Linkage (The Narrows of Time Series Book 1)

by Jay J. Falconer

  He peeked inside a few of them, but only found hand-scribbled notes on legal-sized sheets of paper. He didn’t see any calculations. He tried to read the notes, but the penmanship was horrible.

  “Shit, I thought my writing was bad. This guy must have been an ER doc in a former life.” He checked a dozen more folders but still didn’t find any calculations. He moved on to the next cabinet, sifting through the disorganized stack of equipment stored in the next cabinet, when he heard footsteps coming from outside the lab’s open door.

  “Shhhh,” he told Billy Ray, who was humming an old country tune. Lucas pointed at his right ear, then at the open door. Billy Ray nodded.

  Lucas was a good twenty feet from Kleezebee and Drew, who were working together in front of the grease boards. Kleezebee was closest to him, standing to Drew’s left, sucking on one of his unlit cigars. Lucas used a short, low-pitched whistle to get their attention. Kleezebee turned first, then Drew. Lucas pointed at the door then held up a finger to his lips. Both men nodded.

  Lucas initially thought the footsteps might belong to Kleezebee’s security guard on the surface, but dismissed the idea when he heard a faint ratcheting noise—the unmistakable sound of someone cocking a gun. Then he heard the jiggle of door handles, each rattle separated by a couple of footsteps.

  The sounds were getting progressively closer, making Lucas realize the person in the hall was still a few doors away. He figured he had enough time to close and lock the lab door before the stranger arrived, so he inched the entrance door closed, trying not to make a sound. Before it closed, he turned the handle to retract the latch, hoping it would quietly slide back into place when he released pressure on the mechanism. He was able to silently close the door and let go of the handle, but the door latch wouldn’t engage because of the damage caused during the break-in.

  Lucas backed away from the door and crouched down with his back against the storage cabinet. He opened the left cabinet door for additional cover and leaned in, using one eye to peer through the gap in the doorjamb. Next to the lab door was a fire extinguisher, which he intended to use as a blunt-force weapon once the stranger entered the room and had moved past him. He just needed to time his attack properly.

  Part of him was amazed at how comfortable he was with the idea of bashing someone’s brains in with a fire extinguisher. Until recently, violence wasn’t a big part of his life. Now it seemed like violence was waiting for him around every turn. He pushed those thoughts aside and prepared to spring into action.

  Billy Ray wrapped his callused fingers around Lucas’ left bicep, and then suddenly, the two of them were in a cocoon of darkness—a damn subspace rift.

  Shit, Lucas thought, I can’t help Drew while I’m stuck in here.

  “What the hell? Take me back!” Lucas yelled into the darkness. “My brother—”

  “Not until it’s safe to return. I have my orders,” Billy Ray said.

  “I don’t care if it’s safe or not. Take me back.”

  “Sorry, not going to happen. Not ‘til it’s safe.”

  “And when will that be?”

  “When my proximity sensor tells us the coast is clear,” Billy Ray answered, holding his glowing watch face out in front of Lucas where he could see it. The device contained a wire frame floor plan of the QED Lab with a pair of red blips in the top left corner and two more blips in the middle. A slow-moving single dot was approaching from the right.

  “Look, there’s only one guy. It’ll be easy for the two of us to take him out,” Lucas said, pointing to the moving blip.

  “I told you before, not until the area is clear.”

  “We have to help them,” Lucas said. “Give me that thing.” He tried to tear the watch from Billy Ray’s wrist, but failed.

  “I’m the only one who can operate it,” Billy Ray said, keeping the watch out of Lucas’ reach. “If you take this off me, the subspace rift will collapse and kill us both.”

  * * *

  Kleezebee looked around for his yellow bag and saw it sitting on the floor next to the wall, too far away to be of any use. When the lab door opened, Randol Larson from the Advisory Committee walked in with a revolver pointed at him. Kleezebee, still leaning on crutches, raised his hands partway above his head—any higher and he’d fall over.

  Drew quickly followed suit.

  “You really should’ve stationed more than one guard by your winch,” Larson said, pointing the gun initially at Kleezebee’s chest, then at Drew. He curled his upper lip in an arrogant sneer, showing his teeth like an angry dog. “I was told you were dead.”

  Drew shrugged, pushing his hands even higher over his head.

  “What do you want, Larson?” Kleezebee asked.

  “Where’s the other one?”

  “Who?”

  “Don’t try to play me. Unlike my idiot brother-in-law, I didn’t buy that whole campus escape to Green Valley, not for one goddamn second. I’m sure you used the explosion as a diversion, switching cars in the tunnel.” Larson pointed the gun back at Kleezebee. “Tell me where he is, or so help me God, I’ll put a bullet in you.”

  “He’s not here,” Drew replied before Kleezebee could stop him from answering.

  “Bullshit.”

  “I’m telling you the truth.”

  “I doubt it. From what I’ve heard, you two never go anywhere alone.”

  “Go ahead and search if you like; you’ll never find him,” Drew said.

  “We’ll see about that,” Larson said, pulling out his cell phone.

  “You won’t get a signal down here,” Kleezebee said.

  “Then I’ll just call Rafael from the surface. I’m sure it won’t take his men long to find Lucas,” Larson said, jerking the gun toward the door. “Let’s go.”

  Kleezebee followed Drew out the door, with Larson trailing behind.

  * * *

  “Okay, it’s safe to return,” Billy Ray said, pressing a series of orange buttons on his watch.

  A split second later the two of them were back in the QED lab, standing beside the open cabinet door. Lucas motioned for Billy Ray to follow him to the lab door, where he leaned around the corner to spy down the hallway.

  Drew and Kleezebee were about thirty feet away, with their backs to him. Kleezebee limped slowly along on his crutches, and Drew rolled next to him in his wheelchair. They were followed by a slender man with blond hair who was holding a gun and waving it around as he walked, acting as if he wanted his captives to move faster.

  Kleezebee, with his injury, was forcing the group to move slowly and it didn’t appear the gunman was too happy about it. When they turned the corner at the end of the hall, Lucas recognized the gunman.

  “Larson!” he whispered. “How the hell—?” He turned to Billy Ray and said, “We have to rescue them.”

  “How?”

  “We’ll have to improvise,” Lucas replied, unhooking the three-foot-long fire extinguisher from the wall.

  “Sorry, but I’m not trained for this,” Billy Ray said, touching the buttons on his watch. The tech slipped back into the subspace rift.

  “Are you kidding me?” Lucas said in a whisper to the heavens, as if the tech could somehow hear him. “Damn it, Billy Ray, I really need your help.” He waited a few seconds, but the man never returned. He couldn’t wait any longer. It was time to get moving before he lost track of his friends.

  Lucas balanced the fire extinguisher on his right hip as he jogged down the hallway. Once he caught up to the gunman escorting his brother and Kleezebee, he slowed his pace and crept along the walls to keep out of sight until he was ready to strike.

  He wondered what Larson’s plan was once they reached the stairwell. There was no way Drew was going to be able to climb the stairs by himself. Did Larson expect Kleezebee to carry him? Or was Larson going to? It didn’t make sense, but then again, maybe Larson hadn’t thought it all the way through.

  The opportunity Lucas was waiting for presented itself when he was only ten feet beh
ind Larson. As the trio neared the seating lounge next to the mangled elevator, Lucas spotted a long, decorative planter wall that ended at a four-foot-wide cement column ahead on the right. If he could get to the other side of the column undetected, he might be able to get the drop on Larson.

  While Larson was moving slowly behind his captives and focused on them, Lucas snuck around to the right, bent over and crept behind the half-wall, moving quickly to the far side of the cement pillar. He visualized Larson’s speed and angle down the hallway, calculating the timing of his next move. He chose to wait for a three count, then stepped out and swung the fire extinguisher as hard as he could.

  The canister caught the right side of Larson’s head, making a loud metal clanking sound. The attorney was sent flying across the hallway and so was the gun he was holding. It jettisoned out of Larson’s hand, landing several feet away from him. Luckily for everyone, it didn’t fire.

  “Take that, you asshole,” Lucas hissed in controlled anger, standing over Larson’s motionless body.

  “Damn it, Lucas, I didn’t want anyone hurt,” Kleezebee yelled.

  “Sorry, Professor, but I couldn’t just let him haul you away to God-knows-where.” Lucas put the dented fire extinguisher on the ground. “I had to do something.”

  “Yes, I understand. But you didn’t have to do this. I had the situation under control.”

  “Not from what I could tell,” Lucas replied, wondering what his boss meant. “It looked like you were being led away at gunpoint. Am I missing something here?”

  Just then, Bruno and two other men came running out of the stairwell door. Bruno stopped short and took stock of the scene before him.

  “What happened?” Bruno asked.

  “You’re late,” Kleezebee said. “I needed you here thirty seconds ago.”

  “Sorry, boss. We came as quickly as we could.”

  “How the hell did Larson get past your guy on the surface?” Lucas asked.

  “He used to be a Marine, remember? I’m sure it wasn’t difficult for him to take our man out,” Kleezebee said, kneeling down next to Larson. “This is all my fault. Damn it, I should’ve had more men guarding the elevator shaft.”

  Lucas looked at Bruno and the other two security guards and suddenly understood what Kleezebee meant when he said he had it under control. “Oh, I see. You knew Bruno was watching and would bring reinforcements the minute Larson showed up and took your guy out on the surface.”

  “Yes, that’s why I was walking slow. To buy time until he and his men got here. We had a long climb to the surface ahead of us and there would’ve been ample time for Bruno’s team to get into position and take control of the situation,” Kleezebee said, touching the tips of his fingers to Larson’s neck. “He’s still alive. Barely. We need to get him to medical right away. Where’s Billy Ray?”

  “He’s hiding in a rift,” Lucas answered. “He ducked out right after Larson took you down the hall.”

  “Bruno, see if can you raise him.”

  Bruno pressed a few buttons on his watch, “Billy Ray, come in. Do you read me?” Bruno motioned to his two guards to fan out and check the area.

  Lucas walked over and picked up Larson’s gun.

  Bruno spoke into his watch again. “DL needs you down here on the double. We’re by the elevator.” A second later, Bruno turned to Kleezebee. “He’s on his way, boss.”

  “When he gets here, you and he take Larson back to the silo and get him to sick bay. Leave your other two men down here as tactical support while we handle the problem from this end. But I want at least three posted up top.” Kleezebee pulled out a slightly used handkerchief from his back pocket and handed it to Bruno. “No more surprises.”

  “Already done, Chief.”

  “Do you think that’s wise? Larson knows we’re alive,” Lucas said, wondering why Kleezebee felt compelled to show compassion to a man who, if given another chance, would sell them out in a heartbeat. “I don’t understand why you want to help him. He’s the prick who shut down our experiment. And he wants Drew and me dead, remember?”

  “You’re right, he’s a prick. I can’t stand him, either, but it’s not a sufficient reason to leave him down here to die. And what he wanted doesn’t matter, now. We have him under control.”

  Billy Ray arrived in a full sprint from down the hall. He and Bruno each grabbed an end of Larson and carried him into the stairway on their way to the surface.

  “So what’s the plan, Professor?” Drew asked.

  “First, you and I need to finish those equations. Then we need to find the equipment NASA used to cause the power surge.”

  “I have an idea where their equipment might be,” Drew said.

  “Okay, explain.”

  Drew sat up slightly in his chair. “We felt the ground shake in our E-121 lab every now and then, which we assumed was NASA running one of their experiments. It’s not much of a leap to figure they were testing a massive power source. I’d bet it’s somewhere close to our corner of the building.”

  “We’ve got twenty floors to cover. Where do you suggest we start looking?” Lucas asked.

  “Right here, on this floor. It’s the most logical place, since it’s where they were working on the equations.”

  “Agreed,” Kleezebee said. “We start with this floor and work our way up if need be. Sweep and clear, one floor at a time. We’ll find it.”

  “If I remember correctly, our lab should be directly above the far end of this hallway, down by the conference room,” Drew said.

  “Lucas, you take one of Bruno’s men and search that section of the floor and report back anything you find. Drew and I will return to the QED lab to complete the equations.”

  “Aye-aye, Captain.” Lucas slid Larson’s gun inside the waistline of his pants. Ten feet down the hallway, he turned around, looking past the guard who’d joined him and back at his brother. “Uh, what exactly are we looking for?”

  “A Quantum Foam Generator,” Drew said. “It’s probably huge, like a power plant or reactor. There should also be high-tech equipment connected to it, like in our lab. You’ll know it when you see it.”

  “Got it,” Lucas said, jogging down the hallway, sidestepping the debris littering the corridors.

  * * *

  An hour later, Lucas and his armed escort kicked open another lab door and walked inside the dark room. The first dozen labs they’d checked weren’t what they were looking for—most of them were either empty, or appeared to be some sort of animal testing facility with empty cages and medical equipment and tables. Maybe lucky number thirteen would prove to be different.

  Lucas found the light switch and turned it on. “Yahtzee!” he said, seeing the immense lab. The interior looked promising. It was clearly a high-tech laboratory. Four banks of computer and other electronic equipment stood to his left. There was an enormous test chamber straight in front of him. It was made of a black metallic alloy that seemed to absorb the rays from the overhead lights and stretched all the way up to the ceiling. It had to be at least sixty feet tall.

  He ran to the viewing window and looked inside. “That’s got to be it,” he said, hoping the guard standing by the entrance could hear him.

  Inside the chamber he saw a three-story, silver-colored reactor, with four high-voltage Tesla transformer coils surrounding it. The swirling electrical coils were taller than the reactor and shaped like giant mushroom stools. To his right was a grease board with half-erased equations written in red and blue marker ink. He assumed it was the missing board from the QED lab.

  He sprinted out of the lab and ran full steam back to the QED lab with his bodyguard chasing him.

  “Drew! Professor! We found it,” he said, stumbling through the doorway when the toe of his sneaker caught the corner of the doorjamb. He was out of breath, gasping for air.

  “Great timing,” Kleezebee said. “We just finished the equations. What does the generator look like?”

  “The thing is huge. It has to be
at least ten times the size of our E-121 reactor, and it’s surrounded by giant resonator coils. I think even you would be impressed.”

  “Let’s go check it out,” Drew said with excitement.

  Minutes later, the three of them were just outside the generator’s test chamber, looking through the viewing window.

  “Whoa, it’s enormous,” Drew said.

  “I told you,” Lucas replied.

  “What do you think it cost to build?”

  “A lot more than they gave us to build our reactor, that’s for sure.”

  “I’ll bet it can crank out a few terajoules,” Drew said, smiling. “Do you think it’ll work, Professor?”

  Kleezebee nodded slowly. “With the new equations, we just might be able to stabilize the reactor long enough to generate the power stream we need. But we’ll need to make sure your E-121 experiment is calibrated properly.”

  “Uh, that’s going to be a little difficult since the science lab’s been completely destroyed, Professor,” Lucas said. “And we certainly don’t have another eighteen months to build a new reactor.”

  “You won’t need to.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “We’ve been working on something not all that different from your E-121 reactor. We should be able to use it to run your experiment.”

  “Not all that different?” Lucas asked, wondering why Kleezebee chose those specific words. “What do you mean?”

  “Actually, it’s a near duplicate,” Kleezebee said. “You know the old saying . . . Why have the government pay for one, when you can have them foot the bill for two, at twice the price?”

  More lies and secrets, Lucas thought, trying to wrap his head around the revelation. He understood the rationale behind overstating project costs to obtain excess grant money, but he was concerned why Kleezebee thought it necessary to have a duplicate reactor built and never tell him or Drew. Didn’t he trust them? Was there something wrong with their design? Or was it that Kleezebee thought he needed a backup, just in case the first reactor crashed? It certainly wasn’t needed for Kleezebee’s BioTex, nor was it needed to power their ultra-cool communicator watches.