Dallas:Sessions:20060128
This session was spent catching up the Dallas team from May 2005 to January 2006. The previous scenario ended Saturday, May 7, 2005 (in-game; playing date September 10, 2005).
May, 2005: Steve and Blake performed data mining on the computers obtained from Miami and Detroit. They turn up a lot of hidden money (mostly bonds) and properties. Blake has title searches performed to make sure they have clear ownership of the properties. Steve suggests transferring all the properties to the IS corporation Jeremy has set up. In four accounts they find $5 million, $1.2 million, $700,000, and $600,000. Blake thinks the money should go toward paying for Jeremy’s new jet, compensating Axle for trucking expenses, compensating Solution Security for their time and expenses, and then the remainder should be split equally six ways.
Kef discovers that being within two yards of Harbie the cat enhances her psi powers.
Blake assigns Sara Summers to research Judy Newhurst’s partner, Quentin Page. Newhurst and Page have been partners for four years. They operate out of the FBI field office in Atlanta. Page is 36 years old, divorced (his ex-wife and child live in Savannah). He has an excellent record as an FBI agent, with several high-profile arrests prior to teaming up with Newhurst. Page and Newhurst have handled a number of “X-Files” type cases with moderate success, but Sara was unable to access any details. Page is known as a straight shooter, but he and Page are known to be “flexible” about following regulations (though they have never been officially reprimanded).
Blake contacts Newhurst to arrange to meet with her and Page. She suggests that, due to the high profile of the case and the fact that she and Page are still working on the aftermath, it would be better to postpone the meeting until June 14 in order not to compromise Blake.
From some of his truckers that pass through Coffee County, Axle hears that Deputy Stan Tyson is doing fine and maintaining the low profile he prefers. (Blake: “But we want to get him elected sheriff!”)
Through May and June and into July, Blake notices an increased police presence near his home and business. He’s aware that Lt. Johannson and Capt. Carothers are keeping watch on him – though not intrusively enough that he could charge them with harassment. By the end of July this scrutiny has been withdrawn.
Kef invites Sara Summers to lunch to smooth things over. Sara is very receptive and accepts Kef’s explanation, and in turn apologizes for overreacting.
Kef locates the carnival that Carla Newton’s parents worked for. It operates in Colorado and the surrounding states, wintering in Denver. Several of the performers do seem to possess metahuman powers. Blake sends investigators, who learn that Carla’s parents were murdered by a couple of people from a town in which the carnival was performing.
Jeremy begins learning from Igor Darvich, including ‘weird stuff.’ Kef has suggested that Darvich should meet other scientists and engineers on a social basis, so Jeremy scans various professional journals looking for authors whose works are challenged and even scoffed at by their peers. (Jeremy doesn’t like people who make fun of people with weird ideas.) Meanwhile he organizes small gatherings for Darvich and various Dallas-area university professors. Jeremy asks that Darvich not discuss the flying machine, dazers, or any other esoteric devices.
Darvich’s main interest, presently, is something he calls ‘quantum probabilities.’ Also, he often spends hours at a time exploring the Internet.
[May 6: Blake and Kef meet with wealthy Don Matthews, who had been financing Carlton.]
May 16: As instructed by Blake, Jethro Davis contacts Kef. She asks him to set up a web miner that monitors news media and Internet outlets for anything that might be construed as paranormal activity. This includes (but is not limited to) ritualistic or particularly atrocious murders, theft or disappearance of religious or 'unholy' artifacts, and the rise or resurgence of religious cults. “I’m tired of getting caught flat-footed by prostitute murders and demon summoning and human sacrifices.”
May 19: Kef receives an email from Vivian Gray, beginning a regular correspondence between the two. Vivian mentions that her brother Ed’s precog episodes have returned to being very minor.
May 24: Marvin Carothers returns to prison; Blake goes to California to witness. The event is well-covered by the media. Blake takes the opportunity to test one of the new dazers on a live target. Carothers’ sudden collapse causes consternation, but after an hour he regains consciousness and is none the worse for wear.
May 30: After testing the dazers at the practice range Jeremy set up, it is determined that the weapons’ effective range is 30 yards. They produce a tight beam which is most likely to cause unconsciousness if it strikes the head or torso. For all practical purposes, they never need recharging.
By this time, Steve has completely overhauled the security systems at ISHQ at Love Field. Jeremy collects a settlement from Love Field security to pay for the damage to his office and equipment.
Early June: London police announce they have completely “rolled up” the IRA terrorist cell connected with Sean McLeon.
At Blake’s request, Abraham Donaldson has been keeping an eye on wealthy Don Matthews. Matthews has become a student of the guru in Boulder that Kef had recommended.
Steve goes to London to set up operations, connections, and safe houses there.
Blake also establishes an office in London. This takes about a week and a half, and will be interrupted by Blake’s trip to Atlanta. With Kef’s assistance, he interviews several current and former members of the London police and Interpol. Kef finds that a couple of them are dangerous ‘time bombs,’ and Blake has Steve handle those.
Kef does some sightseeing in England, including a trip to Salisbury plain to visit Stonehenge.
During June, Axle begins establishing his import-export company. He is setting it up so that it can’t be directly linked back to him. [Bill: “So you want it to be like ‘Butch & Associates.’ Poor Butch, he’s got a lot of mean, ugly people looking for him!”]
June 1: Ed Gray emails Kef, mainly because his mother said to. He writes about once per week.
June 2: Blake makes a “goodwill visit” to the Baltimore police. He meets the officer assigned to the Irish terrorist case and explains that he had been working on the case of the missing so-called psychic, Andy Barrow. When the officer requests that Blake stay around for a day or two, Blake figures correctly that he means to call back to Dallas and have Blake checked out. Instead, Blake hands him his business card and invites the officer to call him with any further questions. Blake feels he has accomplished his goal of establishing good relations with the Baltimore police.
Kef receives an email from Carla Gray, who tells her that the Gray family will be vacationing in Dallas July 2-16. They will be staying with Sohandra and Abraham Donaldson.
June 5-11: Paula goes to a Renaissance faire near Albany, New York, searching for other mages.
June 7: After breakfast, Harbie the cat wanders away.
June 8: The Baltimore police officer calls Blake to obtain more details. In a friendly way, he lets Blake know that Lt. Johannson and Capt. Carothers of the Dallas PD “don’t think much of you. Be careful, they might be out to get you.” Blake thanks him for the heads-up and says “I am working to change their minds.”
June 14: Blake flies from London to Atlanta to meet with Judy Newhurst and Quentin Page. His appointment is at 3:00 in the afternoon. Newhurst shows him into a conference room where Page is waiting. “What may we do for you today, Mr Drummond?” Newhurst asks. “I heard you were looking for me, so I decided it was my duty to let you find me.” “We appreciate your coming in. We had thought you might be a material witness in some cases we had been investigating. Those cases have been closed, and the notation added that you were very willing to cooperate, but we found that you weren’t needed. We do appreciate your coming in.” “Well, if that’s it,” Blake replies, “I think I’ll take my leave. It was nice meeting you.”
Newhurst then takes a small object from her pocket, activates it, and sets it on the table. Blake recognizes it as a security jamming device. “Now, Blake,” says Newhurst, “how’s everything going? Are the situations under control?” “Yes. We’ve moved well past all that now. As far as I know, everything is being rolled up. I talked to the Baltimore police and helped them do up some loose ends. I talked to the Dallas police…” “Yes, they sent an inquiry through about you. I expedited it and gave them the very positive version.” “That’s good, because there are a couple of them I thought I’d assured, but my assurance must have made them more suspicious. But I told them the truth as I saw it.” Newhurst smiles. Blake continues, “Everything else is going well.”
Newhurst says, “I believe you also had some questions concerning my partner. You wanted to get to know him a little bit.” “Well, I’ve used some of my sources to feel him out, and I feel a lot more comfortable now after that research. But I have to ask you,” Blake says, turning toward Page, “you’re not looking to arrest me, are you?” Page replies promptly, “Not at all. We look toward you as an ally and a source, to cut off a lot of this weirdness before it gets too serious.” “I can be an ally, but not really a source. Usually by the time something comes to my attention, it’s already up to full speed or close to it. It takes a lot of connecting the dots to come up with what’s really going on. With this last one, it just happened that the people you were looking for were looking for me. Since they were looking for me and you were looking for me, we all intersected. I don’t know if that will happen again. But who knows who’ll be looking for me next week.” Page says, “We can help each other out in many ways as long as we keep it discreet and don’t get carried away.” “Oh, don’t worry. I have the utmost faith in most of my comrades that their discretion will be equal to yours. With the one that I’m not going to mention… we’re both on our own. I can keep him reined in until he decides he doesn’t want to be reined in.” Newhurst takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, then says, “That’s fine.” “It’s not that he’s not discreet, he’s just impulsive. But he’s very clever and he’s very smart, and he seems to want to do the right thing.” Newhurst says with a smile, “Yes. At least half of the people you used in this last operation, I don’t have any idea who they are. And I’m not going to try to change that.” She seems to exude truthfulness and trust. Blake responds, “I’m not particularly worried about that. I believe you when you say at this moment that you’re not interested in finding out their identities. To tell the truth, I’m not too sure about their identities myself.”
Newhurst replies, “I also want to assure you that, in addition to closing out this particular case where your name came up… your name has been cropping up in other files and investigations over the last several years, and we have concluded those in a manner beneficial to you.” “You’re missing something that I must assure you I didn’t have anything to do with. You mentioned an incident in Atlanta. As far as I know, I haven’t done much in Atlanta. So how did my name get on that report?” Newhurst smiles, “You want me to reveal all my secrets, too?” “Well, this is just one. All the rest of them I have an idea why.” Newhurst says, “To be honest, I thought it fit your MO.” “So you put my name in that file?” “Oh, your name’s not on that file. I shaded the truth a bit when I was talking before.” “Okay, that makes sense. That was my concern.” “Rest assured, I didn’t find any concrete proof that you were involved in the explosion of that building’s top floors. But in retrospect, the fact that some people claimed they saw a helicopter approaching the building not long before the event, and knowing what I experienced in London, I think I have an idea what might have happened.” “But I don’t fly a helicopter.” “Absolutely,” she answers, smiling yet again.
Newhurst tells Blake, “If you ever need to contact us officially, you can get hold of us at our regular numbers. If you need us on an unofficial basis…” She slides a business card across the table to him. Blake assures the two agents, “If something comes up of national significance, then I will call you.”
Blake continues, “Here’s a thought, if you could do something unofficial. In the Denver area there was a murder of two people.” He gives the names of Carla Newton’s parents and that of the town in which they were killed. “I would like to know the official cause of death, and whether that matches the coroner’s report.” “I can do that,” says Newhurst. Blake requests that the information be sent to Ms Summers.
As they all rise and exchange parting pleasantries and handshakes, Newhurst picks up the jammer, turns it off, and slides it back into her pocket. Blake wonders whether she realizes that he doesn’t believe the thing was working. He flies directly back to London.
Blake lets Jeremy know “the FBI isn’t looking for me, and they’re definitely not looking for you. They wanted to me a source and an ally. Well, by the time I find out what’s going on, it’s usually done hit the fan.” He adds that Quentin Page seems to be all right. Jeremy: “Does he believe the stuff that she’s looking for?” Blake: “He doesn’t seem to disbelieve it.” Jeremy: “Which is not the same thing.” Blake: “No. But at least while I was there, he didn’t actively challenge anything.” Jeremy: “Is he still trying to find a ‘scientific’ explanation for this stuff?” Blake: “I don’t know.” Jeremy: “All it takes is one guy that decides ‘these people all believe in demons, lock ‘em away.’” Blake: “Yeah. Well, he’ll have to go up the chain of command and make them believe that before he’s able to put me away.”
Mid-June: Jethro Davis begins working full-time with Igor Darvich, who has ‘taken a shine’ to the younger man. Through the activities social gatherings he has organized, which are doing Darvich a great deal of good, Jeremy learns of a professor at a small (less than 1000 students) private university in southern California.
July: Darvich audits several summer classes at the universities. Under several assumed names (based on prime ministers from 19th century England), he has started publishing articles on the Internet.
Axle visits New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Baltimore, acquiring facilities for his new import-export business. He subleases some Los Angeles warehouses from Blake (who had obtained them as a result of the Deathwish adventure). He hires his old friend Butch to work security in Los Angeles.
Steve spends most of July traveling around to his US listening posts and sets up additional ones.
July 2: Using the three people he and Kef have selected, Blake sets up Solution Security International in London. Each of the three has a different area of expertise. Each will hire ten people to work for them, plus an administrative assistant. Blake explains that “as long as I get my money, we’ll be fine. But don’t try to cheat me, because I can count real good.”
July 2-16: The Gray family vacations in Dallas. Axle supplies a limo to squire them around. Jeremy takes Ed for a helicopter ride. Kef spends an entire day with the family at Six Flags. Blake terrorizes Ed a couple of times “just because I can.”
July 7: After flying Axle to LA, Jeremy visits the university where Stan Wilhelm teaches. Wilhelm is pretty much the entire physics department. Jeremy finds him puttering in the physics lab adjoining his office. As Jeremy walks in, Wilhelm says irritably, “No class today.” “That’s good,” Jeremy replies, “because I don’t want to take your class, Doctor. I wouldn’t have understood most of what you talk about anyway.” “Nobody does,” growls Wilhelm. Jeremy: “Actually, there is somebody who does. That’s why I’m here.” Wilhelm: “Really. And who are you?” “Who am I? I’m not the person who understands.” Jeremy hands Wilhelm a list of URLs and tells him to look them up. “I presume you’ve already read several of those.” “Yes, I have. It’s obvious to me that they were written by the same man, and he’s got a strange sense of humor. The names he picks… Hmm, I hadn’t seen this article. How did I miss that?” After several moments, Wilhelm states, “I take it you know this man.” “Oh, yeah. Would you like to?” “Yes, I’d like to meet him.”
Jeremy asks for “something that’s alive” and Wilhelm leads him outside into a quad and points out “that obnoxious SOB,” a young man with long hair and a scraggly beard. Jeremy draws his dazer, pushes the button, and the young man collapses. Wilhelm stares at the device, then at Jeremy. “He’s asleep,” Jeremy says blithely; “He’ll be awake in an hour.” Wilhelm examines the dazer wonderingly. “He made this? When can I meet him?” “In four hours. You’ll have to go to Dallas with me.” After a quick phone call to take care of his classes and labs for the next few days, Wilhelm’s all set to go.
From the trunk of his rental car Jeremy takes the Mark II flyer and puts it on. “You don’t get airsick, do you?” “No…” Jeremy flies straight up and puts the lie to Wilhelm’s assertion. Once his stomach re-settles, the look of wonder returns to Wilhelm’s face. Jeremy flies at speed to the airport, and before long they’re aboard his plane and on their way to Dallas. As Wilhelm examines the dazer, Jeremy tells him, “By the way, if you try to patent any of the stuff inside there, they won’t believe you.” “I’m used to people not believing me, not taking me seriously.” “That’s why I want you to meet his guy. He won’t do that to you.” Wilhelm actually understands some of the dazer’s workings.
Jeremy introduces Wilhelm to Darvich, and within minutes the two of them are deep in theories and technobabble. Jeremy calls Jethro in to babysit. “And I want you to keep track of everything they’re talking about, because something really nice might come out of that.”
[We’re forming UMS, the Union of Misunderstood Scientists. Pronounced “you a mess.” M might also stand for Misanthropic.]
July 10: After spending three days with Darvich, Wilhelm says he needs to go home. Darvich tells Jeremy that Wilhelm makes more sense than anyone else he’s talked with since he left the asylum. “This guy’s got potential. I don’t know whether he’s got the knack yet; I’ll have to get him to build something first.”
Jeremy learns that Wilhelm’s salary at the college is $80,000 plus housing. Jeremy: “Do you want to go back and teach school?” Wilhelm: “Not at that place. It’s a pain in the @$$. But I gotta put food on the table somehow. Why do you ask?” Jeremy: “Because he says you have potential. And I need somebody who can keep him focused.” Wilhelm: “He does tend to wander. You’re offering me a job?” Jeremy: “I don’t speak the lingo well enough to keep him focused.” Wilhelm: “How much do you want to pay?” Jeremy: “How much is your reputation worth to you?” Wilhelm: “Right now in most circles my reputation is… if you were paying for it, it’d be in the negative amounts.” Jeremy: “My point exactly. It’s not getting any better out there.” Wilhelm: “No… but it was the only job I could find.” Jeremy: “Well, I don’t know all the legalese on this. But how about if we work out a deal that you work for next to nothing, but you get a percentage of anything that gets developed?” Wilhelm: “Will you provide a place to live?” Jeremy: “Absolutely! I know a nice penthouse suite that’s unoccupied right now, but you gotta stay away from the television.” Wilhelm: “You got a deal. When can I start?” Jeremy: “You just did.”
Jeremy gets on the phone and calls Axle. “Do you think you could arrange for somebody to pack up a house and a car and take it from LA to here? Not the house, just the contents.” “Hey, I know just the person.”
Mid-July: Blake begins studying demolitions and explosives.
Axle talks to Darvich about improving the mileage on diesel-burning trucks.
July 17: Blake suggests to Kef that she needs an office with computers set up so she can do her research. She thinks all she needs is an RSS feed from Jethro’s web miner to her laptop. “99.9% of stuff that seems paranormal isn’t paranormal.” “I was going to offer you an office… at a nominal fee.” (Blake owns the office building where Solution Security world headquarters is located.) “I don’t want my name on anything.” “Okay, you have significant money, and none of it’s in your name, is that correct?” “It shouldn’t be in my name, no. Steve was very kind to set up a bunch of blind trusts for me. As far as I know I have X amount of money – that’s as precise as I get – and it keeps going up. Every time I look, it’s a different number. And I still have a beach house in Malibu I’ve never seen.” “Well, I have a big property in Vegas that I see every now and then.” (Jeremy: “You didn’t go buy the Bellagio, did you?” Blake: “Not yet. I’m thinking about buying Trump’s hotel, though. He’s in trouble, he needs some help.”) Kef is still thinking about some kind of organization for the psionically gifted, but she doesn’t need an office for that yet.
Late July: Deputy Tyson gives Blake an update on Carl Wyatt, Major Carlton’s man in Atlanta and one of his key people. Tyson had sicced the FBI on Wyatt, but he’d gotten away. (Blake: “I don’t want to be in Atlanta. Atlanta is not a good place for me. I figure that if they *ever* figure out what happened…” Kef: “I don’t know why they think you’re such a bad influence on buildings. How many buildings have we blown up that didn’t *need* blowing up?” Blake: “That is a good point. I thought you were going to say ‘How many buildings have we blown up?’ and I was going to way ‘That’s not important.’” Kef: “Besides, Atlanta was years ago!” Jeremy: “That’s ancient history. They’ve probably even built the top back onto that building by now!”)
Carla Newton, as well as the other survivors of Carlton’s Chicago cell, have apparently ‘melted into the countryside’ and cannot be found despite the best efforts of Blake’s and Steve’s organizations. Kef: “This isn’t precognitive, but I’m going to say that Carla Newton is going to cause us trouble.” Blake: “I know.”
August: Steve is in Paris for most of the month.
August 1: After receiving some information from Sara Summers, Blake speed-dials “the person who loves to travel with me.” “Kef, baby?” “Hi, honey!” “Do you want to go to a prison and see two murderers?” “Um, back up a bit.” “Okay. (scoot, scoot) I’m backed up.” “Why are we going to prison?” “No, wait a minute, let me come back forward. (scoot) Had you on speakerphone.” “Blake…” “These two people supposedly murdered Carla’s parents.” “I notice you say ‘supposedly.’” “I got this information from Agent Newhurst. She said there was something about the case that didn’t sound right. She gave me the official version, that these two guys killed Carla’s parents for their money. And the reason Carla didn’t know where they were buried is that their bodies disappeared from the morgue. So I thought we should go up there and talk to these gentlemen, because they’re supposed to get out on parole this year.” “Well, number one, they’re both stupid, because you don’t kill carnival workers for their money, because they don’t have any. Which means 1-A, they’re either taking the fall for somebody, or 1-B, they were set up.” “Well, I think 1-A and 1-B makes it so we should go visit the prison before they get out and I have to run ‘em down.”
Jeremy flies Blake and Kef to Colorado. Kef dons large wire-framed glasses, a streaked blonde wig, and blue contact lenses. Blake introduces himself to the warden as a private investigator who is following up on a case involving a fugitive named Carla Newton.
Elroy Benton is a roughneck, about six feet all and 190 pounds. His body is marked by many scars and tattoos. At the time of the murders he was in his late teens; he is 29 now. (Kef easily gets into his mind; she notes that he is weak-willed. He’s wondering what’s going on, and what Kef would be like in bed.) Blake begins his interview. No, Elroy never heard of Carla Newton. He doesn’t even remember the names of the people he killed, only that they worked for a carnival. (He recalls waylaying two people who were carrying the day’s take for the carnival. They put up no resistance, but Elroy and his cohort Troy shot and killed them anyway. However, something about these memories bothers Kef.) Blake suggests that after Elroy gets out of prison, Carla might come after him to avenge her parents. Elroy says he’ll keep that in mind (but scoffs that “a broad” could do him any harm). The fact that the bodies disappeared, Elroy thinks, is the reason the charges against them were reduced and their sentences less severe than they might have been. Blake asks whether he had killed anybody before, because “you don’t seem like a killer to me.” Elroy says he’d only roughed people up (he had killed at least three), but “they just pissed us off for some reason. Their attitude made me mad.” Blake warns him that Carla is armed and dangerous, whereas Elroy, as a convicted felon, won’t have any weapons (Elroy already knows where he’s going to get guns). Elroy tries to get Blake to give him his card “and I’ll let you know if she threatens me.” “That’s okay,” responds Blake, “you’ve provided all the information that we will ever need. Thank you.” (Elroy’s disappointed; he had uses for that card, none of which would have been to the good of Blake or his agency.) [Bill: “Blake may have been born at night, but it wasn’t *last* night.”]
Troy Donnally is a few inches shorter than Elroy and has a slightly heavier build. He recognizes Newton as “the name of the people we killed,” though he hadn’t known they had a daughter. (Kef is positive his memories of the murder have been planted. She closes her eyes and searches for the true memories.) He is interested in Blake’s assertion that Carla Newton might be coming after him (and takes it much more seriously than Elroy did). He asks what he can do to help Blake find her before she takes a shot at him. He’d hurt people pretty seriously in fights, but had never killed anyone before (true); the Newtons somehow just pissed him off. “I guess it was an odd night,” offers Blake, to which Troy replies, “Yeah, it definitely was odd. Definitely.” When he gets out of prison, he thinks he might look for work in Denver or San Francisco, and suggests he could be useful to Blake’s ‘organization.’ Blake: “If you get out, I’ll have my people on watch for you.” Troy: “Yeah… you’re going to use me as a stalking horse and see if she comes after me.” Blake: “You know, I hadn’t thought of that, but that would be good.” Troy: “Suuuure you hadn’t thought of it.” Blake: “I would never put an innocent person in harm’s way… without paying them first.” Blake allows that Troy has been useful to him and seems like a reasonable person. Troy: “Well, if you need me or want to hire me, give me a yell.” He stands, gives a nod and a smile to Kef, and leaves.
(On the day in question, Elroy and Troy were in a pool hall, hustling suckers and drinking a lot of beer. They were playing a mark who looked to be in his mid-30s, with light brown hair in a military crew cut. Based on subtle clues, Kef’s sure this man was a psi. He completely turned the tables on the would-be hustlers, trouncing them at pool and cleaning them out of most of their money. They slunk out of the pool hall with a couple of six-packs of beer and went off somewhere to get drunk. After this point, Kef believes Troy’s memories were falsified. What he remembers is that they got the idea to rob the two carnies, and wound up killing them when the man gave them attitude.)
Blake leans over, nuzzles Kef’s ear, and whispers, “Well?” Kef nibbles Blake’s earlobe and murmurs, “He didn’t do it.” A knock on the door interrupts them (dang!); an assistant warden escorts them to the front doors of the penitentiary. On the way, Blake says to the man in a low voice, “It would be to the benefit of the people of Colorado if Elroy Benton doesn’t make it back into society anytime soon.” Kef adds, “He happens to know of a cache of guns he can get to.” The assistant warden asks, “Would you care to put that in writing so I can present it to the parole board?” Blake: “Sure, I’ll put my opinion in writing.” “What’s your professional opinion of his buddy Troy?” “Troy seems to be smarter and less of a menace to society. His job skills are very limited, and I don’t see him being anything but a rent-a-thug at this point, but I wouldn’t recommend that he stay in prison.” “Interesting appraisal. And ma’m, do you agree with your partner’s assessment?” “Oh, yes. Mr. Drummond is very astute when it comes to evaluating criminal personalities. He’s an expert in the field.” The assistant warden rather callously brushes aside Blake’s suggestion that Troy and Elroy should be seen by the prison psychologist regarding their identical memories of the night of the murder.
Once they’re in the car, Blake asks Kef, “Now, what did you think?” She takes a deep breath then says in clipped tones, “Some fellow with a military bearing has jacked with both of their memories. Their last clear memories are that they were hustling this guy in a pool hall, got their @$$es handed to them, left with a couple of six-packs of beer. Next thing they know, they believe they killed the Newtons and they’re getting sent up the river for it. But they weren’t even conscious most of that night. There’s no way they could have committed those murders.” Blake listens thoughtfully, then says, “Well, the trap’s been set now. Whoever did that will be coming after me soon.” “I wonder if it was some crony of Carlton’s that we didn’t catch.” “That’s a possibility.” “But if Carlton had a guy with psi powers, why wasn’t Carlton using him?” “Good point.” [GM: “And another long-term hook is planted.” Mary: “Why are there so many evil psychics in the world?” Bill: “It’s that ‘psy.’ Psy-chic, psy-cho, psy-chotic.” Tom: “Psy-chiatrists.” John: “All those ‘S’ words.” Mary: “It’s a Greek ‘S’.” Bill: “It’s that silent ‘P.’ That’s like when you’re out in the snow.”] Kef sketches a picture of the military man.
Mid-August: Jeremy notes with satisfaction that Darvich’s and Wilhelm’s association over the last four weeks or so has resulted in focusing Darvich and increasing his productivity. They have come up with several ‘conventional’ inventions and concepts that could be patented. Jeremy persuades Darvich that it would be best if Wilhelm takes public credit for their inventions, and Darvich is represented as Wilhelm’s mentor.
The web miner that Jethro set up for Kef unveils the beginnings of a psychopathic killing spree. “I sic Steve on him!” It also turns up three or four people who need immediate psychiatric help to turn them away from evildoing.
Tom Cartley accepts Blake’s offer to transfer him from Cleveland to Chicago. Blake: “You’ve proven yourself to me sufficiently; now you can return to the real world.” Cartley: “Given what I was doing when we first met, I understand.” Cartley takes a few people from the Cleveland office with him to establish the new Chicago office.
Late August: Abraham Donaldson informs Blake that Don Matthews, who is still a disciple of the guru in Boulder, has settled down, seems more satisfied with his life, and is not doing so many “crazy” things.
Vivian and Ed Gray have taken well to Kef’s guidance. Kef emphasizes that Carla must instill a strong sense of good morals in her kids. “They’re going to screw up sometimes, and that’s okay. I just don’t want them to end up in the street like I did.” (Blake: “They didn’t have me watching them. ‘I’m watching you, boy.’” Kef: “Blake, you’re a guardian angel! You’re not the bogeyman, the monster under the bed.” Blake: “No, that’s Steve.”)
Axle travels overseas to various countries to establish connections for his new business.
August 19: Paula goes out of town, visiting the Northern California/Oregon/Washington area.
August 21: In the morning, Harbie the cat reappears. Kef: “Hi, kitty. Did you have a nice trip?” Harbie: “Meow.” Harbie curls up at the foot of Kef’s bed as she goes to sleep. She dreams of a hurricane crossing Florida, gaining force as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico, and heading straight for New Orleans.
August 22 (Monday): Kef checks the National Weather Service website which is tracking a hurricane named Katrina heading for the Florida peninsula. [In real life, Katrina did not become a named storm until August 24, when it was upgraded to a tropical storm.]
That night Kef dreams of the hurricane again. It doesn’t hit New Orleans squarely, but Kef sees levees bursting and the city being flooded. She senses this will take place in about one week.
August 23 (Tuesday): Kef wakes up early and does some Internet research, which tells her that the New Orleans levees are built to withstand a Category 3 hurricane. Given the one-week timeframe, she guesses that the hurricane must be Katrina, which will cross Florida sometime Thursday the 25th but will be minor as far as hurricanes go.
Kef wakes up Blake and asks him, “Who do we tell about a killer hurricane that’s going to strike?” Blake yawns, “I would tell FEMA, probably.” Kef: “What’s FEMA?” Blake: “Federal Emergency Management Agency, I think.” Kef: “Yeah, I think this will qualify as an emergency.” She describes to him her visions of a very powerful hurricane striking New Orleans within the coming week, “probably that Katrina that’s about to hit Florida,” and breaking the levees, causing major flooding and many deaths. But how can they get any government agency to react quickly?
Blake and Kef call Jethro into a private meeting. Blake assigns him to hack into the NWS computers and change their hurricane models to better represent Katrina as a severe threat. “Sir, I’m good, but they have people that are better. Much better.” “Get the Professor to help you. They’re not that good.” Jethro suggests that the alterations be done after the hurricane crosses the Florida peninsula. Jethro immediately heads over to the hangar to get Jeremy involved in getting Darvich focused.
Blake calls Axle and they discuss transportation. Axle will start bringing in truckloads of food, water, and supplies and leaving them on property near the Convention Center and Superdome that Blake will rent for three months.
Jeremy calls Newhurst and asks if she has any pull with FEMA, Army Corps of Engineers, NWS, National Guard, City of New Orleans, etc. such as to scare people into leaving the city. Newhurst: “So… you know that this hurricane is going to hit New Orleans.” Jeremy: “I believe it. I believe it enough that I called you.” Newhurst: “I’m trying to think of a good excuse to get somebody to check the levees.” Jeremy: “Why don’t you try, ‘there’s going to be a big demon attacking the levees!’” Newhurst will change ‘big demon’ to ‘terrorist cell’ because “that’s the kind of thing they can understand.”
Blake: “I probably need to talk to Agent Newhurst, except that I don’t know what she could do. Do you have any idea?” Kef: “She’s FBI! She doesn’t control the weather. They don’t organize evacuations.” Blake: “Hmm. Well, I think I should call her, though.” Kef: “Why?” Blake: “I wonder if there’s anything that she *can* do. Somebody that we can call to get things rolling.” Kef: “Who else do you know in the government?” Blake: “Just her.” Kef: “She’s, like, the fringe of the government. Do you know anybody…” Blake: “No, I don’t know anybody high up *yet*. I’m taking this very slowly. You know that place we visited earlier?” Kef: “Maybe if *I* went to Hell…” Blake: “Then I would have to come get you.” Kef: “No! Earl Grimes would show up, and he’s a mage, so he can probably change the weather.” [Bill: “Earl is an earth mage. He’d just strengthen the levees.” Tom: “So you do need to head for Hell to see if Earl will come.” Mary: “That’s it, I’m more of a genius than I thought! ‘Blake, I love you. I’m going to Hell.’” John: “Of course his powerstone looks like a basketball.” Bill: “Earl would just pass out afterwards, but he would strengthen the levees, make them a lot bigger. They could withstand a Category 10. Of course, nothing else could come in for a long time, either. That’s it, nothing comes in until Earl wakes back up.”]
Jeremy pays a visit to the Professor. Darvich: “You look like you have a question or something. What can I do for you?” Jeremy: “Change the path of a hurricane.” Darvich starts thinking. “The possible repercussions are mind-boggling.” “I understand.” “It’s all one big system. Disrupt it here, it might create something worse in another place.” “I understand.” “I’m not sure I could do it, but I could start working on it.” “Then instead of changing the path, how about decreasing the intensity?” “To buffer and redirect the winds? Is that what your thought is?” “Whatever it would take.” “Again, changing something here might create a worse effect somewhere else.” “Chaos theory. I’m aware of the Butterfly Effect, yes.” “That’s a good way to put it.” [John: “So we go in and kill a butterfly, which will stop the hurricane.” Mary: “Yeah, but it has to be the *right* butterfly.”] “We’re talking about thousands of lives in the direct path of a hurricane, with little chance that anyone’s going to believe us, with any time to spare to be able to get them out of the way.” Wilhelm speaks up. “We’ll work on it,” he says.
Blake (her other most favorite person) dials up “Judy, Judy, Judy.” “Hello, Agent!” “Why am I not surprised?” “You shouldn’t be!” “No, since I just talked to one of your companions.” “What companion?” “The pilot.” “What did he want?” “He wanted me to… uh…” “He wants you to stop a hurricane.” “No, actually he wanted me to get someone to decertify the levees, to scare people enough that they’d evacuate in front of a hurricane.” “Can’t you just call the Army Corps of Engineers and ask them to inspect the levee?” “What reason would I give them? Well, I’ve already figured out a reason, but I want to hear your take on it.” “Tell them that from a source you heard that the levees are unstable, that your source is worried about the strength of the levees with the oncoming hurricane, and though you couldn’t get it out of them, they seemed to have information that there’s a problem that should be looked at.” [Tom: “Tell them that from a source you heard that there’s a demon coming to blow up New Orleans!”] “That’s a very good idea. I think that’s what I’ll do. I have an organization I can try to pin this on, a splinter PLO group that was involved in an altercation in London.” “At this particular moment, I wouldn’t bring any terrorists into this here. Because if you do that, and then they break, then all of a sudden you have a world of problems, and you have to tell who your source was and everything, they’ll take you in a little room with a little light and shine it in your eyes, stick stuff in your arm and make you blablablablabla… I wouldn’t do that.” “I was in the process of writing up the exact phraseology I would use, which is a variation of what you were saying, to get them to inspect the levees.” [Mary: “I like Axle’s idea. Giant mutant moles.”] “You want to be helpful, but I don’t want them to chew you up, spit you out, then I come out with you.” [Mary: “You’re not likely to come out *that* end.”] “Ahhh, I understand. Enlightened self-interest. All right, I’ll make that slight alteration.” “Thank you. Mine is not enlightened self-interest, mine is purely self-interest. I know how these things work.” [John: “The ‘slight alteration’ is: ‘In no way did Blake Drummond have anything to do with this…’”] “I have one more question.” “Yes, go ahead.” “The supernatural isn’t involved, is it? It’s a natural disaster that you have detected this time?” [Mary: “It *is* supernatural. It’s an act of God.”] “Let’s not talk about ‘supernatural.’ Let’s talk about ‘hypothetical,’ okay? Hypothetically, let’s suppose that somebody was able to peer into the future, and hypothetically they saw the levee breaking. Hypothetically this person, when they see stuff, hypothetically it almost always happens, unless something intervenes. Are you hypothetically following my line of hypothetical reasoning?” “I hypothetically understand. Let me complete this report and get it on its way.” “Thank you.”
August 24 (Wednesday): Axle diverts a Wal*Mart shipment so that it gets “lost” in one of Blake’s rented parking lots. He sends out word to truckers with perishable cargo to “dump it and get the hell out.”
Blake contacts Sam Rodriguez, the mercenary leader. (He and his gang have been very busy over the summer, working near the Mexican border, helping suppress the drug trade.) “Yes, Mr. Drummond.” “I have a job for you.” “Okay, what would be the job? I’ve still got another two to three weeks running on this one.” “How much are you being paid on that one?” Rodriguez quotes a “very substantial” rate. Blake: “Well, I’ll pay you that, then I’ll pay you for another month.” “What do you need for me to do?” “I want you to go save people instead of kill people.” “I’m saving people. We’re killing drug runners.” “Wait a minute. ‘We’re saving people, we’re killing.’ Stop! Period! I want you to go and help pull poor people out of a hurricane.” Prolonged pause, then Rodriguez says slowly, “Yeaaahhh?” “And I’m willing to pay you US dollars, in this amount, up front, on your word that you’ll do it.” “Y-you got me here. Pull ‘em out of a hurricane?” “No. After the hurricane hits, I want you to go in there and pull them out.” “The ones that don’t want to leave?” “Yes. Or can’t afford to leave.” “Provide transport for them, because they’re gonna cooperate. When you said ‘pull them out,’ I think that means I have to use force to get them out. You mean actually provide transport and logistics. And protect them from looters and other dangers.” “Well, you can kill the looters. Actually, skip that, try not to kill anybody on my dime. But that’s what I want, I want you to go, and I want you to pull them out.” “So you want me to go to Florida?” “I want you to go to New Orleans. I want you to be in New Orleans in five days and set up, knowing that you and your men could be stuck there.” “You do realize that my force right now is only about fifty people.” “That’s good. I can pay for that.” “Okay, just as long as you know. I guess I can explain this to my current employer. I can always pick back up on this contract afterwards.” “Yes. I’m only going to pay you for a month, and the US Government will be around after that.” “I never said I was working for the US Government.” “I didn’t hear you say that.” “I sure didn’t.” “I want you to look like the good guys, because you *are* going to be the good guys. I want you to get these people, I want you to get them to safety. And who are you working for? You’re doing this out of the goodness of your heart. And if you’re questioned, that’s what I want you to say.” “Saw a need and we came to help.” “That’s correct. And the issue of who’s paying you is not important.” “Pull a politician when that question is asked, and answer another question.” “That’s right. I’m giving you a chance to make money, and look like the good guys.” “That’s pretty big of you, Mr. Drummond. I’ll be there.” Blake will wire the payment to a Swiss bank account within two hours. (Kef: “That’s yet another thing I love about you, Blake. You can convince a mercenary that he’s doing something out of the goodness of his heart.”)
Jeremy finds out from the Internet that testing on the levees will be conducted Thursday morning.
Blake calls Sara Summers to wire the money to Rodriguez. Kef calls Paula and tells her “if you know anybody in New Orleans, tell them to leave now.” Jeremy adds, “If they need out, I can go get ‘em.” Paula doesn’t even question. “Actually, I know quite a few. I’ll make the calls.” Jeremy determines that the group’s friends in Alabama aren’t in danger from the storm. Axle calls and asks Blake what other equipment he wants sent down there besides generators. Kef calls Baba Al-Rhom, Don Matthews’ guru in Boulder, Colorado, tells him there’s an accumulation of ‘bad karma’ in New Orleans, and that Matthews can elevate his own spirit by releasing some karma from his bank account. The guru “senses the truth” of Kef’s words.
Blake has a thought. [Tom: “It’s a lonely thing.”] He calls the head of the New Orleans chapter of the AARP and says he wants to make a six-figure donation to be spent on pharmaceuticals for the elderly. Jeremy offers a compatible thought: Organize free out-of-town excursions for the senior citizens “and tell them they’re only good on *this* day.” Blake offers free trips to Hot Springs, and when the director protests the logistics with respect to the timeframe, Blake says, “I’m talking about a lot of money,” a total of a half-million dollars. “Tell the people to pack heavy.”
August 25 (Thursday): Hurricane Katrina crosses the Florida peninsula at Category 1. Early projections show it will also hit Louisiana.
Jeremy calls Blake. “Not so much luck with figuring out a way to make it change directions or calm it down. Do you want him to try to change the information in the NOAA computer?” “Change it to do what?” “Show that it’s going to smack right into New Orleans.” “That’s what I wanted anyway.” “I was just making sure you hadn’t changed your mind. We couldn’t do anything until it passed Florida, because nobody would have believed them.” “The uglier it looks – hey, can they make it into a Category 6? The bigger it is, the more solidly it will hit, the more people will move.” Axle suggests “making it speed up a little bit” to make it seem like it’s going to strike sooner than it actually will. Jeremy: “Well, they think they can get in (i.e., hack the NOAA computer), so I’ll have them go ahead and do it.”
Blake: “Darvich can’t make it a Category 1? He can’t have a machine fly in and spin backwards, or something?” Jeremy: “He’s been working on it, but he hasn’t been able to figure out a way to do it.” Blake: “Why don’t we throw him inside and see what happens?” Jeremy: “Have you ever heard of the Butterfly Effect?” “I’ve heard of the chaos theory, yes.” “That’s what they’re concerned about, that changing the intrinsic value of the hurricane will make something worse elsewhere.” “Where is ‘elsewhere’ actually? Is it someplace we don’t care about?” “It’s someplace we don’t know where. It could be in your back pocket.” “The only thing I got in my back pocket is a worn-out credit card.”
(Blake: “I think they’re just being wimpy, worrying about chaos theory. It might hit one of our enemies or something. It might take out North Korea.” Kef: “How many enemies do we have in Cozumel? Not very many!” Blake: “Well, we might have a few! We’re going to take over Mexico and make it the 51st state anyway!” Kef: “We are? You didn’t tell me that part.” Blake: “You know, we’re going to make it into about three or four different states.” Kef: “Then it’d be 51 through 54.” Blake: “Yeah, that’s what we’re gonna do.” Kef: “Why?” Blake: “They’re not gonna do anything with it!” Kef: “Sure, they are! They’re sending their people to our country!” Blake: “See? When we own it, we can send them back!” Axle: “You’re already in America, don’t go any nearer.” Kef: “We could send them to Canada.” Blake: “We’re gonna take over them, too!” Kef: “How many states can you make out of Canada?” Blake: “Ooh, a whole bunch.” Kef: “The big problem we’d have is we’ve got to get someone to redesign the flag so we can get all those stars on there.” Blake: “Quebec would be the only holdout.” Kef: “We don’t want Quebec anyway.” Jeremy: “They speak funny.” Axle: “They’re French, we can take ‘em over.”)
Over the next several hours, the hurricane projections begin to indicate a dead hit on New Orleans. News outlets report that the Corps of Engineers had a team out checking the levees, which (in their professional opinion) are not in all that great of shape. In fact, they’re not sure they would hold up to a Category 3.
Jeremy flies almost fifty of Paula’s acquaintances from New Orleans to Dallas.
Axle and Blake coordinate the delivery and placement of generators in various New Orleans hospitals. They order and send in supplies to be used by Rodriguez’s team.
August 26 (Friday): Due to the hurricane projections and alleged condition of the levees, officials order New Orleans to be evacuated in advance of Katrina. FEMA has gotten involved. (“Son of a gun,” says Jeremy, “we’ll have to give Newhurst a pat on the back.”)
Friday evening, Wilhelm tells Jeremy, “We have a possibility for blunting the force of the wind in a localized manner from certain points. However, it’s something that Darvich himself is going to have to build, because I don’t even have a vague idea what he’s talking about.” Jeremy: “What does he need?” Wilhelm names off a list of components, adding, “And he’ll have to put it together on-site himself.” “Where’s ‘on-site’?” “The place where you want him to blunt the winds. He plans to shunt the force into a dimensional breach. He may create a dimensional gate, powered with the energy of the winds.” “And you thought I wouldn’t like that because…? You thought I wouldn’t believe you.” [Bill: “I don’t like it because it’s opening up another dimension.” John: “Demons will come through.” Mary: “All those *not* in favor of opening dimensional gates…” Tom: “All those *not* in favor of telling the precog that we’re thinking about this…” Bill: “He’d have to smooch up to Blake. When that gate opens, I’m one of the first people they’re coming after.”] Jeremy continues, “I’ve been to Hell.” Wilhelm lets that pass, saying, “He thinks he may be able to shunt it to a place it’s not harmful. He thinks he can control it. There’s a lot of ‘he thinks’ in this, Jeremy.” “I guess I’d better talk to him.” Wilhelm trots off to get some sleep.
Darvich alternates between furious scribbles on a legal pad and rapid tapping on a computer keyboard. “Professor?” “Yes?” “Tell me. Wilhelm didn’t understand.” “I’ll try to keep it simple. Blunt the force over a circle about a quarter-mile in radius by shunting the energy into my device and then re-focusing that. But I have to do something with the energy. Given the way I’m going to be pulling it…” “It’s not enough area. The levees are bigger than that.” “That’s why you have to choose exactly what part to protect. If you could tell me exactly where they’re going to break, we could place it there.” “It won’t work.” “It’s the best I can do.” “I know. But if they don’t break there, the only reason they don’t break in another place is because they’ve already broken there.” “That’s the way it works.” “Okay, you tried. It’s okay.” “Maybe I can take the energy I pull and instead of sending it into the breach, I can pump it into the ground and strengthen the entire levee structure.” “I don’t know if you can or not.” “Let me work on it.” Darvich returns to scribbling.
[Mary: “Now we’ll have to name this new volcano after Darvich.” Bill: “The Darvich Effect?” Tom: “The Ponchartrain-Darvich Volcano?” Mary: “Yeah. Throw Wilhelm in there for good measure.” Tom: “Just because he’s a mathematician doesn’t mean he’s a virgin.” Bill: “Maybe, maybe not.” Mary: “I wouldn’t think that a New Orleans volcano would care if he was a virgin or not.” Tom: “That’s true, good point.”]
Jeremy calls Blake and has him put him on speakerphone. “Darvich wanted to open a dimension gate to get rid of the energy of the hurricane.” Blake: “And you talked him out of it, didn’t you.” Jeremy: “I told him that probably wouldn’t work for me.” Blake: “Whatever. As long as you talked him out of it.” Jeremy: “Well, not he’s trying to come up with a way to channel the energy into the ground to strengthen the levees.” Blake: “What makes him think channeling energy into the ground would strengthen the levees? If he channels it into the ground, he’ll simply break the levees from the ground up.” Jeremy: “Okay, I have a question for you. Would you have thought that he could have channeled the energy from a microwave and let me fly?” Blake: “No, I didn’t believe it until it happened.” Jeremy: “So are you gonna disbelieve that he can channel the energy from a hurricane into the ground and strengthen, rather than destroy, the levees?” Blake: “I am gonna disbelieve that at this particular time.” Jeremy: “Okay, so when it happens, you’ll believe it.” Blake: “You are bright. I see that hanging around him is helping you.” Jeremy: “Let me ask you one more question, then, Blake. If the levees are gonna break with or without his help, what difference does it make if we try?” Blake: “The difference is ‘he’s gonna be shot, so we pull the trigger anyway.’ That seems to me to be the same logic. I don’t think that we should help them break.” Jeremy: “I don’t think we should help them break, either, but if we try to keep them from breaking, and they break anyway, I don’t see the difference, personally.” Blake: “I follow your logic. I simply don’t want to be part of doing any harm if we can help it. But it does sound better than opening up a dimensional rift where the demons can come in and get us.” Jeremy: “Yeah, we’re not doing that part. Because I tried to convince the FBI lady that there was a demon coming, but I didn’t really want to do that.” [Mary: “It’d be perfect for Jeremy. Demon shows up, you say ‘see, I told you,’ Newhurst believes you. The next time you tell her that The Great Bird of the Galaxy’s gonna show up, she’ll believe you. Little Green Men are gonna show up, she’ll believe you.” Tom: “Just because you can’t see him doesn’t mean they’re not here!” Bill: “But that’s a good indication.”] Blake: “As far as Darvich is concerned, I’m sure that he’s extraordinary. I will give him that. If he can explain to Jethro the theory behind pumping energy into the ground to strengthen the levees, then I’ll buy it. I didn’t say ‘explain to me’ because after about two minutes, I’ll be bored. I didn’t say ‘you’ because, though I understand you’re brilliant yourself, I think that he’s still in front of you.” Jeremy: “It’s getting deep here, sir.” [Mary: “It’s just that ‘extraordinary’ was on Blake’s Word-of-the-Day calendar, and he had to use it.” Tom: “He’s got to use it another six times before it counts.”] Blake: “Yes, I know. If he can explain it to Jethro, though, I guess it’s feasible.” Jeremy: “All right.”
Blake: “Besides that, where does this machine have to be?” Jeremy: “Out on the levees.” Blake: “You mean the machine has to be on site?” Jeremy: “Yeah, it’s got about a half-mile diameter.” Blake: “The levees are bigger than that, aren’t they?” Jeremy: “Right, which is why opening the dimensional rift wasn’t going to work. Because keeping it from breaking where it was sitting, it would have ended up breaking somewhere else anyway.” Blake: “Why do you need to open up a dimensional rift?” Jeremy: “To get rid of the energy.” Kef, soothingly: “We’re past that now, okay?” Blake: “What about the dimension where the energy’s going?” Jeremy: “You said you didn’t care if we sent something to our enemies or people that we didn’t care about.” Blake: “That’s true, but I don’t know if there’s a friend in those dimensions.” Jeremy: “Well, what if there’s demons in that other dimension? You’re worried about them coming through. We’re gonna blast ‘em with energy.” Kef: “Earl Grimes is in the other dimension, too. He’s a nice guy.” Blake: “For some reason… you bring demons in because you know that I know that they’re coming to get me.” Jeremy: “Yeah, and? Your point?” Blake: “The point is, I see that you’re trying to manipulate me now. And it’s working. I’m upset about that.” (Laughter)
Blake: “Okay, I’m gonna get back on topic. If Jethro can understand enough to tell me what’s happening, then…” Jeremy: “Now wait a minute. That’s way far different than what you said before.” Blake: “Well, if Jethro understands it, he’ll say ‘yes, I understand it.’” Jeremy: “That isn’t what you just now said. You said if he can explain it to you.” Blake: “Then that’s okay. We won’t have to go that far. Because I really don’t want to know that much. I only have a limited space up here, and I’m not gonna fill it with Darvich talk.” Jeremy: “Okay.” Blake: “But how’s he gonna get to the levee?” Jeremy: “Transportation isn’t your expertise, is it?” Blake: “My expertise is being in New Orleans with a hurricane bearing down on it.” Jeremy: “Okay, well, you can be there if you wanna come along.” Blake: “Let me see, how to say this… ‘No’ is just not strong enough. How about ‘hell, no.’ There you go. That’s the word I was looking for.” Jeremy: “Then why are you worried about how he’s going to get there?” Blake: “I’m not.” Jeremy: “You just asked me!” Blake: “No, you said ‘worry.’ I was simply after information. I wasn’t gonna worry. It’s a logistical question. I have people down there if he needs protection or anything.” Jeremy: “I don’t think the Army Corps of Engineers is going to be trying to stop anybody at that point.” Blake: “Okay. As long as we’re not doing any dimensional openings, I think we’re fine. Go ahead, knock yourself out.” Jeremy, chuckling: “Okay, Blake.” Blake, dramatically: “You’ve been to where I’ve been. Do you want to go back?” Jeremy: “Yeah, it was kinda fun. I was able to fly without the li’l machine.”
Jeremy goes over and wakes Jethro up. “I thought you said I could sleep.” “No, I told Wilhelm he could sleep. You don’t get to sleep.” (Blake: “You’re being paid real money. Get up.”) Jeremy continues, “Blake just told me that you have to understand something.” “I do? That’ll be a first.” “You have to go understand how Darvich can make the energy from the hurricane go into the ground and strengthen the levees.” “This oughta be interesting.” “Vivarin?” “Yes, thank you.” [Bill: “Black Molly?” Mary: “Jeremy didn’t give him the stuff *he* takes.” Tom: “No chance! I’m gonna need him again before long!”]
An hour or so later, Jethro comes up to Jeremy. “I understand.” “Good!” Jeremy picks up the phone and dials Blake. “Hello?” “Blake, I just need you to hear one thing, okay?” “Okay.” “Tell him you understand.” Jethro: “Yeah, like I just said, I understand what he said.” “Okay. There you go.” “Let me talk to Jethro.” “Why? You said you wanted him to understand what he said.” “Well, that’s fine. Everything’s cool. I still want to talk to Jethro. I just want to know what he understood.” “That’s not what you said.” “No, that is what I said, I just wanna know – put him on the phone! I’m finished talkin’ to you.” Jeremy, laughing, hands Jethro the phone.
Jethro: “Yessir.” Blake: “Did you understand what Darvich told you?” Jethro: “Yeesss.” Blake: “And does it sound feasible?” Jethro: “95% of the stuff I’ve heard from him in the last three months doesn’t sound feasible.” Jeremy: “But it’s all worked!” Blake: “That’s not my point, though.” Jethro: “I understand what he intends to do and what he says it’ll do, and even how he says it’ll do it.” Blake: “What does he intend to do?” Jeremy: “He’s pumping energy into the earth of the levee to strengthen it. It’s something to do with – how did he put it – fortifying the atomic bonds in such a way that the cohesion between the surfaces and the substance is fortified to such an extent…” Kef: “But you don’t want to make the levees harder, you want to make them more resilient.” Jethro: “Yes, ma’m, you’re right.” Blake: “Will that make the structure stiffer?” Jethro: “Stronger. More able to withstand. Resilent, stiffer…” Kef: “You can make something stronger, yet make it more brittle at the same time.” Jethro: “That’s not what Darvich said.” Blake: “He’s going to strengthen the molecular bonds by pumping energy into the ground?” Jethro: “Yes.” Kef: “Does he have a way to test it on a small scale first?” Jethro: “He probably can. What do you want to test it with?” Kef: “Build a little sand castle or something.” Jeremy: “We can pick one of those oil rigs out in the Gulf that’s been evacuated already, that the storm’s gonna pass through a day earlier.” Blake: “I think that’s apples and oranges. I don’t think it’s the same deal.” Jethro: “Well, you’re working with a substance that you want to withstand the force. Darvich is saying that since the levees are all constructed of a like nature, he can cause the strengthening effect to propagate through the entire levee system. The lady’s afraid it’ll be like a tree that won’t bend before the wind, and it’ll be brittle and it will break. But that’s not the kind of thing Darvich is talking about.” Blake: “Go get the Professor.”
Darvich: “Yes?” Blake: “Professor. This working theory you have, as far as strengthening the levees. When you do that, will it make them stiffer?” Darvich: “What do you mean by ‘stiffer’?” Blake: “When the wind hits it, will it give? Or will it just stand straighter? Will it give less or give more?” Darvich: “Think of it more like a force field, if that helps you. Converting the levee into a force field.” Blake: “Behind it, or in front of it? Or will it be around the levee?” Darvich: “You might say I turn the levee into a force field, via kinetic energy funneled through the device into the structure.” Blake: “Not the ground?” Darvich: “The levee *is* ground, pretty much. Since the ground has been packed, I can propagate the force field across the levee.” Kef, softly: “Blake, he’s no longer talking about opening dimensional gates, so I’d say we let him go for it.” Blake: “Okay, Professor, sounds like a winner. You scrapped the plan about the dimensional gate, correct?” Darvich: “Yeah, Jeremy pointed out that that wouldn’t serve the right purpose. But there’s more dimensions than the demon level.” Blake: “Do you know which dimension you’d be pumping it into?” Darvich: “Well, not exactly.” [John: “You might blow out the pilot light in Hell.” Mary: “It’s snowing!” Bill: “Hell has frozen over!”] Blake: “Professor, it sounds like a winner. Thank you for your help.”
Jeremy calls Newhurst. “That was really good, quick work, getting somebody at the Corps of Engineers to take a look at the levees. Did you use up *all* your favors from him?” “Well, not really, given the cover story I used. Why, what do you need now?” “On Sunday, I need the Army Corps of Engineers to allow some testing to be done at the levees.” “Uhh… maybe I can arrange that.” “Do you want to save the levees?” “Oh, definitely.” “We need some testing to be allowed on Sunday.” “Get your man here and I’ll make sure he can get onto the levee.” “There’ll be several of us.” “Are you going to be present?” “Yeah, I think I’m gonna have to be.” “That should make it a little easier.” “Our friend Mr. Darvich is going to be there, too.” “Somehow I’m not surprised that he’s involved in this. It’s harebrained enough.” [Bill: “Harebrained?” Mary: “Harebrained? How dare she?” Tom: “There’s no demons involved. It’s not even interesting to her!” Mary: “So demons aren’t harebrained, but mad scientists are?” Tom: “Yeah.” Mary: “But these are mad scientists.” Tom: “And thus?” Mary: “We don’t *have* a tame demon!” Tom: “Well, we could find one, maybe.” Mary: “I don’t think so!” Bill: “I agree, I don’t think so!” John: “We’ve got Steve.” Mary: “But he’s in Paris.” Bill: “And he’s not trained! He has a magic mark just like Blake! Blake knows it’s there!”] Newhurst continues, “People are evacuating, though there are a lot of dissenters like we’ve talked about. Your team of 50 arrived and started assisting with the evacuation. They weren’t reluctant to go into the tougher areas.”
Jeremy determines from Darvich that the parts needed for the device will easily fit onto a helicopter, and it will take about ten minutes to assemble once in position. Darvich will need to borrow a couple of parts from Jeremy’s flyer. Jethro and Wilhelm will also be along. They will fly in Sunday evening and then camp out and wait for Katrina’s leading edge to arrive. Jeremy: “Then as it hits, we turn the device on, and then fly out of there while the hurricane keeps coming. Or we can just sit there and wait for the thing to go by, and fly out afterwards.” (Axle: “Or you might fly out during.” Jeremy: “It’d be much more fun to try to fly out along the front edge of it, though.” Kef: “You know people do that. Usually not in helicopters.” Blake: “They usually go in something really fast.” Axle: “Like your house.” Jeremy: “Well, the helicopter will be really fast.” Axle: “Just watch out for the cows.”
Blake calls his AARP contact. “I was right, wasn’t I?” He admits Blake was somehow correct. Around 500 senior citizens took the free trip to Hot Springs.
August 28 (Sunday): There are no problems getting to the levee and setting up. Jeremy had invited Newhurst along, but she didn’t feel that was necessary. (“I think she understood what was gonna happen.”) A couple of ACE guys want to watch what Darvich is doing.
Blake: “I don’t care what Newhurst said. I don’t think she has enough pull to cover all this we’ve done.” Kef: “She’s got nothing to cover. In the chaos that follows the hurricane, nobody’s going to remember any of this. The good stuff that you and Axle and Jeremy did, they’ll just be taken for granted. The focus will be on where FEMA screwed up, where ACE screwed up, where people die, where people get flooded…” Axle: “And Wal*Mart will take credit because their stuff was in position, right in front of the cameras in trucks with their logo on the side.
August 29 (Monday): Hurricane Katrina makes landfall near New Orleans. The device is set up. Jeremy flies out (“Yee-haw!”) without losing anybody. Miraculously, the levees hold. FEMA and Wal*Mart take much credit for the fact that food, supplies, and generators were accessible in the right places. There was considerably less flooding, structural damage, and loss of life than there might have been without the efforts of Our Heroes.
In response to Jeremy’s query, Darvich says the levee-strengthening effect is temporary and will last maybe fifteen days. Accompanied by one of Rodriguez’s mercs, Jeremy flies back and retrieves the device without landing the helo. Later, Jeremy has Jethro fake up a bunch of reports, supposedly based on data from the device, that show that the levees are dangerously unstable right now and that the ACE should wait two or three weeks to let them re-stabilize (he doesn’t want them discovering the altered molecular structure).
September: Dan Taylor goes on trial in early September, is convicted, and begins serving his sentence in October. Later in the year, Great Britain begins extradition proceedings which run into January.
September 13: Jeremy takes delivery of his new Gulfstream jet. Modifications begin immediately.
September 24: Harbie wanders away again.
Blake sends Rodriguez and his crew to Houston to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Rita. Axle positions several gasoline tanker trucks along the evacuation routes.
September 30: Axle completes the sale of controlling interest in his trucking and limousine companies to his employees. He retains a 25% share of each, carries some of the note, and still clears several million dollars in profit. This took up a substantial amount of his time over the summer. Per his stipulation, the company names are changed so they will no longer be identified with Axle.
Paula takes a trip to Quebec, Canada. In her searching thus far, she has identified 18 people who she thinks are low-level untrained mages.
October: Steve is in Cairo, Egypt.
Blake’s new Solution Security office in London informs him that they have dealt with the list of individuals he had given them. They have been arrested.
Tyson checks in with Blake, who tells him that Carl Wyatt has disappeared from Atlanta and asks Tyson to inform him if he hears anything.
October 1: Axle’s import/export business officially opens.
December-January: Steve is in Moscow. (His next three targets are Beijing, Hong Kong, and Sydney.)
Early December: Some of the Darvich/Wilhelm patents have been approved, and a bidding war begins for the production rights.
Christmastime: Kef gathers everyone together to celebrate the holidays. Even Steve returns from Russia to take part in the festivities.
Early January: Darvich creates a device that triples the mileage obtainable from diesel fuel. Jeremy ensures that it gets patented. By the end of January, the entire fleet of Axle’s (former) trucking company is equipped with these devices.
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