He waited for Eve patiently as Michael finished with the two moles and sent them on their way. Soon enough, Michael walked back in his direction with his lips pressed in a grim line.
The Dark Messiah was pissed.
“Anytime now would be good, Eve.” Akio turned his attention back to the conversation.
“Just…one…more…moment,” she replied, then, “Got it!”
Akio’s tablet beeped and he tilted it to examine a map with a location that was out of the city noted. “He is smart, but uses a very similar typing pattern. I have found five other aliases he has used when visiting my house,” she said as Akio smirked. “One of those aliases was used to connect to the dark web just three minutes ago after going dark in Tokyo an hour and a half ago.”
Michael was standing with Akio, his attention focused outward and his hands clasped together behind his back.
“I understand. Please bring my ship down here.” He touched a point on the map. “We will be at the top of the building within five minutes.”
“It will happen, Akio,” Eve replied. “Just be aware that clouds will block my view of the building top within ten minutes should Michael choose to school another mouthy person and you two fail to get there in your projected time.”
Akio smirked, his eyes flitting to Michael. “Understood, She-Who-Can-See-All.”
The two disconnected. “This way,” Akio told the ArchAngel as he turned toward the street.
“What did Eve say?” Michael asked. “What did she see?”
“Nothing special,” Akio answered, “but she needs us to be on top of a nearby building within the next ten minutes or the clouds will block her view.”
Michael followed him, his eyes watching everyone around them.
Always watching.
Farthest Western Edge of Takla Makan Desert
Eve completed a final scan of the grounds. “That’s everything,” she announced to Yuko.
Jacqueline and Mark had just finished heaving the last crate into the black box. “Thank goodness for that!” Mark grunted, pushing it farther into the cabin with one last effort.
Jacqueline jumped over it and hopped out again. “You’re telling me! I think my nanocytes have decided to grow muscles on top of my muscles. Feel!” She flexed her arm and nodded to Yuko, encouraging her to feel.
Sabine chuckled. “You Americans! You’re soooo funny.”
Mark joined in the laughter until a quick glare from Jacqueline caused his merriment to change to a coughing fit.
Jacqueline smiled. “Well, Frenchy, or should I say, ‘Frog—’”
Yuko held her hand up. “Come on, Jacqueline. It’s been a long week. Let’s get this last one back to the hangar and find out when our engineers will be arriving. Then maybe you all can go and blow off some steam somewhere...without tearing each other apart.”
Sabine smiled innocently.
Jacqueline narrowed her eyes, then avoided all eye contact.
She didn’t dislike Sabine. She was just hot and irritated, and Sabine hardly even seemed to break a sweat in the heat.
Next to the Frenchwoman—with her slim waist and cute accent—she felt like a bumbling werewolf...and was just a little sensitive about having other females laughing with her boyfriend.
Sabine had wandered off, collecting the pieces of equipment and the ropes they’d been using. Jacqueline was too exhausted to even walk another fifty yards, so she stepped back into the cabin and laid down on the floor until the others were ready.
Mark helped gather the shovels, and within a short time the team—their routine down by now—were ready for takeoff.
Yuko scanned the horizon one last time just to be sure. “Good to not be leaving another crimson crime scene,” she called to Eve.
“Agreed. Nothing on radar, either.”
Yuko slowly closed the door. “Can’t believe anyone would only send one team after us though.” She joined Eve at the computer terminals.
Eve stopped her checks. “You think they’ll come again, even though we’ve switched locations?”
Yuko sighed. “I have to believe they will. If what Akio saw was accurate, we’re probably still being tracked somehow.”
Eve frowned. “But he neutralized that threat.”
Yuko tilted her head. “I sure hope so.”
The black box lifted gently from the ground, and in no time at all was nothing but a speck in the sky.
Stuck to its underside, undetectable to most readers, a lone device emitted the slightest of signals, blipping away on an unused frequency.
The frequency was picked up by a geostationary satellite and the signal forwarded to a server just off the coast of China, then relayed through a number of proxies in Japan and bounced through a hub station, only to be converted into a new protocol which five whole seconds later appeared on the screen in China.
Lanzhou Region, China
“Sir, looks like they’re on the move again,” the soldier reported from the second console.
Benjiro had been deep in thought, but he straightened up and took a breath before asking, “Where now?”
“Back to the hangar, sir,” the soldier replied. “Sir, that’s all eleven boxes now.”
The other soldiers gathered quietly around the console and waited expectantly for the order. For a whole week they’d been excused from meeting the fate of the first team, but every one of them knew the hour was fast approaching. Eventually they would all have to face the monsters who had dug up these assets from their desolate land.
“Very good, Sergeant,” Benjiro responded. “Make the team ready. We hit the hangar at nightfall.”
The company exploded into a very quiet flurry of nervous activity.
Finally, they had their orders.
The commander leaned forward, placing his fingers over the keyboard to report their progress. Raiden should be pleased, at least. Soon he’d have all the pieces without having had to hire anyone to go dig them up.
Benjiro started typing his message.
Undisclosed location, Tokyo, Japan
“Kuso kuso kuso!” Raiden spat, pounding the keys harder to try to rectify the situation.
Kuro looked up from across the apartment. “What is it?”
“Comms just went dead,” he answered, disgusted.
Kuro sighed. Raiden was a techie; a developer of code, not assets. He stood up and wandered across the bare floorboards to the computer setup. “Whose comms?”
Raiden stopped typing. “Both science moles. The connections are gone. Dead, as if the devices were obliterated.”
Kuro stood still, quietly evaluating the situation. After a few moments he said, “And you think it was the Diplomat in China?”
Raiden scratched his head, his eyes flicking from one screen to another. “I don’t think so,” he replied sarcastically, “I’m sure of it. Benjiro said he spied a Japanese female with an android sidekick on-site at one of his locations.”
“Hmm. So, if the Diplomat is not the one interviewing the recruits, who is?” he asked Raiden.
Raiden paused a moment, then pulled up a file. “Here.” He pointed to the screen. “This is an image of one of the interviewers one candidate was able to send me before he went in for his interview.”
The picture on the screen showed a Japanese man poking his head round a door.
“Do we know who that is?” Kuro asked.
Raiden didn’t answer. Instead he analyzed it against images sent by assets over the last few weeks.
The program pinged a response almost immediately.
“Kuso.” He cursed once more when he saw the match.
Kuro took a very deep breath after he read the name. “Agreed,” he answered finally.
The image matched one of the destroyers.
Kuro glanced down at Raiden. “You know what this means?”
Raiden shook his head.
“It means they likely had their minds read, and that was how they were discovered. Tell me, did you ever meet wi
th them?”
Raiden shook his head. “Of course not,” he said, too afraid to be indignant.
Kuro pressed the point. “Did they know who you were? How did you meet them?”
“On the dark web. They only know my screen name,” Raiden replied.
Kuro’s face was grave, his lips compressed. “It may be enough. They’ll be able to track you down, especially if they’re working with the Diplomat and her android. They have a special way of finding out anything they need to know if it’s hooked up to technology. That’s why they’ve remained so elusive.” He lowered his voice. “And why we’ve historically been very careful about approaching them.”
Raiden’s eyes filled with concern—or maybe it was terror. “You mean to say I’m possibly a dead man walking?”
Kuro nodded his head once, his eyes going from the picture to Raiden and back. “I’m sorry, yes,” he confirmed. “I recommend you go into hiding and disappear. Off-grid. No computers. No tech. No forwarding address.”
Raiden stared into space for a moment.
“You don’t seem to get the urgency of this. I meant right now!” he said, his voice conveying his sudden anxiety.
And with that Kuro strode back across the room, collected his laptop, and started pushing it into its case as if he meant to leave.
Then he stopped, thinking.
As if changing his mind, he dropped the case back onto the sofa and took the laptop into the kitchen. Raiden could hear plastic snapping and breaking, and then the microwave turning on.
Then small pops and explosions.
And an awful smell of toxic chemicals.
Kuro emerged, threw his jacket on, and strode toward the door. He stopped next to Raiden and faced him. “It’s been an honor working with you. I hope we both survive this, though I doubt we will. I wish you luck.”
He hurriedly embraced his friend and disappeared out the door, closing it softly behind him.
Raiden glanced at the laptop case on the sofa, then at the smoke emanating from the kitchen, which lingered in the air and cast patterns as it caught the sunlight. For Kuro to do that to his laptop—which contained his life and business operations, the action presumably taken because it had been on this network—was extreme.
Raiden left everything including his phone where it was and exited the building as fast as he could.
Unfortunately, Raiden couldn’t live without tech in his life.
CHAPTER SIX
Japan, Mount Fuji in the distance
“Where the hell are we?” Michael whispered to Akio as they stood under the trees looking at Tokyo with its little lights zipping around the city in the air. “They look like Christmas lights at times.”
“There is Fuji-san,” Akio pointed to the southwest, and of course there is Tokyo, about thirty of your miles in almost the opposite direction. He looked down at his tablet and pointed north. “The lab is about five minutes that direction in your Myst.”
Michael pulled off his hat and ran his hand through the stubble of his hair before putting it back on. “And you say that Eve uncovered evidence of nanocyte experiments?”
“Hai,” Akio admitted. “The young lady had no knowledge of their security?”
“Nope,” Michael replied. “She was hired for her science knowledge and her looks.” Michael sighed as the two of them started walking toward the building. “At this age, it becomes laughable what some people use to try to cloud the minds of those they are attacking.” Michael’s eyes flicked to Akio. “And good job not mentioning the Duke and the Hadron Collider.”
Akio shrugged, leaving the rest unsaid. “So, go in as Myst, check it out, and deal with the results?”
“I believe that will do the job.” Michael switched to Myst, grabbed Akio, and sped in the direction of the lab. Do you wish to come inside, or stay outside and catch any rats trying to leave the boat?
I’ll play catch this time, Akio replied. I’m not quite as bombproof as you are, and I’d hate to get wiped out at the very end.
Bethany Anne would have a few choice words for me if I lost you before she got back.
And more for me if you die, so please don’t. Akio chuckled. Eve said there were lower levels.
Akio could hear Michael’s sigh. Of course there are.
Michael deposited Akio two blocks from the three-story white concrete building, which gleamed in the reflected moonlight. Akio noticed there were windows only on the top floor as he moved into the darker shadows, working his way toward the north side of the building.
One nice thing about secure buildings was their small number of entrances and exits.
—
Michael passed the north-side security gate and checked on the guard there. His mind was active, but Michael could discern no knowledge of anything inside the building.
It took him a few minutes to circle the lab, but he finally found a vent pipe he could use to enter.
He’d didn’t want to go in the most obvious way and suffer even remotely what he had back in Europe. William was dead now, but the pain of keeping himself together in the Hadron Collider was still fresh in his mind.
Caution was now his...well, not his middle name, but perhaps his cousin’s name. Either way, he was going to be a bit more careful this time.
He came out of the pipe in a restroom on the second floor. He discovered as he flitted through the place there were only three people on this floor: one security guard and two computer personnel. One was playing a game system as they sat in front of a bank of monitors watching some screens.
Or rather, Michael noted, not watching them.
Michael read the man’s thoughts and frowned. After diving deeper into his memories, he floated back to the security guard and burrowed deeply, lifting memories from months back.
Then from over a year ago.
Releasing the mind, he felt above him in the building and then below. There wasn’t anyone above him, and as far as he could tell the programmer on this floor was ignorant of what was below-ground. Considering the research focus, Michael guessed many of those who worked here had no idea that there were two companies intertwined at this location.
The company on top, and the company under the ground.
Michael solidified behind the security guard, his three-inch-long nails dagger-sharp, and grabbed the top of the man’s head.
He flexed his fingers and the nails impaled the man’s skull. Michael bent down closer to the man, whose body was flailing under the ArchAngel’s arm. “You have seen the pain of others. You watched them as they begged to be released from the experiments. Some died as you played your games or watched in fascination!”
Michael clenched his fist and the body stopped thrashing. “Now, no one is here to watch you jerk around or hear you beg for your life.” Michael wiped his hand on the guard’s shirt. “As you did not save others, no one was here to save you,” he said as he changed back to Myst and headed for a small area he could slip into. He made it to the other side of the cement wall, and into the elevator shaft.
Michael mentally called as he drifted to the first underground level, Akio?
Hai?
Read the minds of those you can see. If they work for the research department above, let them go. Those who work for the research labs below-ground need to be eradicated. They are working on Wechselbalg, and before that brought a vampire in here before who died. They’re using them for the nanocyte research, trying to see if they can use the blood to change others.
Like the blood-baggers in England?
Not exactly. Michael thought for a moment, pulling out the memories of the now-dead guard. More like seeing what else they can make. I’m sure they have some knowledge of the enhancement to humans, but it seems like they are being very tentative with humans so far. They are using animals for test subjects. Well, Michael amended, they are tentative in testing pure humans. Those with nanocytes are nothing to these people.
Michael sent over a few images he had pulled from the guard.
And burning what we can’t kill, Michael agreed.
—
Michael Mysted through the crack between the elevator doors and floated down the hallway, wishing there were more people here during the night shift. If there had been, more of those who deserved what was coming would have been here to receive it.
In the first corner office Michael found one mind which made him smile.
BINGO!
—
Raiden had pushed his small laptop to the side of his desk and was using his keyboard, reviewing the information on his dual-monitor setup. Kuro had given him too much to think about. This time the failure wouldn’t mean hacked code, but that his blood would be spilled everywhere.
He had covered his tracks.
At least he hoped he had covered his tracks.
This was his most secure site. Few knew of it, and fewer still knew of the underground work they did here. His own partners understood very little of what he was capable of doing. To them he was just a code-head.
But for those who understood, the human genome was just the code for the human body, and the aliens who placed the advanced nanocytes in the werewolves and the vampires had provided him with the hint he needed to write the ultimate program…
The human body.
He didn’t doubt that the nanocytes were alien in nature. He had studied all the history he could get hold of, and Raiden had tracked down the different code bases as nearly as he could tell.
One he had named after TQB, and that was the vampires. Another he had labeled “W” for the Werewolves and the last was simply “C” for the cats, or the Sacred Clan. As near as he could tell from researching the Clan, they weren’t connected to the werewolves at all and certainly not with TQB.
Then there were the rumored Russian bears, but even he’d had problems finding out much about them. The one time he’d thought he had a good computer connection his hack had been slapped back so fast he was sure he had physically felt it.
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