Die Again To Save Tomorrow (Die Again to Save the World Book 2)

by Ramy Vance

  Buzz eyed Zach warily.

  “Oh, come on, this whole thing is because you wanted to play Ghostbusters.”

  Buzz laughed. “That I did. That I did.”

  A drone flew overhead, and they both whistled the Ghostbusters theme song and aimed wildly at the sky. Invisible bursts of microwaves shot into the air, and some of the drones exploded into fireballs when they struck the walls of buildings or the pavement. With the streets cleared of bystanders, the debris didn’t harm anyone.

  Zach laughed. “Dude, this is better than virtual reality.”

  Buzz laughed, and they followed the drones down through the city, shooting at the sky. As they neared the U.N. building, Buzz checked the progress bar on his laptop. There were still eighty-odd drones aloft. Not even the Ghostbusters could save this neighborhood.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Monday, May 22, 7:13 p.m.

  Rueben figured Pete had to be going to the U.N. building. He hadn’t when he’d kidnapped Rueben and held him in that basement for three days, but in that version of the timeline, Pete hadn’t had to worry about Rueben and company getting in the way.

  So, after Martha had commandeered a police car, Martha, Aki, and Rueben now waited for Pete at the U.N. building. At least, they hoped they had beaten him there. There was no sign of chaos and carnage yet, so Buzz must have figured out how to either slow down the drones or reroute them to buy them some time.

  The concerts had already wrapped up in anticipation of the world leaders taking the stage at 7:30 p.m. Rueben surveyed the area surrounding it, as he had seen Aki and Mike doing when he’d watched this scene play out in that basement. He spotted the blond reporter and her cameraman, filming the stage and waiting for the keynote speech. It was funny what the news team had selectively chosen not to display.

  On one side of the building, protesters against the One campaign waved signs, citing communism and incorporating the One logo into the communist hammer and sickle flag. They chanted communist slogans along with the One propaganda.

  Next to the anti-communist chanters were the conspiracy theorists who protested against the global elite and one world government.

  “We are not your slaves.”

  “1984 ends with 1776.”

  On the other side of the building, kept separate by a line of security guards in riot gear, the One supporters sang Bob Marley songs and waved One posters.

  As tense as the situation was with those two groups, nearest to Rueben’s position were the Cavemen, a group of anti-establishment, chaos-driven protestors hell-bent on returning to pre-government eras.

  For full-on anarchists, they sure knew how to coordinate their outfits. Fred Flintstone had nothing on them.

  It was also the perfect environment for Pete to infiltrate—tense, crowded, and full of chaos.

  Aki had alerted building security, and they were all on the lookout for “the bomber in the white hoodie.” No one in command seemed to put much stock in that though, even after the incident at the police barricade. Rueben and Martha had tried their best to persuade those at the top that something big would go down soon, but it seemed it was up to them to save the day.

  The three of them stood in the shadows near the protestors, watching the street.

  One of the Cavemen in the loincloths pulled out a slingshot and killed a pigeon pecking at some garbage. Everyone gasped.

  The Caveman grabbed the dead bird off the ground, much to everyone’s disgust. He crouched on the sidewalk, and Rueben was glad he wasn’t directly in front of him because the loincloth didn’t appear to have much “crouching coverage.” He rubbed two stones together, and in less than a minute, had built a fire and began to roast the bird.

  The protesters all gasped and screamed, and some threw things at the man. A couple of the protestors even threw up.

  Security was right on top of him. “Sir, sir, you can’t do that here.”

  The Caveman with the ZZ Top beard responded, “It’s my right to live how I want.”

  The protestors all exploded with applause and cheering. The man in the loincloth had adequately made his point, and suddenly he was on their side.

  The police officer wasn’t amused. He grabbed the man up by his forearm. “Yeah, now you’re going to jail.”

  “That’s against the culture of global unity.”

  The protesters screamed in agreement, and the line of security guards all turned to them militantly. “All of you, we’re shutting this down. It’s now a security risk. Let’s go. All of you.”

  Cops in riot gear arrested Loincloth Man and started ushering the protesters away. They reluctantly cooperated, and two officers saw the trio standing waiting for the Hoodie Bomber. “Let’s go, people. We’re shutting it down.”

  Good, Rueben thought. With fewer people here, there would be less cover for Pete. And, if Pete’s drones did succeed and start attacking, there’d be fewer people to get hurt.

  Aki pulled out her phone. “It’s too hot out here. We have to get to another entrance.” She tried to make a call, but they kept getting jostled around by the masses, and Rueben was even smacked in the head by a protest sign.

  “We have to get away from here.”

  Aki and Martha said in unison, “Agreed.”

  They managed to push their way out of the crowd and toward another entrance. Aki dialed and redialed numbers on her phone. “I can’t get through to anyone.”

  A group of chanters nearly knocked Martha over. “What?”

  Aki yelled, “We have to get to the east entrance. That’s where security is, and if we can get there, we can get backup.”

  Rueben only figured out what she said after thinking about it. He couldn’t make it out in the crowd.

  They snaked their way through the people and found the east entrance. Security was less swamped there, and when the trio all flashed badges, they were instantly let through.

  They stood on the other side of security and tried to formulate a plan.

  Rueben and Martha looked at Aki. “It’s almost 7:30. Your call here. Where to?”

  “This way.”

  They were almost to the door of the east entrance when a line of drones buzzed toward the building, lit up like bright flashing Christmas tree lights.

  Rueben’s stomach tensed. “Oh no. It’s about to start.” He turned to the nearest police officers and summit guards. “We have to get these people out of here now!”

  Out in front of the building, people began to applaud. World dignitaries started to step up to the main stage. The news teams alternated their focus between the drone light show and the world leaders.

  Up in the sky, the drones formed a giant pink peace sign. Then they morphed into a smiley face. Then they started dropping bombs in front of the building.

  Fire and chaos began to sprout up everywhere.

  “Shit.” Rueben turned and collided with an obstacle. He whipped around to find none other than…his alternate future self in his scuffed and torn white hoodie, dark shades, and black backpack.

  Pete flashed a wide, toothy smile. “And so it begins.”

  Aki reached for her gun. “Not so fast.”

  Pete shook his head. “This again? Don’t you people ever learn? Doris, pulse.”

  His metallic glove sent Rueben, Aki, and Martha sprawling, along with the security stationed around them at the entrance. Pete easily sprinted past them into the building while outside bombs rained down and drones shot out the windows of the U.N. building with mounted machine guns.

  Rueben, Aki, and Martha chased after Pete into the foyer. Pete turned to face them, and Rueben yelled, “Doris, disable.”

  Pete’s glove powered down, but the man still smiled. Aki lined up a shot on Pete, intending to disable him with a shot to the leg, but suddenly several drones buzzed into the room and swarmed in front of Pete like bees. Aki fired several shots, but every time, one of the drones intercepted the bullet and fell to the ground.

  Martha held fire from her gun. “How do
we defeat him?”

  Rueben gritted his teeth. “I don’t know. Maybe Buzz can help.” Rueben speed-dialed his friend. Buzz’s phone rang and rang as Pete made it inside.

  Now drones circled Martha, Aki, and Rueben, blocking them from venturing farther into the building. Martha and Aki picked them off one by one, but by that time Pete was already gone.

  Aki got on her phone. “The bomber is in the building. I repeat, the bomber is in the building.”

  Buzz wasn’t answering so Rueben tried to think what Buzz would say. Buddy, you got to think like Pete. What would you do?

  Rueben didn’t know Pete’s full plan, but it involved setting off a global nuclear war. To do that, he probably needed some world leaders for leverage.

  Turning around, Rueben spotted some bodyguards ushering world dignitaries into a stairwell contained behind a hidden panel in the wall.

  That’s it. Pete would be going upstairs too. He’d probably done his homework. He probably knew the location of the safe room where security would whisk the leaders away. Too bad Rueben didn’t.

  “Rueben, get down!”

  Aki threw herself at Rueben as a particularly large drone buzzed toward a nearby window from the outside. The two landed beside a lavish-looking lobby couch as part of the wall exploded inward.

  When the dust started to settle, Rueben noticed he and Aki held onto each other in a tight embrace.

  He blinked at her. “Umm. Thanks.” They helped each other up.

  She nodded. “Don’t mention it. Partner.”

  Rueben turned, beaming. Then he spotted several people wounded from the blast. Some were guards and officers. Others were news reporters and onlookers who had come inside during the bedlam. Martha was stooped over a portly man in a gray suit, making sure he was okay.

  Rueben tried to locate the hidden stairwell through the smoke and found it again. Security teams gathered around their heads of state still ushered them up the steps. Radios and phones chattered and beeped. Building alarms sounded, and every screen in the building simply broadcasted, “Lockdown.”

  On the opposite side of the foyer, Rueben spotted a flash of white hoodie and a door closing on another stairwell. Pete was heading up. Meanwhile, the drones gathered outside the building were still dropping bombs and firing guns at the law enforcement and security agents on site. They were the perfect distraction.

  Pete had thought this through, down to the contingency plan of if he had to come down here to the U.N. building himself to get the job done.

  Rueben was about to take off toward the stairwell Pete had entered when he heard Aki mutter, “Oh shit.”

  He turned, and time seemed to slow as he watched in helpless terror as a drone buzzed through an open window, pivoted in mid-air, and sighted in on Aki with its machine gun.

  “No…”

  Rueben reached out, but it was too late. There was nothing he could do to stop the drone from killing Aki. Pete was going to kill Aki a third time.

  The drone’s machine gun made a snicking sound as it prepared to fire.

  Aki tensed her legs to throw herself to the side, even though she wouldn’t be fast enough.

  Pew. Pew. Pew, pew, pew.

  The drone’s machine gun tilted downward, and one of its propellors stopped. Then it did a three-sixty and rammed straight into the wall, exploding in a blast of light and debris.

  Rueben whipped around to see none other than Buzz and Zach with what looked like some kind of sci-fi wrist blasters in their hands. Buzz wore a satisfied smile. “I do what I can.”

  Rueben laughed and high-fived Buzz. “Inspector Gadget strikes again. What kind of weapons are those?”

  “Microwave hand cannons,” Zach said proudly.

  Buzz added, “Patent pending.”

  “Nice.” Rueben smacked Buzz on the shoulder. “Way to utilize microtechnology for the good of humanity.”

  “I thought so.”

  Mike Fury limped inside the foyer then, his machine gun gripped in one hand, his leg and arm tourniquets stained with blood. “You guys go on without me. Me and the Binnies will stay out here and save who we can.”

  “Thanks,” Rueben said sincerely, setting aside his petty annoyance with the guy. Maybe he’d been too hard on Mike. Also, the dude looked like the friggin’ Terminator.

  After Mike stepped back out, Rueben and his friends briefly surveyed the damage. The world leaders had all gone up the stairwell. The hidden panel once again displayed an ordinary-looking wall.

  “Follow me.” Rueben led his friends to the wall. He got the panel open and saw a wounded security guard sitting against the wall at the base of the stairwell.

  Rueben bent to check on the man. He was in pretty bad shape, but he’d live. He was a bit woozy, though.

  Rueben had an idea. “We’re here to stop the bomber. Do you know which floor the safe room is on?”

  “Twenty-first floor. Room uh…2109.”

  Rueben gave him his thanks. He’d leave the hidden panel open so that the medics could find him when they entered the building. Then Rueben started up the stairs. His friends followed.

  As they ascended the stairwell, explosions and gunfire continued to pierce the night outside. Rueben shook his head. “This is a disaster.”

  Buzz shook his head and sucked in a breath. “You’re telling me. I’m missing my bubble bath and cocktail and evening massage.” It was supposed to be a joke, but no one laughed.

  Martha shook her head. The climb up the stairwell hadn’t seemed to affect her much yet. “Buzz, the last thing you need is more cocktails. Great job, Zach. Just be careful with how much you let this guy influence you.”

  Zach shook his head. “You’re all a bad influence.”

  They all bobbed their heads in agreement.

  Martha added, “Probably. Just stop before homemade guillotines get involved.”

  Zach made a face. “Homemade guillotines? You guys are funny. I think.”

  Martha, Buzz, and Rueben glanced at each other and cleared their throats. While Martha and Buzz didn’t remember killing Rueben that way when training for the Pout mission, they’d seen the nanobot watch footage of it in Buzz’s secret computer room.

  Zach’s eyes widened. “Wait, guillotines? You guys are joking, right?”

  Buzz wrapped his arm around Zach’s shoulder as they continued to climb the steps. “You have so much to learn, young grasshopper.”

  “Clearly. ‘Let them eat cake,’ I guess.”

  Another explosion sounded from outside. Rueben heard someone cry out in pain and he winced. Finally, he stopped on the step he was on and faced his friends. He met Aki’s eyes. “Guys. If we keep going, we might still stop Pete’s full plan from happening. But…the cost has been too high. We weren’t as prepared as we were for the Pout mission.”

  He angled his head toward the sound of the bomb blasts and gunfire. “Too many people have been injured and killed, and with my powers, I can’t let that happen. I’m going to have to die to warp back and reset all this.” He tried not to let Zach’s dropped mouth distract him. “We’ll do it right this time. We know what we’re doing. We know what we’re dealing with. We can fix it.”

  That’s when Buzz shook his head. His lips were taut, and Rueben didn’t think he’d ever seen his friend’s face so serious. “No. Actually, I don’t think you should do it.” They all looked at him, confused.

  “What are you saying?” Rueben said.

  Buzz reached into his pocket and retrieved the small shiny cube. Everyone’s eyes focused on the tiny needle projecting from one of its surfaces. “It’s ready.”

  “That’s great…” Rueben let his words trail off. “We can use it against Pete now. Right?”

  “Yep. According to my super computer’s computations, once you stick Pete with this needle, the nanobot you’ll inject into him will bond to him at the genetic level. It will immediately and indefinitely disable his ability to warp if he dies.”

  Rueben stared at him. Buzz had d
one it. Found a way to defeat Pete. “How’d you figure it all out? You said it was, like, twenty years advanced.”

  Buzz gave a sly grin. “I studied the nanobot capper that Pete implanted in you via data collected through the original nanobot that I use to monitor your warps. The nanobot in the shiny cube is way more advanced.

  “My supercomputer helped me understand how I could incorporate the framework of your Exit Bar cap into a permanent warping cap in the shiny cube’s nanobot. It’s very complex stuff, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without my computer.”

  Rueben thought it over. “You’re saying that if I inject Pete, it’ll severely hobble him. Without his warping power, if we stop him, he can’t go back and try it again.”

  He paused as another explosion sounded from outside. “I can’t let all those people die out there. Not when I can warp back and stop it. Why don’t you want me to warp back? Then you can give me the shiny cube—”

  Buzz looked exasperated. “Do you realize how lucky we’ve been to get to this point? People have died, but if you warp back to try to save them, Pete might surprise you or knock you out again.

  “Who knows if Pete is watching us right now with another one of his little fly surveillance drones. If he finds out about this device, he’ll warp back and kill me at the Exit Bar over and over again so I can’t make it. This is our last hope, and if we don’t use it now, the world as we know it could be reduced to ashes once Pete accomplishes his plan.”

  “I don’t know—” Rueben started.

  “This is more serious than Pout’s plan,” Buzz said. He turned to Martha and Aki and Zach. “We’re not just trying to save NYC. We’re trying to save the entire world.”

  Zach fidgeted and smiled weakly for support while Martha looked almost sick. “Rueben, that’s a tough call to make. I’m…glad it’s not up to me.”

  Aki stepped up beside Rueben and brushed her hand against his. She swallowed. “I support whatever decision you choose.”

  Rueben weighed both options. If he made the wrong choice, he might not be able to fix this situation.