‘Of course,’ she said. ‘And so could Denton with the official trigger phrase. We need him to believe that you haven’t been tampered with. We also need to remove your programming the instant we go operational. Otherwise he could use you against us — and, if necessary, against yourselves.’
‘Yeah? And what’s stopping you from keeping the paralysis command in me forever?’ Jay said. He realized he was only half-yelling now.
Sophia kept her hand over her Beretta. ‘If you help us with our operation, I’ll remove the paralysis trigger permanently. You have my word.’
‘Your word means shit,’ Jay said through clenched teeth.
The van stopped.
‘Tell that to the mentally retarded Iraqi women you strapped explosives to and sent into a crowded market,’ she said.
Jay felt a tendril of anger reel inside him. He remembered the operation, but he remembered it differently. They’d tricked suicide bombers into bombing their own base. There was no market. Or was there? He couldn’t breathe. It felt like Sophia had ripped him in two parts and smashed them back together.
‘I’ve read the files,’ Sophia said. ‘Was it Denton’s idea to use mentally disabled women as suicide bombers or was that yours?’
‘Shut up!’ Jay yelled. ‘You don’t know anything.’
She eyed him carefully. ‘I understand you were on an op in Algeria recently. To assassinate an exiled dictator.’
‘Crackerjack,’ Jay said. ‘We killed him. And his guards.’
‘You mean his family,’ Sophia said.
Jay remembered it clearly. A robed boy dropped into a crouch, rifle aimed. Jay shot him mid-crouch. Blood smeared the doorway as the boy collapsed into a seated position.
‘No!’ he yelled. ‘They were guards!’
But there was one woman. She’d trembled in the corner, dressed in purple robes. Three-round burst to the head. Bone and brain matter splattered the corner behind her.
Jay gripped the cage wall with both hands. ‘It doesn’t matter. He was a brutal dictator. He deserved what he got.’
‘That brutal dictator used his nation’s oil wealth to turn his country into the most progressive and modern of all African nations,’ Sophia said. ‘He had plans for a radical financial overhaul of African economies. To free them of us — the bloodsuckers — who have kept their nations in poverty for decades. That brutal dictator you killed was regarded by his nation as a diamond in a swamp of African misleaders. Misleaders who were installed and financed by the Fifth Column.’
‘A diamond?’ Jay said. ‘He ordered the assassination of nationals who turned against his regime!’
‘That story was made up,’ Sophia said.
‘He massacred over 1000 prisoners!’ Jay yelled. ‘That’s what caused the revolution in the first place!’
‘There’s no evidence of such a crime. And there was no popular revolution against him. There were only ever mercenaries, operatives, a well-orchestrated media campaign that covered everything from the New York Times to Twitter. And bombs. Lots of bombs.’
‘Open the cage!’ he yelled, shaking the wire with both hands. ‘Open the fucking cage!’
‘You murdered one of the world’s last leaders who actually cared for his people,’ Sophia said. ‘And you’ve helped throw Africa back to the wolves.’
Jay slammed the cage with the palms of his hands. ‘Shut up!’ He pulled back, clawed at the van’s rear hatch. ‘Just shut up.’
He was ready to leave, but the hatch was locked. Even if it was open, he couldn’t move if he wanted to. He was over it. He wanted out. Fuck this.
‘Unlock the van,’ Sophia said to the unseen driver.
Jay heard the lock click. He pulled the hatch open and stumbled out. He misjudged the distance to the asphalt, rolled onto one knee. He got back on his feet, staggering to one side as if a string had pulled him. The stench of bile filled his nostrils. His eyes watered, blurring his vision. He balanced himself against a parked car. He refused to vomit in front of her.
‘For what it’s worth,’ Sophia said, ‘it’s good to see you again.’
‘Yeah,’ Jay said. ‘Wish I could say the same.’
He wasn’t in control. He wasn’t himself. He usually knew exactly what to do and how to do it. He wanted to feel normal again.
‘I know that right now you feel hurt and deprived of your ideals.’ Sophia stood beside the van. She had her Beretta in one hand, probably just in case.
Jay focused on breathing. One breath after another. He wiped his lips. What she was saying, it wasn’t possible. No way this was real. He would deny it. He had to.
‘The Fifth Column has you not only fighting a false war but also fighting yourself,’ she said. ‘All of these years Denton has programmed your neopsyche to wage war on the real you.’
Jay inhaled sharply through his nostrils, then eyed her ruefully. ‘You think I’m Denton’s bitch. I do think for myself, you know. I’m fighting for something I believe in.’
‘You’re fighting an illusion, Jay. A real war with a real threat is too unpredictable. The Fifth Column decided it was a better idea to create a myth. They called this myth “terrorism”; “the suicide bomber”; “the fanatical insurgent”. It doesn’t matter if this pathological fantasy world isn’t real. The Fifth Column — with our help — make it real.’
Jay closed his eyes, willing everything to go away. He wanted to crawl into the corner and disappear. He still hated Sophia, but the hate was distant now.
‘You made me shoot the staff sergeant that day,’ Damien said.
It was the first time he’d spoken in a while. Jay hoped it caught Sophia off guard.
Sophia shook her head. ‘I didn’t make you do anything, Damien. Your own morality broke your programming. There was no set-up. And Jay broke his programming to save you. His covering fire saved both of us. What you’re feeling now is exactly how you felt on that night, isn’t it? You know the difference. Your real emotions and conscience are completely engaged.’
She turned to Jay. ‘It was the real Damien who wanted to stop the sergeant. And it was the real Jay who turned the bus around and tried to escape. Deep down, you both know that. You couldn’t explain it, but now I can. And now you know.’
Jay’s hands were shaking. Tears streamed down his cheeks, which were hot with shame. He couldn’t believe it. Not because he was scared. But because he felt different now. He was different. And there was no going back.
‘There will be very little warning,’ Sophia said. ‘Since I have a spy in my ranks I can’t give advance notice to anyone. If I give advance notice, Denton gets advance notice.’
Jay felt drained. His cheeks were dry now, but they still burned. He could barely pull the energy together to speak. ‘How do you know you have a spy?’
‘Someone from inside our base attempted to send an unauthorized outgoing communication from our darknet. We blocked the transmission, but did so in such a way that the spy wouldn’t realize it was blocked,’ Sophia said. ‘We don’t know for sure what the message contained or who was supposed to receive it, but my money’s on someone trying to reveal our location to Denton. They failed. So now Denton has to wait for me to come for the Chimera vector code.’
‘What does the vector do?’ Jay asked.
‘There are two Chimera vectors wrapped in encryption. The Axolotl Chimera vector was named after a Mexican salamander known for its regeneration capabilities. It regulates the rate of healing and also regenerates organs and limbs. A useful vector to have, but it’s not the one we want.’
Jay scratched the stubble on his neck, doing his best to act calm. ‘The other one must be pretty damn special.’
Sophia nodded. ‘Essentially, it’s an anti-psychopath vector. It targets a semi-dominant gene in the X chromosome that exists only in psychopaths, and renders the psychopath sterile.’
Jay tried to break her nerd-speak down into a simpler explanation. ‘So it turns bad people into nice people?’
‘
No,’ she snapped. ‘They remain exactly as they are, but they can’t have children. If we can release this vector worldwide, psychopaths won’t be popping out babies any more. Before long, they’ll die off.’
‘And then what?’ Jay said.
‘And then, for once in a very long time, humanity can steer its own course,’ Sophia said. ‘Consider it a long-term solution.’ She raised her scarred eyebrow. ‘Providing the human race can survive long enough to reap the reward.’
Jay swallowed a lump in his throat. ‘That’s completely fucked up. You don’t have the right to do that.’
The van door slid open. A new voice said, ‘You don’t have a choice in that matter.’
Jay found himself staring at former Project GATE scientist Dr. McLoughlin. Former because she was supposed to be dead. Mid-fifties, eyes like ice. She didn’t dress too shabbily either. Chocolate jacket, buttoned to her neck. Cream shoes. But Jesus, the way she looked at him. Her gaze was an odachi blade that carved through him. Not that there was much to carve through right now. He was already feeling pretty hollow to begin with.
‘You died in a plane crash,’ he said, unable to look away.
‘That’s what the Fifth Column believe,’ Dr. McLoughlin said. ‘And I’d like to keep it that way if you don’t mind.’
‘Right,’ Jay said. ‘So you want us to let you into the Desecheo Island facility?’
Sophia shook her head. ‘We can manage that just fine.’
Jay laughed. ‘How the hell do you figure that?’
‘We’re hijacking a cargo plane,’ McLoughlin said.
Jay stared at her. ‘You’re serious, aren’t you?’
‘We have an informant inside the Fifth Column who can supply us with the GPS ID of the cargo plane,’ McLoughlin said. ‘We can intercept it en route. We don’t have much time before the encryption destroys itself and the Chimera vector codes along with it. Your objective, once forewarned of our arrival, is to plant this computer virus in the facility’s intranet.’ She handed Jay and Damien a memory stick each. ‘Either one will do. Once you unpack the virus, it will take care of the rest. Then Sophia will find you and give you the identity of our informant. You will locate and bring the informant to a place where Sophia can meet you.’
‘How will she know where to find us?’ Jay said.
‘The computer virus will hijack the security system, placing it under Sophia’s personal control,’ McLoughlin said. ‘She’ll find you through the RFIDs they put back in your arms during your re-education — or reprogramming, rather. Once she has the Chimera vector codes, she leaves. With or without you. That part is up to you.’
‘What if the computer virus doesn’t work?’ Damien said.
‘It’s metamorphic,’ McLoughlin said. ‘It rewrites itself constantly, circumventing the facility’s intrusion detection. It contains a payload of viruses, each employing a different method to hijack the system, each able to do so because I have already installed back doors into the system itself.’
Jay felt dizzy. They were really serious about this. And they actually seemed sure they could pull it off.
Damien said, ‘You’re aware that Denton has run some of the operatives through a new program? Mark II operatives.’
‘Yes. We’ve encountered the shocktroopers on several occasions in the past.’ McLoughlin plucked a set of keys from her jacket pocket.
‘Then you’d know there are now eight of them. Posted at Desecheo Island,’ Damien said. ‘Even we don’t stand a chance against them.’
‘You’ve been training against these sorts of odds since you were six years old, Damien.’ McLoughlin made no effort to hide the disappointment that stained her words. ‘If I didn’t think you were up to the task, we wouldn’t have brought you here to begin with.’
‘Why us?’ Jay asked her.
‘You’re uniquely placed under Denton’s command. I have no doubt that after your little incident in Iran, he reprogrammed you with the full knowledge that we would try to turn you. It’s your job to play the game, Jay. And it’s ours to stay two steps ahead of Denton. We believe you would be very useful for this operation.’
Jay’s mind reeled. He couldn’t believe he was considering helping them.
‘How you planning on getting this Chimera thing out of the facility?’ he said. ‘Denton would have it protected, yeah? It’s Paranoid City in there.’
‘The Chimera vector codes are encrypted,’ Sophia said. ‘Cecilia’s blood carries the encryption key. She’s not an operative though. Which is why she put the encryption key in my blood.’
‘Right,’ Jay said. ‘But how are we going to know when you’re approaching the facility?’
Sophia shrugged. ‘When you hear the exploding cargo plane.’
‘Exploding?’ Jay hoped she was joking.
‘Your coms will receive a text message,’ she said.
‘What sort of message?’ Damien asked.
‘Spam,’ McLoughlin said, using her keys to unlock the car beside them — a sky blue Renault Clio. ‘That is your signal to ingest the virus into the facility’s intranet. Is that understood?’
Jay nodded. ‘Yeah, easy. We can do that.’
Sophia offered Jay the underside of her forearm. ‘Scratch me.’
He peered at the blue veins under her skin. ‘What?’
‘Scratch me and draw blood. If you chased me, we have to make it look like you got close.’ She took his hand and pressed his fingernails into her flesh. ‘Feel free to get as much DNA as you want.’ She smiled. Coldly. ‘You’ve still failed your mission.’
Chapter Twenty-Six
Benito Montoya handed Denton a single sheet of transparency. ‘You’re not going to like this.’
Denton placed it on the left side of the light box in Benito’s office. The sheet showed a single cell, tinted violet. It was so large that a quarter of it filled the clear background. The texture reminded him of hair gel.
Benito placed another sheet on the right side of the light box. The image was almost identical to the sheet on the left, except for tiny sapphire-colored lozenges sprinkled around the cell like orbiting debris, and Benito’s greasy fingerprint, which made Denton cringe.
‘What am I looking at?’ he said, trying to ignore the MSG stench of instant soup that seemed to emanate from Benito’s desk.
‘The left image is a red blood cell infected with a provirus,’ Benito said. ‘The viruses are budding from the cell’s membrane. But here,’ he tugged at the first print, ‘in Sophia’s red blood cell—’
‘No dice,’ Denton cut in.
He leaned forward and swiftly wiped a strand of Benito’s hair from the sheet. It didn’t add up. Sophia must’ve been carrying the provirus with the encryption key. The records of the injections revealed as much. Had he screwed it up?
He handed the sheet back to Benito. ‘Could McLoughlin have engineered the virus to die off once it separated from Sophia?’
‘Well, yes. It’s a possibility. She might have programmed a decay of some sort.’
Denton exhaled slowly. ‘You clever bitch.’ He turned to Benito. ‘Don’t you get it? We need Sophia alive.’
‘Then I’d suggest, Colonel, that you find her quickly. We may be running out of time.’
Denton glared at him. ‘I’m well aware of that.’
‘No, I mean this.’ Benito turned to the laptop on his desk and tapped a few keys. A series of numbers came up onscreen.
_360:57:14
The fourteen became a thirteen, then a twelve. Counting down in seconds. Denton’s chest tightened. ‘Three hundred and sixty hours. Until what?’
‘It looks as though McLoughlin placed an expiry date on the encryption,’ Benito said. ‘It started at 3600 hours. And that was 135 days ago, which means we have—’
‘Fifteen days left.’
A sharp voice punched through Montoya’s office. ‘Colonel Denton.’
It was the facility administrator, Doctor Komarov. Or Dragon Komarov as Denton secretl
y called her.
He smiled, then turned to greet her. ‘Good evening, Doctor.’
Dragon Komarov’s gaze, imperious and cold, flickered between the pair of them. She said to Denton, ‘I need to speak with you alone.’
Denton turned to Benito. ‘Certainly.’
Like a minor character in a silent movie, Benito excused himself from his own office.
Denton’s smile faltered. He clenched his teeth in an effort to keep it there. ‘How may I help you, Doctor?’
Her wine-stained lips parted. ‘Tell me, Colonel, do you have problems carrying out orders?’
He tasted her question for a moment, then said, ‘No, Doctor, I don’t.’
‘Then can you explain to me why you carried out an operation that I did not authorize?’
‘I assure you, Doctor, the operation was of the highest importance. The General—’
‘I don’t care about the General!’ she snapped. ‘What I care about is that you’re one step away from suspension. If you want to locate your prized operative, or anyone else for that matter, then you will first seek authorization through the appropriate channel. And that channel, in case you have forgotten, is me. I will not permit you to take operatives into the field without proper backup. Is that clear, Colonel?’
‘Doctor, if I take any more Blue Berets into the field than I already am it will scare Sophia away,’ he said. ‘She is our finest operative, she’s not stupid.’
‘Was your finest operative.’ Dragon Komarov eyed him carefully. ‘Forget about ten Blue Berets. I want twenty for every operative you drop in the field. That is not negotiable, Denton. If you don’t want Sophia to know they’re around, then make sure they know how to play hide and seek. Or I’ll demote you so fast you won’t even have clearance to your own orifice. I mean office.’
Denton blinked. ‘Yes, ma’am.’
She turned and walked out.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Chimera Vector tfc-1 Page 19