Sequence

by Darren Wearmouth

  “A few minutes.”

  “A few minutes? Why am I only finding out now?”

  “We’ve been trying to get in touch.”

  “I’ve been in the lab. Are you heading back?”

  “Yes, I’m all done here. They’ll get there first, but I’ll be minutes behind.”

  “That’s fine. Say you were getting us dinner; pick something up.”

  Gray replaced the receiver. The variable nature of humans was something he couldn’t control. After weighing up Vega and Cooley in their two meetings, he was reasonably confident they wouldn’t be trigger-happy when apprehending him. Just as he’d weighed up Devereaux and the director as good ol’ boys. He’d promised them the stars, and they would happily prepare his launch pad. Shame they wouldn’t be part of the ride, however.

  Time to get moving.

  He walked across the parking lot in the murky light of dusk, looking toward the open front gate. In the distance, a series of headlights dazzled as they approached the facility. He opened the passenger door of his Lincoln; leaning inside, he pretended to fumble for something while observing the vehicles closing in.

  The first van screeched to a halt just inside the gate, the other two behind it no more than fifty yards away. Its side door slid open with a smooth low rumble. Gray squinted against the glare of the headlights. Five darkly clothed shapes exited, spreading to crouch in defensive positions, rifles shouldered.

  Vega leapt out of the passenger door and stood in front of the right headlight, revealing a pistol in her hand. Cooley disembarked from the driver’s door and leaned against the hood.

  Gray didn’t want to startle the group. He stood, holding both hands above his head. “I’m Dr. Gray,” he said. “Thank God you’re here.”

  Vega took a couple of steps forward, pointing her pistol towards the Lincoln. “Keep your hands in the air. Stay where you are,” she shouted.

  “Please, put the guns down; I need your help,” he replied, straining in the light to see any kind of reaction.

  Vega turned to the team. Three of them advanced toward the warehouse; the other two adopted a covering position. Cooley moved alongside her. They approached Gray slowly.

  “Move out from behind the vehicle. Keep your hands up!” Cooley shouted.

  Gray edged sideways. “We’ve lost some synthetics.”

  “I thought you had none here? Where are they?” Vega said.

  “I had them delivered for trial. We don’t know where they are.”

  She kept the pistol aimed at Gray. Cooley arced around him. He felt the agent’s hands patting his chest, moving around his front, running along his back.

  “I’m not armed,” Gray said.

  “I’m not taking your word for it,” Cooley said.

  He ran his hand down either side of Gray’s legs, then pushed him in the small of the back. “He’s clean.”

  “Cuff him,” Vega said.

  “Is this really necessary? I’ve been trying to call you—”

  A shout came from behind Vega. “Someone’s coming,” Lisa said, pointing to an oncoming car.

  Zoe heard the crunch of wheels over the gravel road. She glanced back. “Who is it?”

  “It’s only Mr. Murphy,” Gray said. “He went out to get us some dinner. When we found out about the problem…”

  Vega tossed a pair of handcuffs to one of the armed squad. “Bring him here.”

  “Roger that.”

  The two squad members crossed the lot in a crouching run, standing alert behind the thick wooden gateposts. Michael’s vehicle stopped behind the vans.

  Gray heard shouting. Through the gloom he saw his COO exit the vehicle and hold his wrists forward. One of the squad spun him around, pulled his arms behind his back and applied the cuffs. The soldier/guard pushed Michael forward. Gray watched him stumble across the lot.

  “What’s happening, Doctor? I thought they were coming to help us?” Michael said.

  The guard shoved Michael over by Gray’s side. He edged backwards, keeping his rifle trained.

  “You can start by telling us about Devereaux,” Vega said.

  “Ask the director,” Gray replied. “He knows him a lot better than me.”

  “Bullshit. Try again,” Cooley said.

  Gray sighed. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

  “His body was recovered today, with a wound in his neck.”

  “That’s quite terrible, what happened?” Gray said.

  “They won’t talk,” Cooley said. “Let’s just take them. I’ll get them to comply at the compound.”

  “Where are you taking us?” Michael said.

  “Forget about that. I’ve seen the video from the safe house. You’ve got some explaining to do,” Vega said.

  “Exactly. Come inside and hear us out, please,” Gray said.

  Cooley shook his head. Vega pursed her lips.

  “You can’t deny New York; it’s all over the news,” she said.

  “I can’t deny New York? Look, we can stand out here playing guessing games, or we can go inside. I’ve told you, we need your help, your cooperation.”

  “What happened in New York?” Michael said.

  “For Christ’s sake, this is a waste of time,” Cooley said.

  Gray shrugged.

  “Where’s your production equipment and staff computers?” Vega asked.

  “For the synthetics? We don’t produce here for obvious reason. The main components are packed in our warehouse; they’re in steel cases stacked by the door. Most of our computers are in that small building next to it, in the offices.”

  “Nothing in the main building?” Cooley said.

  “Our main lab, control room, the cryo-chamber, kitchen, and a couple of offices. Why?”

  “So you’ve packed up the gear that makes the freakoids? Yeah, right.”

  “We concentrated on the biofuel project after producing the trial synthetics abroad.”

  “Probably Ruskies,” Cooley said.

  Vega stepped forward, gun still in hand. “Cooley, take the vans and load up the cases from the warehouse and the computers from the offices. Grab anything else that looks electronic. I’ll get these two to show me around the main facility. Let’s get this done and get the hell out of here.”

  “Please, the control room first,” Michael said.

  “You’ll get your chance to talk in Montana,” Cooley said over his shoulder as he walked away.

  “Who’s inside?” Vega said.

  “A security guard and lab assistant,” Michael replied.

  “Okay, lead the way to the control room. And don’t you dare test me.”

  Gray shuffled to the entrance. He shouldered the glass door open. The guard stood to attention behind his desk as he entered. “Dr. Gray? What’s going on?”

  “Relax, this is just a misunderstanding. We’re helping these fine officers with their investigations.”

  The group entered the lobby in single file.

  Vega gestured to the guard and turned to one of the three squad members backing her up. “One of you stay here; keep an eye on him.”

  Gray couldn’t help feeling impressed by Vega. She controlled the situation with a ruthless efficiency, ordering the squad about, giving Cooley instructions. He wondered if he could convince her to leave the public sector.

  “This way to the control room,” Michael said.

  He led them along the hall, pushing open the second door on the right. Gray immediately stepped behind him, wedging his foot in the door, stopping it from slamming shut.

  Gray stepped back. “After you.”

  Looking back, Vega still had her pistol pointed in his direction, and a squad member behind her looked down his rifle sights. “No, after you, Doctor,” she said.

  He entered the control room and peered up at the LCD screens attached to the wall. Michael stood by the console chair. Turning, he saw Vega and her guard standing in the doorway.

  “What do you control in here?” Vega said. />
  “We track and analyze the performance of the trial synthetics. It’s our network. The master security system is also housed here,” Michael said.

  “Anything else?”

  “The creation control processes, lab data, cryo-chamber monitoring, and sequencing. That’s not important—” Gray said.

  “I’ll decide what’s important. How do you track and communicate with the trial synthetics?”

  “They’ve got wireless devices with built-in GPS. We’ve got a VPN.”

  “We didn’t find anything in Portland.”

  “We told them to keep the devices hidden. Surely you understand our need to monitor performance?”

  “We’ll take another look; don’t worry about that. You said you needed our help?”

  “We’ve been hacked. Can you uncuff me so I can present the evidence?” Michael said.

  “Hacked? What evidence?” she said.

  “Two days ago, a man broke into the facility and stole a prototype biochip we’ve been working on. They also pulled our network configuration data, encryption keys, everything.”

  Gray watched Vega frown and rub her chin. He wondered how much she knew about Jacob Miller.

  “Why didn’t you report it to the police?” she said.

  “We didn’t find out until we got back yesterday. I knew something was wrong when you told us about Portland. We found the problem immediately. Since then we’ve been working around the clock, trying to regain control,” Gray said.

  “What do you claim happened?”

  “The biochip’s configured with exclusive access to the network. As it was an in-house project, we didn’t see a security issue. Naïve, I know. Our network access is blocked; somebody is giving them instructions.”

  “Giving them instructions?”

  “If the hacker is posing as one of us, he’s effectively controlling them,” Gray said.

  “Do you expect me to believe that, Doctor?” Vega said.

  Gray shook his head and sighed. “Please, uncuff Mr. Murphy and let him show you.”

  “All right, but—”

  “Yeah, I know, one false move. Trust me,” Michael said.

  “I don’t trust you, but you can show me.”

  She motioned the squad member forward with her free hand, keeping her pistol trained on the COO. Even now, he gave her the creeps. He was just off somehow. The squad member, McDollan, grabbed Michael’s arms, unlocking a single cuff.

  Michael sat in the console chair, the free cuff clinking on the desktop. He rubbed his wrist, looking at Vega. “The first thing I’ll show you is the break-in. We still control the master security system for the building, not that it matters.”

  He played the video of Jacob in the cryo-chamber; the part with him taking a photograph had been cut.

  “You see him pulling our server data?” Michael said.

  “Go on,” she said.

  He fast-forwarded the video with the console mouse.

  “He disappears to the side of the room. That’s where we stored the biochip. We’ve also got footage of him sneaking around our offices. Do you want to see it?”

  “How did he know you had this biochip?”

  “One of our staff members went missing the same night. He didn’t show up for work yesterday. Its clear-cut industrial espionage,” Gray said.

  “Here’s the footage of them both leaving,” Michael said.

  The screen showed Tucker and Jacob walking along the hall. It cut to the parking lot, where they left together in Tucker’s car.

  Agent Vega frowned. “Is that it?”

  “Let me show you a recording of our network, if you’re still not convinced,” Michael said.

  Vega stood silently at the door, betraying no emotion. Gray moved closer to the LCD as Michael opened a file called ‘back-up-3431.’

  Ten green dots appeared on a map, five pairs located in the northern states.

  “These are the synthetics at 2 a.m. yesterday morning.”

  “You kept that quiet,” Vega said.

  “Speak to your boss. We were following his instructions,” Gray said.

  Michael fast-forwarded to 6 a.m. “Watch this.”

  One by one, the green dots vanished. Seconds later, the screen flicked to dark blue, and a message appeared in white lettering saying ‘Access Denied.’

  “We’ve been locked out ever since. I tried connecting to the servers, everything. They’ve all got some kind of new password encryption set,” Michael said, demonstrating a couple of failures at the log-in prompt.

  Vega turned to Gray. “If we recovered the biochip, we’d be able to regain control. Who knows what he might be planning next?”

  “It’s our own stupid fault. We should have recognized it as a single point of failure. We were so wrapped up with the trial,” Michael said.

  Vega ran her left hand through her hair, resting it on the back of her neck.

  “Put the cuffs back on,” she said.

  The squad member pulled Michael out of his chair, twisting the loose cuff back around his wrist.

  “You still think we’re guilty after seeing this?” Gray nodded his head towards the screens. “Why would we sabotage our own project?”

  “Let’s just suppose for one second what you say is true. And we have picked up two people with a chip and data. I’ll—”

  Cooley appeared behind Vega. “The vans are full. Do we need anything from here?”

  “Can you fit in a few servers?”

  “Yeah, with a squeeze.”

  “Great, we need the IT guys involved. I’ll explain on our way.”

  “We opened up a steel container. They’ve got freakoids stored in some kind of gel.”

  “Doctor?” Vega said.

  “They’re in suspended animation. Completely harmless,” Gray said.

  She appeared to shudder. “Are they dead?”

  “Think of it as hibernating. We can recover them later. Would you like me to show you?”

  “No. We’ve already got eight of those things on the loose. Those containers are coming with us.”

  “You can’t just shut us down and take our equipment. We haven’t done anything wrong,” Gray said.

  “We’re all taking a trip to a secure compound. We need time to investigate the facts and interrogate all parties,” Vega said.

  Gray shot Michael a look and saw a micro-expression of interest. All parties clearly meant more than just him and the others from XNA. If Michael had arranged things correctly, it should mean the feds had Jacob Miller in their possession after the New York failure.

  Good, Gray thought, finally an opportunity to tie up that loose end while activating the next stage of the proceedings.

  He smiled at the agent. “Ready when you are, Miss Vega. I do so enjoy an adventure.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  3:09 a.m., Day 4, Montana Safe House

  Zoe stifled a yawn. She wasn’t used to pulling such long shifts, and the two flights in the last twenty-four hours were taking their toll. Even the compound’s coffee maker couldn’t give her the jolt she needed. The sense of dread gave her heartburn and she was beginning to resent the director for giving her this ‘opportunity.’

  Given the stakes, she was starting to wonder if her ambition wasn’t a burden to her. A nice comfortable life sitting at a desk, handling insurance or advertising suddenly seemed to have quite the appeal.

  Swallowing the remaining contents of her third mug of bitter coffee, she placed the empty mug on the kitchen side and stepped into the main corridor, heading for the interrogation room where they were holding Gray and Murphy.

  Cooley leaned casually against the wall opposite the door to the interrogation room. “This your first time in the Montana compound?” he asked, pocketing his notebook.

  “Yeah.”

  She didn’t want a dialogue with him if she could help it. Although he was playing along so far, she couldn’t help but feel he was just waiting for her to screw up. He was the kind o
f guy who would take advantage of such a situation—a real backstabber and a two-faced son of a bitch. She didn’t know what favor he’d had to pull to get onto the director’s team; it certainly wasn’t talent.

  “Could use an interior designer, eh?” he said.

  At least on that she could agree.

  The place was painted in a clinical white from floor to ceiling. Every room had its furniture welded and bolted to the foundations beneath. Dark brown stains gathered in the corners of the walls and the grout between tiles.

  No wonder they interrogated people here, she thought. Their will would drain away without any physical torture needed.

  “So,” Cooley said, moving away from the wall and blocking her way to the door. “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’ll lead the interrogation with these two, get the information about this network and the rogue synthetics. You can go talk to the kids—”

  “Just stop there,” Zoe interrupted. “I’ve got orders from the director. This is my operation. It’ll be me that speaks with Gray and Murphy. This isn’t up for discussion.”

  Cooley leaned his bulky frame forward, his foul breath making her queasy as he spoke.

  “You think you could break someone, Vega? How far are you prepared to go? Those freakoids running about out there, they could be killing people right this very minute. You think a soft approach is going to get us the answers we need? Face it; this is beyond you.”

  For a moment she felt he had a point. Could she break someone to save the lives of others? She thought back to her screw up and how her indecisiveness led to the death of those two officers, and how she’d vowed never to make the same mistake again.

  Grabbing the lapels of his jacket, she brought her face so close to his their noses almost touched. “I’ll go as far as needed. Don’t test me, Earl. Now get out of my face and do as you’re told. The director gave me the order, not you. You understand me?”

  He pushed her away, breaking her hold, and turned his back, swearing under his breath as he headed off.

  Zoe called after him. “Find out if they’ve hacked the network. I want everything they know.”

  He continued on, not acknowledging her.

  Zoe took a deep breath and composed herself. She patted the wrinkles out of her suit jacket and turned to the interrogation room.