Although she knew the tiny Smythe facial-recognition device was up there, it was invisible to her eyes. With a barely audible hiss, a six-foot-wide floor-to-ceiling section of the fake block wall slid open on grooved titanium tracks. Despite the many times that she had stood at this juxtaposition of two technologically distinct universes, she still felt a touch of awe at the contrast.
The Hungarian arm of the Safe Earth resistance had completed the assembly of the Smythe Earth gate seventeen days ago. During the time that had elapsed since then, the robots that had been sent through had enlarged and transformed the subbasement, turning it into a heavily armed fortress. The walls of the two escape tunnels had been reinforced with carbon-bonded titanium struts and panels.
The main facility now had its own stasis field generator powered by a next-generation cold-fusion reactor. A point-blank nuclear explosion could vaporize the surrounding structures, but everything within the protected area would emerge unscathed. Furthermore, if anyone somehow managed to infiltrate the site, they would find themselves confronted by more than two hundred of the Smythe autonomous combat robots.
Nikina didn’t know how many similar facilities the Smythes had managed to sprinkle around the world, but even if this was the only one, it was vastly more impressive than the site at which she had been arrested on the outskirts of Hanau, Germany. It was also much noisier, due to the ongoing robotic construction work.
A heavyset, bearded Hungarian walked toward her, a broad smile lighting his face.
“Ah, Nikina. Knock the snow from your feet and come warm yourself with a hot tea. We have much to discuss.”
She returned the big man’s embrace with believable enthusiasm. After all, Ambrus Fazakus was an important SERE leader, and convincing people of her sincerity was one of Nikina’s specialties.
“Thank you, Ambrus. Hot tea sounds wonderful.”
He led her past the inactive Earth gate and into a small break room with a half-dozen tables, indicating for her to take a seat at the nearest. In here, acoustic tiles on the walls and ceiling reduced the noise, making conversation easier. Ambrus walked over to the drink station and soon returned with two steaming mugs. Nikina lifted hers to her lips, inhaling the scent of peppermint before taking a sip, just enough to avoid burning her lips.
Then, holding the cup loosely so that its warmth radiated into her enfolding hands, she looked across the table, studying Ambrus’s face.
“So,” she said, “you are alone in here tonight?”
“Just me and the robots. Except for the outer guards, I gave everyone else the night off. In a few minutes, Janet Price will initiate a videoconference over the subspace link. She wanted you and me to be the only attendees on this end.”
She felt her heart rate elevate ever so slightly. Either this was a very good sign or a very bad one. As she glanced out the door at all the automated firepower at Janet’s disposal, there was no chance that Nikina could fight her way out of here. The best she could do was put a bullet through Ambrus Fazakus’s thick head, but that would still mean total failure of the mission that Alexandr Prokorov had assigned her.
Since her options wouldn’t become clear until she heard what Janet had to say, Nikina settled back in her chair, crossed her legs, and let the warm tea soothe her. Her wait wasn’t a long one.
When the monitors on all four of the break room’s walls flickered to life, she found her eyes drawn to the face of the striking woman who had killed her lover. This time, Nikina had to work to keep the hatred from seeping from her soul into her eyes.
It was an odd arrangement for a videoconference. She found herself looking at a monitor above Ambrus’s head while he looked at a display high on the wall behind her. Each of these flat-panel video units was equipped with cameras so that Janet could manipulate the imagery from this room.
The arrangement made it impossible for Nikina to tell which of them Janet was looking at. Janet’s eyes seemed perpetually locked on her. Others may have found this to be the intimidating equivalent of being seated in a low chair staring up at their boss. To Nikina, it was just another power play.
She kept her face passive.
When Janet smiled, the balance between hope and dread in Nikina’s mind shifted toward the former.
“It’s good to see that you made it here for this meeting, Nikina.”
“It was no problem.”
Janet’s look lost its softness as, once again, the cold eyes of a killer returned. But it was her statement that shocked Nikina.
“In hopes of detecting and defeating any UFNS attempt to build another wormhole gateway, we have been scattering these Earth gates among Safe Earth resistance groups around the globe. I am sorry to inform you that our strategy has failed.”
Janet looked at the tiled video displays, taking special note of the reactions of each of the two Safe Earth resistance operatives to her statement. The heavyset and black-bearded Ambrus straightened abruptly while Nikina’s eyes barely widened, the rest of her features showing no change whatsoever. Janet doubted that she would have handled the news as coolly. Thank the stars that Nikina was on their side instead of Prokorov’s.
She saw a bit of herself in Nikina, that indomitable drive to accomplish her mission, regardless of the difficulty of the task. And Janet also detected the pain and anger buried beneath Nikina’s mask. There was no doubt in her mind that the Latvian operative had suffered a loss that rivaled her own. That suppressed rage needed an outlet, and Janet intended to give it one.
“What?” asked Ambrus.
“We’ve learned from a reliable source that the UFNS has another Kasari gateway, and it’s active.”
“Where?” Nikina asked.
“We suspect North Korea.”
Janet saw Nikina’s eyes narrow.
“Suspect?”
“That country has almost a century of secret military infrastructure and is almost totally off the grid. It’s a place that negates our technological advantages.”
“And where do we come in?” asked Ambrus.
“I need to commandeer one of your recently assigned operatives.”
“You mean Nikina.”
“Yes.”
“Why me?” Nikina asked.
“Two reasons. You proved your loyalty in Hanau, and you’ve demonstrated a knack for getting yourself out of tight spots. I need to put you back into another one.”
At this, Nikina laughed. Ambrus didn’t.
“What about my operation here? I don’t see the wisdom of taking Nikina away from me for what might be a red herring.”
“Noted,” Janet said. “Do you have any objection, Nikina?”
“No. But I have not yet heard the details of the mission.”
“I will brief you when you get here. Ambrus, in five minutes I am going to remotely power up your Earth gate. Make ready.”
“I need to get some things from my apartment,” Nikina said, rising to her feet.
Janet had expected this objection and waved it off. “No time for that. We’ll supply everything you’ll need.”
For a moment, Janet thought she saw anger flash in Nikina’s eyes. The look was replaced with another that vanished just as quickly. What had she seen? Anticipation? Well, she knew the adrenaline rush of being told you were about to be sent into a highly dangerous situation.
When Nikina slowly nodded, Janet killed the subspace link. It was time to get ready for the new arrival.
Nikina stepped through the Earth gate, feeling the hair rise along the nape of her neck. It wasn’t the first time she had made the passage. It was her third. But the first two times had occurred during a firefight, so she hadn’t been paying as much attention. She knew she was stepping through a portal into another part of the world; she just had no idea where the Smythe Fortress was located. This time she came alone, the portal back to Budapest winking out immediately after she stepped through it.
The room looked even larger than she remembered. Along the left wall, what had to be the mas
ter control station surrounded a single workstation with a complex array of electronics. And at that workstation sat a strong-looking young man apparently in his late teens who wore an iridescent headset with beaded ends that settled on his temples.
Along the right two-thirds of the room, hundreds of combat robots stood in columns. Some were roughly dog-shaped, some humanoid, and others crab-like. But now she understood why the room looked so much bigger. The rear wall had been opened to reveal a huge high-bay within which autonomous air and ground vehicles were lined up by type. Some were supply transporters, but most bristled with combat capabilities.
The ones that drew Nikina’s eyes were the autonomous combat motorcycles. Having watched many of the other electrically powered robotic systems in action, she had no doubt that these new models would bring entirely new capabilities into battle.
The breadth of what she beheld stunned her. How was it possible for the Smythes to manufacture these things so fast? The exponential rate at which they were increasing their capabilities sent goose bumps up and down her limbs. She was thankful that her black leather outfit hid her involuntary reaction from the group of people who waited to greet her.
Janet Price, also dressed all in black, stood in the center, flanked by Mark and Heather Smythe. Despite the two formidable people on either side, Nikina found herself drawn to Janet, as if by an irresistible force. At five foot ten, Janet stood three inches taller than Nikina. This was the sniper who had shot Daniil Alkaev in the head on that firelit night in Lima.
Nikina had used many names during her life. Back then she had been Galina Anikin, and Janet had come a hair’s breadth from killing her, too. Instead, Janet’s bullet had left the scar in Nikina’s hairline that her nanites had never completely healed. Before she was done, Nikina intended to carve Daniil’s name into Janet’s lovely body.
It took all her self-mastery to hide that bloodlust beneath a warm grin as she shook Janet’s extended hand.
“Good to see you again,” said Janet.
“You, too. It’s been a while.”
Breaking Janet’s gaze before it became uncomfortable, Nikina accepted the greetings of Heather and Mark. Two years ago, Nikina had learned firsthand that, far from being the spoiled tech billionaires she had once believed, these two were every bit as dangerous as Janet Price and Jack Gregory.
Nikina noted movement to her left and turned to see the teenage boy who had been operating the master-control console approaching. As she turned toward him, she did a double take. He looked like a much younger Jack. But this couldn’t be the boy she and Daniil had hunted to ground in Peru. He was several years too old for that. He extended his hand.
“Hi, Nikina,” he said with a confident smile. “Rob Gregory.”
Again, Nikina felt her mind spinning as she struggled to dismiss the shock of this Twilight Zone episode in which she now found herself.
“A pleasure.”
“So,” said Janet, “if you’ll walk with me to the conference room, I’ll brief you on your mission.”
As Nikina followed Janet, she noted that the other three remained behind.
“Mark and Heather won’t be joining us,” said Janet, noting her backward glance. “They have another pressing matter to deal with.”
That was fine with Nikina. Something in the way Heather had looked at her had given her the uncomfortable feeling that the woman had seen through her facade. But if Heather had suspicions, she had not spoken of them, so Nikina shrugged it off. Perhaps her natural paranoia was getting the better of her.
As they turned into a long hallway, she followed Janet Alexandra Price, thinking about how easy it would be to pull her weapon and put a bullet into the back of that beautiful head. Of course, that would mean that she would have failed to accomplish the mission that Prokorov had given her all those months ago. Besides, dying at the hands of an army of combat robots inside this rat hole wasn’t in her plans.
For now, Nikina would bide her time playing the loyal SERE operative and wait for her opportunity to bring down the entire Smythe operation. The bullet with Janet’s name on it would have to wait.
Besides, she thought, anticipation stokes the heat of the climax.
CHAPTER 13
SMYTHE FORTRESS, NEW ZEALAND
28 February
Mark walked alongside Heather into the room they had modeled after the Second Ship’s command deck. Four pedestal-mounted, translucent chairs seemed to sprout from the floor near its center. Mark found it difficult to judge distance in the room, a side effect of the curvature that made it hard to tell where the floor stopped and the wall began, an effect magnified by the soft lighting. The design was all about minimizing distractions that could reduce the immersion into the headset-provided visions, whether those headsets were of the subspace receiver-transmitter SRT variety or the Altreian types that connected them to the Second Ship’s computer.
The familiar feel of the chair molding to Mark’s body shape as he settled onto it failed to calm the thumping of his heart. While Rob was working with Jamal, Eileen, and Denise in an attempt to establish a subspace connection to the Meridian Ascent, Mark and Heather were about to try to link to Jennifer using their Altreian headsets. After all this time, the thought of his mind touching that of his twin took Mark’s breath away. He shoved aside the negative too-good-to-be-true thoughts, removed the Altreian headset from its slot inside the arm of the chair, and let its beaded ends settle over his temples.
As the visions generated by his mind’s interaction with the Altreian computer swept the real world away, Mark felt Heather’s mind join his. But he couldn’t feel Jennifer’s presence. Detecting his disappointment, Heather’s voice spoke in his mind.
“Patience, sweetheart. She said she would try periodically. Let’s give her some time.”
Mark sighed but shifted focus. If they had to wait, they might as well be someplace spectacular. Picking a place both he and Heather loved, he let the Second Ship transport them there, pulling her into that alternate reality along with him.
Wearing multicolored swimsuits, they stood hand in hand, digging their toes into the warm sand. Across the turquoise lagoon, the two peaks of Mount Pahia and Mount Otemanu rose above Bora Bora. The late afternoon sun had drifted low enough so that it rested on the western horizon. If they waited just a few minutes, they might be lucky enough to see the green flash that occasionally followed the sunset.
Mark let his gaze drift out toward the barrier reef that surrounded the island, watching as several speckled rays passed less than fifty feet from the shore.
“Nice choice,” Heather said, nodding at the water. “Shall we?”
“You bet.”
But as they stepped toward the gently lapping waves, the beautiful scene dissolved, leaving them standing within the gray alien interior of the Kasari starship that had once been the centerpiece of Dr. Stephenson’s prized Rho Project. Jennifer’s voice spun him to his left.
“My God!” she said.
Before Mark could react, she raced forward, leaping up to wrap her strong arms around his neck. As he hugged her close, he felt warm tears wet his cheek, not exactly sure whether they were his, Jennifer’s, or both. When he set her back on her feet, Heather took his place. For several long moments, no one spoke.
As good as the virtual-reality effects produced by their SRT headsets were, they couldn’t compare to the experience produced by these Altreian ones. You could touch, smell, hear, see, and taste, just as in real life.
When the two women released each other, Jennifer stepped back to look at Heather and her brother, sheer wonder on her face. A sudden constriction in Mark’s throat forced him to swallow hard. That was when the changes in his sister struck him.
As he had observed in the recorded video she had broadcast, she hadn’t aged significantly since he’d last seen her. But her face and eyes carried some of the hard edges he’d gotten used to seeing in Jack and Janet. He got the impression that Jennifer had experienced some very tough
things during the time she’d been gone.
Despite that, she looked damn good. Dear God. He had his twin sister back.
“You’ve gotten tall,” Jennifer said to him.
“And married.”
Jennifer’s eyes widened as she glanced back and forth between him and Heather, who smiled and nodded. “When?”
“A few months after you triggered the Rho Ship’s wormhole engines and disappeared with Raul.”
“What about the Stephenson Gateway?” Jennifer asked.
“We nuked it,” said Mark.
Her eyes widened again. “What?”
“Had to,” said Heather. “The crazy bastard, Stephenson, was trying to make emergency repairs to restart it. He threw up a stasis field bubble and we couldn’t get to him.”
Jennifer paused. “Then why is there an active Kasari gateway on Earth?”
“We didn’t know there was until we got your message. Right now, we’ve got people hunting for it.”
“And that,” said Mark, “is part of a long story. But first, we want to hear yours.”
“I’ll get to that in a bit. Before that, I want to give you a tour of the Meridian Ascent and introduce you to the rest of the crew.”
“How?” asked Mark. “The three of us and Rob are the only ones with the Altreian headsets.”
Jennifer laughed. “And that’s where my story gets longer.”
Jennifer led Heather and Mark to a door that opened into a small conference room. But the sight that startled Heather was of the other three individuals seated around the table.
“You both know Raul,” Jennifer said. “He’s now the captain of the Meridian Ascent, and I’m his first officer.”
Heather recognized Raul, although the last time she’d seen him had been via a brief glimpse when Jennifer had stepped through the wormhole gate into the Rho Ship. At that time, he had been a cyborg horror with no legs, a mechanical eye on a stalk, and a translucent skullcap that left his brain visible. Now he looked like the handsome young man she had briefly dated in high school, albeit a couple of years older. As she struggled to process these changes, Heather decided that she would need more information to make sense of them.
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