Invasion | Box Set | Books 1-7

by Platt, Sean

  “I don’t know. Want me to call around and find him?”

  “Yes, Mo. Why else would I ask if I didn’t want to know?”

  Mo nodded, accepting the order without insult. Meyer reminded himself to stand down. He was impatient with Mo because he wasn’t reading Meyer’s thoughts. Literally. It wasn’t the sort of thing to anger a reasonable man.

  Mo spoke into his communicator then turned to Meyer. He wouldn’t speak first. He could sense the man’s mood. Mo was no more psychic than anyone other than the freaks who accidentally stumbled through the few remaining stone nerve lines, but he was intuitive as hell — especially when it came to working with Viceroy Dempsey.

  “They’re on their way to Cottonwood,” Meyer said.

  “Hmm. Good.”

  “Trevor is with them. Piper too.”

  Mo gave Meyer another one of those looks, seemingly unsure how to respond. Maybe he wasn’t as intuitive as Meyer had been thinking, if he couldn’t read him now. Or maybe Meyer, in the past, had been easier to read.

  “I see,” Mo said. “I don’t suppose they told you what they’re looking for.”

  Meyer wanted to reply by saying, No, of course not, I’m just the fucking leader of North American humanity, no need to tell me more than the basics. Instead, he said, “No.”

  Mo nodded. He didn’t know all that Meyer knew, but he’d been informed of a lot. Meyer wasn’t sure if he was allowed to tell his right hand what he learned from the Astrals, but he could only be efficient when Mo knew enough to do his job. And also, fuck them if they had a problem with it.

  There was a knock on the doorframe. Both men turned to see Raj awaiting acknowledgement.

  “Come in,” Meyer said, indicating a chair.

  Raj sat, followed by Mo, preparing to take notes on a tablet. Meyer stayed standing.

  “Raj,” he said, “I’d like you to post a guard at the network center upstairs on four. Another where the stairs and the elevator come out.”

  “Two separate guards for the elevator and stairs?”

  “They come up ten feet apart. What do you think?”

  Raj didn’t respond, clearly having no idea what the correct answer was. Meyer let it go.

  “What are the doors up there. Glass?”

  “Hybrid synthesized sapphire glass,” Raj clarified, seemingly happy to have an answer. “Like on a phone’s touchscreen. Unbreakable.”

  Meyer suppressed his lack of enthusiasm. The Apex was made of transparent bluish glass that some thought was sapphire too, but Meyer bet that alien stuff could withstand a direct ICBM hit. And yet the Astrals weren’t sharing, even though the network center they were discussing was more important to the aliens than the Viceroy’s office.

  “Obviously, keep it locked. I don’t have to tell you that, do I?”

  “No. No, of course not.”

  “Keycard access or what?”

  “To get in? No; it’s a palm print. State of the art.”

  Meyer wished Raj would keep the brochure listing of features to himself. “Who has access?”

  “Just me and those above me.”

  “Does that include Christopher?”

  Raj’s eyebrows furrowed for a fraction of a second. On paper, he outranked Christopher, but everyone (including Raj) knew his position was honorary. Raj got to wear a uniform when he wanted and act like a big shot. No biggie. As long as Raj could keep from ordering Reptar patrols without consulting a subordinate who actually knew what the fuck they were doing, his implied power was harmless.

  “No. Christopher is just a captain.”

  “So he can’t access the network.”

  “No.”

  “What about Terrence?”

  “Terrence doesn’t even have a rank.”

  “Just answer my fucking question, Raj.”

  “Sorry. No. When we’ve needed him in the past, he’s been given terminal access. The on-duty center supervisor lets him in.”

  “Do they watch him?”

  “You mean stand over his shoulder?”

  “Yes.”

  “No, not normally. But—”

  “When was his last access?”

  “I don’t have the logs. I’d have to check.”

  “You’re the supervisor’s supervisor, Raj. It’s the one job you have that you’re actually qualified for. Try not to have your head up your ass.”

  Meyer almost felt sorry for Raj. Almost. He seemed to be reeling from the punches. This way of talking was cruel, but he didn’t feel like wasting time with bedside manner. He needed answers. Maybe it was wrong to experience power by belittling another, but doing so now — especially when the subject was Raj — felt impossible to resist.

  “I … Okay.”

  “Nobody gets access for now. Not even the supervisor. I want that door always locked, guards out front, nobody inside. Restrict access to two people: you and me. Anything goes wrong, I’ll know I didn’t do it. That knowledge will add a lot of clarity to whatever comes next.”

  “Yes, sir,” Raj stammered. “Of course, sir. Can I ask a question, sir?”

  Across from Raj, Mo laughed. Raj sounded ready to ask if he could lick Meyer’s leather loafers. Meyer was almost tempted to request it, just to see if the kid had a molecule of dignity.

  Raj glanced over at Mo’s laugh then turned back toward Meyer, looking just as servile.

  “Okay,” Meyer said.

  “Is this related to what happened the other day? Are Terrence and Christopher …”

  Meyer raised his eyebrows expectantly.

  “Are they … you know …”

  “I don’t.”

  “When you showed up … and then afterward … when I was saying how Terrence seemed like he was with them in some capacity other than as a … you know, like not under direction but as a …”

  Meyer wanted to put his face in his palms. He couldn’t decide if Raj’s floundering was more amusing or embarrassing. He couldn’t say what he thought, even though the answer was plain as day. After the dust settled and the tank vehicle had gone, Raj hadn’t been able to shut up about Terrence (and, by extension, Christopher) playing both sides. Now, when it mattered, he couldn’t say those same words.

  Meyer wanted to let him dangle until he hanged himself, but time was wasting. Still, he wished Raj would finish a question because Meyer was dying to tell him it was none of his fucking business.

  “I’m short on guards,” Raj finally spat in apparent surrender.

  “How is that possible?”

  “Christopher has almost all of them. Out by that destroyed church.”

  “The house guards?”

  “I guess they were all he had.”

  Meyer rolled his eyes. Raj had just missed a perfect opportunity to point out how poorly Christopher was doing his job. Meyer, watching Raj, wished he had a third option for his security. The choice between a traitor and an idiot was no choice at all.

  “I’ll put you in touch with Capt. Jons of the police. He’ll get you some officers to act as guards. They don’t get access, though. To any locks, including incidental house locks. They need to go to the bathroom, you or whoever you have left lets them in.”

  “Sir?”

  Meyer sighed.

  “Are you anticipating … trouble?”

  “Maybe.” He didn’t want to tell Raj more. Right now, Meyer knew for sure that Terrence, Christopher, Lila, and Heather were either involved or knew what Terrence was planning with his communication virus. Letting Raj know any more than he already did — even the names of those he suspected — was begging for a clusterfuck.

  “Then is it possible to get some … other guards?”

  “I told you I’ll set you up with police.”

  “I was thinking of … of peacekeepers.”

  Meyer looked directly at Mo Weir, who just shook his head.

  “You’re kidding.”

  “If there might be trouble, they’re the best equipped to—”

  “I’m not havi
ng Reptars in the house.” He stopped himself from adding the codicil: … you catastrophically stupid fucking moron.

  “But they’re supposedly highly intelligent, right? Not like animals, and—”

  “Absolutely not. Don’t ask again, or I’ll take you outside and feed you to one. Feel free to explain all sorts of things to it before the thing starts ripping you apart.”

  “Then maybe some of the Titans. There are a pair outside now who could—”

  Meyer shook his head.

  “All due respect, sir, if you’re expecting anything like I think you might be, I have my doubts that any human guards will be able to help. At the risk of stepping out of line, I think there may be something in the works that involves Astral technology, and if that’s the case, there’s no way that human guards with human weapons could possibly—”

  “I’ll get you cops.”

  “But the Titans … there are a bunch of them around, doing nothing, and …” He trailed off.

  Meyer finally sat.

  “I don’t suppose you ever saw an old movie called The Dark Crystal?”

  Raj shook his head.

  “You’ll see its influence in a handful of Fable’s films. It was a puppet movie, but good. There was this ancient race, and they split into two derivative races: the Skeksis and the Mystics. The Skeksis were these twisted, evil things that fought and were generally walking piles of shit. The Mystics were like old men with nothing to do other than walk around slowly and draw magic maps in the sand with canes, crap like that. They were all Zen. Peaceful.”

  “Okay,” said Raj.

  “The Reptars are their Skeksis.”

  “Okay.”

  “And the Titans are their Mystics.”

  Raj gave a small nod of assent.

  “You ever see a Titan fight? Ever?”

  Raj seemed to think then shook his head.

  “You could punch a Titan in the face, and he’d just smile at you. You try to get past a bunch of them and they’ll stop you with those giant arms, but they’ll never hurt you. You come at them with guns that might actually be able to hurt them and they’d hide or do what they could to prevent your passing, but they won’t shoot back. They’ll try to reason with you then call for Reptars to fight. Their guns are props. They’re vital to everything that happens here, but the Titans are useless as fighters because they seem to be the half of Astral consciousness that deals with peaceful discourse.”

  Raj looked at Meyer for a long moment. Meyer could have counted to five slowly before Raj spoke next.

  “Okay.”

  “So you understand?”

  “What does that have to do with puppets?” Raj asked.

  Before Meyer could reply — and it was possible his response would have come in the form of a backhand slap across the face — Mo put a restraining hand on Meyer’s arm.

  “I’ll get him some cops,” he said.

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Piper was lying flat on a dusty expanse of sand and grit, somewhat behind a large rock. Nearby, the others were also horizontal, somewhat behind other boulders.

  She looked at Cameron, surprised by his proximity. He must have scooted closer while she’d been focused on the expanse of concrete not far ahead. A slight decline lay before them, followed by a corresponding rise. A parking lot sprawled beyond that then a cliff of fractured gray stone. There were three semicircular tunnels in the rock, just as they’d been on the image Benjamin had shown them in Moab. There were no cars in the lot. Piper thought she knew why. If this were an Astral place staffed exclusively by the hairless white Titans, they wouldn’t arrive for work in cars.

  The thought made her roll to look upward. The sky, bordered on both sides by wide canyon walls, was blue and empty. It could have been another average afternoon before Astral Day, hanging out in the rock scree by the entrance of the Mormon Genealogical Archives.

  Cameron looked back then smiled at Piper.

  “This is a terrible idea,” she said.

  Cameron tried to bolster his smile, making it crawl higher on his cheeks. He partially succeeded.

  “Did Charlie explain on the way over?”

  Piper nodded. But she’d wondered why Cameron had beelined for the RV with Danika, Ivan, and his father, allowing Nathan to lead her into the other. She’d wanted to ride with him. Her insecurity had even entertained the idea that her desire led to refusal. Cameron had been keeping his head low for most of the day. Piper didn’t like it. If there were secrets, she wanted to hold them.

  “Like I’m sure he said — Charlie and Nathan; this was mainly Nathan’s plan, but don’t tell Ivan that — Nathan’s been watching this place on his satellites for a while. Best he can tell, there’s only a handful of Titans watching, and they mostly stay outside. They don’t know it contains the codex that used to be in Vail.” Cameron’s eyes flicked away momentarily as if distracted then returned to hers with sharper focus. “Point is, that’s just a few Titans for what might turn out to be miles of tunnels. Like anything secretive, there’s the official version and the truth. This place is officially quite large. Benjamin says it’s surely much larger.”

  Cameron looked over his shoulder. A small Asian woman was crouched behind a fallen boulder, eyes wide and trying not to tremble. Piper barely knew her as more than one of the lab techs named Tina. She wasn’t a stranger simply because Piper was new to the ranch this time around. Tina had been at the Moab facility Piper’s first time staying there, and they’d lived in close proximity for three months. But Tina was shy, like many of the techs. They kept to themselves and did their work, seemingly frightened of shadows.

  And these were the people Nathan Andreus wanted to use as troops, to storm an alien base.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Cameron said, again drawing Piper’s eyes. “But remember, we’re not expecting to fight. Like I said, the Titans probably only patrol the outside and the main tunnels. There’d be no reason to go deeper. The site interests them, but in the end there are only records in there. It’s low security, and in their shoes, I’d never expect an attack.”

  He ticked his head toward Tina.

  “Everyone here is scared, I know. But we need runners, not fighters.”

  “Runners?” Piper asked.

  “For all the tunnels and rooms we know about and all the ones we don’t. We need to get in and out. That’s what matters: speed and stealth. We don’t need to be strong, tough, or brave. We need to be fast and quiet. Everyone here can run, and keep a low profile. God knows they’re quiet enough in the lab.”

  For the third time, Piper looked at Tina. This time, she waved back and tried to smile. Tina was maybe five-three with practical short hair and glasses that were too small for her face.

  “They’re going to change shifts in …” Cameron looked at his watch, which he’d had rebanded and kept faithfully wound. “Six minutes. And—”

  “They punch a clock?”

  “Actually, it took some time to figure that out,” said Cameron, peeking around before spotting Andreus and Coffey maybe twenty feet away. “They seem to be watching a blade of light made as the sun passes behind a series of holes in the rock farther up. Today, it lines up in six minutes.”

  “They flew through space,” Piper said, “and they tell time with rocks.”

  Cameron smiled. “They built a worldwide brain with rocks then started building pyramids. Just because we don’t do it doesn’t mean it’s not advanced.”

  Piper eyed the Titans near the tunnels’ mouths. They were milling casually, like night watchmen going through the motions. It sure didn’t look like the Astrals were expecting an attack — or whatever it was they were about to attempt.

  “Nathan’s footage shows a sort of slow regrouping every day when some Titans leave and others come to replace them. We should be able to get around there—” He pointed. “—and slide inside there.”

  “All of us.”

  Cameron nodded. “All of us.”

  “Thi
s big group of human meat.”

  “We only have to run and look. We brought this many people so we could break into groups and cover as much ground as possible in very little time. We need eyes. If Benjamin’s right, there will be plenty of other relics here that nobody’s told the public about, and it could be with any of them. Maybe in an old tunnel because he suspects there was something here before — something alien, from long ago, just like the temple under Heaven’s Veil — that this was built to mate with. It may look like a dig. But if the Templars and their modern cousins moved this thing from where it was supposed to be and hid it from Astral eyes, it would have been maintained — kept somewhere accessible but hidden. We know what it looks like. They may even know what it looks like.”

  “If they’ve seen it,” said Piper, “why wouldn’t they know what it was, and that it should have been at Vail?”

  Again, Cameron’s eyes flicked away before returning. This time, Piper identified the mannerism. She knew him well: he was either lying, or about to.

  “The Templars must’ve put it inside something else.”

  “So we’re not looking for the thing in Benjamin’s photo. We’re looking for something else, with that inside?”

  “No, we’re looking for that.”

  “So the thing he showed us — that’s the case, and the real device they want is inside it?”

  “Right. Maybe. It’s unclear.”

  “How did Benjamin find a picture of the case, if it’s just a case?”

  “You’d have to ask him.”

  Piper fixed Cameron with an assessing glance, but he was looking at his watch, at the Titans, at Nathan Andreus and Coffey.

  “What are we really doing here, Cameron?”

  Cameron didn’t seem to hear her.

  “Two minutes,” he said.

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Raj was sitting in one of the extra rooms off the fourth floor corridor, feet up, using an old business card to clean the undersides of his fingernails. He stopped between the ring and middle finger to look at the card. It was for a lawyer whose card declared FAST SETTLEMENTS GUARANTEED. Raj wondered at it. He’d found the card under the desk, but the building, like almost everything around Heaven’s Veil, was new and had never been occupied by lawyers. There probably hadn’t been any lawyers anywhere since before Astral Day, though Raj could imagine many jokes about lawyers attempting to sell their services to the planet’s new overlords.