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Chapter 15

"Wow. You know, for the people in charge, you sure are bad at the job," Cindy smirked.

"Yeah? What vital information did you find out?" Marc asked snippishly.

"The point isn't that I failed. The point is that you failed and this is supposed to be your area of expertise."

"Whatever, Cindy. We need to find this Pack, whoever they are. They're apparently on the same track we are, and they have a pretty big clue we don't. Hopefully. We find them, grab the information, and then get out. This should be simple."

"What sort of spies call themselves the Pack? That's a really lame name," Alex said, tearing open a bag of the plane's peanuts.

"The sort who are all about the drama. This organization sounds pretty young to me. If they'd been around awhile, we would have heard of them before," Zora said.

"Right. But we don't know what their skill level is, so err on the side of caution. Now, onto finding them. Does anyone have any ideas?" Marc asked.

They were quiet for a few minutes, trying to figure it out. How do you find something that's everywhere, but those uninvolved know nothing? How do you find someone who can hide so well in broad daylight?

"How do you hide something in plain sight?" Rodrigo mused. "You don't. You put it where everyone can see, expose as many people as possible to it. Everyone walks by, never guessing. These people are recruiting. That means they have to have a relay messenger between the recruits and the recruiters. Someone out in the open and telling people how they can get in."

"Of course," Marc said. "Of course! Okay, everyone gets one street to start with. Watch everyone. Notice everything. There is no such thing as coincidence today."

"You're going to need comms first," Death said. She opened her briefcase and pulled out a complicated-looking device and a small box of little peices of metal, each in its own labeled compartment.

"These are really fun. Rodrigo designed them. I just attach one to a vocal chord, and it'll pick up even the slightest vibration. It transmits that to each earpeice, adjusting the volume to an even level so it sounds the same whether you're whispering or screaming. And there's almost no chance of anyone seeing it."

"That pointy thing goes inside my throat?" Cindy asked. "Um, I think I'll sit this one out. Someone has to stay and watch Alex, right?"

"I don't need a babysitter. I'm fourteen, not five," Alex said.

"If you're afraid, you can stay behind. You don't need to make up an excuse," Marc said.

"No. I am not afraid. I was just pointing out a reasonable course of action we could take. Of course I want to come on the mission," she said.

"Well, at least someone is excited. I hate surveillance ops," Zora said.