In the cramped cabin of the utility vehicle racing through the darkness, Takoda stared with wary eyes at the man he knew as Maj. Spiers and the shriveled woman lying across his lap. What the hell is he doing here and who is the woman? Is he a Beacon agent like Willow?
But then Takoda thought of Spiers’ visit to the clinic. There was no way the major’s interrogation had been an act. He was true blue NASF. So, why was he in the truck? Takoda was about to pose that very question when his eyes once again focused on the woman.
Still lightheaded from the explosion that had aided their escape, Takoda had not noticed she was injured. But now he saw a large wet stain on her shirt. Takoda looked up at Spiers. “She’s wounded. We need to—”
Spiers shook his head. “She’s dead.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” Takoda reached for the woman’s wrist. Feeling no pulse, he leaned further to apply his fingers against her neck. Only then did he see the woman’s other injuries. A large piece of shrapnel bisected her throat. Another protruded from her chest. Takoda also spotted a jagged shard lodged in Spiers’ thigh. “Let me take a look at your leg.”
“Not now.” Spiers pushed Takoda’s hand away and turned toward the front seat. “Your sensors still functioning, Cass?”
As she steered the vehicle along a bend in the road, the android said, “Affirmative.”
“Hold on a second.” Takoda grabbed hold of Spiers’ arm and looked back and forth between Cassidy and Spiers. “What’s going on? What are you doing here?”
“I’ll let you know as soon as I figure it out myself.” Spiers tugged his arm free and reengaged Cassidy. “Any sign of gliders? Any vehicles behind us?”
“Negative.”
“Do you have comms, or are you being jammed?”
“Radio is active. No interference detected.”
During the tactical dialogue between the two NASF officers, Takoda suddenly realized Yon was missing. Then it dawned on him that Sarah Hearns was missing too. “Where’s Yon? Where’s Sarah?”
“Approximately four miles ahead of us,” Cassidy said.
“Is she okay?” Takoda asked. “I mean, are they okay?
Before she answered, Spiers interjected with another question. “Does Beacon have some sort of HQ? Can you reach them?”
“Affirmative to both,” Cassidy said. “And, yes, Dr. Wells, Dr. Fujita is okay.”
As the road straightened out, Takoda looked through the front window. In the darkness ahead, he saw no sign of another vehicle.
“Is Beacon aware of the situation?” Spiers asked. “Do they know about the attack?”
“Copy that.”
“Then, they’re gonna have to deal with NASF’s satellite feed, lickety-split. Otherwise, count on another squad of gliders on our ass within the hour.”
As Spiers spoke, Takoda looked out the passenger window at the starlit sky.
“We won’t see any more gliders tonight,” Cassidy said. “The Carapach have launched shield drones along the border.”
Takoda exhaled a sigh of relief. Out on the open prairie farmlands, there was nowhere to hide from satellites or drones. Refocusing his attention out the window, Takoda spotted a road sign indicating the town of Eagle Butte was twenty-two miles ahead. That meant they were in South Dakota now. “Why are we headed south?”
“Safe houses in Eagle Butte,” said Cassidy.
“Don’t kid yourself, Cass. No house is safe with NASF eyeballing your every move,” Spiers said.
“We will be safe there,” Cassidy said. “The Carapach have offered us sanctuary.”
Takoda nodded. As much as the Carapach government publicly disavowed any connection with Beacon and vice versa, a substantial portion of the underground’s smuggling operations was focused on liberating Carapach didgee conscripts in New Atlantia. Therefore, there had always been an unofficial cooperative relationship. It was comforting to learn his country’s government had come to their aid during this crisis.
“Have you told your HQ about Hoot yet?” Spiers asked.
The question shook Takoda from his thoughts. Hoot? How does he know Hoot’s name? The Beacon leader’s identity was a tightly guarded secret. As he turned from the window to question Spiers, the answer quickly became clear. Takoda saw the major looking at the dead woman in his lap. He was stroking her thin strands of hair. Oh, my God.
Takoda was so stunned, he missed Cassidy’s reply. Mouth agape, he continued to stare at Hoot as Cassidy and Spiers continued their conversation. In quick succession, a series of thoughts sped through Takoda’s mind. Some about Hoot, others about Beacon and still more about what now appeared to be the pyrrhic rescue of Billy Hearns.
When he finally tuned back into the conversation between Cassidy and Spiers, Takoda heard Spiers ask, “Hoot said she wanted my help. What did she want me to do?”
“How much did she tell you about Billy?”
“Not a lot. We spent more time talking about Dylan.”
“Dylan?” Takoda asked. “Who’s Dylan?”
“My son,” said Spiers. “I thought he was dead, but apparently you people rescued him.”
Takoda turned toward Cassidy. “Is that true?”
“Yes, Dr. Wells. It’s true. Dylan was rescued a while ago. Before you joined Beacon.” Cassidy paused, then added, “His DNA is similar to Billy’s…minus the Mugabe proteins.”
Takoda cringed at the mention of the GODD chip creator in Spiers’ presence, but before he could scold Cassidy for the slip, Spiers said, “Don’t worry, Wells. Hoot already filled me in about Beacon’s interest in the GODD chip. She told me it might help Dylan. Though I’ll be honest, I don’t understand how yet. We were interrupted when NASF showed up.”
Spiers looked at Takoda with a wanting expression. It was as if Spiers expected him to fill in the gaps in what Hoot had told him. But Takoda still did not understand how Spiers had come to be in the vehicle. For all Takoda knew, Spiers had learned the information by interrogating Hoot. He would be damned if he connected the dots for the NASF officer.
“Hoot wanted you to help us find a woman in Thunder Bay, the woman who implanted the chip in Billy Hearns,” Cassidy said.
“Shut up, Cassidy. Don’t tell him anything more,” Takoda said.
Cassidy continued to talk to Spiers. “She knew you were better suited than me to guide Dr. Wells there.”
“What? Him? Guide me?” Takoda said.
“Yes,” said Cassidy. “Hoot tasked me with reuniting Sarah and her daughters with Billy.”
“But Ellie is there already with Billy. Why not send her back to pick them up?” Takoda said.
“There’s a lot of country between us and Billy, Dr. Wells. We can’t afford the time to dispatch Ellie to come back and pick them up.”
“He’s freaking NASF, Cassidy. Hell, you are too! Why in the names of the four gods should I trust either of you?”
“You got that backward, doc,” said Spiers. “The real question is why in the hell should I trust you?”
“You’re not going with me. I won’t stand for it.”
“Try and stop me, Wells. This ain’t about you and your Beacon rat friends anymore. It’s about my boy Dylan.”
Euclid Garage
Eagle Butte, South Dakota, Carapach
There was no more conversation for the rest of the ride to Eagle Butte. When Cassidy finally pulled the utility vehicle into an auto body garage, Takoda spotted Yon immediately. There was a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and an anxious look frozen on her face. Beside her were Sarah Hearns and one of her daughters. Takoda could tell Sarah was crying. Around them were at least twenty armed humanoid figures. Takoda guessed there was a mix of humans and androids among them. He also noticed a set of medical personnel garbed for surgery. They rushed forward as soon as the vehicle came to a stop.
Takoda felt hands pulling him out of the SUV. Over the din of shouts and crosstalk outside, he heard Spiers say, “She’s dead but she’s got an important chip embedded in t
he back of her neck. Make sure you extract it before you dispose of her body.”
“Hold on. Stop.” Takoda shook free from the medical team examining him for injuries and approached the gurney upon which Hoot had been laid. Looking up at the taller Spiers, Takoda said, “What kind of chip?”
“You know, a GODD chip. Hoot said she was one of Mugabe’s patient-zeros.”
From behind, Takoda heard Yon say, “What? Hoot is one of Mugabe’s Zeros?”
Takoda turned to see Yon walking toward them. She was missing a shoe, her clothes were in tatters and her sooty face was streaked with cuts. Trailing behind her was one of the medical personnel, who appeared to be attending to a wound on the back of her shoulder.
“Holy smokes, are you okay?” Takoda asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Yon pointed at Spiers. “Where did he come from?”
“I’m not really sure.” Takoda shifted his gaze to Spiers.
“Captured,” said Spiers. “Thanks to my double-crossing partner.”
“Oh,” said Yon. Takoda watched her eyes drift toward the gurney. “Who’s that?”
Takoda took hold of her hand and sighed. “Sadly, that is, or was, Hoot. Maj. Spiers says she has a GODD chip.”
The frown on Yon’s face approximated the same degree of confusion Takoda felt inside. For years, Beacon had been hunting for clues that would lead them to one of Dr. Mugabe’s chips, and out of nowhere, they now discovered the person directing the search already had one in her own body. Why didn’t Hoot tell us? Why did she hide such important information? We could have learned so much from studying her chip.
He was sure Hoot must have had compelling reasons for keeping her GODD chip a secret, but at the moment, such reasons eluded Takoda. Emerging from his thoughts, he asked one of the medical personnel, “Do you have access to a bioscanner? Preferably, a holoscanner?”
“Yes, we have a holoscanner in our clinic. It’s a few blocks away from here.”
“All right,” said Takoda. “We’ll load her back in the truck and follow you to the clinic.”
“Not so fast, we’ve got a lot of injuries to take care of first,” said the medic. He pointed at Yon and Spiers. “Starting with you two.”
During the respite, Takoda learned that one of Sarah Hearns’ daughters had been badly injured at Cannon Ball, while Sarah and her other daughter suffered only minor injuries. From what one of the medics had shared, the badly injured daughter’s survival chances were good, but she faced a long recovery.
He also discovered that the baggie Sarah had given to Yon had been damaged during the explosion that sprayed Yon’s face and body with shrapnel. Apparently, the spoon was still intact, though it had been dented, and a portion of the hair strand enclosed with the spoon had been singed. The baggie had also been contaminated by Yon’s blood after a shard pierced through the baggie and lodged in Yon’s thigh.
As Takoda watched an ambulance speed away with a case containing the baggie and its contents, he prayed the lab where the baggie was headed would be able to salvage enough DNA to determine the true identity of Mariah Bloom.
At the edge of his field of vision, Takoda caught a glimpse of Cassidy Willow walking toward him. He had not noticed her many wounds during the ride to Eagle Butte, but now that he saw her in full, she looked more battered than Yon. The synthetic hair and skin on the left side of her head had been burned away, a chunk of her abdomen above her hip was missing and much of the skin covering her torso’s Exo-shell had been burned away. Yet, the android seemed unfazed by the damage. When she reached Takoda, she said, “I’ve just finished speaking with Hoot’s successor. His code name is Hawkeye.”
Takoda looked around. “Is he here? I want to talk with him too.”
“No.”
“No, as in, he’s not here? Or, no, I can’t talk to him?”
“He is not here. His location is confidential.”
“All right. Fine. Then, how do I reach him?”
“You don’t. Not for now. Hawkeye believes in compartmentalizing information, just like Hoot. Per his instructions, I am your conduit for the time being.”
“I see. Well, what did he have to say? What did you talk about?”
“We discussed next steps. Some concern you, others don’t.”
“In other words, you’re only allowed to discuss some of the next steps with me, the ones that involve my participation.”
“Affirmative.”
“All right. I get it. Hoot communicated with me most of the time through Yon. Hawkeye wants you as the go-between instead. So, what does Hawkeye expect of me?”
“You and Damon will leave at first light for Thunder Bay to locate and secure Mariah Bloom, plus any materials related to the GODD chip. You already have her address from Sarah Hearns. If that proves insufficient, we should be able to determine her real identity from her DNA before you reach the border with the Northlands.”
With a curt wave of his hand, Takoda said, “No way. We talked about this in the truck. Spiers is NASF. I don’t trust him. I barely trust you. He’ll probably try to kill me or haul me back to New Atlantia the first chance he gets. Tell Hawkeye I’ll go alone.”
“Negative. You will go with Damon. Hawkeye informed me that NASF knows we have an interest in Thunder Bay. They have detailed commandos there to apprehend anyone they suspect is connected to Beacon. Alone, you would be easy prey for them. Damon, on the other hand, knows their tactics. The odds of a successful mission rise substantially if he accompanies you. Damon has assured me he will cooperate. He now has a vested interest in doing so.”
The matter-of-fact way Cassidy declared Takoda “easy prey” rankled him. “Forget it. Contact my android Ellie in Flathead. See if she’s found a new chassis for my other andro. If she has, I’ll take them with me. They’re all the protection I’ll need.”
“That won’t be possible. Your androids are needed to transport Sarah Hearns and her daughters to Flathead once they are medically cleared to travel.”
“Now, hold on. They’re my androids. No one designates them but me.”
“That is incorrect and you know it, Dr. Wells. Even though you were allowed to customize certain of Ellie’s and Akecheta’s personality modules and physical features, they are, and always have been, Beacon property. They were granted to you to provide you with personal protection and to assist you in rescue operations but, as their true owner, Beacon has the right to assert override control of their brain cores. Hoot exercised that right before the Billy Hearns rescue. Ellie and Akecheta have been under Beacon’s direct control ever since.”
Takoda shook his head. Well, that certainly explains a lot: Akecheta blowing himself up; Ellie going back to fetch his brain core; the directive to cut off comms with Ellie as soon as she left to escort Billy to Flathead. Looking back at Cassidy, Takoda said, “All this double-dealing is going to backfire sooner or later. You know that don’t you?”
“There is no double-dealing involved with Ellie and Akecheta. They will be returned to your operational control once they have completed their assignment,” said Cassidy. “Now, as to your assignment, you and Damon will report back to me—”
“Uh, nothing against you, but I’d prefer that Yon remain my conduit. We have a good rapport.”
“Out of the question. Hawkeye has an unrelated assignment for Dr. Fujita that requires her full attention.” None of Cassidy’s replies were delivered with a hint of antagonism, yet Takoda felt his anger rising with each of her curt denials. He also found the notion of taking orders from a machine highly objectionable. As he contemplated demanding to speak with Hawkeye directly, Cassidy said, “I understand you are not pleased with the situation, Dr. Wells, but it is what it is. I suggest you get something to eat and rest up. You and Damon leave at 0600.”
CHAPTER 18: THE SQUEEZE
Euclid Garage
Eagle Butte, South Dakota, Carapach
After Cassidy disappeared from view, Takoda went in search of Yon. It took some snooping, but he fi
nally found her resting on a cot in a second-floor office overlooking the garage bays. Interspersed in the office were several other occupied cots. Much like Yon, the other cot dwellers were bandaged and connected to IVs.
Yon saw him approaching and waved him over. He snaked through the maze of cots until he reached hers set aside in a corner of the room. As there were no chairs in sight, Takoda sat down on the floor next to her. He gently clasped her hand and smiled. “Feeling better?”
“I guess.” She looked up at the IV bags. “They goosed the fluids with a pain med.”
“Good.” Takoda caressed her wrist with his fingers. “I’m sorry this has gotten so far out of hand. If I had known things would play out like this, I think I would have just settled for a plasma draw from Billy.”
“I know what you mean.” Yon rolled onto her side and smoothed the long strands of Takoda’s hair. “But you’ve done nothing to be sorry for. I’m the one who brought you into Beacon, not the other way around.”
“Yeah, well, I’m the one who pushed for the rescue. And it’s cost us far more than I expected.”
“You didn’t push. We all thought it was worth the risk.” She cupped her hand on his cheek. “I still feel that way, even with everything that’s happened. Think about it. Billy is safe, which means we’ll be able to watch the smart-proteins at work all the way through adolescence. We also now know who implanted the GODD chip in him and where to look for her. And even though it’s heartbreaking that Hoot died, we now have a GODD chip we can study.”
The mention of Hoot’s chip brought a question to the forefront of Takoda’s mind, one that had been gnawing at him ever since Spiers told him the Beacon leader had carried the device.
“Why didn’t she tell us she had the chip?”
Withdrawing her hand from his cheek, Yon said, “I’ve been lying here asking myself the same question. From her physical appearance, I wonder if her chip was defective.”
“That would make some sense, I guess, but why wouldn’t she just tell us that? We might have been able to help her.”
“I know. It’s frustrating.”
The GODD Chip (The Unity of Four Book 1) Page 22