“There you go,” said Hoyer. “And given I was born this way, I should be pitied, right?” He paused, and a smug expression came over his face. “More like envied,” he continued. “I’ve seen you normals struggle so mightily with emotions and right and wrong. It really slows you down. So much moralizing and indecision.”
He shook his head. “As it turns out, the more compassionate and empathetic someone is, the more likely they are to be taken in. Even though you were burned before, Allie, and made up your mind not to trust easily, you still can’t help but fall for anyone with a good song and dance. Why? Because you’re so firmly shackled by a misguided sense of decency, you can’t fathom someone who isn’t. Not really. Just because you aren’t capable of betraying those closest to you, you can’t fathom that others can—without a second thought. Just because the scream of a little girl being tortured lights up the emotional centers of your brain like a Christmas tree, you can’t fathom a brain that reacts with complete indifference.”
“Enough!” said Reed. “Apparently, psychopaths also love to hear themselves talk. If you’re trying to bore us to death, it’s working. We’re willing to stipulate that you’re a monster without a soul. Bully for you. And that you fooled and manipulated us. So why don’t you get beyond the gloating and self-congratulations. How about telling us how you did it, and what this is all about?”
“Of course, Commander. That’s why we’re all here, after all. This is just a small aperitif. An alcoholic drink before the main course to stimulate the appetite.”
“Yeah, thanks for the vocabulary lesson,” said Reed, “but I know what it means.”
Hoyer smiled and turned to Aronson. “Speaking of appetite, Bricey, that reminds me. While I was waiting for my audience to be revivable, I partook of some of your appetizers. Those mini-quiches of yours were, you know . . . to die for. Is it okay if I get your nanite’s recipe before this is all over?”
Aronson shouted a string of unintelligible curses into the duct tape covering his mouth.
“Excellent,” said Hoyer wryly. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
He turned back to Reed. “So you want to know what’s going on, Commander. The short answer is this. Bryce tried to take me out. Thought he had. But I used his own trap against him. I’m always going to win. Because I’m never afraid to do what has to be done. And I’m absolutely ruthless. Bryce may be the most brilliant sheep on the planet. But he’s still a sheep.”
“And the long answer?” said Reed.
“Don’t go anywhere,” said Hoyer with a smug grin. “Because you’re really going to enjoy this.”
43
Major Tom Hoyer walked to the lone unoccupied chair in the corner of the room, gently placed the gas mask and gas canister that was sitting upon it on the floor, and carried the chair back. Finally, he took a seat in front of his three-member audience for the first time.
“Where to begin?” he said, musing to himself, clearly enjoying dragging this out. “I suppose I should reset the stage from when I first met you, Commander. I had rescued you and Allie from the Chinese, and we had made it to Henderson. And we quickly became buddies. Brothers-in-arms. I told you my nanite tale, and you largely bought it. For good reason, because the truth of the nanites themselves is incontrovertible.
“Then I left you alone with Allie to let nature take its course. You two are insufferably into each other. A moose in heat doesn’t even give off such obvious signals. And I agree with the Chinese, it never hurts to encourage that sort of thing. Gives me more leverage. So, as I planned, you two screwed each other like your lives depended on it. A for effort. And yes, I watched your every move, and heard your every word.”
Allie glared at him in revulsion. “You sick, disgusting pig!” she shouted.
Hoyer grinned. “You really know how to hurt a guy,” he said in amusement. “But don’t worry, it’s not like I put your sex video online or anything. I would have, but everyone in the world is looking for you, so better to be discreet, right? And you two would make poor porn stars, anyway. Too gentle and caring. Too selfless.”
Hoyer winked. “Still, you’re quite the little minx, Allie,” he said with a carnal expression. “After all, you screwed Zach’s brains out. Literally,” he added in amusement. “Look at the poor bastard. It’s a wonder he can still remember his name. Do you have this effect on all the men you screw?”
Allie glared at him with the heat of a thousand suns but remained silent, not giving him the satisfaction of another outburst.
“To continue,” said Hoyer, “the next morning, Commander, you took your leave to contact Hubbard. And to try to get yourself put in charge of a team that would help me find Bryce here. And it worked. You were firmly in my pocket, working hard to help me achieve my goals.”
He shook his head. “But I didn’t realize that Bryce was also in direct contact with Hubbard. That was unexpected. I just figured he was getting intel out of the group on occasion. Doing some surveillance. But being able to ask direct questions of the woman in charge is a real boon.”
“Are you saying that Aronson and the colonel are working together?” asked Reed.
“Not at all, Commander. I’m just saying he worked his connections to get to her. And he used her to get to you.”
Reed nodded. This came as no surprise. Aronson had made it clear that they had spoken previously. That the mercs he had with him had been Reed’s idea. A communication that must have taken place during Reed’s ten-day memory gap.
“So Bryce contacted you by phone,” continued Hoyer. “And he tried to turn you against me. Tried to convince you he wasn’t a psychopath. That I was. Imagine that.” He raised his eyebrows. “Oh wait. I guess imagining is all you can do. Since you can’t remember any of it.”
“What did you do to my mind?” demanded Reed.
Hoyer laughed. “Bryce knows, don’t you, Bricey?” he said. “But let’s save that little revelation for later, shall we?”
He turned again to face Reed. “So he called you. And without Eve, your trusty AI, you had to use a cell phone. Of all the indignities. But you had the presence of mind to record the call. We’re all thankful for that. Because I have your phone. And through the miracle of audio playback, I can take us back to that fateful evening. Really set the stage. You have to admit, this is entertainment. Like a movie reveal you fail to guess beforehand. Only this time with you as the star, and in real life.”
“I’m sure my phone was heavily encrypted. How did you break in?”
“Didn’t need to. You were using it at the time I took it. So you had already opened the vault door. I just needed to keep it open.”
Reed fumed but didn’t reply.
“By a show of hands,” said Hoyer to his bound audience, clearly pleased with himself, “who wants to listen to parts of this call?” He paused for several seconds. “No one?” he said with a smirk. “Where’s your sense of curiosity? Oh well, I’m going to play it anyway.”
He pulled a phone from his pocket and manipulated the screen. “I’ll send the audio through the speakers in the ceiling,” he said. “The commander didn’t start recording right away, so I’m guessing this picks up right after he pretended not to have heard of his infamous caller.”
Seconds later Bryce Aronson’s disembodied voice rained down from the speakers above. “I’m not buying it, Commander,” he said. “If this were true, after I introduced myself, you’d have demanded to know who the hell I am. So I guess Tom Hoyer brought up my name, after all. I didn’t think he would. And speaking of Hoyer,” he continued, “if you’re staying in one of his facilities, you’re being listened to. If you’re in one now, I’ll call back when you aren’t. Just let me know a date and time when we can speak freely.”
“I’m alone now,” said the voice of Zachary Reed. “In the great outdoors.”
Hoyer paused the playback. “Isn’t this fun, Commander? Hearing your own voice but not remembering having the conversation? It isn’t often that you can surprise yo
urself like this, is it?”
“My voice could have been doctored,” said Reed.
“Come on, Commander,” said Hoyer in contempt. “Not even you believe that. Especially because you’ll recognize that it’s the real you from the responses you make. But let’s keep going.”
He touched the screen and the recording resumed.
“Outstanding,” said the voice of Bryce Aronson. “So what did Hoyer have to say about me? I’m sure it was nothing but glowing praise.”
“Yeah. I can tell you guys are besties.”
“Know anything about nanotechnology, Commander?”
“More all the time.”
“I’d like for us to meet, Commander.”
“Sure,” said Reed. “I suppose you want me to arrive unarmed and wrapped up with a bow.”
“You can wear a bow if you want, as long as that isn’t the only thing you’re wearing.”
“As much as I appreciate the invite, Dr. Aronson, I’m afraid my social schedule is pretty full.”
“Please, call me Bryce. And I promise you that no harm will come to you.”
“I’m afraid I don’t trust you . . . Bryce.”
“I don’t doubt it, Commander. I’m sure Hoyer has filled your head with all kinds of lies. All I want to do is set the record straight.”
“If you have something to say to me, say it now. This line is secure, and I’m alone.”
“Very well, Commander. I’ll start talking. My hope is that at some point you’ll trust me enough for a face-to-face. But that’s your call. I’ve studied your record extensively over the past few days, and I’ve come to believe you’re a very good man. And I think I can convince you I’m not the monster Hoyer paints me to be.”
“I’m sure you can,” said Reed. “I understand that you’re quite the charmer.”
“Yeah, tell that to all the women who refused to go out with me over the years. Although it’s possible that beautiful women are just naturally immune to these charms you say I have. Which is really depressing, because in my book, that’s the entire point of having charm.”
“Are you going to talk about dating? Or are you going to say something worth my while?”
“Oh yes. Very worth your while. In fact, you can’t possibly imagine what’s at stake here. And as cliché and dramatic as that sounds, you’ll come to see it as the greatest understatement you’ve ever heard. So are you willing to give me your attention?”
“By all means. You had me at hello.”
“Very funny, Commander. I like a man with a good sense of humor. But I didn’t do what Hoyer says I did. I’m not what he says I am. We did work together for a time. He pretended to agree with everything I was doing. But it turns out he’s a psychopath. And proud of it. He wears it like a badge of honor. I found that out the hard way. Suffice it to say that he’s silky smooth, a brilliant liar, and can get you to believe anything.”
“That’s what he says about you . . . Bryce. To be honest, I did have a few minor suspicions about him. But that was before you sent your man Rico Gillespie to kill us with the nanites you lent him. He used them to decapitate four of Hoyer’s men, and tried to do the same to us. I watched a silver swarm of them encircle our necks like a living garrote, only failing to saw off our heads because we were protected by other nanites.”
“What?” said Aronson through the speakers, his tone reflecting genuine shock. “I’ve never even heard of someone named Gillespie. And killing you and Dr. Keane is the last thing I’d ever do. Also, how could I send someone to kill you when I have no idea where you are? My guess is that Colonel Hubbard doesn’t even know. Because you’ve been lying to her, haven’t you?”
“That’s how you got my number, isn’t it? From Hubbard.”
“I have friends in high places. I supply the military enough impossible-to-manufacture items that I’m a huge asset. And they know not to ask any questions.”
“Did you actually speak to the colonel?”
“I did.”
“What makes you think I lied to her?”
“What happened in Utah couldn’t be explained by conventional means, Commander. We both know that. Hubbard and the rest of the military, of course, were totally stumped. Baffled. But when she told me what happened, it had nanites and Hoyer written all over it. And trust me, if Hoyer wasn’t using you for his own ends, you’d never live long enough to report back to headquarters.”
Reed didn’t reply.
“So I jumped to the obvious conclusion,” continued Aronson. “That Hoyer had seduced you and Dr. Keane into joining him. But I had no idea where you were hiding out. And I certainly didn’t send a man to kill Allison Keane. I desperately need her.”
“Hoyer says you desperately want to kill her. To make sure he can’t decrypt his nanites.”
“I do want to stop him from decrypting his nanites. But I need her too. For different reasons than Hoyer. He needs a quantum computer to unlock—well, let’s call it a second level functionality within the nanites. I need a quantum computer to unlock a third. But even if I didn’t need her, I’d never kill her. She’s an innocent woman. She didn’t ask for any of this.”
“If you didn’t send Gillespie, who did? The only other option is Hoyer himself. Unless you tell me that others have access to nanites.”
“They don’t. Only the two of us. Trust me, this Gillespie was just a prop. Hoyer was controlling the nanites.”
“So he decapitated his own people? Is that what you’re saying? To what end?”
“You said it yourself,” replied Aronson. “You had a few pesky concerns about him. So he faked an attack to erase them. To get you to hate me, and see me as pure evil. To motivate you to do whatever he asked. Before his attack on himself, I was an abstract. An evil lurking well out of the picture. But he knew that after you witnessed heads being sliced off and nanites dancing around your own neck, things would get very real, very fast.”
Aronson paused. “Let me guess. Not only did he tell you I was behind the attack, but he found a way to look like a hero for saving you. To get more bang for his faux-attack buck.”
“Nice try, Bryce. But Hoyer wasn’t the one who told me you were responsible. Gillespie did. Not only did your assassin confirm it, he made it clear that he practically worships you. And he demonstrated an absolute loyalty to you by killing himself before we could learn your location. So are you saying Hoyer’s man was willing to commit suicide to sell a ruse? Because I saw him die. It happened right in front of me.”
“I know Hoyer attacked his own people,” said Aronson, undeterred, “because he’s the only one who could have. How did you happen to see the nanites attack anyway? A real attacker would have turned them invisible.”
“They were invisible. Hoyer had the presence of mind to supply us with glasses that made them visible just as they were coming for us.”
“And you don’t find that a little too convenient?” said Aronson in disbelief. “He made sure you could see them to heighten the drama. And he’s so good you never questioned the timing.”
Hoyer paused the recording. “Riveting, isn’t it? And intriguing. You listen, wondering how this conversation could lead us all to being right here, right now. Realizing you’re hearing the calm before the storm. Like listening to a flight recorder just before a fatal crash.”
He smiled. “But it’s time to move forward. This gives you a good taste of how the conversation began. Unfortunately, it goes on for well over an hour. So I’ll spare you. Bryce continues to savage me. And he tells his life story. His hopes and dreams. That he enjoys long walks on moonlit beaches, bubble baths, and carriage rides for two. It was quite the courtship, Commander. And he got to you. You were shallow-minded enough to find him persuasive.”
“Before you move on,” said Reed, “how did you compel Gillespie to kill himself for the sake of realism? First my memory, and now this. What are you doing to people’s minds?”
“I’ll let you marvel at the magic trick a little longer. But so
on enough I’ll give you a look behind the curtain.”
“Can you at least tell me where you get your funding?” asked Reed. “For jets, and payroll, and so on. You could make unlimited diamonds, but I’m beginning to think that’s not your style.” He was determined to gather all the information he could, and suspected Hoyer wouldn’t resist this opportunity to gloat.
“You know me too well, Commander. Right you are. Selling diamonds is beneath me. Nanites make spying easy, as we’ve discussed. So I spied on corporate boardrooms to get insider information, and made countless millions trading short-term options.”
“I see,” said Reed. He had to admit, it was a simple and ingenious strategy.
“So let’s jump ahead in the recording an hour or so,” said Hoyer. He manipulated the screen on Reed’s phone once again, a phone Reed didn’t remember ever owning. “We’ll pick up the action near the grand finale,” he continued. “At least of act one. Bryce was finally all talked out, and you were ready to get down to brass tacks.”
“So what do you want of me?” said the voice of Zachary Reed through the overhead speakers in the study.
“I’d love to meet you in person,” replied the now-unmistakable voice of Bryce Aronson.
“That’s not going to happen,” said Reed. “But this conversation has been pretty exhaustive, so I’m not sure there’s a need.”
“My greatest hope is that you and Dr. Keane will join me. You know now what I’m trying to accomplish, and my motives. Dr. Keane is vital. And I could use you too. The colonel says you’re the best man she has. Despite being new to Tech Ops. And from what Hubbard says, you care deeply for Dr. Keane.”
“She used the word deeply?”
“Maybe not that exact word, but that was the gist.”
“Did she say why she thought that?”
“She said you had never said it explicitly, but that she could tell. I notice you aren’t denying it.”
There was a pause. “So you want us to join you,” said Reed. “Anything else?”
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