Rupra Bruda, sitting at one end of the long conference table in the Vice-Chancellor’s conference room, called the meeting to order. Videl Lai sat at the opposite end with a stack of papers and a cup of sankee in front of him. Lt. Muri sat to his left and General Bratford to his right. In attendance for the first time was Videl’s adopted son, Evohn Cystrom. The remainder of the seats were occupied by various local Purist officials and support staff. Essyria’s seat was empty. A large electronic map of Tarizon was mounted on the left side of the room and the Hall of the Interpreters could be seen out the window on the right along with the statue of Sandee Brahn.
Essyria Bruda disconnected her communicator as she pulled into her parking space at the Capitol Building. She was late for the Purist Party meeting in the Vice-Chancellor’s office. She frowned as she had just been told by her spy in the Clerk’s office of the Supreme Council of Interpreters that Peter Turner was now an intern of Councilor Garcia. She rushed to the elevator and pushed the button for level six, where Videl Lai’s office was situated. She went in and walked deliberately to the conference room. The meeting had already been started, so she quietly took her seat.
“Essyria. So nice that you could make it,” Videl snapped.
“Sorry. I was delayed by a report from my contact in the Clerk’s department.”
“So, I hope it was good news.”
“Yes. It was information about Peter Turner.”
“Really? What did you find out?”
“He’s currently employed as an intern for Councilor Garcia.”
Videl stroked his chin thoughtfully. “I see. So, they’re going to hide him in plain sight. Good. That will make it much easier to keep track of him.”
“How do we know it’s really him?’ General Bratford questioned. “And how could he work as an intern if he doesn’t even speak Tari?”
Videl looked at Essyria expectantly. “His record shows he attended Vinaverda Language School for six days. But, to be honest, we don’t know for sure if it is him. We have the photo of him when he was checked in at the Spaceport, but that could have been switched during processing.”
“What about his tracking chip? Do we have his number?”
“Yes and it checks out.”
Rupra Bruda laughed. “That means nothing. Tracking chips can be manipulated. If you checked my whereabouts right now you’d find me in my closet back at my compartment.”
Everyone laughed.
“Yes, I’m inclined to agree with Rupra. All we know is Garcia wants us to think Mr. Turner is under his wing.”
Essyria wanted to get authorization to assassinate Peter Turner but she thought that it might be presumptive of her to bring it up. She decided to let Videl Lai breach the subject. He didn’t disappoint her.
“So, what are your instructions, sir?” Essyria asked.
“Security in the Hall of the Interpreters is tight. I doubt you could kill him there. Maybe he’ll stray out of the building or perhaps you can get him coming or going from Garcia’s compound.”
“Yes, sir. Leave it to me. I’ll figure out a way.”
“I know you will. How is the recruitment effort coming?”
“Excellent. We have most of the domed cities up in operation. Now we were working on the smaller ones.”
“Have you discovered anything useful yet?”
“We’ve confirmed that there are Loyalist cells in each domed city as we suspected and they are quite busy.”
“Busy doing what?” Lt. Muri asked.
“Mainly identifying supporters and raising money. But they’re also looking for recruits for a Loyalist army.”
“That’s to be expected. Have you been able to identify the Loyalist sympathizers involved?”
“Yes. Many of them. We’re compiling lists.”
“Good. Excellent work. Now, General, have we been able to locate the Loyalist base in the Beet Islands?”
“Not yet, sir. There are thousands of islands and they are being systematically searched.”
“But are you sure that’s where it’s located?”
“Yes, sir. Hundreds of planes have been stolen and have all disappeared in that general area. Unfortunately, our satellites are useless so we must search thousands of square kylods by ship and low flying aircraft.”
“Find that base. We must neutralize it before we seize power.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Alright. I asked my son, Evohn, to come today. He is shipping out tonight for officer candidate school on Pogo Island and I wanted you all to meet him before he left. I had Rupra personally train him to use his telepathic abilities effectively, so I have great expectations for him to identify spies and traitors in the TGA. General Bratford, I trust you will make sure his training is a success and he gets commissioned in TGA intelligence.”
“Yes, sir.”
The meeting dragged on but all Essyria could think about was how she was going to assassinate Peter Turner. The Vice Chancellor had made it clear he didn’t think it could be done in the Hall of the Interpreters, so she thought about an ambush of his PTV going or coming from Garcia’s compound, not an easy task even if she knew what route he was taking. His PTV would be bulletproof and he’d have bodyguards with him. The more she thought about it, the more she became convinced it had to be done inside the Great Hall.
After the meeting was over she called her spy at the Clerk’s office back and asked him to provide her with fake credentials and the necessary access codes to allow her into the secured portions of the building. She wanted to do the deed herself, but knew she’d have to delegate it to someone not associated with the party. If she did it herself and got caught, the consequences would be severe, not only to her, but for the party as well. Even so, she still wanted to plan the assassination herself to make sure it would work.
The next morning she used her credentials as a security consultant and codes to get in and take a look around. She studied the layout of the offices, asked questions, and generally observed the flow of traffic around the building. She even watched Peter Turner for awhile looking for places where he would be vulnerable to attack. Unfortunately, they were keeping him on a short leash and he never strayed too far from Garcia’s office. He did, however, on occasion go to the staff locker room. She decided that would be where it would have to be done.
The next morning one of her younger agents, posing as a messenger, entered the building and went directly to the staff locker room. A few loons later an intern, who looked very much like Peter Turner, arrived and went to his locker. As he was closing his locker door the assassin jumped him and stuck a knife in his kidney and twisted it hard. The intern let out a scream as he stumbled and slumped to the floor. The assassin pulled out the knife and then used it to slit his throat and silence him forever. A tik later, when people began rushing in responding to the scream, the assassin was gone and the intern was dead.