Time Frame (Split Second Book 2)

by Douglas E. Richards

  Jenna laughed. “Well, that seems fair,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  50

  Cargill was forced to leave the conference room while the group was still engaged in discussion to prepare for his imminent meeting with Hank Vargas. Talk about a letdown. He had gone from a mind-blowing meeting at which Nathan Wexler had disclosed wonders unlike anything he had ever contemplated, revealed the existence of a powerful galactic civilization, to having to deal with the ultimate asshole.

  Falling from paradise into a steaming pile of horse manure was the only comparison that came to mind. It was utterly jarring, and made him resent the presence of the colonel even more than he otherwise would have.

  His only saving grace was that he had heard from the Aaron Blake overseas just before Wexler’s meeting had begun. Blake had escaped China and was well on his way to his final position in North Korea, against all odds. He had been nursing a wounded semi he couldn’t abandon, hiding with it in the woods, and surrounded by a determined swarm of Chinese military who saw him as priority number one. And the walls had been closing in.

  So of course he had managed to extricate himself.

  Nothing Blake accomplished in the field could surprise him anymore. To be honest, even the Aaron Blake in Cheyenne Mountain was surprised he had made it out, and no one knew Aaron Blake’s capabilities better than he did.

  Blake was having to proceed slowly and carefully, by cover of night, due to the condition of his truck, but he was working his way toward his planned destination even now, and would be in place before too long.

  Cargill’s days in power might be numbered, but at least he had the pleasure of knowing that Kim Jong-un’s were too.

  Now, almost two hours since he had left the conference room, Cargill was at his office desk, facing the handsome, leering face of Colonel Hank Vargas seated across from him. Vargas looked around the office and nodded. “Not bad, Lee,” he said. “Given how limited the real estate is down here, this isn’t too cramped of a workspace.”

  “I’m glad you like it,” said Cargill, struggling to stay pleasant. “The best part is that with no windows,” he added dryly, “you’re never distracted by sunlight, trees, or birds.”

  Vargas smiled and studied the ceiling, which was eight feet up but had been left to look like a natural part of a cave. “They do make sure you know where you are,” he noted. “As if anyone down here could forget.”

  Cargill nodded, wondering when the colonel would dispense with the small talk.

  “The tour and demonstration were remarkable, Lee,” continued Vargas. “Not that I doubted the president’s word. But time travel teleportation and duplication need to be seen to be believed. The implications are immense. When I saw an exact duplicate of my wallet appear fifty-eight feet away, knowing how the trick was being done, well, that was pretty special.”

  “That it is.”

  “Your team seems impressive also. Very much on the chilly side,” he noted, raising his eyebrows, “but not any more than I expected.”

  “Let’s cut to the chase, Hank,” said Cargill abruptly, having finally lost his patience. “What are you doing here?”

  A slow smile came over the colonel’s face. “Look, Lee, this wasn’t my doing,” he lied. “Janney contacted me. It wasn’t my idea to have your group split from my organization in the first place, and this wasn’t my idea either. Although I think I know why the president did it. And why he chose me.”

  “Enlighten me then.”

  “I got the sense he’s lost trust in you. He quizzed me pretty extensively about the devastation at Lake Las Vegas, and about an experimental explosive one of my groups is working on. I believe he thinks more happened at Lake Las Vegas than you’ve let on.”

  “Uh-huh,” said Cargill evenly. “Go on.”

  “So he made us co-commanders,” said Vargas. “I’m sure you’re wondering what the fuck that means.”

  “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

  “It means he doesn’t want you removed. And he doesn’t want more people to know about Q5. I’ll spend some time with this group, but mostly I’ll be running my other groups. I think he assigned me to the ridiculous title of co-commander so he doesn’t have all his Q5 eggs in one basket. Since the group was originally under me, and he trusts me with all black weapons programs in the country, I was the obvious choice. He wants someone else to have the Q5 command codes and know where your secrets are hidden. Including the plans for how to construct your teapots.”

  “Kettles,” spat Cargill, suspecting the colonel had made this mistake on purpose.

  “Right,” said Vargas with an insincere smile. “I hadn’t heard the term until I got here. But the point is, Janney wants someone else in the chain of command, largely living outside of this group, as an insurance policy. He wants vital knowledge spread out. In case you decide to freelance, maybe. Follow in Knight’s footsteps. Or in case you drop dead from a heart attack.”

  “Am I going to die of a heart attack, Hank?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Don’t play stupid. You’re many things, but stupid isn’t one of them.”

  “Look, Lee, this is not a coup. Janney doesn’t want you removed. I’ll be mostly out of your hair. This was always your group. I was your boss, but this was your fiefdom. Now, I’m not even your boss.”

  “Yeah, we’re co-equals,” said Cargill bitterly. “I get that. What a brilliant idea to ensure failure.”

  Vargas actually laughed. “I agree. It’s the dumbest management idea of all time. If it were real. But we share leadership in name only. You’re still running this group. These are your people. I’ve seen the kind of loyalty you command. We both know that even if Janney put me on top your team would never follow me. They might pay me lip service, but they’d do what you told them behind the scenes. Am I right?”

  Cargill ignored the question. “So what do you want, Hank? I’ve worked for you before. I know you have ideas of your own for how technology should be used. Ideas sure to conflict with mine. Are you telling me you aren’t going to try to mold this organization into your likeness? That you plan to just step aside?”

  “In this case, yes. I’m here because the president asked me to be. But I have no agenda of my own. Really.”

  “Bullshit!” snapped Cargill. “I know you, Hank. You’ve never found a weapons system you thought was powerful enough. But this one is. Finally, something that lives up to your standards. And you’re just going to forget you saw it? Become Janney’s insurance policy and leave us alone? You can’t expect me to believe that.”

  “I don’t care what you believe!” snapped Vargas. “And I don’t appreciate the implication that I’m lying. Again, I didn’t lobby for this position. Janney contacted me out of the blue. Yes, I’ll be sure to give the team my input. And you’d better believe you’ll be sharing all of your secrets with me so I can fulfill my duty to serve as Janney’s insurance policy. But what impact do you think I can have on Q5 as a co-commander—in name only? With a team we both know is loyal to you? I’d love to hear what you think I can do.”

  Cargill fumed but didn’t respond.

  “And you’re forgetting the buck stops with Janney anyway. So even if I could compel Q5 to do something they won’t like—like shoving a kettle up your pasty white ass—the president would have to sign off on it.”

  A long silence settled over the office.

  “Okay,” said Cargill finally. “I’m skeptical that you’ve suddenly changed stripes, but I guess time will tell. If you operate as you claim, we’ll get along just fine. I have no problem with spreading some of our eggs to a different basket. It isn’t necessary, since I don’t plan on going rogue—or dropping dead,” he added pointedly, “but I get why Janney might want to take this precaution.” His eyes narrowed and he glared at his guest in contempt. “But if you do have a hidden agenda, Hank, I’m going to find it.”

  Cargill rose and opened his office door. “Let me show
you to your quarters,” he said, making it clear the meeting was over.

  Vargas rose and faced him, their eyes locked in a staring contest.

  “Last thing,” said Cargill, “let me make this crystal clear. If you try to stab me in the back, or wrest control of this organization from me, I promise that you’ll regret it.”

  “Is that a threat?” said Vargas.

  “What do you think?” said Cargill icily.

  51

  “Colonel Vargas,” said Knight with enthusiasm, answering the call on the first ring. “How nice to hear from you. How was your first twenty-four hours inside the mountain?”

  “This phone better be as untraceable as you say,” said Vargas, sitting on the small bed in his Cheyenne Mountain quarters.

  “Relax. It’s even more untraceable than I say. My Brain Trust did amazing work. Before Cargill blew them all up, of course. Notice how clear the reception is. That’s through a mountain. Without piggybacking on Cheyenne’s signal.”

  “Sunday isn’t far away,” said Vargas. “Have you reset your poison capsule? You wouldn’t want to accidentally kill your only mole within Q5.”

  “Don’t worry. I reset it last night. Just forget it’s there. You’re really becoming a head case about this.”

  “Not funny, asshole!”

  “Is that any way to talk to your boss?” said Knight in amusement. “Seriously, though, you have to relax. I won’t forget to reset it. It’s going to be with you for a while. If you’re this high-strung about it, you’ll die of stress at a young age.”

  “Yeah, stress isn’t what I’m worried about dying from. You’re sure the capsule was able to receive your signal in here?”

  “Positive. Like I said, it contains advanced tech that allows it to pick up signals anywhere. And an onboard computer that sends me a confirmation that the stand-down order was received. You’re good to go. So enough of this. I need you to give me a full report.”

  “I got the tour and the demonstration,” said Vargas. “I met the team. Cargill doesn’t trust me.”

  “Yeah, who could have seen that coming?” said Knight sarcastically. “The important thing is, did you get Wexler’s work? Cargill can be as suspicious of you as he wants, but you are co-captain of his team now. He can’t deny you the passwords to the family jewels.”

  “No, he gave me passwords without a fight. Only they weren’t the real passwords. I used them once I was alone in my quarters. They opened up the information vault—thousands of files. Everything I looked at checked out as being legitimate. Except for Wexler’s work. Pages and pages of complex mathematics that look like hieroglyphics. Only it wasn’t Wexler’s work.”

  “How could you possibly know that?” said Knight.

  “Because I copied sections of the hieroglyphics and ran them through an online plagiarism program. The work is an exact copy of a doctoral dissertation on some esoteric aspect of higher dimensional mathematics, published in a scientific journal called Acta Mathematica. A dissertation not written by Nathan Wexler.”

  “I have to give Cargill credit,” said Knight. “It was a nice effort. Since you’re not trained to recognize Wexler’s work, why not substitute something else that looks the part?” He paused. “And I have to give you credit also, Hank. I would have known it was a fake, but running it through a plagiarism program was smart.”

  “I assume the blueprints for how to construct a time travel device are fake also,” said Vargas.

  “I have no doubt.”

  “The problem is,” said the colonel, “that Cargill has boxed me in. If I complain that Wexler’s work isn’t the real thing, he’ll get more suspicious, and push back even harder. Because if I weren’t in here working for you, this is the last of Q5’s files I’d ever open. Why would I? I’d look at files pertaining to security, operations, plans and goals, personnel, and a dozen other things—which I could actually comprehend—before opening that one. And even if I did open it, why would I go to so much trouble to verify it?”

  “You’re right,” said Knight. “But I didn’t expect Cargill to give up his biggest secrets just like that. It was worth a try, but I thought it would probably fail.”

  “And when did you want to share this suspicion with me?”

  “Not to worry,” said Knight. “I have a Plan B. One that will get me the science I want, and also the revenge. There’s more than one way to skin a cat. This way will just be a little bit . . . messier.”

  52

  “The semi’s in place and well concealed,” reported Blake. “I’m about eighty-five miles from Kim’s palace in Hyangsan. I can have the injections ready to go in minutes. I’m positioned so that I’m an exact interval of forty-five microseconds away from the center of his bedroom according to the GPS coordinates and blueprints I was given.”

  “Outstanding!” said Cargill into his phone. “Same type of wooded hiding spot as in China?”

  “Yes. But without roadblocks. And without a Chinese army with dark energy detectors.”

  “So you think you can remain hidden for a while if you had to?”

  “If I had to, yes. I’m in a wilderness area even more uninhabited than the one I chose in China. It’s daylight here, so the first window of opportunity won’t come about for twelve to fourteen hours. I’ll be ready to go as soon as I get a green light.”

  “Good. Intel suggests that Kim will be spending his nights there for at least the next week. But I hope to pull the trigger sooner rather than later.”

  “Understood,” said Blake. “How’s your Vargas problem coming along?”

  “Hard to say. We’re working on a solution now. Don’t worry about us. You have more than enough on your plate as it is. But there has been one change of plan. I’d like you to accompany Kim to the Swedish embassy, and be part of the team that delivers him to America.”

  “Are you implying what I think you’re implying?”

  “Yes,” replied Cargill. “This is no longer a suicide mission.”

  “Isn’t this stepping even farther out onto that slippery slope? What happened to the Lee Cargill who existed before I joined up? At first you refused to duplicate a human—under any circumstances. Then you came to support duplication if it was for the right cause, and as long as the duplicates were eliminated soon after their appearance. And now this? Are you seriously contemplating keeping one around indefinitely?”

  “More than contemplating.”

  “What happened?”

  “You happened,” said Cargill. “You’re a good man, Aaron. One I’ve come to admire. You’re also very special. Only a few of you were supposed to die on this mission. But to complete it, you’ve sacrificed twelve of you already. No one should have to stand on ground they know will be vaporized and just let it happen. But your duplicates did. If ever someone deserved to come out of a suicide mission alive, it’s you.”

  “That won’t bring back the others,” said Blake. “And one version of me will still be left behind in the woods, and another in Kim’s quarters. Both will need to die.”

  “I’m well aware,” replied Cargill. “But it will ensure one of you survives with most of the memories and experiences of all of you. Like an uninterrupted thread running through your stay in the Far East.” He paused. “Just so you aren’t too shocked, I want this for practical reasons also. You continue to show just how formidable you are. You also know about time travel and support our goals. I could use a thousand like you. But I’ll settle for two.”

  “I assume my stay of execution is conditional,” said Blake.

  “No strings attached. I could try, but we both know it wouldn’t matter. If you want to live, I can’t stop you. And I wouldn’t want to. You’ve always been guided by your own principles. I would hope that if you decided to survive, you’d agree to change identity. To let the Blake back here continue to be the one and only Blake.”

  “Of course,” came the reply. “That much was understood.”

  “Good,” said Cargill. “After this, yo
u can carve out any life you choose for yourself. With a grateful Q5 providing all the assistance you want, financial or otherwise. My hope is that you’ll make yourself available to take on missions for us if the need arises.”

  “Did you run this by the me in Cheyenne Mountain?”

  “I did. He predicted that you’d welcome the chance to stay alive. But that if I didn’t specifically order you to accompany Kim to America, you’d suicide as planned. He also told me that you’d change identities to get out of his way, whether I suggested it or not.”

  “And with respect to tackling additional missions for you?” said Blake.

  “He predicted you’d be all-in. He tells me he only feels truly alive when under fire. He’s an adrenaline junkie who loves a challenge. He’s been trying to fight it, but says that, under the circumstances, you would choose to embrace it.” Cargill shrugged. “But who knows? You aren’t the same person anymore. Your experiences have diverged.”

  Blake laughed. “Not by that much they haven’t. He’s right on every particular. I’ll deliver Kim as you ask. After that, I’ll step aside and take another identity. And I’d welcome the chance to help carry out your most challenging future missions. Beats the hell out of ending this thread, as you call it, in an explosion in Kim’s bedroom.”

  “That’s great to hear,” said Cargill. “Thanks, Aaron.”

  “No thanks are needed,” came the reply. “I had resigned myself to dying for the cause. Living for the cause is a hell of a lot better.”

  53

  Hank Vargas’s eyes slowly fluttered open and he struggled to bring them into focus.

  He was in the same clothing he had been in when he retired to his Cheyenne Mountain sleeping quarters an unknown length of time ago, but he was no longer there, or on a bed. Instead, he was seated on a heavy steel chair with his ankles bound close together with zip ties, and his wrists bound the same way behind the back of the chair. Several thick strips of silver duct tape were glued firmly over his mouth.