Maze Master

by Kathleen O'Neal Gear

  ANNA

  OCTOBER 23. 0100 HOURS.

  “… three, four, turn.”

  The gale outside was violent, as though the old gods, Zeus and Athena, had returned to rip Malta from the hands of the upstart Christians and cast it back to the bosom of the true gods. The extreme weather must have something to do with the debris thrown into the air from the bombings. Thunder had been shaking the fort for hours. Water constantly filtered through the gaps in the stones and flooded down the walls. Occasionally, she heard whimpers coming from between the cracks. Wind? Or the lost souls of valiant soldiers who’d once fought the battle of their lives here? Men and women who had failed, but had never given up.

  Faintly, a serpentine voice hissed, “But you were one of his chosen. One of The Ten.”

  Behind her, door hinges shrieked. She heard Russian voices. But when she whirled …

  Nothing.

  Nothing there.

  Anna clenched her fists. “… one, two … order the chaos. My God, I’m so tired.”

  Her brain had gone so fuzzy, she couldn’t think.

  “Three, four … take a breath. Turn.”

  An involuntary shudder possessed her muscles as flashes of torture flared and melted inside her. Just flashes. Not the entire sequence. She knew how to short-circuit those memories. Walk down a different street. Go have lunch in the sunshine. They wouldn’t catch her.

  “What is the Marham-i-Isa, Anna?” Garusovsky whispered from thin air.

  “Goddamn it! Start again. One, two…”

  Her thoughts went to Micah Hazor. This had become a military operation. He was the best equipped to help her escape. Where was he being held? Was he still alive? Having Micah at her side would give her hope, like they might make it out of this alive. But she was desperately worried about Martin. He wasn’t equipped to handle any of this.

  “Step wide around the cot. One, two … turn at the wall. Walk toward the table…”

  Cold white lamplight suddenly outlined the door. She turned with her heart bursting. Leather squeaked just outside. A sound she knew from long experience. Rain-soaked combat boots. The gleam wavered as though someone had shifted the solar lantern, and a key rattled in the lock. Tumblers turned.

  The door swung open.

  Involuntarily, she thrust out her hands as though to shove back whatever was coming through that door. “Shh. It’s all right. You’re all right … it’s not the Russians.”

  But her body did not believe her. She couldn’t stop shaking until General Cozeba stepped into the room, and she snapped to attention.

  Cozeba quietly said to the guard outside, “Walk ten paces down the corridor, Sergeant. Stay there until I step out of this room.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Cozeba stood for a moment, silhouetted against the background of unnatural white light, then he closed the door. As the air shifted, her candle fluttered wildly, and the room seemed filled with gigantic amber wings. He wore his full dress uniform and shining medals. In the dim light, the fabric had a sickly yellowish tinge. His black hair and lean face appeared freshly washed, but he hadn’t shaved since morning. Stubble darkened his cheeks and chin. Even standing across the room, she could see the effects caused by lack of sleep. His shoulders were not perfectly squared, but sagged forward.

  “At ease, Captain.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  He stared at her with bloodshot eyes. “It must be painful for you to be back here, Asher. I’m sorry about that.” His voice echoed around the emptiness that lived in her soul. “To make matters worse, Garusovsky is on his way here.”

  She had to keep a grip on her flashbacks. The locked chamber inside her had already cracked open. She could hear herself reciting her name, rank, and serial number in Russian. “How many soldiers do you have left? Can you fight him?”

  Cozeba shook his head. “Not and win, at least I don’t think so, which won’t stop me from trying.”

  As the storm battered the fortress, the stones whistled and cried out. Was that her name? Had one of the disembodied souls called her name?

  “What does Garusovsky want?”

  “Hazor. And you.”

  Anna let out a shuddering exhale. “Is Hazor still well?”

  “Yes. I’m keeping him completely isolated, trying to keep him that way.”

  As General Cozeba walked toward her, she backed up and leaned against the table to steady herself. “Garusovsky will immediately want a blood sample from Hazor. I assume you’ve already taken samples.”

  “Yesterday.”

  “You should probably take another sample and analyze it. His antibodies may be evolving. Then give the results to Major Bibi.”

  “Zandra Bibi? Why would a photonics expert care about a blood sample?”

  She kept her expression totally blank. “At this point, we can’t afford to overlook any scientific observations, can we?”

  Cozeba blinked thoughtfully. “Very well. My medical staff has dwindled to two people aboard the Mead, but we’ll get the analyses done and make sure every possible scientist has a chance to review them.”

  Dreading the answer, she asked, “How is Maris Bowen?”

  He gave her a hard-eyed glance, as though he suspected she knew things she should not, but said only, “The soldiers around the Garden say she’s fallen ill with the plague.”

  “If she’s well enough when Hazor’s blood results come in, please get them to Captain Bowen as well.”

  “Why?”

  “Even if she’s ill, she’s a biologist. She may see something no one else does.”

  Cozeba seemed to be considering the implications. “Yes, she might.”

  The noise of the storm temporarily faded, and Cozeba’s shallow breathing filled the room. The leaping brightness of the candlelight showed such despair on his face that it was almost terrible to behold.

  Through a taut exhalation, he said, “You were impressive in front of Micah Hazor, Captain.”

  “You were even more impressive, General. Even I believed you.”

  “It was necessary, but I regret many of the things I said about you. Surely you understand that all effective lies are filled with the truth.” He paused. “By the way, how does Hazor know about Yacob? Did you tell him?”

  There was the faintest hint of an accusation in those words.

  “All he knows is a name.”

  His lips pressed into a tight line.

  “Sir, are you worried that he’ll reveal that information under torture?”

  “No. My sources tell me he’s been tortured many times and somehow managed to stand it. He’ll stand it this time, too.” Cozeba gave a nonchalant shrug. “But I am worried about how many other classified details you’ve revealed to him that I don’t know about. Did you tell him anything else about Operation Maze Master?”

  Without realizing it, she started to lift her hands in front of her again, silently telling him to stop interrogating her. She forced them down to her sides. But he noticed. He was watching her like a man walking to his own execution. He knew that if Anna fell apart, it was over.

  She willed strength into her voice. “Of course not, sir.”

  “Are you sure, Captain?”

  “I did not, sir.”

  His eyes contained a cold expressionless look now. Weighing and balancing information. Judging her veracity.

  “Captain, I know the past six months have been difficult for you. You’re a decorated officer. Being labeled a traitor must have ripped your heart out. But, now…” His faint smile had a knife’s edge. “I need you to answer a few very important questions for me. Are you up to it?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Are you certain this is the same sequence that you’ve been intercepting fragments of for the past three years? Since Hakari disappeared?”

  “I am, sir.”

  “And are you absolutely sure Hakari is sending it?”

  Her right hand trembled slightly. She tightened it to a fist. “Yes, General. He�
��s been working on the cure for years. He started as soon as he realized the lethal LucentB mutation was inevitable.”

  Cozeba glared at the black stripes of rain that washed the stone wall to his right. “Where is he?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “The Russians want him. They think he has the cure, too. I think we have less than twenty-four hours to find him, or find the cure.”

  Anna straightened up. “Twenty-four hours?”

  “Garusovsky assures me that he has more soldiers than I do, and I’m sure he does. Russia started quarantining people long before we did. Whatever Garusovsky wants from us, he can take.” He sucked air in through his nostrils and held it a moment. “So if you know something about Hakari’s whereabouts…”

  “No, sir.”

  Cozeba’s wet boots squeaked when he started pacing. The white rim of lamplight that surrounded the door created a perfect square behind him. It was an odd combination. The lantern light and the candlelight seemed to take turns illuminating his face, as his muscular body passed through their gleams.

  “Hakari will know you’re reading his photonic messages, won’t he? We can count on that?”

  “I know he’s hoping I am. Yes.”

  Cozeba stopped pacing, and his brown eyes glistened. “Why? Why would he focus on you? He had nine other hand-selected students.”

  How did she answer? He loved me.

  “General, permission to speak freely?”

  “Go ahead, Captain.”

  “You made sure I met Micah Hazor in Egypt, didn’t you? You’re the only person who knew my location, so it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

  Cozeba adopted a parade rest position, looking past her at the far wall, where the ancient impressions of shells embedded in the limestone winked in the wavering candlelight. “After Bir Bashan, Garusovsky told me he’d vaccinated Hazor with a new experimental vaccine that had shown great promise. He did it to show me they know more than we do. Obviously, I didn’t trust him. I couldn’t take the chance that Garusovsky had actually given Hazor the plague and was trying to use him as a Trojan horse to infect our troops.” Cozeba’s gaze returned to her. “On the other hand, if Garusovsky had given Hazor the latest vaccine, I wanted to see the effect. You were the only logical option. I knew you’d keep him safe. I had an Egyptian contact pull him out of the river. He was supposed to wait to explain the situation to you, but it took you too long to get there. He died from the plague before you arrived.”

  Anna studied every detail of Cozeba’s expression. “All right, General. If Garusovsky is coming, what’s your strategy?”

  “Still being formulated. When he arrives, will he want you first? Or Hazor?”

  “Hazor, I suspect. He must be critical to the Russian vaccine research.”

  Cozeba frowned at the square of light that outlined the door, as though he glimpsed shadows passing in front of it. “One last thing, have you deciphered the inscription yet?”

  “Not fully. I know it’s a chemical formula.”

  “Is it the cure? Or the recipe for the plague?”

  “The cure. It must be.”

  Cozeba tilted his head to the left. “Must be? Or you want it to be?”

  “Both, sir.”

  The lines that cut arcs around his mouth froze into crescent-moon shadows. “We opened, then powdered to dust, the jar you found at that Egyptian cave. Do you know what it contained?”

  “No, sir.”

  Cozeba reached in his jacket pocket and drew out a glittering golden bracelet. “I don’t know if this is important, but it might be.”

  As he walked across the room to hand it to her, her gaze clung to the coiled serpent. Disbelief flooded her veins. He left it for me. He wanted me to know he’d found the Marham-i-Isa.

  Cozeba’s head cocked in curiosity, clearly wondering what she was thinking. “Did that belong to Hakari? Our surveillance showed him wearing a bracelet like this when he taught classes. Classes you attended. As I understand it, he gave one of these bracelets to each member of his hand-selected group of students.”

  Anna tightened her fingers around the golden serpent. The metal was warm from where it had rested against Cozeba’s body. “Yes, he did. I keep mine in a locked vault.”

  “Is that Hakari’s bracelet?”

  “I can’t be absolutely sure, sir, but I suspect it is.”

  He stood so still his medals reflected the candlelight like polished mirrors. “Captain, so far only three people know all the details of what’s happening, and President Stein was ill yesterday. He may be dead right now. That leaves you and me. No matter what I do or say, you must trust me.”

  She felt as though a huge hand has just ripped her heart out. “How bad is it?”

  “Bad. I’ve been sending the president messages in our prearranged code. Things in America are beyond desperate. There’s no help coming for us out here.” Cozeba’s chin jutted to the left as he clamped his jaw. “That means that you and I may be the only ones left to see this thing through. Do you understand that?”

  They’d been working together on this secret project for five years, and now, at the end, failure was staring them in the face.

  “General, may I ask you a question?”

  “Go ahead, Captain.”

  She stopped breathing so she could concentrate on every nuance of his response. “What did Garusovsky offer you? He always offers something spectacular. I’m just curious.”

  Cozeba spread his legs, facing her. The stubble on his face resembled a dark mask. “He did not offer me the presidency of a devastated world, Captain. He told me that the Russians are much closer than we are to completing the DNA sequence for the final cure, and once he has the cure, he said he would save my two sons.” Deep longing filled his voice.

  “He told you they almost had the cure?”

  “Yes. In fact, he’s been sending me scientific documents from the best genetic labs in the world to prove to me that they have more information than we do. And he said Russia had established vast walled-off quarantine zones around their military and laboratory facilities. According to him, Russia’s best biologists are sequestered and working on the cure, and he claims twenty thousand Russian soldiers are still alive.”

  “Did America have secure quarantine facilities for military and scientific personnel?”

  “There was discussion about using the caves in Utah that the U.S. created to house nuclear waste, but I don’t know if that goal was achieved.” He propped his hand on his holstered pistol. “Maybe the administration had the time to do it. Maybe not. I’ve had other things to discuss with the president.”

  “I must believe there are American soldiers in secure facilities, sir.”

  “I don’t have the luxury of belief, Captain. I have to proceed as though Fort Saint Elmo is the last American refuge. What piece of the maze are the Russians missing? Do you know?”

  Her hands shook. “No.”

  “Is that the truth? You really have no idea what part of the maze they’re missing?”

  “It’s the truth.”

  He gave her a hard look. “I can’t afford to have you holding back on me now, just because you’re not certain you’re right. I’ll take guesses, Captain.”

  “I have no idea what piece of the maze they’re missing, sir.”

  The storm suddenly hammered the walls of the fortress like gigantic fists beating to get inside. The room went colder. Her bones felt as though they were filling with frost. What Garusovsky had offered him was far better than eternal life. It was the chance for Cozeba’s boys to go on living, loving each other, laughing. Dear God, how could anyone look at this ravished earth and say no?

  “I accepted Garusovsky’s offer, Captain.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  “He must believe I can be bought. In the end, he will offer you something equally as irresistible. You must answer yes, too.”

  “I understand, sir.”

  In the amber gleam she could see every
small muscle of his face, from temple to throat, and saw no sign of defeat.

  “General, could you tell me … I do not understand the purpose of Operation Mount of Olives. What were you—”

  “Well, it’s a long story, Captain. Our scientists noticed immediately that some Africans seemed to be immune to the plague. We did everything we could to figure out why. We experimented with vaccines, charted the path of the plague, took thousands of blood samples. Some sub-Saharan Africans truly seemed to be immune. Part of Operation Mount of Olives was to seal off sub-Saharan Africa to protect that region from the plague. They were the ark, Captain. If everything else went wrong, we knew they might be the last hope of humanity.”

  “You gave experimental vaccines en masse?”

  “It was necessary. In fact, we worked with governments around the world to vaccinate soldiers that we knew had been exposed to the plague on missions. I chose the members of our own forces who would be inoculated. Hundreds received dozens of different vaccines. Russia and China were doing the same thing.”

  “Survival rates?”

  “From our efforts? None. All of our vaccines failed. Intelligence suggests that the latest Russian vaccine, however, is about twenty percent effective on one strain of the virus, the Russian strain that emerged in their country.”

  It took three or four seconds before Cozeba stopped looking expectantly at her. It was as though he could sense she wanted to tell him something. Finally, his head dropped forward until his chin rested upon his broad chest. For an eternity, he kept his eyes lowered, apparently thinking. “It’s been a long and interesting road, hasn’t it, Asher?”

  “Yes, General, it has.”

  “When you first came to me five years ago, I thought you were mad. But Senator Stein believed you. It surprised me that he got funding for you to attend Hakari’s classes. Most surprising of all was that even after he became president, Stein kept funding clandestine missions for you to search the world for clues to a plague that did not yet exist. But he believed you. He…” Cozeba allowed the rest to evaporate and rubbed the deep lines between his brows. “We all know now that you were right. This is devastation on an unimaginable scale.”

  Anna briefly closed her eyes. When she did, she could hear Senator Stein’s voice as clearly as if he was standing in the room with her …