by Jacob Gowans
“Is she—does she have a multiple personality disorder?” Sammy asked, thinking of Diego and Trapper. “That’s the second time now we’ve seen glimpses of that—that shell of a person.”
“No. She does it deliberately, I think. I’ve seen multiple personality disorders a few times, and it’s very rare. If I had to guess, I’d say she’s neither the wanton floozy nor the jumps-at-a-pin-drop basket case that we’ve seen.”
“Then what is she?”
“She’s someone who thinks this whole thing is a test.”
“What? We saved her. She saw us kill her fellow Dark agents.”
Croz wagged a finger. “She was knocked out during most of the battle, if I read your report correctly. Think on that. She wakes up here. People being kind to her, trying to get her to betray the CAG, to open up … Her seductive manner is her way of thinking the way they taught her to think. Her scared girl act is to get us to let down our guard and sympathize with her.” Croz put an arm on Sammy’s shoulders as they headed back to Lemon. “My guess is she thinks if she can get one of us in a compromising situation, she can take a hostage and engineer an escape. Then she’ll ‘win’ or ‘beat’ this test.”
“Compromising situation?” Sammy had to think about that before it dawned on him. “Like one of us would do that …”
Croz laughed a deep, booming laugh from his gut. “I find your naïveté refreshing, Sammy. That girl in there is drop-dead beautiful. And if you think many a man wouldn’t be tempted to put himself in that room alone with her just for the chance … Well, you should meet some of the people I graduated from school with, that’s all I’ll say.”
They returned to the infirmary to meet with Rosmir and submit a report on the session. The doctor was in the rehabilitation room with Brickert, testing his agility, blasting, and balance by having him stand on a beam and deflect tennis balls being shot at him at increasing speeds.
Beads of sweat dripped down Brickert’s bright red cheeks. He puffed for air and wobbled, but Dr. Rosmir was right there, ready to catch Brickert if necessary.
“I got it,” Brickert said. “Just—”
Another ball came at Brickert and nearly caught him in the side of the head, but Brickert jerked back and let it sail past. Unfortunately the motion was too quick for him in his frail state, and he tumbled backward into Rosmir’s arms.
“I think that’s enough for today,” the doctor stated. “Machine off.”
Sammy clapped slowly and loudly as he approached. “Looking better every day, bro. How long did you go for?”
“Almost an hour,” Brickert answered.
“Well … more like half an hour,” Rosmir said, smiling, “but improvement every day. That’s what matters.”
“Improvement against tennis balls,” Brickert said. “Big deal. Bullets are faster.”
“Got a date yet for when you’re out of here?” Sammy asked.
“It’s not that he can’t leave,” Rosmir said, “it’s easier to keep him here since we’re working with him in rehab two to four times a day. Plus the tests, monitoring his bone and tooth repairs …”
“I get it,” Sammy said. He turned to Brickert. “How about food? Can he come out for lunch? I’ll bring him right back with not a scratch on him.” His tone made it clear to Rosmir how ridiculous Sammy thought it was that he had to ask permission to take Brickert to the cafeteria.
Rosmir waved his hands and tried not to laugh. “Go.”
As soon as they were out of earshot of the doctors and nurses, Brickert turned to Sammy. “Thanks. I’ve been going stir crazy for the last two weeks, I’ll tell you.”
“No problem. I’ve been meaning to come by more, but everything’s been crazy. Planning missions, doing those therapy sessions with Croz, keeping Jeffie happy. I still feel like I need to be around more.” Sammy held his breath as he started up Lemon, but this time the car didn’t give him any problems.
“Natalia comes by every day. Keeps me updated. I still can’t believe Al and Marie. Splitting up. They still haven’t named their daughter.”
This surprised Sammy. “You kidding? It’s been two months.”
“Marie’s family has a tradition where the grandparents choose the first baby’s name. I guess it goes back about ten generations. She won’t consent to anything until the war’s over and her parents have met her daughter. Al, of course, is pissed.”
“So what do they call her?”
“Baby girl.”
“What a mess.”
Brickert played with a string hanging off his sleeve. “Everything’s a mess right now. Strawberry wishes she’d never joined Psion Beta. Al and Marie hate each other. I can’t fight worth a lick. Every time I think about the Thirteens I break out in a sweat.”
“Strawberry, huh? I thought she’d get over that. She told me she wants to go into fashion or something.”
“She’s good at it too. Berry’s the only one left in her recruiting class. She thinks she’s next—like the group was cursed or something. Scares me a little too. If Berry survives all this, I guarantee you she’ll quit and never look back.”
“And you?” Sammy asked.
Brickert snorted. “I said I’m having sweats, not peeing myself—” Sammy winced at that comment, “—or designing dresses in my head. I want to get back in the game as soon as I can. Just so long as you don’t put me in charge of anything.”
“Why’s that?”
The look on Brickert’s face told Sammy the answer should be obvious. “I’ve proven I’m not leadership material. I’m lucky Natalia and Strawberry survived.” He stared downward and dropped his voice to a murmur. “Hefani … it was me who got him killed, I’ll tell you. It was me.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
Brickert shook his head. “If you had been in charge of a team and someone got killed, you would blame yourself. Don’t say otherwise.”
Sammy opened his mouth to argue, but Brickert was right. “It’s—it’s not leadership, Brickert. Things happened. Natalia told us how Hefani kept putting in the code incorrectly. There are some things you can’t control.”
“I shouldn’t have let my team take our eyes off the screens. It only took a few seconds …”
“I’ve made mistakes, too, Brick.”
“Have your mistakes gotten people killed? Or almost killed?”
Sammy stared at Brickert, his best friend, and wondered how he could have ever raised a hand against him. The guilt was still there, it would always be there. “Brickert, I … I have to tell you something.”
“What?”
Sammy swallowed and found his throat was filled with sand. “I’ve made mistakes.” His voice almost failed him. The words were right there. I nearly killed you. That was my worst mistake. He meant to say them, but instead he muttered, “In Akureyri. I—I thought I was calling the Thirteens’ bluff, but they killed a girl without a second thought. I should have known better.”
Brickert nodded, but Sammy’s words didn’t improve his mood.
“It was your first time as a team leader—” He stopped when he saw the tears running down Brickert’s face.
For a long while Brickert shook in silence. Finally he sniffed and said in a thick voice, “I froze up. Should have called for help sooner, but I was worried about the gas. Caught off guard. I might have saved Hefani if I’d—a better job.”
“Hefani was dead the second he was shot. Your actions saved Natalia and Strawberry. Think about that.”
“Berry saved Natalia. I was gone.”
“So you can give yourself all the blame and none of the credit? Sounds fair.”
Brickert sighed. “I don’t know. I wish I was you, Sammy. Wish I had your moxie. Your smarts. People meet you and they immediately want to follow you. I’m just the other guy—”
“Brickert …”
“And I’m fine with that, I’ll tell you. I really am. But I just wish I could have a little bit of what you are.”
Sammy couldn’t think of anyth
ing to say except, “Thanks.”
Just as they arrived at the cafeteria, Sammy got a call from Thomas. He wanted Sammy to come down to the air tower for an emergency meeting.
“It can’t wait?” Sammy asked, looking at Brickert. “It’s Saturday.”
“No,” Thomas responded. “That’s what emergency means.”
Sammy rolled his eyes. “Be there in five.”
Brickert frowned. “Gotta go?”
“Go where?” Jeffie asked behind them. “Another meeting?”
“I can’t imagine what it’s like to be so important,” Kawai teased. “Can you, Jeffie?”
“To be so powerful …”
Sammy shook his head, grinning. “These emergency meetings are getting old. I gotta go. See you guys tonight.”
In the air control tower Thomas and Lara were already present along with a few others. When Sammy saw Dr. Khani Nguyen preparing a presentation he knew he was in for an interesting meeting. She rarely came to the leadership committee meetings, but when she did, it always portended some kind of drama. Her gaze met Sammy’s and she gave a curt nod.
Weeks ago, during a particularly long meeting, Sammy had confronted Khani about some of her data. She responded by calling him a Pretensai, which he could only assume meant that she questioned his Anomaly Eleven. Justice, who had overheard the exchange, found the remark wildly hilarious, and now called Sammy “Pretensai” every chance he got.
Lara opened the meeting with a few announcements and then gave Khani the floor. Khani took over with her usual smugness. After straightening her glasses, she turned on her holo-projector. “My team has now had ample opportunity to study the data cube which Trapper, a.k.a. Diego, gave Sammy at the Hive. We believe we have mined enough data to help the leadership committee formulate an effective offensive strategy in conjunction with the NWG. Most of what I will discuss revolves around the kill code and two so-called white rooms.”
Despite how ardently Khani had argued that no such kill code existed, she still managed to convey all this information with a tone that suggested superiority and infinite knowledge. “The kill code can be used to target and eliminate every CAG operative and personnel who has consumed the substance referred to as the solution. This substance will cause a chemical reaction inside the body that culminates in a violent explosion. The explosion will be lethal enough to injure, possibly even kill, those within a small enough radius relative to the victim.
“Notes from Trapper, a.k.a. Diego, inform us that the figure known as the fox intended to use the kill code to eliminate all the Thirteens, Hybrids, Aegis, and others deeply involved in the Thirteen organization. To do this, he built two rooms, one in Rio de Janeiro and one in Orlando. Accessing both rooms is necessary to effectively use the kill code on a broad scale. Now, as for gaining access to the said white rooms, that’s where things start getting tricky.”
Khani brought up a holographic image of two identical towers: the one in Orlando and the one in Rio. “Both white rooms are in the sublevels of the towers below the red and black levels. Only one elevator in each tower descends to the three sublevels.”
Her hologram highlighted the special elevators that went down to the sublevels from the main lobby.
“The purpose of these rooms raised several questions in my mind, along with my colleagues. Why not just use the Hive to activate the code? Why build special rooms for it? Our analysis of the data gave us the answers. Control. While individuals can be targeted from the Hive alone, the kill code used en masse can only be achieved from the white rooms. Trapper’s notes say that its activation will terminate the lives of over a thousand anomalies and CAG operatives.
“With so much at stake, the fox maintains maximum control over the rooms and the kill code. While these towers are extremely similar, and were built only months apart, there are a few key differences that will, or at least should, impact the way the missions are planned in subcommittees.
“The Rio de Janeiro N Tower was built first, and the fox made some improvements on the Orlando tower. Thus your teams will have a few more options for accessing the white room in Rio than in Orlando. The biggest difference between the two buildings is in the foundations. In downtown Rio, these massive skyscrapers like the N Tower and its surrounding buildings are interconnected via service tunnels. It is possible to use these tunnels to gain access to the elevator shaft connected to the black, red, and white floors. However, getting the white door open is not so easy. It only opens to Trapper, a.k.a. Diego, or the fox. However, it can be recoded to accept anyone with a level 6 clearance.”
“Dark agents,” Sammy added.
Khani scowled at him as though she didn’t appreciate the interruption. “Yes, and most Thirteens. The data cube contains the programming to recode the door. All we need to do is get it into the data slot and provide someone with the clearance.
“The tower in Orlando, unfortunately, is not so simple. The fox took more precautions with this building. The door cannot be recoded, only he can open it.”
“We have no chance of getting him to open it,” Commander Byron stated. “Are you saying this mission is impossible?”
“Would you people stop interrupting me!” Khani declared. “I wouldn’t be wasting your time with all this information if it were impossible. It is possible to breach the door using a plasma blade inserted at one specific point, a built-in weakness as Trapper termed it in his notes. However, the procedure must be very precise or, again, the kill code cannot be activated in the room. If the breach is done correctly, the data cube can override the system and open the door.”
“We only got one data cube,” one of the Hudec brothers stated; Sammy couldn’t tell which.
Khani glared at him as she would a disobedient monkey in a zoo. “Believe it or not, I’ve made … duplicates.” Then she rolled her shoulders and continued. “The other difficulty is that the Orlando N Tower does not share a greater foundation with other buildings. There are no service ways to use to infiltrate the building. The only way to access the elevator that reaches the white floor is getting a Thirteen’s fingerprint and using it to activate the panel with the white button.”
“Sounds like we have our work cut out for us,” Thomas stated. “Thank you, Khani.”
“I’m not finished,” she said. “The problems go beyond what I’ve stated. Your coms will be worthless once you get into the sublevels of the towers. This presents a problem because the activation of the kill code needs to be coordinated, happening within one minute of each other. If one tower activates their side without the other, the system will lockdown for an hour.”
“Is network penetration out of the question?” Justice asked. “Break into their systems and activate the kill code outside the white room?
“Both rooms must be activated with the cubes from inside in order to initiate the signal,” Khani growled. “Extensive and expensive means were taken to put the two rooms on an isolated and secure network. They cannot be hacked or breached. The job must be done at the terminals inside the rooms. The signal will broadcast out of a dish located at the Hive, so it is imperative that the Hive stay intact until transmission of the signal is complete. Fortunately, Diego has given us access routes to control security and block the communications and weapons systems of the Hive during our attack. This should prevent any internal interference from the Hive during the mission.”
“So we’ve got to access both white rooms,” Thomas said, “and prevent the Hive satellite dishes that broadcast the signal from being damaged.”
“Yes,” Khani took a deep breath, “How you do all that, I leave up to the soldiers to figure out.”
“This is our opportunity,” Commander Byron stated, planting his finger onto the table. “This is our window to strike. Not only will the blow cripple the CAG, but a large scale, high profile distraction will help provide cover for our teams hitting the Rio and Orlando towers. NWG air strikes will keep valuable CAG resources away from the Hive. This could be the decisive battle.�
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“Teams will be easy to draw up,” Anna said. “Send two small teams of Psions into the towers, send the rest of the Psions, the Ultras, Elite, and civilians into the high profile strike. The exception, of course, is the pilots. They need to be in the air.”
“Small teams?” Duncan Hudec said. “You must be kidding. Send as many men and women as we can into the towers to make sure the white rooms get activated. That’s the most important part of the mission!”
“You send in too many people and you draw all the attention to yourself,” Sammy advised. “A small team is more likely to reach the white room if they go unnoticed. A large team may never make it there. Two well-trained Psions can access and hold a room with the right equipment.”
Lara nodded. “Plans will need to go to subcommittee, but I think those ideas are a great start. Do we have a motion—”
Khani stood up straighter. “I’m still not finished.”
Frowning, Lara said, “Okay. Continue.”
“The Orlando white room and the one in Rio de Janeiro have one more major difference. The Rio room was designed to be the end of Diego’s service to the fox. The activation of the kill code in Rio will trigger a failsafe mechanism. Twin blast doors will close, and a bomb will detonate, a bomb powerful enough to ensure that whoever activates the code from this room will not survive the blast.”
“Wait,” Thomas said. “What are you saying?”
Khani rolled her eyes impatiently. “I’m saying whoever activates the room in Rio will not survive.”
Anna stood so suddenly that her chair smacked the wall behind her and tumbled over onto the floor. “And you’re just now telling us this?”
Khani didn’t blink an eye. “Yes.”
“Let’s—let’s focus on the general picture for now,” Thomas said before Anna could unleash her wrath on Khani. “Details will only distract us. This all has to be done on the same day. It’s going to require an immense amount of work and planning.”