“Thank you, Lord Mantil. I will not forget this accommodation in the future.” She nodded slightly to him, then lowered her hand. “Now, I must return to Washington, I have a flight tomorrow to Georgia to start as a junior lieutenant at King’s Bay Submarine Base. Getting closer, Shahim, soon I will try for a posting at US STRATCOM in Omaha, or failing that, Fleet Command in Virginia.”

She smiled and he bowed slightly. She spoke once more, in an offhanded tone, “I see no need to report this conversation to the Council. I will duly support you when you announce your plan at our next meeting.

“The Pentagon would seem an easier target than the White House, anyway, and you can simply kill Danielson as he enters the building. But of course, I will leave the details in your capable hands.”

She smiled once more then left the room.

Shahim Al Khazar was left standing in the small, dirty slum, alone once more. Now, to prepare for his move to DC. His contact would be here in a few days. Shahim would give him a list of requirements and some specialists he would need to request to make the show complete. Can’t have it seem too easy to his superiors. Nor did he want the cowardly terrorists to be without loss in the coming attack. If he had to kill unsuspecting civilians then he would sacrifice a few of their so-called ‘warriors’ to the altar as well.

Chapter 39: Newborn

Shinobu Matsuoka had been more than accommodating since their last conversation a few weeks ago, dedicating the whole branch of the facility in North Dakota to their needs.

The facility manager had been told in the strictest possible manner that he was to follow Madeline’s orders to the letter and that he was to subdivide the entire enterprise under the same research cost brackets he had worked under to date. Above all, he had been told that under no circumstances was he to ask any questions about the purpose of the team’s work.

Under the guise of keeping the company president happy, Ayala had also asked that he come by at least once a month to check on their progress. In truth, this was more so that Ayala could keep checks on him and assess his mood, making sure that the man stayed in line.

After they had co-opted an angry and then scared Shinobu Matsuoka into their conspiracy, Ayala had left on another of her tours to DC and Massachusetts, leaving Madeline for a few weeks to the arduous process of creating a computer schematic of their cellular warriors. In that time, Madeline had also decided to carve out a new appearance for her prolonged stay in North Dakota. It was this new Madeline that greeted the returning Ayala inside the building’s lobby, smiling at the Israeli woman’s double take.