by Robert Berke
Gonzales thought for a moment. "Do you feel you are in a position to negotiate?" He asked.
"Yes, because I am," Smith replied. "The alternative is violently destroying this building and that is in no one's interest. My requests are reasonable. So, do we have an accord?"
"In either event, you are neutralized as a threat and my mission is accomplished. Ultimately I have very little to lose or gain from this negotiation, and therefore I won't engage." Gonzales said, standing up and making for the door.
"I understand negotiations, Mr. Gonzales. When Sharky's mother was a hostage, you tipped your hand as to what instruction set you follow and you have been as predictable as a formula. I didn't follow that instruction set, but Hermelinda and Dr. Bayron are back here safe and sound. So, let's consider this an experiment, can you deviate from your program?"
"I don't like being backed into corners, Mr. Smith," Gonzales replied.
"Pride is a terrible thing, is it not? Your point is well taken. Ensure the safety of my family and you can portray me in the press however you like. We will both have to swallow some pride."
"Let me make a call." Gonzales said plainly.
"You can use the conference room down the hall. Sam, will you show him?"
The men stood and exited the office. Sam led Gonzales down the hall to the conference room and walked back to Smith's office alone. Smith had asked Myra to assemble Hermelinda, Dr. Bayron, and Sharky in his office and they were all on their way up when Takahashi returned. When all of them were assembled in the office, Myra came in and placed Sharky's black box on the table between them.
"You are all a part of my family. All of you. And I love you all very much. Today, I am going to have to die. This is inevitable. There are two reasons. First, even I cannot deny that I am very dangerous. I always poo-poohed Dr. Bayron's concerns about letting me loose on the Internet because I knew...and I still know...that my heart is full of love, not malevolence. But even that emotion, can be dangerous if it overtakes reason, and it is the inability to prevent emotion from overtaking reason that fundamentally makes us human. For this reason alone, I must be destroyed. Second, Mr. Gonzales, who sits down the hall even as we speak, believes that I presently possess a certain code that could spell global destruction. Even if he is incorrect, he has the very unusual and undesirable task of saving the world, and he will stop at nothing to do so. And there will be other Gonzales's after him. That places all of you in danger for as long as I live."
Smith paused to take note of the expressions on the faces of the people whom he had gathered together for this speech. None were looking at the camera. Takahashi, was the only one in the room who knew about the backup plans, but he mimicked the actions of the others in the room.
During the moment of silence, a knock came on the office door. Myra rose to open it, and it was Gonzales. No one in the room would look at him either, except for Takahashi who was trying, unsuccessfully to read Gonzales's face.
"May I have a moment of privacy with Mr. Smith?" He asked politely.
"Yes, of course, Mr. Gonzales," Smith answered on behalf of the group. "Go get some coffee," he said to the assembly. "I'll call you back when I'm done."
The group filed out of the office and Gonzales came in and sat down. "I assume that's the ‘kill switch' Sharky told me about." Gonzales said noticing the black box on the table in front of him. "If you put this here to impress me, I can assure you that it in no way affects my regard for the sincerity of your offer."
"And do you accept my terms?"
Gonzales drummed his fingers on the edge of the table watching them as he did so. "Not exactly," he answered still looking down. He then looked directly at the camera and wished that there was a face to see in there other than the mere reflection of his own. "There is still the small matter of K.O. Data Systems."
Smith was disappointed but not terribly surprised to learn that K.O. Data Systems had been discovered.
He tried to bluff. "Yes," he said, "I helped fund a little data company for Katherine O'Malley, the young lady who assisted Mr. Takahashi with my memorial service and press conference. Neither of us could stand the thought of her going back to stripping for a living after the excellent work she did for us. It seemed the right thing to do. She seems to have taken to that enterprise with enthusiasm. And we have no doubt she will make it a success. We have already gotten her some contracts with hospitals to store patient data. What of it?" He asked.
"You could be telling me the truth Mr. Smith, and truly I have no reason to expect that you aren't. But in my mind, it is at least conceivable that there could be a duplicate of you stored over there. It seems to me that some great strains were taken to make sure that K.O. Data Systems had no connection to SmithCorp, so to me that's a loose end. You should not feel you are being judged, but you already know that I insist on cutting the cards."
Smith wished he had fingers to cross. He had already received Kitty's message that the diagnostic was complete so he knew that K.O. Data systems was offline and would remain so until the next morning. He mused that even if K.O. Data systems somehow managed to survive the night, this conversation would not be known to his duplicate in Cohoes. There were still too many variables in the equation and that concerned him.
"K.O. Data Systems is an independent company. I have no say over what goes on there. You'll have to speak to Ms. O'Malley." Smith lied.
"It would be my preference if you did so." Gonzales said.
"And if I do, then do we have an agreement?"
"Unless I find out there are more copies of you floating around out there."
"Would you take my word?" Smith inquired.
"Not on your life." Gonzales responded.
"Then why should I take yours?" Smith inquired further.
"Because I have never lied to you." Gonzales answered.
There was a moment of silence before Gonzales heard Smith say, "Myra, can you get Kitty on the phone please?"
Gonzales heard the phone ring twice before Kitty picked up. "K.O. Data Systems," she answered in a professional tone.
"Kitty, this is Smith."
"Hello, Mr. Smith," She said. "Did you get my message?"
"Yes, I did, but there has been a change in plans."
"I'm not alone," she whispered into the phone non-responsively.
"Who's with you?" he asked, suspecting he knew the answer.
"Julian Waterstone and some other guy I met before. He's claiming to be from the CIA. They're telling me all kinds of crazy stories about you. But I'm not telling them anything," she replied still whispering.
"Kitty, you're a terrific girl. Don't believe anything you hear from those two. But it is true. The other guy that's with Mr. Waterstone is a CIA agent and we are presently cooperating. Do you know how to do a complete dump of the system there?"
"I've read about it. It's not that difficult. I have a step by step in the manual. It says that if I do that then all the data will be lost though."
"That's what I want, Kitty."
"But how can I be sure it's really you telling me to do that? Yesterday you gave me very specific instructions. How can I be sure?" She asked.
"Do you remember when we first met at the Moviestar? There was a song playing while we spoke. I told you that it would be our song and asked you to remember it. Do you remember that song, Kitty?"
"Yes," Kitty answered. "You made me promise to remember it."
"‘I'm Only Human,'" Smith said.
"Yes," Kitty replied.
"And Kitty," Smith added, let the men see what you're doing, I want them to be confident that I am a man of my word."
"Okay Mr. Smith." She said fully understanding the implications of the instructions. "I'm going to miss you."
"Make your life a blessing for me and I will always be there."
"I promise, Mr. Smith," She said as tears began to form in her eyes. "I never deserved what you did for me. I'll always remember you."
"You did more for me than you w
ill ever know, Kitty." Smith said. "And you're going to have a successful little business there. My gift to you."
"Thank you Mr. Smith." She replied.
Smith added, as an afterthought, "Oh, and Kitty? That Mr. Cruz, the man who's with Julian? He's a good man," he said, and then hung up the phone.
Smith's next comments were directed toward Gonzales. "Satisfied?" He asked.
"Are there other copies?" Gonzales answered the question with a question.
"No." Smith said, his mechanical voice revealing no clues as to the veracity of his answer.
"Then I'm satisfied."
"Myra," Smith called over her pager, "Please bring everyone back to my office."
Hermelinda, Bayron, Sharky and Takahashi all came back to the office, followed by Myra.
"SmithCorp belongs to you guys now. Treat her well and use her only to pursue good things for humanity. Consider that my dying wish."
"Doctor?" Smith's camera turned to Bayron, "A man doesn't have to be omniscient to see the invisible. Hermelinda is a wonderful girl and Ellen has no father. I pray that you will remain close."
Dr. Bayron looked across the table at Hermelinda. She smiled shyly, blushing. "As I have blood in my veins, and if she would have me, I will."
Smith's camera panned to Hermelinda. "Elly," She said, "I will love you until they bury me next to you. But if the good doctor doesn't mind always being second in my heart to you, I think he would make an excellent father to Ellen."
Smith's camera panned out to a wider angle so he could see the whole group. There were tears and smiles. Only Gonzales sat stone faced.
"Doctor," Smith said, "I have already entered my key. Would you do me the honor?"
Dr. Bayron stood up and pressed a button on the black box. A red light glowed through a hole on the top and Bayron leaned over so it could scan his iris. He sat back down and calmly entered his key.
All the eyes in the room were focused on the monitor. The screen blinked twice and then was black.
XXIII.
Bobby pulled out of the mall parking lot and abandoned his car a few blocks away. He tried calling Vakhrusheva again, and he received the message "Your party is either out of the area or on another line." Either the cell phone or Vakhrusheva himself had been compromised and that made his own cell phone a liability. He carefully wiped his fingerprints off of it and crushed it under the heel of his shoe before kicking it into a storm drain. He walked to a nearby bar, and called a cab from the payphone. He enjoyed a beer while he waited.
The cab dropped him off a half mile from his safehouse. He quickly set himself to the task of deep cleaning the house, making sure there were no fingerprints or traces of DNA-carrying material like hair or fingernails. When he was done, he walked out the back door and locked it behind him. He chose a clean car from the barn and began driving. There was a contact in Ohio for him to report to. After that, he thought, maybe he'd take a little vacation in California before taking another assignment. Vakhrusheva was right, he decided somewhere in Pennsylvania, ‘Bobby' is a silly name. Next time, I'm going to be ‘Jeff' instead. I like ‘Jeff' better.
Halfway around the world, in a little town outside of Reykjavik, Iceland, a technician threw a switch exactly as he had been instructed by the lead engineer in Mexico. A red light blinked indicating that a connection to the Internet had been established.
Sam Takahashi sat alone near the stage in the Moviestar Topless Bar and Grill waiting for Sylvia to bring him his pitcher of beer. His phone vibrated in his pocket. He looked down at the tiny screen to read the message that had come through, and smiled as he read: "Reykjavik is lovely this time of year."
"Welcome back, old friend," Sam said to his phone, though he knew no one could hear him.
A tiny little listening device that had been affixed to the bottom of Sam's table was triggered by the sound of his voice and his four innocuous words traveled through the airwaves to the basement of a building in Washington, DC.
Moments later another man also had a smile on his face. Marco Gonzales was glad to hear his red phone ring.
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Robert G. Berke was born in New York City and raised in the Town of Niskayuna, New York in the upstate county of Schenectady. He currently lives in California with his wife and two daughters.
