by Tony Batton
Reems walked on between the embers and rubble. The smell of ash and dust was almost nauseating, but she ignored it. Her phone rang.
"Ms Reems, I'm sorry to disturb you." It was one of her tech analysts. "The CERUS security system – the covert one you had installed three months ago – has raised a flag for improper use of the network. It came from Dominique Lentz's account."
"What did they do?"
"Accessed various MI5 databases, ran searches on Bern's lawyer, Fiona Farrow: the one he dealt with on a day to day basis. Came up with nothing. But then they ran the same searches for a CERUS employee."
"Who?"
"Felicia Hallstein. After which they pinged a satellite for the ID code for a sat-phone."
A smile crept across Reems' face. "Good work. Leave this with me."
Seventy-One
THE THREE TOYOTA LAND CRUISERS negotiated the rutted snow-covered track at a cautious pace. Leskov sat in the front seat of the middle vehicle, looking ahead, a smile on his face. The sun, low on the horizon, was shining on the building that had just come into view: the silver-white structure of the Dome, CERUS's fabled beta site.
His father would be proud. Instead of brute force, he had applied his intellect. He had discovered his opponent's most secret plans, and he had used them against him. Now he would take what should rightfully have been his father's. Only one part of the plan had gone awry: the assassin, Sharp, had been killed while assaulting the prison where Marron had been held. Leskov shook his head: perhaps he had underestimated Marron. Then again, perhaps he had simply overestimated Sharp. It was a loose end to tie up, but the old man couldn't hide forever - not with the type of technology Leskov would soon have at his disposal.
Although if someone were trying to hide, there were few places more remote than this one. This area of north-east Canada was as far off the beaten track as you could get, lost in the vast snow-covered terrain. There was only one way in: the jetty. Scouting the coastline both north and south had revealed two large caves at sea level, but entry to them was mostly blocked by ice floes and, once inside, the only way out would be the way you came in. You could always fly to the Dome by helicopter, but the distance involved and the conditions made it challenging. All of this meant Leskov could now execute his plans in splendid isolation.
The three vehicles reached the Dome and drew up outside the front entrance. Leskov stepped out onto the snow, wrapping himself in his parker and fur-lined hat. He was used to Moscow winters, but they had nothing on this place.
Bern was being firmly ushered from his own car.
"How long have you waited to get here, Mr Bern?" Leskov said, pleasantly.
"You are spoiling the moment."
"I can spoil it more if you like. Fabienne, come here."
The French woman walked smoothly over to Leskov and wrapped her arms around him. Her lips found his and they shared a slow, lingering kiss. Bern's face grew hard.
"Sorry, William," she said. "Andrei made me one of those offers... You know."
Leskov turned to Brody. "Are you ready to give us the tour?"
Brody nodded. "We have a number of things to show you."
"Excellent. We'll all go." He jabbed Bern in the chest with a finger. "Assuming you have some availability?"
Bern glared at him. "Why bother bringing me all the way here? Why not just do whatever you wanted to do back in England?"
"You warrant special treatment. Plus there is one task I need you to perform for me."
Seventy-Two
THREE HOURS LATER LENTZ'S COMPUTER chimed softly. She stood up from her workbench and walked over to the screen. "Felicia Hallstein is in north-east Canada. Way north. Or at least her phone is."
"What's up there?" Kate asked as she used a pair of tongs to lift a bodysuit from a vat of fluorescent liquid.
"Very little except polar bears and penguins."
"There are no penguins in Canada, or almost anywhere else north of the equator. I thought you knew everything?"
Lentz smiled. "Almost everything."
Kate placed the suit over a drying rack on the far side of the room, next to another already drying. "Is it me or does this seem a little too easy? There's just enough of a trail of breadcrumbs that we can follow."
"You mean the suits? That I solved them so fast? I suppose it looks that way. But if I'm honest, I had most of the answers already - Resurface is something I've been mulling over in my head for years. Once I had the project materials, it was just a case of putting things together."
"Partly it was that. But mostly I meant Felicia."
"You're suggesting she wants to be followed? That Bern wants to be found? Why go to all this trouble to hide, only to give it up?"
"Perhaps someone needs you there?"
"To do what? You're joining dots that aren't there. In any case, we haven't got much of a choice if we want to go after Tom."
"We're going to get shot at, aren't we?"
"Ah, but we're taking a few surprises of our own." Lentz nodded at the suits.
"You still haven't explained what they do."
"They will change the rules. Enough that we'll have a chance, now that I've used new technology to realise our original vision."
Kate snorted. "Yeah, because that worked out so well last time."
Lentz shrugged. "What are the chances that something will go horribly wrong twice in a row?"
"Probably better than even. Look, I'm not saying 'no'. I want to rescue Tom and I want to stop Bern, but how are we even going to get there? It's five thousand miles away and it's hardly on a commercial air route. Unless these suits fly, what are we going to do?"
"I see flight as a feature in the third generation suits."
"Very funny. I'll assume that response means you don't know."
Lentz folded her arms. "Never make that assumption."
Lentz pulled on her headset and activated a program on her computer. The software made an external call to a number not merely unlisted, but that most phones simply could not dial. It belonged to an SAS base five miles from her house.
The call connected instantly. "Yes," said a curt male voice.
"Colonel," Lentz replied. The voice that travelled through her headset was no longer her own. She sounded exactly like a particularly senior member of MI5.
"Ms Reems," the Colonel said immediately.
"I need transportation. For two agents on a black op, no questions asked."
"Where to?"
"Drop-off will be North America, max. range 5,000 miles. I want the fastest transport you have available," Lentz said. "I'll give the pilot the exact coordinates once we're over the Atlantic."
"Will we be landing?"
"No."
"That will save fuel. How soon?"
"One hour. I'll owe you one."
She heard the Colonel exhale slowly. "You already do."
"Are we a go?"
"Send your agents through service entrance E. I'll tell my men not to shoot them."
"Thank you."
The Colonel paused. "Ms Reems you sound overly polite tonight. Is something wrong?"
"Problems at another site. I'm sure you'll hear about it on the wire."
Lentz disconnected the call, let out a breath and smiled at Kate. "There you go."
Kate frowned. "I could hear his voice. What do you mean we won't be landing?"
Seventy-Three
TOM DRIFTED INTO CONSCIOUSNESS TO find himself lying on a hard, metal-framed bed. The only illumination in the room was provided by a plastic light-fitting set in a metal ceiling. The smell of oil and salt-water filled the room and he could feel the floor swaying.
"How are you feeling?" said a voice from nearby.
Tom looked up and saw Croft standing looking out of a small, circular window. The pane of glass was misty with condensation.
"Betrayed," Tom said. "Among other things."
"Actually I saved you."
"You don't think abducted better describes the situatio
n?"
"I had to get you out of there."
"By drugging me?"
"The injection was to make sure your... talents were contained. And to sedate you."
"So who are you working for? It clearly isn't MI5."
"I need to make a trade with your father."
Tom closed his eyes. In his mind all he could feel was cold and dark. The Interface was gone. "You're giving me to my father? What exactly do you think he's going to do with me?"
"He wants to help you."
"He wants to help himself."
"Those two things may be more aligned than you realise." Croft walked over to Tom and crouched down next to him. "Is your plan just to keep running forever?"
"I don't know, but it should be my decision. What are you trading me for?"
"My daughter has leukaemia. And CERUS has developed a number of technologies with medical applications as part of its nanotech research."
"Those were all stopped."
"Not so. The CERUS beta site has been developing what might be described as intelligent drugs: nanologicals. They can be tailored to treat my daughter's condition."
"So you deliver me and they give you some miracle cure?"
"That's pretty much the deal."
"Does it actually work? Because, unless you missed that part, CERUS test subjects have a habit of winding up dead."
"They're going to cure her." He rubbed his eyes. "And if not... Well, she's out of options." He returned to the window. "We're nearly there."
Tom stood up and walked over to stand next to Croft. He saw ice floating in the dark blue water, but the greater cold came from inside his head. He had thought he was lost before. But now he was disconnected from anyone and anything.
Without the Interface he was utterly alone.
Tom and Croft stood on deck as the boat was tied off at the jetty. On either side, vertical rocky cliffs vanished into the distance, at least two hundred metres high, perhaps more. On the other side of the jetty, Tom saw the sleek, black shape of a military submarine.
He closed his eyes and tried to feel for a network, but there was nothing. No sensation remained. It wasn't that he couldn't break the encryption or that there was no network. He simply couldn't feel anything. He had been neutralised.
A group of four armed guards approached, wrapped in heavy coats and woollen hats. They stopped opposite Croft and Tom.
"Your weapon, please," said the first guard.
Croft frowned at him, then unshouldered his holster and handed it over. "I'm to report to Bern. You should have been briefed."
The man shrugged. "I don't know anything about that."
"Then perhaps you should do your job and call him."
"Bern's not in charge anymore." The man raised his weapon. "Now come with us. And no sudden movements." He nodded at Tom. "You're the only one I've been told not to harm."
Tom glanced at Croft and smiled. "So, how is this going for you so far?"
Seventy-Four
LESKOV WATCHED THE LIFT DOORS slide back, then he followed Brody, Bern and four guards out onto Sub Level 8. Brody walked ahead to a security door and held a pass card up to the access panel.
"My team won't accept this," Bern said, as the door hissed and swung inwards. "They won't let you just take over."
"We've had few problems," Leskov replied. "Take Mr Brody here. He's been exceptionally cooperative."
"Probably because he thought you'd kill him and his family if he didn't. You can't just make innovation happen by pointing a gun."
"On the contrary, the research team have been very productive." They entered a room to find three scientists waiting. "We're here to view the latest suits."
"Suits?" Bern looked around the room. "What suits?"
Leskov snapped his fingers loudly. The air in front of them shimmered, then two men appeared out of nowhere. Bern took a step back. Leskov smiled. "Impressive, isn't it."
Bern watched as the two figures shimmered and vanished again. "You've solved the translucency issue for Resurface."
"We got help from an old friend of yours."
"There's only one person who..." Bern frowned. "Lentz did that willingly?"
"Unwittingly might be a better description, but she's widely known for not being able to refuse a challenge."
The two figures shimmered back into view.
"Power usage still limits the suits," Brody said. "We're fine-tuning the load requirements, but we still get at most ten minutes of concealment from a full charge."
"I always knew we could make it work," Bern said. "But this wasn't what Viktor contracted for."
"Let's move next door," Leskov said.
In the next room they gathered around a sealed inner chamber: carbon steel framing with thirty-centimetre-thick crystal-coated glass. Two scientists stood inside, each holding scanners out towards a black cube covered in indicator lights.
"Why the protective chamber?" Bern asked.
"It's the housing for a room-temperature fusion power cell," replied Leskov. "Which should come as no surprise because you arranged for its acquisition."
Bern glared at Brody. "So you've shared everything?"
Brody shrugged.
"Don't blame him." Leskov patted Bern on the shoulder. "As for the theft – an audacious move – I applaud you for killing two birds with one stone and simultaneously using it to bring the CIA into play: near genius to have them as unwitting contributors to your escape."
"I'm not expecting a round of applause."
"Still, you could have involved them in a less risky way." Leskov tapped his finger on the glass. "You must have had a particular goal in making it look like the thief was your son."
"I wanted to test the suit."
"But why Tom? The Americans still think it really was him."
Bern folded his arms. "You might have persuaded everyone else here to tell you everything. You haven't persuaded me."
Leskov raised his hands. "No matter. My goal is the project my father paid for: Tantalus."
"You can't have it. No one can, unless you've managed to capture my son. And the whole world has been failing at that for the last twelve months."
Leskov coughed and gave a signal to one of his guards. They walked over to a television monitor and switched it on. Bern swore. The image showed Tom sitting on a metal chair, hands tied behind his back. "He's on the floor above us," said Leskov, with a smile.
Seventy-Five
THE TWO PARACHUTES OPENED WITH a rush of flapping and shrieking, and the roaring wall of air reduced to a mere gale. Lentz groaned as the harness pulled tight. "I swear this hurt less last time I did it," she said over her headset radio. Above them, the military transport was gently turning away in the dark grey sky.
"At least you've done it before," Kate's voice replied in her ears.
"You sounded calm as we suited up."
"Rigid with fear, more like. And not just about the jump."
Lentz looked down at her feet, dangling towards the ice and snow. The landscape was so vast and featureless the ground could have been a hundred metres away, but her instruments stated it was just over twelve hundred. "I thought you'd see this as an adventure." Lentz tapped some controls on the wrist panel of her suit. She ran a systems check, confirming the location of their equipment pod, which was suspended from its own parachute. It was making micro adjustments to track their own descent and would land within a hundred metres of where they touched down.
"I had my crazy phase when I was twenty and backpacking," Kate said. "You're sure they won't have detected us?"
"Plenty of planes fly high in this airspace. Ours did nothing to make it stand out."
"And what about the pilot? Will he reveal where we've gone?"
"His orders were to drop us off and reveal the location to nobody, even under direct order of his commanding officer. By the time they work out anything is up, if they ever do, we'll be long gone." She paused. "Or we'll have failed. Either way it makes no difference."
"So, basically, nobody knows where we are."
"Exactly," Lentz said.
"The downside being that we are completely on our own."
"But with the element of surprise."
"Let's hope that will count."
They touched down gently four minutes later and began gathering up their parachutes, boots crunching in the snow. LED lights in their helmets scattered an eerie green glow on the ground. Lentz stuffed the parachutes into a sack and dug it into the snow, then she pointed to the black sphere, which had landed a short distance away. "Everything we need is in that capsule." They began walking over to it.
Kate cleared her throat pointedly. "You seem to be taking this all in your stride."
Lentz shrugged. "Remember, I used to be a field agent."
"No offence, but that was twenty-five years ago. Perhaps we should have called Reems."
"We've chosen our path. I just don't think we could trust her. Not to do the right thing for Tom, anyway." They reached the capsule and Lentz typed in an access code. A hatch sprang open.
"You are kidding," Kate said, peering inside.
"It's over fifty kilometres. Would you rather walk?"
"I didn't say that."
"Good. Let's get it assembled."
A hundred kilometres to the north, and with an air speed of three hundred knots, the military transport completed a large radius turn and began heading back east. The pilot had been told to follow whatever instructions the two agents had given him. They had seemed a little off-type for field agents undertaking a covert air-drop – one too old, one too nervous – but it wasn't his place to ask questions.
However, just as he completed the turn, he received a coded message on a system he had not even known existed. The message overrode his earlier instructions. It gave details of a call he was to make to confirm the agents and their package had deployed. An operator came on line immediately. He confirmed the location of the drop off and the equipment that had been provided. The operator thanked him and disconnected.
