by Sussman, Ben
“I am actually doing you a favor,” John said. “In a few hours’ time, this entire coast will be nothing but ash.” He stepped back to avoid the mess and the man suddenly rolled over to face him.
“Please,” the store owner begged. “You can just go. I won’t say anything.”
“As I said, it will not matter soon enough. I cannot take any chances, though.” He raised the gun until its aim was level with the man’s head. “This is not your fault,” John offered. “It is Matt Weatherly’s.”
Before his victim could ask who that was, John fired.
Forty-Five
Emma moved rapidly down the hallway, klaxons still blaring in her ears. Her mind, usually the calm and ordered home of thoughts, was now a jumbled mess. She was struggling with what she had seen on Cameron Allen’s computer. The signature. It couldn’t be.
And yet she knew there was no other answer.
It was the only person who made sense. The only one who would have unfettered access to the server locations. The only person who-
“Emma,” Jason’s voice brought her back to reality.
“Yes?” she replied.
“What now?” he demanded.
In response, she brought her gun up and aimed it behind his shoulder. She fired, earning a confused flinch from Jason. Sparks erupted from the high corner of the hall as the blackened lens of a video camera crashed to the floor.
“Maybe if you could kind of clue me in before you do something like that next time?” Jason said, shaking his head. Emma lowered the gun, chewing her lip in thought. “Where are we going?” he asked.
“You’re staying here,” she answered. She stepped around a nearby corner where the metal doors of an elevator waited. She depressed the button to call it.
“Like hell I am.”
There was a soft ding as the elevator arrived. Emma immediately stepped inside and opened the tiny service door beneath the floor buttons. Reaching in, she withdrew three wires pinched between her forefinger and thumb. She yanked them out, causing a quiet electric sizzle and pop. Nodding in satisfaction, she turned back to Jason who was stepping in behind her.
“Stay here,” she ordered, holding up a hand to stop him.
“Emma-”
“I have to do this myself. Do you understand?” Jason moved his foot forward and found his chest butting up against the barrel of her gun. “I’ll do it, Jason,” she threatened.
“No, you won’t,” he said, gently pushing the gun down. “But I get it. Go.”
Emma nodded her gratitude and stabbed a button on the panel. As the doors slowly slid shut, Jason held her eyes and mouthed, “Be careful.”
The doors sealed shut and Emma was by herself. She popped the magazine out of her gun. A cluster of four bullets gleamed. She rammed them back into place as the elevator ascended.
Enough to get the job done, she thought.
The service garage lay on the far side of the NIA headquarters. Originally, it had been built as a massive storage unit to hold the reams of paperwork that the office generated. Because of the sensitive nature of the documents, it was once under heavy guard and surveillance. Over the past five years, however, the NIA office had gone green like much of the rest of the world. Employees were encouraged to print less and store their data on backup drives. After a purge of the top-secret boxes, the shelves remained dusty and bare for a year.
Someone eventually had the forethought to put the large room to use. They pointed out that the large freight elevator that ran up to the surface could also bring down any vehicles that needed repairing. It was deemed a good idea, since there were several official cars and Humvees that could use fixing without prying eyes, such as those with unexplained bullet holes or questionable blood stains.
Emma herself had only been to the garage once to drop something off, when the person accompanying her had filled her in on its history. They had also jokingly noted it was a perfect escape route out of the NIA since nobody ever monitored the freight elevator to the surface.
As her own elevator deposited Emma on the garage level, she noted that there had been no change to the area; that included the small keypad resting beside the entrance door, a small red light glowing steadily at its top. There was little time to spare, with Griggs’ lackeys hunting her down. No doubt they had reached Jason by now, who she knew would defend her vigorously but surrender himself without further incident. As she reached the door, she exhaled a sigh of relief that the code had not been changed. She rapidly punched the buttons and watched the red light. For one breathless beat, it remained stubbornly crimson. Just as Emma’s hopes were fading, it suddenly snapped to green. She pushed open the door.
The first bullet struck Emma’s left forearm.
Out of her peripheral vision, she saw the muzzle flash from across the room which allowed her the split-second she needed to try to get out of its path. She was not quick enough, though, and the shot broke the skin and brought blood. It also caused the gun to fall from her hand, hitting the floor and sliding beneath the chassis of a car several feet away. Emma dove to the ground nearby, taking cover behind the hulk of an armored Humvee.
“You’re just going to kill me then?” she called out to her attacker.
“It’s your own fault,” he replied.
Emma squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head. Until now, there was at least a shred of her that still refused to believe the truth. After hearing the voice, however, there was no mistaking it. It was the voice she had heard on the Stanford quad all those years ago, the one that told her what great potential she had, the one that offered its support against General Griggs’ attacks time and time again. It was the voice of her friend. And also the traitor.
“Why Mike?” she asked, raising herself to catch a glimpse of him through the Humvee’s windows. Her voice echoed out across the cavernous space. Mike lay across the room, his gun aimed steadily in her direction. Her vantage point allowed her to go unseen for the moment.
“I really don’t have time to explain, Emma. I’ve got a schedule to keep.” He stalked forward, eyes darting side to side, gun swinging with them in sync. Emma realized that although Mike knew the general area where she was hiding, he did not yet realize her exact location. It was her only chance of survival.
“If you were going set me up, label me as a traitor and now you’re going to kill me, you at least owe me an explanation,” Emma called out. Her voice rebounded off of the walls, reverberating in a tinny echo. Mike turned, following its direction.
“Money,” he said. “That’s always the simplest explanation, isn’t it?” He stalked forward, gun nosing ahead of him.
Emma crawled to the opposite side of the Humvee, resting behind the black stretch of its rear tire. She saw Mike’s legs twenty feet away, slowly and methodically pacing down the aisle created between the stretch of two black town cars. “It’s not about money,” Emma countered. “Don’t lie to me now.”
Mike chuckled mirthlessly. “You always were the best at figuring things out, Emma. No, it’s not about the money itself. It’s about what it can buy. In this case, that would be my wife’s life.” His footsteps stopped. Emma knew he must be waiting for her to speak again to zero in on her spot.
“Your wife?” Emma asked. She listened as his footsteps began again, clicking across the polished cement floor, getting closer.
“Have you ever seen Multiple Sclerosis first hand, Emma? It’s a mean, cruel disease. It doesn’t care who it latches on to – a child, a priest, a woman who is so selfless she did nothing but spend her life caring for others. And it destroys them from inside out. Makes them feel every day of it. It takes a person who laughs and loves and turns them into a hollowed out shell. A mummy with a heartbeat.”
“I’m sorry, Mike,” Emma said softly before realizing the words were out of her mouth. “I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t know!” Mike roared, pausing for a moment in his pursuit. “Just like I didn’t know our insurance stops at a certai
n point. Did you know that? It’s called a lifetime cap. And my wife blew through it in the first two years. She needs round-the-clock care at a special facility. Back in the good old days, you could just take out a home equity loan but not now. I maxed out our credit cards, sold one of our cars. Then one day there was nothing left to borrow against, nothing left to sell. That’s when I heard about an experimental treatment they were trying out in Europe. But how could somebody like me, a humble government employee, get access to that?”
The footsteps began again, making their way towards Emma’s Humvee. As they crept closer, Mike’s voice grew louder. “Turns out, I did have something left to sell. Something quite valuable actually. The highest bidder promised me twenty million dollars. That’s when I realized that I don’t owe anything to this government or this country. I have a chance to save the only person I’ve ever truly loved and that’s the only thing worth fighting for.” Mike had reached the grill of the Humvee now. “This is nothing personal, Emma. I always liked you. But surely, you can see now that you were the easiest person to hang all of this on. That’s why, when they find your dead body, nobody will ask too many questions.”
Mike leapt around the hood of the vehicle, gun blazing. His bullets pinged off the empty cement floor. His brow furrowed in confusion as he stepped back in front of the Humvee, intending to check the other side.
Suddenly, the engine roared to life. Mike tried to get out of its path but the Humvee burst forward. Inside, Emma pressed her foot down on the accelerator. The chrome grill rammed into Mike’s chest, pushing him up against the crumpled passenger door of a nearby car. He screamed in pain, the gun tumbling from his hands. Emma wrenched the gearshift into reverse, then quickly slammed it back into drive. Mike saw his opportunity and jumped to the right as the Humvee came screaming in his direction again. The metal hulk of the SUV slammed into the car, lodging its bumper in the bashed door. The wheels spun uselessly.
Emma could not see Mike. Where he had been just a second ago was now empty space. Heart hammering, she turned to the side passenger window to get a better look.
She screamed as Mike’s face appeared at the glass. Blood trickled from his mouth as his eyes went wild with fury. His gun was in his hand and he brought it level with the window. It was a perfect shot. For some reason, Emma traced the trajectory of the bullet in her mind and saw that it would hit her in the chest. She did not have time to move. Mike’s finger was already squeezing the trigger. She flinched as the shot rang out.
There was the sound of splintering glass and then nothing. Emma felt no pain. Is this what it’s like to die? she wondered. Then the logical side of her mind took control. She had not been shot. Glancing back up at the spider-webbed window, she realized why. Bulletproof glass.
Mike realized it at the same time and screamed in frustrated rage. He pulled at the door handle but found it locked. He moved to the next one but Emma slammed the lock down before he could open it. He made it to the rear hatch before she could. The door swung open as Emma backed away from it. Mike sneered while raising his gun for the final shot.
Before he could, he was thrust to the side as a figure barreled into him. Emma heard the grunt of hand-to-hand combat and scrambled out of the Humvee. On the ground, Mike wrestled with Jason Worth who was landing blow after blow to Mike’s injured midsection. Emma’s eyes frantically scanned the ground for Mike’s gun. She found it at the same time Mike’s searching hand did. Mike snatched it up before Emma could reach it and fired point-blank into Jason’s chest.
“No!” Emma screamed.
Jason fell limply to the side, a ragged hole carved between his ribs. Mike climbed up, sighting down the barrel at Emma who glared back at him defiantly.
“Lower your weapon!” a voice boomed out. Mike and Emma’s head snapped to the side where General Griggs stood with three MP’s. All of them had their guns trained on Mike’s head.
“Unbelievable,” Mike muttered. “Who’s going to take care of her now, Emma?” he asked, his voice shaking with emotion. “You ruined everything, you know that?”
Emma had stopped listening, focusing on Jason’s immobile form. She crawled over to him, clutched his face in her hands. His focus was distant, eyelids fluttering.
“Jason,” she whispered fiercely, tears pricking the edges of her vision. “Please. I’m so sorry.”
His gaze found hers as he spoke so softly, only she could hear. “Emma,” he reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Thank you…for believing…in me.”
Emma clutched his fingers until she felt his grip loosen and become limp. She reached up and closed his eyelids.
“Another death on your conscience,” Mike’s voice came from beside her.
“Not mine,” she said. “Yours.”
“Goodbye, Emma,” Mike’s glare was murderous as he aimed the gun at her forehead.
Gunfire exploded around Emma and she felt hot metal pierce her flesh. The last thing she saw was Mike’s body peppered with bullets, jerking like a ragdoll from the impacts.
Then the pain enveloped her and her world became darkness.
Forty-Six
“San Clemente Island?” Ashley repeated.
Matt nodded. “That’s what he said.”
“I’ve never even heard of it.”
“I have,” Matt said, shifting his position to alleviate some of the throbbing pain in his head. “It’s a small island off the coast. The government owns it.”
Larsen, who was driving the Porsche, called over his shoulder, “There’s a Navy station there.”
“Why would he want to go there?” asked Ashley.
“It has to be where the last obstacle is that will bring down the whole system.” Ashley looked at Matt in confusion. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. All those servers may be random to me but someone linked them together. Compartmentalized pieces of an overall system. If one server goes down, no big deal because you’ve got six backups. But take them all completely offline-”
“And it would be impossible to get everything back online,” Ashley finished the thought for him. “At least, not anytime soon.”
“The only thing I haven’t figured out is what system it brings down. Banking, power grid…” Matt thought out loud.
“Defense,” said Larsen from the front seat. Matt and Ashley’s heads snapped to his direction. “We have a network of defense layers set up throughout the entire west coast. Satellites, anti-missile systems. If those go down, we’re completely vulnerable to an attack.”
Matt shook his head, reeling. He knew as soon as the detective said it that he was correct. John had been so precise in his timing that he must have been aiming for a window of opportunity that had been planned far in advance. He glanced at his watch.
“Larsen, how do you think John is getting to the island?” Matt asked.
“If he didn’t want to be seen, best way would be a small boat, maybe a fast jet ski.”
“Then maybe we’ve got a chance,” said Matt. He turned to look at Luke. One thought echoed in his head: keep him safe. It was what this entire night had been about. His promise to Katie would go unbroken, even if he had to die to keep it.
“Luke,” he said, speaking low and moving closer to his son. “You’re going to go with Ashley-”
“What? No!” Luke shouted back, hurt and anger filling his eyes.
“Listen to me,” Matt tried again.
“No, I’m not leaving you!” Luke said. “I’m not leaving you again.” Tears spilled down his flushed cheeks.
Matt reached out with his arms, pulling Luke closer. The boy buried his head against Matt’s chest, sobs racking his small frame. “Luke, you have to listen to me,” Matt cooed softly, holding him tight. “Okay, buddy?”
Luke steadied his breath, raising his head to meet his father’s eyes.
“I am not going to let you be hurt again,” Matt told him. “I made a promise to your mom and I’m not going to go back on it. I swore to keep you safe. And if you stay here, you
won’t be. Do you understand?”
“I’ll go with you,” Luke replied firmly.
“No,” Matt shook his head.
“I’m brave, Dad. Can’t you see? I’m brave.”
“Luke, you’re the bravest kid I’ve ever met. Hell, the bravest person I’ve ever met.”
He watched Luke’s face light up through the streaked tears. “In fact, I’m not as brave as you. And that’s why you need to go. If I know you’re safe, I’ll be able to do what I have to. I can’t do it without you, buddy.”
Luke mulled the words over and finally nodded. “Alright, Dad.” He grabbed Matt in another hug.
“I love you,” Matt whispered to him. “Don’t forget that.” He looked up to find Ashley staring at him. “Once I go,” Matt said to her, “you take this car and you drive east. As quickly as you can.”
“Matt, you don’t have to do this,” she said.
“She’s right, Weatherly,” Larsen offered. “I can call in the troops right now.”
“Oh really?” Matt snapped. “And how long do you think it will take them to figure out you’re telling the truth? After you’ve been spending half the night with the murderer you were supposed to bring in. They’ll have you sitting in questioning for hours.”
Larsen kept his mouth shut, seeing Matt’s point.
“Alright,” Ashley said to break the silence. “We’ll go.”
Matt reached out, offering her his hand. Ashley took it, interlocking with his fingers. “Thank you,” Matt told her. “For everything.”
She nodded her understanding.
“And Ashley, if I ever did anything that wasn’t very…”
“Not now,” she interrupted. “Save your apologies for when I see you again. You got it?”
Matt smiled thinly in return.
“So what’s the plan, Weatherly?” Larsen asked.
“Any chance you have access to a helicopter?”