-That is correct, especially related to the yadda yadda.
-Ha, ha. What’s the status on ship construction?
-The ten sections are nearing completion, and should all be ready to launch in eight months’ time.
-Good, and the fusion reactor?
-Still struggling with maintaining the reaction over time, because of nano-scale laser fluctuations.
-Sounds like we need the aboriginal over there, am I right?
-All the engineers believe so.
-Our best bet is to get the whole of the boy’s group over to NZ as soon as we have his father out. Which reminds me, we still haven’t gone over the post-rescue sequence. You know, as much as I hate to say it, I really wish we had got the halo protocol working in time for this. It would have been the answer to the post-rescue problem. Speaking of which, do we have any idea how the boy plans to escape, assuming he is successful at getting his father out?
-I think we can assume that he plans on flying him out, low, dark, and fast. We have VTOLS in the area prepped to follow them and a couple of ‘aces in the hole’ piloting them that should be able to convince them to get over to San Diego, and from there to NZ. If the boy and his father go, the rest of their group will follow, without a doubt.
-Without a doubt, huh? Just like everything else in this cluster-bang debacle?
-…
-All right, that was snarky, almost as snarky as you. You better start praying to the gods of technology that this works. And pass me those chips. And, get us something to drink that’s a little more substantial than this diet soda, would you?
****
C heri’s hand squeezing mine suddenly got much tighter, and Ava said, “You feel that? The compound is taking effect. He’s right, that worked quickly. If we get the chance, we need to find out exactly what is in that syringe, and in what quantities. I’m pretty sure I could make some improvements to it.”
I don’t think now’s the time…
“Don’t worry, Billy’s got a plan. Pay attention, sonny boy.”
Bill was whispering in Cheri’s ear, and when he finished, she gave him a thumbs-up; he rummaged in her pack for a moment, then dashed over to the door and stood to the hinge side, so that when the door opened, he would be behind it. Cheri, cringing in pain from the needle still in the back of her neck, motioned for me to come close. “Just… oh, man, I can hardly talk… act like you have no idea where Bill is, no…”
“No matter what they say. No problem,” I said, and whispered the same to Ernie and Dr. Lyles. He put his finger up to his mouth in a ‘quiet’ sign and motioned for his aides to clear the room, then shouted, “Just a moment; I’m in the middle of a procedure!”
Cheri’s face looked as mottled and creased as a rotten apple as she said, “Thanks, Danny. Just… owwww… play cool, okay?”
“Don’t worry, I got this. Hang on, we’re done. I will remove the syringe, and this will hurt.”
Cheri put her synthetic finger back in her mouth and clamped down hard as Dr. Lyles dragged the syringe out; a few tears splashed down, making dark spots on Cheri’s green shirt.
Man… no one could ever say that Cheri isn’t tough…
“Tough as they come, sonny boy. Get ready for some acting. Just say what I tell you.”
Got it.
Bill held out his hands in an ‘everyone stay calm’ motion, and Dr. Lyles crossed the room. He looked casual and friendly as he swung the door open and said, “Oh, hello, gentlemen. How can I help you?”
Two gigantic men in the usual black military-style fatigues stood at the door; one was Ronnie, the guard from the armory, but I didn’t recognize the other one. “Sorry, Dr. Lyles. Terrible news, mate. We’re lookin’ for Mr. Kane. Turns out he’s… oi, what do we have here?” Ronnie said as he strode into the room toward us.
“Hi, Ronnie! Why are you looking for Mr. Kane?” Cheri asked through her sweetest smile.
“Well, he’s… wait a sec… what are you doin’ here?” he said, raising his flechette pistol as he finally noticed Ernie. “How’d you get outta jail?”
I held up my hand and said, “Hi, Ronnie. Remember me? I’m the one who squeezed your hand!”
The other guard, who had been waiting at the door, finally entered, and then Bill went into action; he slipped in behind the sizeable man and pressed something on the back of his neck, and in less than a second the man’s eyes rolled, and he slumped to the floor; Ronnie spun, but before he could get turned completely Bill was on him; in one lightning motion he kicked the flechette out of Ronnie’s hand and swung his arm, smacking him on the back of the neck; Ronnie tumbled forward, ending up head to head with the other guard, both unconscious. “Close the door, would you?” Bill said to Dr. Lyles as he turned to us, Hollywood smile firmly in place.
“Well, well, well. As it turns out you didn’t have to say much at all, did you?”
I guess not. I was wondering why he spoke to Cheri instead of me before he ran over and got behind the door, but he must have been asking her if she had any of the little knockout pads she carries.
“Exactamundo. Now let’s get out of this lab before anyone else comes. They’ll miss these fellows in about three minutes when they don’t go to the next one, and we might not be as lucky with the next group.”
Exactamundo?
“Yes. Now pay attention, Billy’s talking.”
Oh, boy.
“Thank you for your assistance, Dr. Lyles. We will put these two under the lab so they’re out of your way, and won’t be found if other guards come searching for them, or us. Here is what they didn’t have the chance to tell you: they have concocted a story implicating me in a plot to capture young Lucas, here, for the Americans. They were also going to tell you that the Americans are planning on attacking the cavern, and they want to evacuate you to a facility in New Zealand. The only part of either story that is true is that they do want to take you and some other Bright Handers who they deem essential to New Zealand, but it has nothing to do with an imminent attack. Sorry, we don’t have time for more details. These men will wake with splitting headaches in about eight hours; I suggest you take your techs and get away from here as soon as possible. I recommend you go to Dr. Bhat’s lab; she will know what to do. Again, sorry, but we must go.”
Cheri, finally standing, hugged Dr. Lyles, and he gasped as she squeezed him tighter than she meant to. “Thanks, Danny. You were right, I feel stronger, clearer, you name it.”
Dr. Lyles coughed. “Yeah, I noticed. You going to be okay?”
Grinning, she put her hand on his cheek. “Oh, you know me, always lucky. Thanks again, Danny. I’ll see you.”
As she turned, he laid his hand on the spot where she had touched him, his face red. How does she do it? I have to get her to tell me one of these days…
Ernie and I dragged the two enormous men to the closet, shimmied back under the trailer through the secret pass-through, and I pulled the men through the hole after us, leaving them lying face up. As we slid out from under the lab and back into the shadows between the trailers, Cheri leaned in close. “I’m kind of dizzy. Everything seems too bright, too loud, too everything.”
“I know what you mean. I’ve felt that way ever since I woke up from my coma, and even more after our reboot. It’ll just seem normal soon, though.”
“I hope so, because things are spinning right now.”
Bill signaled us to the corner of the trailer and peeked out to check the next through-way for search parties. “From here we will go due west. Once we get past the next row or two, we can probably speed up a bit. Lucas, look toward the North Hall, just above and a bit to the right. There is an antenna array there, but it’s difficult to locate, even up close. Can you see it?”
I scanned the area, and almost like one of those pictures you have to stare at with your eyes a little out of focus, the small cluster popped into a sort of three-D image. “Yes, I see it! You’re right, there’s no way I would have seen it without staring for a min
ute.”
“Excellent. That is the secondary communications array. They will probably get that up and running soon, and when that happens we will be in trouble; the cameras will come on line, and they will have an easy time of tracking us. I think you know what to do.”
You got that right… I took aim, and a second later the antenna array was vapor.
Bill patted me on the back and grinned at all of us. “Well done. As long as we’re cautious it should be a little easier from here. Ready? Same order as before. Straight across. We have eleven more rows to go, and then into the West Hall and the reactor room. Lead the way, Lucas.”
Across we went, and a second later were sheltering in the darkness between two more trailers. Once again putting his hand beside his mouth, Ernie said, “Hey, Mr. Kane. Do you think any of the scientists, engineers, you know, the nerds, will rat us out if they see us out here?”
“Some of them undoubtedly would ‘rat us out’, as you say, but at the moment they have no way of communicating with the security staff aside from leaning out of their labs and yelling, ‘There they are!’, so as long as we’re quick and quiet, we should be okay. Ten more rows to go. Now, listen. Lucas, you’re the only one of us they can’t stop. A well-placed flechette, or bullet for that matter, and the rest of us are down. That means, no matter what happens, you must keep going. The LFP want you to make it to Area 51; they want you to save your father, so they won’t try to stop you. It’s me they want, and if worse comes to worse, I will turn myself over to them. The rest of you don’t stop for anything, understand?”
Ernie gulped audibly, and we all nodded. We can’t leave him behind, can we?
“I suppose we will if we have no other choice, but if things get hairy, I want you to go into control mode. I’ll do my best to make a way for all of us to get out. I’m almost certain that most of the guards don’t really have their hearts into stopping Billy, and they don’t care about stopping the rest of us at all, even Ernie. They’re not under any kind of imaginary mind control; no, I’m certain they’ve just been offered a lot of money to maintain their made up stories and capture Billy, and at least some of them will back off fairly easily. Got it, sonny boy?”
I got hung up on something… how would things get hairy?
“Really? You don’t know that one? Do you imagine that literal hair will sprout all over everything, and that’s how they’ll stop us? Use your head, shorty.”
I know that one. It’s called sarcasm. Oh, one other thing… why do you keep calling him Billy?
“I just think it’s amusing. Even A.I.’s appreciate a little humor, you know.”
And then, from behind us: “Hold it right there, Mr. Kane.”
21
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
MEETING WITH SVC
121952 16:38
-Anything yet?
-We are down to one method of contact; they have destroyed the secondary communications array.
-Damn that (WK), and damn us for not getting to him sooner. Did we offer the security personnel enough money to get them to catch him?
-Three times their yearly salary for a couple hours’ worth of work was more than enough to entice them. Times are tough, and most of them have families to support.
-All right, suppose they don’t find him. What’s the worst that could happen?
-The worst? Let’s see: as we’ve already mentioned, he could convince the Bright Handers to refuse to comply; he could expose us to the governments of the world, especially the US, who will be rather unhappy with us for absconding with so many of their top scientists, inventors, engineers, and the like; he could direct them to our facilities in New Zealand; shall I continue?
-No, I don’t want to know any more. Crap! Have we been underestimating (WK) this whole time? Obviously we have… okay, is he known to hang socially with any of the Bright Handers?
-Up to today I would say he has always done his best to keep everyone at a professional distance. I do know he has visited Dr. Bhat twice in the last twenty-four hours.
-Okay, contact Jim Early and see if he knows of any others (WK) is close with. Then, have them pulled in and… they have a wired sound system, don’t they?
-I’m sure they could rig one up if need be.
-Good. Bring in Bhat and anyone else (WK) seems close to, and use a sound system to announce that they are being held on suspicion of aiding a US spy, namely (WK). Announce that they will be transferred immediately to the Bright Hand jail, where enhanced interrogation techniques will be used to elicit information they are withholding. Let’s see if that flushes him out.
-Let me make sure I understand: you want to use enhanced interrogation techniques on Dr. Bhat and anyone else they can uncover?
-Come on, (SVC), are you some kind of barbarian or something? Of course not. Just hold her and whoever else they find in (WK)’s office and make sure they know that the security are just trying everything they can to get (WK) to turn himself in peacefully. Make sure they understand that we have uncovered information that he is a US spy and that he is attempting to turn the boy over to the Americans so they can create a race of super-soldiers and take over the rest of the world. You know, make it sound scary. Then, let’s get them out of there and over to NZ ASA F’n P, vis-à-vis protocol forty one P.
-That’s an impressive number of abbreviations in one sentence, I’d say.
-Efficiency, (SVC). Now, about the post-rescue sequence. Run over the main beats again.
-we have four quad-rotor VTOLs that will position themselves in the desert opposite the chaos of the siege on Area 51. When the boy, his father, and whoever else is with them emerge, their only option will be to fly out, and like our VTOLs, their best path out will be toward California, going low and fast. We will follow and use our ‘aces in the hole’ to convince them they are there to help, and get them to NZ, ASA F’n P, as you like to say.
-Just like that, huh? It’s that simple?
-There are other details, but those are the main beats.
-Don’t you think the military will… what do they call it… scramble some jets, or Blackhawk choppers when they see all that hubbub outside Area 51? And if they do, won’t they see the VTOLs?
-Oh, these have been heavily modified with the light-bending coating. Tremendously expensive, but it renders them invisible to radar and even difficult to see with the naked eye, especially if stationary in desert terrain. We’ll have them in place long before the hubbub begins.
-Nice. Next problem, though: how do we get them over to NZ? The VTOLs won’t make it anywhere near that far.
-Hopefully the corporate jet will be in good enough shape to get from Las Vegas to San Diego, and then to NZ. If not, we have a certain cargo ship waiting just into international waters off the San Diego coast.
-The Russian?
-None other. He is reliable, and content to fly under the radar, as it were.
-Holy crap, this is making me nervous. Well, get going, and while you’re at it, mix us up a little something to drink. It’s gonna be a long night.
-What, no snacks, no dinner, nothing?
-Your attempts at being insulting are getting weaker by the day, (SVC). And I thought something to eat was implied when I asked you to mix up something to drink.
****
W e spun while still in our crouching positions as Willard, Bill’s huge bodyguard, slipped quickly into the darkness with us. As one, Cheri, Ernie, and I rose, but Bill put his arms out, blocking our path. “Willard, are you alone?” he asked.
Strange… he’s just standing there, not pointing a gun at us or anything… what’s going on? “Yes, I’m alone.”
“Very well, I have one question for you: who will win the pennant this year?”
“The Giants, I reckon.”
Bill turned to us. “Hold on, friends. Come closer, Willard.”
Ernie surged forward and only avoided shouting because Cheri and I shushed him at the same time. “This dude’s gonna rat, Mr. Kane! You guys go,
I’ll take him down!”
Cheri, using her new strength and prosthetic arm, grabbed Ernie’s shirt and kicked the back of his knees, collapsing him back onto his behind. “Quiet, Ernie! They’re using standard Bright Hand code. He’s on our side.”
Willard crouched and crossed his burly arms. “Not if you’re gonna make all that bloody racket, I’m not.”
Bill patted Ernie on the shoulder, and even in the dark his teeth sparkled. “Settle down, all of you. How close are they, Willard?”
“Most are going the other direction, toward your office. I sent some after the cart you rigged to go into the North Hall, but there are a half-dozen or so down at the end of this row. There were two who went in to Dr. Lyles’ lab but apparently never came out, and Dr. Lyles and his staff are missing. Communications arrays are piles of rubble as well. I assume all of that was your work?”
Cheri leaned forward. “You should have seen Bill… umm, Mr. Kane, Wills. He took those two down in two seconds flat, and Lucas took care of the arrays.”
Willard smiled briefly, an expression I had never seen from him before. “I’d expect nothin’ less. Oh, sorry, Chi. All those times you tried ta speak to me, and I sorta acted like I didn’t know ya… I wasn’t tryin’ ta be rude, just professional, mate.”
“Aww, forget about it, I knew. But… if they paid off everyone else to get them to chase Bill down, what about you?”
Seating himself with his back against the end of the trailer, he gazed off into the distance as he spoke. “Mr. Kane has… he’s been good to me. Like a father, I reckon. We knew this day would come, made plans for it. I’m in for the duration, as the yanks would say.”
Reassemble (Singular Book 4) Page 13