Insequor (18 page)

The scene, as was so often the case, reminded Daniel of a funfair. Flashing lights and tents but with excited soldiers and scientists all scampering around like ants. The activity on this occasion was centred around a large hole in the sand dunes.

As his combat boots fell onto the sand he felt he was walking on cushions and was reminded of the last time at the beach in Florida. This was the closest they’d been to each other since that day. Today, perhaps, they’d get even closer or maybe part company forever. He took in a good lungful of air and felt the salt on the back of his throat. These things always had to happen near the sea as they couldn’t allow the robot to go inland; too big a risk.

Inside the jeep Veronica waited for him to offer her his hand which he did after a cautionary survey of the vista. As she stepped out she shielded her eyes from the sun before grabbing his arm.

“Is it close?” she said.

Toby had appeared and was carrying a clipboard. “We’ve got about ten minutes. You briefed, Daniel?”

About forty feet away the entrance to the hole was sucking in the sunlight. They walked toward it cautiously.

“It’s a hell of a hole,” he said, as they reached it. Leaning forward he could see the metal sides near the top but after that only blackness.

“Can you see the bottom?” Veronica nudged past him and he had to grab her and pull her back.

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

She squeezed his arm. “Tell me, are you sure it won’t be able to tear through the metal or dig through the earth?”

Toby looked across the horizon; there was a helicopter on it. “We’re never really sure of anything where
it’s
concerned.”

“Maybe fill it with concrete?” said Daniel.

Something had caught Toby’s eye over his shoulder and he ignored the suggestion.

“Excuse me,” said Toby, and walked straight past them both toward a group of soldiers stood by a truck about a hundred yards away.

“I think the concrete idea is pretty good,” said Veronica. She leaned in and kissed Daniel on the cheek.

He scoffed and hugged her, ran his fingers through her hair; the sunlight momentarily lighting it up as he softly stroked her ear.

“It’s as good as any of them.”

“What’s up with Toby?” she said.

He turned and looked back; Toby was arguing with some of the soldiers who looked at him with suspicion. One of them was holding his hands up trying to calm Toby down; two others were unloading boxes from a truck.

“I’ll go take a look, wait here.”

He strode off in the direction of the fracas. As he neared the wagon he could see there were two other soldiers behind it setting up what looked like some kind of rocket launcher.

As he neared them the soldier in debate with Toby gave him an unnecessary salute, “Sir.”

“Are you listening to me?” said Toby, “I’m asking who gave you authority to do this, captain?”

The captain turned to Toby with a barely covered air of contempt. “Sir,” he said, slowly, “we have orders from General Stagg to setup and carry out a UHP rocket test on the target.”

“UHP rocket?” said Daniel.

“Ultra-High Penetration,” said the captain, turning to Daniel. “It’s a uranium tipped rocket designed to – “

“I know what it is, captain!” said Toby, “I authorised the extraction from Russia of the scientist who designed it. Why is it here?”

“Our orders are to carry out a test firing on today’s target. We won’t be interfering with your operation in any way, sir.” He turned to Daniel, “Who knows, it might work.” The accent was New York, softer and friendlier now.

He gave a shrug and looked at Toby. “What’s the harm?”

“The harm is that the system has major problems.”

“Sir, we won’t be interfering with your operation.”

“You’re damned right you won’t. Dismantle it at once!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that, sir.” This time he stretched out his arms as Toby had begun to walk toward the soldiers setting up the rocket. Toby, exasperated, pulled out his phone.

“Hello?” He said into the handset, “Get me General Stagg.”

The captain went back to his men and started to help load a rocket into the chamber. The contraption was gun metal, mounted on a tripod with a viewer and small computer keyboard attached.

“I must protest, general.” Toby was speaking calmer but still firmly. “You are not authorised to do this. Tell your men to stand down.”

The captain was kneeling down and looking at a laptop; Daniel noticed it was a view of the robot, probably from a satellite. “Where is it?”

“About three clicks away. See the chopper on the horizon?”

“Yes.”

“That’s its escort. Should be here in ten minutes; we’ll take our shot when it’s about a click and a half. If it works, great, if not we’ll get out of your way.”

Toby was still arguing with the general. “I will not have my people placed in danger. You know how volatile these contraptions are.”

“Locked and loaded, sir,” said one of the soldiers.

“Prepare the shot,” said the captain.

“Is there any danger?” Daniel unconsciously stepped back. For some reason they were aiming it up to the sky.

“There’s always danger when dealing with this kind of thing, sir. The UHP is different in that it is designed to head into the atmosphere once it has acquired a target before turning and heading back to impact.”

“You mean it goes into space then heads back to hit it. Why?”

“To build up velocity. A regular surface to air missile can get up to about Mach 4. This hits Mach 10 giving unstoppable penetration. It’ll take out any armour it hits.”

“And you think you can hit the robot?”

“Yes, sir.”

Toby had returned and was slipping his cell phone back into jacket pocket. He wiped his forehead and glanced at the captain.

“I’m sorry, Daniel, I knew nothing about this. It’s the army.”

“I’m okay with it,” said Daniel, before shrugging. “It’s just you normally run this sort of thing by me. Why all the fuss?”

“Because,” said Toby, seeking the captain’s glance, “the UHP rocket system has been known to be unreliable.”

“You mean it doesn’t work?”

“I mean it has a habit of acquiring new targets.” Toby looked across the sand. It was closer now and they could see the dust trail on the floor being kicked up by the chopper. In amongst the brown swirling sand was the robot, somewhere.

“What do we do?”

“I’d like to call it off for today. We’ll take our friend for a little walk and get you back tomorrow. If you speak to Jones, he has a full contingency plan arranged for this kind of thing. It’s no big deal. Let these idiots test their toy.”

Daniel gave sigh, shook Toby’s hand and then the two of them turned and started to head back to the jeep were Veronica stood by, idly playing on her phone.

They were about a hundred feet away when there was an enormous bang followed by a swishing noise; as if someone had set off a giant firework.

“What the hell?” Toby turned; security men were running toward Daniel.

“Misfire! Misfire! Everybody down!” It was the captain screaming and frantically running toward them. The two soldiers came close behind and up in the sky Daniel could see the rocket cutting a trail of white smoke. Higher and higher it went, puncturing a cloud until it was just a tiny dot.

“What happened?” Toby had grabbed the captain by his collar.

“It just went off. We only turned on the tracking unit! Stupid piece of Russian shit.”

For a minute or so they all looked upwards, watching the clouds. Then, there was a muffled bang.

“Did it detonate?” Toby was roaring into a walkie-talkie now.

The voice at the other end was panicking. “Negative. Most likely a sonic boom. Get the hell out of there!”

“Go! Go! Go!” said Toby.

Daniel felt arms lift him off the ground and start dragging him toward a building. “Wait! Veronica!”

He stopped, dug his feet into the sand. Turned. Saw her. She was smiling, oblivious.

The giant hands swivelled his shoulders, it wasn’t their fault. They were trained to do it. It went quiet. The air was being pushed past them. It looked strangely like a black blur, a smudge in the air – it was moving so fast.

Then a flash, sand and darkness, and they were all thrown backwards. And she was gone.

As he lay on the floor for a few seconds he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, and couldn’t hear. When he rolled onto his side sand started to rain down getting in his nose and eyes all over again.

Hands raised him onto his feet, someone was shouting something at him but he still couldn’t see. His eyes were open and he could feel tears coursing down his face. He hacked up grit, felt it sticking to his teeth, spat out more.

“Are you okay?”

Politeness caused him to hold up his hand and nod, even though he was still choking. More sand was raining down upon them and it was so quiet he almost could hear each grain hit the ground.

He rubbed his eyes once more and as they cracked open light fell in, they were still streaming but he had managed to rub them with the cuff of his shirt. The sand falling all around them started to slow.

He yelled for her again and again. He stumbled around until he bumped into something; it was the truck that he thought was behind him. The shower of sand was gone, the sun sliced through the clouds and Daniel could see the spot were Veronica had stood. All that was there was a crater which revealed the top of the metal tube they had planned to trap the robot in. It was jagged and gnarled, as if it had been ripped apart.

“Where is she?”

Toby was at his side now. “You have to go.”

“No!”

“Daniel, please. It’s almost here.” Now he could hear the chopper. He turned, and saw the robot walking underneath, perhaps a kilometre away. It was hard to tell in the flat sands at the best of times let alone through tears.

He made to push past Toby but two of the security team held him back. “Let me go!”

His feet buckled under their strength and, as they were taught to, they started to drag him toward a jeep that was arriving. He screamed at them to stop, but their stoic faces didn’t even share a glance. Each pair of eyes, tilted down against the sand and sun was blank and unrelenting.

Toby’s voice was shouting at him but the noise sounded like it was coming from beneath the surface of the sea.

“We’ll do what we can. You must go!”

And then he was in a jeep, still dazed, still hearing a buzzing in his ear and still half blind. As it roared off he was thrown backwards and he rolled sideways against the door. One of the two men in front checked he was okay and a giant hand hoisted him back up.

He slumped against the window. Back at the site he could see people rushing around; a paramedic had appeared and the robot was now heading away from them and, of course, following the jeep.

A few days later Daniel sat inside another car, staring out of another window; this time at a cemetery.

“You sure you don’t want to step outside?” said Jones.

“I can’t face them,” he said.

“I understand.”

He touched the glass, traced his finger along a raindrop for a moment and then let it idly drop. “I was so close to happiness. With her, everything would have been okay.”

“It’s not over. We can still stop it. You have to keep trying. Toby said –”

“Toby lied!” Daniel glared at Jones through red eyes.

Outside, Veronica’s family slowly made their way back to the cars. Her father, her mother in his arms and her younger sister, so similar to her, followed.

“Toby didn’t know about the rocket, Daniel. He’s still on our side and he can still help end this.”

He shook his head and sat up, the leather seat creaking under his movements. “I don’t want their help anymore.”

“You don’t need to carry an extra burden unnecessarily.” Jones sat across from Daniel in the limo; softly rubbing his hands and shifting his feet.

He scoffed back. “You think that’s it? They want to help me with a burden? Wake up.”

Jones sat back, his eyes dropping to the floor.

“I’m a curio to them,” said Daniel. “A science project. They don’t want to stop it. They want to know how it works and do you know why? So they can build their own. You talk of endings?
That’s
where this ends.”

“They wouldn’t be able to do that.” Jones turned to the driver and signalled him; the car slowly set off.

“You are so naïve.”

They sat in silence for a few moments. He looked across at Jones who was sagging, almost looking wounded. He didn’t care; it would do him good to hear this stuff and it felt good saying it anyway.

“I’m not going to let them though. I’m not going to live in that world. I’m going to stop it. We’re going to move with Professor Grey’s plan.”

As they left the cemetery the trees shrouded the car in shadow. Even though it was bright above the clouds the light below was poor and the curtains of rain made it even gloomier.

“I urge you to think long and hard about this,” said Jones. “You’re not in the right frame of mind.”

Daniel’s face retreated into shadow. “Will I ever be?”

They headed back out of town where he had booked a motel half way to the airport. It was only late morning but he was already too jetlagged to travel further. It was a nice place, but not what he was used to these days.

In the car park he parted with Jones who joined the Security Team to make the necessary sweeps. Daniel headed straight to his room.

Lying on the bed looking at the ceiling that so many traveling salesmen had done before him he decided he couldn’t leave without saying ‘goodbye.’

He grabbed his coat and made his way down the corridor where regimented doorways offered their numbers and key card slots. He found the stairs, thinking it unwise to use the elevator and run the risk of bumping into one of his team in the lobby.

As he got out he looked across at the car park; the hotel was just off a busy intersection where cars buzzed past at speed. The limo was outside but the driver was nowhere to be seen but out of the corner of his eye he saw the cab he had ordered and got in. Funny, but he hadn’t done that in years.

Inside and underway he noticed the driver adjusting his rear view mirror a few too many times.

“Yes,” said Daniel.

“Excuse me, but ah…” The driver spoke with a broad Southern accent.

“Yes,” said Daniel, again. “I’m him.”

Satisfied, the driver nodded and returned to the road. “You ain’t been on TV much lately. Where you been?”

He looked out of the window, saw the outskirts of his old home town; the more dishevelled properties, the gas stations and conveniences stores aimed at travellers.

“I’ve been away. In a different,” he searched for the word, “place.”

“But you’re back now, huh? Ready to take on that robot.”

“Yes. I’m ready.”

They swiftly crossed Mountplace and arrived at the entrance to the cemetery. He tipped the driver fifty dollars and asked him to wait before heading down the main path to the circle of trees he had seen Veronica’s family gathered under.

It was simple, white, with black lettering. Her name, date of birth and the words ‘beloved daughter’ were all that decorated the stone.

He looked down; his lip wobbled before he fell to one knee and started to cry. Choking, howling, he crumpled there. He felt his nails digging into the grass, his heels kicking at the turf. He almost felt like he wanted to tear the earth open and hold her again one last time.

He stayed like that, folded in anguish. For how long, he didn’t know. But then, a soft voice spoke his name and his head snapped up.

“Daniel?”

“Veronica?” he said, and turned, the sunlight momentarily blinding him. He could see her outline against the clouds. How could this be?

“I’m Sally,” she said, “Veronica’s sister. We never met.”

She held out both hands, he took them and pulled himself up. Tears and dirt smeared his face. She looked like Veronica; the same soft smile, rascally eyes. The hair was different, tied back and she was shorter. But unmistakeably her sister.

Guilt made his arms weak. His throat was swollen and dry as hell. He felt ashamed to be talking to her.

“I’m sorry.”

Sally held his hands, held his gaze but stepped back slightly. “I know,” she said.

“It was my fault. She shouldn’t have been there.”

Sally was already shaking her head as he had started to speak. “What do you mean?”

“I asked her to be there, I wanted her there.”

“Where?”

“Where it happened. Damned military.”

Sally was still shaking her head. “Daniel, I know you and my sister were close but you’re not making any sense. Veronica died in a car accident; you couldn’t have known.”

His hands fell to his side, his fingers unclenched and a chill ran through his lungs. Toby. It seemed so obvious, so silly now. He’d never met Veronica’s family; there’d never been time during their short but passionate romance. He’d never gone back to meet her dad and talk about sports or complimented her mum on her baking. They’d just jumped straight to international jet-setting and spending weeks in each other’s arms. To Toby, it probably all seemed so neat.

“Is there someone I should call? You don’t look so good.”

His tongue searched around his mouth, keenly seeking moisture. His mind tumbled around for words. He wanted to tell her the truth, but what good would it serve? The family had already gone through unbearable pain; would it help to know that it had all been a lie? Her death even more pointless than a car wreck. Or perhaps this was better, easier to understand. More tangible.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m just not myself. I didn’t mean to offend you. My life is…complicated.”

“I know,” she said, looking a little freaked out. “I guess she was on her way back from one of your trips? They so excited her.” She turned to the gravestone and he noticed for the first time the flowers in her hand.

“I had to come back with these. They’re from our grandmother’s garden; Veronica’s favourite.” Sally leant down and placed the flowers at the foot of the stone. Satisfied, she stood back and looked down.

“Veronica spoke about you a lot,” she said. “To me, not our folks. They were pretty pissed she was off gallivanting around the world with a billionaire.”

He smiled and followed her gaze to the gravestone, but he felt uncomfortable, as if Veronica was looking at him now. Was this betrayal?

“To think you took her to all those places and then she gets herself killed driving back home from the airport. Must only be five miles away. Still, we can take care of her now.”

“What I said about the military; I’m sorry, I’m under a lot of pressure.” He started shaking his head and scratching his temple. The lie felt bad, but easier.

“It’s okay. I shouldn’t have crept up on you like that. If you don’t mind me saying you don’t look too good. Do you need a ride?”

“No, thanks,” He nodded to the cab at the gates. “I better go. I’m sorry, so sorry. Goodbye.”

She waved, her eyes following him all the way to the car. He shut the door and told the driver to take him back to the hotel. As he did so he heard his phone vibrating on silent. Fishing it out, he saw the caller’s name. Toby.

After he answered, the silence lasted maybe four or five seconds.

“Where are you, Daniel?”

“I think you know.”

“How are you?”

“I just bumped into Veronica’s sister, Sally. Have you met her?”

There was a pause, a brief one, but a pause.

“Yes.”

“Strange, but she seems to think Veronica died in a car accident.”

Another pause and an intake of breath. “Do you want to talk about this now?”

“Sure let’s talk. Let’s talk about how you lied to her family.”

“You must realise nearly everything we do is classified. You’re not
that
stupid. Do you think we could tell her parents anything about our operations? Or the UHP rockets? Or what we know about the robot?”

“Save it!” Daniel shouted at the handset, crushing the phone in his hand, hissing down the line. “I’ve had enough of you. I don’t need your help anymore.”

“You have to see this was better for everyone concerned?”

“Toby, we’re through.”

“I know you’re hurting.

“The time for talking with you is over.”

“If you don’t talk to us then who? The Russians? Chinese?” He could hear Toby sighing at the other end. Probably running his fingers through that long, curly black hair of his.

“Nobody of note,” said Daniel. “Goodbye, Toby.”