131 Pierced Veil

I waved my hand, parting the doors to the boardroom. It was time to officially start my day. There was a ton of things to do. The war was at a bit of a stalemate for the time being. Thus, it was a great opportunity to do some business development.

Right now, we had the unusual problem of having too much money. I now understood the situation that the Saudis were in before fossil fuels were phased out in the 2040's. The only difference is that we have way more money than they do after just a few ounces of coaxium sales.

We haven't been able to spend money fast enough… Maybe we should just buy a continent? Developing one of Jupiter's or Saturn's moons would be cool as well.

I turned to Sonia as we walked towards my suite. A warm shower was needed before I hopped into my immersion tank. "What's on the docket for today?"

Sonia tapped a few times on her tablet to pull up my calendar. Ahhh, it was great having a 24/7 secretary. She makes more money than most C-suite executives, so she earned her money. "Leighton's treatment should be just about done."

I nodded with a smile. "Great! Let's go talk to the doc-"

Before I could finish my statement, I froze up. I suddenly felt a strong pull to the South. My mind was screaming unintelligibly as there was something there that couldn't be left alone.

My head snapped towards the South as I fell silent. I instinctively closed my eyes and wiped my mind clean. Vitality. Overwhelming and untamed vitality. This was no place frequented by humans. It was strong in the force. What was it trying to tell me?

Sonia's voice broke me from my trance. "Kyle, are you alright?"

My eyes snapped open as a lethal focus overcame me. The intensity was almost fictional. "I need Sigurd in ops, now."

I continued walking towards my suite so I could shower. Sonia called out from behind me. "May I know why? He's surely going to ask."

Without turning around, I replied snappily. "No time to explain. Just get him."

She nodded. "Immediately."

-9:24 AM-

The operations room was an impressive setup. It was like a mission control room. Dozens of monitors lined the wall opposite the entrance. Adjacent to the entrance was Sigurd's office and a locker room. Between the wall and the door were several desks with analysts sitting behind them. Each row of desks was a few feet lower than the previous row to ensure everyone had a clear view of the monitors in the front.

I stood in the back of the room, overlooking the analysts doing their work. My hands were behind my back as I watched the large monitor on the center of the wall.

The doors behind me slid open and Karl rushed in. He was drying his hair with a towel and his clothes were barely on. "Did you take a fucking shower?"

I chuckled internally. His accent was funny when he was angry. I nodded and gestured towards the large monitor. On it was an unintelligible stream of messages regarding South America. "There. Tell me what you know about all this chatter."

His assistant rushed over and handed him a tablet. He took the tablet and threw the towel on the floor. Then, he started scrolling through it. I watched him closely and was shocked. His eyes moved at an unbelievable speed. He was like a computer. Where did my uncle find him?

Karl then swiped up on the tablet and took a deep breath. "We can sort the chatter into 5 lines of communication."

I turned around to see what he was looking at. There were now 5 rectangles on the monitor with streams of messages sliding across the screen.

He continued. "Four of them are known: CIA, MI6, Guoanbu, and SVR. The fifth… Whoever it is, we haven't encountered them in the field before. Our algorithm has parsed through them and found that they all have frequent mentions of this region of Peru."

I was in disbelief. I turned to him in clear confusion. "Wait a second. You can just tap into the fucking CIA?"

Karl nodded slowly. "Uhhh, yeah. What do you think we do here?"

I sighed, shaking my head. "Whatever. I'll wrap my head around that later. Something is to the South… I guess in Peru. I need it."

He tilted his head. His interest had been piqued. "Hmmm, any idea what it is? That would go a long way."

I sighed and clutched my head. "No. I just know that I can't let it fall into the wrong hands."

The doors slid open again. Sonia rushed in and stood next to me.

Karl nodded. "Very well. I'll put a team together."

I nodded as he started tapping on his tablet. "I'll be going with. Tucker will be team lead… and get Izzy too. She seemed capable." I then turned to Sonia. "Did you talk to the doctor?"

Sonia nodded, albeit slightly out of breath. "Yes. He's good to go for the next six months."

I smiled. This was good news. "How is his physical condition?"

She sighed but a smile was on her face. "The doctor said he hasn't been this healthy since before the cancer."

I nodded. "Wonderful! He'll be coming too. This will be good for his training."

Karl sighed. "It isn't smart for you to just leave the country, let alone the compound. And you're going to bring a teenager on an op?"

I shrugged. "I'm a literal Jedi. I can stop bullets with magical powers. I'll be fine. And Leighton? As it stands, he could probably kill half of the people in this room before we could even react."

Karl shakes his head. "It's not the bullets that I'm afraid of but so be it."

I stood in silence examining the map that had taken over the large monitor. It was zoomed in on Peru and there was a circle that was gradually shrinking. The algorithm was taking point of interests from the communications we were tapping and narrowing down the target area.

Karl suddenly smacked my shoulder with his tablet. "Why are you still standing here? Wheels up in 20. You better pack a bag and hit the armory."

I nodded, turning away from the monitor. "What are we riding in?"

Karl smirked. "The Globemaster."

-10:00 AM-

Snowflakes floated through the frigid air as I walked across the tarmac. It was very cold and constantly snowing during the Winter at this elevation.

The ground was covered in several feet of snow, but the runway was perfectly clear. It was heated so no ice would form on it.

I was carrying four duffle bags. Two were mine, and two were my padawan's. He was walking next to me.

I glanced at him. His expression showed nothing of his emotional state. "You ready for your first op?"

He shrugged. "I wouldn't say that this is my first."

I shook my head. "It's different. Over there, you don't have to be afraid of dying once or twice. You'll just respawn. Here… when there's bullets flying at you from every which way…"

Images of my blood-stained childhood home flashed through my mind as I spoke. "The fear becomes tangible."

Leighton remained silent for a moment as he processed my words. "I understand what you mean. However, death has loomed over my head for the greater part of my life. I believe that I'll be fine."

I nodded and turned my focus in front of me. I stepped up onto the outstretched ramp of the C-17. This would be my home for the next 10 hours.

The four jet engines hummed and whistled as they came to life. Snow was blown through the air as it was pulled and pushed by the turbines.

I paused and looked off into the distance. The Colorado Rockies was covered in snow. Every tree and peak was shrouded in white. The sun was hidden behind a curtain of clouds. I couldn't even see very far because of the snow regardless of how light the dusting was.

We'd be off to warmer weather for a day. Maybe two. I had my mission. Now it was time to act.