Not So Dead: A Sam Sunborn Novel

by Charles Levin

  Al had managed to push LaSalam temporarily off the road but disabled her own vehicle. She was stalled in the middle of the road. The Leopard hit the gas and fishtailed back onto the road. With his rear fender dangling and a flat tire, he accelerated over the rise and out of site.

  Al slowly emerged from the Crown Vic. Not the best car for a street fight, she thought as steam poured out from beneath the hood. She could smell the burnt antifreeze and gasoline pooling beneath the car. She trotted down the road to Sunborn’s car. There lying across the seat was Sunborn, unconscious and bleeding through the front of his shirt. Blood stained his whole torso and his body was weirdly contorted around the stick shift. Al reached down, through the broken glass, to feel Sam’s neck for a pulse.

  CHAPTER 33

  SO NOW WHAT?

  LaSalam limped his battered vehicle into a Citgo station just beyond the Gorge. He saw a Land Rover idling beside the pumps. A woman was in the driver’s seat, bending over the seat to hand a bottle to her baby nestled in the rear car seat. He pushed open the creaking damaged door of his limo and walked quickly to the passenger side of the Land Rover. He smiled a friendly smile and knocked on the passenger window. The woman lowered the window and the Leopard put the gun right up against her temple, “Get out!” She seemed to freeze like a deer in the headlights. “Do it now!” He pulled the door open, grabbed her shoulder and pulled her roughly out of the seat, throwing her to the ground.

  “My baby!” she shouted.

  LaSalam spotted the child seat in the back, quickly opened the rear door, unbuckled the child carrier and threw it like a bowling ball toward the woman. The seat rolled and bounced along the pavement with the baby still strapped in. It was strangely silent and then the baby began to cry. As the mother crawled over to the child, the gray-haired gas station manager emerged from the garage and shouted, “Hey!”

  The Leopard swiveled and shot him twice in the chest. He fell backward knocking over a rack full of Goodyears that then rolled in all directions. LaSalam jumped into the car, put it in gear and sped away kicking up dust and gravel behind. “What a mess,” he thought out loud.

  CHAPTER 34

  AWAKENING

  I woke up staring blankly at the white ceiling. Then I heard the beeps and turned my head to see tubes and monitors hooked to me. My ribs felt like I’d been hit by a truck and the bandages seemed an inch thick. It was from the impact, not a bullet this time. I felt like a heavy weight was on my chest holding me down to the bed. Was that physical or mental? I was anxious that depression was again waiting in the wings to seize the opportunity of my weakened state and overcome me. But then I looked over and saw Al. The weight seemed to lift.

  “Glad to see you’re still with us,” Al said. She sat in the recliner chair next to my bed.

  “What happened?” I said, still trying to focus.

  “Looks like one of your Barinian buddies tracked you down. You should feel lucky you’re not one of the two murder victims we found or the carjacked mother.” She smirked.

  “Al, we have a real crisis on our hands. I’ve got to get out of here.”

  “Calm down, Buddy. I spoke to Little and he’s got the Feds on it. There’s not much you can do.”

  “The Feds? What do you mean—FBI?”

  “No I mean Army, Air Force, DHS—the whole Freakin’ US government is on it.”

  “But I’m not sure they have the cyber-angle covered. The big weapons are online.”

  “They have their best—Cyber Command is on it too.”

  “Just get me out of here.” I pulled the tubes out and started to swing my legs over and onto the floor. As I stood, I could feel the room spin and I fell sideways back on the bed. Slowly I pushed back up.

  “Hold on, man. You’re in no shape to go anywhere.”

  “Bullshit, help me up.” Al grabbed my arm and I stood trying to steady myself. “I’m OK. I’m getting dressed and then you’re going to drive me to the office.”

  “Since when did you become my boss?” Al smiled.

  “We don’t have much time. If we don’t act fast, you won’t have a boss or a friend. Let’s go.”

  As I was slowly, painfully, pulling up my pants, there was a soft knock at my hospital room door. In walked Nancy Lu. “I heard you got shot. I’m glad to see you are OK.”

  “There are fifty reporters outside. How did you get in this time?” I said.

  “I just put on this white coat and everybody assumed I worked here. The stethoscope is a nice touch too, don’t you think?”

  Al helped sling a shirt over my bandaged shoulder. “Very resourceful. That skill should come in handy someday. But not today. We’re in a hurry now.”

  I saw Al look at Lu and smile. Lu smiled back and it sure looked like a flirtation. Lu interjected, “There seems to be a pattern and a story here. I’d like to help and maybe get ahead of this.”

  I walked slowly, a bit unsteadily, toward the door. “There’s a pattern for sure. Some bad guy is out to get us. Now we have to leave.”

  “I know there’s more to the story.” Lu’s eyes met Al’s again. Something electric was going on.

  “You can ride with us. We’ll share what we can.”

  “Great. I’ll act like your doctor as I walk out with you.”

  Al held me under my good arm to steady me as we walked down the hall. Lu trailed behind. “Al, I didn’t realize you played for the other team,” I whispered, smiling.

  “There’s a lot you don’t know.”

  CHAPTER 35

  BLOWN UP

  Flight CAPCOM: Object X is successfully transmitting in tandem. Prepare to release.

  Commander: Roger that, Object X is prepared.

  Commander: Release object X on my count. 3…2…1 . . .

  Commander: Object X is released. Clear of bay doors.

  Flight CAPCOM: Voyager, we have determined that there is a second object, Object Y that needs intercept and “repair.” Sending location and instructions.

  Shuttle Commander: Instructions received. Initiating thruster burn. Estimated intercept in 32 minutes.

  Flight CAPCOM: Roger that. Tracking intercept now in 31:21.

  Commander: Approaching Object Y.

  Commander: Opening Bay Doors. Intercept in 5…4…3…2…1…Canadarm has Object Y and moving into Bay.

  CAPCOM: Secure Object. Close bay doors.

  Commander: Object secured. Closing bay doors.

  CAPCOM: Send EVA team to affix remote control device to Object.

  Commander: Roger that. Team deployed.

  CAPCOM: After remote is in place, we’ll need to test communications before release back to orbit.

  Commander: Roger that. Standing by. We are detecting some different infrared signals emanating from Object.

  CAPCOM: Switch on Comlink to infrared meter so we can analyze.

  Commander: Roger that. Comlink on.

  CAPCOM: Voyager, please standby. Commander, we believe Object Y may contain some unstable, hazardous or possibly explosive material. Eject Object immediately!

  Commander: Roger that. Opening Bay Doors. Detecting a spike in infrared from –

  CAPCOM: Voyager, please report…Do you read?

  Object Y exploded igniting the oxygen and fuel tanks aboard Voyager resulting in a second, larger explosion and fireball fueled by the oxygen and propellant. It shredded Voyager into 100 thousand pieces traveling in all directions. Then silence. Voyager and its crew were gone.

  CHAPTER 36

  INNOCENCE

  LaSalam sat alone in his hotel room. His hands shook slightly as the adrenaline drained from his body. Weak, he thought. But he had made plans to relax with something he regularly enjoyed.

  He heard a quiet knock at the door and rose to his feet. He only had his pants, strapped T-shirt and suspenders on. As he approached the door he could feel the cold of the floor tile against his bare feet.

  He opened the door and saw a small man, maybe five foot two, balding, with greasy dark hair
and a dark complexion. Indian, Arab? It was hard to tell. “I have brought your package as Hamid requested,” the man said.

  “It has never been unwrapped, correct?” the Leopard said.

  The man whispered with a sly smile, “It is quite brand new and unused.”

  “Very good. Please bring it in.”

  The man walked into the room holding the hand of a young girl. She was very young, white skin and blonde hair. She clutched a small beige teddy bear and averted her blue eyes. “This is Alex,” the man said to the girl. “He wants to tell you stories and play for a little while. When you’re done, I have a nice piece of chocolate cake for you.”

  She smiled shyly, but said nothing. “Come, come in,” the Leopard said with a warm smile. The small man silently left the room and closed the door behind him. LaSalam took the girl’s hand and led her over to the loveseat on the far side of the room.

  “Would you like to play a game?” he said and the girl slowly nodded. “What’s your name?”

  “Nicky,” she said in a soft sweet voice.

  “Nicky, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine. I think you’ll like him.” He opened his zipper slowly and drew out his friend. The Leopard was in heaven now with his sweet little pleasure. This went on for several minutes. The three of them talking and playing. The Leopard took full advantage of Nicky’s innocence to indulge his pleasure. Then it was over. The Leopard was satisfied and zipped his friend back into his pants.

  “Night, night,” Nicky said, patting the lump in LaSalam’s pants. The Leopard leaned back against the sofa. He felt much better now.

  Just then, they heard the now familiar quiet knock at the door. “I think your friend is here. He’ll take you home now. Thanks for coming and making my friend so happy.”

  Nicky reverted to her shy child-like posture and looked down at the floor. LaSalam opened the door and the little man took her hand and walked her out into the hallway.

  The Leopard could hear Nicky as she walked down the hall. “Can I have that cake now?”

  CHAPTER 37

  50/50

  “We lost Voyager,” Hager said.

  “What the hell are you telling me? What do you mean we lost it?” Longford barked.

  “We intercepted and hacked the first satellite, but when Voyager attempted to do the same to the second satellite, it was booby-trapped. It blew up, taking Voyager with it.”

  “Casualties?”

  “One hundred percent”

  “Shit. So now what?”

  “I think we have communications under control, but we can’t rule out the possibility of other satellites or channels.”

  “So maybe we are at square one?”

  “No, I think we can use the satellite we hacked to either block or thwart their communications, but there are no guarantees. So we need Little and his friends to come through as well.”

  “Where does that stand?”

  “We had a setback when Little’s key guy, Sunborn, was shot this afternoon.”

  “What? This is unbelievable.”

  “The good news is that he survived. He and Little are back on the trail. They just lost a little time.”

  “From what I understand, time is something we have very little of. How much time do we really have left?”

  “Somewhere between three and four hours.”

  “So what’s your estimate on whether we can stop this attack?”

  “I’d say 50/50 is optimistic.”

  “Time for a command decision. If we can’t solve this problem in the next two hours, ground all air traffic. That gives all planes an hour to get to the nearest airport and land.”

  “I’m not sure we can do that. It takes hours just to get the message out and for air traffic control to respond.”

  “I don’t give a shit! We can’t let tens of thousand of air travelers go down. So give the command in one hour instead of two. Meet back here in the Sit Room with the chiefs, cabinet and all top intelligence in thirty. We need to monitor the situation, and I want all people with fingers on the buttons ready to respond.”

  CHAPTER 38

  TRACER

  I felt weak but I could walk. My ribs throbbed and ached like a son-of-a-bitch. My knee and shoulder were still sore from my earlier encounters. We dropped Lu off downtown, and Al helped me get to the lab. Bart ran up to me and before I could react, he gave me a hug.

  “Ouch!” I screamed as my shoulder streaked with pain.

  Bart backed away. “Sorry. I’m just glad you’re back.”

  “Me too, I think.” I smiled to let Bart know I was OK. “But we need to get to work. Is Frank online?”

  “Yes, he’s waiting for you.” Bart sat and rolled his chair up to a workstation. Al and I followed.

  “Welcome back! I thought you almost joined me here,” Frank said from the monitor in front of Bart.

  “Not yet, my friend. How are you?”

  “I’m great. It’s like I can fly here. I just have to outsmart all the bots that our friends have going after me. But I’ve developed some cloaking techniques that go way beyond anonymous browsing.”

  “Well, between you and Bart, we are definitely blazing new ground. Maybe some new products for our company, if we can survive the attack. Speaking of which, we have no time to waste. Little tells me we have less than an hour to shut the bad guys down or the crap hits the fan, and I don’t want to be the fan.”

  “I hear you,” Frank said. “As far as I can tell, they are silent. We have one of their satellites tapped and the other exploded.”

  “Can we be sure there aren’t any others?”

  “No, but I have some black box alarms set that should give us the heads up if they start the attack. My real concern is that this may be set on some kind of timer that will automatically trigger it.”

  “Can you do a search for that kind of device?”

  “It’s not a device. It could be merely a few lines of code hidden on one of the 400 million servers out there. Just ticking down.”

  “Can you search for that?”

  “Bart and I created some scripts that are out there searching. So far, we’ve had no luck.”

  “OK, let’s look at this a different way. What do we know about this terrorist leader that could give us a clue? Do we have anything on him personally?”

  “When we put all our info together, we know our guy is an Barinian named LaSalam. There is some intel that he may be in this country. Crazy idea, but he may be the guy who shot you in the Gorge.”

  “Whoa. Why would he be there? Why me?”

  “You, or should I say ‘we,’ are a threat. I mean you didn’t end up here by accident. Maybe he decided to take care of you personally after his first attempts failed.”

  “That actually makes sense to me,” Al said.

  “OK, so maybe that’s true. Still, what else do we know about this guy?”

  “I know he likes expensive clothes. I think he was in New York yesterday. He also likes young girls.”

  “Wait, that last one. Tell me more about that.”

  “We know that wherever he goes, he has agents that fix him up with innocent young girls. We don’t know what he does with them, but I can guess.”

  “Sick. So maybe if we can get to one of these agents, like in the US, maybe one who hooked him up between yesterday and today. Then maybe that’s a lead.”

  “Sam, if this doesn’t pan out, you might have a second career as a detective. We don’t have a lot of time, but we have a database of these kinds of bad actors,” Al said. “But can we narrow the search?”

  “We know that discretion would be important for him, so the agent is probably Barinian—matter of trust. We also know he’s either in New York or here. That should narrow it down quite a bit.”

  “OK, I’ll get on it,” Al said.

  “Al, do you have access to a profiler? Maybe with some more behavioral insight, we can better track and nail this guy.”

  “Yes. If not us, we can pull in a profile
r from the FBI. I’ll get on that one too.”

  CHAPTER 39

  THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN

  When the FBI and DHS wants to move fast, it can. Twenty minutes after Al said she would get on it, a dozen FBI agents, in full riot gear, broke down the doors at a small apartment in San Jose.

  “Clear,” barked the first agent as he slid along the living room wall, MP5 extended.

  “Clear.” The kitchen.

  “Wait.” There was a rustling in the bedroom. Two agents, Smith and Wesson (really), stood at opposite sides of the room pointing their weapons at a closet between them. “Come out with your hands behind your head.”

  Nothing. The agent on the right slid along with his back against the wall adjacent to the closet. He extended his right arm and swiftly pulled back the sliding closet door. Both agents now stood, weapons pointed, in front of the open closet door. There, cowering on the floor, was a small, balding middle aged man with his hands extended as if to stop the onslaught. The agent on the right grabbed the small man under his left arm and yanked him up and out of the closet.

  “Why are you here? I thought I was being robbed,” the man murmured. He had already wet his pants and shook like he had a vibrator up his spine.

  A third agent stepped forward and removed his black riot helmet. It was Rich Little. “You have exactly sixty seconds to tell us where you delivered the girl to LaSalam and how he contacted you. Speak now!”

  “I…I don’t know anyone by that name.”

  Little nodded to the two FBI agents. In one quick motion, each agent grabbed one of the man’s ankles and flipped him upside down hanging him in mid-air. Coins from the man’s pockets clattered onto the floor. Then Little took his weapon and jammed the point of the barrel into the man’s groin. “Let me be clear. You now have forty-five seconds before I blow your nuts off and there may be collateral damage.”