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“You don’t need to. I know what kind of people the colonists want—cannon fodder.”
“You do know they recruited me not long ago.”
“Probably the only smart member they’re going to get.”
“There are plenty of smart people—”
“There’s more than one kind of intelligence, Marek,” she scolded. “Your grand master needs foot soldiers, but that bad decision will come home to roost. There will be no science, no art, no discovery…” She expected him to interrupt, but Marek’s manners were too good, so she had to let the words trail off.
“Actually, Grandmother, I’m looking into several artists and scientists, an award-winning poet and several members of her family, aerospace inventors, and a few musicians.”
“Space cowboys,” she said dismissively. “But poets and musicians, that shows promise.”
“Yes, the woman’s poetry is lovely, and she’d bring a unique perspective. I’m working on the correct approach for her and her family.”
“Bringing multiple assets on at one time is hard,” she warned him. “Tell me more, and I’ll tell you the right way to go about it.”
“I wish I could.” It wasn’t a platitude, but a regretful statement. Her grandson was smart enough to know that her advice would be worth its weight in gold. “I’m not sure the standard comparison of joining the society being similar to having a patron will work with her. I’m actually thinking the alternative nature of the lifestyle might be appealing.”
“You mean the arranged trinity marriage.”
“The trinity marriage. I’m not sure about the arranged part. That can be…difficult…for people who weren’t raised in it.”
“That’s because in America you have all those wackos with eighty child brides.”
“Grandmother—”
“Don’t tell me I’m wrong. I have Netflix.”
“I would never tell you you’re wrong because I know better and value my life.”
“Smart boy.”
The rest of their conversation turned to updates about the family, with Jane sneaking in the more-than-occasional barb that Marek would miss most family gatherings now that he’d settled down in America. In theory, he could come home for a nice visit. In practice, the Trinity Masters and Masters’ Admiralty were in a state of uneasy truce. Marek’s husband, Weston Anderson, had helped solve an old mystery, but in t
he process betrayed a friendship with Arthur, who was now the admiral of England.
When the call ended, Jane set aside the phone and picked up her state-of-the-art tablet, which was keyed into military and intelligence search databases.
Marek may be family, but he was also now one of her assets, embedded deep within an organization where they had no other assets. Everything he told her would be put into a report and filed. That was who she was. What she did. She’d been an MI6 operative longer than she’d been a grandmother.
Besides, the Trinity Masters needed to be saved from themselves. America was barely a functional country as far as Jane was concerned. Everything would be much better, and her Marek much happier, once the upstart Trinity Masters fell apart, something she was sure was coming. She’d get Marek back and the Masters’ Admiralty could take over in the States.
It took her nearly an hour to come up with a list of seven young, award-winning female poets who had at least two unmarried relatives. Marek had said the poet had family they were thinking of recruiting, which meant young, unmarried siblings or cousins.
He’d given her one more piece of information. The poet was the sort of sensible woman who would jump at the chance for a ménage relationship.
That meant it was time to start reading some poetry.
As the morning light turned gold with afternoon, Jane finally sat back with a satisfied sigh. She knew who Marek was recruiting—Sylvia Hayden. She was a good recruit, too. Jane wasn’t one for poetry, but what this woman wrote was more than just pretty rhyming words. It showed insight into what it meant to be human, to be a woman, to be alone, and to need to be alone.
Someone with that level of emotional intelligence and insight would make an amazing asset.
And that was just Sylvia. Never mind the rest of her family, who were just as promising.
Jane dictated a quick report, in which she detailed her source—Marek. How the information had been acquired—direct conversation followed by evidenced-based investigation. And finally, the names of the potential Trinity Masters’ recruits. Once she was done, she sent the report to England’s Vice Admiral Lorelei.
Her report would be filed, the information stored away. More than likely the information would sit in a digital file cabinet, never to be looked at or used, but that didn’t stop Jane from filing the report.
