When, in the course of the remaining conversation, questions came up which John felt he could answer without debate, he had told them he would add it to his notes, and he took back the pad, his hand once more starting to write and draw at astonishing speed on page after page. Now that they knew what it was doing, it became ever harder to ignore the strange sight, or to escape how cool it was, Neal thought, stifling a boyish grin.

At last their time had come to an end and John had stood, handed them the sheaf of papers he had written, and bid them farewell, leaving to drive back to Norfolk and pretend to the AI that he had just woken from his faux sleep.

They spent the first half an hour after he left just reading through his notes. For now John focused on designs that would help in the fight against the other seven Agents. He had given them designs for jamming devices and body armor, as well as for hand-to-hand combat weapons whose lethality would make any general almost sexually excited.

He had also included the design for the nano-medical device. Madeline tried to wrap her head around it. If they could manufacture this, it would, quite literally, cure almost every communicable disease ever faced. The implications were staggering.

But eventually they had reluctantly set aside these pages, focusing instead on the part of John’s lengthy notes, and those that Neal and Madeline had taken, that contained practical advice, the rules of engagement, as it were.

It was clear that for the foreseeable future, Neal and Madeline, and the small but burgeoning resistance they were going to be the seed of, would be at a considerable disadvantage. If any aspect of their enterprise were discovered before they were ready, the results would be quick and bloody. So they must move forward with care.

They were going to need allies. Trusted, skilled, resourceful allies. They were going to need money and facilities. And they were going to need to get all that in absolute digital silence.

Neal had had a glimpse of the way forward when he had first received the anonymous letters from John. Snail-mail, it seemed clear, was going to be the only safe way to communicate, and even then they would have to encrypt just in case.

It was time to start recruiting, and they both agreed who would make the best first ally.

Chapter 27: Hiring Decisions

“Now this is going to be difficult to handle,” said Neal, in a different hotel room, in a different part of the city, the next morning. “I have to warn you that what we are about to tell you will force you to break every oath you have made to your superiors, and to become part of a conspiracy that will, in time, need to involve sharing information with other nations without our government’s approval.”