Lobo Malo

Chapter 4 - Three Star Hotel

Washington D.C., Downtown East Sector
1942 EST

"So, do you have a plan?" asked Gregory casually as the two of them walked along the street.

Ryckmen shook his head slowly. "Plan, no. But I do have a couple of ideas. With a little help, they might be refined into a plan. Right now, we have the capability to send radio messages, correct?"

"Yeah, the capability to send and receive. But they're unsecured because the watches are dead and ISAC is offline. The White House can get away with broadcasting because everybody knows where it is, so there's no point in trying to hide. But agents in the field don't have that luxury. Anybody listening with a simple police scanner will know we're coming. And if somebody with the right gear hears us, they can localize our position within minutes. They hear us often enough, they'll be able to track us and ultimately kill us."

"All very true. Good to know you have a firm grasp on the fundamentals of communications discipline. However, we're having to operate under certain exigent circumstances at this particular moment. We need to make contact with Kelso. We could fumble around the area until we literally stumble over her, but that's probably going to waste a lot of time we don't have. Plus," Ryckmen said with a grimace, "it's likely to get us shot. So, we're going to have to do things a little differently."

"Like how differently?"

"Basically, we're going to play brontosaurus. We send a message which Kelso is likely to pick up, letting her know we're coming. We'll assume the Hyenas can hear us, so we won't give any specifics they can use against us. Do you know Kelso?"

"No. I only got into town early this afternoon. She must have been in a different class when I went through the Ranch. She's Tactical, I know that much from the guy running the show at the White House."

"Good enough," grunted Ryckmen. "Let's hope she can think on her feet. You're going to send the message."

Gregory's eyebrows went up. "Me?"

"Yup. Assuming the Hyenas pick up the message, I want them expecting a computer geek who can barely shoot straight. The more we can throw their force appreciations off, the better I'll like it. Let's practice a couple of times before you go live." Ryckmen gave Gregory a feral grin. "The delivery is going to be critically important."

* * *

Alani Kelso sat huddled behind a large planter on the third floor of the Grand Washington Hotel. She'd slipped inside when some of the Hyenas had gone to investigate a small distraction she'd set up. But now, she wasn't entirely sure where she was going. The intel she'd gathered so far told her Eleanor Sawyer was somewhere in the building. But the hotel was big enough that a room by room search would take forever. Not to mention she'd probably be swarmed by Hyenas long before she'd completed a significant fraction of the rooms. Kelso knew it wouldn't be easy to find and rescue Eleanor, but she'd committed to it, and hell or high water she'd get the girl out alive.

A soft chirp came into the earpiece on Kelso's right ear. "Agent Kelso, wherever you are, this is Agent Paxton Gregory of the Strategic Homeland Division, Analytics Branch."

Kelso bit her lip hard. What was an Analytics guy doing out here? More importantly, why was he broadcasting in the clear when he had to have been briefed by Ortega on their comms situation? She thought furiously for a few moments. If Gregory knew he was broadcasting on an open frequency, then either he felt it was important to get a response from her, or he was playing at something. Possibly trying to run some psy-ops on the Hyenas. Kelso swallowed hard, then activated her mic. If nothing else, she might be able to use Gregory to help create a much better distraction for the Hyenas. "This is Kelso, Agent Gregory. What's your status?"