What I saw was a series of six large cylinders with a battery of pipes and pumps on top, which led to another series of pipes. The sound of machines filled the room, but it wasn't overbearing.
At the other end of the building, there were twenty cylinders set up in various stages of construction, and workers were running torches or attaching parts or just staring at their handiwork. A few men and women in lab coats watched control panels near the six functioning devices.
Cline lectured us. "Sea water comes in through the pipes and is transferred to the cylinders. We use a technique of evaporation, where we heat the seawater just a bit, then pump out all the atmosphere. With an absence of air, the water evaporates quickly, and our studies show this is better than osmosis membranes or high temperature evaporation. The noise is the pumps running."
"I'd like to get a closer look," JenSix said. "Let's take a walk along this left wall."
"Certainly."
The left wall was where we suspected the jump gate was hidden. Cline started walking briskly. The rest of us followed. Now is when we needed signals. Not fucking euchre.
Bill and George were behind us. We were higher up than the workers below. Kind of on a catwalk. We reached the end of the walkway. JenSix said, "I need to use the restroom. If you would excuse me."
Cline smiled. "Of course, the closest one is down the stairs on the left. They're all unisex."
"That's fine."
Zen followed after her.
"This is quite an installation," Enigma said.
"The other choice was to build a pipeline and buy water," Cline said. "State legislators wanted to provide for themselves."
Zen and JenSix returned. I did not like the look on their faces, and both had their hands on their cell phone stunner. I grabbed mine and said, "I'm getting a call."
JenSix moved first, stunning Cline with a web of electrostatic discharge. I shot Bill next. Zen got George. The catwalk provided some small cover from below, and zip ties went on the three men. Nobody raised an alarm.
"There is a passageway in the eastern wall on the floor below," JenSix said. "Somebody needs to make sure these three don't raise an alarm."
"Slit their throats," Jesus said.
"You turned evil, man," Archangel said.
Jesus wept. "I have. I truly have."
"Can the bullshit," Enigma said. "I'll stay and watch them. Somebody take my explosives."
I shook my head. "No. You've got drugs, Enigma? You always bring drugs."
"Yes, I could induce a coma in all three of these fuckers, but that will be three-fourths of the drugs I brought that aren't simple painkillers or coagulants."
JenSix said, "Do it."
Enigma gave all three men a shot. JenSix headed down the stairs, and we followed. No alarm was raised.
We walked back in the other direction. JenSix stopped and drew her scanner. We moved maybe another fifty meters. JenSix pointed at the wall. "It should be right here!"
I reached out to the wall with the intent to feel around. My hand passed right into it. Hologram. I pushed through into a dimly lit hallway. The others followed me. I walked for a ways, and then I drew my mini 9mm. The others followed suit. The guns had a tiny LED flashlight in them, and as dark as it was, I wanted light. The hallway opened into a huge room, and a siren howled in the distance.
Chapter Fifty-Two
The room was easily 300 meters by 300 meters. A device sat in the center. It was oblong and looked like a terribly narrow doughnut. It sat at an angle on the floor and spanned almost the whole room. It was metallic silver, with cables running from it into the walls. There was at least one control panel with three empty chairs in front of it.
"Three entrances into this room," JenSix said. "Split up and cover them. Jesus, Archangel, and I will set up the explosives."
DogEight took off in a run towards the other end of the room. Enigma chased after him. They lined up on passageways down farther. I stood on the edge of the third hallway with Zen on the other side. I poked my head into the breach. Fucking darkness.
The light on my pistol was really not helping, and I was in light. I ducked back around, so I couldn't see or be seen.
DogEight stuck his head around the corner and squeezed off three rounds. "I got one!"
"Fire a stunner round into the hallway," Zen said.
I tried that. It lit up the place. Zen shot two men in the heart that were advancing towards us. I shouted to Enigma and DogEight. "Use your stunners for light!"
Enigma and DogEight both drew stunners in their left hands and fired into the hallways. Then they fired rounds while trying to hide behind the cover of the wall.
I launched another stunner round into the breach, and Zen shot two more. A bullet went right past my ear: I felt the wind from it. Another one landed on the wall I was hiding behind.
Zen was not so lucky: a round hit her in the right upper arm. She dropped her 9mm and screamed. I put the stunner in my left and drew my mini in my right. Another stunner round went into the hallway, and there were four men. Only one was armed, and I shot first. I cut all four of them down. DogEight and Enigma fired a few more times.
Zen stuck a bandage on her arm on front and back. I looked at what JenSix, Archangel, and Jesus were doing. They were spacing out blocks of explosives on the underside of the unfinished jump gate. They were maybe halfway done.
Zen had her mini in her left hand. "Stunner."
I fired it. Zen cut a guy down with one shot to the heart. Injured. Shooting with her left hand, and she didn't miss.
"You practice with your left?" I asked.
"You don't?"
Well, I didn't until we made it back to base. Tomorrow, I'd start.
Enigma and DogEight shot a couple more times.
Things got real quiet. Archangel, Jesus, and JenSix worked. I fired another stunner into the hallway. There was nobody. Enigma and DogEight fired stunners down their passageways, too.
"Done!" JenSix shouted.
"Is there another way out?" I asked.
"Motherfucker."
"I'll take that as a no."
Zen pushed away from the hallway. She dropped the magazine out of her mini. Then she loaded her spare magazine with the explosive rounds. "Come on."
Her feet started to jog towards the other end of the building. The rest of us chased after. She let loose with the mini 9mm. Explosions rocked the exterior wall of the building. I love explosions. The blasts were a kind of silver fire and black smoke. Soon there was a hole in the wall maybe a meter across, with broken concrete around the edges. One by one, we climbed out. JenSix pulled out a detonator.
"We're too close," Archangel said.
"The structure will protect us," JenSix said.
"The structure is what will kill us."
JenSix spit on the ground and ran.
After about thirty meters, Archangel shouted, "Now!"
JenSix pushed the button.
Nothing happened.
"Do Agency detonators ever work?" Archangel asked.
Zen turned around and faced the building. "Wish me luck."
She took aim. Hell, I had an explosive bullet almost in the chamber, and no way was I going to let Zen say she did all the work. I aimed for the breach. We fired at the same time. I'm pretty sure my bullet was on the mark, though. Not that it truly mattered. The explosives we planted did their thing. The whole rear of the structure caved in on itself in a pile of concrete, dust, and cables.
From the other side of the building, a drone appeared. One of the bigger models, about two meters across in the body, with four propeller arms sticking out of it.
I reloaded with my spare magazine. The drone was maybe two hundred meters away.
"Run!" JenSix shouted. "It can't see us through the cloud of debris."
We ran into a wooded area, which would slow those drones' detection abilities down. The first thing we encountered was a four lane road. JenSix radioed for backup. I watched the rear, into the trees.
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The drone appeared from behind one of those trees, and I started firing rounds. The drone launched a rocket. The others started firing, too. The rocket landed about ten meters in front of us. The blast pelted me in the face. I made it to the bottom of my magazine, and the explosive round waiting did in that drone.
We made it back to the LA facility, and I took a long shower. I texted Sam. "I survived. Mission success."
"Love you. Don't have sex with JenSix without me."
Damn. "I wouldn't dream of it."
Chapter Fifty-Three
In the morning, we hopped on the plane back to Phoenix. Dr. Heathers sent me a text, "Meet with me after lunch."
I didn't want to. It's not that I didn't like Dr. Heathers: it's that I knew she was going to want to dredge up memories that I didn't want to relive.
I went through the food line and sat with Sam. GreenMel and Jack were there. We played cards for a few moments when I squeezed Sam's hand and asked, "Do you have time before class?"
"Not for you," she replied.
Oh, come on. "Well, I'm not going to beg. I swore your first class starts at two pm today."
"It does, but I'm helping retrain GreenMel. In fact, we're late."
The three of them took a few final bites of food and wandered off.
I went to Heathers' office. The room had a busy light over a panel next to it, and I figured she was with another patient. There were two comfy looking chairs in the hallway, and I took one.
The busy light clicked off, and the door opened. A woman stepped out. I'd seen her around before but did not know her name. Heathers appeared and waved at me. I entered her office and embraced the two-meter-wide beanbag chair.
"How have you been?" She asked.
We just had a group therapy session a while back. "No different than the last time you saw me."
"How have your thoughts, dreams, and emotions been?"
Like shit. "My thoughts have been fine. I don't have any thoughts of hurting people or doing something wrong."
"And your dreams?" She asked.
"Not as bad as they were before the mind-wipe."
"Have your emotions been problematic with a lot of ups and downs?"
"Even keel. Regret over killing civilians. It comes and goes. Sometimes I'll just be sitting there eating, and it'll rage through my mind. I killed civilians."
She tapped her fingernails on the desk a few times as if the noise helped her think. "That doesn't surprise me. I consider that a good sign that your mind and emotions are healthy."
Now that she brought it up there was another issue. "I miss Xeon sometimes. Sam will say or do something, and I'll think, that's totally like Xeon or totally not like her. Like Xeon really isn't gone."
"She is, though. Dwelling on the past isn't good."
"Have you ever lost somebody you love?"
"Twice. Men. Agents. Almost just like you, only it was years ago."
I waited. I wanted to hear this.
"One retired," she said. "The mind-wipe erased me from his memories. I could have opted to retire with him, but I'm a career woman."
"The second?" I asked.
"The other never came home from a mission. They never found a body or anything. To this day, I really don't know what happened to him."
He's dead, lady. I said nothing.
"We were together for a year," she said. "I think about him every day. It haunts me. It's a plague on my soul. Meditation helps a lot. I advise you try it."
"Can I meditate and run at the same time?"
"In theory. I use mantras. Little phrases that I have developed that I repeat in my mind when I am really lonely. You can research both that and meditation."
"You're not going to try and give me drugs?"
"I do write a fair number of prescriptions every day," she said. "I don't see you needing a prescription, simply more mental discipline."
What I need is more time with Sam. "Are we finished today?"
"I prefer sessions to last at least ten to fifteen minutes, and this hasn't happened today."
Our session usually lasted five minutes. "You could be surfing the web. Maybe reading a nice short story."
"Fine. One week from today, I've scheduled another group session for your team. I'll send out the notices after our session."
Bitch. Maybe we'd be on a mission by then. Too busy to play mind games.
"Also," she said, "congratulations on your last mission. Likely saved all of us. The bullet that hit Zen's arm hit right on the bone. She's going to be out of commission for a long time."
Ouch. "That sucks."
"I want you to learn how to steel your thoughts. Learn how to put your mind in a happy place, above pain, above death. Place your mind into this state, and see how far you can run."
I can run pretty far, lady. "I've run for two hours straight before."
"Marathon runners do it for longer. They put their mind into a special state."
Was I already doing that when I exercised? It's possible I was. Practice it maybe? Yes.
I climbed out of the bean bag and left her office. Hit the track and started running. Sam came looking for me at dinner time. Five hours lost on the track, running, mind above the pain. Interesting.
Chapter Fifty-Four
My priority email was beeping when I woke up. From Nancy, "Meet after breakfast."
I did all my morning stuff and sat down to eat with Sam. I focused on my eating and made my way to Nancy's office. Archangel, Sphinx, Thomas, and Enigma joined me.
Nancy fired up the recorders. "We have a lead on Jackal, out of Davenport, Iowa."
"Traffic cams?" Thomas asked.
"Yes. He's been spotted at the same two intersections for the last four days. He seems to travel the route every day."
"Four days," I asked. "And we're just now hearing about it?"
"One sighting wasn't significant to the computer artificial intelligence performing the image analysis," Nancy said. "If we had more processing power dedicated to it, we'd have known sooner, but Ralan is the higher priority."
"Which intersections?" Sphinx asked.
"Two freeway overpasses, I-280 and I-80 plus I-74 and I-80. Those are the only two freeway intersections that have cameras installed, and they're hidden inside solar arrays that power lights on signs at night."
"The orders are to take him out, right?" I asked. "Not to bring him in alive."
"Higher ups want him alive. We're giving you boosted-up stunners that are heavier and bulkier, but they should shut his system down."
"I can take him in a fight," Archangel said. "I can subdue him."
Right. Archangel was big and quick, but Jackal was enhanced.
"Does he travel the route at the same time every day?" Thomas asked.
"No," Nancy said, "you'll be forced to patrol. Stick to the loop around the outside of Davenport proper. There are only a few routes he can take along that loop and avoid cameras."
"Have we done an analysis of those routes?" I asked.
"Joe has looked into it. He could be exiting the freeway at 92, or route 6 easily. He could be taking 74, too. The grid is too big to patrol. We've got to stick to the section of I-80 between I-280 and I-74."
"What's he driving?"
"He's driving an eight-meter long box truck," Nancy said.
"Rockets?" Archangel asked.
"Your cars will be equipped with lasers in the undercarriage."
"Two cars," I said. "We park near both intersections, then wait for the traffic cameras to do their duty. Me and Enigma in one car. Archangel, Thomas, and Sphinx in the other."
Nancy nodded. I wanted Enigma in my car, so when Jackal kicked my ass, she'd be close by with a painkiller.
We picked up the heavy-duty stunners in the armory and drove separately to the airport. We flew right into Davenport. Enigma and I parked just out of sight of the I-80 and I-280 intersection. It was eleven am or so. Our radio would let us know if Jackal ever crossed our path.
Out of nowhere, Enigma asked, "Do you have regrets?"
I regret that we didn't dismember Jackal when we had him in our grip. "Not really."
"About us, I mean."
Oh, those regrets. "There never really was an 'us.' Just a few hot flashes."
"There could have been."
Too late for that, and I was in love with Sam. "I have everything I need in Sam, and you're a lesbian anyhow."
"We both know I'm bi."
And we both know I'm taken. "At one point, I loved you, but I think I can only really love one person at a time, and that's Sam." And maybe JenSix.
She patted me on the leg. We sat quietly and waited. One o'clock rolled around, and we took a break to have a burger and fries. We went back to waiting. I sent a text to Sam. "Haven't seen him yet. Waiting."
"Get him," she texted back.
I put my phone away.
The radio chirped. "He's been sighted, heading east on I-80, just like the other days."
I started the car and punched the gas down all the way. We were on I-80 in no time. According to the radio, he had the same plates on as last time. I rocketed down the left lane. The box truck loomed in the distance, and I pulled up behind it. Enigma had the targeting tablet in her hand, and she cut into the left tire on the truck.
It started to spin out of control. The brake lights flashed on, and we slowed. An explosion ripped through the front of the truck, and a sleek, silver vehicle ejected from the mangled front of the box truck and took off. It looked really fast, and I accelerated after it.
The other car made a high pitched whine noise like a turbine engine. Just like our car. The thing was clearly faster than us, but traffic was heavy. "Shoot the tire!" I shouted.
Enigma growled. "I've been shooting the tire. The laser, it does nothing!"
Damn.
I hit the radio to Archangel's car. "We're chasing a silver car that's streamlined for speed. Looks like an Italian job or something. Get in front of it and ram it."
"Aye," he radioed back.
Chapter Fifty-Five
The silver car distanced us little by little. Where was Archangel?
Codename: Bear II: Secret Agent (Codename Universe Book 2) Page 17
