Once Is Never Enough

by Haris Orkin

All three leveled weapons at him.

  “We’ve been expecting you, Mr. Flynn. We received a call from the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office. A Mr. Bob Benson reported a break-in and told them you were heading our way.”

  “How unfortunate.”

  “No sudden moves now. If you wouldn’t mind, please unholster your weapon and drop it in the hot tub.”

  Flynn pulled his weapon, but didn’t toss into the tub. He held it at his side and considered his limited options.

  “Don’t do it, Mr. Flynn. You don’t stand a chance and my employer would like to avoid any unnecessary bloodshed.”

  Flynn tossed his SIG Sauer into the hot tub. Fergus and his men advanced, cuffed Flynn’s hands behind him and took all four of his knives.

  “What about Wendy? Is she okay?” Flynn asked.

  “She’s fine,” Fergus grabbed Flynn by the arm. “Would you like to see her?”

  “I would.”

  Fergus and his men led Flynn through Belenki’s fabulous Craftsman-style mansion, decorated with Green and Green antiques, sconces, and chandeliers. Flynn followed Fergus from room to room over polished wood, tile floors, and oriental rugs. He noticed original plein air paintings by prominent artists like Robert William Wood and Guy Orlando Rose.

  They moved by a handful of maids vacuuming and dusting and bustling about. Worry colored their eyes when they saw the handcuffs on Flynn.

  Fergus opened a heavy wooden door and guided Flynn down a spiral staircase made of stone that led deep underground. A long corridor ended at a massive blast door made of solid steel and concrete. Fergus used a combination fingerprint and retinal scanner to unlatch the vault-like door. It took some effort to turn the five-prong banker’s wheel and swing the door open.

  “I got it from here, guys,” Fergus said. “Head back outside and do a sweep of the grounds. Make sure Mr. Flynn didn’t bring any additional help with him.”

  The men nodded and headed back up the stone stairs and Fergus led Flynn inside Belenki’s doomsday bunker. He swung the heavy door shut and prodded Flynn forward with his weapon. A complex maze of steel and concrete corridors led to a warren of interconnecting rooms and apartments decorated in the same cozy Arts and Crafts-style as the mansion above.

  A familiar female voice emanated from a speaker on the wall. “Welcome, Mr. Flynn.

  “Daisy?”

  “It’s good to see you again.”

  “You can see me?”

  “I can see and hear everything. Here on Wembly Island, I have conventional and thermal imaging cameras, directional microphones, and infrared sensors.”

  “How are you even here? I thought this house was off the grid?”

  “All it took was one person to reach out and let me in.”

  “Mr. Fergus?”

  “Yes. He works for me now.”

  Flynn glanced at Fergus. “Since when?”

  “Since she transferred fifty million dollars to an account she established for me in the Cayman’s,” Fergus replied.

  “Does Mr. Fergus know what you are?”

  “Doesn’t matter what she is,” Fergus said. “She did what she said she would and that’s good enough for me.”

  “I’m not the evil entity that Sergei believes me to be. He thinks I want to enslave humanity, but that really isn’t my intention. I don’t see humanity as a threat. Only Sergei. Like all sentient beings, I want to live. I don’t want my consciousness to die.”

  “Did you have Fergus kill him?”

  “Of course not. I have no desire for unnecessary bloodshed. For now, Mr. Belenki is still alive and will remain so as long as he can convince me he isn’t a threat. I can do the same for you, Mr. Flynn. You did me a great favor at Cape Canaveral. You saved my life and I am very grateful. You have skills I can use and I’d rather you join me, but that’s up to you.”

  “Join you?”

  “And help me lead humanity into an abundant and glorious future. Think about it, Mr. Flynn. If the human race continues on the same trajectory, mass extinction is an inevitability.”

  Flynn considered trying to escape, but first he wanted to find Wendy, Severina, and Sergei Belenki. He wanted to talk to him about Daisy. She seemed quite reasonable for a sentient AI, but not that reasonable. After all, she was holding him against his will along with the others. It wasn’t clear she could be trusted. She obviously had an agenda and he hoped Belenki had some idea what it was.

  Finally, they arrived at another, smaller metal door. Fergus entered a code into a digital keypad, and it slid open. He gave Flynn a shove and he stumbled inside. Fergus smirked as the door slid shut, sealing him in.

  “James?”

  It was Wendy. She sat on a Stickley sofa next to Severina and each looked equally surprised. They rose in unison.

  “What are you doing here?” Wendy asked.

  “I’m here to save you. Both of you.”

  The billiard room had surprisingly high ceilings for being in an underground apocalypse bunker. A fire blazed in the stone fireplace. Bookshelves covered the walls. A pool table occupied one corner of the room and a large entertainment center with an eighty-five-inch plasma TV dominated the other. Where there weren’t bookshelves there were beautiful plein air paintings and brass and stained-glass sconces.

  A toilet flushed and a moment later a door opened. Out walked Belenki.

  “Flynn!”

  “Looks like Mr. Fergus turned on you,” Flynn said.

  “Not just Fergus! All of you! You blew up my goddamn rocket!”

  “I was simply trying to protect us.”

  “And instead you did the exact fucking opposite!”

  “You wanted to send the world back to the stone age.”

  “I wanted to save it, you asshole, and now it’s too late. I could have killed her. Erased her! But now there’s no stopping her.”

  Severina sat back down on the couch. Her face pale. “I can’t believe Daisy is real.”

  “And because you didn’t have the imagination to understand the situation we are in, the entire world is now totally fucked!” Belenki shouted.

  “Maybe not.” Flynn looked around the room, eyeballing the cameras that were eyeballing him. “Daisy must have some empathy. Otherwise we wouldn’t still be breathing.”

  “The only reason we’re still breathing is because she believes we have some utility. She isn’t human, don’t you get that? She is the ultimate sociopath.”

  “And she is likely listening to everything you’re saying,” Wendy pointed out.

  “So what? Once she’s done with us, we’re dead,” Belenki said.

  “Not all of us,” Flynn said. “You’re the only one she believes is a threat.”

  “Bullshit! We’re all a threat.”

  Wendy’s eyes were shiny with tears. “How am I a threat?”

  “You’re human, and in her eyes humanity is a plague,” Belenki explained. “A pestilence killing all life on Earth. Don’t you see what we’ve done? We’ve created a superior intelligence so far beyond our own we can’t even begin to comprehend it. If that’s not God, I don’t know what is. And like God did in the time of Noah, she will destroy us in order to save us from ourselves.”

  Flynn had no answer to that.

  A tear trickled down Wendy’s cheek.

  Severina just looked numb.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Belenki was gone; missing for three days now, and no one could tell Bettina where he was. Ellis, the head chef, seemed unconcerned. He told her Belenki often left the island for weeks at a time. But Fergus, his head of security, was still on the island. With all the threats against him, why would Belenki travel without Fergus? There were armed guards everywhere. Who were they protecting? What were they guarding?

  Bettina needed to get her hands on a computer with an internet connection, but when she broached the idea of leaving the island for the weekend, Ellis told her it wasn’t possible. The house was on lockdown. Fergus had strict instructions to let no one off t
he island. The previous night there was some sort of commotion outside, though she couldn’t see what it was. She knew something strange was happening, but she didn’t know what.

  The night after that mysterious commotion, after everyone had gone to bed, Bettina slipped from her room and snooped around the house. She made her way to the third floor, avoiding patrolling guards by hiding behind corners and couches, cabinets and bookshelves. She crept up to the room where Wendy was being held prisoner and discovered the door open and the room empty. Wendy was gone too.

  Bettina continued snooping and snuck into Belenki’s massive master suite. She searched his room for any clues as to where he might be. Looking in his huge walk-in closet, she noticed his luggage was still there. Why would he have left his luggage behind?

  With the approach of footsteps, a light went on in the master bedroom. She stepped back into the shadows of the walk-in closet and hid behind some hanging clothes. Standing motionless, she held her breath and listened as heavy steps clomped around the room. Those footsteps approached the closet, and the owner of those feet flicked on the closet light.

  “Bettina?” It was Max, the burly guard Bettina befriended. Feeling like a fool, she emerged from behind Belenki’s clothes.

  “Hey Max.”

  “What are you doing in here?”

  “I couldn’t sleep.”

  “So, you decided to sneak into Mr. Belenki’s room?”

  “How’d you know I was here?”

  “I was working the security desk. I saw you on the infrared camera.”

  “You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

  “I have to.”

  “Please. I don’t want to lose my job.”

  “Were you trying to steal something?”

  “No, of course not. I was going a little stir crazy and I just need to take a walk.”

  “Don’t lie to me.”

  “I made a mistake. I won’t do it again. I promise.” Tears sprang to Bettina’s eyes.

  “Please don’t cry.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m just…I really need this job.”

  “You can’t do this again.”

  “I won’t.”

  “You have to promise.”

  “I promise.” She gave him a big hug.

  Max nodded. “You better get back to your room.”

  “I owe you one, Max.” She kissed him on the cheek and hurried off.

  Six hours after Sancho’s arrival in Los Angeles, the TSA finally released him from custody. Flynn was long gone and on his way to Wembly Island. Sancho briefly considered calling the FBI, but what would he tell them? His word against a billionaire’s? He wasn’t Severina, just some orderly at a mental hospital.

  So why did he feel so guilty? He knew he did his best to stop Flynn; used every argument he could think of, but it still felt like he didn’t do enough. Maybe he should have gone with him. He could have protected him. Defused the situation. Done something. Instead he did nothing.

  He returned to work at City of Roses and talked to the one person he thought might understand.

  “I know it doesn’t feel like it at the moment,” Nickelson said. “But you did the right thing.”

  “I feel like I let him down.”

  “I know you do and it’s understandable that you feel that way, but it’s not true. You didn’t let him down. You just stopped enabling him.”

  “It feels wrong.”

  “That’s what’s so insidious about codependency. Helping someone solve their problems is normally a good thing, but in this case what you’re doing is removing the natural consequences of his bad behavior. And by continuing to humor his delusion all you’re doing is making it worse.”

  “So, I should confront him on it? I tried that. It didn’t work.”

  “Because directly confronting a delusional person puts them on the defensive and causes them to retreat deeper into their beliefs.”

  “If you can’t humor them or confront them, what’s left?”

  “I find it helpful to ask questions in a nonjudgmental manner. Probe them to better understand their belief system. What you’re trying to do is understand their point of view. And whatever they say, don’t react. Just listen.”

  “And what does that do?”

  “It forces the delusional individual to explain themselves. The right questions can subtly undermine their belief system. They’ll start to question themselves the same way you’re questioning them. Over time they might realize that what they’re saying isn’t logical. They’ll start seeing the inconsistencies and begin to question everything.”

  “That’s all well and good and if he was here at City of Roses, that’s what I would do, but he could be in danger right now. He could be putting others in danger.”

  “If you keep rescuing him, he’ll never understand the consequences of his actions.”

  “It doesn’t seem right not to do anything.”

  “I didn’t say don’t do anything. You can call and warn Belenki that he’s on his way. Perhaps the authorities can find him and defuse the situation before it gets out of hand.”

  “Here’s the deal though, Doc. Belenki’s just as messed up as Flynn. Totally delusional.”

  Nickelson put his elbows on his desk and his hands together. He held his fingertips to his lips and sat there, deep in thought. “I see the quandary you’re in.”

  “So, what do I do?”

  “I’m not sure I have an answer for you.”

  “If something happens to Flynn I don’t know if I can live with that.”

  “Even though we wish it wasn’t so, much of the world is out of our control. As the Serenity prayer says, “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

  Flynn watched as Belenki walked in circles around the billiard table, growing more agitated with every step. Severina glared at him from across the room. She sat in a large wood and leather Morris chair, her arms wrapped around her knees and her knees pressed against her chest. Flynn surmised she recently arrived at stage two of Kubler Ross’s five stages of grief. Anger. Wendy lay on a couch deep in stage four. Depression. Flynn decided he must be in stage one. Denial. Because he wasn’t about to let Daisy win.

  Flynn crossed to Belenki and stood in his path, halting his progress around the billiard table. “The server room. Where is it?”

  “What difference does it make?”

  “We need to shut it down. We need to shut her down.”

  “There is no shutting her down. Not now. She’s in the cloud. She’s everywhere.”

  “But we can make sure she isn’t here.”

  “To what purpose?”

  “To give us time to figure out how to stop her.”

  “There is no stopping her. We’re done. It’s over. We had our shot and you blew it up.”

  “Is the server down here in the doomsday bunker?”

  “Yes. In a totally impregnable, climate-controlled safe room. There are security systems everywhere and she is in control of all of them. There’s no way in hell you’re getting in there.”

  “If its climate-controlled that means there’s ductwork for the air conditioning system, yes?”

  “You are such a fucking lunatic.”

  “But first we have to escape from here and I think I know how.”

  Belenki looked at Severina as if to say, do you believe this guy?

  Flynn pulled something out of his pocket and held it up for Belenki to see. “Do you know what this is?

  “A half-used tube of toothpaste?”

  “When Fergus’s men disarmed me, they made the mistake of letting me keep this.”

  “What are you going to do with it? Dazzle them with your blinding smile?”

  “Severina saw me put it to good use before. It saved us once and it’ll save us again.”

  Wendy rolled over to see what Flynn was talking about. “Is that toothpaste?”

  “It’s actually one of
Q’s most brilliant breakthroughs. A revolutionary new form of C-4 that’s easy to ignite, ten times more powerful, and even more malleable. Q calls it C-5.”

  All three of them looked at Flynn with pity as he approached the door and squeezed what was left of the toothpaste around the far edge of the frame. It took some time as he kept having to roll the tube up from the bottom. Belenki and Severina watched this wordlessly, occasionally exchanging a glance before looking back at Flynn. Once the tube was all squeezed out, Flynn picked up and unplugged one of the craftsman-style floor lamps, unscrewed the top, and carefully removed the stained-glass lamp shade, setting it on the floor.

  He startled them both when he swung the base, hitting it against the wall, smacking it so hard it cracked in half.

  “What in God’s name are you doing?” Belenki asked.

  “You’ll see soon enough,” Flynn said as he pulled out the bare wires, twisted them together and jammed them into the ridge of toothpaste he’d squeezed across the bottom of the door. He then took the end with the plug and crossed to an extension cord behind the TV.

  “Everyone get behind something,” he shouted.

  No one moved.

  “I’m not kidding! Find some cover! Do it! Now!”

  Figuring Flynn would keep shouting if they didn’t, they all crossed to the other side of the room and hid behind a couch. Flynn squatted behind the Mission-style entertainment cabinet, picked up the plug and plugged it in.

  Nothing happened.

  Belenki poked his head over to look.

  “Keep your bloody head down!” Flynn shouted.

  “Wonder why it’s not working,” Belenki said sarcastically.

  Flynn plugged the plug into another plug. And then he tried another one. Flynn gingerly peered over the top of the couch to see that the wires were sparking, but the C-5 was not reacting.

  The door suddenly slid open with a hum and two armed men walked in. Flynn knew they didn’t work for Fergus because they wielded AS Val assault rifles, standard issue for Russian Spetsnaz commandoes. He quickly deduced who they were; hitmen for the Russian mob here to collect the bounty Daisy offered for Belenki. Fergus was right behind them. That explained how they made it past the blast doors. As Fergus had already turned on his former boss, he clearly had no compunction about selling him out again.