Impossible (Fuzed Trilogy Book 3)

by David E Stevens

  Wendy interrupts, “With the time to return a sick or injured person to Earth, several weeks or even a month, it’s essential we have the ability to do major surgery in an emergency. I actually witnessed a medical emergency while I was up there. We don’t boost until we’re satisfied the surgical suite can perform as advertised.”

  Tight-lipped, Elizabeth just nods.

  After more technical discussions, they finally break up with several action items, but it’s clear the TELEMED surgical suite is the critical path, putting her on the hot seat.

  As the conference room begins to empty, Wendy asks Elizabeth, “May I talk to you privately?”

  “Of course.”

  They quickly realize the press is waiting impatiently to swarm her again. Wendy holds up a hand to them and says, “I’m sorry, I just need a moment and I’ll join you outside.”

  When they’re finally alone, Wendy says, “Do you need any more personnel to expedite?”

  “No thanks, I think we’re properly staffed.”

  Wendy glances around. The room is mostly empty and no one is nearby. She quietly says, “Look, I’m sorry about what happened at the ball.”

  Elizabeth, already irritated, quickly replies, “Sorry about what happened at the ball … or on the station?”

  Wendy’s expression hardens. “You don’t know what happened on the station.”

  Keeping her voice under control, she says, “I understand you slept together.”

  “You understand nothing!” Wendy stops and takes a deep breath. Continuing in a quieter voice, she says, “Apparently, there’s nothing I can say that will change your perception of me or what happened.” She shakes her head. “But I don’t see how you are in any position to throw stones.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “I think you know. Everyone else does. If you’re moving on with someone else, for God’s sake, let him go.”

  “What are you talking about?!”

  Wendy holds up her hand. “We don’t need to be talking about this here. In fact, we don’t need to be talking about this at all. We’re going to have to work together and right now, all I need from you is a working surgical suite.”

  Elizabeth closes her eyes for a second and then says, “We will get the system working but don’t forget … I don’t work for you.”

  As Wendy turns to go, she says, “Yeah, we all know who you … work for.”

  32

  SOLAK

  Josh and Tim drive to the building at midnight. It’s near the center of the city. Three stories high, it occupies half a city block. At the front of the building is a contemporary, high-end storefront with a display window and above it, the name “Solak” tastefully engraved.

  They drive around the block. There are no doors or windows on the side of the building, and in the back only one loading dock with a large well-lit employee entrance at the top of several steps. Lights and security cameras are everywhere.

  They continue around the other side and find a narrow alley separating it from the building next to it. There are no doors or windows on this side either.

  Josh looks up and Tim follows his gaze. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

  Tim says, “Jen, see what you can find about the building across the alley from Solak.”

  She replies, “It looks like warehousing of textiles on the first two floors and some office spaces on the third. Doesn’t appear to be related in ownership to Solak.”

  They park a few blocks away.

  Within minutes, Tim has them inside the warehouse and quickly disables the security system. It appears unoccupied at night. They climb the stairwell to the roof where Tim quietly jimmies the door.

  Using the rooftop air-conditioning units as cover, they move to the edge and look across the alley. The roof of the Solak building is at the same level but well-lit with security cameras near the roof’s entrance and one at each corner of the building.

  Tim pulls out small binoculars and studies the roof, taking notes on his tablet. Finally, he says, “We’ll have to use a cable entry, but the cameras are hardwired and the wires are inside metal conduits.” He shakes his head, “Tapping into their security system won’t be easy. I can go across and you can monitor—”

  “I know you don’t want to volunteer me,” Josh interrupts, “but in this situation, you’re the brains, I’m the brawn. I go in, you cover me.” He knows he’s right when Tim doesn’t argue.

  “I need to go back down to the car and get additional equipment. Watch the cameras and see if you see them move or follow any pattern.”

  Josh nods.

  While getting equipment, Tim quietly runs over the plan on his headset with Josh, Sheri and Jen. When he returns, he carries two large bags. From the first, he pulls a harness and steel cable attached to what looks like a grenade launcher. From the second, he pulls out their trusty hex-copter drone.

  Josh puts on the harness and they move forward to an air conditioner close to the roof’s edge. Tim anchors the cable and says, “Jen, go ahead with the car.”

  “You said we are going to pay their insurance deductible correct?”

  Josh smiles. “Absolutely.”

  She giggles. “Ok. I love driving autonomous cars.”

  Tim takes aim and waits.

  From below, they hear a car engine rev and a slight screech of tires, as an empty S Class Mercedes accelerates by their building. It’s immediately followed by a loud, echoing crash as the big car strikes another empty parked car.

  At the same time, Tim fires the cable across the alley to the other roof.

  They watch the cameras around the top of the building swivel toward where the accident occurred.

  Tim nods to Josh. “Cover your face.”

  Josh pulls the ski mask over his face and runs to the edge of the roof. He clips his harness onto the cable and slides over the edge. It’s a rush as he crosses over the alley and hits the wall of the Solak building, cushioning the impact with his feet.

  Jen guides the hex-copter in front of the camera closest to him and Tim says, “You’re clear.”

  Josh chins himself over the wall and squats down under the post holding the camera. With a small rotary cutter, he slices through the conduit, fishes out the wires and connects the spoofing box to them.

  Jen pulls the drone up and away. “I’m in, but this security system is more sophisticated and compartmentalized. I can control the roof cameras and unlock the roof door, but I have no visibility inside the building. I’m going to run the cameras through a diagnostic, which will give you 20 seconds to disconnect the spoofing box and take it inside.”

  Josh disconnects it and runs to the roof door. Opening it slowly, he peeks inside. He can see a video camera pointed at the door but no one around. Shining a flashlight into the camera’s lens, he slips into the dark stairwell and rushes to the opposite side directly under the camera. He reaches up and clips the spoofing box wires to the camera leads.

  Jen says, “Ok. I now have access to all the internal and external cameras and some of the door locks.”

  Tim says, “I’m coming over.”

  After Tim joins him, they creep down one flight of stairs and move quietly through the building. They see windows along the hallway that look down into an impeccable factory area with rows of workstations, currently unoccupied. It appears just as Josh would expect a watch factory to look.

  Tim whispers, “The blueprint says the new construction is at the back of the building.”

  They head that way and at the end of the hall find a door with a sign that says in Turkish, “Special Access.”

  Jen gets them through the door.

  On the other side is an empty room with blue gowns, hats, gloves and surgical masks. They look at each other, shrug and put them on. The next door requires scanning a security card.

  “Jen, can you open this one?”

  The door opens. It looks like a high tech NASA clean room where satellites are assembled. There are a dozen workstat
ions with people sitting at each. No one notices Josh and Tim. They’re working with great concentration, looking either into microscopes or at monitors that display what the microscopes see.

  Tim points at one of the monitors.

  The woman technician is using tiny robotic tweezers to open one of the plutonium powered tracking capsules. As they watch, she opens it and removes the transmitter and power source. Then she brings in a new, slightly longer capsule and transplants the transmitter and power source into the new capsule. She spends several minutes connecting or modifying the contents before closing the capsule. It’s some type of transplant operation, but why? What’s special about the new longer capsules? Looking closely, he notices that sticking out of the side of the new capsules are tiny curved hooks that look like crab claws.

  Josh scans the monitors on the other workstations until he finds someone doing something different. This technician is working on a fashionable, but conventional looking smart watch or fitness tracker bracelet. Weird.

  Tim points to the middle of the room. There are two racks of small jewelry-sized boxes.

  Josh casually walks over. The first rack contains boxes with “Safron” and NATO markings. Clearly, these are the incoming deliveries. He peers into one of the open boxes. With his exceptional vision, he sees each contains one tiny nano-drone and a plutonium powered transmitter capsule.

  Then he goes to the second rack. These boxes all have the Solak name and logo on them. Clearly, they’re the outgoing shipments. Each one has a nano-drone but they also contain the newer, longer capsule. Next to them are larger boxes with smart watches in a variety of colors. He shakes his head.

  A voice from the back of the room says in Turkish, “What are you doing?”

  In his peripheral vision, Josh sees a man standing up with a frown. Josh casually turns around and walks back toward Tim and the exit.

  The man says, “Wait. Who are you?”

  Josh waves his hand over his shoulder and in Turkish, says, “Quality assurance.”

  “What? Who is that?”

  Jen opens the door. As Tim and Josh walk through, Josh glances over his shoulder and says, “Mr. Solak sent us.”

  He sees the man pick up a wall phone.

  As they exit, Tim says, “Jen, close it and lock it!”

  They run back down the hall, but Jen says, “Wait, the calls from the NATO Lab went to the next office on your left.”

  They skid to a stop.

  Jen adds, “Someone’s in there, but I disabled their camera, phone and security system.”

  Josh opens the door and they rush in with pistols drawn.

  In Turkish, Josh says, “Don’t move!”

  They see the man’s right hand slip under the desk and know he’s trying to activate the alarm.

  Josh repeats. “I said don’t move! Your alarm has been deactivated.”

  The man frowns but doesn’t look afraid.

  “Who are the drones and capsules being shipped to?”

  The man leans back in his chair and laughs.

  Josh says, “Stealing classified NATO property carries a life sentence.”

  He shakes his head and with a look of disdain says, “You have no idea what you’re involved with.”

  Josh says, “You’ll tell us or lose a limb.”

  He looks less confident but says, “Nothing can scare me now and it wouldn’t matter if I told you. You’re already dead.” With that, he leans forward and grabs something under his desk.

  Tim and Josh yell, “Freeze!”

  He ignores them as he pulls out an Uzi.

  Tim hits him with the Taser, but the submachine gun goes off, spraying the ceiling as he falls backwards in his chair. Tim kicks the gun from his hand and then kicks him in the head, knocking him out.

  A second later, an alarm siren goes off.

  They grab his laptop and cell phone and run down the hall, but security guards are approaching from the direction they came in.

  They reverse course and run the other way. Down the stairs, they run straight to the main exit. There are two security guards and another coming in the front door.

  Tim slams the door against the head of one, tases another and Josh sweeps the third man’s feet and tases him as he falls. They jump over the bodies and bolt out the door.

  As they get outside, they see a police car with lights on coming from the direction of their car.

  They run in the other direction as Josh says, “We’re going to need alternate transportation.”

  Running down an alley, Tim points at a small jellybean shaped subcompact ahead.

  Josh says, “Cherry QQ. No!”

  They run along the street as fast as they can, but there are few cars to be seen. Turning down another alley, they see a car parked ahead, but before they reach it, another car comes around the corner at high speed heading right at them.

  With nowhere to go, Tim pulls his gun and crouches in a firing position.

  Jen says, “Wait!”

  The car slams on its breaks, stopping a car link from them, as Jen says, “Get in.”

  Josh yells, “It’s a Tesla and it’s empty!” He sees the charging cable still attached and dragging the ground. “Great work, Jen!”

  Jen says, “I love driving these cars.”

  Josh jumps into the driver’s seat.

  Jen adds, “Your route’s plotted on screen and it’s in “Plaid Speed” mode.”

  Smiling, Josh floors it the second Tim’s inside. With aircraft carrier catapult acceleration, he has to back off immediately as he approaches the cross street.

  Jen says, “I’ve tapped into the city’s traffic monitoring system. You’re clear. Turn right.”

  As he slides around the corner and accelerates down the street, Josh says, “Sheri! I need you to start the jet’s engines.”

  She replies, “Uh … I don’t even know where the ignition key is.”

  “It doesn’t have one. Don’t worry; I’ll walk you through it.” He hears multiple sirens approaching from two directions.

  Jen says, “While you’re helping her with the jet, I can drive the car. I know the tire coefficients of friction and the asphalt grip. I can see all the traffic from above and tap into the police car’s GPS.”

  “Jen, there’s more to driving fast than knowing coefficients of friction.”

  “You’re right, but I’ve been practicing with some race cars at the autonomous driving test centers.”

  He glances at Tim, who’s shaking his head violently.

  Josh shrugs. “Ok, let’s see what you got.” He takes his hands off the wheel.

  Tim looks at him as if he’s lost his mind.

  The headlights turn off as the car accelerates and takes a corner at high G, missing cars on the other side of the road by inches.

  Josh watches the road as he uses his photographic memory to walk Sheri through the startup procedure, switch by switch.

  They slide sideways, barely avoiding oncoming police cars as Jen says, “Sorry, I wasn’t tracking them. They were unmarked.” She takes them down a narrow alley with their lights off at ludicrous speed. On the other side, they just miss the cross traffic. They accelerate toward an intersection on top of a hill with a red light.

  Josh pauses his switchology with Sheri to say, “Uh! Jen…!”

  They hit the hill and become airborne, narrowly missing the cross traffic. Jen slams on the brakes and barely makes a corner before accelerating again. They see a “battery hot” warning. Jen says, “I’m overriding the battery temperature sensors to maintain full power.”

  Tim asks, “Won’t they catch on fire.”

  “At these speeds there’s a lot of cooling air to keep it under the ignition temperature.”

  Sheri reports, “I think I got the engines running, but—”

  Josh interrupts, “Make sure the parking brake is on. Open the hatch, go outside and kick the chocks away from the wheels.”

  “Ok, but what I was trying to tell you is they haven’t
fueled the jet yet. I think we’re almost out of gas.”

  33

  ESCAPE

  Jen runs the Tesla full out. As they head for the airport gate, she doesn’t slow down.

  Looking ahead at the bar across the airport gate, Josh asks, “Is that made out of wood or metal?”

  Josh and Tim duck as the car smashes through the gate and the windshield is almost completely shattered.

  Jen says, “Might have been metal.”

  Slamming on the brakes, the car slides to a stop, just feet from the jet’s wing. She laughs, “That was so fun.”

  Hearing multiple police cars closing fast, they jump out and run up the stairs. Josh slides into the cockpit as Tim closes the jet’s hatch.

  Jen says, “Oops. I discharged the battery five times faster than it was designed for and forgot that when we stopped, the battery wouldn’t get any more cooling air. Plus, I think a piece of the gate punctured the batteries.”

  Josh looks outside and behind the wing where he sees the Tesla with flames coming from underneath.

  Jen adds, “You may want to move the jet away from it before it—”

  There’s a loud popping sound, and the Tesla looks like it’s sitting on top of a huge blowtorch with flames shooting out every side.

  “… does that.”

  Josh pops the parking brake and pushes the throttles forward. “That’s ok Jen, it’s another distraction, and yes we’ll cover their deductible too.”

  Looking out the other side of the cockpit, he sees regular and airport police cars approaching rapidly. He selects the tower frequency and hears one aircraft on approach and two waiting in the hold short area to take off. The flashing lights are closing on them with more headed toward the approach end of the runway. To avoid them, he points the jet toward the middle of the runway and taxies much faster than he should.

  Tim, now sitting in the left seat, sees where he’s headed. “Will we have enough runway to takeoff?”

  “The published takeoff distance for this thing is 5800 feet and the runway is 9000.”

  Tim frowns. “Half the runway is only 4500.”