Infiltrator

Aadvanced was the subcontractor she'd hired to watch the automated factory site. The military had wanted to keep a low profile. Aadvanced—despite the misspelling that made them first in the phone book—had a pretty good record.

Things did not sound good right now, however.

'What's happened, Mr. Cady?' Serena asked calmly.

'Some people came out of the night; they distracted us with a forest fire a few miles off. At least I think that was them. The fire-department guys said they thought the fire was arson. Then they snuck in and got the drop on us. They tied us up and locked us in the guard shack, took our cell phones, then they set bombs all over the place. Said they were the Luddite Liberation Army.

'When we got loose we sent a guy over to where the fire was to see if he could get us some help. They even blew our cars up, the bastards. So they've been gone a couple of hours at least.' Cady's voice was shaking.

Serena gathered from this that he hadn't been sure the Luddites were going to leave them alive.

'How bad is the damage?' she asked. She quickly added, 'I assume no one was hurt; you'd have told me if someone was hurt, wouldn't you?' She did, after all, have a role to play here.

'Yeah,' Cady said. 'I mean, no, nobody's hurt.' He paused and she could hear him sucking his teeth. 'The destruction is pretty near total,' he said. 'All the

machinery, all the construction supplies and the company's trailer, the area they'd leveled—everything is busted up, burning, or crapped up somehow. I never saw anything like it.'

'Did they leave a message?' she asked.

They must have left a message, this whole thing is a message, of course.

'If they did, ma'am, it's gone now. They didn't leave anything with us or tell us to say anything, like a message. You know? It's just fire and smoke and mess here.' Cady's voice faded away. 'I'll look around, though.'

A messenger has left a parcel for the president and CEO, Seven, stationed at the security desk, said. When I told her they weren't here she said she'd been instructed to give it to the next-most-important executive that was present.

Serena sent Six to retrieve it for her. Probably it was from the LLA. Luddite Liberation Army, of all the stupid names. These jerks wouldn't liberate their grandmother from backbreaking peasant labor by buying the old girl a washing machine. But they all had to have 'Liberation' in their name. Serena supposed they would feel liberated if everybody else was forced to embrace their ideals.

'Have you informed anybody else about this?' she asked Cady. Barely a second had gone by in real time.

'Well… Tony brought back some of the firefighter guys, and they radioed the police, of course.' He sounded nervous. 'I dunno if that was okay or not, but we needed help and they were the only people we could contact.'

The general is not going to like this, Serena thought. But I did warn him to let me handle security directly if he didn't want the army to take care of it. She shrugged mentally.

'If the authorities have questions that you can't answer, Mr. Cady, you may refer them to me at this number. I'll be here for several hours yet.'

'Oh, thank you, ma'am. Yes, I'll do that,' he groveled.

Pathetic, the T-950 thought.

'Good night, then,' she said, 'Oh, um, since there's nothing left there to guard, I guess you and your crew can go home after the police are through with you.'

'Great! Ah, yes, ma'am. I'll tell them. Thank you.'

She broke the connection and leaned her head back against her chair. The 1-950

was conflicted. This development was essential if she was to convince Cyberdyne and the military to move the factories far from human habitation. The T-950 had always preferred the idea of having the Army Corps of Engineers construct the facility. It wasn't traditional, but it would be cost-effective and very secret. Maybe now…

Serena sighed, almost contentedly. Each crisis gave her a greater margin of control. The fact that she had warned Cyberdyne that this might happen would count in her favor.

Except possibly with Tricker. He'd probably wonder about her prescience, her uncanny ability to read the future. If he only knew, she thought with a smile. The

problem was that a professional paranoid like Tricker didn't believe in precognition, but did believe in people who made things happen.

The trick would be controlling this Luddite revolution. But if the sites are remote enough it shouldn't be a problem. And once the factories were operational she could direct them to build some advanced weaponry for self-protection. It would be good when the first HKs, those dear, old, reliable hunter/killers, rolled off the assembly line. Very good.

But for now she had this problem of her missing assistant and the equally, and more importantly, missing John Connor. Supernatural, she thought. They're positively supernatural.

Two made contact.

'Now what?' Serena muttered.

The T-950 clone has been harvested, Two announced. It has survived the implant process.

Excellent, she sent. Keep me appraised of its progress. How is the other surrogate doing?

Extremely well, Two sent. Shall I terminate it?

Not yet, Serena ordered. Have you terminated this one's vehicle yet?

Not yet.

Keep her for the first week, she ordered. The 1-950 organism will benefit from

the mother's milk. In seven days it should be weaned and you can dispose of the human then.

Understood.

Is there anything else? she asked.

Nothing.

Out, Serena sent.

Out, Two confirmed.

Serena sat thinking. It had been quite an evening; good, bad, and indifferent.

Still, for the most part her plans were moving along just as they should. If only she knew what had happened to John Connor.

FT. LAUREL BASE HOSPITAL: THE PRESENT

Jordan sat in the too small, too short, and too hard plastic chair in the hospital waiting room and stared at the mayonnaise-colored walls as he thought.

How did this happen? How did I allow myself to be talked into this? He was feeling more than a little stunned. This was him? He was here? Really? Jordan sighed. At least Tarissa and Danny will be happy.

Ferri returned and handed him a cup of coffee from the machine down the hall.

'I got a flush, you got bupkiss,' the Major said handing over the card decorated cup.

'Gee, thanks,' Jordan said with a grin.

They sat quietly drinking the lukewarm brew.

'You are so gonna get your ass fired,' Ferri said after a few minutes.

'Yeah, I am,' Dyson agreed with a sage nod. 'Yup, you got it in one.'