The Presidium Files (Book 1)

Adam Locke is a smart kid. Always has been. His abnormally good memory make normal schoolwork boring. The challenges he seeks out are those that aren’t solvable with pen and paper. He’s drawn to real-world problems and has a keen eye to identify them. Things that need to be fixed. Over the years of enforcing his own brand of behind-the-scenes justice, Adam finally meets his match during the first weeks of high school. A well-executed, if not brilliant prank finally gets him expelled from school. His punishment is the opportunity to attend a posh European boarding school.

During one last meet-up with his longtime crush, Nicole, her father pulls him aside. Adam is presented with a life-altering fact: the boarding school he’s been recruited into is a sham. Fake. The Arcanum Trivindico, a benevolent underground organization, is in dire need of younger members. After recruiting the best and brightest from the NSA, CIA, MI6 and other agencies from around the world, they need fresh blood. Enthusiastic teens that, like Adam, have the drive to do what’s right and posses the natural talent to make that happen.

Adam and his first classmate, Emma, descend beneath Portland to the underground headquarters of the Trivindico, the pit. Built underneath an ancient laundromat in a seedy area of town, the world above it is completely oblivious to the existence of the global organization. The pair begin their training with Ms. Merrick, the agent in charge of the newly developed program. Over the school year, they learn all manner of spycraft. Physical and mental, technological and behavioral, each facet of their skills and senses is honed toward making them superb undercover agents. Yumiko Ito, the resident maker for the organization, encourages Adam’s natural inclination toward tech, hacking, and engineering.

As the teens’ globetrotting training progresses, they begin to overhear whispers within the organization. Not a kind of problem they are used to tackling, but something deeper. Using the very education they’re receiving, Adam and Emma sleuth and discover the very personal, targeted threat to the Trivindico itself.

Donovan Reznik, a former agent, stole a memory dump from their central computer core when he left the organization years before. The backup contains everything the Trivindico has ever done. Every mission log, every secret identity, every asset and government contact... and he’s planning on selling the drive to the highest bidder. Any criminal organization in the world is a potential buyer. Each of them have good reasons to want to settle a score.

As the Trivindico struggles to formulate a plan, they discover that Reznik plans to deliver the drive to the buyer during his family’s yearly vacation to the French Riviera. Adam and Emma are recruited to go on the mission, undercover as part of a wealthy family staying at the same resort as the Rezniks. While enjoying their time as privileged siblings, they form a tenuous friendship with Lucas Reznik, Donovan’s only child. They ply him for information about his father, the prospective buyers, anything they could uncover… but he’s equally adept at concealing information.

As the sale of the valuable information nears, the Trivindico still isn’t any closer to a strategy. Adam and Emma’s parents go on a last ditch jaunt to thwart the sale, but are thrown off the trail while out of communication range. Knowing the stakes, the teens take matters into their own hands and rush to the new handoff location. With the help of a snarky AI, Adam manages to crash the helicopter Reznik and his buyer are flying out to a private yacht. A chase ensues on the Mediterranean beach and Adam recovers the drive.

Back at the pit, the newest members of the organization are commended for their efforts and granted full agent status. They part ways to go home to their families, knowing that this summer vacation won’t be like others before.

The Consortium Directive (Book 2)

Having witnessed the death of his mother, Lucas Reznik cuts ties with his father and makes the call to his uncle Stan at the Arcanum Trivindico. Lucas is whisked away to Portland while Donovan flees to plan his next move.

Adam and Emma return to the pit after their summer breaks. Emma had spent the summer developing a new look. Adam simply tried to not think about Nicole. The gift of a nuclear-powered sports car helps somewhat relieve his anxiousness. Just as the second year of their training begins, Lucas arrives, much to their surprise and Adam’s unease. With nowhere else to go, Lucas begins training alongside his new classmates.

On the run, Donovan Reznik hatches his new scheme, a global consortium of criminals. Using cutting-edge encryption technology, he schemes and facilitates an eBay for evil. The underground darknet allows criminals around the world to offer and purchase illegal services, all coordinated and secured inside the consortium’s digital framework. Reznik and his new partner Tanaka get a cut of each transaction.

Shortly after school has begun, an unnamed branch of the US Government contacts the Trivindico for assistance. An uptick in domestic and global crime has hit their radar. The activity appears more organized than usual, and worse, none of their standard intelligence channels has any clue what’s happening, or how. The Trivindico agrees to help. Adam’s ears perk as he overhears theories about an encrypted network and advanced drones. He’s ready to jump in when Nicole unexpectedly arrives at headquarters.

Stan pulls Adam aside and gives him a quick history of the two families’ involvement. His wife, a former member of the Trivindico, was killed while on a mission with Reznik while he was briefly an agent. Stan doesn’t want Nicole to know the circumstances of her mother’s death, but also couldn’t stop her from wanting to join the organization. He hints that her interest in someone already in the program may have had more than a little to do with her decision.

While continuing school with the now larger group of students, Adam works with Aubrey Quince at the NSA to try and unravel the technological underpinnings of the Consortium. With the help of another Trivindico contact, he cracks the encryption scheme and gains access to the live feed of orders flowing through the illicit system. He turns over the discovery over to the government, who eagerly begin to chase leads.

As time goes on, the various agencies acting on the new intelligence discover a problem: none of the events traversing the newly-hacked consortium network are legitimate. They call back, holding the Trivindico and more directly, Adam, responsible for countless wasted missions to stop crimes that had already happened or weren’t real to begin with. Adam and Krentz fly to Washington DC to answer the growing concern in person. While being grilled by numerous agencies, Adam realizes what must be happening. A decoy. The network he cracked meant to throw them off the scent of the real Consortium communication. The group quickly deduces that the key to the puzzle is the growing fleet of weapon used drones. Drones have to be controlled. If they can obtain one and take it apart, the tech inside is the best chance of getting into the actual communication stream.

After the government admits it has no way to catch a highly-maneuverable drone, the Trivindico embarks on Project Raptor. Yumiko and the teens design a nuclear-powered wingsuit, knowing their only chance of snagging one of the well-armed craft is by using a human’s instincts. Adam an Emma volunteer as pilots, and after a near-catastrophic misstep, capture one of Reznik’s drones. Yumiko painstakingly disassembles the device and with Adam’s help, tap into the real Consortium network.

One of the first intercepted orders is an assassination on a South American politician and his two children. Well-known around the world for his humanitarian and diplomatic work, Roberto Guevara is alerted to the threat on his life. Unable to provide protection to the foreign leader, the US Government asks for the Trivindico’s help in keeping the Guevaras safe.

A mission team is immediately dispatched to Brazil. Ms. Merrick skirts the order to keep her own students safe and takes the four teens with the group. Heavily disguised and under her strict instructions, they are to act as transfer students at the private school attended by Roberto’s children. Mere hours pass before a drone strike levels a building in an attempt to take out Max and Gabi Guevara.

The Trivindico team and the Guevaras flee Brazil for a small town in Chile, where Roberto was to have mediated a longstanding dispute between two family wineries. On the way, incursions from Reznik’s squad of assassins, both human and aerial drone, keep the trip fraught with danger and excitement. A spark of romance between Adam and Gabi further blur the lines between duty and emotion he’s trying to straddle.

The entire group makes a stand at a small Chilean winery compound, as Reznik himself arrives to finish the job he’s been paid to do. The small cadre of Trivindico agents, together with help from the Guevara teens, manages to hold off the formidable force set against them. An unexpected visit from Newton Hewitt is the final tipping point in the guerrilla battle between the two factions. Reznik escapes as the group is finally able to regroup and declare victory. Witnessing firsthand the danger to his children, Roberto asks the Trivindico to take Max and Gabi into the training program with Adam and the others. As much as to keep them safe, he knows they will want to make their own positive mark on the world.

Back at the pit, the students revel in a much-needed vacation and prepare to leave their underground school. On the way out, Adam and Nicole meet in a tunnel. She not-so-subtly pushes him for a decision. Will they keep maneuvering around what they both want? Adam screws up his courage and imagines their interaction, just in time to realize she’s already gone.

Characters

Adam Locke - the main character, our protagonist and hero. Eidetic memory, good with technology, loves to run.

Locke Family - mom Joanne, dad Greg, little sister Megan.

Nicole Mason - Adam’s longtime crush from school.

Stan Mason - Nicole’s father, and a Trivindico agent. His late wife Miriam was also an agent.

Newton Hewitt - the wisened, oldest current agent and a founding member of the Arcanum Trivindico.

Wally McDougal - the wiry Scottish agent that Adam meets during his first trip to headquarters.

Emma Spanton - Adam’s first schoolmate in the agent training program. Her parents are Hugh and Margaret.

Yumiko Ito - the Trivindico’s Q, inventor of gadgets and master of technology.

Bernard Krentz - another agent close to the students, and directly involved in Adam’s departure from public high school.

Jane Merrick - the young New Zealander in charge of the agent training program.

Galen Savakis - the Trivindico’s resident doctor.

Frank Quimby - operations chief at the Portland headquarters.

Klaus Schnellmann - longtime member of the Trivindico, based in Germany. Has a penchant for fast cars and behavioral analysis.

Agent Mendoza - a high-ranking agent, and initially doubtful of the younger generation’s capability as agents.

Presidium - the Trivindico’s ruling body. A loose committee that makes decisions and provides direction as to their involvement in the world.

Barry - a Trivindico supporter and asset. Works at a British company that makes advanced encryption software, a prototype version of which secures holodrives containing the Presidium Files.

Donovan Reznik - Romanian by birth. At his wife’s urging, he briefly turned away from his life of crime to become a Trivindico agent.

Elizabeth Reznik - Donovan’s wife, Miriam Mason’s sister.

Lucas Reznik - Donovan and Elizabeth’s only son. He’s led a privileged, if lonely life, somewhat sheltered from his father’s activities.

Roberto Guevara - a Brazilian diplomat responsible for numerous humanitarian and environmental efforts. College friend of Galen Savakis.

Maximilian and Gabrielle Guevara - Roberto’s twin children, the same age as Adam.

Agents Logan & Preston - high-ranking officials among unnamed US government agencies based out of the subterranean levels of the Pentagon.

Aubrey Quince - A young NSA operative responsible for technology and intelligence after she was encouraged to leave the Marines.

Tech

Holodrive - a transparent block of plastic used to three-dimensionally store digital information.

Holoprojector - A dome-shaped apparatus that enables the projection of three dimensional images in midair.

APHID - the Advanced Personal Handheld Information Device. Yumiko prototyped a kind of iPad on steroids, with multiple uses and capabilities. Adam is the primary tester. Charged from his body heat, he generally keeps the device stuck to the side of his stomach for easy access.

Implants - the aural implant is a small, wiry device implanted in the wearer’s jawbone. It permits two-way communication with devices and people on the Trivindico network. The ocular implant is a small lens inserted underneath the cornea, and allows projection of digital information directly to the wearer. It also enables magnification and visibility of frequencies not visible to humans.

Nanoreactor - a football-sized self-contained nuclear reactor, small yet powerful enough to power all kinds of devices and modes of transportation.

Ion engine - a bell-shaped apparatus that utilizes electrical energy (usually from a nanoreactor) to produce immense thrust. Used in both Vince and the raptor suits.

Metamaterial - carbon fiber-infused fabric that reacts and moves when electrical energy is applied. It permits the fabric to be shaped and molded.

Project Raptor - a powered wingsuit utilizing the three technologies above.

Dwain - a snarky artificial intelligence residing in the Trivindico computer core. His avatar is human-looking, but with spiky blue hair and a matching goatee. Despite his grating personality, his skills at data analysis are often helpful.

SCRAM Jet - an experimental aircraft that uses liquid hydrogen fuel to travel dozens of times faster than the speed of sound.

Vince - a gift from Frank Quimby, Adam’s first car. The nanoreactor-powered Camaro has more horsepower than advisable and color-changing paint.

Jolt - a small handheld device that chargers the holder with negative ions, much like a static charge. The release of the charge will incapacitate an opponent.

Whomp - a disposable, percussive explosive device like a small bomb without catching anything on fire.

Vomit gun - a flashlight-sized device that combines both visual and auditory stimulus to make an attacker almost instantly lose their lunch.

Flick stick - a simple forearm-mounted device that extends away from the wearer, allowing a sweeping blow to an attacker.

AQL gun - first used by Newton Hewitt, the ask questions later gun was originally developed to move rock and debris during the tunnel digging process. It generates a focused beam of energy that in addition to a loud thrumming sound, can pick up and move anything it’s aimed at.