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things that should be secure,” Kate stated.
    “Well Kate, I suppose that means you
should audit your ministry and keep an eye on your people more closely,” Keir
said with a half smile.
    “I can assure you that the mole is not in my ministry. I came to you with this information first, out of respect. To give you the chance to get your shit together and find the mole that has infiltrated your wing, brother. Because I can assure you if you don’t find the mole soon L.O.V.E. will step in and do it for you.” Kate was stone-faced as she spoke.
    “Kate. My branch is rock solid. End of story. You seem to forget that I run the armed forces. They are loyal to me alone. You're a bureaucrat that runs an den of thieves and liars. I could level your headquarters with but an order. So just think about that before you go poking around in my affairs, sister,” Keir angrily spouted. He would have struck a lesser individual, but he was talking to the Spymaster-General of New Megiddo.
    “Okay, brother, if that is how you would like to play this. Just remember I came to you first.” With that, Kate turned away from her brother and left the building.
    Keir stood for a minute, sipping on
whiskey replaying the interaction in his head trying to parse what exactly he
just did. He thought about the worst-case scenario. He asked himself if he had
just burnt a bridge or if he started a battle, and if it’s a battle he could
actually win. After a couple minutes of internal analysis, he finished his drink,
set the glass on an end table and left the White House, en route to his branch
headquarters.
    ⍟ ⍟ ⍟
     
    Kate walked out into the night air toward her waiting motorcade. A large, black painted, armored vehicle was
parked, and the attendant opened a heavy steel-plated door that swung
upwards to reveal the rear passenger compartment. Inside was a
man seated in darkness. She took her place beside him and the door was slid shut.
    “Welcome back Ms. Schrubb,” the figure
said monotonously.
    “Hello, Rodrigo. Good to see you again. Boy, I tell you my family can be quite the wild ride. Not that you’d have any interest, of course,” Kate remarked jokingly.
    “Your familiar affairs are your own, Ms. Schrubb,”
Rodrigo said unemotionally.
    “That’s right—Inquisitor Rodrigo,
all business all the time,” Kate responded dryly.
    Inquisitor Rodrigo wore a standard L.O.V.E uniform, but with the addition of rank indicators. The uniform was grayish-blue in color. He wore a matching military style-barrette with the L.O.V.E. sigil blazoned on the side. He carried a baton-like cane with a lion head knob that was rumored to have added functionality. In many circles within the Regime, he was known as a bogeyman. The rumors may have been true, but weren’t corroborated because his service record was sealed. Some officials in the Regime had claimed to know details of Rodrigo’s past, but it was hearsay. One thing that none could dispute was that his organization was responsible for putting down two revolts through covert action alone. Rodrigo’s skull harbored many secrets.
    With Rodrigo at the helm of L.O.V.E., the organization developed a reputation that rivaled of the Cold War era K.G.B. in ruthlessness and brutality. Prior to Rodrigo the organization was amateurish, relying on street thug tactics to get things done. In the early days L.O.V.E. had no discipline and vision—now it was a professional, state-sponsored, terrorist group.
    Kate wondered what Rodrigo did with his
time when he wasn’t working but then cut the thought short because it was
disturbing to think on. He was her most capable operative and she trusted him
the most out of anyone within the Regime, but probably because he was so robotic in demeanor.
    “Ms. Schrubb, I have news from the West,”
Rodrigo announced dryly.
    “Yes, what is it, Rodrigo?” Kate asked.
    “We received an encrypted communiqué from our source in the resistance. The intelligence turned out to