NUMA Libris

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Zoe Kitchener strode from her desk towards the filing cabinet and opened the third drawer, pulling out a file named D. Pitt and returned to her desk. She sat down and smoothed out her skirt over her silky thighs. Crossing her legs she opened the file and pulled down her glasses from her hair. Reading through the exploits of this man who had worked at NUMA from 1975 to 2011 was astonishing to Zoe as she untied her hair and let it down from the bob that had held it up. At the young age of 24, Zoe was still in her first year at NUMA as the new librarian. By the time she finished reading the file she was surprised that he had only passed away the previous year. Born in 2003, Zoe Kitchener was a member of the Z Generation or as the Aught generation as they were now being called. Noting that Dirk had passed away in February of 2026, Zoe realized that Dirk had led a life that few men could ever achieve in just one normal llfe. No stranger to excitement, Zoe had already had some adventures as a teenage girl who had been cast adrift when her parents went missing. Now as a librarian, Zoe hoped she could live a normal life. She swiveled around and looked out the fifth floor window of NUMA Headquarters and looked at Puget Sound. Seeing her reflection she noted it was nearing time to go home. Twenty five minutes later, Zoe walked through the door of her apartment. She walked into the kitchen and filled the tea kettle with water and put it on the stove. Pushing the button for it heat up the tea kettle, Zoe pulled out a glass mug from the cabinet and placed a tea bag inside the mug. The whistle of the kettle informed her it was ready and she poured the water into the mug. Opening the refrigerator she picked up the soymilk and opened it. Pouring the soymilk into her tea, Zoe heard the door open. "Rafe, honey, is that you?" "Yes, dear" Rafe walked over to the bar that separated the living room and the kitchen. Rafe Henry, dark wavy hair and a slim athletic build and Zoe had met less than four months earlier and had hit it off as both lovers and friends.

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Heather Lampack sat in the Toyota Volt across from the Takamura Tower Apartments on Fourth Avenue. Idly she looked at the cafe that she was parked in front of and thought about a coffee and sandwich. Fuming over her loss of Rafe, she knew he had to be with a new girlfriend by now. Heather had driven from Idaho just to see if she could find Rafe. Sure enough, it was not hard to track him down. Just a simple young woman as she sat in her car looking at her reflection in the rear view mirror, her blonde hair hazel eyes drove most young men with lust but Rafe had just said, "Dear, I need to move on and find something of a life in a big city instead of this small town backwater" That was a blow, Heather could barely stomach and now here she was in the big city and aching for the peace of her small hometown of Nampa. The two men parked down the street wondered why the young blonde woman was following Rafe. They knew something had to be done. Picking up his cellphone the grey haired man called the boss and informed him of the circumstances.

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Less than an hour later, Heather laid on the floor inside of Zoe's apartment seriously injured and Rafe had been thrown out the window by the two men who were now fighting with Zoe. Zoe had picked up some martial arts training as a teenager and was now fighting the two strange men. Finally the one without any training had ran out of the apartment as she fought the one who was putting up a good defense against her abilities. With a blow to his spleen, an injured leg and a bruise on his face, Luke decided it might be best to get the hell out of this fight against the well trained young woman. Ever since they had surprised her, Heather and Rafe, it was a melee until they injured Heather and clubbed Rafe with a lamp that Zoe, despite her efforts was unable to stop Rafe from being killed. The cops arrived in a huff two minutes after the second man left. Zoe did her best while controlling her feelings about Rafe and answering the questions being asked by Detective Dennis Green. Heather was taken to the hospital where she was laid up for several days and then quietly went back to Nampa. The next day at NUMA Headquarters, Zoe was telling her story to some of her fellow employees.

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"Rafe is dead, sir. Bit the two women fought us and we managed to hurt the one named Heather and the other one was too well trained in karate, sir, for me to defeat" "You imbecilic fool! We may have problems now because of your stumbling ways. Get out of my sight, Luke!" Ivar Buono sat in his high backed chair and started chewing on his pheasant again with his goateed chin rising and falling. Contemplating what could happen now with two women who could start their own investigation. Cops were fools, they could easily be bought or manipulated thought Ivar. The corpulent man sat before the large table covered with many dishes of food and enjoyed his large appetite for food and life with his vast wealth that he had amassed illegitimately. Contemplating his next scheme as he sat there chewing on a rack of lamb, he knew he would have to take care of any loose ends left by Rafe and hoped the matter would be an easy one. Ivar cpuld ill afford any scrutiny by anyone. He had started out as a teenager in Cairo stealing, grubbing and scheming his way. Now he sat at the helm of his own empire that controlled the politics of Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Mongolia, Dubai, Indonesia, Taiwan, Peru and Zimbabwe.

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"Tell me about Rafe, Heather" said Zoe. "I'm not sure you want to get involved with Rafe's associates, Zoe" "I'll take my chances, now tell me about Rafe and his friends" "Rafe was born on the banks of the Roaring Forks River near Aspen and lived with his parents above a bar that his parents owned in Aspen. As a teenager he started running with a bad crowd and eventually became a minor part in a larger outfit that could be loosely termed as organized crime. Eventually someone very poweful took control of this large group of criminals and turned them into a more efficient organization. All I know is that this person never stays here in the United States only for a couple of weeks every few months. Wish I could be of more help but that's all Rafe ever said"

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Hiram the Third sat at his desk talking with MAX when Zoe walked into the eleventh floor of the NUMA Tower in Seattle. Hiram turned towards Zoe and admired the the beautiful red haired beauty. "I need your help, Hiram" "What can I do for you, Zoe" "You could help me by running down an international crook who controls one of the largest criminal gangs in the western United States" "Heh, a tall order my dear but I could use some information thats a bit more specific than that" "Not really, Hiram" "I see" 'i'm sorry, Hiram" "OK, I will see what I can do" "Thanks, Hiram" "Did you get all that, MAX. Think you can run something that vague down to ground" "I will try, Hiram, dear"

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After 13 exhaustive hours MAX came back with a name, "Merwin Toomes is a Geographical Information Systems expert in Law Enforcement whose software I have scanned but am unable to get anymore out of his protected system without tripping his security setup" MAX informed Hiram the Third. Hiram emailed the name to Zoe. Later, Zoe read the email and called Merwin for an appointment. In San Francisco, Zoe went to the headquarters of the Western Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit on Commonwealth Avenue. Walking into the receptionist office of Merwin Toomes' office suite, Zoe asked the young frumpy woman in glasses about her appointment with Mr. Toomes. "Ah, yes, if you can just take a seat, I will let Mr. Toomes know you are here" Sitting down, Zoe smoothed her her short skirt and waited for the receptionist to finish her typing. Finally, the receptionist pushed a button on the intercom and informed Mr. Toomes of his appointment. "You may go in Ms. Kitchener" said the receptionist. Zoe stood up, walked to the door and opened it, closing it tightly behind her. Merwin stood up and stretched out his hand, "Welcome, Ms. Kitchener and how may I be of help to you?" Shaking his strong hand and admiring his athletic build and warm grey eyes behind the glasses that framed them, Zoe was taken aback at seeing a handsome bureaucrat working in a stuffy office. 'I am here to find out who may be the overlord of organized crime in the western United States who does not reside in these United States" said Zoe. "Ivar Buono fits that bill, Ms. Kitchener and then some" replied the bureaucrat. 'Wow, I was not expecting such an outright answer to my question without having to explain why I am here" "Obviously after you set up the appointment I did some research on you Ms. Kitchener and know that you are an employee of NUMA, a well respected agency that is not governmental but has strong ties both politically and institutionally, please have a seat and I will try to fill you in as best I can"

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"Mr. Ivar Buono was born and raised in Egypt. As an orphan Ivar was something of a ruffian and beggar who went on to stealing, cheating and lying his way arounf Cairo and slowly but steadily gained power amongst the underworld and after an extended trip to the Saqarra pyramids he was hit upon the head by a falling rock in an underground chamber that collapsed and when he was rescued he thought of himself as a descendant of the Pharaohs. This enlarged ego was fed by those who served in his organization and he soon began acting brilliantly in both financial and criminal operations. Soon he was operating in other countries whose political institutions and bureacracies were weak and fallible to his manipulative machinations with one exception and that is his mysterious connections in Dubai, an already well established power base. My only guess is that they are using him to gain advantages for themselves financially. May I ask about your reason for such information?" After several minutes of her explanation of the invasion into her apartment by criminals who were after Rafe and Heather, Merwin steepled his hands just beneath his chin and thought for a moment. "So this Rafael was a low operative in Colorado and was tossed out of your window to his death and you could not resist by starting your own investigation" "Yes, Mr, Toomes that is correct and I am more than happy that you have been very cooperative in answering my questions" "You are very welcome, Ms. Kitchener and may I ask you out to diiner this evening?" "Why, yes, of course you may and thank you very much"

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Riding down Highway 1 towards Pescadero, Zoe Kitchener slowly realized she was interested in this Merwin Toomes as he smoothly drove his Cherry Red 1967 Mustang down this scenic route to his hometown where he had informed her of Duarte's Tavern and the awesome food they had. Enjoying the scenic view of the coastline and the Pacific Ocean, Zoe relaxed and knew what was coming later on in the evening and she purred to herself. 'You may be wondering why the western half of the United States is his base of operations here and I will give you a simple but logical reason and that is the wealth and growing influence over the poorer but older eastern half of the United States. We now have more congressional seats, power, electoral and institutional strength that resides here than that lies in the eastern states" Zoe knew this was the truth because she had been niggling over this same line of thought. Later, at Duarte's Tavern at 202 Stage Road in Pescadero the appetizer they ordered was Deep Fried Calamari. They both had Cream of Artichoke soup followed by Snapper. The fresh local Pacific Snapper was baked and served with mashed potatoes and vegetables. Later at Merwin's house in Pescadero, they sat comfortably on the couch drinking Brandy. Afterwards, Zoe stood up and stretched out her hand, Merwin stood and led her to the bedroom. Later on, Zoe asked 'How does a bureaucrat like you stay healthy and strong?' "I ride in the annual Pescadero Coastal Classic Race, a bicycling event. I train for it year rounf by bicycling and hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail"

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"Mr. Buono, I have no qualms about our shared objective here in destroying the target but as a word of caution it would behoove you to be careful in your operations both economically and politically. Signing off" Laying down the microphone on the console of the communications computer, Zumrick Zeulithan felt nothing about the plan to destroy an American monument as he directed the executive officer to go at flank speed towards the west coast. It may have been only 151 years since his great-great-great grandfather, Julius Zeulithan disappeared at sea having been supposedly killed by the United States Navy in 1876 but it still seethed in his blood that his family could not destroy the hated United States since the country turned against the family during the Civil War over the advanced technology Julius Zeulithan offered them. Now it would be more sweet to continue in the battle against the superpower that has been the family objective generation after generation since Julius died at sea in his submarine. And now Zumrick raced towards the U. S. west coast in another submarine that was built by the Chinese government accordomg to Zumrick's specifications. Standing at 6 feet 2 inches Zumrick with his hair starting to gray and hazel eyes as he thought about his familys hatred of the U.S. with every generation since Julius. There was only one family that has thwarted the Zeulithan objectives over the generations and that was the Forrester family. Another individual who had thwarted them on occasion was a NUMA special projects director whom Zumrick learned had passed away just over a year ago. The fight still goes on as he surmised another possible opponent if Mr. Buono was not careful or reckless in his operations. I will have to deal with Buono if someone rises to challenge my plans Zumrick thought .