AI Era: Agent AI SWAK

"How can I help you Miss Long?" the senator asked Ming, "or more correctly, why am I here?"

"Why did you people release Hans Stavros Baumgartner?" demanded Ming. Her sweet face suddenly changed to a mask of anger.

Senator Nourse's aide, Betty Chapelwaite flipped open a notebook she carried and said, "We had no credible reason to detain..."

"Shut the fuck up," said Alicia, still in the guise of agent May. "Where did you get this loser from Uncle Andy?"

"She was on staff from my predecessor," said Senator Nourse.

"Well, she's currently being paid five thousand dollars a month by Gunter Haag for any and all information stemming from your re-election campaign." Gunter Haag is a Belgian arms dealer who masquerades as an environmental activist and generously funds any candidate opposed to Amos Nourse and his party. He also is a vocal advocate for disarming the US military. Gathered intelligence indicates that Gunter Haag is now Hans Stavros Baumgartner's number two man and was running Hans' empire for the year that he was being held.

"Preposterous!" snorted Betty. "My only loyalty is to the constitution..."

"Dunkan?" said 'Agent May' and Dunkan O'Reilly laid two sheets of paper in front of the senator and Betty Chapelwaite. The pages outlined months of deposits in a bank account accessible only to Betty Chapelwaite and Albert Dirkson.

"Far be it from me to pass judgement on your personal relationships," said Cliff, "but I can't wonder what your husband thinks about you having a joint bank account with a married man." A small snigger of laughter could be heard from the unseen participant on Ming Long's screen.

Two security guards in Twin Dragon uniforms entered the room and Ming said "Mrs. Chapelwaite, if you follow my security team, they will insure you make it safely off my mountain."

The room was silent for a few moments as the guards led Betty away, finally Alicia said, "You should have hired me when you had the chance Uncle Amos."

"I guess I should have," sighed the senator. "Do you have any more surprises for me?"

Suddenly the screen was filled with a view of the Long Air Services' huge Boeing model 234 helicopter as it careened out of control down from Ganley Mountain narrowly missing trees and rock walls. The view switched to an interior shot of the cabin where a heroic flight attendant kept an out-of-control pilot from crashing into a mountain or house. Zhang Wei entered the cockpit, disconnected the pilot's safety belts and tore him out of the pilot seat and took over control of the aircraft. The scene shifted to the main cabin where Ming stopped the pilot with one punch to the chest then let loose a barrage of hits that would impress any fan of kung-fu movies.

"Holy shit," muttered Senator Nourse. "When was this?"

Cliff watched the video in shock, he could have lost Ming! Everything that was anything to Cliff would have been over. "That was about ninety minutes ago," said Mac, "when we were viewing the nanobot lab."

"I can't believe this," said the Senator as they viewed the video again. The only persons left in the Senator's party were one aide known as "Ziggy" to the senator, Zane Zigler, and the Secret service agent sent by the executive branch.

"Here's a document that outlines the future of the nanobots and the planned rollout of our picobots," said Cliff as they took an elevator to the lowest level. The senator opened the folder that Cliff handed him and took a quick glance at the document in the folder, the document looked like complete and utter bullshit. Private discussions with Cliff, Alicia and Ming said that picobots are currently impossible but research is continuing, this document is talking about a roll-out of picobots by October at the latest. The document is bait to draw out spies.

"When I get back to Washington, I'll discuss this with the DOD and see what we can do about our idea of super troopers," said Amos as he put on his reading glasses and scanned the document. Just as he suspected, it was all bullshit, a red herring to throw someone into a tailspin.

"This elevator is clean," said Cliff, "We don't have to play-act here. There's no picobots, there's no super troopers. If there were I would know."

"I hope you're right," sighed the senator, "A robot a thousand times smaller than a blood cell? I couldn't begin to imagine the trouble that could cause."

Cliff nodded in agreement, "We're here to develop therapy for spinal cord injuries, but when we began to see what our treatments could really do, we realized that we have to guard them carefully."

Was it Baumgartner they were worried about? Haag? Boothroyd? Or was it someone else... "Fuck..." muttered the senator aloud.

"Pardon?"

"It's nothing," muttered Amos. "Just pissed about Betty, she was pretty efficient. That just leaves me with Ziggy."

"Ziggy's good, he's quite the office manager, he may make a good chief of staff for you," said Cliff.

"Really? How do you know?" asked the senator as he closed up the folder he was carrying and handed it to Zane Zigler, his remaining aide on the trip.

The elevator door slid open to the sub level 4 parking garage. Cliff held the door open as the senator stepped off the elevator and said, "He works for me."

-.-.--.. -.-.-... -.-----. -.--.-.. --.----.

Zhang was tired of traveling! Occasionally she'll travel to Hong Kong to visit relatives and that is always an outlandish affair where she'll end up sleeping for 18 hours after arriving, but this romp was killing her. First, she played tour guide so she could get a good look at some of the operatives that are trying to infiltrate Long Air Services Nanobot Division, then she ended up having to give some asshole a "Jackie Chan" and take over flying Miss Ming to Denver. Then a non-stop flight in (the luxury suite of) a Long Air Services priority cargo flight to Hawaii, seven hours. Then a flight to Tamuning Guam on a 747 freight liner (in another luxury suite), another seven hours. Then after that a sailboat ride from Guam to Rota, the Friendly Island.

Her boss, Alicia arrived before them, she was in Korea and had to travel to Inchon then catch a flight to Guam. Alicia opened up the villa and had a pitcher of sangria ready and waiting for them. Sweet, fruity, cold and 25% vodka - just the way Zhang likes it. Alicia met Zhang and Ming at the villa wearing a cool and breezy tropical print mesh sarong skirt, and nothing else. Zhang stopped at the entrance to the lush, green patio, it was all on display the plants, the flowers, the ferns, and Alicia's big, beautiful tits, you could even see her pussy through the mesh... "Come on!" coaxed Alicia, "You're on the island, this is Shangri-La! let's relax. Take that nasty old TWA suit off!" She held up a sarong skirt for Zhang that was as concealing as a fishing net.

Zhang's outfit did indeed look like a stewardess costume that came from one of those old movies, Holiday in Rome or something like that. It was heavy and hot, but it allowed a lot of freedom of movement, but most importantly it was made from Kevlar and was worn to deflect a knife thrust. "Ok..." said Zhang, a bit unsure of what was going on, "Where's my room?

"Right here!" giggled Alicia like a hyper-excited sorority girl. She grabbed Zhang, spun her around, and unzipped Zhang's outfit and yanked it off the girl almost spilling her sangria. "Who dressed you this morning? Grandma?" shrieked the mousy brunette assassin.

"I like these panties," insisted Zhang.

"I used to wear panties just like that," said Ming as she adjusted her sarong, "then she took over my underwear drawer."

And soon the three were sitting in the breezy shade of a vine and flower covered lanai, the sound of waves crashing in the distance, a huge pool just yards away from the lanai and the pool's lazy river flowed through the lanai. Ming and Alicia sat side by side, their fingers entangled, their drink in their other hand, across from them Zhang sat and sipped her sangria, her head spinning from all the occurrences of the past 24 hours.

"What's the matter mija?" asked Ming.

"Mija?" chuckled Zhang. "You called me Mija?"

"What's wrong with mija?" insisted Ming.

"She's never met Roberta," said Alicia without opening her eyes.

Ming closed her eyes and slowly her skin darkened, her facial features began to change slightly, then when she opened her eyes she saw Zhang staring at her, her jaw dropped. "Hola mi amiga!" smiled Roberta, the middle-aged Hispanic nurse.

"Oh my god!" gasped Zhang. "That is so... fucking... weird..."

"You didn't do the eyes," pointed out Alicia, "or the boobs."

"It hurts to do the eyes," said Ming as she leaned back and enjoyed the closeness with Alicia. Slowly her skin returned to pale gold and her facial features returned to normal.

Alicia opened one eye and glanced at Zhang who sat with her jaw open. "She's freaked out by the tits."

"I am not!" It was a lie; she was starting to get into the swing of things but walking around topless? Her puritanical Chinese mother would die if she knew her daughter was not wearing a bra, not wearing a shirt would kill her.

"We knew it would happen," said Ming

"I'm going to look around..." said Zhang, as she took off her sarong and slipped into the lazy river. She grabbed a flotation ring with a duck's face and said, "Be right back!" she floated along the warm, gentle stream that carried her past a grotto where a couple could find refuge, around a ten foot tall coral mountain that had a slide and a diving platform, through a waterfalls, through a grove of banana trees and beautiful ginger plants that were so green they practically glowed, into a waist deep pool that had a volleyball net stretched across the middle, then back into the lazy river which took her through a bobbling rapids and then through a garden that opened to the lanai where Ming and Alicia waited for her.

Zhang dried herself off and put her sarong back on. "How the hell did you get him out of the pilot seat?" gasped Alicia.

"What?"

"The helicopter pilot! What a cool move!" Alicia had heard about Zhang pulling the pilot out of the helicopter's pilot seat, she was reviewing the surveillance video with Ming and saw it with her "own eyes" just now.

"I released his harness and when he tried to get up to hit me, I used his momentum to pull him up out of the seat," shrugged Zhang. "Same thing you do with guys who come at you."

"She's good," said Ming, "watch it from this angle..." both Ming and Alicia leaned back in their chairs with their eyes closed, then suddenly at the same time both went, "OOOOHHH!"

"What are you two doing?" demanded Zhang.

Alicia sighed and reached for a tablet that was buried in the bed's sheets and handed it to Zhang. The screen came to life and Zhang watched a video taken from a camera mounted above the co-pilot. It showed the pilot suddenly hitting the co-pilot in the face with a bar or baton then started to look for a target to dive the helicopter into. "He wanted to find a religious icon or synagogue to crash into," said Alicia, "we found a video that he left behind that was scheduled to be sent to numerous news outlets, he wanted it to look like a new religious war."

The video continued, the male flight attendant tried to get him out of the pilot seat and the pilot beat him savagely with the baton, then the female flight attendant tried to get him out of the seat, but he just shrugged her off. Then tiny Zhang appeared and ripped him out of the seat. It looked like she was attempting a professional wrestling move like a Supplex and was fairly successful. Zhang dove into the seat and regained control of the massive helicopter.

The video changed to a video of the main cabin with Ming and the pilot. He was trying desperately to knock Ming down, in return Ming was blocking every punch and kick he could throw. Alicia still had her eyes closed and said, "Watch this, watch this, watch this!"

In the video Zhang could see that Ming was clearly tired of the pilot and hit him once in the chest and he went down like a marionette whose strings were suddenly cut. Then she gave him one punch in the side of the head, and he was done for. Then you could see Ming sit down on the couch and calmly rejoin her phone conversation with Alicia.

"Damn!" gasped Zhang, "when did you guys see that?"

"Just now," said Alicia.

"How?" Zhang was completely confused, just then a Hispanic woman in hospital scrubs stepped onto the patio and said, "Come on you two..." then seeing Zhang she brightened up, "Do we have a new playmate?"

Zhang looked at the new woman, her face was almost exactly the same face Ming was wearing earlier.

"Hi momma," Ming said without opening her eyes.

Seeing the confusion in Zhang's expression the woman said, "Miss Ming! Were you using my face again?"

"Busted!" laughed Alicia who finally sat up and opened her eyes. "Hi Roberta.

"Sorry," said Ming sheepishly.

"AHHH Santa Maria! What are you three doing? Drinking alcohol? You have nanobots to do today!"

"Ours is alcohol free, momma," assured Alicia. "It's just the new girl, she's a bad example."

"I don't have nanobots... do I?" asked a confused Zhang.

The Hispanic woman turned to Zhang and said, "I don't think so," she looked at a clip board she was carrying, "It's just these two as far as I know, unless someone's been experimenting." Shaking her head, she lowered the clipboard and extended her hand, "I'm Doctor Roberta Romerez, the head of nanobot investiture with Long Picorobotics.

"Investiture?" asked Zhang as she shook Roberta's hand.

"She makes sure that nanobots programmed for your fingers don't end up in your pussy," said Alicia as she sipped her sangria.

"I don't understand...," said Zhang.

"Miss Ingersoll is crude but correct," said Dr. Romerez. "It's my job to make sure that your nanobots settle down in the location they were programmed for." Roberta crouched down next to Ming and said "Quick! Get a picture!"

"Ok, uh... why?" said Zhang as she took a quick shot of Ming and Roberta hugging and grinning for the camera

"Oh god," groaned Ming, "the world is going to see that and realize that I have no tits."

"You have an athletic figure," said Alicia as she squeezed Ming's hand, then she said to Zhang, "As I was recovering in Archuleta, Roberta practically lived in my room. She was always there. Stub my toe, Roberta was there. Break a fingernail, Roberta was there. Beat the living dogshit out of a Russian cosmonaut, Roberta was there..."

"Ok, I get it," said Zhang, "Roberta was there. So what?"

"No, mija, I was not there," said Roberta. "I was in the Ganley Mountain laboratory with my assistant Roberto," she said with an emphasis that made Zhang think there were multiple layers to the story.

"Um... how?" This was getting weird, and Zhang was almost afraid to ask for details, but...

"I kind of borrowed Roberta's face..." said Ming blushing furiously, "...for two years." Ming and Alicia leaned close to each other and kissed gently.

"I forgive you," said Alicia to Ming as their kiss ended.

"Then she used my face to kidnap a patient from a medical facility..." snapped Roberta.

"So naughty," said Alicia as she kissed Ming again.

Roberta put her hands on her hips and glared at Ming and Alicia, "No more alcohol! We have too much work to do!"

-.-.--.. -.-.-... -.-----. -.--.-.. --.----.

Zane Zigler was a ghost. He a man with a record in the intelligence field that made James Bond look like an office drone who did little more than get the Starbucks order correct for the Wednesday meeting, yet no one knew him personally. It was said that if "Ziggy" was assigned to protect someone, that person would live forever, protection by Ziggy inferred immunity to bullets, strangling, car accidents, and cancer. If Ziggy went out with the boys for a drink, he was the guy who slipped home early in the evening and nobody notices, if he were the guy who went skiing with the gang, he was the one that picked up the delicious snow-bunny that everyone remembered but no one could describe and disappeared without fanfare.

Cliff was right, Ziggy made an outstanding office manager and within days he became Amos Nourse's choice for chief of staff. The problem is that Ziggy would disappear for days on end without an excuse. It's not like he would leave work unaccomplished, office productivity was higher than it had ever been. Finally, after a late afternoon bullshit meeting with a bullshit committee head who was looking for support for a bullshit piece of legislation that would do nothing, go nowhere, and be ignored everywhere except on the congressional record, Senator Nourse called Ziggy into his office.

"Quite a weekend you had, Mr. Zigler," said Amos as he opened a file folder that had the imprint of a Chinese dragon being guarded by an angry western dragon. "How was Florida?"

"Pardon sir?"

Senator Norse showed Zigler the cover of the folder he was carrying with the emblem of Twin Dragons security. "I got a document from Cliff Staunton..."

Ziggy looked around the office and said, "We need to get coffee sir."

Thirty minutes later, Senator Nourse and Zane Zigler were walking up the drive to the US Naval Observatory, the office and residence of the Vice President of the United States. As they walked Zane told Senator Nourse a story. "Frida Alvarez and her two-year-old daughter Jovita were driving from Nashville to Atlanta to visit Frida's parents. She stopped for gas and as she filled up, she was approached by two men and was told that if she didn't comply they would kill her child. They then forced her to drive south to Wayside Georgia near the Florida state line.

"A secure transport was traveling from Atlanta to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville Florida. They weren't supposed to stop, but there's a restaurant in Wayside that supposedly has the best gator tail in the US, so the secure transport called ahead and had an order of gator tail waiting for them. The restaurant is next to a small MacDonalds. They get to the restaurant and the restaurant says that they're too busy to bring their order out to them, so the co-driver walks into the restaurant."

By now they had reached the main door of the vice-presidential residence. "So, what happened?" asked Amos as the valet opened the door and escorted them to the vice-president's office.

Zigler shrugged, "The co-driver came out with their order of gator tail nuggets and a side of ranch dressing, and they continued on their way."

"There's a bit more to it than that," said Cameron Swanson, the Vice President of the United States as he stepped out from his office and shook hands with Ziggy and the senator. He beckoned Ziggy and Amos into his office.

"There's more?" asked Senator Nourse. He looked at Ziggy and said, "Color me shocked."

"It appears that shortly after the secure transport left the restaurant an unconscious man was found in a storage room in the restaurant, his arms zip-tied behind his back, he had LSD and fentanyl in his system," said Cameron. The vice president opened a Twin Dragons Security Systems document folder and scanned a document then continued.

"About the same time Frida Alvarez waited in a McDonalds parking lot a dozen yards away. One of her captors had taken her baby Jovita into the restaurant and told her that if she did anything, tried to warn anyone, he would slice Jovita to ribbons in front of her eyes. After about fifteen minutes a fellow wearing a hat that identified him as an employee of McDonalds came out of the restaurant leading Jovita who was carrying a happy meal. He gave Frida a sack full of quarter pounders, and a couple of large cokes, then advised her to head for Atlanta and do not turn back, he even gave her money for gas. Later a man was arrested for public intoxication, he had passed out in the dining area of the MacDonalds, he was stoned on a cocktail of LSD and fentanyl."