Game changer, p.27
Game Changer, page 27
“Sorry,” said Quinn wryly. “I didn’t mean to sugarcoat the situation.”
“You think you’re saying that ironically,” said Regev. “But you aren’t.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that this story gets a lot worse,” whispered the Israeli. “Matrix Learning was so effective it was irresistible to the higher-ups in Israel. They used it to flash-educate themselves as well. Wortzman. Kish. Numerous others.” He paused, a horrified expression on his face. “The entire upper level strata of Israel’s government and military will eventually go mad.”
For the first time, Quinn’s mouth dropped open.
“Not to mention all the scientists and diamonds in the rough we used this on,” continued Regev, “many who are now CEOs of our companies.”
“Incredible,” said Rachel in dismay. “You’ve managed to turn scores of the most brilliant, accomplished, and powerful people in your country—with knowledge of the most advanced technology base in the world—into ticking time bombs.”
Regev nodded solemnly.
“It’s hard to imagine how you could have possibly screwed yourself any worse,” said Quinn.
This seemed to shake Regev from his depression. Strength and resolve returned to his features. “When we told your government about how we stopped imminent attempts by Iran and North Korea to use nuclear weapons, this was true. So while things don’t look good, we owe our very existence to the Matrix Learning program. Without it, Israel and Washington both would be radioactive wastelands. If we could go back in time, we’d still do the same thing we did. We were enormously lucky to get it to work, and now the universe is evening the scales by hitting us with an enormous dose of bad luck.”
“How good is your computer model when it comes to the onset of madness?” said Rachel. “Can you get any sense of precision from just three data points?”
“We can’t be certain, but we think so. Our model would have predicted the timing of the first three cases with great accuracy. The good news, if there can be any, is that we have about three months before the next of our people go over the cliff. After that it will be a steady drip, drip, drip. Fifteen to twenty months from now, an avalanche of people will be affected, although most of them don’t know anything about this yet. We’re debating what actions to take as each victim approaches their tipping point. Surveillance, at minimum. Sedation? House arrest? Imprisonment? There are no easy answers.”
Regev paused and there was an extended silence in the room as the two Americans struggled to digest the unthinkable.
“There is only one answer that isn’t catastrophic on a number of levels,” continued Regev finally. “We need to learn why this is happening. We need to find a way to stop it. Reverse it. Everything depends on this. And not just for our country. Even if we discount Israel tearing itself to shreds and the collateral damage that is bound to follow, the threat to the entire world that Kovonov poses, all by himself, is off the scale.”
“And you have no idea what’s causing it?” said Quinn.
“No. It’s subtle, whatever it is. Neurons and brain structure look normal. Our best people are mystified.”
“That’s why Rachel is so critical to you,” said Quinn. “Isn’t it? Because she’s the only neuroscientist alive more brilliant than Kovonov. Not to mention having the added advantage of being sane.”
Regev nodded. “We see her as our only real chance. We hoped to convince her to lead a team to find a cure for whatever this is. In a hurry. Secondarily, we hoped she could help find a way to detect when a mind has been tampered with along the way.”
The Israeli turned to Rachel. “It is a lot to ask, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. That’s why I enrolled in your class. So we could get to know each other. So we could increase our chances of successfully recruiting you. Everything depended on it. As important as we portrayed you in our fabricated story to President Davinroy, it turns out you’re a hundred times more important in reality.”
Rachel blinked rapidly, dumbfounded by these revelations.
“Our intent would be to disclose to you everything we know. How our system works and all of our data. We could leapfrog you many years ahead of where you are now.”
“What, using Matrix Learning?” said Quinn in disgust.
Regev nodded reluctantly. “We’re running out of time,” he explained. “Once we’ve loaded all the information we have on our Matrix Learning program into her brain, we would plan to load additional fields that she could draw upon for a solution. Computer science, physics, medicine, mathematics. Far lesser scientists than her have made huge breakthroughs after our procedure. The extension of their working knowledge helped to spark unprecedented connections between seemingly unrelated ideas and fields.”
Rachel shook her head in disbelief. “So your plan is to hit me with the same tech you know leads to insanity?”
“Believe me, I know how much we’d be asking. But I’m not sure you can fully appreciate the stakes even now. We’re desperate. More than desperate. My trip here to begin to recruit you is one of the most important assignments ever given. Maybe a lesser scientist will solve this, but you are our best hope. If you refuse, or if you fail, the world faces catastrophic consequences. But if you succeed, you probably save millions of lives, and perfect a technology that has been your lifelong dream.”
Rachel nodded slowly. “Is that everything?” she said. “I want to be sure you’ve put everything on the table before I tell you what I’m thinking.”
“Yes. That’s all of it.”
“No it’s not,” said Quinn. “You’re close, Eyal. But we’re not quite finished yet.”
44
In Quinn’s opinion, Regev had done a thorough and unflinching job of telling them the hideous truth. He was sure the Israeli wasn’t withholding anything on purpose, but had just forgotten that he still knew things that they didn’t.
“What am I missing?” said Regev, genuinely confused.
“Current events,” replied Quinn. “How did I get involved? Why does Kovonov want to kill Rachel?”
“Right,” said Regev, looking a little embarrassed to have left this off. “There is that.”
He paused to gather his thoughts. “With respect to you, Kevin, we had heard rumors that Kovonov had managed a less invasive technique for messing with people’s minds. Given your case this must be true. A cause for even more alarm. We believe that you are one of his first attempts at implanting false memories. One of his first guinea pigs.”
“But why? Why me?”
“When I spoke with Wortzman earlier he had some compelling analysis on this, which makes a lot more sense than I would have guessed. First, Kovonov despises your president. Many in Israel aren’t big fans. You aren’t aware of Davinroy’s interactions with Kish behind the scenes. Even though your president portrays himself as a true friend of Israel, he is not. In many ways the opposite.”
“Actually, I am aware,” said Quinn. “He sees the drive for a global caliphate as a ravenous beast and wants to placate it in the hope of keeping it calm. Proving he has no clue about its nature. How he can possibly believe it can be reasoned with or appeased is beyond me.”
“Which is why Kovonov would love to see him dead. And while Kovonov may be insane, we believe he remains fiercely loyal to Israel. Which brings us to you.”
Regev paused. “Wortzman reminded me that you’re known to the Mossad as well, for more than your recent attempt on Davinroy’s life. You were also the agent who saved the president of Syria a few years back, weren’t you?”
Quinn gritted his teeth. “I was,” he said bitterly, the mixed emotions he felt over this action not having diminished with time.
Rachel turned to him in surprise. “That was you?” she said.
Quinn nodded. His identity as the man who had saved Zahir was never disclosed, but the controversy of the Syrian president’s visit to the US was well known, as was the fact that he had been saved by a Secret Service agent who many in America believed shouldn’t have done so.
“The assassination attempt on Zahir was our op,” continued the Israeli, addressing Quinn once again. “It was disguised so it couldn’t be traced back to us, but it was ours. One of the few that failed. After the fact, Mossad made it our business to hack into your file. We learned that it wasn’t our incompetence that caused the failure, but your proficiency. We learned that you were very good at what you did.”
Regev pursed his lips, remembering. “Our decision to mount the op in the first place was highly contentious. Almost as many were against it as were for it. All agreed Zahir was a monster. But history has shown that the removal of a monster in our part of the world can lead to even worse outcomes.”
“How has it come to this?” mused Rachel. “When did keeping a genocidal mass murderer in place become the best outcome we can conceive of?”
“When hordes of people passionately believe their god has called on them to destroy the world,” replied Regev. “When this happens, rational options go by the wayside. I was in the camp who opposed the assassination attempt,” he added, nodding at Quinn. “Those of us in this camp believe we owe you a debt of gratitude for stopping it. Others in my country will never forgive you.”
“Let me go out on a limb here,” said Quinn dryly, “and guess which camp Kovonov is in.”
Regev smiled. “Let’s just say that you aren’t his favorite Secret Service agent.”
“We had the same two factions in the US when it came to Zahir,” said Quinn. “About half would have seen me as a hero, and half a villain. To avoid backlash from this second half, we decided to keep my name out of it.”
“Good choice,” said Regev. “Did you also believe that removing Zahir would have made things worse in the region?”
“To be honest, I wasn’t sure. I was only certain of one thing: I had agreed to do my best to protect him. So I did.”
Regev nodded. “I admire that, I really do. But getting back to current events, Kovonov must have figured that by turning you into the instrument of Davinroy’s death, he got to kill two hated birds with one stone. And what a great experimental test of his capabilities, both the memory implantation and his new less-invasive technique.”
“It’s hard to imagine I’m the first person he used this on,” said Quinn.
“We aren’t sure,” said Regev. “But you were among the first, that much is clear. And you would have been the sternest test of his capabilities. You’re a highly trained agent. Smart. Confident. Strong-willed. So he programmed you with memories that were so far-fetched, so improbable, that if the procedure wasn’t absolutely flawless it would never work.”
“He definitely didn’t shy away from extreme field conditions,” said Rachel, almost approvingly.
“No he didn’t,” agreed Regev. “And don’t forget that Kevin had also sworn to protect the president with his life. So Kovonov’s tampering had to be powerful enough to overcome even this. To transform Kevin from a protector to a killer using false memories that Kevin should have found absurd.”
“His technology worked like a charm,” said Quinn, disgusted with himself for not being stronger, not being smarter. “Except that Davinroy got lucky. I failed. As it turned out, I got lucky, although that’s not what I thought at the time.”
He paused. “So why did Kovonov come after me later?”
“As you discovered, he had a fly drone watching his weapon—you—in action. He must have been furious when he saw you fail. On the other hand, I’m sure he was thrilled when you accused Davinroy of the exact atrocities he had implanted in your mind. Regardless, he expected you’d be caught or killed afterward. When you escaped, this opened attractive possibilities.”
“Like what?” asked Quinn.
“Like obtaining additional data,” said Rachel, answering for the Israeli. “Irresistible to the scientist in him. I’d be just as eager to get my hands on you.”
“If you were ruthless and psychotic, you mean?” said Quinn.
Rachel allowed herself a smile. “Of course,” she replied. “But Kovonov must have been eager to interview you about what you remembered—or thought you did. Before you escaped from his men you never guessed these memories were false. He could find out what percentage of his implanted memories took, how cleanly, how well connected to your rage centers, and so on. Then he could put you in an MRI. After that he’d probably . . .”
Rachel trailed off and Quinn realized she had no plans to finish the thought. “He’d probably what?” he prompted.
“Well, given his disregard for life, he’d probably, you know . . . dissect your brain.”
Quinn raised his eyebrows. “Then all things considered,” he said, “I’m glad I escaped. You know, as fun as brain dissection sounds.”
Rachel laughed.
Quinn faced the Israeli once more. “But if I wasn’t the first subject,” he pressed, “couldn’t he have done these experiments on someone else?”
“All of this is guesswork,” said Regev, “but I suspect he needed any others he was manipulating alive. You were expendable. And he really, really isn’t a fan. In his condition, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was looking forward to torturing you to death—very slowly. You know, before he removed your brain for further study.”
Quinn shuddered. “Have I mentioned I’m glad I escaped?”
Regev nodded.
“Good,” said Quinn. He paused in thought. “Okay, this explains me. But what about Rachel? Why would Kovonov try to kill the scientist he worshiped?”
“We can’t be sure,” replied Regev, “but we think he guessed how badly we wanted her.”
“But she’s his only hope for a cure,” said Quinn.
Rachel shook her head. “That’s probably the last thing he wants. Despite global changes to his personality he’s almost certain to be quite happy with the new him. Many psychopaths know they’re psychopaths, for example, but would never want to be cured. They see themselves as superior. Unshackled from the ethical bonds that hold others. It’s likely Kovonov feels the same way.”
Quinn eyed the Israeli. “So he’s trying to kill her because she might cure him?” he said.
“That’s our guess,” said Regev. “And also because she has the best shot at developing countermeasures against the neurotech he plans to deploy. But after he went rogue, we failed to predict Rachel would be on his radar, or that he would make the effort to eliminate her.”
“No kidding,” said Quinn. “Which is why you were caught so off guard.”
“You’re right, of course,” said Regev. “As embarrassing as it is, if you hadn’t been able to escape from the two mercenaries to warn her—and us—they probably would have succeeded.”
“You’re welcome,” said Kevin evenly. “I could sense your gratitude when you tried to kill me.”
“Like I said, we still thought you might be dangerous to Rachel. Once you proved otherwise, you became very important. Kovonov might have made a critical mistake leaving you alive. Rachel might be able to use you to reverse engineer his new technique.”
Quinn considered this for several seconds. “Why did you suddenly decide to make the disclosures you made during our recent vid-meet with Washington?” he asked. “To have a better chance to recruit Rachel?”
“When you burst onto the scene we realized Kovonov had improved his neurotech, making him even more dangerous. As if just having the fly drones wasn’t bad enough. When I leveled with you—partially—in the neighbor’s basement, and disclosed that the fly drones were ours, you admitted you had sent one to Cris Coffey for analysis. These two new factors made the decision easy. We would have needed to get the US involved soon, anyway, but given that the fly drone game was up this was the perfect time.”
“And your execution was flawless,” said Rachel.
Regev issued a short, self-critical laugh. “Not quite,” he said in disgust. “None of us had any idea Kovonov had taken an alias, not to mention one representing the exact number of neurons in an apparently famous worm.”
Quinn looked amused. “We have an expression, the worm has turned. Seems to me you’re living it.”
“If not for this one flaw,” said Regev with a frown, “it would have worked. Nothing could have convinced Rachel to join our efforts more than the events of the past few days, especially seeing living proof of memory implantation and having the president bless this assignment. She would have joined us in Israel. She would have come to know and trust the team while we determined the best way to ease her into the deep end of the pool.”
“You did succeed in enlisting US help in hunting down Kovonov,” noted Quinn. “Given he has sympathizers in your camp, this is an important step.”
Regev didn’t respond.
“And now it’s clear why you insisted Kovonov be killed at first sight,” continued Quinn. “If he was captured and had the chance to talk, Israel would have some explaining to do.”
“Having the US involved in the manhunt is critical,” said the Israeli, “but it only addresses the symptom—and only one of many. Nothing we achieved is nearly as important as persuading Rachel to join our efforts.”
Regev turned to the brilliant neuroscientist. “Rachel, you spotted our attempted deception, but it all would have come out soon anyway. Maybe it’s for the best it happened this way. When I said I would give my life to protect yours, I wasn’t being gallant or heroic. I honestly believe that you could help stave off massive destruction and bloodshed. Prevent the misuse of game-changing technology that you lecture about. And help prevent my country from tearing itself to pieces as its leaders go mad.”
Regev gazed deeply into her eyes. “So what do you say?” he continued. “I’m begging you. Not only on behalf of my country, but on behalf of America and the entire world. This will impact you, I promise. Your president should already be dead because of Kovonov. And his grand plans are sure to be massively destructive. Come to Israel with me. We can share our neurotech advances. Give you time to fully digest the implications of what is happening. Then you can decide if you’re willing to help us. Since we need your best work, your willing work, we can’t coerce you. If you refuse, you refuse.”
