Growth (GAIA Trilogy Book 2) Read online

  The young man muttered to himself.

  "What?"

  "She is no priestess. Only God can have priests. She is a tool of Satan."

  "We still take the threat seriously."

  "It will not matter. We cannot be deterred. God's law must be obeyed and enforced."

  "We?"

  David Truman knew he had said too much and clamped his jaw but Sam was already issuing orders to Security when Lucas left the room and joined him.

  "Yes, I said send another squad to guard Maeve and the children. And get me all the information on how this guy got here and everyone else who came in the same group, the one before his and the group after his."

  The prisoner was taken to a cell and Lucas went with Sam to go over the people who had come into the group around the time of David Truman's arrival. They worked through the list until Lucas said, "Hey, one of those arrivals with him has been assigned to Security."

  "Let's see," said Sam. He looked at the name and flicked a few buttons on his screen.

  "Oh shit, he's on the detail with Maeve."

  Their faces tight with worry they raced through the corridor to the elevator and waited impatiently while it slowly rose to Maeve's floor. When the door opened they ran down the hall to where the security squad stood guard.

  "Open the door," commanded Sam.

  Inside the room everything seemed normal enough and guards were stationed just inside the doors and near the windows. Lucas asked the first guard, "What's your name?"

  "Tom Harris, sir."

  Sam was asking the second the same question when a blur of motion near the windows caught his eye. One of the guards had lifted his weapon and one of Cindy's girls had streaked from the corner and barreled into him knocking the guard and his weapon to the floor.

  In the pandemonium Lucas hustled Maeve and the children with Cindy and the rest of her personal squad into the next room. Sam had hold of the guard and Maria, the security agent who had knocked him down, had hold of his weapon.

  "Good job, Maria," said Sam. "What made you aware of him?"

  "When you asked the guard's name I knew you were looking for someone so I looked around. He was nervous so I kept my eyes on him."

  Sam nodded appreciatively at her.

  "Come see me tomorrow. I think I have another assignment for you."

  Maria's face lit up, "Yes sir."

  Chapter 17

  Helene was scrolling through a set of monthly reports and smiling. She glanced over at Harrison wanting to share what she was reading but he was clearly worrying over some aspect of the earthquake relief effort and she didn't want to intrude on his concentration. His shoulders were hunched, his brow furrowed and his overall expression was pained in the extreme.

  They worked that way for another twenty minutes until he resolved his current problem and sat back with a sigh.

  "Damn people who want graft from the relief effort. They're not human."

  "Did you solve it dear?" Helene asked.

  "Oh yes. I gave our operative a name to use and he told the idiot asking for money that he'd be glad to pay as soon as he got the okay from his boss - the name I gave him is a high ranking General who has executed bribe takers in the past - and that was enough to gain clearance. But it still stinks. Eight or ten times a day we run into the outstretched palms of the bureaucracy and meanwhile people are dying in the earthquake zone."

  He leaned back and shook his head and reached for his coffee cup.

  "Would you like some good news for a change?" she asked him.

  "Sure, what have you got?"

  "As of this past month we are providing all the lessons and lesson plans for pre-school and grade school students in one thousand school systems!"

  Helene looked very pleased as she delivered the news.

  "Wow," said Harrison. "That's a much faster growth rate than you thought you could achieve."

  "Yes, and," she went on excitedly, "our middle school, high school and college level courses are in use in over a thousand school systems."

  "Wow, indeed."

  "And half are being taught in the local native language."

  Helene looked really pleased and Harrison looked awed and appreciative.

  "I see your master plan for world domination is working very well," he said with only the merest hint of sarcasm.

  "Yes it is if I must say it myself," answered Helene. "Two more generations..." her voice petered out and smilingly she went back to her screens.

  When Helene had accepted Moms' appointment as Chief Executive Officer she made no secret of her plan to grow Gaia by attracting young people and to that end had used a pile of the Foundation's considerable wealth to establish the Barnes Family Education Trust. Working with a network of universities and associations she encouraged the production of lessons at every grade level. Gaia was never mentioned but the Gaian principles of loving and appreciating all life on earth were woven into every lesson.

  She established outlets in every country and region she could, had every lesson given by a Master Teacher in the local language and did her best to make every lesson conform to local custom, or if that was impossible, to at least not flout it too directly.

  The results of her efforts to date could be measured by the numbers but both she and Harrison knew the real payoff, if there was to be one, wouldn't come for another twenty years or so when the first cohort of students reached maturity and entered the work force and politics. At that point they would look for their teachings to begin to bear fruit in terms of policy decisions.

  Helene's directive to the group that produced the lessons was "Quality above all. Quality of content, of design and of execution."

  The resulting library of education had won the reputation battle with its competitors - it was clearly the best resource of its type - and Helene made it available at the most competitive rates. Rich school systems paid the most but still far less than competitive offerings, mid-level systems paid at cost and poor ones got it free.

  At first the strategy of "best quality - lowest price" threatened to require constant supplementation of cash from the Foundation but as the reputation grew and students from poor countries with education by Gaia were out-competing rich countries for places in the best universities, the rich countries began buying the lessons. Nearly twelve years into the process it was self sustaining in terms of cash flow.

  Another by-product, for which Helene had planned and counted on, was the flow of volunteers from the poorer countries. They came to the ranch to be trained as teachers using the lesson plans and went home as ambassadors of Gaia.

  Harrison agreed with Helene that their long range goals could only be met over time and through the young people of the globe and he was glad that her plan was working so well.

  "That's really great, dear," he said.

  "Yes it is. I'm going to bring several educators to the Gathering to hold a forum on the lessons and their value. Maybe set up an Adopt A School program so the Gaian community can give directly..." She was typing notes into her pad furiously, planning details and personnel for the annual meeting. Harrison saw that she was done with discussion and had gone back to work. He turned to his screen to do the same just in time to see an infant pulled from the rubble half a world away.

  "That's why we do this," he said.

  When Helene asked "What?" he pointed to the wobbly image on the screen which showed a dusty baby being carefully handed to a tear stained but ecstatic mother.

  "Good reason," said Helene.

  Chapter 18

  The would-be traitorous guard was taken to the Security section and briefly shown to his colleague. The flashes of recognition and dismay was enough to convict them of conspiracy and Sam and his interrogators proceeded on that basis. In general they told both young men that when the other told them what they wanted to know the door to clemency would be closed for his partner.

  "Right now," said Sam to each in turn, "no one's been harmed so we have no reason to kill you bot
h and dump your bodies in the desert. On the other hand the intent to do harm is a serious crime. First to talk, lives."

  He delivered this message matter-of-factly which carried far more menace than shouts would have. When he left them they were stripped bare and left in isolation to think about it.

  Lucas left Maeve and Cindy answering the children's questions about what had gone on.

  "Did he want to hurt you, Mommy?" asked Miriam.

  "Perhaps," Maeve was politic, "but Aunt Cindy and her people wouldn't let that happen. You saw how Maria tackled him."

  Miriam nodded but still looked shaken and afraid. "It scared me Mommy."

  "Of course it did, sweetie," Maeve answered cuddling her daughter and glancing at her sons so they knew it was all right for them to have been scared.

  "Sometimes scarey things happen but that's why we're all here - to protect you and your brothers."

  The children calmed down somewhat but stayed close to Maeve and wouldn't leave her side to eat. Instead food was brought to their rooms and a relatively normal atmosphere replaced the fear and upset. Lucas, assured of their safety, went back to Sam's underground office.

  "What do you think?" he asked Sam.

  "I think we have to review every person on the ranch, going as deeply as possible into their past and present histories and associates. Until that's done I want Maeve and the kids under 24 hour protection and I want every visitor to go through enhanced security,"

  "This was an inside job," said Lucas mildly.

  "Don't rub it in. I've started the backgrounding process and I added Maria to that team. She's smart and observant."

  Lucas nodded, "Helene has put several investigators on A4A and hopes to have answers for us pretty soon."

  "What if we find evidence that they're directly behind this attempt?" asked Sam.

  "What do you think we should do?" parried Lucas.

  The big man did not hesitate, "Blow them up," he said.

  Lucas grimaced, "Yeah, that's how I feel too, but short of that?"

  "No sir. I gave you my suggestion and I'm sticking to it. Your turn."

  Lucas nodded and said, "Follow the money and turn it off. Follow the people and find ways to get them arrested."

  "Okay, but just in case I'll make plans for an explosion."

  A chime sounded in the office calling them to the cell block where the guard said, "Number One wants a word."

  Sam entered the cell and stood blocking the door. "Yes?" he said.

  "I don't know much but I wasn't the one with the weapon. I don't want to be killed for delivering a message."

  Sam nodded and told the guard to give the prisoner a djellabah and bring him to the interrogation room. When they were seated across the bare table Sam said, "Okay, talk."

  David Truman said, "What would you like to know?"

  Sam's face grew thunderous. "Don't try to play games with me," he hissed through clenched teeth. "Tell me everything and make sure it's all true or your life won't be worth anything."

  The younger man cowered a little, swallowed hard, and began, "I belong to the American Christian Church in Boulder..." he said. He talked steadily citing the sermons of "Father" Brown, the pastor who preached fire and brimstone, and a shadowy group of "elders" who helped indoctrinate the congregation. It was an off-shoot of the White Power churches of the past and based membership on being white and hating all others.

  Calling themselves "Christian" and preaching hatred was not a new hypocrisy and elicited no unusual scorn. He didn't know much about the workings of A4A though he thought the order to infiltrate the ranch came from them. He was sure the plan was theirs.

  After an hour Sam sent him back to his cell and ignored his questions of "What will happen to me?"

  The hour with the second prisoner made use of the information they had learned and the threat posed by his having a weapon, and finally elicited the method by which they were controlled, if not the name of the controller.

  "We got texts in code."

  With that information Luis traced the controlling messages to a communicator in New York. The information went to Helene's investigators with a GPS reading for the phone.

  She called Lucas with the results, "A4A," she said. "When we've thoroughly checked them out we'll talk about what to do."

  "Sam says blow them up."

  Helene's face showed the barest trace of a smile, "He would. And maybe we'll have to."

  Chapter 19

  When Lucas returned to their private apartment he found Maeve reading to the children and Cindy making plans to fortify the space. Everyone looked up when he entered the room and all the faces were questioning.

  "We have them both locked up," he said.

  "Is that all of them?" asked Cindy.

  "Don't know yet."

  "Are you going to stay here, Daddy?" asked Miriam.

  "For a little while."

  "What next?" asked Maeve.

  Lucas was lowering himself into a chair while Miriam was trying to climb into his lap.

  "Next, you all stay here and stay safe while we try to get to the bottom of this. We're checking everyone here at the ranch for more infiltrators and we're checking A4A to assess the threat. As soon as we have some concrete information that we can act on I'll let you know."

  "And you want us to just stay here until then?" said Maeve. "What about my work, and what about the kids?"

  Lucas nodded conciliatorily and said, "Tell me what you need and we'll bring it to you. The kids' tutors can come here after we've re-checked them."

  Maeve looked peeved for just an instant but seeing Miriam looking worried she changed her expression and her demeanor. "Okay," she said brightly, "we'll make a holiday of it - we'll make a classroom for the children out of that part of the room and we'll set up a studio in the dining room. I'll want to get several sermons ahead in case we have to, I mean, want to take a vacation."

  As she spoke the children visibly relaxed and Lucas relaxed as well. This was the competent Maeve he knew and her attitude was helping everyone else take a more positive view.

  Lucas returned to the Security section more agitated than when he left. The threat was apparently real and deadly but had they put an end to it with the capture of the two young men or were there others? He could see how the fear of others was enough in itself to greatly distort their operations. The threat, in fact, was more effective than the reality which could be fought. He was butting his head against a classic conundrum of defense - the lack of "certain-to-be-true" knowledge took more assets to defend against since the threat was amorphous. A known threat could be fought, forces marshaled, offensive actions taken. The unknown threat was everywhere and nowhere.

  He found Sam staring morosely through the viewing glass at the second captive who was staring back defiantly as though he could see Sam clearly.

  "What do you think?" Lucas asked .

  "I was just wondering what pulling his nails out one by one would accomplish - besides giving me some pleasure, I mean."

  Lucas smiled wryly, "If only torture worked," he said. "What else?"

  "Wait for New York to give us a run down on A4A. Helene thinks they'll be able to uncover their funding source and then maybe we'll have some pressure to apply."

  "Anything I can do?" asked Lucas.

  Sam looked at him thoughtfully, "You're still the best operative we've ever had at checking backgrounds. You could help with that. I'd like to clear the crew as soon as it's feasible so we can all get back to work."

  Lucas nodded, happy to have a productive role to play and went off to join the group sifting through files. Under his direction they were organized into teams and methodically went through the records looking for anomalies. Any they found were brought to him for analysis. One by one, as their records were cleared, the staff was put back to work.

  Before the end of the record pile was reached a message arrived from Helene, "We've found a trail that looks promising. I'll let you know within the hour."r />
  The next hour crawled for Lucas, he checked the time between every file he reviewed until Sam called him to his private office where Helene was waiting on a secure video line.

  "The money," she said dramatically, "is supplied by this man." A photo came into view, "Who is the bagman for this corporation." The logo of one of the largest mining conglomerates in the world came up, "It's headed by this man."

  "This man," was Axel Radnich the executive director of Global Industrial Services. Helene's face had a look of triumph when she showed his photo, "And have we got dirt on him," she said.

  Later, a weary Lucas finally left his desk to go to bed. Everyone had been checked out and sent back to work except for a handful whose information was still pending. Those were confined to their rooms until the files could be cleared.

  When he climbed into bed next to Maeve he was surprised by her still-asleep reaching out for him. She gathered him into her arms and murmured, "I love you," and Lucas' heart grew less weary. He fell asleep smiling.

  Chapter 20

  Maeve returned to work in her office off the reception room along with Cindy and her squad plus the children's nanny and their tutor. A makeshift classroom/play area was set up in one corner where the kids could pursue their studies under the admonition to "keep your voices low."

  The correspondence directed to "Moms", "Maeve", "High Priestess" and "Gaia" had reached huge levels and required a team of volunteers to filter. The front lines answered most of the queries but even so the number that required Maeve's personal attention was still very large.

  She sat at her desk with two assistants and dictated her replies and instructions for follow-up action. Occasionally she would glance at her children and, reassured, returned to work. In mid-morning Robbie came to her side with his learning tablet in hand to ask, "Mama, can I send this answer?"

  Much of the correspondence came from children and many of them asked questions addressed to Robbie or Jack or Miriam and the kids often answered directly. Robbie was showing her a question from a third grade class in a city infamous for its retrograde social views. Maeve was still distracted by her own work when she looked over at the tablet, read the question, noted the city of origin, thought "they're trying to trick my children" with a hint of irritation and then watched as Robbie held the tablet and ran his answer.