Barriers

by Patrick Skelton

  “Huh?” Denny said, bending over for a look underneath. She dug the dart gun out from her jacket, aimed at the back of his neck and fired.

  Bullseye.

  Denny flinched, smacking his head against the edge of the desk. “What in the…”

  He barely managed to get to his feet, his large body swaying as he reached for his gun. Ashlyn reloaded just in time and fired again, hitting him in the jugular.

  He moaned and staggered in a circle like a drunken beast, then collapsed face first onto the desk.

  Ashlyn shook him gently to make certain he was out cold. “You’re a sweet guy, Denny. Sleep tight.”

  She looked for the panel that controlled the exterior security gate.

  _____

  Bryce planted the last force field generator and closed the laptop. “That’s it. She took Denny out. Time to make our move.”

  The security gate opened and they ran inside.

  “Well done,” Bryce said to Ashlyn, glancing at Denny’s limp body. “Everything go okay?”

  “He nearly got to his gun,” Ashlyn said.

  “Stay here and keep an eye on him,” Bryce said, retrieving Denny’s Glock. “If he starts to wake, you know what to do.”

  He opened and closed the magazine clip, then handed the gun to Nathan. “Out of the four of us, you’re the one who should have it. Safety’s on. Fully loaded.”

  Nathan held and inspected the handgun, positioning the barrel away from everyone. “I’ve never used a firearm.”

  “Just like the tranquilizer gun,” Bryce said. “Flip off the safety, aim and fire. Simple as that.”

  “Right.” Nathan slid it into an outside breast pocket of his coat.

  Bryce pointed at the door behind the security desk. “Micah and I will take out the two technicians working on the next floor. After that, we’ll start working on the programming that will allow Nathan’s transmitter to communicate with the Barrier mainframe. Nathan, you follow us in and head straight to the roof. Understood?”

  Nathan nodded.

  “The sky’s going to clear any minute,” Micah added, handing Nathan a two-way radio. “You can do this, Nathan. We’ll contact you when the mainframe’s ready to accept your transmission. I have our radios set to an encrypted frequency.”

  “Got it,” Nathan said, stuffing the radio into his coat pocket.

  They rushed through the door behind the desk and climbed a flight of stairs. As they rounded the subsequent landing, an Asian man in a white uniform greeted them with a scowl. “Who are you guys? You shouldn’t be in here.”

  Bryce pointed his dart gun at the man’s chest. “Turn around and put your hands up.”

  The man complied.

  “Sorry about this,” Bryce said, firing the dart into the back of his neck. The man let out a yelp, then tottered and collapsed. Micah jumped in and helped Bryce prop his upper body against a wall. He placed a finger on the man’s wrist, then he put his ear near his mouth. “Breathing and pulse are steady. He’ll be fine.”

  Nathan ran up another four flights and located the door to the roof, positioned right where it should be according to the schematic. As he neared the door, a man shouted from behind. “Denny, is that you, mate?”

  Nathan stopped and put his right hand into his coat pocket, gripping the dart gun. Could he do it?

  “Denny?” Footsteps reverberated through the stairwell. A skinny man with moppy blonde hair stopped at the landing below. Nathan prayed for accuracy as he aimed and fired. It stabbed the man’s shoulder. He howled and pulled out the dart, but his legs bowed and he fell to the floor. Five seconds later, he was out cold.

  Nathan ran back up the stairs and busted through the door to the rooftop.

  Icy wind flogged his cheeks as he looked out across the white terrain. In the distance, the cloud cover was dissipating. The wind was moving from the northwest at thirty miles per hour, Micah had reported. The clearing would be above him in minutes.

  He scanned the rooftop. As Bryce had described, a two-foot wall lined the perimeter. This should protect him from bullets if he stayed on his back.

  “Nathan,” Micah’s voice blared over the two-way radio. “Nice job taking out that second technician.”

  “Don’t make me do that again…please.”

  “And now for the bad news. Air Traffic Control just reported Leland’s touchdown. That means he’ll be at the mainframe in twenty minutes.”

  “Terrific,” Nathan said. “And what about the guard at the Ice Runway?”

  “At this point, McMurdo security is the least of our concerns. It’s going to get ugly soon, Nathan. The force field will hold them off momentarily, but Leland’s men will have it down in no time. Get the job done and get out. I’ve hacked into the mainframe and I’ll have it readied to receive your input in minutes.”

  A piercing alarm sounded from a rooftop horn as Nathan looked out over McMurdo Station through binoculars. A pair of snowmobiles appeared over a snowy mound, with two uniformed guards on each machine. Both guards on the rear seats stood and pointed rifles in his direction. Nathan ducked as automatic gunfire resonated in the distance. Bullets ricocheted off a satellite dish ten feet away.

  He flattened his body against the rooftop, heart pounding. Now what?

  He fished the mobile transmitter from his left jacket pocket and studied the sky surrounding the Barrier tower—about fifty yards away, as Bryce had showed him on the schematics. The sky was finally clearing.

  More gunfire in the distance.

  “You okay?” Bryce barked on the two-way radio.

  “Yeah, I think.”

  “Stay low and you’ll be fine. Be ready to spot the next geyser burst when the clearing is above the tower. We’ve got to pull this off before Leland gets here.”

  “Understood.”

  “Ashlyn and I will guard the front and back doors in case the four guards manage to get through the force field,” Bryce said. “Micah’s staying with the mainframe. Remember Nathan, you only get one shot. You absolutely cannot hit the green button until you’re certain you’re in sync with the new wave cycle. You got it?”

  “Got it.”

  Nathan scooted over, pressing his body against the surrounding wall. “God help me,” he whispered as he searched the sky.

  35

  Leland boarded a helicopter in a warehouse near the Ice Runway. “Fly over the McMurdo Barrier mainframe building and assess the situation,” he ordered the pilot.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And turn up the heat in here.”

  “Right away, sir.”

  Leland’s four men loaded rifles and ammunition, then boarded the rear seats.

  Five minutes later, the helicopter approached the mainframe building.

  “Looks like the runway guards are already en route,” one of Leland’s men said, spotting the two snowmobiles. “What do you want us to do about that?”

  “Take them out,” Leland said. “We don’t need them in our way. Make sure you’re using silencers.”

  Leland instructed the pilot to fly low and follow the snowmobiles.

  As the snowmobiles raced toward the mainframe building, two of Leland’s men fired and all four guards flew off their machines, tumbling, blood streaking the white ground. The unmanned machines plowed forward, smashing into the unseen force field, igniting the air with an orange and yellow ball of fire.

  “There’s some sort of energy barricade around the mainframe building,” one of the men reported.

  “Probably an ionized particle field,” another replied.

  “Test your bullets on it,” Leland snapped.

  One of the men fired at a window. The glass exploded into pieces. “The force field can’t stop bullets, sir.”

  Leland instructed the pilot to do another flyover. As they hovered, one of his men spotted a body on the rooftop.

  “I suspect it’s Nathan Gallagher,” the man said, lowering his binoculars. “Shall we take him out, sir?”

  “Not
yet,” Leland said. He ordered the pilot to land nearby.

  _____

  As the helicopter flew over, Nathan spotted gun barrels poking out of both sides.

  “Nathan, that was Leland!” Bryce’s voice crackled from the two-way radio. “Four guards just dropped like flies and their snowmobiles slammed into the force field. I guarantee you that collision compromised the integrity of the field.”

  “So what’s that mean?” Nathan replied, heart racing.

  “It means Leland’s men will be here in a matter of minutes. Once they’re in, Ashlyn and I will try to take them out with darts. They blew out a window and that gives us a clear opening to the main entrance.”

  “Will you be able to hold them off?”

  “Don’t count on it,” Bryce said. “Even if we’re lucky enough to take out two men, we’ll never get beyond that. Micah’s locked himself in the basement server room behind a steel door…that might buy both of you a few more minutes. If you and Micah succeed in resetting the system and establishing administrator control, Elliot will take it from there. Micah’s opened a direct com link with Elliot and both are awaiting your input.” He paused. “This might be our last conversation, Nathan. Best of luck.”

  Nathan rolled onto his back and scanned the sky. The clearing was almost above the tower. He shut his eyes, focused his breathing and thought of the first time he spotted the Kansas City Barrier as a child: his father’s small aluminum boat bobbing in the morning sunlight; the perfect, clear morning on Lake Oshiro. “Look dad, the sky is moving,” Nathan had said to his father, pointing upward. “It looks like a mirror of the lake.” He noticed the Barrier ripples with little effort that day, rolling in unison like a gentle tide. It was like being inside a giant snow globe, he told his father.

  Nathan opened his eyes. His quickly numbing fingers gripping the transmitter, thumb on the green button.

  The clearing moved directly above the tower now, and cobalt atmosphere touched the peak. Nathan focused his eyes, blinked, squinted, strained, focused harder until his retinas burned….

  Yes, he saw it! The McMurdo Barrier.

  Translucent ripples emanated from a focal point thousands of feet above the tower, where the geyser of unseen energy reached maximum height and spread outward. He set the timer on his watch. Two minutes and thirty-four seconds later, the ripples fizzled and a new geyser erupted, smacking the same focal point like a stone hitting a puddle. More ripples. He followed them, reset his watch, and waited for the ripples to subside, thumb readied on the green button.

  Suddenly, an explosion rocked the building below.

  Nathan flinched and released his thumb.

  The ripples disintegrated and a new geyser erupted.

  Another explosion, followed by gunfire.

  “Nathan!” Micah yelled from the two-way radio, panting. “I’m at a security desk in the basement. Dad and Ashlyn are dead!”

  Nathan gasped. “Dead, are you sure?”

  “From what I can see on the monitors down here, they incapacitated two of Leland’s men with darts, but two more blew through an emergency exit and fired a bunch of rounds. They’re coming for me next. Any luck up there?”

  Nathan shot a glance at the sky around the tower, heart pounding. A fresh blanket of cloud cover surrounded the peak.

  “Afraid not, Micah,” Nathan said. “I need to wait for another clearing.”

  “Keep trying…but if I go, it’s over. I have to be here to make the final mainframe override after you hit the green button and reset the system at the start of the wave cycle.”

  The rooftop door flung open and two men in dark clothing emerged. Nathan jumped to his feet and reached for the Glock in his coat pocket.

  “Hands up,” one of the men said, aiming his weapon at Nathan’s chest. The other did the same.

  Nathan whipped out Denny’s gun, hand trembling. In the other hand, he gripped the transmitter, thumb on the green button. “I suggest you gentlemen drop your weapons,” he shouted. “I just activated a sequence that will shut down every Barrier in the world in thirty minutes. I have the power to call it off. Better relay that information to your employer.”

  “He’s bluffing,” the man said to his partner.

  The other spoke into a satellite phone. “He’s here, sir, but there’s a situation. Proceed with caution.”

  Several minutes later, the helicopter hovered and made a drop-off. As it flew away, a man walked toward Nathan with his cane digging into the snow on the rooftop. He was bundled in a thick wool parka, his eyes like two dark stones under the hood, his face a map of scar tissue and wrinkled skin.

  Nathan gasped. Was this who he thought it was? Leland Kronemeyer in the flesh? It was public knowledge that the world’s wealthiest CEO hated how he looked and had refused public interviews for twenty years. Nathan guessed he might be the first common man in two decades to stand in the presence of the world’s richest and loneliest human being. He had seen the old footage of the restaurant bombing that killed Leland’s wife and daughters, the work of a Sanctuary terrorist. No wonder he was who he was. No wonder he hated the Sanctuaries.

  “Lower your weapons,” Leland said to his men, calmly. “We’re here to negotiate.”

  The men complied.

  Leland pointed his cane at Nathan’s gun. “Your turn, Nathan.”

  “I’m not here to negotiate.”

  “Of course you are, son....drop your weapon and let’s converse like civilized men.”

  Nathan gripped the Glock tighter. Leland’s men glared back, fingers ready to fire.

  Nathan scanned McMurdo in all directions. People were coming out of buildings everywhere. Snowmobiles were firing up. More alarms sounded in the distance. Things were going to get even more out of hand, and he was quickly becoming outnumbered and outgunned.

  Nathan lowered the gun and let it fall at his feet. One of Leland’s men picked it up, then resumed his stance.

  Leland flashed a crooked smile, flesh on his right cheek stiff and unbending. “Thank you, Nathan. You see? This is how agreements are reached—through compromise and gestures of trust.”

  He approached Nathan slowly, his cane sinking into the snow that was rapidly accumulating on the rooftop. He patted Nathan’s back as they stood and looked out over McMurdo Station, icy wind pelting their faces. “Wretched place, isn’t it?”

  “It’s not exactly my idea of a vacation.”

  “Nor mine,” Leland said, “but I appreciate your team’s efforts in exposing a fatal flaw in the system. Rankcon Corporation will make the necessary security enhancements to ensure such a breach never occurs again.”

  “Is it true your men killed Bryce and Ashlyn?”

  “They shot first and my men defended themselves. Any court of law would side in Rankcon’s defense.”

  “What about the four security guards?”

  “Nobody witnessed their deaths.” Leland said. “In fact, I believe you killed them in your failed attempt to hijack this mainframe. That is the more obvious scenario, is it not?”

  Nathan had no retort.

  “This isn’t going to end well for you, Nathan.” Leland lifted his cane and swung it 180 degrees over the rooftop wall. “These people are coming for you, not me. But I can make them go away. We can reach an agreement right now and you can fly back with me within the hour.”

  “What kind of agreement?”

  “Tell me what you want.”

  “I want my son back.”

  “I can make one quick call and have Ian released today,” Leland said. “Poof. Just like that.”

  Nathan’s heart lurched in his chest, and he almost said yes, he’d take whatever deal Leland offered if it meant getting Ian back.

  “But what about everyone else?” Nathan said. “What about the billions of innocent people imprisoned in the Sanctuaries, kids like Ian awaiting their death sentences when the next flare hits?”

  Leland cackled. “Don’t be ridiculous, Nathan. I can’t save the entire world,
but I can make small things happen without the bureaucrats noticing.”

  “And what do you want in return?”

  Leland gave Nathan one more pat on the back. “Before we discuss what I want, I need you to cease and desist with whatever you were about to do. Can you do that for me?”

  “He said he implemented a sequence that will take out every Barrier in the world,” one of his men added.

  “Nonsense,” Leland retorted. “I checked with my lead systems security advisor before stepping off the chopper. Only minor tampering has occurred, nothing more. Hacks are inevitable and we have ample countermeasures in place. You surely don’t think I traveled eight thousand miles from Manhattan to personally apprehend a group of amateur criminals?”

  “You’re obviously threatened by us,” Nathan said. “That’s why you and Chairman Alkott were looking for my father.” He searched the sky for a hint of a clearing, gripping the transmitter, thumb ready to hit the green button. Another patch of clouds was approaching, maybe ten minutes out.

  “Chairman Alkott was just another self-interested politician, and karma dealt him the cards he deserved.” Leland followed Nathan’s gaze. “He never cared about the world as I do.”

  Nathan turned and looked the old trillionaire in the eyes. “If you really cared, Leland, you would have severed your contract with the Intergovernmental Congress thirty years ago and made Barrier technology available to everyone.”

  “Spare me the lecture on ethics, boy.” Leland shook his cane at the northern horizon. “The violent crime rate in the Sanctuaries is twenty times higher than the Barriers. Do you really want to open the floodgates now? The world hasn’t seen a war in forty years and I intend to keep it that way.”

  “There’s plenty of decent human beings in the Sanctuaries,” Nathan said. “Most of them just want a chance at a better life. These are not aliens, Leland. These are legal citizens penned up like refugees.”

  Leland limped in a circle around Nathan, his cane wobbling under his hand. “Compromises, Nathan, that’s how the real world operates. There will always be collateral damage when measures are taken to protect our most valuable citizens. Always.”