Friday, January 21, 2022 - Greenwich Village, New York City, United States

Ella cursed and shook out her hands as she looked at the notes. She didn’t have much to go on as of yet, but at least she had a framework to work with.

There were too many unknowns. She had read through the army counterintelligence text1 and now this more academic volume2.

What it came down to is the risk level was too high, and she didn’t know what she didn’t know.

The meet with the scorpions was coming up and she hadn’t created a game plan as of yet.

And yet… then it all came together. She picked up the phone and made a couple of calls.

“So what is it you want?”

Ella and Donna crouched behind the trees.

“I’m meeting some people. And I kind of don’t trust them very much. I just want someone to have my back. All you need to do is hang out here and call the police of anything happens.”

Donna looked at her. “Let me get this straight. You are meeting with shady people in the middle of the night, and you want me to back you up?”

“Umm… yes?”

“Are you buying drugs or something?”

“No. More like, well meeting some distant relatives..”

Donna looked at her skeptically.

“Ok fine. It is drugs. Need some X, we ran out.”

Donna didn’t look happier, if anything, she looked more disapproving.

“Oh. And these guys may be a bit… weird. Just roll with it okay?”

Donna nodded and then settled into the bushes.

Ella took a breath, stood up and straightened her clothes, and said, “Alright. See you then.”

She headed towards the building she had selected to meet at the Cloisters. The stone wall looked above her and she hung to the trees. The cold air made her breath fog up, but Ella was dressed warmly and the vest she had cinched on made her feel better although she had no idea if it would really stop a bullet. But she remembered that green dot that had been on her chest when she had sat down to eat with Bahu.

“You picked a much better spot this time. Horrible sight lines for a sniper here.” Bahu remarked.

Ella jumped and spun around. Bahu was leaning against a tree idly.

“Damn it. You scared the shit out of me.”

“Donna knows what she is doing. Picked a downwind spot with good lines and escape routes.” Bahu’s voice took on the tone of an unsaid question.

So quickly we are to the point. thought Ella. “Yes. She is surprisingly good, isn’t she?” And then just to be clear, she winked.

“Catch or cut loose?” Bahu’s eyes were sparkling in amusement.

Ella held out her hand and admitted, “I am recording her. I want to see who she calls.”

“I might be forced to respect you. Not bad for an amateur. What will happen if she moves?”

"I want her to move. She can't see anything where I left her. And I left a bunch of recorders that I hid earlier today. It cost some serious money so it had better pay off."

Ella was still smarting from the purchase she had made. Guns and ammo were not cheap. Bulletproof vests weren’t either. But it would have been dumb not to be prepared. She had been stabbed twice, and shot.

And that had led her to here: she felt like she was one of those performers with the spinning plates on sticks. One plate was the dragon, a tentative ally where there was no trust, no mutual gain as of yet, nothing to bond them. The second were the scorpions like Bahu. Tricky and old and violent. No trust there. And the third was Donna, and whoever she represented. The fourth plate, curious in its absence, was Kothin and Ekerri.

And that was four spinning plates too many since Ella had no idea what she was doing. Reading books about counterintelligence could only take her so far.

Ella didn’t know if this was the right move. But she needed to figure a path through this. Probability was like gravity, the odds would catch up. She couldn’t keep being attacked, she needed to remove pieces on the board to make it a game she could follow.

“So… what’s the plan? Hope she calls her handler?”

“Well, I thought you and a couple of others appearing in your true forms might do the trick.”

“And the other part?” Bahu was quizzing her now.

“If you aren’t trustworthy, maybe she will be. But I’ve caught her in deceptions; you, on the other hand, just beat the shit out of me.”

“And?” Bahu teased.

“Well let me hold a few cards close to my chest. But at least one of them is rather touchy about their things.” Ella bluffed. How much could Ella marshal with her resources? Need to distract.

“If I had planned it appropriately I would have brought a stacked tarot deck and flipped up cards with cryptic threats. Can we just pretend I did that? It would make me feel so much cooler.” Ella had discovered a talent for bullshit she hadn’t know she had.

Bahu just laughed, “let’s not and say we did? Sure.” But she glanced overhead,which let Ella know the gambit had worked.

Now the plates were as balanced as she could get them.

“So… as your goddess reborn, I think I’d like to have our meeting here on this field rather than inside.”

“Yes Honored Innana.”

Damn, that went to serious fast, Ella hadn’t quite managed to right balance of tone.

Bahu then spoke into the air in some language Ella could not understand and Ella noted the small white earbud in her ear.

Two people emerged from the open gates of the Cloisters. One was a woman, smaller than Ella, about 5'4" and comfortably plump. The other was a tall male, a hair over 6' and walking with a stride that felt military in its strictness. The High Priestess and Arcsa, Ella surmised.

Ella appreciated that there weren’t more of them visible but she didn’t fool herself. There were probably twenty of them in arms length. Ella looked herself over and didn’t see any tell tale dots. Not that it meant much.

Bahu walked over to them and they all genuflected, saying something in that same language.

“Please stand up.” Ella needed allies. And she needed to build on a foundation. It was time for some candor.

“Bahu explained a little of what you believe. But you understand, right, that I did not grow up with these beliefs?”

“Of course,” said the woman, “you should know that although we grant you the honors, you have not been confirmed. It is… an issue of contention.”

“I assume you are the High Priestess? And this is Arcsa?” Ella tried to get the emphasis right on the name that she had heard from Bahu, but she knew she fumbled it a bit.

“Yes,” said Arcsa, his voice was a mellifluous baritone, the kind that made you think of a kindly father. They both had that same rose gold skin tone as Bahu.

“What should I call you?”

The High Priestess smiled, “I gave up my name upon my ascension to this role. Call me High Priestess for now. And Arcsa for him. We do not have surnames.”

Bahu frowned at the High Priestess’s statement. And she motioned to talk but the High Priestess raised a hand to forestall her. “Officially, should you prove to be Inanna Reborn, you should call me Servant,” Ella had never heard a capital letter before in speech, but it stood out.

That cue parsed out the dynamic here. “Bahu thinks I am your savior. You doubt.” Ella turned to Arcsa, “and you?”

“Bahu the Believer she is called at home. And the High Priestess of our faith hesitates.” Arcsa smiled gently. “It has been a long time we have waited. I am… hopeful.”

Ella felt a bit better. Knowing they were being honest with their doubts made her feel more reassured. That they might be honest with her elsewhere.

“And what would push me over the threshold into divinity?”

“As one of your jurists once said, we will know it when we see it.”

Ella recognized it, “I think that was the Supreme Court talking about porn. No laundry list of prophecy?”

“No. We will get to know your character. Never again will we blindly serve as we served Utu-Who-Is-Ekerri.” And Arcsa’s sonorous voice, the melody of his speech, was broken by him spitting on the ground at that name.

“A heavy burden to prove oneself worthy of veneration. An army of fanatics at your beck and call is nothing to be trifled with,” murmured the High Priestess.

Ella felt adrift here. But honesty had served her well, “I do not think I can live up to your expectations. I doubt I am worthy of anyones worship.”

They all smiled at that which left Ella feeling reassured.

Ella then went on, “You know what I want you to do, correct?”

“Yes,” said the High Priestess. She made a moue of disappointment and looked down. “I just bought these jeans.”

Ella jumped in, “you can go in and change. No need for that.”

“Nonsense. It will hardly have the salutary effect you want if we do not transform.”

And before Ella could, all three began rising up as their lower halves tore through their clothes and their scorpion bottom halves came out.

“We can converse like this for a while. Would you like us to be hostile looking?”

Ella was still processing the transformation, “No. I think if you walk away neutrally it will give me flexibility. Although, in truth, I hope we leave this meeting as friends and allies.”

“Tentative friends for now. We can agree to that. I like what I have seen thus far.”

Arcsa motioned to the open doors of the Cloisters, “Is this enough theater for this Donna? Shall we go inside and sit, eat, and discuss real matters.”

Ella knew going in there closed off all avenues of escape. But she didn’t doubt for one second she was clearly in someone’s rifle scope right now. She nodded her assent and they walked through the doors.

The cloister courtyard had dining tables set out with several figures seated waiting. Despite the snow and the cold weather.

When Ella walked in, they stood up in military manner and then smartly stepped out of their chairs and knelt, kowtowing, head to the ground.

Ella knew it would happen. But when does one get used to it? She motioned them to rise and they jumped back up.

Arcsa then barked something in that foreign language that she couldn’t quite understand and they all relaxed and sat down.

Bahu, Arcsa, and the High Priestess all excused themselves to transform back and get dressed and soon they were seated at the head table, and Ella felt like she was at a wedding reception.

“So tell me about this dragon,” said the High Priestess.

Ella thought about how to be coy and then thought better of it, “We are just tentative friends so you will forgive me if I keep my cards close sometimes.”

The food was served, some meat and vegetable dish reminiscent of borscht.2.

They all spoke and Ella discovered that the language that they spoke in was ancient Akkadian. And the Agrabuamelu had magics that kept their speech unintelligible on top of that for purposes of battle.

After they ate, Ella sat in a room that had been cleared.

“Bahu shall be your liaison for us. You may have our phone numbers as well. Our judgment of you will come, but although we are made to serve, our service does not come easily. Prove you are the virtuous Inanna through your actions. Then our legions will serve.”

“And one other thing. You will stop wasting time training in that garbage shooting and fighting that you have been doing. We will train you for actual battle. You have taken the first steps by partaking of our fallen tonight. We will not be apart from our savior.”

Ella took a moment to process what had been said and then she realized what had been in the stew. She felt her gorge rising but battled it down. She felt green though.

After a moment, she managed, “Thank you for that honor. But I would have preferred to know what was in that dish before.”

The High Priestess smiled, but it wasn’t the grandmotherly smile of before but something colder, “if you would be the goddess of us, this shall be the easiest thing you shall have to do.”

U.S. Army Counterintelligence Handbook

Counterintelligence Theory and Practice