by Andrew Watts
“Can we trust you to do the right thing here?” Wilcox said to Kim.
“I swear that you can. I apologize that I was not truthful with you before. Please allow me to help fix this.” Kim looked at Colt. “But I don’t understand. Why do you need access to the weather program?”
Colt said, “If their operation is based on when the wildfire arrives at Pax AI, we need to know when the clock runs out.”
46
Pax AI HQ
24 hours later
Special Agent Joe Smith was checking work emails on his phone inside the Pax AI lobby. The forensics folks were all over the building. San Francisco police outside had secured traffic in the street.
A steady stream of agents and tech specialists had been in and out all day, so it wasn’t unusual when the revolving door spun and a pretty blonde woman wearing a suit walked in.
“Good morning,” she said.
“Morning, can I help you?” Smith replied, standing up from his stool.
She said, “I’m Special Agent LaVassiere. I don’t believe we’ve met, what office are you from?”
Smith blinked, his instincts of treating a fellow agent appropriately competing with the security procedures in place for this assignment. The female agent smiled and removed her sunglasses. Whew. She was really a knockout, Smith thought.
He cleared his throat. “I’m local. San Francisco field office. You from DC?”
“How’d you know? Any of my friends from Cyber Division here?”
“Nah, they’re out for lunch. Just left.”
“Shoot. I just flew in today, so I haven’t connected with them yet. Beautiful weather here, by the way. Hey, do I need a badge or anything to go upstairs?”
Smith, feeling more comfortable now, said, “Only the fourth floor, but that’s off limits right now. We need a company escort to go up there anyway, and they aren’t coming in today.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I’ll stop at the third floor, I guess. That’s where my boss told me to go.”
“Sure thing. Let me know if you need any help.”
Ava smiled, feeling his eyes on her as she walked up the stairs. Probably not out of security concern. She was out of view soon enough and made her way up to the fourth-floor security door. This was the moment of truth. Had they changed the access restrictions?
Ava scanned her fingerprints, then tapped her personal code into the display.
The double doors glowed green and slid open, and she exhaled.
One hundred and twenty miles northeast, Colt was in the back of a Cessna Caravan, a single-prop plane that had taken off from a small airport in the mountains. Jeff Kim and Moshe were also on board. All three wore parachutes, which Colt was trying not to think about. Kim looked equally nervous, his brow covered in sweat. His eyes darted from the plane’s windows to Colt’s face. Moshe looked amused.
The pilot craned his neck and said, “We’re about five minutes out from the jump spot.”
Moshe smiled. “Time to go on our hike in the woods.”
47
Ava sat down at the fourth-floor computer terminal that controlled the weather-prediction AI program and checked her watch. They should be almost at the jump spot. It would take them about thirty minutes to get in position from there. She needed to accomplish her mission before then.
She typed in her username and password and removed the electronic device that stored Jeff Kim’s modification code from her purse. Ironically, this never would have made its way past security if the Pax AI guard were still at the fourth-floor entrance.
She accessed the appropriate program and began making inputs. She could now see the fire’s progress, and an estimate of how long before the Mountain Research Facility was consumed.
Two hours and forty minutes. She held her breath, shocked. Had she done something wrong? She reran the data, and then looked again.
No, it was right. The winds had picked up from the worst possible direction. She needed to hurry and warn her team. But first, Ava needed to get Kim’s access to The Facility installations updated with today’s date.
Ava was about to head over to the security desk when she froze.
The fourth-floor sliding door whirred behind her.
“Excuse me, who are you?” said a voice.
“I don’t think I can do it.” Kim was breathing heavily. The wind whipped through the airplane cabin from the open jump door.
“Doesn’t matter. I can,” Moshe said.
Moshe was attached to him. Kim’s eyes were wide.
Moshe looked back at Colt. “You ready?”
Colt gritted his teeth and nodded. Shit shit shit shit shit. He had only done this once before, and not in terrain like this. They had chosen the best landing spot they could find, a grassy hill about two miles from their destination. The plane would come in low, masked by the nearest mountain. Security guards, if any remained, would probably hear the noise but wouldn’t see the chutes. But Ava had sent them the latest company email a few hours ago. The fires were getting closer, and all employees and government security personnel had been ordered to evacuate.
“Go,” Moshe said, and pushed Colt out the door. Colt flexed every muscle in his body, feeling the terror of falling from one thousand feet above the ground for what seemed like an eternity, pulling his cord the moment he was away from the plane. The pine-covered mountains swirling around him. A bright blue sky. A grassy landing site below. And his stomach, somewhere back in the aircraft cabin.
The chute opened and Colt lurched to a halt, then felt the sensation of slowly floating downward. They landed in a flat field. Moshe had quick-released himself and Kim from their gear, then came over to check on Colt.
“Are you good?”
Colt nodded. “Thanks for the push.”
Moshe grunted.
Colt unstrapped from the chute and checked his watch. “We better get a move on.”
Moshe looked in the direction of the gray smoke coming from the nearest mountainside. “It looks close.”
Colt could smell the fire. And above them, the sky was filling with ash. “It does. Any word from Ava yet?”
Moshe looked at the phone-like device strapped to his wrist. “No. Come this way. We should run.” They began jogging through the grass, Colt doing his best to keep up with the incredibly fit Mossad operative who ran like a gazelle. Jeff Kim awkwardly followed them both. They reached the nearest tree line a few minutes later and transitioned to a quick hike, the pace still brutal over uneven terrain. Thank God for the boots and gear the Israeli support team had provided in Vancouver yesterday.
After a while, Moshe came to a halt.
“Are we there?” Kim asked, out of breath. Colt was peering into the dark forest ahead of them.
Moshe said, “Almost. The fence is ahead. About fifty meters. If we keep moving, we will trip the security cameras. We need to hear from Ava first.”
Colt looked behind them. The fire seemed to take up the entire skyline.
48
Ava spun around in her seat to see a man wearing a blue FBI windbreaker jacket holding a clipboard. He was frowning at her.
“I’m sorry, who are you?”
Ava stood, smiling. “Oh hi, are you with Cyber?”
The agent turned his head, like he sensed something was off. Ava knew she needed to defuse the situation.
“I’m sorry, I just flew in from DC. They told me to get started on this floor.”
“No one is supposed to have access to this floor. I just got a custom key made for us and was testing it out. How did you get in?”
Ava estimated the man was ten feet away. A little over two meters tall, ninety kilos by the look of him. She began walking toward him, casually looking in her purse. “Sorry, I should have shown you my ID. Here you go.” She purposely dropped the ID card on the floor, watching as the man’s eyes followed it.
Ava’s hand moved quickly, jabbing the pressurized injection pen into the man’s neck.
Pfft.
He looked shocked as he placed his hand to his neck. Then his eyes glazed over, his knees grew weak, and soon he was on the floor in a heap.
Ava raced back to the computer, flipping her wrist to check her watch. Colt and the others would be approaching The Facility’s security perimeter soon. She needed to get Jeff Kim’s access approved.
And she was late.
“I’m not getting any signal,” Moshe said, looking at his wrist-mounted communication device.
“Satellite?” Colt asked.
“Yes. But this model is always crashing.”
Kim said, “This area is awful for communications. Has to do with the proximity to the mountains. That was one of the reasons we chose it. Lousy connections, no cell signal for miles. Makes security easier.”
Moshe said, “We need to go.”
Colt said, “If the security system is still up . . .”
“Then they will come,” said the Israeli. “And they will find us.”
The three men stopped about twenty feet ahead of a towering spiral of barbed wire. Moshe then handed the two other men barbed wire clippers.
“Let’s begin.” They spent the next five minutes clipping out a man-sized section of the razor wire barrier and dragging it out of the way. Moshe then reached the tall chain-link fence behind the razor wire and clipped a hole they could fit through. He said, “Wait. Ava just sent a message.”
Colt halted, looking at Moshe as he read the text on his wrist. “What’s the time?”
Moshe looked up. “One hour, fifty-eight minutes.”
“That’s a lot less time than we had expected.” Colt looked back in the direction they had come from.
“Winds,” Moshe said.
Far in the distance, a thirty-foot wall of bright yellow flame had erupted along the forest floor of sticks, pine straw, and bark, now visible over the closest ridgeline.
“Let’s go through.” Moshe was sweating as he made his way through the hole in the fence, and Colt and Kim followed.
Kim said, “Did she say anything about the security clearance?”
Moshe said, “No.”
Colt looked back again through the fence. About two miles away, the forest was now alive with fire. Crackling wood and grayish smoke rose up. Ava had better succeed in her mission.
The three men began walking down the slope on the inside of the fence.
“Shh.” Moshe held out his hand. “Over here. Get down.”
Colt hid behind a thick evergreen on the ridge line. He looked down the path, in the direction Moshe was staring.
An all-terrain security vehicle was rumbling toward them, about two football fields away and closing fast.
“Place your hands up,” yelled a heavily accented voice from nearby. Colt spun around to see two security men aiming rifles at them.
Moshe cursed and placed his hands in the air. The others followed suit.
49
Ava watched the bar slide all the way to one hundred percent and turn green. The security clearance was active. She looked at her watch again. Fifteen minutes behind schedule. She heard a groan behind her. The FBI agent was going to wake up soon. She thought about giving him another dose of the drug but decided against it. She was about to shut off the monitor when she saw a red blinking warning icon on the bottom of her screen. She clicked on it and saw The Facility’s security program. Several fire alerts had illuminated. That was expected.
And a security perimeter breach warning. The status read security team en route.
Shit. She hoped Moshe saw them coming.
Ava was about to shut down the computer when she saw another red label on her dashboard.
Evacuation in progress. Security clearance not transmitted.
“You just approved the security clearance, why won’t you send it?” she whispered to herself.
Ava looked at the digital timer on her watch, which she had synced with the fire’s approach. One hour and forty-five minutes.
The man behind her groaned again. Ava looked back at him. He was still immobile, on the floor.
His newly printed keycard around his neck.
Ava ran over and snatched the keycard, then brought it back to the security station, sticking it into the card slot. Her fingers danced over the keys, transferring Jeff Kim’s newly approved Facility security access to the card. After twenty excruciating seconds, the screen turned green and she pulled the card, tucking it in her purse.
She exited through the security chamber, doors sliding open and closing behind her. Then she walked down the stairs, passing the third-floor window.
Her eyes were drawn to movement outside the window. The company helicopter was sitting on the landing pad next to the building. The aircrew was washing the exterior with soap and water. As Ava raced down the stairway, she sent a text from her phone.
Need air transport now.
Moshe had left them.
He disappeared just before the private security guards arrived.
The Israeli had been about to open fire on the first vehicle when a second appeared over the ridge, changing his calculation. His split-second decision was to Colt both unexpected and disconcerting.
“You stay here. Don’t tell them anything,” Moshe had said, then vanished behind a set of boulders. At first, Colt had expected him to jump out to rescue them as the guards were restraining them. But when that didn’t happen, Colt began to second-guess how expendable Moshe considered his new American partners to be.
“This was a bad idea,” Kim whispered.
He and Colt sat in the back seat of the lead off-road security vehicle now bouncing its way toward The Facility. The forest around them was a weird reddish color, sunlight fighting its way through the smoke now covering the sky. The smell of firewood was thick in the air.
A young guard with Slavic features had his eyes on them from the passenger seat. Moments ago, the same man had placed zip ties around their wrists while two other guards held them at gunpoint. As they were being tied up, a third security vehicle appeared, this one with a man in a silver reflective fire suit. They parked their vehicle near the fence, and he began spraying a chemical fire retardant into the area.
“How much longer until the fire gets here?” Kim asked, keeping his voice to a hush.
“Not really sure. Ninety minutes, tops,” said Colt.
“Was this what you expected to happen?”
The guard narrowed his eyes.
Colt said, “Which part? Ending up prisoners of a private security team, heading toward a secretive AI research facility now ostensibly hijacked by a rogue FBI agent and a Russian spymaster while our Israeli protector ditched us in the woods at the first sign of trouble?”
Kim blinked.
Colt said, “No, that was not part of my plan.”
The driver shouted back at them to be quiet, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. His comrade in the passenger seat began speaking over the radio in Russian or Ukrainian, his words too fast for Colt to pick up.
Their vehicle pulled up to the security shack next to the helipad. The Facility entrance was fifty yards away, tucked into the side of the mountain. The above-ground laboratories were closer, enclosed platforms tucked in the woods under the water tower. Near the security shack, three guards headed toward them, long guns visible.
“The light above The Facility entrance is red,” Kim said.
Colt looked and saw what he meant. The large, futuristic-looking metal door in the side of the mountain had a rectangular LED strip atop it, illuminating the shaded area in red underneath.
“What’s that mean?” Colt asked.
“It means they’ve started one of the AI programs. The security protocols in place have locked all the doors.”
50
Ava sat in the front seat of the Pax AI helicopter as the aircraft began spinning up. The pilot’s nametag read “Carl,” but that was not his name. Samantha had acquired uniforms and IDs for a Mossad pilot trained in hundreds of different types of aircraft. He had
been flown in from Vancouver the previous night. The Pax AI mechanic had been paid three thousand US dollars to make sure the helicopter was fueled and ready. The Mossad pilot then locked the mechanic in the aviation shed next to the landing pad, providing him with plausible evidence he wasn’t involved.
After walking out of the Pax AI headquarters and over to the helicopter landing pad next door, the Israeli pilot had given Ava a headset, helped her strap in, and politely asked her not to touch anything.
Within minutes, they were flying north over the San Francisco Bay.
Colt and Jeff Kim were made to sit on the ground outside the security shack for what seemed like an eternity. The guards were content to leave them there. They didn’t even try to contact anyone. Colt figured they must have had orders not to disturb what was going on inside the buildings.
“Where the hell is Moshe?” Kim asked.
Colt didn’t answer. Behind his back, he held a small rock in one hand and was trying unsuccessfully to cut the plastic zip tie binding his wrists. Even if he did manage to do that, Colt wasn’t sure what his next step would be. The guards were heavily armed and looked very capable as they patrolled the area with military vigilance.
At this point, Moshe was their best hope.
The main door suddenly let out a loud beep and opened. Half a dozen men appeared and exited The Facility, including Rinaldi and three men Colt recognized from surveillance videos—the gunmen thought to have killed Kozlov. One wore the infamous wrist tattoo. Then came the SVR. Petrov and his thick henchman, the one Ava had stabbed in the neck. The last man was a surprise.
“Luke?” Kim blurted out. Luke Pace, Pax AI’s chief scientist, was being prodded along at gunpoint, his face red and puffy.