Kay’s jaw clenched and her hands balled into fists. “I’m sure you’re having a rough time. But I just found my fiancé in my parents’ house murdered. And I can’t seem to get the police to pay attention, no matter what I do. As morbid as it sounds, I need someone to collect his body and see that it’s buried with respect. I know that’s not what you normally do, but if I can’t get anywhere with you, then I might have to rob a bank. Maybe that way someone will listen.”
Fulwood’s bottom lip drooped in stunned amazement. “All right, lady, come on in and I’ll see what I can do to help.”
Kay scanned the nearly vacant street before following him in. He led her upstairs toward the dispatch room—a rectangular room lined with a handful of cubicles, each equipped with a phone and a computer. The lights on the phones were blinking like mad and yet no one was there to take any calls.
“Where is everyone?” she asked.
“Oh, a bunch left when the whole Sarsberg thing broke out,” Chief Fulwood explained, his eyebrows hitching up as he spoke. “Then news came about the end of the world and most of my men just melted away. Since then, I been working with what you might call a skeleton crew.”
“What about your own family?”
“What family? Ain’t got one to worry about. Wife up and left me years ago. These boys at number 29 is all I got left.”
Fulwood sounded like a man with plenty to cry about and hardly a tear left to shed.
“I got a direct line to the police chief. You just write down the important bits and I’ll see he gets the message.”
“Thank you,” Kay said, still trying to shake the feeling she was somehow floating above looking down on all of this.
He handed her a pad and she filled in the details.
Fulwood glanced down at what she’d written. “Mahoro. Your old man isn’t named Felix, by any chance?”
Kay’s eyes lit up. “You know where he is?” she said eagerly, struck by a sudden surge of hope.
“Oh, gosh, no. Back in the day, the wife and I used to attend Poplar Grove Baptist. Gotta admit I wasn’t much into that sorta thing. Religion and all. Went for her really. Not that it did me much good.” Fulwood’s voice trailed off before he snapped out of his reverie. “Is he missing? Your dad, I mean.”
Kay slumped into a nearby chair. “Both my parents along with my fiancé’s family. I had just spoken to them on the phone. Then they simply vanished.”
“Okay, ma’am, don’t fret now. Just stay where you are. You let me ring the chief and he’ll take care of things.”
“I can’t thank you enough.”
“Don’t mention it. If you’re hungry head down the hall to the kitchen and grab anything that isn’t in a paper bag. That stuff belongs to the boys. Last thing I want is have ’em come back and find their dinner gone.”
“That’s very kind.”
Fulwood disappeared into his office and Kay headed into the station’s kitchen. Food was the last thing on her mind. What she wanted was a large bright space where she could finally catch her breath. She found a surprisingly modern room with stainless-steel appliances and a large metal table surrounded by comfy-looking chairs. But what really brought a smile to her face was the brass fire pole that led down to the station’s main level. All these years she had thought that was only a myth.
Kay had no sooner taken a seat before her phone started to chirp. Her heart skipped about three beats as she whipped it out, hoping beyond hope it was her parents calling.
The screen said Ramirez, her special agent friend over at the FBI.
“Just the man I wanted to speak with,” she said, shelving her disappointment.
“Hello to you too,” he replied, breathless. “Listen, I just landed back to D.C. and the situation here is worse than I expected.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Kay said.
Ramirez whispered something to her.
“What was that? I didn’t catch what you said.”
“I said you may not be safe, Kay. There’s talk here of large-scale arrests. Cops everywhere are cracking down.”
“On what?” she asked.
“Everything. There’s a list being circulated to law enforcement and your name is on it.”
Kay’s pulse went from a flutter to a full-on gallop. “Do you think that’s what happened to my parents? They’re missing.”
“I can’t say more. I’m already risking everything just being on the phone with you. For now just lie low and whatever you do, stay away from the cops.”
The voice at the other end of the room startled her.
“Did you find something to eat?”
Kay spun around, removing the phone from her ear and holding it against her thigh.
Fulwood was standing in the kitchen doorway, a strange look on his face.
“Kay, are you there?” Ramirez said, his voice barely audible.
She brought the phone to her ear. “I’ll call you back,” she said and hung up. Then to Fulwood—“It’s okay, I wasn’t hungry.”
“That’s not a problem. Listen, I spoke to the chief of police and he’s sending a patrol car down to get you.”
“To get me?” She felt her eyes go wide with fear and fought to maintain control.
“To take you to your folks’ place and get a statement. You did say your fiancé’s body was there. We’re not quite at the stage where we just gloss over things like that.”
“No, of course not.” She let out a nervous sigh, Ramirez’s words still ringing in her ears.
Whatever you do, stay away from the cops.
“Mind if I use your washroom?”
Fulwood’s eyes narrowed. “Sure thing. Just don’t go anywhere before the patrol car arrives. The chief was real adamant.”
“Got it,” she lied, wearing the most genuine grin she could muster. “Don’t forget, I’m the one who came knocking on your door. Not the other way around.”
The fire chief nodded. “That is true. What the hell, go ahead and use the can. It’s by the stairs, right before the dispatch room.”
Kay was about to take a step when her eyes flicked over to the pole at the same time his did. Shoving the phone into her pocket, Kay made a break for it. Fulwood broke into a run as well, clearly intending to stop her. She reached the pole first and grabbed hold of its smooth, cold surface, spinning down with an audible squeak, her knees buckling as she hit the ground. Fulwood was close behind, sliding down after her.
Kay burst through the same door she had entered through not twenty minutes before. Her car was right out front, her car keys buried in her pocket under her phone. Heart jackhammering in her chest, Kay jammed a hand in, felt for the key’s serrated edge and yanked it out. Fulwood burst through the door a split second later, yelling after her to stop. Whatever the police had told him, he seemed certain Kay was a very bad person.
In one fluid motion, Kay shoved the key into the lock, pulled open the door, slid inside the car and snapped the lock shut behind her. Fulwood dove onto the hood right as she started the car. She backed out, whipping the front end of the vehicle to the right in the process, flinging Fulwood off her hood and onto the street. The agile chief rolled twice and popped up on his feet. The sight filled her with relief as she punched the accelerator and peeled away, the white-haired man standing in the street, brushing the dust off his pant leg. Enough people had died today. She had no intention of adding another name to that list.
Her phone began ringing from inside her pocket. Kay whipped around a corner before pulling it out and answering it.
“Ramirez, I told you I’d call you back.”
“This ain’t Ramirez,” the unusual voice on the other end told her. “I read your article, Mrs. Mahoro, and think the two of us might be able to help one another.”
“Yeah, I doubt that very much.”
“You might,” the man said. “But I’d be willing to bet your parents would disagree.”
Kay glanced down at the caller ID and saw that it read: Un
known. “Who the hell is this?”
“You can call me Ollie.”
Chapter 16
53 hours, 21 minutes, 58 seconds
Already dressed in their biosuits, Jack and Dag made their way through the ruins of the city buried beneath the ice sheet and toward the pyramid. Normally, a snow shuttle would bring them from the bottom of the elevator to Base Camp Zulu, but one hadn’t been there waiting for them. He had radioed Northern Star, who had informed him the shuttles were busy ferrying the Volkov team and that they would be back soon. Jack and Dag had started the journey on their own. They were about halfway there when Jack caught a sound behind them.
He stopped. “You hear that?”
Something was moving at them quickly from out of the darkness. Jack’s helmet was tucked under his arm, but he used his OHMD to increase the brightness of his helmet light and aimed it at whatever was approaching.
“Dr. Greer,” Anna said, her heavy metallic footfalls thudding over the frozen ground. She skidded to a stop before them.
“What’s wrong?”
“Dr. Bishop asked me to conduct a number of seismic scans in and around the base camp.”
“Yeah, I know, I suggested it. We’re trying to make sure the gravitational forces from the portal aren’t eroding the structural stability of the ice cavern.” They continued walking. “I’m assuming you found something.”
“I have,” Anna replied. “But I am still not certain what it means.”
White plumes of hot air condensed before both men. “I don’t understand,” Jack said.
Anna fed the image into his glasses.
Jack struggled to make sense of what he was seeing. It was almost like looking through one of those red Viewmaster 3-D glasses he’d owned as a child, the kind with picture reels you inserted from the top. Sometimes when you were between slides, all you’d see was a blurry double image. The scan of the pyramid Anna was showing him appeared to have a ghostly duplicate.
“As you can see, the seismic data is showing an echo. Dr. Holland and Dr. Bishop believe the distortive effect is being caused by the energy emitted by the portal.”
“Have you tried cleaning it up?”
“I am working on that as we speak.”
“What about structural problems? I don’t want a rerun of what happened in the Gulf.”
“That is precisely what I am trying to avoid.” Anna winked at him. “I know how much you dislike flying.”
***
Jack was still thinking about what Anna had told them when they arrived at Base Camp Zulu. Yuri and his team were getting ready. But only Yuri was wearing a biosuit. Three techs in parkas were positioned behind Ivan, tinkering on something inside his rear panel.
“I take it your techs are not joining us?” Jack said to Yuri.
“Why should they when the two of us are all you need?” He motioned to the fierce-looking robot. Ivan’s four red eyes flashed as if to emphasize the point.
Anna approached the robot, regarding him with apprehension. “Hello,” she said politely, sticking out one of her hands.
Ivan craned his head down and stared at it, then back at her.
“This is how humans greet one another,” she said, taking hold of one of his giant claws and rocking it up and down.
“Does not compute,” Ivan replied. The lights behind his eyes were blinking wildly, as though he were trying to process the illogic of the move. “Greetings and salutations are reserved for diplomatic units. Ivan 3.0 was designed for combat missions. My name is Ivan. Integrated. Variable. Android. Node.”
Anna looked disappointed with her new friend. His greatest sin wasn’t being dumb, it was being boring. Perhaps attempting to make the best of it, she locked onto something he’d said. “You mentioned your name was Ivan 3.0. Does that imply you have a father and a grandfather? You are very lucky if you do. My father died.” Her digital lip began to quiver.
Yuri laughed uncomfortably. “What is this?” he asked, pointing at the two robots.
Dag looked around. “Sounded to me like a question. And not a bad one at that.”
“She’s remotely operated, right?” Yuri asked, his eyes darting between them. “You’ve got a guy in one of these Quonset huts or back on Northern Star pulling on her strings like a marionette?”
“I enjoy marionettes,” Anna said. “Mr. Volkov, are you familiar with the program Thunderbirds? It is an older show, but very exciting. I have downloaded every episode.”
Yuri’s eyes were locked on Jack’s as he released a spastic burst of nervous laughter, looking like a man certain he was being filmed for a hidden camera show. “You’re having a laugh at my expense, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jack responded. “Anna isn’t a remote-control car being driven by some guy in a booth, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Anna moved around to see what Ivan’s techs were doing. Peering into the open panel, she must have seen a female USB port, because she snapped open a small hatch at her waist and produced a male port of her own. She reached to insert it into Ivan. The techs began to stop her, before a wave of Yuri’s hand ordered them to stand down.
Anna plugged herself in and made a long ‘ohhh’ sound. “It is a mess in here,” she said without much tact. “No wonder poor Ivan cannot think straight. His logic routines are routed in circles.”
Her tongue jutted out the corner of her mouth for a moment before she pulled out the USB and let it roll back into her waist. “I hope you don’t mind,” she said to Ivan. “I have streamlined your logic pathways.” She grinned. “You will not be nearly as dumb nor as boring.”
Dag couldn’t hold back. “You know what they say. When you can’t meet new friends, make them.”
What Jack found most fascinating was that Anna wasn’t informing Yuri about what she had done. She was telling Ivan.
“Thank you, Anna,” Ivan said. His creators hadn’t given him a face that allowed any kind of expression, but even Jack thought he could hear a hint of something more in the robot’s voice.
“How about the next time you decide to tinker with his subroutine, you check with me first?” Yuri scolded Anna. “He’s exactly the way we wanted him to be, a trained killer.”
“My apologies, Mr. Volkov,” Anna said, dejected.
“Go easy on her,” Jack told him. “She’s smart as a whip, but inside she’s still a kid.”
Yuri left without saying a word, his team and Ivan following close behind.
Stark’s voice came over the OHMD radio. “Jack, the Delta team is inside the pyramid’s chamber room, raring to go. I need you and the rest of your people here on the double.”
“On our way,” Jack replied. They were about to head through Base Camp Zulu and up into the pyramid when a shuttle arrived from the elevator. A female in a biosuit jumped off and ran toward them.
“Thank goodness, I thought you might have left without me,” Mia said, holding her helmet by the seal.
“I thought you were busy running tests on the twins?” Jack said, confused.
“The first batch is done and I wanted to give Dr. Jansson a chance to review the data on her own. It’s pretty wild stuff, let me tell you.”
Dag threw his helmet on, the inner light illuminating his face. “I’ll bet not nearly as wild as where we’re headed.”
Chapter 17
50 hours, 01 minutes, 25 seconds
By the time Jack and the others arrived the briefing was already underway. To one side stood Yuri, Ivan and the robot’s technicians. On the other was the six-man Delta team, each decked out in strange-looking biocammies.
“Geez, they look like something out of a Van Gogh painting,” Mia whispered to Jack.
No doubt about it, they were a strange sight. Jack was used to seeing these guys in desert or forest fatigues, but if the point was to blend in to their surroundings on the other side, then the colors they were wearing would do the trick.
Admiral Stark motioned to a muscular-
looking soldier next to him. He was at least three inches shorter than Stark, which meant he was about five foot eight and a hundred eighty pounds. Tufts of dark, wavy hair poked out from beneath the bandana he wore on his head. His lips were full and contoured by a dark, handlebar mustache which disappeared beneath his strong chin. The soldier glared back at them with alert and hardened eyes.
“Staff Sergeant Stokes here is in charge of getting you in and out in one piece. If he tells you to jump, your only response should be, ‘How high?’ I hope I’m understood. We don’t have the time to replace you folks if things go sideways. Nonmilitary personnel will be issued sidearms and rifles for emergency purposes only. You need to find a way out of that jungle and attempt to make contact with any intelligent species you encounter.”
Jack remembered the mummified Atean bodies they had found on the ship in the Gulf and what he would give to meet one of them in real life.
“Any questions?”
“Can I have a rifle with a grenade launcher?” Dag asked, as one of Admiral Stark’s men outfitted him.
“No,” he snapped. “Any other questions?”
Yuri raised his hand. “I will be joining the mission to help support Ivan and insure his optimal performance.”
Jack leaned toward Mia. “If they want optimal performance, they should let Anna have another look at him.”
She snickered. “Be careful what you wish for.”
Sergeant Stokes came forward. “By now, each of you has been instructed on the hand signals you might see when we’re on the other side. Our helmets are sealed, so there are no worries about being overheard, but there may be periods where we need to maintain radio silence.”
He then introduced the other members of the Delta team. Stokes pointed to each of the men one by one. “This is Corporal Kerr, Peterson, Diaz, Bates and Conroy.” Each of them looked serious and incredibly professional. “These men are like brothers. We’ve been on missions around the world. A thought doesn’t pass through their heads without me knowing about it first.”
Jack elbowed Mia playfully. “Maybe you should include Stokes in your research.”
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