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hired Ms. Foster’s company to extract their daughter. I was alerted to this by the others and had everything ready for the attack. It was to be the first true test of the girls’ conditioning. It would have worked too, but Foster was a very resourceful woman. Then there was the issue of the Zs. That certainly didn’t help. I’m surprised that my facility was affected at all, but that is just a testament to the strength of the compound.”
    “The compound?” Stuart asked. “What do you mean?”
    “Well, it’s not exactly my area of expertise, but I have zero doubts that the zombie apocalypse was a manmade occurrence and not just a bit of bad luck,” Kramer replied, but held up his hands. “I don’t know more than that. Programs on the level as mine are always insulated from each other. I couldn’t tell you what caused the zombie outbreak anymore than anyone could talk about my program. Distinctly separate entities all with strings attached to one organization.”
    “The Consortium,” I said before I knew I was going to. Everyone looked at me. I gulped and looked at Kramer. “That’s who hired you, right? The Consortium?”
    “That’s what they call themselves now,” Kramer said. “And the makeup of the organization has changed considerably since Z-Day, I am sure. But, yes, that would be the group.”
    “Are you telling us that the Consortium is responsible for Z-Day?” Stuart asked. The guy was getting pissed and I had to wonder how long he could keep it under control before he lunged from that chair and strangled Kramer. “The crazy fucks that destroyed Asheville and are probably coming for us now? They made Z-Day happen?”
    “Like I said, I don’t know the details of Z-Day, but they are the ones that hired me to condition their daughters so they could be placed in areas of power and influence and do the dirty work that needed to be done,” Kramer answered. “Think of it! Beautiful, privileged young women, all expected to do their familial duty and marry wealthy and influential men. Then when the time came, they would take care of certain tasks and no one would be the wiser. Who would possibly suspect them? The world sees them as shallow, spoiled, and out of touch. Not as assassins or spies.”
    “Sleepers,” I said. “Manchurian Candidates.”
    “In a way,” Kramer nodded. “But so much more than just that Hollywood simplicity. My program would have allowed the young women to lead double lives simultaneously. No separation from one side of themselves or the other. They wouldn’t be sleepers as much as dreamers, always actively working, but within the lives they were going to be put into.”
    “Undercover?” I asked.
    “No, no, no,” Kramer said, instantly frustrated. “No one has ever understood it.”
    “No undercover, no sleeping,” Elsbeth said as she tapped her head. “All right here, all the time. We would be who they wanted as well as who they needed. Lie detectors, torture, and drugs- nothing could break us. We were not asleep; we were awake. We were not undercover because we were not liars.”
    Her voice had taken on a strange clinical quality and I could see that more than a few shivers ran up and down some spines in that room.
    “Yes, very good, Ms. Thornberg.” Kramer smiled. “Integrated conditioning that resulted in fully aware and undetectable agents.”
    “Fuck you,” Elsbeth said. “Detect that.”
    I couldn’t help but smile.
    “May I ask a question now?” Kramer inquired. “Where are the other girls?”
    “Not here,” Stuart said. “They have work to do. Work that isn’t about you.”
    “Oh,” Kramer nodded. “Are they helping scout the way with Ms. Torres and her private military contractors?”
    “No,” Stuart said.
    “Gunnery Sergeant,” Kramer sighed. “I can’t help you if you do not help me. Those girls are highly valuable assets.” He stopped and held up his hands as Elsbeth took a step forward. “As well as being valuable human