Night Games Pt. 08

"Your mom's Amtrak, she's on the rails.

So many bumps, thought it was braille.

One day, we're all gonna tip the scales

cause I got a crew too big to fail."

-The Coup, "Your Parents' Cocaine"

*

A newer, more modern, and high-tech War Room than La Contessa's Study had once been was now in the Government Wing of Castle Finzione. It was here that Contessa Helena de San Finzione was meeting with the members of her government who were involved with the ongoing case. In the center of the conference table, a 3D holographic projector showed images of Morris Sinclair and Gordon Walker's mugshots. Supervisor Luc Tomas Allaine of Interpol was giving this part of the briefing, so he was standing and walking around the table. Everyone else was seated.

"Sinclair and Walker met in high school." Luc told the room. "After that, Walker went into the US Army and Sinclair moved up from petty theft to grand larceny. When Walker got out, he tried his hand at a few things, but eventually joined his old friend. We're not aware if Walker's killed anyone outside of military service. He tends to employ non-lethal weaponry on the job. The two guards on the safe were taken out swiftly and with enough precision to be his work. Sinclair isn't known to be violent. Certainly, talented at what he does. He's more a second-story man than a snatch-and-grab thief, so I wouldn't have picked him for the Eye of Andalusia theft. That's definitely him on the tape, though."

Helen took in his words and smoked. Luc took his seat and Helen spoke.

"And on both jobs, someone got control of the cameras." She turned to Howard Caldwell-Pierce. "What have we found checking into the hotel's cameras?"

The Minister of Intelligence straightened his tie before reading from his report.

"The hotel's CCTV system isn't connected to the internet, so there had to be a physical hack. Someone would have had to manually cut into the closed circuit and install a modem to gain outside access. A search of security's systems located the device. We have it in evidence. We're further checking hotel surveillance to see if we can spot who planted the device."

"Sinclair certainly could have installed it ahead of time if the hacker instructed him what to do." Luc offered. "He would have worn gloves, so you won't find his prints..." He had another thought. "Ah! But I'd be willing to bet that the hacker who handed it to him took NO such precautions! There's a good chance that THEIR prints are still on it. It should be dusted immediately."

Caldwell-Pierce looked to Policia Prefect LeGrasse. They both nodded. He took out his phone and called to have the device sent to La Policia's lab for fingerprinting.

"Good." Helen declared. "So, we'll have something on the hacker soon. Have we got any leads on who leaked that the diamond would be in the safe?"

Luc and LeGrasse were both about to speak up. Luc gestured for LeGrasse to go first.

"The fact that the Star would be leaving Uongo was kept out of the media but was not secret knowledge. Most of the President's entourage knew about it. Any of them could have told someone before they left the country."

He signaled that he was done talking and turned things back over to Luc.

"This is true. The pertinent question is not 'who knew the Star of Uongo would be coming to San Finzione;' it is 'who knew that it was to be kept in the room safe until the signing.' La Contessa met privately with the President after the initial ceremony. I presume he showed you the diamond at that time?" Helen nodded her agreement. "He could have asked you to keep it in your vault at the castle, but he did not?"

"He's a proud man." Helen answered. "He wouldn't have wanted to impose. And he trusted his own security. After we met, he gave it back to them and they took it away. The last time I saw it, it was in a briefcase that he'd handcuffed back onto the wrist of the guy he'd taken it from in the Throne Room. He presumably went straight back to the hotel with it. Where he would have put it in the safe and it stayed until Sinclair and Walker took it."

Lady Maria Louisa Francesca de San Finzione sat to her great-grandmother's left. As the future Contessa and the one who would fill in for or replace Helen if anything happened to her, the Princess attended top-level meetings like this one. She offered her thoughts next.

"The Uongoian government is new. I would imagine that the people who guard the President are new to their jobs as well. I have seen on the faces of our own Ultimados what a privilege they feel to be guarding La Familia Royale. I would imagine that Balozi's guards would feel that same pride. And then, to have the President further entrust you with protecting one of your people's most valuable treasures? Someone unaccustomed to keeping such matters secret might boast to someone. If you have not talked to the men who stood guard over the safe yet, Luc, I would start with them."

"The injured men should be up to answering questions now." Luc mused, taking in the Princess' words. "I shall make them a priority, Lady Maria. Merci."

Helen patted Maria's hand.

"A very good point, Maria." She told her great-granddaughter. "Ok, so we've got a possible lead on the hacker and are narrowing down the leak. Sinclair was wearing a disguise in that video. So, we're also looking for some kind of master of disguise. I never thought those were real. Could a disguise of this kind beat facial recognition? Or is that all just 'Mission: Impossible' bullshit?"

She asked the question of the room in general. Howard Caldwell-Pierce answered.

"It's possible. If they changed the facial lines enough."

"Oui." Luc agreed. "The museum cameras had no such technology of course, but I didn't know it was him in the video until I recognized his movements."

"I have a meeting after this one." Helen explained. "Someone at that one might be able to tell me more about it. Next issue: Watching the borders for them. Antonio?"

Ammiraglio Bagglia spoke up next.

"As La Contessa ordered, every vessel is being stopped and searched leaving the docks and harbors. Nothing has been found. If they've gotten out, it hasn't been by sea. Now that we have the Supervisor's mug shots, I have passed them down the chain of command. My men know who to look for now."

LeGrasse spoke next.

"The same with the train stations and border crossings. We've stepped up patrols and are also passing along Interpol's information."

"Then it sounds like everyone's doing everything they can. Hernando, I know you've got Ortega keeping the Ultimados on standby."

The Generalissimo nodded. Since he'd been following Luc on the case, he had little to add to his friend's presentation.

"So, it looks like action is being taken and you're all doing what you can. I'll want to know more about that device once you check it for prints. Lady Maria and I have another meeting to attend. For now, dismissed."

Helen's people got up from the table. The Generalissimo approached her. Luc waited for him by the door.

"I've heard that La Contessa received some visitors last night." He noted.

Helen and Maria stood. Helen faced her chief advisor.

"Yes." She told him. "And some more people are gathering in the Dining Hall now. I figure Sinclair and Walker have a crew. I need mine, too."

"And that crew would include Mander, correct?" Ramirez asked her. During a recent incident, he had gained some respect for the mercenary, but he was still wary of the sort of things that La Contessa got up to when she was with Mander.

"Yes, he is. And also Julie and Susan if that makes you feel better."

He tried to hide a small smile.

"It does, Si." He told her. He knew La Contessa's oldest, closest friends. Susan, he knew in particular, had helped with a few crises in the past. She had also been the reason that he was godfather to the Royal Twins.

"So, you approve of my plan?"

"I don't know La Contessa's plan. But with those people and Senor Equals involved, I approve of it."

Helen smiled. She took Maria's hand and they left to go meet her friends. Ramirez walked over to Luc, and they walked to the Generalissimo's waiting vehicle.

"You seem to be in a better mood." Luc observed.

"Si. I have just learned that La Contessa's friend Senorita Bailey is now getting involved in this affair. Our chances of saving the treaty have just increased."

* * *

Outside the walls of Castle Finzione, Alice Mei and Gordon Walker unloaded the Ground-Penetrating Radar unit from the flatbed of the Piaggio Ape. Once it was unloaded, Gordon set up a surveyor's transit and Alice began scanning the sidewalk.

"When'll you know?" Gordon asked her as she passed close by with the GPR. He fiddled with the scope and pretended to know how it worked.

"Right away." Alice answered as she pushed the unit across the ground and watched the screen. There was a small spike that caused her to stop a moment. Gordon looked at her expectantly, hoping she'd already found it. "Power line." She dismissed, continuing her path. She turned up the gain. "The tunnel will predate utility cables. And be much deeper."

She walked away from him down the sidewalk, did a sweep, then turned, moved a few feet, turned around, and swept back to him. When Alice returned, Gordon continued the conversation.

"You're right, there." He agreed. "I don't know if you saw that war movie they made about this place, but once the kid and his guys entered the castle, they made their way through secret passages to capture the Nazi general and his officers in one fell swoop. Those passages and the one Morris saw had to be there when the place was built, so this tunnel's got to be that old too."

Alice nodded. She walked further down the sidewalk. After another 30 meters, she stopped. She turned and motioned for Gordon to bring the transit. He gathered it up and walked to her.

"Got something?" He asked. She looked at the readings again and turned the GPR ninety degrees to face the street. Gordon peeked over her shoulder at the screen. He couldn't make sense of the lines and squiggles it was displaying.

"Something goes down for a while here." She rolled the machine closer to the edge of the sidewalk, almost into the street. "And it goes on. This is too big a gap to be natural." She pointed at the screen. "And see how these little bumps look like stairs going down? That's because they probably are. We've found it!"

Alice checked the road before scanning beneath it.

"Then it goes for a little bit... then goes deeper. And repeat." She crossed the road, following the deepening passage below. She stopped short of a wall, then pushed the machine back to Walker and set up the transit. Alice pulled out a notepad and a map of San Finzione.

"Bring the truck-like thing." She instructed Walker while she scribbled some notes. She peeked through the transit, down La Collina, and made a dot on her map. Gordon brought the Ape and the two of them loaded the equipment back onto it.

"Ok." Alice told him, getting into the passenger seat. "We've got a line on it. We should check again here." She pointed to the location she'd marked.

They went to check out the next scanning point.

* * *

Castle Finzione had both a Banquet Hall and a Dining Hall. The Banquet Hall was used for much larger affairs like state dinners or hosting the extended La Familia de San Finzione when Helen allowed them to venture over from the Business Wing to the Palace. Because this was a much smaller gathering, Helen was meeting everyone in La Familia Royale's Dining Hall.

At the far end of the table, where La Contessa could see them while seated at the head, three large portraits hung on the wall. A painting of Troy Equals hung on the left, next to a painting of Byroni Medina. On the right side of that painting was a painting of Count Vincenzo Ramon de San Finzione the First. A lone chair sat at a decent viewing distance from the paintings, with a small table containing a box of tissues and an ash tray next to it. The site was a testament to the only men that Helen had ever loved in her life, and she often spent time sitting in that chair looking at them. Newer photos of Lord Byroni Troilus de San Finzione and Lord Vincenzo the Second had been placed between the paintings.

A group of Helen's friends sat around the table while Nunzio served drinks. Because it was a morning meeting, breakfast had been served and Jeanne was helping the other servants clear it away when Helen and Maria entered. The Princess took her seat next to La Contessa's at the head of the table. Helen walked to her seat, then leaned forward and put her hands on the table.

"Thank you for coming, everyone." She told her assembled friends and family. "There's a ticking clock, so I don't have time to tell you absolutely everything. I guess I should start off with the fact that the things we're going to be talking about are, for the time-being, State Secrets of San Finzione. So, is there anyone here whom I haven't already granted top secret clearance?"

Everyone looked around the table. Nunzio was the only one to raise his hand.

"Ok, Nunzio." Helen continued. "We'll take care of that afterwards. It's just a little form I fill out, it's nothing. So, if you haven't watched the news or don't live here at the palace..." Helen gestured toward Nunzio again, who continued pouring drinks. "There's an important treaty I need to sign three days from now. At the signing, the President of Uongo is planning to give me a gift; a big diamond called the Star of Uongo. Uongo's just discovered diamonds, but that news won't be out until the day after the signing. So, there's kind of a theme. And, yes, as it happens, the day the report comes out is also La Contessa's Birthday, but I don't feel like getting into that now.

"The night before last, two guys whose names we now know to be Morris Sinclair and Gordon Walker stole the Star from the President's room safe. And now, if I don't get it back in time for President Faraji to present to me at the ceremony, he's going to cave to the diamond companies, and the Uongoian people get fucked. Maybe they'll get a couple new Starbucks and the guys with the guns will have nicer uniforms, but it'll be the same crushing poverty under their boot that they had before. The law guys are doing their bit to get it back and make all that not happen. And they're getting somewhere; we should have an ID on the hacker they're working with soon. That brings us to the question of 'why have I called all of you here.'"

"I felt Your Countessness was leading up to that." Nigel Mander commented, taking a sip of his pint.

"Indeed, I was. Sinclair and Walker have a hacker. We suspect they have a disguise expert helping them go unnoticed in San Finzione. There could be others on their team and there probably are. Someone had to put all that talent together. We presume they're still here, waiting on the buyer. We don't know who they are or when they're arriving to take possession of the stone. If I'm going to get the Star of Uongo back from these guys in time, I'm going to need MY team, too. And that's why you're all here. I know you all know each other, but I'd like to go around the table and tell each of you what I think you bring to the table. Maria, of course, will be doing what Maria does; filling in for me on the throne while I see to this. And that means Jeanne will be helping Maria."

Maria and Jeanne both nodded. Everyone else settled back. Helen walked around the table and patted Troy Equals on the shoulder.

"Troilus Equals." She told the group. "His job is helping me show Faraji what a bad deal the diamond companies are offering and how Uongo can do better." Helen stayed where she was and took her hand off Troy's shoulder, placing the other on Julie's. "And you all know Julie Equals. If you don't, that's her work over there."

Helen pointed to the painting of Troy. Julie smiled as she continued.

"I've got a couple of special art projects for you to do in the next couple days." Helen told her.

"Should've known you'd fuckin' put me to work as soon as I got here." Julie muttered jokingly.

"What's the other point of being an artist's patron?" Helen asked before moving down the line. "Next is Susan Bailey. She's going to be helping me just categorically. If you know Susan, you know that's enough."

Nunzio was refilling Susan's coffee cup when Helen stopped at him.

"Some of you know Nunzio, some might not. You might not know that his last name is Lombardi, for example. He works here at the castle and, well, a while back, he said he'd do anything for me, and you should all know by now that I might one day call you on a thing like that. He's here in case I need to."

"I am always happy to serve La Contessa." Nunzio Lombardi replied. Helen moved around to the other side of the table.

"Mander is here to help me with things I can't expose the rest of you to. Next, Rita's here because they've got a disguise expert, so we need one too. Ok, she only has the one disguise, and it's me, but she's really good at it. Maybe she can spot something the rest of us would miss."

Rita Delvecchio lifted her teacup and smiled for everyone. Helen walked to the twin highchairs where her and Troy's sons were playing with their breakfast.

"And Vincenzo and Byroni will be providing valuable Cuteness and Pooping assistance." Helen kissed them both on the tops of their heads before returning to her seat, wiping off some of Vincenzo's food that had somehow gotten up there from her lips. "I'd have asked Colleen Sullivan and Stavro Poldouris to join us, but they've got real day jobs to go to. We might see them later. They'll be at the party if there is one."

"Oh, there's going to be, Helena." Julie told her. "I think I need to understand the stakes a little better. What would be so bad about letting the diamond companies into the country? Is there going to be a war or something?"

Helen went for a cigarette before remembering that the babies were present.

"No war. But ok, imagine your friend found a trunk full of baseball cards in their attic. Really old, valuable ones. Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Honus Wagner; all of them! You find out, never mind how, and decide to go congratulate them. While you're on the way, there's a knock on the door. It's the owner of the local baseball card shop! Who happened to be in the neighborhood and somehow heard about the find. Your friend just discovered it themselves and hasn't had time to tell anyone, but again, never mind that. The card shop guy's willing to give your friend ten thousand whole dollars right there on the spot for the stuff in that trunk. Your friend doesn't know baseball cards and that sounds like a lot of money to them. That's the kind of deal Big Diamond is offering Uongo, and that's the situation I've walked into here."

"All right." Julie agreed. "That sounds like a thing to stop. You know your family's in. I can guess Mander, Rita, and Nunzio are too." They agreed. Julie continued. "So, what do we do now?"

Susan spoke next.

"Well, Helen, have you looked at them? The diamond companies, I mean. You're the one with the criminal mind, and it sounds like the people you're looking for are jewel thieves. Money is the simplest, most logical motive, so you and the Law & Order people would go straight there. But it sounds like the diamond people have everything to gain from your treaty not going through."

"Good point, Susan. The treaty is going to get signed; it's too important to let a thing like this stop it. It's whether or not it contains a clause that'll give them free reign over the country that's at stake."

"And you were just saying how someone brought all those people together. You should probably be looking at them."

For the second time, Helen reached for a smoke, then remembered the children were there. She called for Jeanne to bring her and Maria a light breakfast instead. Since Jeanne was right there, she was able to take the order quickly. When Jeanne left, Helen turned to face Susan.