by Toker, Dor
“Be quiet,” Amir snapped at her, “it’s not his fault.” Adam wiped his wet face. He felt persecuted once more, what little tranquility and comfort Amir had provided him with, washed away by the wave of Alona’s accusations.
“From the moment he came into our house I knew this would not end well, the people who killed his parents will bring a disaster on his head and the heads of everyone around him. Only he knows where Naomi is,” the mother continued, “he should tell us where she is.”
“He doesn’t know,” said Amir and held Adam’s hand. “Go and lie down,” he called resolutely to his wife and led the boy to the porch, closing the pixelated sliding door. They sat in two recliners on the porch and stared at the yard.
“What did she mean?” asked Adam after they were both silent for a while.
Amir didn’t answer the boy. He caressed his beard distractedly and Adam could hear him humming an unclear melody to himself.
“They died because of me?”
“Did you know your father and I used to work together?” Amir broke his silence. Adam allowed him to continue. “We researched the use of the Mendelssohnian Theory to locate computer viruses. Actually, we conceptualized the virus as a damaged or erroneous Mendelssohnian chain. It was your father’s idea, he wanted to publish it as an open code on the worldwide-web, but I objected. I thought that sooner or later one of the corporations would try to claim the rights for the software we’d developed and in order to protect it we must keep the rights with us.” He was silent for a moment, breathing heavily, his gaze fixed somewhere beyond the yard. “When they were found dead, we were in the middle of registering the patent for the application of our research,” he continued, “I was convinced they were murdered by corporate agents, but the police report established that they committed suicide, and I couldn’t prove otherwise.” Adam shrunk at the sound of the decisive statement in Amir’s words. Even to himself, he had never fully admitted his parents may have been killed in a different way than the one told him. They were dead and that was that. “Now I think it was about something else, something darker that has to do with you and who you are.”
“I’m the same person I’ve always been,” called Adam in a voice that begged recognition, “You know me.”
“You need to run,” said Amir, “they know you’re here and will get here any minute. Leave the reservation the same way you managed to get inside and do it quickly. Don’t let them catch you.”
“But what about Naomi?” Adam insisted. “How can I leave without finding out where she is,” he begged.
Two black dots appeared on the skyline of the city spread before them and gradually grew until materializing into two air-ground hovercrafts.
“I’ll keep on looking for her,” Amir said quietly, “you just worry about staying alive. Now go,” he finished, “get away from here.”
The hovercrafts flew toward them quickly.
“Run,” called Amir and jumped to his feet, “quickly, I’ll try to delay them.”
Adam lunged from his chair. “I’ll find her,” he hissed at Amir, “I swear I’ll find her,” and he leaped beyond the porch banister and quickly turned toward the rear gate of the yard, a green and ancient looking wicket. For a brief moment, he turned around and looked back at the house. Dr. Lev sat bent within the small chair in the dim porch. He turned toward the gate again and quickly left the yard on his way back to the tunnel through which he had managed to enter the reservation and through which he intended to leave it again.
Chapter 6
Everything that can be documented on the face of the globe had been documented long ago. Few things could pass ‘below radar’ and become lost within the information stream pouring through the various communication networks. All human beings were connected to one another and to various electronic components with the aid of subcutaneous cards. The supervision over them and the war against their forgery were done by a semi-private police force, operated by the super powers and the corporations.
The value of human life had never been cheaper. The most common way was to make people who did not comply with the politics of the nameless governing elite, disappear without a trace. The Jewish reservation was one of the last places in the world in which the direct supervision over human beings did not exist. The bubble almost fully blocked such attempts. Almost. Someone had apparently located Adam and the boy was now on the run. And now, outside the reservation, the danger that he would be located by his pursuers was even greater, at least that’s what Joseph had claimed just before Adam had managed to slip away from the elderly scientist. Even though he had managed to escape them once, Adam knew that the next time, Joseph would not come to his aid.
He ran. He’d been running for almost two weeks. His last strength was exhausted long ago and now he was motivated only by the need to breathe. At first, he ran away from Joseph. Now he was running from the unknown abductors Amir Lev, the elderly scientist, had warned him about.
Adam ran as fast as his feet could carry him, glancing behind, seeking his pursuers. The few times he had stopped to rest and drink were brief and for the past two days, since he’d recognized signs of his pursuers, he hadn’t stopped at all.
He detoured inhabited locations, avoided running on paved roads, hid within groves and every time he saw people around him, took care to hide from them. He stole food from isolated farms and mostly ate berries he located on the road. From the very beginning of his flight, he had decided not to give up. No matter what might happen, he wouldn’t let anyone catch him.
Adam didn’t know where he was heading and how he would be able to evade his enemies, mainly because he had no idea who they were. He believed that their reconnaissance/monitoring devices (Recomonitor©) were able to identify him anywhere and anytime. But, he did not intend to make it easier on them and gradually came to the realization that sooner or later, he would have to fight them. As they got closer, his strength diminished. If at first he randomly slalomed his way, now he simply ran in one direction, as fast as he could. Running and hoping for a miracle that would release him, draw him out of the pit he had found himself in. Even though his life had gotten him used to not expect miracles, he had no other choice but to maintain an unfounded hope for salvation.
On the border of a cornfield that stretched to the limits of his eyesight, he stopped for a moment and examined the way he’d passed in the last few hours. To his great anxiety, he saw a hovercraft advancing toward him with great speed, closing the gap that separated it from him; soon, it would catch up with him. He lunged between the high corn stalks and began to make his way through the plants ordered in endless rows. The yellow corncobs bumped against his body and his face; the leaves left marks of thin and bleeding scratches on his skin. He zigzagged between the rows, hearing the hovercraft arresting on the border of the field and the voices of his pursuers, jumping from within and spreading across the lines. He heard them advancing toward him, about to close in on him from all directions. Adam realized he was doomed, but still did not give up. He dove into a pile of dry branches and tried to diminish his presence as much as he could. From his hiding place, he counted six pursuers passing by and knew that there must be at least one additional driver in the hovercraft hanging above the verge of the cornfield. He hoped that they would continue on their way without noticing his hiding place, but one of the pursuers came back. When the man approached and stopped next to the pile of branches in which Adam was hiding, the frightened boy held his breath until he was less than three feet away. Adam didn’t know where he was able to draw strength from, but just as the agent lifted his weapon toward him, he jumped at him and hit him in the stomach. The man doubled up, choking, the protective aura (Shiny Shield ©) of his suit blinked and was turned off. Adam did not waste a single moment and grabbed the agent’s weapon, a military looking drill (Drill ©), from his hands. He aimed and fired, just as he had done countless times during childhood games. But this time it wasn’t a game and luckily enough, the safety catch of the we
apon that was about to harm him, was open. An electric bolt hit the belly of the agent and he doubled up and fell shivering on the ground. Adam did not delay to check the condition of his enemy.
It was clear to Adam that the sound of the struggle was heard from afar and that the remaining pursuers would hurry to close in on him and catch him. He jumped from his hiding place and ran toward the hovercraft, without attempting to silence his gallop between the dense corn stalks. All at once, he came out of the field and onto the dirt road and saw the aircraft in front of him. Without hesitating a single moment, he jumped and entered it. The startled hovercraft driver turned toward him just as Adam had fired and hit him in the head. The driver collapsed immediately and Adam held the wheel and without thinking twice, turned it around quickly. The hovercraft complied and turned. He was able to see the rest of his pursuers lunging at him, attempting in vain to grab onto the chassis of the vehicle, but he managed to slip away. They fired their weapons at him, but their hovercraft was programmed to be invulnerable and their bullets missed their mark. When he got away from the Pursuing agents, he stopped the float, opened the vehicle door and pushed out the unconscious pilot. Seconds before he took to the air, Adam noticed one of the company placing a finger to his ear and whispering something, probably to a hidden microphone, ‘the commander’ he assumed, as the hovercraft vanished beyond the edge of the horizon.
Adam didn’t know how he had the necessary knowledge to drive the aircraft and had no time to think about it. He only knew he must distance himself from his pursuers as quickly as possible. They must have already reported their failure and other pursuers would soon be sent after him. He held the control stick, just like he had seen in numerous movies, and navigated the small aircraft away from the cornfield in which he had almost been caught. The aircraft yielded to his implorations and obeyed his guidance, accumulated speed and height, and increased the distance between Adam and the danger that had almost caught up with him. All this time, bothersome questions were ceaselessly running through his mind and he could not understand why they had decided to chase him of all people. In what way was he different from other boys his age? Why was it so important for them and for Joseph to kidnap him from his home? To murder his parents? The Jewish reservation now seemed to him so remote and blurry, just like he imagined the cities of Amsterdam or London his mother had once told him about. She was born in London to parents that were descendants of the great escape from Amsterdam while the city had been drowned beneath the waves of the rising ocean. When he was younger, and his parents were still alive, his mother used to tell him about the great cities, especially Amsterdam, a city she sorely missed although she had never visited it. When Adam had told Naomi about Amsterdam, he’d shifted his mother’s birthplace to it. It sounded more mysterious and he wanted to impress her, which he had. Naomi was fascinated by the story and requested him to describe the city again and again.
Once more, he remembered Naomi. What had happened to her? Why did they kidnap her as well? What has she ever done to them? Joseph himself had said that she was not part of the equation. Adam only had a faint idea about what the elderly scientist had spoken about, but he hoped the fact that Naomi was not part of the equation would be to her benefit, and that the dark clothed abductors would soon release her, also because she was the daughter of one the city’s dignitaries.
He had already spent some time outside the reservation, flying in a stolen hovercraft, chased by unknown forces and in his heart and thoughts, he was determined not to give up. They won’t catch him again. Where will he fly to? Even before the question popped into his mind, he had already known the answer: Amsterdam, the sunken floating city. He typed the name of the former Dutch city onto the computer monitor and the hovercraft tilted to the right and rose higher in the air. Adam felt his eyes shutting. He was afraid that the hovercraft would be tracked, but could not maintain his alertness. When his head bumped against the control panel for the third time, he gave up, pushed back the backrest and allowed himself to sink into deep sleep. The hovercraft continued on its way, navigating automatically, crossing the Mediterranean in a low altitude, taking a course that avoided contact with other aircraft or the coast guard of the sea that divided European and Muslim territories.
Adam slept. He did not wake up when they passed the skies of the French territory of Europe, nor when they passed the former Belgium or when the hovercraft finally reached the area of the city of Amsterdam and prepared for landing in the hovercraft complex, attached to the floating city. This time of day, slightly after sunrise, the large dock was almost empty of any sea or aircraft. The hovercraft gently settled on the floating platform, automatically allotted it by the city’s computerized traffic control (Traffic.Com ©).
Adam kept sleeping when three hydrofoil boats had emerged from the shadows and circled the dock from all directions. The boats progressed toward the small hovercraft, attached themselves to the floating dock and turned off their engines. The doors of the boats opened silently and twelve men, wearing black protective suits, got outside and with catlike strides advanced toward the hovercraft. The first of the men to arrive reached the hovercraft’s back door, raised his hand toward the opening lock’s touch screen and tapped the entry code. The door remained locked. He tried to release the lock once more and again failed.
Suddenly, the stolen hovercraft awoke to life. Adam was still sunk in deep sleep, but to his great fortune this was no ordinary civilian hovercraft, but a vehicle equipped with an ‘intruder recognition’ system (Intruder Exile ©). Two things occurred simultaneously to the hovercraft. It took into the air and flew in a wide arc beyond one of the ships docking next to it, and then, almost at the same time, plunged into the sea. Water immediately covered the small aircraft, leaving ripples around the place where it had just sunk. The men in black did not have the opportunity to respond to the activity that had taken place in front of their eyes and when they were finally able to wake into action, it was already too late, the hovercraft disappeared.
Adam woke up, confused from the bumping of the aircraft during its evasive maneuver, seconds before it hit the water. A quick look at the front window made it clear to him that he was quickly sinking. The vehicle wasn’t intended for sailing, and certainly not for diving. Even though it was sealed and there was no danger of water penetration, Adam quickly realized his condition was worsening by the minute and the more he would sink, the more difficult it will become to exit the hovercraft. He was overcome with dread and felt arrows of panic spread within him, puncturing his entire body. The vehicle continued to sink more and more and Adam felt helpless. He tried, to no avail, to restart the hovercraft’s engine that choked and turned off as soon as it came in contact with seawater. With nervous movements, he searched a button or lever that would eject him from the hovercraft. When he had finally found and sent his hand toward it, he noticed, at the corner of his eye, a movement in the water outside the sinking vehicle’s window… He raised his eyes, examined the gray water surrounding the hovercraft and realized that its sinking was almost completely arrested. Actually, it cruised the water horizontally, apparently heading toward a specific direction. How was that possible? he wondered and then saw that someone was outside. A diver in a strange suit. Then he noticed that there were actually a few divers. The hovercraft was tied to another watercraft, a type of open submarine around which circled a few divers wearing diving suits the likes of which Adam had never seen. In fact, other than pictures on the web, he had never seen diving suits since until now, he’d never left the reservation.
He had no other choice, and in spite of the fear he was feeling, Adam raised his backrest, sat comfortably and watched the divers with curiosity. He hoped they were not among those who had chased him, but knew that the chance of that was close to zero. Weak and tired, he waited to be caught.
Chapter 7
There was nothing Emmanuel Sato hated in life more than the waiting time between contracts. It was difficult for him to deal with the idlenes
s that enveloped him as soon as one job was completed and before another one was ordered from him. Therefore, he did his best to undertake new assignments before he would finish the current contract he was working on. If he had a diary, all its pages would probably be completely full. A contract within a contract; one assignment was not yet finished and he would already gather information and equipment for the next one. Often, the contracts contrasted with one another, and he had to wipe out enemies who ordered each other’s annihilation, without knowing they hired the same assassin. But normally, he did not encounter such dilemmas. He thought of himself as a clog remover, a plumber opening the pipes of destiny for people who wanted to advance in their lives and were blocked by others with a higher rank or social status. At least that was how he had regarded himself in the beginning, until he’d earned himself a name and a status among the small community of professionals he contended with from time to time, when he was hired to wipe out or protect those beloved by the paying corporation. Twice a year, he would set aside some time, two days each time, to pay a visit to his mother’s grave in the city of Kokura on the southern island of Kyushu in old Japan, and that of his father in Yamagata in northern Honshu. His father, he didn’t know because he had died in what was known as the most severe nuclear accident of the year one hundred and forty-eight in Fukushima, shortly before Sato himself was born. Years later, he heard it was not an accident, but a planned act executed by an extremist Chinese-Korean faction to which the death of his father and others was merely a negligible side effect for achieving their goal.
The lives of Sato and his mother had not been easy since that day. She found it difficult to provide for herself and after her son was born, the difficulties intensified and threatened to overcome her. She worked several jobs and rarely saw her son. When he was mature enough, she registered him to their district’s military school and by that, assured her son’s destiny. In spite of his young age, the boy’s abilities immediately stood out. He was a great shot and specialized in hand to hand combat and fighting in enclosed and open areas. He was closely familiar with most weapons and used them to perfection. When he was fifteen, he had already conducted his first assassination. It was a forty-year-old man who had been declared as the enemy of the state and Sato performed the assassination with precision, without leaving a mark. After that, no one could doubt his capabilities any longer, and he began to serve as a lone assassin.