by Gini Koch
Butler gave me a long look. Not as appraising as the one Chernobog had given me, but close. “Colonel Franklin speaks highly of you.”
“Arthur’s my kind of guy.” There were times to use Franklin’s first name, and this seemed to be one. “He rolls with the punches better than any high-ranking military I’ve ever met. Other than Major-General Mortimer Katt.” I smiled nicely. “My Uncle Mort is, of course, the best at rolling with whatever’s tossed at him and handling it.”
Not for the first time was I happy that I had a family member I knew and loved in a position of rank within the military. Butler straightened up. “Oh! You’re Mort’s niece? I’m sorry . . . I didn’t make the connection.”
Controlled myself from calling him on this one. There was no way that someone in charge of Area 51 wouldn’t know that Mortimer Katt’s niece was the American Centaurion Ambassador. However, I could spot someone trying to save face, and Butler didn’t seem to be an idiot blowhard.
“No problem, Colonel Butler. It’s been a trying time for all of us.”
“Please, call me John, Ambassador.”
Butler was definitely covering his butt. Good. It showed intelligence versus belligerence. It was also making Chernobog nervous. I could tell because she was fidgeting, just a little, but she sure didn’t seem nearly as relaxed as she had earlier. Also good.
“Thank you, John. And it’s Kitty. So, let’s get to it, shall we? What has Chernobog offered and what has she asked for? MJO, you were saying?”
“She would like full immunity for her promise not to be a bad girl computer-wise ever again.”
“And?”
“That’s it,” Oliver said.
“Wow, such a deal. Here’s the counteroffer. You give us back all the data you stole and wiped from Centaurion Division and any other U.S. department over the past, oh, let’s call it twenty years. You will give us all the information you have on the people who put you into motion to steal Centaurion’s data and so forth a year ago. You will tell us, in detail, what was released in the Dulce Science Center and potentially elsewhere that has caused our imageers to lose their powers. And you will also tell us who created it and how to fix it.”
“And if I refuse?” Chernobog asked.
“Then,” the Dingo said from behind me, “you die.”
CHAPTER 71
“WHAT OUR AGENT MEANS,” Serene said smoothly, “is that we’ll alert the assassins who are after you. We’ll give them your exact location, and we’ll tell them we won’t stop them from killing you.”
“You cannot protect me from assassination,” Chernobog said.
“You know, a couple of years ago, I’d have agreed with you. Now? Now, as long as you do two more things, I can guarantee you’ll be left alone. But we aren’t going to discuss those things until I have the answers and data I want.”
“Oh, and spare us the protestations that you’ve destroyed all you took,” White said conversationally. “Because we know you’re just not that stupid.”
“It will take some time for me to do all you ask,” Chernobog said.
“She’s stalling,” Surly Vic shared.
“I agree. Jeremy, what are you getting?”
“Not much. She’s a little agitated, but that’s all.”
“Adriana, has she been strip-searched?”
“No, the colonel wouldn’t allow it.”
“Well, I’m here now, and I demand it. You and Jennifer strip her down and see where she has the emotional overlay hidden about her person. The bathroom’s free. Len, Kyle, you go with Jeremy and make sure Chernobog doesn’t manage to overpower anyone and escape.”
“Are you sure this is necessary?” Butler asked me.
“Dude, right now, if you know what’s at all good for you and your career, you’ll shut up and smile and nod. A lot. I can’t believe you refused to strip-search a known terrorist.” Looked him right in the eyes. “As far as the C.I.A. will see it, you’re in it with her. Now, are they right or are you just too damn chivalrous for your own good?”
He swallowed. “No. Go ahead.”
Adriana and Jennifer each took an arm and escorted Chernobog out. “Leave the door open,” I called to Len as the guys went after them. He nodded and did so. Surly Vic shifted so that he was able to see the office and, therefore, the bathroom.
“She had all the proper qualifications,” Butler said, a little desperately.
“I’m sure she did.” While we were talking, had an unsettling thought. There was one other reason Butler might have been stalling. Sent a text. “She’s hella old, dude. Did you not consider that?”
“She showed as having worked for the State Department and Department of Defense for her entire career, then retired. She asked for part-time work when her husband died, and was given a secretarial job at entry-level wages. She was so good that she was kept on, and then moved up to my office last year.”
“Impressive. All a lie, but still, impressive.”
“Who are you talking to?” White asked.
“Tell you shortly. John, where were you stationed before you took over here?”
“In Germany. I ran the Spangdahlem Air Base.”
“Impressive post.” My phone beeped. “Excuse me a minute.” Got up and went to the outer door. “Tito, good to see you and your special wand.”
He shook his head. “Hilarious. Who am I wanding?”
Led him through. “He’s with me,” I said to my assassins, who nodded. “Run it over our good colonel here, please. John, stand up, would you?”
Serene and White stood up and moved to flank Butler. Walter followed their lead and stood behind him. “What’s going on?” Butler asked as he stood slowly.
“I’m just a super-suspicious girl. This is noninvasive and won’t take a moment.”
Tito ran the wand all around Butler. “Thanks,” he said calmly. Then he moved near to me. “Ninety percent inorganic.”
“What?” Butler asked. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Show us your artificial limbs, or we’re going to shut you down.”
Butler looked confused. “I don’t have artificial limbs.”
Walter karate chopped the back of his neck, hard. Nothing happened.
Butler spun around, but he didn’t attack. “Why did you do that?” He sounded hurt and confused.
Backed up near the Dingo, who wisely had his big gun out. “He’s an android,” I said softly. “But he doesn’t seem to know, meaning he hasn’t been activated yet. We could use him, if he can be contained.”
Butler heard me. “What the hell? I’m not an android!”
“Sensors say you are,” Tito said.
Oliver looked shocked. “Are you sure? He’s acted perfectly normal.”
“No, he hasn’t. Colonel Franklin wouldn’t have let Chernobog sit here for a day without calling in reinforcements, of which the seven of you were not. But someone who’s been programmed to ignore and protect Chernobog would.”
Butler shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not an android.” He blinked, rapidly, several times in succession. Had the proverbial bad feeling.
“Everyone? I think it’s going to be time to go.”
Oliver got up and trotted to me and Tito. “Are you sure?”
“Is that man acting normal?” Pointed to Butler, who was jerking. “He’s either the best actor out there or he’s about to self-destruct.”
“We need what he has,” Serene said, somewhat desperately. “We can reverse engineer him.”
“N-n-n-ot annnn an-d-d-droid,” he said. Then looked at me with horror. “Help. What . . . what have they . . . d-d-d-done to me?”
The Dingo was ready to shoot, and I was ready to run. But it was clear Serene didn’t want to give up. And Butler was terrified, I could see it in his eyes. There was ten percent of him that was still human, and that ten percent didn’t want to die.
Gave it one last shot. “John, you’re trying to self-destruct right no
w, there’s some mechanism or chip in your head that’s telling you to blow yourself up. If you can stop it, can keep yourself from exploding or self-destructing, then we can help you. And we’re the only people on Earth who will be willing to.”
He was still jerking. The women came out of the bathroom. “What’s going on?” Chernobog asked.
“He’s an android, and I’m betting you knew.”
“What? No!” She sounded freaked out. “He’s going to self-destruct!”
Turned to her. “Unless you stop it. I’m betting that you can.”
“Why save him?”
For whatever reason, this question made me flip from worried, scared, and angry to enraged. “Because he doesn’t want to die. He might be mostly machine, but they took whoever John Butler was and turned him into that machine, and I guarantee it was against his will.” He was fighting too hard for me to believe he’d chosen this willingly. “And you probably helped them do it. If not this, then you’ve helped them do so many other horrible things you owe this, much more than this. But it’s a start. Save him. Or die with him.”
“I need codes to deactivate, and I don’t know them, and we don’t have time for me to find them.” Chernobog sounded terrified. Unfortunately this might mean she was telling the truth.
I grabbed her and shoved her toward Butler. Racked my brain. During Operation Invasion Bellie had known the trigger codes to stop and then control the androids. Butler could be a newer model, but if he’d been in Europe when the invasion happened, then he might be one of the older models. This wasn’t my area of expertise, though.
Had my phone in my hand and I used it. Thankfully he picked up right away. “Kitty, we don’t have anything yet—”
“Shut up, Ravi, and listen to me or we’re all dead and by we I include Jennifer. What were the codes that Bellie gave you during Operation Invasion?”
“We lost them along with all the rest of our data.”
“Great. Will call you back if we’re alive.” Hung up and hit the speed dial of the one person who might be able to save the day. He also answered on the first ring.
“Kitty, what’s—”
“What’s up, Chuckie, is the usual deadly crap. I need the numbers that Bellie gave us during Operation Invasion that gave Ravi control of the androids. Do you remember them?”
“Hang on.” He was quiet for a few long seconds while I pulled a pen out. “Got it. Protocol two-two-six-three-seven-one-two. Protocol eight-seven-one-four-five. Protocol six-six-six-one-four-nine-two.” Wrote those down on my hand.
“I love you.” Shoved my hand at Chernobog’s face. “See what you can do with that. Meanwhile, Walter, Jeremy, take Len and Kyle and evacuate the hangar, get everyone out. Now. And be sure Len and Kyle are with you and safe.” Walter grabbed Len, Jeremy took Kyle, and they raced off. Alarms started immediately. “Jennifer, get MJO, Tito, and Adriana out of here, too.” She nodded, grabbed Oliver and Adriana, who grabbed Tito. They took off, too.
“Kitty, what the hell is going on?” Chuckie asked. Well, shouted, because the alarms were loud and I assumed he could hear them, too.
“Home Base is double infiltrated, we have Chernobog and the android version of Colonel Butler, who’s going to explode if she can’t use those codes to deactivate his self-destruct. He’s fighting it, so we have a shot.”
“Get the hell out of there!” He was bellowing. Not quite up to Jeff’s standards, but pretty close.
He was right, of course. Even though hyperspeed meant that we could probably get out before Butler exploded, it was stupid to stay here to try to save the android version of a guy I didn’t know.
But I hadn’t been able to save Michael or Fuzzball, Gladys or Naomi. Or so many people before them. This one life wouldn’t make up for theirs. But still, Butler, the human part of Butler, didn’t want to die.
“No. We’ll be fine.”
“Kitty, get out, now!”
“Mister White, get the others out of here. I’m staying until we have to run.” I nodded toward Chernobog.
White shook his head. “I’m not leaving.”
“Me either,” Serene said.
“I need an entry point,” Chernobog said. “Short of ripping his head off, I have no idea where to start. I don’t work on these and if I were hacking I’d go in differently. And with more time.”
Serene made a call. “Ravi, you need to talk us through defusing an active android. You’re on speaker now, try to ignore the alarms.”
“Serene, I lost all that a year ago,” Ravi sounded freaked out and far away, because the alarms were drowning him out. “I can remember some but—”
Butler looked at me. He wasn’t shaking or blinking any more. “I can’t stop it. I can feel it trying to tell me to explode something in my brain.”
In times of trouble, I’d found one thing that always worked for me. I went for the crazy. “John, look at the numbers on my hand.” He did. “Internalize them. Tell them to the whatever that’s trying to blow you up.”
“What?” This was shouted in unison by Ravi and Chuckie. Still wasn’t a huge fan of the unison thing, but this was kind of cool, since they were both on different phones and, presumably, not together.
Serene had a hold of Chernobog. The Dingo and Surly Vic were still with us, too. White was between them, presumably ready to grab them and run. They had their guns trained on Butler, presumably to kill him before he blew up.
“Try, John,” I said gently, as I pulled up the trigger phrase that had worked on Bellie. “This is for the survival of the fittest.”
Butler blinked, and jerked, big time. “You need to run.”
CHAPTER 72
SERENE AND WHITE both took off, Chernobog and assassins in tow. I pretended to. It’s easy enough to fool someone going at hyperspeed—by the time they figure out you’re not with them, they’re far away. Hung up my phone and put it in my purse, all while keeping my hand in front of Butler. “Try harder.”
“I can’t.”
“John, the mere fact that you’re still here, fighting, means that you can. You’re the only android I’ve come across that could realize what was going on and stop it, even for a little while. That’s the John part of you doing it. You’re a strong person. Be stronger. Look at these numbers.”
“Why are you staying with me?”
“Because she doesn’t want to let you die alone,” Christopher said.
He entered the room, dragging Jeff & Chuckie with him. Jeff and Chuckie were gagging a little, but I could say from experience that being revved up made the effects of Christopher’s Flash Level less intense.
“But we’ve lost enough people to this fight. Baby, we need to go.” Jeff took my hand, the one without the numbers on it.
“Wait,” Chuckie said. He was on his phone. “Yeah, Ravi, got it.” He tossed his phone to Christopher. “Act as relay, speakerphone won’t cut it while the alarms are going off.”
He went behind Butler and pulled a pen out of his pocket. “This may hurt,” he said to Butler. Then he slammed the pen into Butler’s right ear.
Results were immediate. They also didn’t involve any of us going boom.
Butler dropped to the ground. “Now what?” Chuckie asked, which Christopher relayed.
“No,” Christopher said to Ravi. “He’s not moving. Looks dead, honestly. Really? You’re positive? Okay.” He looked at Chuckie. “We don’t do anything now. He’s in stasis, Ravi says you’ve hit the suspension mechanism. He’s still active, but nothing can happen as long as your pen remains connected to whatever the hell it is you hit.”
Jeff got on his phone. “We need an emergency containment team here now. Yeah, an active android that’s just managed not to self-destruct. Yes. Sooner than that. I’m here because my wife is here, why shouldn’t I be here?” Heard someone yelling. Said someone sounded like Reader. “You weren’t nearby when she called Chuck, Christopher and I were. Yes. No, we didn’t take a gate.” He sighed. “Yes, he can, he really can. Could
we discuss this later? Great, thanks.” He hung up.
A dozen Field agents showed up, in what looked like riot gear. They were accompanied by six Dazzlers, also in riot gear, and a gurney.
“Don’t let that pen move out of his ear or everyone goes boom.”
“Yes, Ambassador,” one of the Dazzlers said. “We know.”
“Him going boom is not what we want. Especially not if all of you are around him, but even if you’re not.”
“We’ll do our best.”
“You need to leave, please,” one of the Field agents said. “Commander Reader’s orders.”
“Happy to,” Jeff replied as he took my hand. I grabbed Chuckie, Christopher took Jeff’s other hand, and we zipped outside.
Found White and Serene with Chernobog, Tito, and the rest of Team Oliver in the middle of Groom Lake. It was time for a flashback. Really hoped quicksand, javelinas, and combine tractors wouldn’t be in our near future.
The Dingo and Surly Vic were nowhere to be seen. Decided I’d ask White where they went later. Like when Jeff, Christopher, and Chuckie weren’t around later.
“Are you crazy?” Jeff asked all of us, me in particular. “Is that your problem?”
“Grouchy much? We’re all alive and well.” And I was still enraged, meaning I could have gotten away because when I was this angry, all the skills flowed like I was Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Chuck Norris combined.
“Miraculously,” Christopher said.
“How did you know?” Chuckie asked. “About Butler, I mean. Stryker told us how you figured out where Chernobog was.”
“He wasn’t acting right, for a military man in that position. He was stalling. At first I thought he was working with Chernobog, but he seemed sincere, which was when the thought that he could be an android hit me and I asked Tito to come over. Then I asked where he’d been stationed last. The moment he told me he was in Europe, the likelihood of him being an android seemed much more, um, likely.”