I got to work on her leg, and she rested her head against the chair. Five minutes later, she raised it.
“We have things to talk about.” Her tone suggested whatever it was had nothing to do with a “date.”
“Shoot.”
“We should talk about setting up a command center?—”
“I was about to tell you that K19 Sentinel Cyber’s team…” I let my words trail off when she drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair and her nostrils flared. “Sorry, uh, go ahead with whatever you were going to say.”
Her glare held for a few more seconds, then she huffed. “I’d like to finish my own thoughts before you tell me you’ve already had them.”
I leaned away and stopped rubbing her leg. “Go ahead.”
“The great hall will do for today. For the long term, we should set up somewhere else.”
“Like?”
“The boathouse has three floors above the indoor docks.”
I waited for her to go on, but it seemed like she was waiting for me to respond. “Uh…”
She huffed again. “You were saying something about K19?”
“Right. Their cyber team is headquartered at Kane Mountain Camp. I’m sure they could have a functional build-out in place by tomorrow afternoon if we give them the go-ahead.” I refrained from mentioning that everything I’d said had been Doc’s suggestion.
“We’ll need electronic boards, secure comms, and multiple workstations, but with separate areas for teams to meet on their own.”
“Understood.”
She drummed her fingers and cocked her head.
“What?”
“What are you waiting for? Call them.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I saluted and winked at the same time, which earned me a smile.
The Sentinel Cyberunit arrived from Kane Mountain within the hour and immediately got started on the boathouse reconfiguration.
While they did that, our team set up a space to work in the main camp.
The first order of business was for Beacon to remotely brief Agatha and establish her as our London liaison. The rest of the recruiting list was on hold until we were fully operational.
Beacon made the Agatha call from the far side of the room. She kept her voice low and the conversation short. When she pulled the earbud, she nodded once.
“Agatha’s in. I didn’t tell her where we are. She has what she needs to keep the London doors open, and she’ll feed us anything Unit 23 surfaces.”
Henry came in from the hall. “I spoke with Preacher this morning. He’s locked into an op for ninety days. We’ll reengage when he’s clear.”
“Understood,” I said.
I’d just shutmy laptop when my mobile buzzed with a call from Pershing Kane, aka Admiral. He and his wife, Alice, were managing partners of Sentinel Cyber.
“We made good progress today,” he reported. “Everything you need to be fully operational will be online no later than tomorrow at seventeen hundred. What’s up now is secure and ready to use.”
“That’s faster than I expected.”
“We’ll add to it as we go. Anything you think of that we missed, say the word.”
