The Immortality Code

by Douglas E. Richards

  “That’s right.”

  “What are you talking about?” said Reed.

  “I left for a few days to get a new safe house up and running,” explained Hoyer. “It was your idea, actually. You figured we had been here long enough to be certain Aronson wasn’t on to us. And given recent security upgrades, you were comfortable leaving Allie alone here for a short time.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” said Allie.

  “Zach thought there was no point in worrying you needlessly. We could tell you about it easily enough if we ever needed to relocate.”

  “But if we were safe here,” said Allie, “why go to the trouble?”

  Hoyer smiled. “We military types tend to be paranoid. Triple and quadruple redundancy. Because you never know. And Zach is even more careful than I am. He figured that if we ever had to move, rather than go to a safe house or other facility that may already be known to Aronson, we’d start with a clean slate.”

  “Yeah, that does sound like Zach,” said Allie with a sigh.

  “It’s a cookie-cutter replica of the one here,” said Hoyer. “Courtesy of alien nanofabrication technology. I’ll activate the security there now. And this time, I’ll bring in a number of mercenary soldiers to babysit.”

  “I thought we agreed we’d be safer without them,” said Reed.

  “We did. But your memory loss changes everything. These will be new recruits I’ve never used before. I’ve been keeping them at the ready. Men I hired under an assumed name—as per usual. They’ll be very well paid, and will have no idea about us, about nanites, or about Aronson. No one could have gotten to them, because no one knows they’re in my employ. Until we figure out what happened to you, Commander, I want human security as well.”

  Reed nodded. “I still don’t love the idea, but I won’t argue.”

  “Good. Then it’s settled. I’ll scramble them there immediately to check security. We’ll wait here until everything is ready. One last night. The safe house is in the upper northwest corner of Texas, near its triple border with Oklahoma and New Mexico. You two can leave first. I’ll provide state-of-the-art electronic countermeasures to be sure no cameras see you leave, in case this house is being surveilled. You can take one of my helicopters to the new site. I’ll make sure there’s a car there when you land, which you can use to travel the last twenty miles. A car that can stop prying cameras from seeing through the windshield. I’ll update the security system in the Texas safe house with your biometric data and with the make and plates of the car you’ll be driving. I’ll also send your photos to the mercs, letting them know to expect you.”

  “Understood,” said Reed.

  “I’ll stay behind for probably half a day,” continued Hoyer. “Make this my command center. Just to be sure you aren’t being followed, and to sanitize the place. We can’t afford to leave any evidence that we were here, or any hint of where we’ve gone. To be honest, I’ll probably have the nanites digest the entire facility into sand. For a structure this extensive, it will take at least three or four hours, even for them.”

  A flash of white-hot rage crossed his face. “Which wouldn’t be the case if they could make more of themselves,” he added. Every reminder of Aronson’s treachery seemed to hit him like a dentist drill boring into an exposed nerve.

  “I like the plan,” said Reed. “With one exception. We should leave now. Why risk staying here another minute?”

  “While we’re waiting for the mercs to arrive and set up at the new location, this is still the safest place to be. I’ve implemented your recommended security upgrades, so we’re better protected than ever.”

  “What upgrades?” asked Reed.

  “I had the nanites bury thousands of landmines for a quarter mile all around us. We can activate any or all of them whenever we want. I also duplicated hundreds of exquisitely sensitive seismic sensors, to prevent any, ah . . . hostile nanites from reaching us from underground. Not that this is likely. Your idea to modify the cameras was inspired. Aronson won’t be expecting that. He has no reason to believe he can’t sneak nanites in invisibly without going to the trouble of sending them underground.”

  Reed nodded thoughtfully. “Impressive,” he said. “Although I guess that sounds self-serving since I was the one who came up with the upgrades.”

  “Given your memory loss,” said Hoyer with a wry smile, “I was tempted to take the credit. But the bottom line is this: with my nanites, your improvements, and setting the security to be even more hypervigilant than ever, we should be okay. I’ve implemented the same features in the Texas site, by the way.”

  “Good,” said Reed.

  “I’ll get to work immediately making sure the Texas site is up to snuff by the time you arrive,” said Hoyer.

  He paused in thought. “Since this is our last night here,” he added, “try to recreate what you were doing just before you lost your memory. As close as possible. It’s a long shot, but maybe that will spark your memory back to life.”

  “Good idea,” said the commander, shooting an impish glance at Allie Keane. “If you think that might help, I’ll recreate the last events I remember as best I can. In fact, I’m willing to keep trying for as long as it takes.”

  38

  As far as Reed was concerned, having the chance to make love to Allie Keane again, when his mind told him he had just done so the night before, was almost worth a ten day memory loss.

  Almost.

  But even after the best deja vu experience ever, not a hint of memory returned.

  Despite the deep concern they had over Reed’s condition, they managed to laugh, talk about their lives, and cement their growing relationship even further.

  They fell asleep together this time, almost by unspoken agreement. At this point, they were willing to deal with any awkwardness that would arise if Hoyer found out about them, which was inevitable anyway. And staying together until morning was also something Reed needed to happen psychologically, as if having her by his side would ensure he didn’t awaken with no memory of the encounter.

  He thought of it as his Groundhog Day gambit. Maybe if he fell asleep with Allie in his arms, his memory would go back to normal. Bill Murray had tried falling asleep with a woman during one of the countless times he had relived the same day in this iconic movie, only to wake up alone again to the sound of “I Got You, Babe” on the clock radio. But when he had finally fallen asleep with Andie MacDowell, the woman of his dreams, the spell was finally broken.

  They awoke early, and Reed quickly found that his Groundhog Day gambit had failed. The gap in his memory was still there, but at least he still remembered the previous afternoon and night.

  They made love one last time before readying themselves for the journey ahead. Afterward, the commander studied the security feed on the wall, which had become a habit, and then returned his attention to the remarkable woman nestled against his chest. “We should probably shower and get out of here,” he said softly. “I can’t tell you how much I’d love to stay where we are for a little longer.”

  “How much longer were you thinking?”

  Reed smiled. “I don’t know. Eternity.”

  Allie laughed. “In that case, the least we can do is give ourselves another fifteen minutes. I know duty calls. Or security. Or whatever. But don’t we owe ourselves just a little more comfort before we’re uprooted again?”

  Reed grinned. “When you put it that way,” he said. “It’s hard to argue. Fifteen minutes it is.”

  She smiled, kissed him gently on the lips, and then returned her head to his chest.

  “So what do you think of the major?” asked Reed.

  “I like him. A lot. Why? What do you think of him?”

  “I like him too. So tell me more about the past ten days. How’s he been to work with? I assume he’s treated you well.”

  “Like royalty,” she replied with a grin, recalling the joke that Reed had made when he was bound up in Utah. “Well, like royals who like to be treated
well. Not like the kinky ones who are into the whole bondage thing.”

  “Glad to hear it,” said Reed in amusement. “Did he ever do or say anything you found suspicious? Ever give you any reason not to trust him a hundred percent?”

  Allie searched her memory. “No, not at all.”

  “Good to know,” said Reed.

  “You still don’t trust him, do you?”

  “No, I do. Almost entirely. I had some minor concerns the first night we were here—yesterday for me. But even then I trusted him about ninety percent.”

  “Why didn’t you say something?”

  “You had enough to worry about. Why plant that seed in your head when I was mostly sure of him? I only asked about him now to fill in some of my memory gap. Given that he didn’t do anything suspicious, and the time that’s elapsed, it’s clear I was being overly paranoid. Like Hoyer said himself, an occupational hazard.”

  “What were your concerns?”

  “I just felt like he wasn’t telling us everything. That his story was a bit off. Not any reason to overreact, since I know he was just giving us the broadest of overviews. But it didn’t make sense to me that he’d survived Bryce Aronson’s slaughterfest. I mean, Aronson may not have experience in intelligence, but he’s nobody’s fool. If he wanted to wipe out all of ET Ops, you’d think he wouldn’t miss someone like Hoyer. Even given that Hoyer was a newbie who wasn’t on any official rosters.”

  He paused. “And even the blackest of black ops aren’t so far off the books they can keep feeding at the funding trough without any accountability. The general in charge would have to get re-authorization every so often to keep drawing down his black budget. Hoyer still has all the access of ET Ops, despite being its only member. That isn’t easy to pull off. And he throws around a lot of money. Mercs and safe houses aren’t cheap. Nor are cars, and helicopters, and private jets.”

  “He does have the advantage of being able to make all the expensive equipment and supplies he needs—for free. In unlimited numbers.”

  “True. And if he did need money, he could manufacture that also. Or sell diamonds, caviar, gold, or expensive electronic components by the truckload.”

  “So why the suspicion?”

  “Just a nagging little itch that he wasn’t being entirely on the level,” said Reed. “If he needed to raise funds using the nanites, he should tell us that. Instead of implying all of his power comes from his defunct organization. But again, it was minor stuff, and I know I’m splitting hairs. And he just provided the tip-of-the-iceberg story. I’m sure if he provided a more comprehensive accounting, any minor question marks would be explained. In short, I was being way too hard on him.”

  “Still,” said Allie, “given your paranoia, trusting him ninety percent is huge. Why was it even that high?”

  “Because Aronson attacked us.”

  “Well, technically, it was Aronson’s flunky who attacked us, but I hear what you’re saying.”

  “Either way, it was direct proof that the bulk of Hoyer’s story is true, with just a few trivial inconsistencies. Bryce Aronson is very real, and desperate to see you dead. Even going so far as to put a hefty bounty on your head.”

  “Yeah, thanks for reminding me.”

  Reed winced. “Sorry,” he said. “The point I’m trying to make is that it all hangs together. Including the fact that you knew of Aronson. You knew he was a brilliant quantum physicist, and that he was supposedly killed in a car accident.”

  The commander paused. “Not to mention that Hoyer also rescued us in Utah,” he added sheepishly.

  “Oh, that little thing,” said Allie with a wry smile.

  “If not for him, we’d still be captives, and still think we were in the heart of China. And he’s been a total pro since. A pleasure to work with. His loathing of Aronson’s decision to keep nanite tech for himself is obvious. And I have ten more days of data. I have your endorsement of his behavior during this period. Plus, he’s implemented the security upgrades I recommended. I also like how he’s thinking about my memory loss, and the decisions he’s making as to what to do next. So I’m ready to trust him even more.” He raised his eyebrows. “Ninety-nine percent.”

  “Is that a record for you?”

  “Pretty much,” replied Reed in amusement. “But it doesn’t matter anyway. Hoyer doesn’t gain anything until your quantum computer is perfected. And he needs you. So we have maybe a year or more to vet him. Plenty of time to be absolutely certain he isn’t hiding anything. Meanwhile, I’ll put failsafes in place, just in case we ever do learn something troubling.”

  He shook his head. “But they won’t be necessary,” he added. “I know he’s a good man. Being extra cautious is just part of the covert operative instruction manual.”

  “Good,” said Allie. “Caution is just the quality I’m looking for in the man handling my personal security.”

  The commander laughed. “I’m even willing to sleep in the same bed with you for added protection. Now that’s going the extra mile. I can tell you that I once protected an intelligence agent who was defecting from Iran, and I never once considered doing the same for him.”

  “Poor bastard,” said Allie with a twinkle in her eye. “He has no idea what he missed out on.”

  39

  The journey to their new base in Texas was largely uneventful, although it took far longer than it should have because of the need to exercise extreme caution, and to assume the safe house in Henderson was being watched.

  They met the helicopter on an abandoned road rather than a helipad, in case local helipads were also under surveillance, but the remainder of the journey was straightforward. As they drove the last twenty miles to their destination, their conversation was as fun, intriguing, and effortless as ever. And this wasn’t simply due to their recent intimacy. Reed had been intimate with more women than he cared to admit, but had never shared this kind of rapport with any of them.

  The conversation only lapsed when Reed stopped to put in a quick call to the major back in Henderson, who had asked them to check in when they were fifteen minutes out.

  “How’s Tom?” asked Allie when he had ended the call.

  “All’s quiet on the western front. He’s hijacked satellites and other intel assets to monitor our journey. And he’s making good progress with the deconstruction of the Henderson safe house.”

  “Good to hear.”

  “Definitely,” said Reed. “But let’s hope this is our last move for a while.”

  “Agreed,” said Allie. “Not that it’ll be that much of a hardship. It isn’t like we have to get used to something new. Like Tom said, it’ll be a cookie-cutter replica of the one we just left. Including the lab, where I spend most of my time. And when Tom says cookie-cutter replica, he means absolutely identical in every way.”

  She smiled. “Besides, moving is a lot easier when you never have to pack. Even so much as a toothbrush.”

  “The wonders of nanofabrication,” said Reed. “Everyone can have the best of everything. Always.” He frowned. “But let’s talk about how you spend your time. You never left the Henderson safe house until today, did you?”

  She shook her head.

  “That’s a big problem. You need to have a life. You can’t be under house arrest for months at a time. Given that I’ll be in charge of security, I’ll make it my mission to find a way for you to get out of the house and still be safe. And sooner rather than later.”

  “Thanks, Zach. That would be much appreciated. Although if you’re with me, being under house arrest isn’t so bad.”

  “I couldn’t agree more,” said Reed. He raised his eyebrows. “In fact, as long as we’re trapped somewhere with a bed and some privacy, I could see myself being very happy.”

  Allie laughed. “What about food?”

  “Who needs food when there’s you and a bed?”

  “Would you really just keep having sex with me until you starved to death?”

  “Even after, if I could manag
e it,” said Reed in amusement. “Good thing we don’t have to choose. I plan to stay at this new site with you for a while. At least until we learn what happened to my memory. After that, I’ll have to venture out again. Regardless, the moment I’m finished dealing with Bryce Aronson, I intend to give you my full attention. So much so that you’ll need to take out a restraining order.”

  “I’m not sure a man like you can be restrained,” she replied with a grin. “But when you do figure out how to get me out of the house, I’d like to take you shopping. Hoyer’s nanites don’t have the blueprints for much clothing in your size. We should remedy that.”

  “Really?” said Reed. “After being cooped up for weeks or months, you’d want to go shopping?” He shook his head. “In my view, shopping should be banned under the Geneva Convention as a form of torture.”

  Allie laughed. “Do you think I enjoy it?” she said. “But I’m willing to make sacrifices for you, Zach. Because it’s not like we can order clothing online. Home delivery isn’t an option. Not unless we want the delivery guy to be blown up by a landmine on the way in.”

  “Yeah, now that you mention it,” said Reed, turning onto a half-mile private road leading to the house in question, “delivery could get a bit . . . messy.”

  Within minutes their new residence came into view in the distance. Sure enough, it was identical to the one they had last left, and just as isolated. The commander slowed to a crawl as he inspected the area surrounding the site, scanning the skies for small drones that should be patrolling. The drones were small and built to blend in, but he managed to find a few, which he pointed out to Allie.

  They arrived at the large, red-brick-paver driveway in front of the residence, parked, and exited the car. As they approached the front door, it swung open, revealing two men dressed in casual clothing. Both had the unmistakable look of trained killers, trim, muscular, and overly serious.

  The men made a show of studying the two newcomers from head to toe. “Commander Reed,” said the taller of the two by way of greeting. He shifted his gaze to Allie. “Dr. Keane,” he added. “I’m Captain Serrano. Welcome.”