Blown Circuit

by Lars Guignard

  The waiter set down the plate holding the amuse-bouches, bite-sized morsels in a flaky pastry shell. I plopped one into my mouth. I had no idea what it was, but it sure tasted good. A buttery seafood delight. The waiter walked off, the first bit of the fiery orange sun touching the sparkling Mediterranean.

  Kate smiled. “We want your help finding the Tesla Device.”

  “What, your people can’t find it on their own?”

  “The Dragons don’t want it falling into the wrong hands.”

  I laughed out loud. I couldn’t help myself.

  “The wrong hands. Pray tell, whose hands are those?”

  Kate stared me down.

  “Your friend, Meryem's.”

  Chapter 31

  THE CHEF DIDN’T bother with an appetizer. He went straight to the main course. The waiter delivered a steak, rare. A filet mignon to be precise. I’d known vegetarians and I’d known liars and it seemed that Kate was both. Evidently, the chef had prepared a mushroom risotto for her.

  “You don’t like meat?”

  “I’m taking a break,” she said.

  “How did you know I would like it?”

  “All-American boy. Meat. What’s not to like?”

  The filet mignon was as tall as it was wide, a perfect little oval. I cut into it and took a bite. The moment the tender meat melted in my mouth, I realized I was famished. I scooped up a forkful of buttery mashed potatoes with chives, swallowing my food.

  “So, let’s get to it,” I said. “You want my help and you don’t like Meryem. Why?”

  I took another bite of the steak. The sun had almost disappeared into the sea, bathing the two of us in its warm glow. I could have fought the moment, but I went with it. Despite my feelings toward Kate, I wanted to listen to what she had to say.

  “We don’t know whose interests Meryem represents.”

  “She’s MIT.”

  “Is she?” Kate asked. “According to my people she may not be what she seems at all. In fact, she could be a Kurdish terrorist. Her plan may well be to use the Device to initiate a coup. For all you know, her plan is to launch a terror attack on a city.”

  I immediately thought back to Crust’s devastating simulation of a directed-energy weapon hitting New York City. I knew that it would do the same to any city, but the image of New York was burned into my mind; Buildings reduced to smoldering heaps, the entire population incinerated. It was a terrible, sobering thought, and the chatter to support the Device’s use was there. People whose business was to know such things believed it was a credible threat. But the part about Meryem did not ring true. And I called Kate on it.

  “So let me get this straight. A terrorist, and by terrorist I mean you, is telling me that my contact is also a terrorist.”

  “She may be, Michael.”

  “Sure she may be. It’s a possibility. But the thing is, I know what you are, and that’s a reality. And I’ll take a certainty over a notion any day of the week. But I tell you what, we’re here, so why don’t you tell me what you want? And don’t try to make out like it’s got anything to do with the journal. If that was it, you’ve already got it. Faruk took the book and everything else from me back on the plane.”

  Kate sighed. The way the last soft rays of sunlight hit her face, they made her look almost vulnerable. I knew better.

  “Well?”

  “You know that Russia produced a version of Tesla’s energy weapon just after World War II?”

  “I’m sorry, whose energy weapon?”

  “Come on, Michael. No need to be insulting. I’m sure that you were briefed.”

  I just smiled. There was no point giving her anything until I knew more.

  “What you may not know is that the Russians had problems with the design—both range and accuracy. The Tesla Device was supposed to offer a nine-thousand-mile range, but the Russians were projecting that they wouldn’t be able to destroy a target more than eight thousand miles away. So the Dragons made a deal with them. They began funding key scientists and politicians involved in the project in the spirit of the freedom of information.”

  I took a moment. The situation was already worse than I thought. An eight-thousand-mile range confirmed that California was on the menu as well. Not to mention my mother and sister still living in Washington State.

  “So you’re saying your guys bribed Russian weapons scientists.”

  “There are those who would take issue with the term bribe,” Kate said, “but, effectively, yes. When the project lost its luster with the politburo, the Dragons arranged for its delivery out of the country.”

  “Must have been an expensive bribe,” I said.

  “I imagine it probably cost a dacha or two, but nothing compared with the R&D that went into the actual Device. At any rate, the weapon was shipped over the Black Sea and through the Bosphorus. The Russians were to hand over the ship to a Dragon crew off the island of Bozcaada on July 21, 1955.”

  “What happened?”

  “Nobody knows what happened. All we know is that the exchange never took place. For all intents and purposes, the ship and its cargo vanished. Neither the Russians nor the Dragons have a clue to where.”

  “And the bad apples?” Given that I was speaking to Kate, I reconsidered my choice of words. “The ones who sold it out?”

  “All dead,” Kate said. “Killed in their sleep. They didn’t get to enjoy their new dachas for long.”

  I thought about it.

  “What happened next?” I asked.

  “From there on it’s conjecture.”

  Great, I thought. Not only did I have to deal with lies, I needed to deal with a plain old lack of fact as well.

  “But I can tell you what we think happened,” Kate said. “Tesla was a bit of a radical. He lived on milk and vegetable juice, didn’t have sex, befriended extremist groups, and firmly believed in a new world order. The man was a true internationalist. He had a Kurdish friend named Bayazidi. Bayazidi was a sculptor and a poet. He spoke a dozen languages. He’s the guy who we think drew all over Tesla’s notes in that journal you found. We know for a fact that Tesla and the much younger Bayazidi corresponded regarding their ideas for a new world order. We think that after Tesla’s death, Bayazidi hatched a plan to hijack the weapon and hide it for use at a later time when he could unite the world under his new vision.”

  “Ambitious,” I said. “Bayazidi sounds like a dreamer.”

  “The best ones are,” Kate replied. “We think that Bayazidi saw his opportunity in the transport of the Russian Device and was actually able to pull off its theft.”

  I chewed the rest of my meat.

  “Highly unlikely,” I replied. “At least not without help.”

  “He may have had help. There were Kurdish sympathizers in the Turkish Parliament then. Whatever the case, there’s no denying that the Dragons lost their weapon. Now that you’ve found Tesla’s journal inscribed with Bayazidi’s sketches, it’s starting to look like the Bayazidi hypothesis is accurate. That some radical group did secret the thing away.”

  “So what do you want from me?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? The Dragons have recognized your talent, Michael. You’re good at what you do. You found the journal. You found the Tower. We want your help finding the rest of the Device.”

  “And why would I help you?”

  “Because if you don’t, Meryem and her friends will get there before us and the Device will be used to wipe out New York or Washington or Chicago, or pretty well anywhere they want. Pick a place. You’ll have blood on your hands. Mark my words, people will die.”

  I thought about it. I was sure that people would die if I didn’t do my job. I just wasn’t convinced that helping the Green Dragons was the best way to stop that. This was, after all, the same group that, only days before, had been willing to sacrifice every living thing in Los Angeles to keep their secret. Helping Kate would only make things worse.

  “So you’re appealing to my humanity?” I said.
/>   “Yes, Michael. I’m appealing to everything about you. I wish I didn’t have to reduce it to these terms, but if you help me, I’ll help you.”

  “How?”

  “You can save the world and your father. They have what they need from him now. They’ll let him go free.”

  I laughed. The lie was absurd.

  “And why should I believe you?”

  Kate took a breath.

  “Your father isn’t the endgame here, Michael. They needed him at first, but now he’s just another pawn.”

  “And you?”

  “When it comes to these guys, we’re all just pawns.”

  “And you don’t think that the CIA might just have a tiny little problem with us working together?”

  “Oh, I think they’ll have a problem with it. But ultimately, the Langley boys are pragmatists. I think they’ll let you do it. In fact, I think they’ll insist. But why don’t you ask them yourself?”

  Kate reached into her purse and pulled out an iPhone. It was sheathed in a blue waterproof polyurethane skin. I looked at the phone skeptically.

  “It’s not a test, Michael. It’s a deal. Help us find the Device and we’ll give you your father. Nobody will die and you’ll get what you want. The Dragons don’t even want to use the thing, they just don’t want it to fall into the wrong hands. Your conscience will be clear.”

  The sun disappeared beneath the horizon, the sky an explosion of magenta and orange hues. It was an interesting offer. A tempting offer even. But I didn’t think it was a real offer. Because I didn’t trust Kate. I didn’t trust her one little bit. She handed me the phone.

  “Go ahead,” Kate said. “Call whomever you need to call. Report what I’ve offered you here. I think a part of you knows that I’m telling the truth.”

  I took the phone from Kate. I wouldn’t have been surprised if merely touching the screen would transfer a lethal poison through my fingertips. But I didn’t let that deter me, after all, I’d already eaten the steak. The person I wanted to call was Mobi Stearn with the CIA tech team in Virginia. We’d never met, but given that he was such a big part of my success on the China Op, I figured that if anybody could parse through facts of what the Tesla Device was capable of, he could. But I couldn’t have a technical conversation on a compromised line so I did the next best thing and called Crust at his nonsecure number. The one he knew we needed to maintain cover on.

  “I’ve got a proposition here,” I said.

  I watched Kate’s face. She simply smiled brightly. Then, I heard Crust say, “Yes,” and the waiter sloshed through the waves and offered us dessert.

  Chapter 32

  I KEPT IT brief for Crust. I told him that I’d run into an old friend, a friend we’d taken some time to get to know. I told him that friend wanted my help. Crust listened while I talked. He knew who I was talking about. He confirmed Kate’s identity with me, and then he said one thing. That was it. I didn’t tell him the part about being offered my father’s freedom in trade for the Device, just as I didn’t tell him I was sipping good wine on the beach. It didn’t seem relevant.

  Then I handed the phone back to Kate and finished my dessert, a chocolate mousse in a lemon-infused crumb crust. The first stars were visible in the twilight and I wondered briefly what we were waiting for. Coffee, probably, coffee and for me to confirm to Kate that I would agree to help her.

  “What did he say?” Kate asked.

  “He was very encouraging,” I said.

  Kate smiled. “Good, I’m glad we’ve got that over with.”

  “Not so fast,” I replied, pointing to the brightest point of light in the sky.

  “You see that star there?”

  “I do.”

  “It’s not a star. It’s Venus. Sister planet to Earth. Brightest point in the sky. Named for the Roman goddess of love and beauty. Venus is rocky like Earth. Has nearly the same mass as Earth. Almost the same diameter as Earth.”

  “Are you going somewhere with this?” Kate asked.

  “It’s the second planet from the sun. Earth is the third. From a distance, Venus and Earth look like two peas in a pod.”

  “So what’s your point, Michael?”

  “They’re not two peas in a pod. Venus has a daytime surface temperature of 860 degrees Fahrenheit. Its night’s dip down to minus 428 degrees.”

  “Again, Michael. Your point?”

  “My point, Kate, is that Venus is a bitch who runs hot and cold just like you.”

  Kate’s jaw fell, but only slightly.

  “You and your Dragon friends can go pound sand,” I said. “I’m not helping.”

  NOW I SHOULD say that, as rule, I’m not a mean person. I try to be nice, fair, do unto others, the whole thing, because I believe in karma. I believe that what goes around comes around. But I also believe that a tiger doesn’t change her stripes. And though I felt a little bad saying the whole Venus thing, I also felt that it was one hundred percent necessary because it did two things. A—it told Kate that I wasn’t going to take any shit, and B—perhaps more importantly, it gave me a chance to gauge her response.

  And for what it was worth, that slight drop of the jaw told me something. It told me that I was getting through to her, that there was a real person beneath the veneer. But it also reinforced something that I already knew—that Kate had remarkable self-control. I’d have to be very careful because whatever Kate was doing out there with me on those Cleopatra sands, she was doing for keeps. When she finally opened her mouth, she sounded hurt, quiet.

  “I may run hot and cold, Michael, but I’m no bitch. Hopefully, with time, I can prove that to you.”

  I have to admit, I felt almost bad when she said that. And without another word, Kate rose and set off through the waves toward the launch.

  THE SHORT TRIP back to the yacht was uneventful. Kate had a way about her, I gave her that. This was the person who had handed my father over to the Green Dragons, the person who had handed me over to those same people to die, and here I was, feeling sorry for calling her a bitch? Wow. The woman was good at what she did.

  Kate tied us up to the rear deck of the yacht. It was there that I could read the ship’s name for the first time. She was the Turquoise Fox, and I thought the appellation utterly apt. She was alluring, yet not to be trusted. There was a soldier there, standing guard with his assault rifle. Kate nodded almost imperceptibly to him, and he pointed me up the stairs. The soldier motioned to me with his gun, but Kate raised a finger stopping him.

  “It doesn’t have to be like this, Michael. As I told you, I’m authorized to make a deal. Help us find the Device and we’ll give you your father.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  “Think about it,” Kate said. “That’s all I ask.”

  Kate nodded to the soldier a second time and he prodded me up the stairs with the barrel of his gun.

  Chapter 33

  HELP US FIND the Device and we’ll give you your father.

  Kate’s words were tempting to believe. No, they were more than tempting. It was why I’d gotten into espionage in the first place. And the fact was, I’d lied to her point blank. Kate was right. Crust was a pragmatist. He’d recognized the value of the situation immediately. He’d told me to play along with the Dragons. Of course, it went without saying that although I should seem to help them, I had to be absolutely certain that they didn’t get the Device.

  I understood this and I understood Crust’s position. Innocent lives were at stake, millions upon millions of them. I had a weapon to contain and I was to use whatever means were at my disposal to do so. There was, however, a complicating factor to which Crust wasn’t privy, namely, Meryem. Not only was I beginning to trust Meryem, but my gut told me that she might hold the key to unlocking the puzzle of the Device’s whereabouts. Kate could wait. It would seem only natural if I took some time to come into the fold. It was Meryem that I needed to crack. This was a woman who was being treated like the enemy by both Kate and the Turkish Army. I needed
to know whose side she was really on.

  But to do that, I needed to find her, which, given the fact that I had a gun in my back, might be easier said than done. The soldier led me up a second flight of external stairs to the main deck and into the grand salon. We made our way sternward through the teak-lined corridor. There were cabin doors on either side of me, but relatively few people about. I had seen one steward in the salon, but no one since. The bridge would be a deck above, but instead of ushering me up a set of stairs, the guard directed me back down a second stairwell.

  By the time I got to the bottom of two sets of stairs, I knew that I was level with the waterline again. The yacht was a big boat, designed by Westport Shipyards according to the plaque in the corridor wall, and it seemed as if she had been refitted recently. The teak was polished, the thick carpets were new, and even the halogen pot lights had gathered only nominal dust. After about forty feet, the soldier indicated that I should stop. He opened a cabin door and ushered me in.

  I went with it. He was a single guard and his hands were occupied with both the door and his weapon, so I knew I held the advantage if I chose to press it, but I didn’t. There was too much to be learned on this boat to go AWOL just yet. Inside the door, I found a modestly laid out stateroom, complete with a nicely made double bed and a painting of a sailing ship on the wall. There was a single porthole and two smaller doors. A dead bolt clicked as the cabin door was locked behind me.

  The first thing I did was try the other two doors. The first was a closet, nothing special there. I closed it and opened the second door. Inside was a small bathroom with a shower, toilet, sink, and vanity. I swung open the mirror on the vanity to see that it contained a toothbrush and toothpaste. The toothbrush was embossed in gold script with the name of the yacht. Fancy.

  The bathroom had a second porthole in it, the same size as the one in the stateroom. I didn’t think that I’d be able to squeeze myself through either of them. I could, however, ensure my privacy. I picked up the toothpaste and dabbed a little of it on my finger. Then I went to work.