leave all his gizmos at the house.” She looked back at Veronica. “I’ll have to discuss it with my entire team before saying anything.”
“I understand.”
“So why are we meeting out here anyway? Let me guess . . . you won’t tell me . . .”
“Unless you take the job,” the woman finished, almost cracking a smile. Eliza bet she would have a pretty smile.
Dennis and Wyrm returned, and the group huddled apart from the envoy.
“I want to do this,” Eliza said. “I don’t give a shit about the money, though that would be nice. I wanted to be a part of finding a way home, and this may be the only chance I get.”
“I’m for it,” said Dennis. “This is big news, and I’d rather be in the know than left on the sideline.”
“I’m a little confused why they only sent one person,” Allyson said.
Her husband responded, “The fewer people they send, then the fewer people that need to know. The fewer people that know . . .”
“The less chance of the secret getting out,” Allyson finished. “I’m in. I want to help you out,” she said to Eliza.
“Twenty million? Yes, I’m in!” was Wyrm’s contribution.
Thug just nodded his head.
Eliza turned to Veronica. “Fine. We’re in.”
“Excellent,” the woman said, almost breathing a sigh of relief. “First, you should know the reason why I insisted we me out here. It seems the members of the Purity have employed some of the best hackers and info-stream riders in the world, and they had been spying on every move that authorities made. They’ve cracked every system on Earth it seems, so catching them is going to be tricky. While catching them is our problem, this also affects your job. We didn’t want them knowing what we have or where it is, so everything is being done by word of mouth. There is no official record of this mission on any computer anywhere.”
“So, how do we know we’ll get paid?” Eliza asked.
“I’m afraid you will just have to trust us on this. Believe me, we have no reason to deceive you, but these precautions must be taken.”
“So what exactly will we be guarding?”
Veronica took a deep breath. “You’ll be guarding another jewel. It is an opal we have called the Dead Man’s World that is the exact size and shape as the Heaven’s Eye was. One dark as night, the other bright as the sun. We hardly think this to be a coincidence. We have people going through our hard copies of all the data in the Arcanum. It will take some time, but we can’t risk accessing the database directly.”
“But you’re assuming that since one was used to close the crack . . .” Eliza started.
“. . . that the other might be used to open it again. It is only a hypothesis based on the principles of symmetry and equal reaction, but we don’t feel it to be a frivolous guess.”
“Nor do I,” Eliza said.
“You will be taken to a secure location where the Dead Man’s World is being kept. It is a completely self-contained facility. It will have it’s own recycled water source, electricity, security and a food supply, including blood, that can last for years for you and a U. S. Military Special Operations Team that will be completely at your command. Each member of that team was screened and their backgrounds thoroughly checked. And yes, you have to allow the team to stay. The United State government insists on keeping their hand in this. I will also be accompanying you. And I’m afraid we must leave immediately. You may make arrangements if you wish to have your estate cared for and let people know you will be out of touch, but all calls will be monitored to make sure no sensitive information is passed along. You may take any equipment, barring computers, that you deem necessary. I suggest you get started.”
Eliza looked at her team. Wyrm was obviously ticked off that he wouldn’t be able to take some of his gadgets with him, but the price was still right. They gathered up weapons, clothes and other essentials. Luckily, the team was generally ready to go at a moment’s notice.
As Eliza was throwing her clothes into a bag, she heard footsteps behind her. She smelled a familiar perfume. “Hello Pamela.”
“Hello,” came the officer’s response as Eliza turned to face her. She still looked beautiful to Eliza. “I just wanted to say good luck. I refuse to say goodbye though. I may not be able to have your body anymore, but I can’t give you up completely.” She lowered her head. “I told my husband about us.”
“Why?” Eliza said, somewhat startled. “Why did . . .”
“Because he didn’t deserved to be lied to. I didn’t tell him your name or anything, only that I had been having an affair with a woman.” Pamela laughed. “He wasn’t even surprised. Apparently, I wasn’t alone in having an affair. It felt good to get it out in the open, for both of us. He’s going to try and find a job that doesn’t have to travel as much, and I’m going to try and get off the beat and find a desk job that lets me stay at home more. We’re even going to go to a marriage counselor.” Pamela grabbed Eliza and held her. “I love him, but I’ll always love you too. He’ll never be able to give me some of what you did, but I guess you don’t always get to have it all.”
Eliza held her friend and former lover. She felt Pamela’s heart beating beneath her chest, and heard the woman’s lungs drawing air. “I’ll always love you too. But you belong with him, and I can’t be ‘the other woman’ forever.”
“And you shouldn’t have to be,” Pamela whispered. “There’s too much passion in you for you to be kept hidden. But can I still see you sometimes? Even if we’re just friends?”
Eliza smiled and kissed Pamela on the cheek. “I think I’d like that,” she said. “We’ll talk about it when I get back, okay?”
“Okay,” the officer said. The two of them grabbed Eliza’s belongings and carried them out to the transport.
——————– ————–
Twelve hours later . . .
——————– ————–
Eliza, her crew and Ms. Veronica Adams took so many turns and switched vehicles so many times that they were completely disoriented by the time they got to the docks. They were then taken by boat to Last Mile Island. The island was the home of the Last Mile Prison. Much like Alcatraz, the prison had been designed to be a fortress that held the most dangerous criminals of the twenty-first century, until operations costs caused the facility to close down. It was miles from shore and, as Veronica had promised, was completely self-contained. Someone had tried to turn it into a tourist attraction, but it was too remote. On the voyage, Veronica explained that the government had acquired the Dead Man’s World from some smugglers that had originally intended to try and sell it themselves after bypassing customs. But when they learned about the Heaven’s Eye and how it had been used, they had grown afraid that the Purity would come looking for them, and exchanged the jewel for asylum. Ms. Adams’s superiors knew they had to keep the existence of the new jewel as secret as possible until they discovered its true purpose or discredited the idea that it was anything but a big rock.