Reboot

“The translator is the only one left now,” said Mooney. He was twitchy, nervous. Anderson watched him carefully.

“Even the navy personnel who acted as your attaché?” asked Anderson.

“Yes, yes, yes. That ship, the USS Bunker Hill was deemed traitorous,” Mooney said unhappily, his smile more like a snarl. He was looking quickly from side to side. “It was dealt with. It was relatively near where we think the translator ended up by the way. Our search team has him going in a general direction east from the vacation club, so we’ll simply try every reasonable destination along that route. It won’t take too long. I mean, where could he go?”

“The entire ship?”

“Yes, the entire ship. How else could I take out this man? He could have talked to anyone on that ship. You have any problems with this Ian?”

“No. No Sir. Um.. Where could who go? The translator? Yes, well.. There aren’t that many possibilities frankly. He’ll have made an educated choice based on common sense. He needs a smallish island that can support life.” Now it was Mooney who seemed the more comfortable of the two.

“He was in a very large schooner with a professional crew. They could’ve gone anywhere. Even back home, couldn’t they?” asked Mooney.

“No, Sir, we’re thinking he’d be weary of going anywhere too populated until he had access to more information. He must have been scared and nervous, he wouldn’t know who to trust, but we put him in a higher intelligence bracket, so we think he’d work things out logically. No he’d head for some island and hide out for a while. So far, we haven’t found the boat though. Almost as if it’s vanished. There is a strong possibility he may have sunk.”

“He’s smart? Bullshit. How did you work that out? And I don’t care what you think. Keep looking for him.”

“We examined his work and he shows above normal creativity and quick comprehension. He acquires knowledge faster than most, anticipates quickly. He’s creative.”

“You got all that from his translations?

“Yes, Sir. According to our specialist, Mr. Morgan doesn’t just translate a text, he rewrites it with very little editing. His rewrites are better than the originals.”

“Ok, fine, and you’ve put out a good story?”

“Yes. He’s a spy trying to get back home to Russia. He was instrumental in causing the war. He must be caught before we lose him forever.”

“Sounds good. Make sure they understand that he was the reason for bombs landing in America. Don’t make it too general. I want people to hate this kid or else they might just let him slip away thinking he was just another soldier. They have to want him enough to chase him all over creation.”

“Yes Sir. Will that be all sir?”

“Just let me know when you get the son of a bitch.”

And with that, Anderson stepped out of Mooney’s office.