The Aegis Solution (38 page)

As Rogan walked in, Pierce noticed an air of depression enveloping him like a cloud. Dropping into
a chair near her, he sighed, "We've lost eight more."

Pierce reacted to the news in much the same way that an overloaded mule might react to one more
sack of goods being dropped onto its back. "That puts us down to less than forty."

Rogan only nodded.

Her voice flat, she asked, "Not that it matters, but do you have any idea why?"

Rogan drew in a deep breath, letting it out slowly before he replied, "I guess it was because of the
electricity going out."

"The electricity? That's all? We have candles, and it isn't too hot or too cold right now. I don't…."

"Manager Pierce, you know it doesn't take much with our people. By the way, it's almost ironic, but
Johnson just got back from a little patrol, and I guess that Walden is about the only part of Aegis
without power."

Her eyes widened slightly. "How is that possible?"

"I don't know. I'm not an electrician. But I assume that when the solar panels on the roof were
destroyed, breakers would have tripped, protecting the batteries and circuits. It seems that our breakers
didn't trip quickly enough."


   
 

"Ms. Stephenson?"

Erin tilted her head so that she could see around Liz, the makeup artist preparing her for the late
broadcast. "What is it, Amber?"

"It's Rusty, from the National Weather Service. He wants to talk to you."

"I can't right now. I go on the air in ten minutes."

"I know. I told him that. But he said it was important."

It only took Erin a moment to decide. "Bring a cordless to me."

"Already did." The intern stepped closer, squeezing between the makeup tray and the chair, handing
the cordless phone to her boss.

Reaching up and brushing her blond hair behind her ear, eliciting a loud sigh from Liz, Erin lifted
the phone and said, "Hello, Rusty."

"Erin! Glad I caught you."

"Is there something wrong?" she asked, as Liz continued to dab at the pancake makeup on her face.

"You could say that. I'm sure your news department is probably aware of this. If they aren't, they
will be soon."

"Rusty, I've only got a minute or two…."

Speaking more quickly, he continued, "We lost a plane."

"What? What do you mean?"

"I reported the anemometer readings to D.C., and they had the 53rd Weather Recon Squadron send
a WC-130J to check out the situation. What they discovered was that the anomaly was centered on
Aegis."

"Aegis? The suicide tank?"

"One and the same. All of the winds are radiating outward from that point."

"How…? I don't understand, Rusty. How can winds blow outward in all directions from one
point?"

"I don't know, Erin. I wish I did. But it is definitely happening. And as they got close to the
complex, the winds were approaching ninety miles an hour."

Erin went blank. She had no idea what to ask next. Then she remembered his initial comment.
"You said you lost a plane?"

Before he could answer, the assistant director, ignoring the protests from Liz, pushed his way in
next to the makeup chair and urged, "Erin, we need you on the set."

The tension of the moment caused Erin's emotions to flare. "I'll be there when I can!" she barked
uncharacteristically.

Unaccustomed to this sort of an outburst from her, the assistant director backed off, mumbling
something to the effect that she should hurry, and then he scooted away, talking excitedly into the
mouthpiece arced around his cheek.

Returning her attention to the phone, she began again. "Rusty, sorry about that. Tell me about the
plane. What happened?"

"We don't have all the details yet. Those things are built to fly inside hurricanes, so I can't even
imagine what happened. In our last communication with them, they were about to enter the center
zone."

She could hear him cover the mouthpiece of the phone and begin speaking to someone else. A few
seconds later he spoke into the phone. "Erin, I've got to go. I'm heading out there now."

Once more, she only took an instant to make her decision. "Rusty, pick me up. I'm going with you."



The technician pulled back on the manipulator gloves and slipped her hands out of them, picking
up a cotton towel and vigorously rubbing her face.

"Yolanda, why is it the minute I put the gloves on, my face starts to itch?" she asked the technician
at the station beside her.

The other woman laughed. "Psychological, Syndi. You know you can't scratch it, so it itches.
Remember, this is much better than the full suits."

Standing, Syndi agreed, "That's true. Well, I'm done. Thirteen hours is long enough."

"I hear you. I'm about ready myself. I still can't believe they're having us retest."

"Guess they figure after two years of storage, they'd better make sure it still works."

Syndi left, and Yolanda completed the medium transfer she was working on. She pulled back on
the gloves to extricate her own hands, and noticed an unusual tug as she freed her right hand. Looking
down, she muttered, "Damn!" On her right wrist was a gold-plated charm bracelet, a gift from her sister
and strictly forbidden in the lab.

Nervously, she unclasped the bracelet and dropped it into her pocket, angling her body to obscure
what she had done from the ceiling-mounted camera, which was behind her and to the left. Glad that
she was the last person in the lab, she pulled out the right glove a bit farther and examined the portion
of it that had been adjacent to the bracelet.

She did not want to lean down and stare at it closely, as that would be too obvious on the security
camera. With the inspection Yolanda was able to do, the material looked intact. She did not notice any
tear or snag in the laminated and reinforced fabric.

The tension of the near catastrophe was causing her to sweat profusely. She picked up the cotton
towel from the neighboring station and mopped her face and neck, before getting up and hurriedly
departing the lab.



"I'm guessing you did connect with our colleague from Mossad."

"I did," Elias answered tersely.

Wistfully, Stone continued, "That's the weakness with intel – never the full picture. We thought he
had tried to set up a meeting but it hadn't happened yet."

"You and Faulk have too much faith in your technology and your own competence. I knew I was
being watched. I knew my emails were read and my phones were all monitored. When I heard from
Benjamin, I used an intermediary, made a blind drop."

"Ah, yes," Stone said, shaking his head, "the old-fashioned way."

"Everyone has become far too dependent on electronics. You've got whole rooms full of people
staring at computer monitors, waiting for the other guy to make a call, text a message, use a chat room,
or send an email. There's nothing like pen and paper, transported by a person you can rely upon."

"How did you meet him? After he left you that voice mail, we were watching him, too…every
minute of the day."

"I didn't say that I did, only that we connected. I sent him a message, using the drop, telling him
that he was also being watched. As you said, the old-fashioned way. Benjamin sat down, handwrote
everything he had learned, and the courier, someone I knew I could trust, brought it back."

Stone chuffed, a sound of disgust. "So I suppose you think you know it all."

"I have no idea if I know it all, and I don't care. I know about the lab. I know why you killed Leah.
And I know Faulk is behind all of it."

The one reaction Elias did not expect from his erstwhile friend was the one he got. Stone laughed,
the sound echoing off the concrete walls of the raceway. "It would be generous to say that you only
know the tip of the iceberg. But even what you think you've figured out is wrong."

"Why don't you enlighten me?"

"Why don't you go to hell?"

"The only person going to hell in the next few minutes will be you. I'm just giving you a chance to
clear things up for me before you go."

Stone stared at Elias for a moment. "Sure. Why not? You already know that Mossad raided a
Taliban nest in the West Bank. There was only one survivor, Bassam. You also know that Bassam was
Khalid's number-two man. Our Israeli friends don't have the weak stomach that we have as far as using
effective interrogation methods, so Bassam talked his head off. He told Benjamin about the lab. He told
him that Leah had found out about it and she had to die. How am I doing, so far?"

"He also told Benjamin that it was you who came up with the idea for the missile strike."

"He's right. It was. It was perfect. It got rid of Leah and gave Khalid a perfect PR story for the
whole world."

Elias felt his finger tighten on the trigger. With monumental effort, he relaxed the pressure.

Acting as if he were oblivious to the fury building in Elias, Stone inquired, "Tell me, Elias, what
did Bassam disclose to Benjamin about the lab?"

Even through the self-induced fog of his rage, Elias was unsettled by something in Stone's
demeanor, something he could not quite identify.

"That Faulk and others were operating a bio-weapon lab, in violation of our laws and international
treaties."

Elias saw a slight smile play across Stone's face. "That's it?"

"That and the fact that the lab was on the verge of perfecting a new aerosol agent."

Although he had the muzzle of an automatic rifle aimed at his chest, Stone relaxed. Elias, noticing
this, sensed that he was running out of time. "Eric, where's the lab?"

This last question from Elias caused Stone to break out in a broad grin. "Elias, thank you. Your
question was the last answer I needed from you. Now you only have one remaining function to fulfill."

Sensing the muscles in his back and neck tighten, Elias suddenly felt at a disadvantage but still was
not sure why. All at once, his thoughts crystallized. He shifted the barrel of the AK-47 downward so
that it pointed at Stone's leg, and pulled the trigger. He heard only a single click. At that moment, Stone
stuck his fingers into his pants pocket and pulled something out, tossing it on the floor between them.
It fell with a metallic clatter, coming to rest inches from Elias' feet. It only took him a moment to
recognize it.

"If you're going to shoot one of those things, Elias, it helps to have the firing pin installed."

As Elias was about to charge at him, Stone slid his hand behind his back and pulled out the 9mm.

"Stop!" Stone snapped.

Elias froze in mid-stride.

Taking in a deep breath, Elias asked, "Eric, why? What turned you?"

With a vicious snarl, Stone answered, "We don't have that kind of time. And I doubt that you
would understand, anyway. Leah sure didn't."

The final threshold had been reached. Stone had made one too many references to Elias' wife for
him to be able to keep a lid on his emotions. Despite the fact that Stone was holding him at gunpoint,
Elias threw the useless AK-47 at him, charging directly behind it, not caring at that moment whether
he lived or died. His mind registered the slight elevating of the pistol…the slow tightening of the finger
on the trigger. Stone was too well trained to panic and snap off a hasty shot. More than half the distance
between them was closed, when Elias heard the thunderous crack and roar of the discharge. Pure
adrenaline kept his legs moving forward as he waited for the effects of the bullet ripping through his
chest to register.

Inexplicably, he saw Stone's head explode into a cloud of pink mist, the already dead body toppling,
the 9mm tumbling to the floor, unfired. Unable to counter his emotion-charged momentum, he
slammed into the halfway-fallen body of Stone, with both himself and the body crashing down.

Pushing the inert form away, Elias scrambled to his feet and swung around, trying to figure out who
had intervened.

From the darkness of the raceway from which he had arrived, he heard a familiar voice. "This
saving your life thing is getting a little old."

Tillie stepped into the dim light, a bolt-action rifle resting casually on her shoulder.

She walked to where Elias was standing and looked down at the body. "Elias, I'm sorry."

With his ragged breathing, the hammering of his heartbeat in his head, and the ringing in his ears
from the rifle shot in the confined area, Elias was barely able to hear her soft apology. "You're sorry?
For what? You saved my life…again."

She looked up at him. "I know you wanted to be the one to do it."

He could not help but chuckle at her perceptiveness. "This'll do just fine."

"I tried. I was standing back there listening, waiting for you to get your shot. I only pulled the
trigger once it was obvious that you didn't have a chance."