AFTER A SCHEDULED STOP in Tahiti, Cade and Hudro arrived in Auckland without further incident. Neville Baxter, jovial as ever, met them personally with several other people from his company to make sure there was no hitch with the arrangement for them to enter the country as political refugees. They were granted temporary visas, and then Baxter took them to an apartment in Auckland that he had procured and placed at their disposal, recommending that they rest, relax for a few days, and adjust to the world as seen from the other side. After that, they could consider their options.
The first thing Cade did was call Luke in California to let him know that he and Hudro were safe. It turned out that Luke had some news for him too. "Vrel and those two Hyadeans that made the movie, they're here. They arrived yesterday on a regular flight from Ecuador."
"Hey, that's great!" Cade exclaimed. He looked up. Hudro was staring at him from the far side of the room. "Vrel and Luodine and Nyarl are okay. They're in California."
"Yes, I heard." Hudro got up and came across.
"That's not all," Luke said from the screen. "Are you ready for this? You guys weren't the only ones to make it out of that chopper crash. Marie's here tooa bit thinner than when I last knew her, but looking pretty good." Hudro gripped Cade's shoulder as he looked past him, squeezing hard enough to make him wince.
"I'm happy for you, Roland," he murmured.
Luke went on, "And the Hyadean girl is with her, Yassem. She's the one who got out with that other guy there, yes?"
"Yeaaah!" Cade exulted. He held out a palm. Hudro gripped it. They squeezed and shook deliriously, both unable to find words. Eventually, Cade looked back at the phone and managed, "But they don't know about us yet, right? You're still having to clam up because of Julia."
"Oh, they know," Luke replied. "The Julia problem kind of solved itself. It's complicated. She's history. Mind if I wait on that till you get back?"
Cade had suddenly decided that Julia's story could wait anyway. "They know?" he repeated. "So is Marie there at the house? Can I talk to her?"
"Sure." Luke's head turned away as he called offscreen. "Hey, Henry. You wanna go tell Marie she won't believe who's on the line here? And you'd better check around and see if you can find Yassem while you're at it."
The next day, Cade contacted Krossig at the Hyadean scientific center for fieldwork that he had gone to in northeast Australia. Naturally, Krossig had also seen the documentary that Cade, Marie, and the others had made in South America. "So where are you calling from now?" he asked.
"You won't believe it."
"Mr. Cade, if you told me it was from the far side of the Moon, I would believe it."
"I'm a lot closer to you now, as a matter of factin New Zealand."
"Ah, that means you must be with that man, what was his name . . . ?" Krossig probably asked his veebee, "Neville Baxter."
"Fast, Krossig," Cade complimented. "But there's more. Look, I have another Hyadean with me. You probably won't know him. His name's Hudro. To cut a long story short, he needs a new start in another part of the planet. I thought that Hyadean group that you're with there might be able to take him inat least for a while."
They talked for a little longer, Cade giving the gist of how they had ended up in New Zealand.
"I'll make inquiries," Krossig promised.
Two days went by, during which the news brought reports of growing turmoil in America. Hyadean ground forces, apparently from several ships of reinforcements that had recently arrived in orbit, were occupying the Panama Canal Zone, which was generally interpreted as presaging operations in the Pacific. Already, there was talk of Asians "defending" Hawaii, which everyone understood meant securing trans-Pacific supply routes. The Hyadean move also prepared for the possible arrival of Globalist forces from South America in Mexico. The Mexican response was an outbreak of insurrection by a movement that had obviously been organizing for some time, no doubt linked to MOPAN, opposing the government's Globalist supportive policy.
The Dakotas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin joined the Federation, anchoring its northern frontier solidly along the Great Lakes. Washington was making accusations of Canadian railroads moving Federation supplies inland from Vancouver and through the Rockies. Significantly, perhaps, Canada had refused overflight permission to the Union. In the southern sector, the Unionist drive into Texas was continuing, with ground forces now coming into contact, maneuvering for positions, and with actual outbreaks of skirmishing in places. Cade watched shots of tanks with familiar white star markings firing on positions a few miles west of Fort Worth. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would have said it was impossible.
Then Krossig called back. Yes, indeed, his superiors at the Hyadean field center would be extremely interested in meeting Cade and Hudro. Arrangements would be made to receive them as soon as they wished.
And so, just five days after their arrival in New Zealand, Cade and Hudro bade Neville Baxter farewell before boarding a New Zealand Air Force jet transport bound directly for Cairns, on the Queensland coast.
While Cade and Hudro were looking out over the sunlit blue of the Tasman Sea, it was a close, muggy evening in New York. There had been air-raid alerts, fire drills in offices and schools, and a lot of merchandise moved to safes and basements, but nothing had come of it.
Drisson met Laura for dinner in an out-of-the way but highly rated Greek restaurant frequented by gourmet aficionados on the East Side above 70th Street between Second Avenue and the river. He had decided that some investment in up-market taste could be justified in this instance. They got around to business after the appetizers and salad, and a second choice of wines to suit the entrées.
"People in my line of work don't trade social niceties," he said. "That way, we save time and avoid misunderstandings. You and I are both in situations where we know things about Toddrel that he wouldn't have wanted his mother to know. You keep him happy at playtime and know how he really does business. I know what happens to people who get in his way. It isn't pretty." He paused for a reaction. Laura continued watching him silently over her glass as she sipped. Drisson went on, "His South American operation has backfired, which put him right next to the big fan when the secession hit. When people like Casper are in trouble, life for everyone around them tends to get insecure."
Laura looked mildly reproaching. "You're not trying to tell me I could be in some kind of danger, surely?"
"I think you should be certain you know the person you're dealing with." Drisson studied her for a second or two, as if weighing whether to elaborate. "He had a wife once. I assume you know that."
"She drowned in a boating accident seven years ago."
"Right. They were heading for a divorce that was going to be bloody. She knew a lot about him that he wouldn't have wanted to see in the papers, and she meant to use all of it." Drisson shook his head. "It wasn't an accident."
"How do you know this?"
"I told you, my job is to know things."
Laura's expression registered the more serious dimension that this was taking on. "What are you asking me to do?" she asked warily.
"I'm suggesting that you change your insurance. Or at least, take out extra cover."
"Which your company, of course, happens to deal in."
"Very professional and experienced. Long established in the business."
"Why? What's in it for you? It sounds as if you can take care of yourself."
"Information. Access. If it ever comes time to claim on the policy, it can work a lot smoother with help on the inside." Drisson indicated her with an extended hand. "Like I said before, separate, we're both vulnerable. Working together, we could look out for each other pretty good."
Laura's gaze flickered over him, reading the face and the eyes, comparing their message with that of the words. If things really could get that ugly, it was beginning to sound as if she might need this person around. But then she would end up in an even stronger position of knowing enough to compromise him if events took such a direction, and she felt so inclined. And he had already shown how much he believed in taking precautions. She was going to have to play this carefully, she decided. Very carefully.