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“They won’t be expecting anyone to try to break in,” I countered calmly. “That’s their weakness. They’re complacent. Even if their security team was half-competent—which I don’t think they are—they’d have a plan to sweep for bugs regularly. At least these mini recorders won’t set off the equipment, so that’s a plus for us.”

Manny folded his arms, studying me. “You’ve got confidence, I’ll give you that. But if they catch you, there’s no embassy here to bail you out.”

“Good thing they won’t catch me, then.”

Manny snorted and shook his head. “Who exactly are you again?”

“Just a guy on his honeymoon in an unfortunate situation.”

Manny sighed. “Fine. Don’t tell me. But if this goes south, I’m not writing your eulogy. I’m terrible with words.”

“Deal,” I said, putting the binoculars to my eyes again. “I hate funerals anyway.”

TWENTY-FIVE

Lexi

Ifelt relieved knowing that Slash was on his way back from the compound. It would be interesting to hear his overall assessment of the compound’s security, although from our brief conversation it was clear he’d already made up his mind to break into it. I intended to challenge him on that decision, so we’d see where that went.

While Slash was gone, I’d been busy looking into Maivia’s online presence. Frankly, it wasn’t much. He had a couple of social media accounts, but they were largely dormant, except for some postings by citizens over the past few hours who were not thrilled with their new interim prime minister. Clearly, he had made some enemies in the past. I prowled professional associations, police and government websites, and even neighborhood pages looking for an email associated with him, all to no avail. As my frustrations were growing, Petra stepped in.

“Sorry to interrupt, Lexi, but would you like some tea or coffee?”

“I’d love some coffee, and maybe a bottle of water,” I said.

“Sure,” Petra said. “I’ll bring them to you right away. How are things going?”

“Slowly, I’m afraid. I’m trying to track down more information on Maivia, but it appears as if he’s a technology caveman.”

She chuckled. “Actually, he’s a caveman in most aspects. What are you looking to find?”

“I was hoping to find an email address so I can see if I can hack in and confirm a direct relationship with the Chinese and the coup. However, I can’t find anything. Even his official email doesn’t follow your government’s standard formatting.”

She nodded. “Oh, that’s a huge inside joke. When his email was first set up, the IT technician misspelled his name as ‘Maiva,’ without the secondi. Get this—he didn’t notice it for weeks until someone pointed it out to him. Then he was too embarrassed to have it changed.”

I sat back in my chair looking at her in surprise. “I wish I’d thought to come ask you first. It would have saved me some time. Thanks, that was super helpful.”

“I’m happy I could help.”

Petra left, and I found Maivia’s government account easily. I quickly set up a malicious link, but now I needed an enticing email in which to embed the link. I checked my watch and did a quick calculation. It would be just before midnight back in DC. Hopefully the help I needed was still awake.

I texted through my VPN, frustrated that the sluggish internet connection was too slow for voice at the moment.

“Away team calling Starfleet HQ.”

Within a couple of minutes, I received an answer. As anticipated, the twins were on high alert.

“Kirk here, with Spock and three junior ensigns in red shirts standing by online.”

Since that sounded like Elvis’s humor, I assumed Spock must be Xavier, and the three ensigns standing by on their computers were Angel, Frankie, and Wally. Just the team I needed. Angel’s and Wally’s exceptional hacking skills and Frankie’s fluency in Mandarin would be critical for my plan. I quickly typed a message and sat in to wait as our exchange wasn’t as instantaneous as I was used to.

“Can you provide an update on what you’ve found so far on Signet Investments and the other tasks,”I typed.“But first I have need for specialized assistance from Frankie if she’s there.”

A bit later his response came through. “Frankie’s here and says she’s up for whatever you need.”

“Great,”I responded.“I’m trying to hack into Liko Maivia’s official email using a phishing attack. He isn’t very technology savvy, but as a result he may not open his emails very often unless it’s from someone he knows. I’ll send a malicious link I’ve created and want it embedded in an email he’s likely to open. Ideally, it would come from a source he perceives as Chinese.”

“Clever.”