“Oh. And how is that?”
“Don’t pretend that you two haven’t come to care about each other a great deal, despite only knowing each other a short time. It comes through loud and clear in your every conversation. Which is why you’re coming along. You two will be like a mating pair in a zoo. But even if you hated her, she’s an innocent who doesn’t deserve this. And you know that the US might be able to get her back. Or use the part of her theory she’s already disclosed to beat us to the punch. Or develop a way to protect computers and shift security that you didn’t think was possible.”
Chen paused. “Bottom line,” he continued, “is that you can’t predict the future, Commander. You still might prevail. So you won’t trade the life of an innocent woman to ward off a future threat that’s not a certainty.”
Reed was aware that tears were being spilled by the physicist behind him, matching those of the general, but he didn’t dare turn and catch Allie’s eye, which would do little but trigger a powerful emotional response within him that would cloud his thinking.
“Just to reiterate,” he said, “if we cooperate, you’ll guarantee the general and his family will be freed, untouched.”
“Absolutely. We’re already poking the bear. We know that. But why jab the bear in the eye when we don’t have to? Killing the general and his family after we have you and Dr. Keane serves no purpose.”
“And you guarantee Allie and I will be well-treated?”
“Like royalty,” said Chen. “As long as she gives us what’s in her head, and then helps us perfect her qubits.”
Reed turned his back on the general and the camera Chen was using to watch him and finally stared into Allie’s tortured eyes. “It’s going to be okay,” he mouthed slowly. “I promise. I’ll find a way out of this.”
She didn’t reply, but nodded hopefully.
Reed spun back around. “Okay, Chen, ” he said. “You win this round. We’ll go where you tell us, and we’ll mislead our own people. Just make sure you keep that itchy trigger finger of yours holstered.”
“I will, Commander. And you’ve made a wise choice. But I know how good you are. The moment I sense that you’re trying to be clever, or the slightest hint of deception, you and Dr. Keane get vaporized. As much as I want her, I want to prevent America from having her even more. China’s computers are just as vulnerable as yours. Do I make myself clear, Commander?”
Reed’s features reflected nothing but hatred and resolve. “Crystal,” he growled between clenched teeth.
PART 4
20
Allison Keane was awake, but reluctant to open her eyes. She had thought her journey through Hell was over, but apparently it had only begun.
As bad as the day before had been, at least it had ended with her being rescued by a handsome knight, and being brought to an impenetrable castle.
Or what she had thought was an impenetrable castle.
Despite her life being upended, she had remained hopeful about her future. It had been false hope, but at least it was something. Now, hope had been utterly banished from the realm, with little chance of returning.
At least she had learned what this was all about, and why the CCP was so desperate to abduct her. And there was one silver lining—Zachary Reed would be with her. If she had to face her current situation alone, she’d have been devastated, paralyzed. But he was a life raft in a raging sea, at least something she could cling to, something that could help keep her head above water, despite her certainty that the ocean wouldn’t be denied forever.
Even so, she felt a stabbing guilt for being relieved, rather than horrified, that he had been dragged under the waves with her.
Reed and the general had managed to extricate her from the base and get her to the proper landing coordinates, where Chen forced them all to take a drug that had knocked them unconscious for the rest of the journey.
The tranquilizer had short-circuited her sense of time, and she had no idea how long she’d been out, where she was, or how she had gotten here.
Allie decided she couldn’t delay the inevitable any longer. Eventually, she would have to face this new nightmare, whatever it might be, and now was as good a time as any, since she couldn’t remember ever feeling more relaxed. She drew in a long, silent breath and opened her eyes.
She was lying on a bed—although this time in what appeared to be a large bedroom rather than a hospital room. Even so, as antiseptic as the hospital had been, this room was even more stark. The windowless walls were bare, as was most of the room, with a steel door painted white to match the walls.
She lifted herself to a seated position to find Zachary Reed a few feet from the bed, watching her intently. While she had been left unrestrained, his hands had been zip-tied to a steel chair behind his back, which itself had been bolted to the floor.
She was overcome by a macabre feeling of deja vu.
“Is this how it’s going to be from now on?” she said, forcing a smile. “Every time I wake up, you’re going to be in a chair watching me?”
Reed made a show of tugging at his restraints. “I didn’t have much of a choice this time,” he noted with a weary smile. “Not that I wouldn’t have been watching you anyway. But good morning, Allison Keane. Or good evening. Or good morning the next day.”
“So you don’t know how long we were out, either?”
He shook his head. All traditional EM signals were being jammed, rendering his AI and his surgically implanted comms useless.
“When did you awaken?” asked Allie.
“About thirty minutes ago. How are you feeling?”
Allie thought about this. “Oddly . . . relaxed,” she said. “I should be panicked. Seems that the tranquilizer they gave me has me in a state of, well . . . tranquility. I can see why these drugs can be addictive.” She raised her eyebrows. “And now I know how to get them without a prescription. Just invent a game-changing technology that China desperately wants.”
Reed laughed. “I see you woke up with your sense of humor intact,” he said approvingly.
“Well, you laugh when it hurts too much to cry, right?”
“I guess so,” said Reed. “Just a heads-up, by the way. Before we continue, we need to remember that our conversation is almost certainly being listened to.”
Allie frowned. She had failed to consider this, despite knowing she was bugged. Good thing she had chosen to be a scientist and not a covert special operator.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said.
Reed gazed at her somberly, and then lowered his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Allie,” he whispered. “I let you down. I promised you safety, and you got just the opposite. I was sloppy. We searched for bugs and homing devices using sensitive signal-detection equipment. But I should have also ordered a physical examination. I should have anticipated the possible presence of an undetectable bug.”
“Don’t beat yourself up,” she said. “If you missed it, I’m sure everyone else would have too. And I’m the one who should be sorry. Sorry that you’ve been dragged into this. If you hadn’t saved me from them at the start, you wouldn’t be here. Now your life will be ruined also.”
“Ruined?” said Reed, feigning disbelief. “What are you talking about, Allie? You heard Chen back at the base. He promised we’d be treated like royalty.”
“Really?” said Allie, once again marveling at the ability of this man to cheer her up. “Are royals usually bound to steel chairs with zip-ties?”
Reed laughed. “I don’t know,” he said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised. I’ve heard some of them can be pretty kinky.”
21
Inexplicably, Zachary Reed found himself in a good mood whenever he was near this brilliant physicist. Even while a prisoner behind enemy lines. Her laughter was like a tonic, lifting him up whenever he heard it, and making him want to do whatever he could to evoke more of it.
This remarkable woman continued to roll with the punches, keeping her wits and bravery about her when others would
either be whining or freaking out.
Allie rose from the bed and traveled the short distance between them, checking his bonds. “I don’t suppose they left a knife or a pair of scissors in this room.”
“They didn’t leave much of a room in this room. A bed and nothing else.”
“Do you think they let General Cameron go as promised?”
Reed nodded. “I do,” he lied without hesitation, not wanting to stress her out about the harsh realities of what they faced any more than was necessary.
Of course they had killed the general. Reed had known they would from the start, and so had Cameron. The man had simply acted to save his family, knowing he wouldn’t live out the day.
The general had become one of only three people outside of China who knew the Chinese had developed undetectable, unjammable signaling technology. Two of the three were now firmly in China’s hands. By killing the third, they ensured that this secret remained safe.
And with the general dead and vanished, and his family unaware they had been stalked by reapers, Allie’s disappearance couldn’t be linked directly to the Chinese. No one would ever guess that this hostile power had been able to track her to Fort Carson, or reach her once she was safely inside. All anyone would discover was that the general had spirited her and the commander away from the base, for reasons that would remain forever murky.
Had the general gone mad? Had he somehow been turned by the Chinese or another government? Without any answers, the strange disappearance of Allie Keane and her two military companions would become the stuff of Tech Ops urban legend.
Without being certain of the culprit, or if Dr. Keane was even alive, America’s reaction would have to be muted. There was little authorities could do other than saber-rattle behind the scenes.
Not that it was clear how much the US government would do had they been certain the CCP was behind it. The Chinese had greased too many palms for too long, and US authorities were petrified of an escalation with the only other superpower still in existence, one whose dark motives they still couldn’t bring themselves to fully believe.
“So are you ready to meet our new . . . keepers?” said Reed. “They’ll leave us alone to talk all day long, hoping we say something interesting. Better to open a dialog and make the information flow a two-way street.”
“Isn’t the timing of an interaction totally within their control?”
“It is. But I think they’ll honor our request to get started. Let’s find out.”
Allie nodded.
“Hello out there!” said the commander in a booming voice. “Whoever is listening, is there any point in delaying this show any longer? We pledge not to say another word to each other until you join us.”
They waited in silence, and less than a minute later they heard the sound of several dead bolt locks being undone outside the steel door, followed by the door being thrown open. A uniformed Chinese officer entered, armed to the teeth, looking young for his rank, and vigorously healthy, his regal bearing bordering on arrogant. “Good morning,” he said to the two of them.
“Is that you, Chen?” said Reed, recognizing the voice.
“At your service.”
Reed nodded at the man’s uniform. “A colonel, no less. I can’t help but feel honored.”
Chen smiled. “You’re a personification of American bravado, Commander. I’m coming to appreciate that.”
“Your approval means the world to me,” said Reed.
“Just so you know, we took the liberty of removing your contact lenses.”
“Thanks, I would have never figured that out if you hadn’t told me.”
“We really don’t need them,” said Chen, ignoring the sarcasm. “We’re already well on our way to reverse engineering a pair we acquired months ago. But we didn’t want you to have them, either.”
Chen turned to Allie, who looked understandably confused. “Allow me to explain,” he said. “Commander Reed is one of a very select group of US operatives to have been issued what are called smart contact lenses. These contacts can display holographic images, access supercomputers, and communicate with him through his comms. Another technology the US has been keeping from the world,” he added, feigning disapproval. “I’m surprised he never told you about them.”
“Surprised?” said Allie, rolling her eyes. “Really? Why do I find that hard to believe? Oh, that’s right, because you’ve listened to every word we’ve ever said to each other. So you know for a fact his contacts were never discussed.”
The Chinese colonel smiled. “Good point,” he said. “I guess we did know, at that. I found the part about the wonders of carbyne especially intriguing.” He once again affixed his gaze on Reed. “Speaking of which, I’m sure you’ve felt the absence of your undershirt, Commander. We took that, also, hoping to find a clue as to how the carbyne within was made.”
“I only wish I could help,” said the American glibly. “But, as you already know, I have no idea where it comes from.”
“But you do possess many other secrets, Commander. Which I’m sure we’ll, ah . . . persuade you to give up in due time.”
Chen turned his attention to the young scientist. “Sorry for the sparse quarters, Dr. Keane. We’re having specialized quarters made up, so this will have to do for the time being.”
“Where are we?” she asked.
“An underground facility in the Tarim Basin. A vast desert in China’s Xinjiang region. Which makes escape the last thing any sane prisoner would wish for. If you do manage it, you’ll be long dead before you reach civilization. Although we’d find you in time to bring you back alive.”
“Why is Commander Reed bound?”
“Until we get your quarters up and running, which will be made escape proof, I’m afraid it’s a necessary precaution. He’s a very dangerous man. But let me assure you, we’ll be ready in a day or two, and you’ll be very pleased. We’ve studied how you’ve furnished and decorated your home and office, and have tried to mimic these.”
“Well, that isn’t creepy at all,” said Allie sarcastically.
“I promised you’d be treated well,” said the Chinese colonel, ignoring the sarcasm, “and you will be. As long as you cooperate.” He paused. “Speaking of which, there’s no time like the present. Why don’t you give us the structure of that molecule of yours that makes scalable, room-temperature qubits possible.”
“You disappoint me, Colonel,” said Reed immediately, not giving Allie a chance to respond. “You can’t really expect her to indulge you already. I can’t believe you just went for it. Just like that. Without any foreplay. Surely you intend to wine and dine her for a while before you try to get lucky.”
Before Chen could reply, Reed continued. “You did tell us how much you wanted to forge a cordial working relationship with her, right? Or did you see that process as more of a rape than a courtship?”
The Chinese colonel smiled coldly. “You paint quite the picture, Commander. We can still treat her like a queen while breaking your fingers with pliers, one by one.”
“Only a psychopath would think that’s the better play,” said Reed dismissively. “What would be the point? To prove your brutality? To traumatize your golden scientist? Make sure she’s so stressed she can’t think straight?”
He shook his head in disgust. “No, Colonel, you catch more flies with honey. Why not put her at ease? Demonstrate that you’ll treat us as well as you promised? As you said, we can’t escape. So what’s a few extra days among friends?”
“Zach is absolutely right,” said Allie. “I’ll do what you ask of me. I will. But I’ve been through a lot. Let me spend some time in my new quarters. Let me get familiar with the lab you’ve no doubt set up. If you demonstrate you mean what you said, I’ll tell you everything you want to know. And while you’re breaking your back trying to synthesize this molecule, I’ll even help you put my theory into practice. I’m sure you know how difficult that can be. Einstein’s theories suggested an atomic bomb was possible
. But it took the best scientists the US could find, enormous resources, and three years for the Manhattan Project to turn theory into reality. Like Zach said, marriages work a lot better when they’re entered into willingly.”
Reed was barely able to suppress a smile. This woman was really something. Not only did she run with his jokes, she backed his every play like a pro.
“Okay, Dr. Keane,” said Chen. “We’ll do it your way. We’ll romance you for a few days before we consummate the relationship. Just to start on the right foot. But try my patience further and you will be sorry.”
“Understood,” said Allie simply.
“Can I assume you’re building separate quarters for each of us?” asked Reed.
Chen shook his head. “I thought you’d prefer to be roommates.”
“You mean like a mating pair in a zoo?” said Reed.
“I regret putting it that way, Commander. But you do seem to be able to put her in good spirits. I thought she’d feel less alone if you shared a room. My sense is that she’ll appreciate having you as a roommate.”
“Maybe,” said Reed. “Maybe not. That’s for us to decide. So we’ll be needing adjoining rooms with a lockable door in between. And one last thing. I don’t care if you treat us like gods, you need to remove the bug and homing beacon you implanted in Dr. Keane before she’ll cooperate. And I need to be there when you do, so I can verify it’s been removed. And then you need to prove to my satisfaction that our quarters aren’t bugged.”
“So you can plan an escape?” said Chen in contempt.
“I thought you said escape was impossible.”
“I did. And it is.”
“I believe you. Which is why I’m insisting on this condition solely for the good of Dr. Keane’s mental health and well-being. Which also means the well-being of your quantum computer project. What kind of damage to her psyche do you think will occur if she knows that her every cough, every utterance, every trip to the bathroom or shower, is being listened to or watched, month after month, year after year? Do you think living in that kind of fishbowl will be conducive to maximum creativity?”
The Immortality Code Page 13