by Brandt Legg
But the Catholic Church didn’t care about decades or even a few centuries. They dealt in millennia, and the world was a constantly changing creation. Anything could happen given enough time and the right circumstances.
Rip stood, at least that’s what he thought he was doing, shrouded in the blackness. Somehow he believed the woman could see him. The Spheres’ connecting with each other had been an early lesson, but he had searched and found nothing.
How did she locate me? And then he panicked. Who is she working for? Does she know where I am physically? He thought about stopping Gale from coming. Agents could be heading to El Perdido at this very moment!
Chapter 32
As Kruse lunged out of the crew’s quarters, he saw the bodies of the two now unconscious federal agents, bound with zip-cuffs . Gale followed closely, and saw, even before Kruse did, that two other men were keeping the crew and passengers down and quiet.
“Kruse, this way,” one of them yelled.
“AX agents,” he mouthed to Gale, as they started briskly down the aisles. Dread quickly replaced Gale’s brief sense of relief, imagining the gauntlet that lay ahead.
Two more AX agents waited at the front of the plane, where the door was already opened and joined to the gate’s gangway.
“How did you get here?” Kruse asked.
“We were on the plane the whole time,” one of them answered. “The boss doesn’t like to take chances. But we were unarmed, and had to wait until they rushed the door to act.”
“Just in time,” Kruse said as they ran down the gangway. “Thanks!”
One of the agents stayed on the plane to stop an immediate rush of panicked passengers toward the exits. The other three hurried Gale and Kruse to the restroom, one remaining in the hall for cover as the others all dashed inside. Kruse remembered this room and its tunnel from Booker’s instructions.
“The pilot and one of the feds had both called in from the plane,” one of the agents said as they used the code to unlock the maintenance door. “We may be only ninety seconds ahead of an army of pursuers.”
Once in that tunnel, they were only fifty yards from freedom. Rounding the last turn before the exit which led to Booker’s plane, they ran into a security guard. Kruse barreled into the man, instantly knocking him down.
The security guard seemed oblivious to the fact that he had just stumbled upon one of the world’s most wanted people, but was upset to be knocked over. “Hey!” he yelled as he tried to get up. Just as his radio announced the highest-level emergency code, one of the AX agents put him back down on the ground, where he would stay until medical attention arrived.
Kruse and Gale burst through the door and raced for the plane. Its engines were on, and the plane was already slowly rolling. They expected to be dodging bullets, but all seemed clear. They timed their steps and Kruse helped Gale jump onto the folded, extended staircase as the plane picked up speed. She heard Kruse land behind her, then he was pushing her up toward the entrance.
As she reached the top step, about to duck inside, she turned around and realized that it wasn’t Kruse behind her. It was one of the other AX agents. She glanced around and saw Kruse sprinting back into the airport. One last fight, she thought, as the agent shoved Gale into the plane and pulled the hatch shut.
“Happy you could make it,” the pilot said. “We’ve been cleared for take-off.”
“It still might get rough,” the AX agent said to Gale. “Better buckle up.”
“Where are we going?” Gale asked, still afraid to trust anyone.
“El Perdido,” the man replied. “I believe Rip is waiting there for you.”
Gale smiled as she buckled up, but she worried about Kruse. Although furious at what he had done, she knew she owed him her life many times over, and there was a very good chance that he would not live through the day.
—O—
Murik and Rathmore watched in disbelief as images streamed into the NSA situation room in Fort Meade, Maryland.
“That’s Gale Asher,” Rathmore said. “No question about it. What the hell is she doing in Hawaii?”
“Leaving in a hurry,” Murik said, pointing to satellite footage of the plane that security video had just showed her climbing into, now rolling toward takeoff.
“Bang-bang, you’re dead, fifty bullets in your head,” Rathmore said. “She’s not going anywhere. I’ll have that runway blocked in less than a minute.” He began shouting orders into another line, but the Conductor interrupted.
“Let her go,” she said.
“Are you crazy? I’m not letting her go!” Rathmore argued. Then he had to clarify his order to federal agents at the airport.
“Where do you think she’s going?” the Conductor asked calmly from the backseat of a black SUV racing toward Honolulu International Airport. It was her operation, but Rathmore had the final say.
“How the hell should I know? She’s running for her life. I can’t believe she flew to US soil in the first place, and on a commercial airline!” He laughed. “Maybe she wants to get caught.”
“She’s trying to get to Gaines,” the Conductor said.
“Right,” Murik agreed. “Why Hawaii? She could have flown in any direction. She’d lost us. She was free. Why fly into Hawaii, even if she didn’t know about the massive presence of agents and military personnel? It’s the United States, and she isn’t crazy.”
“She’s going to Gaines,” the Conductor repeated. “Gaines was here yesterday. He may not be far from here.”
“Maybe she thinks he’s still in Hawaii. Maybe he still is,” Rathmore said as Gale’s plane moved closer to the runway. Trucks were on standby to block it, military jets ready to scramble.
“That Gulfstream was waiting for her,” the Conductor continued. “She wasn’t planning to stay here, she was just switching planes. Let her go.”
“Oh,” Rathmore breathed, finally catching up to her thinking. “Let her go and she’ll lead us to Gaines.”
“That’s the idea,” the Conductor said. “She’s our best chance to find him and the Sphere.”
“I completely agree,” Murik added. “We can have half a dozen Navy jets in the air tailing her from a safe distance. Let’s see where she goes.”
Rathmore didn’t like to gamble. He knew getting Gale Asher to talk would not be easy. He already had authorization to torture her if necessary, but the moment she was captured, Gaines would most likely flee his current location, knowing she might crack.
Then again, Rathmore couldn’t resist the chance to finally be ahead of the leech. They could lock this down and have the situation wrapped up in a matter of hours.
“If this goes bad,” Rathmore said, looking from Murik to the Conductor on the monitor, “you are both sharing the blame when the Director wants blood.”
The Conductor nodded. “What about King?”
“I have my own director to deal with,” Murik said, referring to the CIA Director, but the NSA had the lead on this one because of HITE. Back in the late forties, and through most of the fifties, HITE had belonged to the CIA. Under the Kennedy administration, it was moved to the NSA. The Eysen-Sphere was the most advanced piece of technology ever known, and the NSA believed that the future stability of the world depended on who possessed it. Booker and the Foundation knew for a fact that it did. The Sphere owned the future, and both were determined to keep it out of the other’s hands.
“No one outside this room needs to know yet,” Rathmore said, answering all their questions. He motioned to the Vax analyst. “Track everything. If any data about Gale Asher, airplanes, or even the State of Hawaii moves, I want the report. Clear?”
“Yes sir,” the analyst said.
“If we’re lucky,” Rathmore began, “we’ll get Asher. If we’re not, at least we’ll flush out the damned leech. Now let’s do this!”
Chapter 33
Harmer had done everything possible to avoid leaving Cira without actually endangering the child. Now she sat, dejected and bruis
ed, on a private plane speeding toward Hawaii and Foundation interrogation. Harmer knew where the rendezvous point was. She had lived with them on El Perdido in those early years. The Foundation would eventually employ torture experts to extract the information from her. Booker would know that, and he would have BLAX, the dark ops section of AX, come for her.
If they can’t rescue me, they’ll make sure I’m dead before I can talk, she thought. It’s for the best. Thinking of Booker brought her some inner peace.
Taz had excused himself to check the update. Cira was an issue. Booker Lipton had already been in touch with top Foundation members to make a case for leaving her put, but Stellard and Taz knew the NSA would be there soon, and if the little girl were still there, they would take her. The Foundation needed Cira because her parents, like most parents, would do anything to save their child. But if the Foundation caused her permanent blindness, that would make things more difficult.
Still, she wouldn’t be dead, Taz thought, and that’s better than nothing.
Stellard and Taz agreed to utilize the same strategy that AX had used: hide the girl behind the phony supply closet. In the meantime, they would rely on their contacts within the NSA and the CIA to warn them if the agencies were close to moving on the hospital. Wattington would also work to promote a diversion that would transfer attention away from Fiji. A fabricated but reliable Gale Asher sighting should do it.
But who would report it, and where? they wondered. Developing a plausible story became a top priority.
Taz apologized to Dabnowski, who was growing impatient with him. Dabnowski believed Taz was “in way over his head.” If it weren’t for Dabnowski’s need to have the cooperation and protection of the Foundation, he would have already left.
“You were saying?” Taz prompted. “About the Sphere?”
“This is not a latent artifact created by some afore-unknown advanced prehistoric civilization,” Dabnowski said, pushing his eyeglasses up on the bridge of his sweaty nose. “I mean it is that, of course, but it is infinitely more. It proves everything that we do not know. It didn’t just show us the Cosega part ‘before the beginning,’ that what people believed about the Bible, about religion in general, was false. It showed that our whole history was false. Everything we thought we knew about where we came from, who we are, what we are, it’s all wrong.”
“I get that much.”
“Good,” Dabnowski said, allowing the brief beginnings of a smile. “I doubt you’ll ‘get’ much more than that.” He tried not to sound or appear condescending, but the truth was that Dabnowski, an astrophysicist, and his peers, some of the greatest minds in the scientific community, also had a hard time with the rest of it. “Because as mind-boggling as all that is,” Dabnowski continued, his face lighting up, “it’s the Eysen aspect of the Sphere, the ‘to hold all the stars in your hand’ part that really bends reality, distorts time, and connects everything.”
Taz looked at him, wondering if this nut would ever get to the point. “I know the Sphere is amazing. Why do you think we’re moving heaven and Earth to get the damned thing?” Taz wanted to move along and either get something that would help him locate Gaines and the Sphere, or, barring that, go pursue another lead. “So tell me about the telescopes. You never finished that.”
“Is there someone else I can talk to?” Dabnowski asked, exasperated. “No disrespect, but if you don’t understand what it is you’re after, how can you ever hope to find it?” Dabnowski asked this knowing that there was no chance in the world a person like Taz could ever “understand” the Sphere, but someone at the Foundation obviously had a sense of the awesome significance of the Eysen-Sphere, and that was the person Dabnowski needed to speak with.
Taz’s phone went off. He glanced at it and saw Stellard was interrupting again. “Sorry, but I have to take this.”
Dabnowski shook his head, sighed, and contemplated another way to save the Eysen-Sphere.
“We’ve received a gift from the gods. No diversion necessary,” Stellard began. “Word just came in. You’ll never believe where Gale Asher is at this very minute.”
“Could you just tell me?” Taz asked, looking back at a very impatient Dabnowski.
“Gale Asher just landed at Honolulu International!” Stellard said happily, actually clapping his hands as he said it.
“I can be there in fifteen minutes,” Taz said, already heading to the car. “What the hell is she doing in Hawaii?” He was sprinting now. “Do you think that means Gaines is still here?”
“I have no details yet,” Stellard responded. “Just get to the airport and hope we get to her first!”
As soon as Taz opened the car door, his driver pointed back at Dabnowski, who was standing, staring back at them with his hands on his hips.
“Damn, I forgot about him,” Taz muttered. “I’ll just be a second, and then we’re returning to the airport.”
He ran back to the astrophysicist.
“Sorry, we just got a major lead,” Taz said, panting. “We’ll need to finish this another time.”
“No,” Dabnowski said. “Here, take this.” He pushed his briefcase into Taz’s gut a little too hard. “If you find the information in there useful, if you can even comprehend what it is and you have questions, then get your boss or, better yet, whoever is in charge of the Foundation, to contact me.”
“Hey man, I said I’m sorry, but this is a big deal, and I’m being pulled in a few directions,” Taz said, nearly fumbling the briefcase.
Dabnowski looked around nervously, and then directly back into Taz’s sunglass-shielded eyes. “I can assure you that nothing you’re doing, no one you’re chasing, is as important as what the documents in that case will tell you.”
Taz looked down at the worn leather straps of the satchel, wondering why the astrophysicist hadn’t put the information on a flash drive. “Okay,” Taz said in his most conciliatory voice. “Thanks for your help. We’ll be back in touch.”
Dabnowski took one last look around, then, without a word, walked back the way he had come. Taz, baffled by Dabnowski’s attitude, turned and darted back to his waiting car.
“Nothing is more important than getting to the airport and finding Gale Asher,” he said to himself as he tossed the battered leather briefcase on the backseat and called Stellard for an update.
Chapter 34
The Judge listened to every word of the conversation between Savina and her assistants. Whatever the brilliant physicist did next would determine everything. Not only did her actions relate to the Sphere the Foundation already had, it also affected the one they hoped to get from Gaines. The fate of the Phoenix Initiative, and indeed civilization itself, depended on the Foundation’s controlling both Spheres. Even with the one they had though, it might mean their plans could still have a chance to succeed, as long as the one that Gaines had wasn’t used against them.
“Don’t betray me, Savina,” he whispered to the air as the group arrived back at the lab.
In the time it took them to get through security, the Judge took a call from Stellard and learned of Gale Asher’s arrival in Honolulu. The Foundation had a team in Hawaii on their way to assist Taz at the airport, but Stellard agreed with the Judge. The chances of getting around the NSA, CIA, and FBI were not likely.
“Assuming they take Asher alive,” Stellard said, warming his hands on a hot mug, “having her daughter will be even more important. Taz wants to preserve her eyesight and keep her in place, but it’s risky not moving her.”
“I agree with Taz,” the Judge said. “We have no indication that the US government is sending anyone to the hospital. Now with Asher found, they may just leave it alone. They know Gaines isn’t there since he was in Hawaii yesterday.”
“Okay,” Stellard said. “We’ll continue with the conceal and wait strategy.”
“Good,” the Judge replied. “Now, I want you to prepare for a ‘Fort Knox.’”
“It will require enormous resources,” Stellard warned, not surp
rised to hear the Judge reference their code word for an assault on a US government installation. As soon as Stellard had learned Gale was at the airport in Honolulu and that one of the American agencies was going to arrest her, he knew the Judge would order a Fort Knox.
“You have a blank check,” the Judge said. “You know that. A thousand men, more, I don’t care what it costs. If the government has her, they’ll get the Sphere. That cannot happen. That is doomsday, you understand? I don’t care if we have to blow up an entire military base.”
“Roger.” Stellard knew that whatever was necessary meant just that. “It would help if you can find out where they’ll be taking her.”
“Wattington should be able to get that, but I’ll send out feelers. I assume they’ll put her on a plane the minute they get her. Maybe we can get that plane.”
“Not sure we’ll have time unless you just want her destroyed.”
The Judge thought about that for a moment. Once they transferred Asher, it would be extremely risky to get to her. It would be better to have her dead than to have the American government have her.
“Shoot her down.”
—O—
Back in the lab after lunch, Savina pulled her owl-like glasses down from the top of her head and began a desperate search for the Cosegans. She’d looked before, but now everything was different. She knew Gaines was alive, she knew there was another Sphere, and she knew her Sphere was much more than an object from an out-of-place, advanced civilization.
“I don’t know what it is,” she said as the familiar Sequence cycled through, “but it makes me think that Booker Lipton’s new UQP science isn’t so crazy after all. He didn’t attract all those scientists to study it just by throwing a pile of money around. He knows something, and he most likely got it from Gaines’ Sphere.”
