“Well, what do you suggest, Al? After all, you’re our sec chief here, right? We have that much faith in you.”
Jorgensen’s visage brightened visibly. “Well, if it comes to that, I guess the best thing to do is secure all entrances into the redoubt, posting guards with heavy armament. Also, I would suggest we go to high alert status and prepare for an immediate evac. We shouldn’t have to do that, but I’ll be fucked if I’m going to let myself be responsible for the possibility of a screwup that big.”
Goulden smiled at him. “You’ve calmed down and cheered up a lot already, Al, and I think it’s helped your thinking. Between us all, we can see off this challenge. After all, who do these people think they are, for fuck’s sakes?”
“YOU WANT TO WHAT?” Ryan asked incredulously.
Doc shrugged uncomprehendingly, unable to grasp why Ryan was so bemused.
“I believe I made my request quite clear. I wished to—”
“Yeah, you wished to examine all the old documents that Gloria carries in her personal belongings. Doc, why the hell do you want to look at all that now? When we’re going to have to work out what the hell our next move is going to be? What the fireblasted hell could you want—?”
The one-eyed warrior suddenly broke off into silence. Could it be that Doc had dredged something from his memory that tied in with something in the documents? He fixed the older man with a penetrating gaze from his icy blue orb.
Doc immediately divined his meaning. “Exactly, my dear Ryan. It was only when I exchanged some friendly repartee with the young men Jon and Petor that the proverbial penny dropped for me. This building and the way in which it is laid out appear somewhere within the old documents that the queen carries with her…presumably for such a moment as this. Perhaps, in times past and when the legends were better remembered, before the inability to read entered the gene pool and swung them away from a straight and true path on their mission, the documents were known to be kept for such a purpose.” Ryan looked at Doc, delaying an answer while he added the whole thing up in his mind. Doc’s reasoning would make sense, and as for his assertion that the documents held a map of this shadow Pentagon… Well, Doc might have fragile grasp on reality that could, at times, falter into the realms of madness, but he was also capable of mental feats that would leave lesser men grasping at reason.
When Doc had approached Ryan, the one-eyed warrior was sitting apart from the rest of the group, accompanied only by Krysty. They were discussing what they would do if they got through the coming battle without being chilled, and Jak decided to go with the Gate when the two groups parted company. Losing Jak would be a wrench, as he was a good fighter and a good friend, but it wouldn’t be the first time, and somehow their paths always seemed to cross again. So it was that, even when Ryan raised his voice in surprise, it didn’t attract anything other than idle curiosity from Dean, J.B. or Mildred. Jak— almost as if to prove the point Ryan and Krysty were discussing—was with Gloria, as the Gate and their traveling companions took some much needed R and R, guarded on all sides, before settling on a battle plan. Although on enemy territory, they felt secure as the very thing that made the corridors difficult to negotiate as an attacking force also made them easy to defend.
Krysty broke the silence. “I think Doc may have a point, lover. If there is something in those papers, then it could change whatever plans Gloria may be making at this moment, or whatever we may be thinking of doing. It won’t be hard to get access to them, as Petor always keeps Gloria’s things to hand. I think we should ask her.”
Ryan nodded decisively. “Yeah, of course you’re right. I just wish your timing was a little better, Doc,” the one-eyed warrior added with a grin.
Doc returned the favor. “I do not do it on purpose, my dear boy. I think that sometimes my mind just refuses to work as I would wish.”