by Terry Persun
Fenny did feel the anger, but he also reheard the words Dr. Klein had said. He would never feel this way again. Did that indicate that the doctor was going to shut him down? Or did it mean that the DNA-enhanced electronics would change who he was. It would calm him down. He had read about that, about electroshock therapy. Was the human DNA equivalent to getting electroshock therapy? He could not let that happen to him. Dr. Klein had no right to change who he was.
He was smarter than Dr. Klein in many ways. He knew that he could stop the doctor from shutting him down, or from changing his personality just to suit his own needs. Fenny had a plan, too. It was a simple plan, but then those were the most elegant.
CHAPTER 18
NEIL DROVE SLOWLY in case Mavra and the robots had already arrived, which he doubted. He figured that they took a longer way around to confuse their followers. He drove past a squat building and up a narrow, dirt access road of some kind. Robots may be able to compute a lot of data, they may be able to simulate thought, but they couldn’t anticipate his actions. He’d cut them off at the pass.
He turned the car off and called Rogers.
“What is it now?” Rogers sounded frustrated.
“Staying in touch,” Neil said.
“We just found a second stolen vehicle parked along the road. Too conspicuous, if you ask me. They must be trying to put us off the scent.”
“Where are you?”
Rogers stayed quiet for a moment.
“You’re not on Route 7 anymore,” Neil said.
“We have several cars out. The local police got a call from a gas station owner doing a drive-by his station who noticed a broken vending machine. One of the cars followed that lead and found the SUV parked about five miles past a Y in the road outside Clandby, one fork leading to Jasonville and the other to Marksville. Must be part of the Clandby family,” he laughed. “I suspect they either split up or plan to meet somewhere in between the two places.” Rogers paused again. “Where are you?”
“Nowhere near you,” Neil said.
“Still on 7?”
Now it was Neil’s turn to be quiet for a moment. “I took a side road on a hunch. Guess it didn’t pay off. Do you mind if I head your way?” Neil asked, but didn’t care about the answer. He had to get to Mavra and the balancer before the FBI jumped the gun and got someone killed.
Rogers’ answer would only let him know how visible he could be. While talking, Neil punched in for a GPS location. He was quite a ways away, but could catch up using some mountain roads.
“You can show up as long as you help us locate a trail and then stay back,” he said.
“I’m going to take a quick look around here, then I’m on my way,” Neil said.
“You promised,” Rogers said, but he didn’t wait for Neil to confirm before hanging up.
Neil wasn’t so sure he was wrong yet. They could have stolen another car and dropped that one off. So far, there had been two coincidences: the SUV that the robots had stolen was found parked along the road, and the gas station owner doing a drive-by in the middle of the night. Neil couldn’t see that happening a third time. But he did notice that the robots were having a bit of bad luck.
The government building was a small, no-frills, boxy place bearing only a small sign on the door. He walked around the building several times. A single light threw a glow over the front entrance. A breeze swept around the corner leaning some wildflowers toward the east. His phone beeped registering a text. He opened it right away while pacing along the front of the building, one eye on the phone and the other watching where he walked. “I can’t believe this,” he said then punched in a response. “What the hell is in-transit storage?”
Smythe texted back, “Low security warehouse at edge of town. Things progressing quickly. Steffenbraun screaming. Thinks it’s my fault General Harkins has come down so hard.”
“It’s not your fault,” Neil typed in. His small attempt to channel Mavra reminded him how she influenced his life, how he acted, and how he saw the world. His life had become better through her eyes.
“I know.” Smythe responded. A moment later several texts came through back to back. He must have been working through his fear, Neil thought. “Taking everything to warehouse—out of the building. Now! Harkins wastes no time. His last dig at Steffenbraun. To be transferred to standard government storage later. Fully armed by military. 24/7.”
“You sound like one of them,” Neil typed in, trying to joke with him.
Smythe sent a smiley face. “Must have picked it up along the way.”
“Thanks for letting me know,” Neil typed. “It was the right thing to do. Did you tell the FBI?”
“Not yet. Wasn’t sure what to do.”
“Wait for an hour, then call Rogers,” Neil responded. “If you don’t tell them, you’ll get into trouble.”
“Done.”
No sooner did Smythe stop responding than Rogers called back. “Found the trail. There’s a cabin at the crest of the hill. I think they’re holding up there for a while.”
“Don’t go up there,” Neil said. “They’ll just kill Mavra for no reason. She’s there to keep you away. If you advance…”
“We’re professionals,” Rogers said. “We have sharpshooters who can pick them off.”
“Where are you going to shoot them?” Neil yelled into the phone. “They’re robots, not people. You can’t pull off a head shot and assume they’ll drop. And even if you shot through a circuit board, it could reduce their functionality, but it won’t stop them. Listen, man, you can’t do this. You have to pull back. You have to give them space.”
“Can’t,” Rogers said. “I told you, we promise to get her out safely.”
Neil hung up and ran back to the car. He located the cabin that Rogers mentioned. It was between him and them, but closer to Rogers’ group for sure. He plotted a passage through a mountain road that would put him at a closer proximity, but he wouldn’t be able to make it before Rogers’ men. But he had to; he had to get there in time to stop them.
He raced back out the narrow road he had driven to the small lab. After only a few miles, he slammed on his brakes and swung into what looked like a logging road and stopped dead, throwing his body forward into the steering wheel. He rubbed his chest and jumped out of the car holding the locator in his hand. The hillside was steep and the woods dark. He couldn’t afford to get hurt, so he advanced slowly up the hill.
After only a half hour, his phone rang again, and he almost didn’t answer it, figuring it was either Smythe or Rogers, neither of whom he had time to talk with now. It was out of habit that he looked at the display and saw Mavra’s name.
Fumbling in the dark, he stopped scurrying up the hill and sat for a moment. Puffing to catch his breath, he answered, “Mavra.”
It wasn’t Mavra’s voice he heard. “Stop the advance or she dies.”
“How do I know she’s alive,” Neil said.
“Neil?” Mavra’s voice sounded calm. “They haven’t harmed me. But listen, please go back to the warehouse where they took the equipment they found. Wait for me there. They’ll let me go if you let them alone. But you need to go back or they will hurt me. I’m sure I’ll see you soon if you just go back. To the warehouse. Where the time machine is.”
“I’m not with the FBI. I’ve tried to get them to back off, but they won’t listen.” Neil began to sweat.
“Give me Rogers’ number. It is Rogers, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” He gave her the number while glancing at his locator, which confirmed their whereabouts.
“Just go back, Neil. Go back. I’ll take care of Rogers.”
“Enough.” The other voice came on the phone. “You heard her. She’s alive. Now stay away.” The phone went dead.
She emphasized the words “go back” to the point of importance, but they had taken the equipment they found into town, not to a warehouse. But she didn’t know that. In fact, she didn’t know where they had taken the equipment. She had been
abducted before they took it anywhere. He thought for a moment, but then got the hint. The only warehouse to go back to was the one Smythe had just told him about.
He texted Smythe saying that he needed to know where the warehouse was that they were taking the time machine to. “I need that location now,” he typed.
Neil scurried down to his car and barreled back toward town. He needed a plan, but he also needed for Rogers to back off of those robots. As much as he hated using the phone all the time, it was his only means of communication at the moment. He called Rogers. “You hear from Mavra?”
“We heard.”
“Are you staying away?”
“For the moment,” Rogers sighed. “It’s standard operating procedure that we maintain the enemy in a position we can hold them.”
“Even if it means someone could die?” Neil said. “You must have broken the rules to get where you are.”
“I need a reason to break the rules,” Rogers said.
“I know where they’re going.” Neil didn’t have time to chit-chat about the situation. “You have to get out of there or they’ll hurt her. And if you do, I’ll lead you to them. I have one condition.”
“I don’t make deals. I can’t. You know that.” Rogers lowered his voice. “What do you know?”
Neil clenched his teeth. He wasn’t working for the government anymore; he was working for Steffenbraun. And even though he didn’t care about either side at the moment—he only cared that Mavra got out safely—he felt a strong need to keep the dark energy balancer out of the government’s hands. He hated to admit it, but Mavra would tell him that it was intuition that made him feel that way. But whatever it was, he had to commit to it. Clarity of mission was what brought a goal into completion. “We’ll talk, but you have to back away from that cabin.”
“Pull back,” Rogers ordered someone over the phone, probably for Neil’s benefit.
“They are waiting for the time machine to be stored in a warehouse outside of town and near the facility. Smythe is getting me the exact address. I’ll forward his text when I get it. We can wait for them there. I have an idea.”
“How do you know all of this?” Rogers said with some suspicion in his voice.
“Got it from the source,” Neil said. “The rest I figured out. That’s why they called me in the first place. Remember? I’m the expert on this case.”
“I’m with you. But you’d better let us handle this. You promised to take orders from me.” Rogers probably knew that Neil would say whatever he had to in order to stay on the case, but he also needed to hear the words before he could allow himself to go with Neil’s plan.
“I promise that I’ll follow your orders,” Neil said as straight as he could. He wanted no interpretation to his words that would cause Rogers to back out of the deal.
“I’ll meet you wherever you want,” Rogers said.
Neil gave Rogers a rough outline of his plan, knowing that it would be easier for the FBI to wait than it would be for him. Every minute felt like an hour as long as Mavra was in their hands. Robots had no empathy for humans. They were programmed, and if they were programmed to kill, then that’s what they’d do. What he couldn’t figure out was who had programmed them. If Steffenbraun hadn’t created them, then someone in the future programmed them to return…
Neil snapped his fingers. That was it. Steffenbraun did create them in the future in order to return for the dark energy balancer. If he had the balancer now, he could prove out his theories about time travel and become famous. As it stood, his future looked pretty dim. The project closed down, the equipment stored away. He’d have a pretty shitty life from here on out. In the future, he’d be doing this all behind the scenes. He’d be ninety or so and have barely enough time to enjoy his fame. If he could change that in this time period, he’d sidestep all those barren years.
Neil took the curves on the country roads as though they were straight-aways, hugging the middle of the road, praying that he didn’t hit wet patches of leaves. He only slowed when he noticed headlights coming in the opposite direction, and then barely enough to execute the curve. Even at that, he drove using one side of his brain with his eyes locked together. He relied on the triangulation of sight to best maneuver close distances like the road shoulder.
The other side of Neil’s brain, functioning fully and alert, detailed his plan. He’d need equipment from his house, a small amount of food and water, and the approval of General Harkins. Damn it, he thought, Harkins would never let him do this, not now. He’d have to sneak in with Rogers, and Rogers wouldn’t approve of that. Or he could go it alone. But he’d already alerted Rogers of the plan.
Neil struggled with his own thoughts while accomplishing the near impossible as he drove toward his home. Back in city limits, Neil flew past a standard police speed trap and watched in his rearview mirror as the cop pulled onto the highway. The sirens went on immediately.
He slowed, pulled over to the side of the road and parked. His heart was already racing from the wild ride he’d taken, but he had to calm down or he’d blurt out something that wasn’t necessary.
He rolled his window down.
The policeman approached his door and Neil had to turn to look back at him when he talked.
“Do you know how fast you were going?”
“I do. About ninety, but I can explain.” Neil looked at the man’s nametag and recognized it. “Blakely?” The officer was one of those Neil had met at a weekend barbeque that Mavra dragged him to. He was suddenly glad she had made him go. At least the man knew who he was.
Blakely leaned closer. “Neil, what the hell were you thinking?”
“Look. I’m on a case and Mavra has been taken hostage. I was running scared. I need to get back to the house for supplies.”
“What’s going on?” Blakely said.
“I can’t tell you. Please, you have to believe me.”
“I believe you, but you were endangering…”
“There’s no one on the road. I’ll pay the ticket. I really don’t care about that. I just have to get to the house now. Look, you can follow me there and write me up while I’m getting prepared. Please, this is life or death.”
“Go,” Blakely said. “But drive the speed limit. The next guy won’t let you off the hook.” He slapped the side of the car. “Good luck.”
Neil had not expected to be let go. He really didn’t care about a ticket, but this worked for him. He only had ten miles or so to go, and he could hold back his speed if he had to. He waited until Blakely got back into his cruiser before he pulled onto the highway and headed toward his house. It took almost twenty minutes to get there, but he’d made it.
Neil shot from his car and ran for the door. Inside he stopped in the kitchen. The trouble with essentially having two brains is that most of his actions needed him to be in two different places. This meant that one side of his mind became frustrated while waiting for the other side to finish a task. That’s how it was with him as he packed food and water into a sack.
After a few minutes, he busted through the living room and into his lab.
He had organized in his head the equipment he would need to complete his planned operation. He shuffled through his workbench like he would a messy desk drawer, shoved everything into a duffle, and snatched his food sack on the way out of the house. Neil locked up, rushed to his car, and threw everything into the passenger seat. He backed out and, watching his speed, headed for the temporary storage facility Smythe had texted him about. He had no intention of waiting for Rogers.
CHAPTER 19
MAVRA WAS WRONG about the FBI. They were able to find her. And they managed to climb up the mountain in the middle of the night, as well. She didn’t know which of the FBI agents she had met, other than Rogers, had traipsed up through the woods, probably the younger ones. Neil wasn’t with them. She hoped that he figured out her lead. She had said it often enough.
She sat on a damp, uncomfortable stuffed chair with her legs tuck
ed under her. Inside, the cabin smelled musty from being closed up. Spider webs stretched across each of the corners and on the legs of most of the furniture, what few pieces there were. The robots had lit a few candles, which threw a series of wavy shadows over the room.
She realized that even if Neil got the hint about the warehouse she had offered, would he figure out which warehouse? She had no idea where it might be. All she knew was that Leonardo had mentioned they were going there. She nodded to herself. Neil would figure it out. She was sure of it.
At the moment, her concern was aimed at what the FBI might do now that they found her. If they attempted to charge into the cabin, she was as good as dead.
Gatsby had seen them on his way to the cabin and alerted Jesus the second he arrived. The phone call Jesus made to Neil confirmed the situation. Then when Jesus talked directly with Rogers, she heard the whole conversation. Rogers told Jesus that the FBI would not advance. Jesus agreed to that scenario for the moment.
As Jesus talked with Rogers his mouth moved as though the words came from it, but the phone was held to his chest, which is where his microphone and speaker must have been located, which only added to the weirdness of the situation.
Mavra stared at the phone at first then raised her eyes to watch Jesus’s face. Until then, she had tried hard not to look any of them full in the face. In fact, she refused to address them in any way for fear that they would take it as an act of aggression. Because of that, she had become unaware of how totally strange and inhuman they were. Their clothes created the nuance that they were human, but everything else about them was a bit off.
As Jesus talked on the phone, his facial movements just weren’t right, and the candlelight made the peculiar downright unsettling. Under their shirts, their bodies appeared to be solid, not fleshy or moveable. That matched with her experience while being carried by Leonardo as well. They each wore an oversized sweatshirt and Mavra imagined that only their hands looked real. The rest of their arms and bodies could easily be plastic or rubber.
