Ash Ketchum: Battle of the Ampere

Ch. 32 Waffles and Dodds

   I couldn't believe we were eating real waffles. While we were doing the dishes the day before, Serena had discovered a waffle iron, and we were all pretty excited about making waffles for breakfast. We didn't have any pancake syrup, but Clemont knew a trick for making it with brown sugar and vanilla and it tasted pretty much like the real thing. With fresh butter they tasted almost as good as my mother used to make. Or maybe it had just been so long since I'd eaten anything like that, it just seemed that way.

   Raihan arrived as we were cleaning up. He unlocked the door and walked in. "We are here!" he shouted.

   We walked out to see who Raihan had brought home. Standing next to him was a man we'd never seen before. He was tall, at least six inches taller than Raihan, though just as thin. He had messy flaxen hair, a thin face, and a long, beaklike nose, on which he rested round, wire-rimmed glasses. We all looked at him curiously.

  "This is Mr. Dodds," Raihan said. "Mr. Dodds is a naval specialist. And a member of the resistance."

  "Hello," he said. "You may call me Bob." He had an accent that sounded almost British but not quite. "Or Mr. Dodds."

  "Are you South African?" Clemont asked.

  "You are very cunning," he replied. "You must be Clemont."

   Clemont looked impressed. "Yes sir."

  "May I say, I have very much looked forward to meeting all of you. Like so many others, I have followed your adventures and I am most impressed with your courage and cleverness."

  "It's just survival," I said.

  "Well, I hope to be of service to you," he said. "And help you survive even longer. I've been asked to brief you on the Galactic fleet and help you in your task to sink the Ampere."

  "Let us talk in the dining room," Raihan said.

  "Have you had breakfast?" Serena asked. "We made waffles."

  "Ah, waffles. Unfortunately we had breakfast at the hotel," he said. "But thank you very much. May I use this table over here?" I have pointed to the kitchen table.

  "We need to wipe it off," Serena said. "It's sticky."

   I picked up the few plates left on the table, then Serena ran a damp cloth over it. Dodds set his briefcase on the table, then opened it. He took out several folded blueprints and laid them out until they covered the table's surface. We all gathered around the table.

  "To understand the composition of the Galactic fleet, you must first understand why they even have one. The crimes Galactic have committed are serious enough to land the entire board in prison for the rest of their lives. They are guilty of money laundering, conspiracy, bribery, fraud, securities fraud, tax evasion, extortion, espionage, and, though still unproven, mass murder.

  "About four years ago, when the FBI began looking into the Galactic's criminal activities, Chairman Giovanni purchased a sizable yacht and moved the Galactic operations to international waters.

  "Their first ship was an older-model yacht they renamed the Edison. Now, in international waters and belonging to no nation, Galactic has become a nation unto themselves. They manage their corporation from the ship and move their money through offshore banks in Switzerland, Bermuda, and Cyprus.

  "As Galactic grew, they sold the Edison and moved to a custom designed boat called the Ampere. The Ampere is a state-of-the-art luxury superyacht. Think of it as a floating Waldorf hotel with surface-to-air missiles."