The Backup Asset

…56

“What the hell?” she mumbled, awoken from a dream-filled, agitated sleep.

She listened for a minute, not sure the noise she’d heard was real or a dream. Then she heard it again, this time loud and clear, three knocks on her hotel room door. She jumped out of bed and looked through the peephole, then unlocked the door, turning on the light.

“You again? Or is this some sick déjà vu moment?” she said, inviting Jeremy in. “You already know what my jammies look like.”

“Yeah. Sorry about that. We got a problem, a big one.”

She turned on another lamp and sat at the small desk. “What’s up?”

“Smolin has a backup asset in play. We have another leak.”

She frowned and wiped her eyes, chasing the remnants of sleep away.

“How did you find out?”

“He’s using a webmail service to communicate with home base, without even sending email, just by saving message drafts. He referred to ‘still planning to go shopping for the real big salami,’ or sausage, or something like that.”

“Or something like what?”

“Like… dick,” he spilled it out after hesitating, a little embarrassed. Alex didn’t seem to mind.

“What was the original phrase he used?”

He checked his notes, then struggled pronouncing, “Bolshoy khuy kolbasy.”

“Yup, they’re talking about the cannon all right,” she said thoughtfully. “When irritated by objects, things, or even people, Russians compare them with male genitalia. Just like we’d say about someone ‘he’s a dick,’ or ‘that dick, George.’ Our laser cannon must irritate the hell out of them. So what do the analysts think?”

“They’re thinking he’s targeting the plans for the laser cannon this time, not only the compatibility and installation. They’re saying that Smolin’s plan has escalated.”

“Any idea who this backup asset is?”

“None whatsoever. It could be one of Walcott’s people, or anyone on the ship for that matter. We’re running background checks and surveillance on everyone, effective immediately. But it could still not be enough, that’s what I’m afraid of.”