always.”
Ethan speared his fingers through his hair
and went to do just that, not sure if he’d passed or failed
whatever test she’d just given him. At least he was still
alive.
***
“This is very cool,” Jack said, circling the
table of a 3-D hologram of the National Museum in Tehran. “Nice
going, kid.”
“We’ll need at least two men on the inside,”
Grace said. “Two more on point, and then Wonderboy here can set up
as home base.”
“Three on the inside would be better,” Ethan
said. He changed screens so the interior of the museum glowed with
blue lights. Splotches of red lit up where cameras were located,
and green lines crisscrossed in the main showroom where infrared
beams rotated on a timer.
“That’s too many bodies,” Grace argued.
“Three gives the opportunity for someone to get left behind if
things go to shit.”
“Agreed,” Jack said. “Two can do it. Where’s
the entry point?”
Ethan narrowed the hologram to a small
section. “The roof. They’ve got skylights, but I’ve got something
to get through the security there.”
“What about guards?” Grace asked.
“That’s where things get tricky. The guards
are hired guns, no more than a couple dozen, and only a handful of
those are official employees on record. The government is still
pretty shaky with the new transition, and money is scarce, so
they’ve hired out without asking a lot of questions to fill holes.
There have been threats against some of their national treasures,
so that’s why security at the museum has been upped.
“There are a lot of factions who still
oppose the Iranian government, and from the background checks I’ve
done on some of the guards, they definitely fall into that camp. We
could always try to pay the guards off. Several of them are barely
scraping by.”
“No. Too big of a chance that one of them
will cave under pressure if questioned.” Jack rubbed the back of
his neck. “Let me make some calls. I have a few men I trust who are
still in the area. We need to know exactly how many we might be
facing in and outside the building. We’ve got a good start
here.”
Grace’s laptop beeped from the living area,
and she went to see what it had come up with. Ethan’s apartment was
set up much like hers. An open living space where there were no
walls between the kitchen and dining room, and a private bed and
bath off the kitchen. The only difference in their spaces was that
Ethan had a large workroom filled with electronics and his 3-D
Hologram machine, which he for some reason felt the need to
christen Wanda. The furniture in Ethan’s apartment was more
masculine and modern than hers—sleek black leather and glass
tables—and he definitely had more clutter. There was a basket of
clean clothes on the floor, computer parts and gadgets on every
available surface, and a video game console and wires scattered
every direction.
She stepped around the mess and sat on the
edge of the sofa, pulling the laptop closer to the edge of the
coffee table. She’d been running probable scientists and doing
research on them since she’d left Gabe in the gym the night before.
There was no way she’d have been able to go back to sleep after
that fun encounter. So work had been her only option. Ethan and
Gabe weren’t the only two who knew how to use a computer, though
she wasn’t afraid to admit that her skills came nowhere close to
theirs.
“What’s up, Red?” Jack called from the other
room. “Anything exciting?”
“I think I’ve got a hit on a scientist who’s
a viable candidate for recreating The Passover Project. I did some
research last night and ran some probabilities, and less than half
a percent of all scientists at various universities and institutes
around the world have the genius to even guess at a formula as
complex as this. And the percentage shrinks even more when you
narrow the scientific field. We’re looking at four, maybe five men
who can pull this off.”
“So
Ethan speared his fingers through his hair
and went to do just that, not sure if he’d passed or failed
whatever test she’d just given him. At least he was still
alive.
***
“This is very cool,” Jack said, circling the
table of a 3-D hologram of the National Museum in Tehran. “Nice
going, kid.”
“We’ll need at least two men on the inside,”
Grace said. “Two more on point, and then Wonderboy here can set up
as home base.”
“Three on the inside would be better,” Ethan
said. He changed screens so the interior of the museum glowed with
blue lights. Splotches of red lit up where cameras were located,
and green lines crisscrossed in the main showroom where infrared
beams rotated on a timer.
“That’s too many bodies,” Grace argued.
“Three gives the opportunity for someone to get left behind if
things go to shit.”
“Agreed,” Jack said. “Two can do it. Where’s
the entry point?”
Ethan narrowed the hologram to a small
section. “The roof. They’ve got skylights, but I’ve got something
to get through the security there.”
“What about guards?” Grace asked.
“That’s where things get tricky. The guards
are hired guns, no more than a couple dozen, and only a handful of
those are official employees on record. The government is still
pretty shaky with the new transition, and money is scarce, so
they’ve hired out without asking a lot of questions to fill holes.
There have been threats against some of their national treasures,
so that’s why security at the museum has been upped.
“There are a lot of factions who still
oppose the Iranian government, and from the background checks I’ve
done on some of the guards, they definitely fall into that camp. We
could always try to pay the guards off. Several of them are barely
scraping by.”
“No. Too big of a chance that one of them
will cave under pressure if questioned.” Jack rubbed the back of
his neck. “Let me make some calls. I have a few men I trust who are
still in the area. We need to know exactly how many we might be
facing in and outside the building. We’ve got a good start
here.”
Grace’s laptop beeped from the living area,
and she went to see what it had come up with. Ethan’s apartment was
set up much like hers. An open living space where there were no
walls between the kitchen and dining room, and a private bed and
bath off the kitchen. The only difference in their spaces was that
Ethan had a large workroom filled with electronics and his 3-D
Hologram machine, which he for some reason felt the need to
christen Wanda. The furniture in Ethan’s apartment was more
masculine and modern than hers—sleek black leather and glass
tables—and he definitely had more clutter. There was a basket of
clean clothes on the floor, computer parts and gadgets on every
available surface, and a video game console and wires scattered
every direction.
She stepped around the mess and sat on the
edge of the sofa, pulling the laptop closer to the edge of the
coffee table. She’d been running probable scientists and doing
research on them since she’d left Gabe in the gym the night before.
There was no way she’d have been able to go back to sleep after
that fun encounter. So work had been her only option. Ethan and
Gabe weren’t the only two who knew how to use a computer, though
she wasn’t afraid to admit that her skills came nowhere close to
theirs.
“What’s up, Red?” Jack called from the other
room. “Anything exciting?”
“I think I’ve got a hit on a scientist who’s
a viable candidate for recreating The Passover Project. I did some
research last night and ran some probabilities, and less than half
a percent of all scientists at various universities and institutes
around the world have the genius to even guess at a formula as
complex as this. And the percentage shrinks even more when you
narrow the scientific field. We’re looking at four, maybe five men
who can pull this off.”
“So
Similar Books
