CHAPTER 5

AUGUST 11, 1988

ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY

     Light poured through the parted curtains of Cord's suite, rousing him from a deep sleep. The bedclothes were on the floor, the sheets in disarray. He'd slept badly. Rodrigo's support and unflagging enthusiasm had set Cord's mind to work, and sleep had been long in coming.
     Cord scratched his beard, stretched, yawned, and turned the clock beside the hotel bed so he could read the time -- the clock's glowing green lights said 2:46 p.m.
     He felt a little fuzzy around the edges -- gambling and late eating binges always had that effect -- but time was short, and he had a plan. Time to get started. A quick call to room service, a cup of coffee and a danish later (No more eight course breakfasts he thought ruefully), Cord felt better. 
     Throwing on a sweat suit, he headed for the hotel's weight room. A vigorous hour and twenty minutes later, he'd exercised, showered, and selected a fresh change of clothes. Sitting at the hotel room desk, he went over the plan he'd formulated before falling asleep. 
     Rodrigo had volunteered to snoop around and find out what he could about the Zabo case -- Jahn would have put someone on it the instant the Professor disappeared. Though he had no doubts that Zabo and his captors were out of Orion's reach, Jahn's operatives might come up with something he could use. And the more he knew about Zabo, the better his chances would be of tracking him down.
     Cord reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a jack of spades from a custom-printed pack of jacks he kept there. He worried it as he thought, a nervous habit he'd picked up years ago, while still in college in Texas. His psychological profile on file with Orion called this an "ego signature," and his habit of leaving these cards wherever he went had gotten him into trouble over the years, but none he'd been unable to pull himself out of.
     Okay, step one, Rodrigo, Cord thought. Step two, check out the disappearance site investigation report...McKinney owes me a favor and she'd have access to the information I need. Step three, get Herschel Levy in Coriolis to track down everything in the computers about UFOs....UFOs! Who would've believed it?...
     Cord looked at his Orioncomm SW1 watch. It was just about dinner time, but, for the first time in 
months, he had little appetite. The SW1 bristled with buttons, and Cord pushed six, followed by a second series of six, and then another. Within seconds, a satellite in geosynchronous orbit would beam a message to the three people Cord needed to contact. 
     The first three numbers identified the person for whom the message was intended (and screened out everyone else); the fourth number indicated the urgency of the message (highest priority, in this case); the fifth and sixth numbers indicated the time and place of a requested meeting.
     Wherever they were (and with Orion Foundation agents, that could be anywhere), they would get his message and, if possible, meet him here in one week's time.
     One by one the responses came in. First, the words "Levy, OK" scrolled across the LED face of Cord's SW1 communicator. Rodrigo and McKinney reported in and said they'd be there as well.
     Thank god for G4, whence come all high tech goodies, Cord thought. Now, for dinner -- a light dinner.

* * *

     One week, that was all he had to prepare for the first meeting of what he already thought of as his team. There was plenty of research to be done, and Cord wasted no time.
     The day after contacting Levy, McKinney, and Rodrigo, Cord headed in to New York and ransacked the Public Library of every book he could find about UFOs. He couldn't prove he'd seen a flying saucer, but he was sure whatever got Professor Zabo had come from the sky, and it was most assuredly unidentified. Levy would have the best information available about UFOs (if there was any solid information at all), but a little research would help Cord ask the right questions.
     Next, he called the offices of World-Round News. They seemed little interested in helping him track down the object he'd seen on their cover. After a series of short discussions with various rude receptionists, he gave up on the News. That was okay -- he had other ways of finding the information he needed.
     The week passed quickly. Cord exercised and read, read and exercised. His favorite pasttimes -- women, gambling, and eating -- were all but forgotten in a single-minded attempt to work himself back into shape and learn as much as he could about the unexplained phenomenon that had resulted in what he now thought of as his fall from grace.

***

     He was eating dinner -- a salad, baked fish, and a small bottle of club soda -- when Rodrigo arrived. Cord ushered him in and offered the magician a seat across the table.
     "So, my friend," Rodrigo said, reaching over to grab a tomato slice from Cord's salad, "have you called in your favors, or are we lone wolves in this matter?"
     "I don't know yet," Cord replied, stabbing a piece of fish with his fork. "I've asked Carol McKinney and Herschel Levy to join us, but they don't have any idea what's going on. They should be here any minute."
     "Ah, the lovely Miss McKinney," Rodrigo mused, "we have never had the pleasure of working together, but I have long awaited the opportunity. I hear she is a wonder."
     "That she is. That she is."
     Rodrigo passed the time silently practicing card tricks while Cord finished his meal. He was just placing the empty room service tray outside his door when McKinney arrived.
     Carol McKinney hid her good-looks  well, going for something halfway between small-town librarian and hippie earth mother. Her wardrobe seemed to be limited to blue jeans and work shirts that looked as if she'd slept in them; glasses as thick as the bottom of Cord's soda bottle; hair somewhere between blond and brown, worn long and straight; and no makeup had ever touched her face. 
     Cord thought of her as a throwback to the Sixties, though he knew well enough that her looks reflected an utter lack of concern about appearance rather than nostalgia for the past.
     McKinney was one of Orion's top scientists and researchers -- her specialty was chemistry, but her greatest value to Orion was her ability to synthesize information from a variety of scientific disciplines, rather than her expertise in any one. Orion had lots of specialists, but  very few McKinneys.
     She entered the room and looked at Rodrigo with disgust. She settled herself cross-legged into a chair as far away from Rodrigo as she could. Her toe tapped furiously.
     "Hello, Seb," she said coldly. "I had no idea he would be here." She motioned toward Rodrigo.
     The magician stood and walked over to McKinney, causing her to stiffen her already ramrod-straight back.
     "I am thrilled the lovely Miss McKinney knows of me. I look forward to this opportunity to work together...closely."
     "That's Ms. McKinney, and don't get too close, if you please."
     "Yes, of course. Ms McKinney" Rodrigo responded, returning to his chair, not the least bit put off by the sudden chill in the air. "I meant no..."
     A knock at the door interrupted Rodrigo and made McKinney jump. Cord, relieved at the distraction, went to see who was there.
     Levy, the computer specialist, stood outside.
     "Hi, chief," he said, flopping onto Cord's bed. He, like McKinney, looked like a Woodstock reject. From his shoulder-length hair and pink-lensed granny glasses to his hand-made, knee-high, lace-up, leather boots, he made Cord wonder if he'd stepped into a time warp -- not that that would have been much stranger than losing a top Web operative to a UFO, he thought.
     How did the Orion Foundation end up with such a bunch of fruitcakes? Cord wondered as he examined the trio he'd assembled. A couple of genius hippies, a Latin Errol Flynn, and an overweight, over-the-hill spy who's been seeing flying saucers, he thought. This wasn't going to be easy.
     "Can we get down to business?" McKinney asked, testily. "I hope this is important."
     "Yeah," Levy said, "what gives?"
     Rodrigo smiled, knowing what was coming. Cord leaned against the door, as if to prevent anyone from leaving, and said, "Would a missing Web environmental scientist kidnapped by a flying saucer interest anyone?"
     "What are you talking about, Sebastian?" McKinney asked. "What missing scientist? That'd be all over the Ganymede Bureau. I'd know something like that."
     "You mean there's been no word of Zabo's disappearance? I thought sure..."
     "Of course there's been no mention of Manfred Zabo's disappearance, Cord. He hasn't disappeared. He's being debriefed right now by Orion--Hamburg."
     "Are you sure?" Cord asked, running his hand through his hair.
     "Of course I'm sure. Jahn told me just yesterday. Hamburg's faxing a copy of the report tomorrow. Jahn's giving it to me for analysis."
     "That can't be right...unless...unless this whole thing is a set-up...Can you get me a copy of that report?"
     McKinney uncrossed her legs and sat bolt upright.
     "Look, Seb, I don't know what's going on -- I'm not sure I want to know -- and if you think I'm going to risk my neck getting you that report..."
     "Carol, I hate to be ungentlemanly about this, but you do remember Athens...two years ago, wasn't it? I should think you'd jump at the chance to help out an old friend."
     "You wouldn't, Cord...My career...You've got to know that report's going to be tagged. No way I can get it out..."
     "I need that report, Carol. My career may depend on it. Get it for me."
     Something in his voice told McKinney that Cord meant business.
     "I'll try, Seb," she sighed. "I'll try."
     Rodrigo and Levy were grinning from ear to ear now, not understanding what was going on, but realizing they were seeing a master at work.
     Suddenly, the master turned his attention to Levy, and the grin left the computer expert's face.
     "And you, Herschel," Cord said, "I seem to recall a government investigation involving a computer break-in...something about launch sequences, wasn't it?"
     Levy put his hands behind his head and lolled back.
     "Okay, Seb, whatcha want?"
     "How about everything the Coriolis Bureau has on UFOs..."
     "UFOs?" He laughed, until he saw the expression on Cord's face. "Uh, you want it single- or double-spaced?"
     "'At a boy, Herschel. Double."
     Levy and McKinney looked expectantly at Rodrigo, wondering how Cord was going to convince the magician to come to his aid.
     "What about him?" McKinney asked.
     "Rodrigo?" Cord said, "His agent has him on hiatus for a while, so he's agreed to be my unofficial field back-up."
     "What's he get out of it," McKinney asked.
     "I am wounded!" Rodrigo shouted. "How could I not come to the aid of the legendary Sebastian Cord, ace Orion Foundation agent? He has saved the world nearly as many times as I have."
     McKinney grimaced. 
     "Put a sock in it," she groaned.
     "Rodrigo's strictly volunteer -- no bribery necessary," Cord said.
     Rodrigo just grinned and said, "The truth always hurts, does it not, my little scientist?"