Chimera

by Orion Gaudio

  “What flash drive?”

  “The one with the other half of Chimera.”

  “Chimera?”

  “I know you know what it is,” Turner said. “I’m not letting you get it back to China.”

  Zhi started yelling. Turner lunged forward and plunged the tip of his knife right into Zhi’s chest. He collapsed to the floor while grasping at the knife blade with both hands. Tuner bent down and started to search Zhi as he blinked a few times and died. It was a brutal way to kill someone, but it was the only way Turner could do it without attracting the attention of everyone else on the ship. He lifted Zhi’s jacket back and found the flash drive on his inside breast pocket. It was identical to the one he found in the possession of Ying. It would have been prudent for him to check the drive to make sure it was indeed what he was looking for, and not a dummy drive designed to throw him off, but that would require finding a computer somewhere on the ship and he didn’t have time for that. The guards could be back at any moment from putting out the fire and he needed to get moving before they realized Zhi was dead.

  Turner took the dry bag out of his pocket, put the flash drive inside, and put it back into his pocket.

  He opened the door and looked into the hallway. It was still empty. He stepped over the guard’s body and headed down a hallway that led toward the starboard side of the ship. He had told Rollins he’d be near the stern, but that would require looping around because going straight for the stern would lead him right by the fire he’d started. There was still smoke in the hallway and he could hear men yelling in the distance.

  Turner reached the walkway that looped around the outer edges of the ship and turned toward the stern. He ran as fast as he could on the somewhat slippery metal deck. He reached the stern of the ship and swung the CF-05 off his shoulder. He held it out and emptied the entire fifty-round clip into the air. Turner hoped that would be enough of a signal to Rollins. He threw the SMG to the ground and launched himself over the railing with enough force to clear the ship and stay away from the propeller.

  He put his hand into his pocket to secure the dry bag as he fell. Turner slammed into the water. It nearly knocked the wind out of him and it took a few seconds for him to reorient himself before he began swimming back to the surface.

  The ship was moving away from him as he resurfaced and started to swim. The sound of a boat engine grew louder. He could see the outline of it approaching him. The engine cut out and it drifted to a stop. Turner swam the rest of the way to the boat and Rollins pulled him up and over the side.

  “Did you get it?” Rollins asked.

  “Yes, let’s get out of here.”

  Rollins started the engines and turned the boat around. Turner looked over his shoulder at the container ship. He could see the outline of a half dozen men at the stern. They didn’t even bother shooting at the boat since it was way beyond the effective range of the CF-05 SMG that each of them carried.

  Turner stood up and pulled the dry bag out of his pocket. He held it up against the skyline to confirm that the flash drive wasn’t wet. Rollins looked over at him.

  “Everything good?”

  “Yeah,” Turner said, “the dry bag worked… looks fine.”

  “Good.”

  Rollins cut the engines.

  “What are you doing?”

  He pulled out the Glock and pointed it at Turner.

  “Sorry, but I’ll take that flash drive now.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why are you doing this? We’re on the same side.”

  Rollins laughed and shook his head.

  “You don’t get it do you?”

  “Don’t do this.”

  “Do you even know what Chimera is?”

  Turner shook his head. He had made a mistake in trusting Rollins. When they talked, he never mentioned Chimera, so made him realize that Rollins was way deeper than he had let on. Turner wasn’t one to question Howard about a mission, but at that moment he regretted not finding out more about what exactly he was doing and why the Chinese were going to such lengths to get the flash drives out of the country.

  “It’s going to change the world.”

  “Rollins… think about what you’re doing. Just put the gun down. We can forget this ever happened.”

  “Give me the flash drive!”

  He fired the Glock a foot to the right of Turner.

  “You know you’re not going to get away with this, right?”

  Turner tossed the flash drive at the feet of Rollins.

  “And who do you think is going to stop me? You?”

  “Somebody will.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong.”

  Rollins fired. Turner stumbled backward as the bullet slammed into his chest. He tripped on the side of the boat and fell into the water.

  14

  Turner sat up and clutched at his chest. Pain shot through him and he screamed. A nurse came running into the room and put her hand on his arm. His brain was slow to react and his vision was slightly blurred.

  “You need to calm down.”

  He fumbled with the IV in his arm in an attempt to pull it out. The nurse overpowered him and pulled his hand away.

  “Sir, please… you have to stop.”

  He looked around the room frantically.

  “Where… where am I?”

  “UCSF Medical Center.”

  He blinked a few times and shook his head.

  “I… what….”

  He dropped his head onto the pillow. It was hard for him to breathe and the left side of his chest was on fire. He tilted his head and looked down. There was a large bandage on his chest right near his heart.

  “Sir, please stay calm. I’m going to get the doctor.”

  She walked out of the room. Turner tried to sit up in the bed, but he didn’t have the physical strength. He gave in and put his head back down on the pillow as he waited for the doctor.

  “Mr. Turner.”

  He turned his head as the doctor walked into the room. Mid-forties with glasses and holding a medical chart in his hand. Turner wasn’t sure how the doctor knew who he was.

  “Yes?”

  “How are you feeling?”

  “My chest… it hurts.”

  “I would imagine. You took a bullet at close range. It missed your heart by an inch and you lost a lot of blood. The exit wound was pretty clean. We have no idea how you got so lucky.”

  It all came back to Turner. Rollins had shot him from just a few feet away after getting the flash drive. He shook his head. The mission had been a failure and the Chinese had presumably ended up with the drive after everything he had gone through to secure it.

  “How did I end up here?”

  “The Coast Guard found you by some stroke of luck and pulled you out of the water. You were on the verge of moderate hypothermia and had lost a lot of blood. They managed to stop most of the bleeding and brought you here. It was really a miracle that they found you when they did. A couple more minutes and you would have died.”

  “Right.”

  “You were rushed into surgery and they spent the next hour stitching you back up and checking to make sure there wasn’t any internal damage from the bullet. You were given a blood transfusion and then moved to this room.”

  Turner shook his head. He was glad to be alive, but it was the first time he’d failed a mission since starting at NIA and he wasn’t sure what would happen next.

  “So, Doc, how soon can I get out of here?”

  The doctor chuckled and shook his head.

  “Not for a couple of days at least, maybe a week. We need to make sure that you’re healing and don’t have an infection.”

  “Is there any way we speed up the process?”

  “Mr. Turner. You’re incredibly lucky to be even talking to me right now. Don’t press your luck.”

  “I have to get back to work as soon as possible.”

  “Yeah… that’s not going to happen.
Plus, the police are here… and they want to have a little chat with you.”

  Turner looked down at his hands. Traces of dried ink on his fingertips.

  “Fuck,” he whispered softly.

  While he’d been unconscious they’d fingerprinted him and that’s how the hospital knew his name. He didn’t have a criminal record, but he knew the police would want to talk to him because of the nature of his wound.

  “Are they here?” he asked.

  “They are. Do you feel up to talking to them or would you prefer to rest a little more?”

  “I can do it now.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Yes. I want to get it over with.”

  The doctor nodded and walked out of the room. Turner had no intention of sticking around the hospital any longer than absolutely necessary. He needed to get back to Altoona. He had failed the mission and Rollins was in possession of the flash drive, but Turner had a feeling it wasn’t the last he’d see of the man who turned on him.

  A police officer walked into the room and cleared his throat. Turner looked over at him and nodded.

  “Officer.”

  “Mr. Turner… how are you?”

  “Fine, considering the circumstances.”

  “Understandable. We’ll try to make this as quick as possible so you can rest and recover.”

  The officer pulled a chair up to the side of the hospital bed and sat down.

  “So, Mr. Turner… tell me what happened.”

  “I was shot.”

  “Right, I understand that, but we’re trying to discover the nature of the shooting so that we can potentially find the person responsible.”

  Turner knew there was no chance the local police would be able to track down Rollins, even if he gave them everything he had. The man would be able to hide behind his credentials and likely had an alibi for the time of the shooting.

  “Well, I was out fishing and the guy I was with shot me.”

  “Any idea why?”

  “We got into an argument.”

  “What was this argument about?”

  It was a struggle for Turner to think of a lie to tell. He felt like his brain was not quite right.

  “I slept with his ex-girlfriend.”

  The cop chuckled and shook his head.

  “Right. And this friend of yours… what’s his name?”

  “Henry Rollins.”

  He didn’t see any harm in using his real name, not after what he had done.

  “You have a phone number where we could reach him?”

  “Yeah, it’s in my phone… at the bottom of the bay.”

  “You don’t know it?”

  Turner raised an eyebrow.

  “Does anyone memorize phone numbers these days?”

  “Fair enough. What about an address?”

  “He just moved.”

  The officer sighed. He could tell that Turner was being purposefully vague.

  “Is there anything else you can give us to go off of?”

  “I’m really tired. Can we talk about this later?”

  The officer sighed and stood up from the chair. He put his notepad back into his pocket and walked out of the room.

  Turner needed to get out of the hospital before they realized his story was a complete lie. He pushed down on either side of the bed and forced himself into a sitting position. Even that took a considerable amount of energy. The pain in his chest and back from the gunshot was severe enough that he felt dizzy. He sat there for a minute, doing his best not to move, and the feeling eventually went away.

  He put his feet on the floor and wiggled his toes. His body was still not fully cooperating, but he needed to get out of the hospital so he could contact NIA to find out what he should do. He had a feeling that Howard would want him to pursue Rollins, but that trail was already likely cold. For all he knew, Rollins could be on a flight to China with the flash drive or taking it to whatever organization he was working for. One thing was certain, he was a traitor to the United States. Turner knew the possibilities were endless and he was wasting time in the hospital.

  A few deep breaths later, he stood up from the bed. The IV was still in his arm, so Turner grabbed the stand and wheeled it toward the door. He looked out into the hallway. There was a nurse station just down the hall and a sitting area. He could see the cop who interviewed him sitting there, but he was looking down at his phone.

  Turner headed in the opposite direction of the sitting area and walked down the hallway. It was slow going. His body protested with every step. The pain in his chest flared up every time he took a breath.

  He glanced over his shoulder. The officer was finally out of view. The next step was to remove his IV and find some clothes.

  There was a bathroom just ahead. He pushed the door open with his right shoulder and wheeled the stand in with him. Turner went into one of the stalls and locked the door. The hospital would frown on what he was about to do, but he was running short of options. He leaned against the metal stall and ripped the IV out in one fluid motion. Turner grit his teeth and shook his head. It didn’t feel good, but it certainly was nothing compared to how much pain his chest was causing him.

  He pulled open his gown and looked down at the gauze covering his stitches. Turner expected to see blood seeping through the bandage, but it was still clean.

  “I guess that’s a good sign.”

  He opened the stall door and walked out of the bathroom. A quick glance up and down the hall confirmed that nobody seemed to be looking for him. He knew it wouldn’t last. One of the nurses would eventually make their way into his room and notice he was gone. Then the police officer would begin searching for him. His goal was to get out of the hospital before that happened.

  A little farther down the hall he spotted a storeroom. Turner pushed the door open and went inside.

  “Bingo.”

  There was a shelf with bags of clean scrubs. He ripped open the plastic and got dressed. It wasn’t much of a disguise, but he hoped he could it would buy him enough time to escape. The door to the storeroom opened as he was pulling up his pants. Turner froze. The police officer was standing in front of him.

  “Mr. Turner… what the hell are you doing?”

  He looked around the room in an attempt to find something to defend himself with. There was a mop leaning against the wall in the corner.

  “I was looking for this mop.”

  The officer moved his hand to his sidearm. Turner lunged forward, grabbed the mop and swung it as the officer drew his weapon. He managed to knock it out of his hand.

  “Mr. Turner… you have to stop.”

  He swung the mop handle and struck the officer across the temple. The wood handle cracked as the man dropped to his knees. It wasn’t a strong enough blow to knock him out, but Turner could see he was stunned. He bent down, picked up the SIG Sauer P226 and turned it on the officer.

  “Sir… Mr. Turner… don’t do it. Your life will be over.”

  The officer put his hand on his temple to check for blood.

  “I really don’t want to shoot you.”

  “Give me the gun back and we can talk.”

  “No.”

  “Mr. Turner… what the hell do you think you’re doing? There’s no way this ends well for you.”

  “I’m aware.”

  “Then give me back the gun.”

  The officer stood up and extended his hand. Turner took a step back and shook his head. Things were going downhill quickly and needed to get out of there before someone else walked in and saw what was happening.

  Turner had done a lot of questionable things since he started working at NIA, but even he had a line he wouldn’t cross—killing or even seriously injuring an innocent police officer was not something he would even consider doing.

  “Get out your cuffs.”

  “You won’t get away with this. If you give me back the gun, I can make things better for you.”

  “Take… out… your… cuffs.”
/>
  The officer complied.

  “Now what?”

  “Cuff yourself to that shelf,” Turner said, nodding to the sturdy metal shelf in the corner.

  The officer shook his head, but complied. Turner stood his ground until he heard the cuffs lock.

  “I’m really sorry about this,” Turner said.

  “Then why are you doing it?”

  “Trust me… this is the only way.”

  “You know I’m going to come after you, right?”

  “Take off your shoes.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yes.”

  The officer sighed and slipped his shoes off. They were a size smaller than Turner wore, but he managed to force his feet into them. It was better than walking out of a hospital barefoot.

  He grabbed a rag off the shelf next to the scrubs and wiped down the pistol. Turner dropped in into the trashcan by the door and walked into the hallway. A quick glance over his shoulder confirmed that nobody in the hospital was wiser as they went about their shift.

  Turner got on the elevator at the end of the hallway and rode it down to the first floor. His next task would be to contact NIA, not an easy thing to do without anything but the stolen clothes on his back, but he needed to figure out a way to pull it off.

  15

  Once he made it to the first floor of the hospital, Turner walked out the front door and nobody gave him a second look. He picked up his pace even though it caused the pain in his chest to increase.

  The sun was high enough in the sky that he figured it to be some time around eleven. Enough hours had already passed that he would have to hope that NIA would be looking for him in some capacity. He knew they didn’t have any field agents in the area. There was a decent chance they had reached out to some contacts of theirs in the bay area when he’d failed to check in and give a mission update.

  Turner went down the main street leading away from the bay and kept his eyes peeled as he walked. He spotted a coffee shop up ahead. There were a few people sitting inside. He opened the door and walked in. He took a seat at a table near the door and surveyed the customers. None of them seemed to notice him, so he figured it was common for hospital staff to stop in before or after a shift.