Desh’s jaw tightened. “What makes you think I’ll lift a finger to do what you ask?”
“Do you always have to be so cliché?” said Frey in contempt. “Really?” He paused. “Okay, I’ll play along. I won’t waste time threatening you. The cliché says that noble dumbasses like you will sacrifice themselves for the cause. But it also says you won’t sacrifice others. Make the call, or I blow away Matt’s kneecap.” Frey glanced over at the large hacker and shrugged. “I don’t know, something like that just might be enough to wake him.”
Desh stared deeply into Frey’s eyes and detected not the slightest hint of compassion or any evidence he was bluffing. Reluctantly, Desh nodded his agreement.
One of the mercs cut him loose while his three companions stood back, their automatic weapons trained on his chest. When his hands were free, Frey tossed him a phone. “Here. And don’t get any cute ideas. If you don’t convince her you’re your own man, Matt here will never walk again.” To underscore his point he took out his gun, chambered a round, and held the barrel just a few inches from Griffin’s left knee. “Make your performance convincing,” he warned.
Kira’s phone didn’t identify the incoming caller, so she answered uncertainly, but when she heard Desh’s voice she became ecstatic. “David!” she squealed happily. “Thank God. I heard about what happened on Copernicus—about Matt stopping doomsday—but why didn’t you call? I’ve been worried to death.”
“Everything’s fine,” Desh assured her, not allowing his voice to betray the strain he was under. “The world really dodged a bullet this time. I’ll tell you all about it, but first I’d like to show you something. And I want you to see it on a big screen. How far away are you from the computer in the conference room?”
“Three or four minutes.”
“Great, I’ll be waiting for you online when you get there,” he said, and then ended the connection.
“Well done,” said Frey, reholstering his gun and retrieving his phone. “Matt gets to keep his kneecap for a while longer.” He removed a gellcap from his pocket and swallowed it. “I want to be at my best for my conversation with the esteemed Kira Miller,” he explained to Desh.
Frey had the mercenaries bind Desh once again, this time leashing him to a heavy desk, and then dismissed all but Dutton, who leveled a gun at Desh and kept watch.
Five minutes after Desh had given Frey the IP address for the computer connection, Kira Miller’s face appeared as large as life on a high-definition screen affixed at head height on the wall behind them.
When Eric Frey appeared on her screen she shrank back for just an instant.
“Expecting someone else?” asked Frey with a smirk. His eyes were blazing and it was obvious he was now enhanced.
After her initial surprise, Kira’s features became calm and impassive. “So, if it isn’t the smarter version of Eric Frey. And you have David. Can I assume you have Matt as well?”
“Interesting,” said Frey, his voice showing genuine surprise. “You aren’t concerned at all. You’re still missing the fucking point, aren’t you?”
“Not at all,” said Kira smoothly. “You had a man on Copernicus. You managed to capture David and Matt despite the promises made by your puppet, the colonel. And now you want to trade them for my longevity therapy.”
Frey’s eyes widened. “I’ll be damned,” he said. “You don’t care what happens to Desh. You’d prefer I didn’t kill Matt here, but it wouldn’t trouble you a bit. You may be colder even than I am. What a glorious bitch you are.”
Desh held his breath for several long seconds, waiting for Kira’s strenuous denial of Frey’s accusations. But none came. Which meant that what Frey said was true. Enhanced, he could not be deceived. Even if she was a split personality, she was telling the truth as that part of her personality knew it, or Frey would have called her on it.
Frey shot Desh a broad, cruel smile, knowing exactly what was going through his mind and that it was causing more pain than the two physical blows he had landed earlier.
Frey turned back to the monitor and to Kira Miller. “You were hoping I would contact you,” he continued, reading her like a book, his eyes still blazing with an inner fire. “Because you want to team up with me.” He paused. “You know I can read your body language with perfect accuracy, so when I ask a question, you already answer it. But for the benefit of Mr. Dutton and your boy toy,” he added, throwing Desh a self-satisfied smirk, “why don’t you spell it out? The pained, betrayed look on your beau’s face is priceless. Hearing about your betrayals in your own voice is like repeated daggers to his throat. Only he survives each time so the next one can have its full effect.”
“Nice thought picture,” said Kira dryly. “Okay, I’ll pretend you’re normal and spell it out. I was a split personality for many months while I grappled with myself. My enhanced personality and my normal personality waged quite a battle. In the end my enhanced personality won, assuming control even when I’m normal. So now I’m an integrated personality—with her personality traits. Thank fucking God,” she added passionately. “No more pathetic, misguided attempts at altruism. No more stubbornly ignoring my own best interests. Normal Kira’s personality is enough to make a saint vomit. Gods should act like Gods, not mice.”
Desh’s stomach clenched. His worst fears had been realized. He had been utterly betrayed by the women he loved. He had seen all the signs, but he hadn’t let himself believe. Not really. Part of him had clung to the hope that she’d have a good explanation for her actions. Somehow. His deep love for Kira had corrupted the logic centers of his brain. But he couldn’t fool himself anymore. Yes, the woman on the screen was no longer Kira Miller, but that didn’t matter. He couldn’t help but feel as if she had betrayed him nonetheless. That if her love for him was truly strong, she would have found a way to win the battle she had waged with herself.
“So here’s the deal,” continued Kira. “We work together. The world is big enough for the two of us. You get my longevity therapy and my organization. None of my recruits would have to know anything has changed. Think of them as a brain trust you can trust. They’ll keep on spitting out breakthroughs.” An amused smile crossed her face. “For the good of the world, of course. And you get me and my talents, the likes of which only come along once in a generation.”
“You forgot to mention Matt,” said Frey, delight in his voice. “I can see it in your face. He knows of your plan to join forces with me, and he’s eager to see it happen. In fact, you and he made sure to plant him on the Copernicus because you hoped this would draw me out. You hoped I would snatch him and Desh and call to make a trade, so you could propose an alliance. Matt could have prevented doomsday in his pajamas from home.”
Desh was numb. He had thought it strange that Kira had agreed to send Griffin to the Copernicus, but now it made an awful sense. His head was spinning from the shear enormity of Kira’s betrayal, but he seized on a thought that allowed him to keep his emotional perspective: twenty-four hours earlier, all life on earth had narrowly avoided extinction. Even if he didn’t see a tomorrow, eight billion others would. He clung to this thought as desperately as a man adrift at sea would cling to a floating bit of wreckage in a powerful storm.
Kira smiled. “Turns out Matt’s enhanced personality finally won the day and corrupted him as well. Good thing. You know what they say about sinners having more fun. You go to heaven for the air conditioning. You go to hell for the company.”
Dutton laughed, while Frey remained expressionless, having known what Kira would say long before she said it. “Matt is quite a sweetener to the deal. So what about Desh?”
Kira frowned.
“I see,” said Frey immediately. “He’s not immune from the personality corrupting effect of repeated IQ boosts, but his amped alter ego isn’t strong enough to take over. Too bad.” He paused. “But back to negotiations. In exchange for what you’re offering, you want me to call off the hunt. Restore you to anonymity. Partner with you. Use my influence with the governmen
t and black-ops to help catapult us to power on a global level.”
“Exactly,” said Kira. “But these are just the broad terms. We can hash out how we’ll work together later—when you return to normal.” A smile crept slowly over her face. “I don’t know much about negotiations, but I’m pretty sure negotiating with someone who’s a hundred times smarter than you is a bad idea.”
“Okay. We’ll sort it all out as equals,” agreed Frey.
“Good. As a show of good faith, why don’t you bring David and Matt to my headquarters. I’ll give you directions.”
Desh had spent so much energy implementing their headquarters operations, complete with decoys and multiple locations, that it shocked him that Kira would give out the address so casually. But it shouldn’t have. She could trust Frey implicitly now. He needed her to double his lifespan, ensuring he was around when immortality was finally solved.
But this was all insanity, Desh realized. Who cared? There would be no immortality. The aliens would be arriving in three short decades, and they would see to that.
Frey had been monitoring Desh from the corner of his eye and interpreted his body language in an instant. “Your boy David here is worried about the alien threat,” he explained to Kira. “He’s thinking we’re fiddling while Rome burns.”
“He always was a bit shortsighted,” noted Kira. “Would you like me to spell it out for him?” she asked.
“Please,” said Frey.
“The threat from the aliens is the primary reason Eric and I should join forces, David dear. Ironically, even though we’re doing it for purely selfish reasons, our alliance will probably end up saving the species. Not that I don’t already deserve the credit for saving us the first time, since I placed Matt on Copernicus and he used my therapy—but I do try to maintain my humility. If Eric and I work together, in just a few years we’ll either be on the world throne or the power behind it. Left to its own pathetic devices, and due to a lack of a cohesive, decisive worldwide governing authority, humanity has no chance of withstanding an alien attack. Politics and endless stupidity would do us in. What we need are competent dictators to take the reins.” She flashed an insincere smile. “Like me and Eric. And we’ll have no false sentimentality. We’ll be willing to do what needs to be done. Make the hard choices. Drive the species at the end of a whip to implement our strategies and inventions. With us at the helm, our chances of survival go up dramatically.”
Desh was horrified, but everything she said rang true. Their chances of surviving the alien threat probably would be greater with her and Frey as dictators, wielding their supply of gellcaps.
“And worst case,” continued Kira, “if we are unable to fend off the aliens, then at least we’ll be able to solve the ZPE drive and run away, and live to see immortality another day.”
“Very poetic,” said Frey. “I think this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.”
“As long as we work together,” cautioned Kira. “If we don’t stab each other in the back for petty power, we’re unstoppable. Someday, thousands of years from now, we can split the universe between us.” She raised her eyebrows. “Although if we do, I want the half with Saturn in it. I’ve always been partial to rings.”
“I’m looking forward to further discussions,” said Frey.
Kira gave the address of the Kentucky facility. Frey manipulated the computer with superhuman speed and an aerial view of the facility appeared in the corner of the monitor the moment she finished. “Your facility won’t work,” said Frey. “For our first meeting I want a neutral location.”
Kira frowned. “Why? I know you trust me.”
“I do. But your building is too big and too out in the open. And if we’ll be negotiating how we work together, I want neutral turf for our first meeting.”
Kira opened her mouth to speak, but before a single word could come out, Frey added icily, “Save your breath. I’ve already discounted all of your counterarguments.”
Kira wore an expression of frustrated resignation. “Where then?” she asked
Frey consulted his now photographic memory. “There’s a safe house about eighty miles south of you. A horse farm the FBI uses to hide key witnesses. It’s isolated. If I don’t call back, assume it’s available and the meeting is on.”
“How is that neutral territory?” complained Kira.
“I’ve never been there either,” said Frey. “I’m in a safe house in Florida now. I’m not asking you to come here. We’ll both have to travel.” He gave her an approximate time for the meeting and told her he would call her with the address once he and Dutton, with Matt Griffin in tow, had arrived and made sure the site was open and ready for business.
“Bring David along as well,” said Kira. “He was getting suspicious of me in the end. I need to interrogate him. I like to learn from my mistakes.”
“Very admirable. But rumor has it that you don’t make mistakes.”
Kira smiled. “I try to keep them to a minimum.”
“Good policy,” said Frey. He raised his eyebrows. “And if Desh tries to be a hero and causes trouble before we get there?” he asked.
“Then kill him,” replied Kira with a shrug.
***
Ten minutes later the fire left Frey’s eyes and he began shoveling food into his mouth at a rapid pace. He turned to Dutton. “We’ll take the team of mercs with us,” he said as bits of food flew from his mouth. “And I’d like you to activate a few more.”
“Worried she might be setting a trap?”
Frey laughed. “Not at all. You know I can’t be deceived when I’m under the influence. You’ve tried. That’s how I know your intentions toward me are, um . . . honorable,” he added wryly. “Kira Miller is on our side. I guarantee it. She won’t try anything.”
“Then why the mercs?”
A malicious smile crept slowly over Frey’s face. “I never said that I won’t try anything,” he replied in amusement.
61
The state of Kentucky was known for its extensive cave systems, navigable waterways, and bourbon, but it was nicknamed The Bluegrass State for a reason: this lush grass thrived in Kentucky’s fertile soil and was ideal for supporting the breeding of Thoroughbred horses. The Noble Equine farm was similar to hundreds of other horse farms throughout the region, although it was far smaller than most. It was isolated and absolutely picturesque, with gleaming white fences, gently rolling hills, and a beautifully appointed farm house, with pointed spires reaching through the roof between six evenly spaced dormer windows.
The only real difference between the Noble Equine horse farm and others of its type was its total lack of horses, which tended to make its name a misnomer. It was on private property, off the beaten path, so no one was likely to ever discover its secret. If anyone did happen to get lost and drive by, they would assume the horses were in the barns rather than out to pasture.
Kira arrived alone, in a spacious van that was an almost identical twin to the one they had used in Denver. She parked in front of the stunning farmhouse and cautiously approached the door, which opened from the inside as she neared it. Eric Frey stepped across the threshold and offered his hand warmly. “Welcome, Kira,” he said as she took it. He gestured inside. “Let’s go make history.”
As Kira stepped inside two commandoes raised automatic weapons and trained them on her chest. As she turned back to protest, Frey gave her a gentle shove and closed the door behind them.
She found herself in the living room of the farmhouse, which had hardwood flooring and little else save a small coffee table off to the side near a couch, and several large monitors hanging on the walls. Kira’s eyes swept the room nervously. Sitting against one wall, their hands behind their backs, were David Desh and Matt Griffin. Andrew Dutton was off to one side, and six additional commandoes were spread evenly throughout the room.
“What’s all this about?” demanded Kira, her voice strained.
“What do you think?” said Frey.
/> Kira shook her head. “You know you can trust me,” she said in confusion. “You were enhanced when I agreed to partner with you—in good faith,” she added pointedly.
Frey smiled. “Yes, I do know I can trust you. But do you know if you can trust me?”
Kira shook her head in horror. “But why? The world is plenty big enough for the both of us.”
“Let’s just say I don’t work well with others,” he replied dryly. “Never have.”
Frey issued orders to two of the soldiers. One pulled Kira’s hands behind her back and bound them tightly with plastic handcuffs while the other began to frisk her roughly. Dutton made sure she knew there were no pins or paperclips to be found anywhere within the premises, so she wouldn’t be pulling a repeat of her escape from Colonel Jacobson.
“The good news for you,” said Frey in amusement, “is that I’ll let you keep your panties on. I’m not interested in adult women. And I’ve set up a field that will dampen the electronics you’re carrying.”
The man frisking her removed a cell phone and key ring—which housed her spare gellcap for emergencies, and handed them to Frey, who immediately passed them to Dutton to store in his pockets. The merc then removed a Sig Sauer 9mm and a military grade tranquilizer gun. Frey pocketed the handgun, but held the tranquilizer gun in front of his face and examined it with great interest. “I see you come to negotiations well prepared,” he commented. “A little too well prepared for my tastes.”
“Fuck you,” spat Kira.
“Again,” said Frey smugly, “I’m not interested in adult women. But thanks for the offer.” He paused in thought. “I know you were honestly prepared to work as partners, so why the weaponry?”
Kira said nothing.
“Makes sense,” mused Frey, thinking aloud. “There was always the chance I’d double cross you, and then all bets would be off. And it pays to be prudent and paranoid. We both subscribe to that philosophy. Which reminds me,” he said. He quickly ordered four of the six mercs to take up positions outside of the house.
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