Suzie Elliot, Evil Genius?

Chapter 7

Sunday awoke bright and sunny, with Nessa and Rose wrestling on top of Suzie acting as an impromptu alarm clock. She hadn't slept well, having had nightmares about government agents raiding the house, and having to flee down the streets to Johnny's house. She didn't know what was worse, the raid or the solution.

As she lay in bed, Suzie considered her options for the day. She wanted to track the geothermal power plant e-mails, so she could determine if there was anyone worth contracting to build a prototype. She also wanted to check the security of her base in India, she had checked it the day before when she had found the NATO e-mails, but was being extra careful now. Last, she decided she needed to stomp out project fire ant. She had seen fire ants on her last trip to Florida, and they bit her on the foot. She decided she would treat operation fire ant the same way as she had treated the one that bit her.

She would crush it.

As Suzie saw it, she had two options, she could lead the NATO troops all over the world looking for her, or she could lead them into a trap. Ant traps worked pretty well. But all good traps needed bait. What could she use for bait? If she didn't have some, she would need to get some. That might take some work. In the meantime, she could find out more about the operation. Slowly a plan formed in her mind.

But first, breakfast. Sunday breakfast with Yilin was a big production. Blueberry pancakes, bacon, biscuits, fresh fruits, cheesy scrambled eggs and juicy links of sausage were laid out on the table while Yilin finished brewing some more tea. The kitchen had never smelled better.

"Good morning Yilin!" greeted Suzie as she entered.

"Good morning Miss Suzie, I hope you're hungry."

"I think I should have invited an army over for breakfast!" said Suzie surveying the spread.

"Well maybe next time you could have the girls spend the night, and there would be more to help you eat," suggested Yilin.

"No way! I can only handle Casey for so long," said Suzie with a shudder.

Simone had been fun though, Suzie thought. She had actually eaten the whole fish after Casey's parents had picked her up, and then they watched a History Channel special on the Greek empire that Suzie had taped earlier. Simone, to her credit, actually seemed to be interested in it, so Suzie had decided maybe she would work on cultivating a closer friendship instead of just keeping everyone at a distance. She didn't want to turn out like Casey and fake everything, and Simone genuinely seemed to be a great person to spend time with. But she wouldn't rush right into a sleep over!

Suzie examined the breakfast choices in front of her, then settled on the blueberry pancakes to start with, and dug on in. As the juicy berries burst in her mouth like fish eyes, she smiled. It was going to be a good day, and her parents should be calling that night, which was always a high point to the week.

After breakfast, Suzie retired back to her room to spend some quality time with Nessa and Rose. They usually spent a lot of the days outside, but she would always take some time to make sure they got some good time with her too. Hearing them purr while she scratched their ears or rubbed their bellies always made her feel better. Once they were getting a little too playful she opened up the French doors to the deck, and they bolted for the outdoors. Birds in the yard, beware!

Deciding the weather was too nice to waste, Suzie packed her laptop up and moved it out to the table on the deck to join the cats outside. Before she got too comfortable, she surveyed the trees and the yard, but there was no sign of Johnny yet. Feeling better, she plugged her laptop in and got to work.

First things first, she had to check out the security on her base in India. The base was pretty much a warehouse complex at the waterfront in Mangalore that had been expanded to cover some docks where the submarines were housed. Set up as a coffee export company, the extra warehouses contained her tanks and personnel carriers, artillery, guns and ammunition. The air planes were still crated up and weren't even fully assembled, and in a safe in the back was her nuclear weapon, in a crate labeled 2008-2010 office records. She thought it was the perfect way to hide something in plain sight.