Plot counterplot, p.25
Plot/Counterplot, page 25
Thank God he was out of that sausage grinder. Felt good to be able to take a deep breath. Being stuck in a passageway built for some pint-size R2-D2 was painful. Miracle he could still move, much less breathe. Now all he had to do was stay out of sight until Felix gave him the all-clear.
“Tolga? Are you there?”
Tolga almost jumped. Did the man not know he was speaking from the inside of his mouth? There was no need to raise his voice.
“Tolga? We have a problem. Are you in the electrical room?”
“Isn’t that where I’m supposed to be? So I have access to the corridor once Dylan andMikala are finished?”
“Yes, but that’s not the only reason you’re there. Dylan planted you as a backup in the event that—”
As if he didn’t know. “What happened?”
“Someone is trying to shutMikala out of Scheimer’s laptop before she can download the files. And he’s going to be successful in...thirty-nine seconds.”
He scrutinized the breaker boxes. “What do I do?”
“I’m sending the schematics to your iPhone.”
Tolga retrieved the device from between his butt cheeks. Embarrassing, yes, but the only place it could go without creating an obstruction while he slithered through the passageways. “Got it.” He moved to the second box. “Sixth switch from the top?”
“Seventh! For God’s sake, be careful!”
“Maybe I should trip them all, just to be safe.”
“That wouldn’t be safe. That would be stupid. If you shut down all the power, it will attract attention all over campus. Just eliminate the problem.”
“Understood.” Tolga counted down seven black switches. “Should I do it now?”
“No, take your time. You’ve got thirteen seconds.”
Tolga hated sarcasm. Perhaps because English wasn’t his first language. “Throwing the switch...now.”
* * *
Detwiler was searching for his wallet when the lights in his guardpost went out. What now?
This had been a hell of a day. First that drunken lunatic in the bubblehead, then a moron crashes into a tree, now an electrical outage. Actually, come to think of it, the last PFD had been worse. But still. Who needed this?
He checked the building. The interior lights were still on. Maybe they just tripped a breaker somewhere. Overloaded a circuit. Those scientists might be geniuses, but they had about as much common sense as his cat.
He’d better check it out. He hated to leave his post, especially with the parade running. But he would be remiss not to investigate. He could be in the electrical room in a couple of minutes. Then he could see for himself what was happening. And take care of the problem. Whatever it might be.
* * *
“That wasn’t the right switch!” Felix screamed into Tolga’s ear.
“I did the seventh one! I did what you told me!”
“These schematics must be out of date. Try the eighth one.”
“Are we just going by trial and error now?”
“No, I’m consulting a psychic. Have you thrown the switch yet?”
“Should I?”
“Lani will be shut out in five seconds. Do it!”
“You mean it? You’re not being sarcastic?”
“Throw the goddamn switch!”
“Throwing the switch...”
* * *
Dylan fought against the panic rising in his throat. He had not anticipated every contingenCy. He had not foreseen the possibility of someone shutting down Scheimer’s files remotely. And he had no idea how to deal with it.
He finished setting the stage. He ran through the lab smashing quantitative equipment, electroencephalographs, a magneto-optical trap, and something Dylan thought was a femtosecond comb.
“How’s the download coming?” he asked, trying to keep the urgenCy he felt out of his voice.
“Not fast enough,”Mikala replied.
“Felix, help us.”
“Working on it,” he growled back.
Five, four, three...
The top horizontal bar disappeared.
“You did it!” Dylan cried.
“I didn’t do anything,”Mikala said.
“I did,” Felix crowed. “With an assist from Tolga. How much longer till the files are downloaded?”
“About fifty seconds,” Dylan replied. “Shouldn’t be a problem.”
“I beg to differ.”
“What do you know that I don’t?”
“What would you do if your power went out just after you spotted an unauthorized intrusion into top-secret government files and tried unsuccessfully to shut them down?”
Dylan felt his heart sink. “I’d check it out.”
“I’ve hacked into the building’s CCTV. Someone is headed your way. He’ll be there in less than a minute.”
“How do I get out without being spotted?”
Felix was so succinct Dylan wanted to slap him. “You don’t.”
Chapter 53
3:01 p.m.
9 minutes left
“Get out of here,” Dylan told Mikala. “Now.”
“But—”
“It will be much simpler for one person to escape than two. I’ll bring the files when the download is finished.”
“We should just take the laptop.”
“If we do that, they’ll know they’ve been robbed.”
“They’ll know they were robbed if they catch the robber!”
“I won’t get caught.”
“But—our plan—”
“Lani, it’s better this way. Now you won’t be responsible for...what I’m about to do.”
“Dylan, I think—”
“This is an order. Go.”
“But I—”
“Don’t argue. Just remember everything I told you before. Go!”
She disappeared. He waited until the last file downloaded. While he waited, he opened the eighth file and read as much as he could. Fortunately, a lifetime of voracious book consumption had made him a fast reader.
“The computer monitor stopped in the front lobby to talk to the guard,” Felix informed him. “You’ve got maybe another minute.”
Good. He kept reading. The fundamentals on how the weapon worked. For anyone who had the Key. And where it was located. Critical equations.
When he’d read as long as he could afford to, he closed the file.
He right-clicked on the eighth file. And chose Delete. Then he emptied the reCycle bin and told the computer to reboot. He placed it on Scheimer’s desk, just under his head.
When everything was in place, he removed the flash drive and ran.
* * *
After he lost power, Joe had been tempted to call his Navy contacts. But they would undoubtedly ask him to stay put till they arrived. He decided to show them how proactive he was by taking the lead.
He’d almost made it to the main corridor when he bumped into the security guard posted outside the front entrance.
“Gerald Detwiler,” the guard said, extending his hand.
“Of course.” He did not return the handshake. He didn’t do handshakes. He saw no reason to share germs in such an unnecessary manner. “What brings you inside?”
“Power went out in the guardpost.”
Joe’s nose crinkled. “Same thing happened in the library. Which I thought odd. But if it’s happening everywhere...”
“Probably some absent-minded Einstein left his Bunsen burner on too long. Scheimer blew the circuits last week with an unauthorized experiment.”
“Yeah. Probably something like that.”
“Still, thought I should check it out.”
“Of course. We must be vigilant.”
“Absolutely. Keep the drunken students away from the mad scientists.”
Joe laughed. “You check the electrics. I’m going to the lab. That’s my protocol in the event of any potential computer interference.”
He nodded. “Call me if there’s anything wrong.”
“Believe me, Detwiler. I will.”
* * *
“Did Mikala get out safely?” Dylan asked.
“She did,” Felix replied. “But what about you?”
“I’ve got the files. I’m halfway down the central corridor.”
“You won’t make it in time.”
“What do you mean?”
“In ten seconds, you’re going to have company.”
* * *
Ten minutes ago, Tolga’s left arm had ached severely. At present, there really was no arm. Just one big long hurt radiating from the ulna to his fingertips.
“Are you back in the interior passage?” Felix asked.
“Is the sausage back in the grinder?” Tolga replied, swearing under his breath, pulling himself along by inches. “Yes, in fact I am.”
“That’s good. Because the guard is entering the electrics room.”
Tolga swore silently. A few seconds slower and he would’ve had a difficult situation to explain. Probably the last explaining he would do in his entire life.
“But this leaves you a clear path out front. The guard is not at his post. You can escape.”
“Fabulous. I should be there in a couple of minutes.”
“Except that you need to pause along the way and readjust the camera. Remember—no traces.”
Right. “Will Dylan andMikala be able to escape?”
“Lani is already gone. Dylan can’t go out the front. Someone’s in the corridor.”
“Then—”
“Just worry about your part, okay? I can only solve five or six major crises at once. This thing is unraveling like virus-infected code.”
Tolga continued slithering through the impossibly narrow passage. He reached forward with his all-but-useless left arm—
Too far. His arm wouldn’t move. Wouldn’t move at all. Something had severed, some nerve ending had short-circuited.
He was sandwiched inside a passage too small for a medium-sized dog, unable to move. He wouldn’t get out in time. Which meant he would be captured. Dylan would be captured. The mission would fail.
And he knew all too well what the price of failure would be. Xavier would kill them all.
Chapter 54
3:05 p.m.
5 minutes left
Joe didn’t know what to expect when he entered the lab, but he thought he was prepared for anything.
He was wrong.
The lab looked as if a tornado had blown through. Breakage everywhere. Test tubes shattered. Papers scattered. Chairs upended. Another chair on the worktable. Shards of glass made the floor a chaotic mosaic. He could barely walk.
A telltale bottle of sour-mash whiskey rested on a countertop. And Dr. Scheimer was hunched over his desk.
Joe took a whiff. He could smell the alcohol on the scientist a foot away.
He knew the doctor liked to end the day with a drink. Or six. As long as he got his work done, no one cared. But this was early in the day for him.
Joe recalled the doctor mentioning how much he hated PFD—the noise, the distracting revelry. Looked like he retreated to his favorite coping mechanism. And went on a rampage. Not the first time that had happened.
Scheimer’s head rested on the keyboard. That would explain all the false password entries. Hard to type properly with a drunken forehead.
He walked the length of the lab, casting his eyes around. No one else was here. No one in the corridor. No one on the surveillance camera. Just a scientist who decided to celebrate the holiday with a binge.
He supposed he should be relieved, but it was hard not to feel somewhat disappointed. He was hoping to show those Navy boys how alert he was. Might’ve even gotten a promotion out of it.
He decided to wait in the lab till the doctor awoke. Just in case.
He wanted to make sure he hadn’t missed anything.
* * *
Dylan heard someone stomping around the lab. He lay flat on his stomach, trying not to make any noise. He’d put a chair on the lab worktable and pushed through the insulated paneling on the ceiling to escape. He hovered in the narrow air passage between ceiling and roof, hoping the man downstairs didn’t get suspicious about the chair on the table.
Dylan slithered like a snake till he reached the access panel leading to the roof. He pushed upward and crawled through the opening.
He was out of the building. But hardly free.
“I must hand it to you,” Felix said, in a voice that was beginning to irritate the hell out of him. “Using that escape hatch was a bold move. Good thing you memorized the building schematics.”
What Felix and Xavier and everyone else—exceptMikala—didn’t know was that Dylan had planned to leave this way all along. Wheels within wheels. Contingencies within contingencies.
Looking down toward the street, he could see the last of the parade floats streaming by.
“Any idea how you’re going to get down?” Felix asked.
“Does it matter? I can wait till nightfall. I can wait till Tuesday if necessary. Just so I’m not seen.”
“That could be a problem.”
Dylan felt the short hairs rise on the back of his neck. “What are you saying?”
“Something I just picked up on radar and confirmed on television. Channel 7 News is covering the parade. Their copter will be in range in about two minutes. No way they won’t see you. And photograph you. Might even land and ask you some questions.”
“I won’t answer.”
“That’s correct. Because Xavier will shoot you before you have a chance.”
* * *
Tolga was drenched in sweat, but that was good, in a perverse way. The increased moisture lubricated his passage through this insanely narrow chute. He was advancing by inches, half-inches even. Somehow he had managed to realign the camera. Now all he had to do was get out before the guard returned to his post. But Tolga wasn’t moving half as fast as he’d planned or Felix wanted.
My God, it hurt. His arm ached like nothing else he’d felt in his entire life. This was supposed to be a lark, he reminded himself, gritting his teeth. When Xavier gave him a chance to improve his financial situation, he thought, why the hell not? Why spend the rest of his days performing in shows that didn’t use him to his full potential for kids who’d rather be at home playing videogames? How much longer could he handle piddling little Copenhagen capers before he got caught?
They didn’t have to tell him what would happen if he were caught. An organization like theirs didn’t survive by being merciful or by taking unnecessary risks.
He had to make it out.
“The guard has flipped the power back on,” Felix announced. “You’ve got about one minute to depart before he returns to his post.”
Tolga tensed every muscle in his body, pushing forward with every ounce of energy left to him. Come on...
Even though he could barely turn his head to the side, just ahead, no more than five or six feet—he saw light.
He was almost there. The same ceiling panel he’d used to enter.
He could do this. He had to do it. Push. Push...!
Tolga made it in just under a minute. He was getting so good at manipulating the screwdriver with one hand he could do it in his sleep. He popped the bolts, popped the lid, and eased himself out head first.
He tried to grip the ceiling and leverage his way out, but his right hand was too weak and his left wasn’t moving at all. He fell hard shoulder first and clattered to the ground.
He sprang up, poised, ready to fight. He looked left. He looked right.
The guard wasn’t there yet. No one had heard.
He didn’t wait any longer. He reattached the lid and got the hell out of there, glad to be gone.
“I’m free,” he whispered. He reversed his black shirt, turning it into what resembled a university T. He headed straight for the parade and blended into the crowd. “So where’s Dylan?”
There was a pause before Felix answered. “You’ll never guess. And don’t look when I tell you.”
* * *
Xavier opened the back doors of the van. “Where the hell is he?”
“Up on the roof,” Felix answered.
“How will he get down?”
“That is the question. The one that seemingly has no answer. And he’s about to be spotted by a news copter.”
“Unacceptable.” Xavier knew Dylan had planned for every possible contingency. He must’ve known about the roof access panel in advance. So he must’ve known it was a possible escape route. Even if he didn’t anticipate the news copter, how could he have possibly failed to plan a way off the roof?
And the answer was: He didn’t.
That was the reason for the foam rubber.
He bolted out of the van. Just as he suspected—Lani was moving toward the car.
He raced up beside her and clamped a thick hand down on her shoulder. “I do not think so.”
She was so startled she jumped. “But—Dylan—”
“Yes. He needs rescue. And then the two of you drive away into sunset. No.” Before she had a chance to scream or otherwise attract attention, he threw her into the backseat and locked the doors. Then he slid inside and turned the ignition.
The guard, Detwiler, walked toward them. Good thing he’d never seen Xavier without his bobblehead. Smiling, he toldMikala, “If you do not stay quiet, I kill you and Dylan both. Then your father.”
She kept her mouth closed.
Xavier rolled the window down. He raised the pitch of his voice and did his best to sound American. “Security. Just cleaning up.”
Detwiler did not appear to recognize his voice. “Good. I was afraid I’d have to figure out what to do with that thing.”
“Be gone soon.”
And he would. As soon as he circled back in front of the physics lab.
* * *
“Twenty seconds till the news copter is in range,” Felix announced.
Dylan bit down on his lower lip. There was no good solution here. Only one option. He’d seen Xavier start the car. He was now pulling it—and its cargo—into range in front of the lab.
“You sure you can’t distract the copter? Make something explode off campus?”
“I’m sure. Ten seconds.”
“How much foam rubber did we put in that volcano?”
“Does it matter?”
