“He’s AWOL,” Yochana said flatly.
“Not really, because he’s not one of ours, but that also highlights our predicament. I thought we could control him by turning off or limiting the power. Now it’s clear that we can’t. I can hardly believe it but I underestimated him, unless he's dead,” said Yatsick.
Ekaterina nodded. She turned to Yochana questioningly, then she directed her next words at Yatsick.
“Can we make use of him at all?” she asked. “Assuming he isn’t dead?”
“At this stage, your guess is as good as mine,” he replied. “I don’t know if it’s a case of us making use of him, or him making use of us.”
“Just how powerful is the nanosuit technology?” Yochana knew the answer but she needed to hear it confirmed. Yatsick shuffled slightly.
“If Thomas masters it, he will be much more in control of us than we are of him. Already he can see things we’d rather he didn’t. Our computers ... our files ... our names ...”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Yochana said slowly.
****
In a room rented for cash in the old city of Jerusalem near the Jaffa Gate, Thomas realized he needed serious help to learn how to use this nanosuit. The only person I can think of who could help me is Jean Pierre. I’ll test my holographic use of the Internet on him and get him on side with me. I can do the intuitive side of the suit but Jean Pierre’ll see potential that I could only dream of.
At that moment, Thomas dialed Jean Pierre’s home number. By good fortune his friend answered immediately.
“Lanky, it’s me.”
“Thomas. Good to hear your voice. Where’re you calling from?”
“Actually I’m using Skype. Sort of. Hold on, here I come, big boy.”
In the air in front of Jean Pierre a holograph appeared in strips of the same kind that used to appear when there wasn’t enough bandwidth on computer screens in the 90s. Jean Pierre’s jaw dropped when he saw Thomas’ head appearing with lips moving but no sound coming out.
“How in the name of God’re you doing this, Thomas? This is the stuff of dreams, even in my lab.”
As the three-dimensional image clarified, it also started talking. Thomas looked his friend in the eyes and pleaded.
“Can’t explain this over the air. You gotta come to me. As you can see, I possess some pretty intriguing technology.”
“I’ll say you do. This’s some kind of technology.”
“I’m partly guessing about this, but I’d say it’s the only diamond-based nanosuit in the world. If you want to play with it you’ll get in touch with these people in Jerusalem and they’ll get us together. I just dumped a number on your phone’s list. Call it now.”
“You mean a suit like these Chinese guys appear to be wearing?”
“Oh, a much better one than that. Diamond molecule. And that’s all I’m saying for now. Just come. Tomorrow, and no hanging about,” said Thomas as his holograph started to disappear, leaving Jean Pierre in a quandary.
****
The air in the open concept glass-walled office became heavy. Ekaterina looked back and forth from Yatsick to Yochana. Outside, in the general area, a number of young technicians in Yatsick’s newly formed department were working at the task of securing Israel’s defence worldwide through the auspices of Mossad. They looked up from their screens in surprise when a holograph, one which shed an unusual amount of light, appeared in the middle of Yatsick’s glass-enclosed, inner sanctum. Yochana and Ekaterina did not react immediately because they assumed the source of the holographic message was Yatsick. The color vanishing from Yatsick’s face convinced them otherwise.
Thomas appeared in shimmering light amongst them. At first, his lips moved without uttering any sound, but as the seconds passed, his voice accompanied his three dimensional image. Yatsick pressed a series of keys on his laptop initiating a recording of sound and video. Thomas’ lips repeated the first word of the meeting, ten times to give his holograph’s voice and image time to sync.
“Greetings,” he said repeatedly.
Yatsick raised his eyebrows, frowned and turned his palms upward in resignation. Ekaterina and Yochana watched and listened while all of Yatsick’s employees, though they couldn’t hear, looked on through the glass walls of his office.
“This recorded holograph establishes contact between us. Since Yatsick is no doubt tracking the source of this burst of communication, I will be brief. Tonight after dinner, I wish you to meet an interactive version of this holograph at Yochana’s rooftop condo on Melchette Street. Yatsick may be present, but no one else. I will know.” There was a pause while the holograph seemed to assimilate whether they’d understood. After a moment it flickered and uttered the final word: “Goodbye.” The holograph of Thomas disappeared, leaving the atmosphere tense.
“Where is he?” demanded Ekaterina.
Yatsick shrugged.
“Looking for him now is like looking for a mafia money trail. I underrated him,” he said, wearing an uncharacteristic expression of defeat. “But I’ll find out before the meeting tonight, guaranteed. He must’ve left some trace.” Now the technical genius sounded more sure of himself as his typing speed surpassed watchable.
****
The few hours until the rooftop meeting dragged for Ekaterina and Yochana. The women permitted Yatsick to set up remote recording devices by himself but they decided to tell no one at Mossad about the planned rendezvous or the loss of Israel’s most secret nano weapon. Meanwhile Thomas started his own end of the plan. He had spoken to Ekaterina and Yochana with respect but knew he was holding all the cards. He had obliged them to listen to him by virtue of being off the grid. They needed him more than he required them, and he knew that they knew that. It was a good position to be in, but it also came with an element of danger.
A refreshing ocean breeze wafted over Kefira’s secluded rooftop hideaway on Melchette Street in Tel Aviv. The luxury condo had belonged to Yochana before her forced early retirement which had resulted from an operation gone bad. This had relegated her to a training facility at a pleasant but distant Kibbutz. Despite the kidnapping of her adoptive daughter, Kefira, her recall to active duty this week had turned from an irritation to a welcome surprise. Ekaterina sat in the air-conditioned sunroom that abutted the large rooftop balcony. She was watching Yochana lighting a strong cigarette from the butt of her previous one. She observed the action but it didn’t immediately register. When it did, anger got the better of her and she stormed across the threshold of the sunroom into the hot evening air.
“Don’t say it,” said Yochana.
“Put that foul thing out,” said Ekaterina.
Kefira’s Kea parrot, Bo, fluttered down to the cool marble floor from the back of Yochana’s chair. Although this New Zealand native species wasn’t known for taking well to captivity, Bo thrived in Tel Aviv. Yochana watched the parrot for a moment then turned to Ekaterina.
“It’s amazing the way you and Kefira are so alike, especially considering your history,” Yochana said. “Do you know that Kefira perches in the sunroom like a vulture waiting for me to croak too. The two of you have the same tone of voice exactly when you ask me to put my cigarettes out.”
“You’ll have to lay off them while I’m here. I can’t stand the stench.
“Alright, he’s due to appear any minute now. Yatsick just waved,” said Yochana.
They sat expectantly. Each tried to ready themselves for what they were about to see. They did not have to wait long. A three dimensional image shimmered and then manifested itself, sitting on the couch opposite the two women. Even for people accustomed to high technology, the apparition took them by surprise. Ekaterina had to tell herself to close her mouth. The image of Thomas leaned over the coffee table and looked at the ashtray and the package of Noblesse cigarettes.
“Those things’ll kill you, Yochana. You really should-”
“Not you too,” Yochana replied with some irritation. “We all have to die someho
w.” She felt even more irritated when she realized she was answering a holographic image.
Yochana shook her head, but then she noticed that the image had stopped talking when she interrupted it. She stopped in her tracks. How is that possible, she thought. It’s just a talking photo. It can’t have a conversation.
“Unusual, isn’t it?” said Thomas with a smile. “I’ve created something unique with your nanosuit. I am here. This isn’t a holograph. Take my hand.”
Ekaterina reached out but there was no substance to the ghost in front of them.
“We don’t have time for games, young man,” said Ekaterina and Yochana nodded in agreement.
Thomas laughed aloud. His expression changed briefly as he appeared to concentrate. For a moment the holographic image looked unstable, then a gleaming light rolled up and down his body and disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. The women looked from Thomas to each other and back again. The new Thomas looked very real.
“Now try it,” Thomas said, offering his hand once again. Against her better nature Yochana reached out and felt a slight electrical buzz as they made contact. This time Thomas’ skin felt warm to the touch and Yochana’s face blanched when she removed her hand from the contact. Ekaterina tried next and her eyebrows raised in a quick involuntary movement. She sucked in a gulp of air as she lifted her hand away from Thomas’ outstretched hand.
“Relax. I am not in the room with you. I have just learned how to give the holograph some human qualities: light, heat and smell. Some suit you have here, I’m floored by the capabilities,” he smiled. “I think it has a lot more possibilities that maybe even you haven’t considered.” He settled back into his virtual seat.
Yatsick took off the headphones and looked from his place behind a canvas blind covered with carbon mesh invisibility material. As long as he didn’t move, the naked eye or night vision goggles could not see him. The complexity of the image before him had him shaking his head.
“Come down here, Yatsick,” said Thomas. You can explain things when your superiors here don’t believe me.”
Ekaterina’s phone rang. The ring tone was one she reserved for urgent messages.
“I have to get this,” she said. She put her phone to her ear, surprised that the call came from the US, not Israel.
“Yes?”
“Thomas told me to call this number. Something about nanosuits. Listen I know this sounds crazy, but-” The voice belonged to Jean Pierre.
“Who am I speaking to? How did you get this number?” Ekaterina demanded.
“I gave it to him,” said Thomas evenly.
Ekaterina turned to look at the holograph and heard the voice from her phone ask to speak to Thomas so she put her phone back to her ear.
“I can hear Thomas. He put me up to this. Put him on, please.” Jean Pierre asked in his most persuasive voice.
“Thomas?” Ekaterina asked. For once she was unsure how she should react. Thomas nodded in confirmation.
“His name is Jean Pierre and his lab at MIT specializes in the movement of inanimate objects in space,” he said. “Forgive me, Yatsick, but some of the aspects of this have us in the dark here. Jean Pierre can shed some theoretical light on the things we’re going to try when we-”
Ekaterina was pressing the red button on the phone but the connection remained stubbornly alive.
“It won’t shut off,” she said, trying again. She tried several times.
“I’ve disabled some aspects of the operating system on your phone, and don’t even consider removing the battery, there’s enough residual power for me to really screw it up for you.” Thomas said.
“I can’t talk with your MIT colleague, this information requires clearance,” Ekaterina said, shaking her head.
“Get him the clearances. We have a common purpose here. We need to spring Kefira and defeat Chou. That means you and I must get this guy here, as fast as possible.”
“You’re exceeding your authority, Thomas. Even though I personally want Kefira freed I’m not sure I have the say-so to involve your friend.”
“It’s not a negotiation. Get him on a priority military flight as soon as possible. You know what I can do if I choose to make things difficult for you.”
Ekaterina looked at Yochana and they exchanged knowing glances. After a moment or two Yochana nodded and left the room. Ekaterina turned her attention back to Thomas.
“Done,” she said slowly. “But let me hang up as soon as I’ve explained who to contact in the embassy in Washington.” All the while Jean Pierre’s muffled voice came out through the hand Ekaterina was using to cover her phone. She raised it to her ear again.
“Jean Pierre. This is going to sound melodramatic, but your presence here could actually change the future of the world. I guess we have to trust you. Contact this number at the Israeli Embassy in Washington.” Ekaterina reeled off a number from memory.
Jean Pierre mumbled something as he found a scrap of paper and wrote it down.
“This is all a bit farfetched and hard to believe. If Thomas hadn’t appeared as a holograph in my apartment I never would even consider-” Jean Pierre was interrupted by Thomas, who could obviously sit in on the phone conversation as easily as if he was in the room with them.
“Lanky. Just do it. Get on that military flight as soon as possible. Now let us get back to our problems here,” he said.
“I’ll do my best. I have to fix it with the guys at the office,” Jean Pierre replied thoughtfully. “Might not be easy.”
“You can manage it. This is important.”
At that moment Yochana came back in the room and interrupted the conversation with her own urgent communication.
“Tell him a helicopter will collect him just across the river at Mass. General Hospital. There’s a helipad on the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. They’ll be waiting for him.”
“Is it routed through military channels?” asked Ekaterina.
“Yes it is. Someone will pick him up at his office and wait until he’s ready. To give him a sense of the urgency involved, the Office of the President of the United States will be in touch with him shortly.” Yochana looked satisfied with her work.
“The President? Excellent. We’re looking forward to meeting you, Jean Pierre,” Ekaterina said, although her voice wasn’t convincing.
“Likewise, I guess.” He sounded equally unconvinced.
“Wait. When you arrive at the military airport, someone’ll give you a tablet with some reading on the suits so maybe you can come up with something to boost the storage power of our molecules,” said Yochana.
“Okay, it’ll give me something to do on the flight.”
Yatsick had taken advantage of the conversation with Jean Pierre to leave his ‘blind’ without turning off the video and voice recording machines. He was shocked to discover that Thomas somehow controlled his movement. He walked over to the two couches and took a seat beside Thomas opposite Ekaterina and Yochana. It wasn’t a voluntary decision. When he sat down, he realized he could no longer move.
“What have you done to us?” asked Ekaterina as she too discovered the temporary paralysis which was impeding her movement.
A flesh and blood Thomas appeared on the rooftop. He stood near the espresso machine at the kitchen facilities near the entrance to the sunroom. “Don’t mind if I indulge, do you?”
The sound of coffee grinding followed by the potent aroma which accompanied a fresh brew shocked the Mossad agents, but they didn't move a muscle. All three people sat staring at Thomas as he took an appreciative sip.
“Surely you knew I could become invisible and pass through your security systems while wearing the suit?”
Ekaterina responded first. She was relieved to discover that she still had the power of speech.
“How did you manage to go off the grid?”
“Yatsick was right about that part,” said Thomas, having touched the Israeli technician’s mind to get the gist of his recent conversations about him.
“I reprogrammed the suit to make it self-replicating. No more dependence on your power source. Invisible, even to you people.”
The three Mossad operatives almost spoke at once, offering different takes on the same question.
“You mean it’s alive?” Ekaterina asked in shock.
“How’d you know I said that?” Yatsick was no less surprised.
“You’re keeping us prisoner,” interrupted Yochana.
“I still can’t move,” Ekaterina complained, switching the topic.
“Me neither,” said Yochana.
“Let go of us,” insisted Ekaterina.
“I am sorry, but I need to demonstrate my abilities. I’ve simply cast a cloud of molecules around you to pin you down. Trust me, I won’t harm you, just limit your movement.”
“Do you know where Kefira is?” asked Ekaterina. She was determined to get the most out of this encounter, and Kefira was on her mind right now.
“Yes,” Thomas replied. “I’ve visited her cell in an audio form by penetrating General Chou’s computer system and travelling along the internet connection that keeps him in touch with his home base. The problem is that the man is smarter than I thought and when he got wind of my infiltration he erected a complex barrier that I have as yet been unable to break through.”
“But Kefira knows we’re trying to help her?" asked Ekaterina.
"Kefira knows we’re coming. The when and the how of moving people, real flesh and blood and not just holograms, efficiently over the Net eludes me. For now. That’s why we need Jean Pierre. So you see we require each other and I propose a spirit of cooperation. Mutually satisfactory, no?”
“How can we trust you if you can control us like this anytime you want?”
“I’ll give a slightly watered down version of the molecules in this suit to Yatsick. He’s the only person capable of using this suit now as I’ve manipulated it.”
Diamond Rain: Adventure Science Fiction Mossad Thriller (The Spy Stories and Tales of Intrigue Series Book 2) Page 8