Covert Coffee (The Serena Wilcox Dystopian Trilogy Book 2)

Covert Coffee Chapter 28

28

“Lehman, predictably, accepted President Kinji’s Vice Presidential appointment, so we are on our own,” said Beav.

“They’ll never vote him in,” said Estep.

Serena smirked. “Au Contraire! They’ve already agreed. Kinji mentioned that if anyone refused to sign off on the appointment, he or she would have to give her a plausible reason for why Lehman is not suited for the office-- or else she would explore their reason for bias; dig into their affiliations with lobbyists for example.”

“Which means, like I said, we are on our own,” said Beav.

Estep said, “I’m not in the loop. Isn’t Operation Covert Coffee a completed mission? I’ve been reassigned to something else.”

Serena filled him in. “We are wrapping things up, yes, but we need to get a few loose ends tied up. Obviously we can’t hunt down every person who wants Kinji out of office, that would be a long list. Nor should we seal the crack. As you know, Operation Dumbo has begun.” She noticed Estep’s bewildered look. “Dumbo was the flying elephant with the big ears in the classic Disney film. Don’t look at me, I didn’t name it. Anyway, they have a team who is listening in on the crack in the SM Channel.”

“Yes, I know. I wasn’t assigned to the team because I was told I was still needed by you,” said Estep, not without a dramatically resentful tone in his voice.

Serena ignored his theatrics. “We need to find the Supporters.”

“Rather, we need to meet them. It seems they’ve seen our flare,” said Beav. He pulled up the message for the three of them to examine together.

“It says for Serena to come alone, with no ears, not even a digi pen. I don’t like it,” said Estep.

“I have an idea,” said Serena. “What if I wore a digi watch like Paul has? It’s not common knowledge that prisoners have these, and they aren’t available outside the prison population.”

“That could work,” said Beav.

“Unless they know someone in prison,” said Estep.

“They’ll scan me for bugs. The watch won’t set anything off. If they don’t know it’s a digi I will pass their screen. You really think the odds are high that they know about the watch?” said Serena.

“No, I think it’s a good risk. We can’t send you in there with nothing,” said Estep.

“Why won’t they approve of me going with you? I already met with one of them once in Germany,” said Beav.

“I don’t know, but they said no and I think we should do what they want,” said Serena. “They are on our side, remember? Beav said they are an organization of MENSA people, mathematicians mainly.”

“Smart genius types have never been deranged and violent?” said Estep

“I don’t think this group is something to fear,” said Beav.

“Agreed, I have a good feeling about this,” said Serena.

“We better get moving,” said Estep. He signaled to his team via an old school radio cuff. “Bluebird is on the move.”

“Bluebird?” asked Serena.

“You,” said Estep. “You’re my new assignment. Operation Bluebird.”

Beav’s laugh began as a snorting sound and developed into an all-out guffaw.

“Laugh it up. My bonus for protecting Ms. Bluebird is paying for new tires for my car,” said Estep.