Legacy of a Mad Scientist (12 page)

Von Kalt scowled. “I am a field commander, not a
bodyguard. All I do is stand around and watch you make mistakes all
day. Whatever this is about, it’s not going to end the way you want
it to.”

“From my perspective, things are a bit more complex.
The actions I take have far reaching consequences.”

“Bullshit. You just like to think that when you stomp
your foot the entire jungle trembles. I see you, running all over
town, trying to keep all your dominoes facing the right direction.
You’re asking for permission from people who can’t afford original
thought. Talk about herding cats.”

“Please, enlighten me…” Stanwood continued ignoring
Von Kalt.

“You’ve let this get personal. You’re not doing
what’s best for the country, or the people. You want this Fox
character to know it was you, and you want him to know it was
sanctioned. No one wants to crawl out on that limb with you. They
won’t sign a warrant.”

“No, maybe not. But without a warrant, no one raises
a hand against him. Do you understand?” Stanwood didn’t look
up.

Von Kalt turned away.

“There will be a warrant,” Stanwood asserted. “But
until then, under no circumstances are you, or any member of this
government, to interfere with Doctor Fox or his property. Not
unless he sees a signed warrant first. Am I making myself clear,
Deputy?”

“As a Bell, sir. I didn’t mean to suggest anything
inappropriate. I’m just saying, you would be within your rights,
and no one would question you. We’ve still got the beachhead at his
back door.”

“Him most of all. Do not activate the Dunkirk until I
give the order.”

“What was this fumbled bit with Wash Sec? No one was
supposed to die, or better yet, if you’re going to kill six people,
get something for it.”

“The appropriate message was sent,” Stanwood
replied.

Von Kalt rubbed his damaged ribs.

“Malvinas was an idiot and he deserved what he got.
He had no idea what he was caught up in. Those mercs he hired were
third rate at best. He couldn’t have possibly expected one of Fox’s
guardians to break ranks over that.”

“You’re sure they exist?”

Stanwood looked his deputy in the eye. “Oh they
exist, Rudolph, they exist.” Stanwood gave the soldier his full
attention. “Let me ask you something? If you had the power, the
resources and expertise, to craft terillium small enough, and pure
enough, to give an individual the power of flight, would you give
that up? If you could make yourself invisible, is that something
you would abandon because a licensing date on your federal
guidelines expired? Would you disband the team that manipulated
that technology, just because of some arbitrary ruling, by a bunch
of disconnected bureaucrats?”

“Hell, no,” Von Kalt answered.

“Even though it would be an act of treason?” Stanwood
asked.

“It wouldn’t, because I’m a patriot,” Von Kalt
replied.

“That’s what Fox thinks too. And once I have the
warrant, I’ll show him just how wrong he is.”

“Aren’t you afraid he’ll send some invisible
assassins after you?”

“I’ve got you here to protect me.”

Von Kalt laughed.

“Let’s see if we can’t stop him, before it comes to
that.”

“You really think he can do all that?” Von Kalt
asked. “Detonate an entire city like that?”

“You saw the footage. Do you think he can’t?”
Stanwood countered.

“Yeah, well… It may not be something he can
repeat.”

“Even if he can’t do it right now, do we just wait
around for him to figure it out?” Stanwood asked. “If you want to
get really cynical, if this is a psychic ability, then
theoretically, if this man has a nightmare, Angel City might cease
to exist. That is not a threat I’m willing to tolerate.”

Geoffrey couldn’t keep up with the rambunctious
puppy. Jack raced down the hillside, only to return to the children
at full speed.

Upon confirmation that Ashley and her younger brother
were following, Jack would again explode down the path. Geoff
thought the puppy was hysterical.

A dog barked in the distance and Jack replied,
accelerating out of sight. Ash looked at the leash in her brother's
hand. "That's not doing us much good, is it?"

"The leash is for when he's tired," Geoff explained,
between great gulps of air.

"Is that how it works?" she replied.

"Yeah, when it's time to go home, that's when we use
the leash. Remember?"

Ashley did remember, despite her younger brother's
constant reminders. Last week, he'd talked of nothing but the puppy
and their forested adventures. Jack also seemed to appreciate the
space to run without breaking things.

Despite its natural abundance of hollow glens and
hidden corners, during summer vacation the canyon got crowded with
bored students. Hoverboards could be raced at top speed, while
forts were assembled and defended. The canyon was both a place to
hang out and get lost.

The forest ahead was spotted with neighborhood kids.
Ash knew most of them. She recognized some of the kids closer to
Geoff's age near an old tree, hunting lizards and bugs.

Geoffrey chased Jack down the trails, laughing in
response to barks of excitement and breathless endurance. Ashley
watched as the dog ran circles around her younger brother. Geoff
had long since given up the leash. Ash had looped it over her
shoulders.

A group of fourth graders were engaged in a
reconnaissance mission. Decked out in makeshift army uniforms, they
crept across the overgrown canyon floor, camouflaged and determined
to remain unseen. As none of the older kids were looking for them,
success was a matter of opinion. If the bigger, meaner kids caught
on to a stealth mission in progress, steps would be taken to foil
it. Big kids enjoyed nothing more than ruining a little kid's day.
Capturing and torturing would-be commandos ranked right up there at
the top of the list.

A couple of kids Ashley's age, Doug and Jamie, hid
along the path that Ash and Geoff came down. Jack dashed past them
earlier, but he hadn't noticed them, and they stayed put. Ash and
Geoff followed soon after Jack, who'd run back and forth past the
camouflaged pair twice now.

Geoff also marched right past the hidden commandos.
Ashley had noticed them some time before, and as she passed, she
winked to them, her ocean blue eyes dazzling, reflecting shards of
glittering sunshine.

Doug and Jamie were both intoxicated with Ashley. She
was the prettiest girl in the neighborhood, and the coolest too.
When she smiled, she meant it; they couldn’t help but be in-love
with her.

Ashley caught sight of older kids overhead, doing
tricks on their kite boards. A kite board was just a more powerful
hoverboard with a sail mounted to it, making the device that much
more maneuverable. Ground-bound, hoverboards required a hard
surface to push off from, and couldn't maintain more than a few
feet of air, but kite boards, with their powerful gravity disks,
could ascend to higher elevations.

During the summers, the open sky of Angel City was
teeming with kite boarders. They raced through the clouds, doing
loops, barrel rolls and corkscrews. When she watched, Ashley
desperately wanted one. Yet somehow, outside the canyon, she always
found herself focused on ballet.

Thursday, June 25, 2308

Dr. Fox and his pilot, Kendrick, drifted though the
brunch-hour traffic, after the early morning swell and before the
lunch chaos. Hovering several thousand feet above the earth, they
drifted with the magnetic current, supplied by the nearby freeway
cable, hanging from its place in the urban net.

The light tapping on the hatch was still surprising,
despite years of working with hair-raising technology. Neither Fox
nor Kendrick could make out the presence of anyone outside the
vehicle, but Fox popped the hatch anyhow.

The air at the threshold of the vehicle blurred for a
moment, as if trapped above the sand on a hot day. But then the
blur was gone. The hatch closed, without input from either Kendrick
or Fox.

A moment later, First Sergeant King twisted a dial on
his belt and blinked into view, sprawled across the back seat.
"Howdy, fellas. How's tricks?"

"Tricks are good. How's Rosie?" Kendrick asked.

"Exhausted, as usual," King replied, laughing.

"You're early," Fox said. "I didn't expect you until
we docked."

"Yeah, well, you know." King laughed. "Hey, by the
way, what the hell are you doing here anyhow?"

"What are you talking about?" Fox replied.

"I'm asking if you have any idea what you are doing
out here?"

"Is that why you came by early? Try and talk me out
of it? Should we run to Mexico? Like a band of outlaws?"

"I, uh, I think we burned that bridge, partner." King
rolled his eyes.

"It's not like I really have anything to fear from
Stanwood and his band of halfwits."

"Oh, yes. Yes, you do. Do you know Stanley had
footage of Epsilon, as soon as it happened?"

"Of course he did. He's the Director of National
Intelligence, so that just makes sense."

"Did you know he also had audio of your little
tête-à-tête with our friend Dr. Te. He hasn't even mentioned the
fact that Te is a Chinese national living abroad. Shit, he hasn't
said anything about the fact that your wife is also a foreign
national."

"He doesn't know anything about her. And she has dual
citizenship."

"Why does he know you spoke to Dr. Te?"

"It was an open channel," Fox answered.

"He had it before Epsilon even popped," King said.
"He was in the middle of a Chicken-Little performance when the
facility went up. How did that happen?"

"He must have a team dedicated to us," Fox
answered.

"You mean a team dedicated to you," King
concluded.

"Well, he doesn't have anyone inside. We are
watertight."

"Then what is the point of a mole hunt?"

"Sometimes, what you don't find is as telling as what
you do." Fox looked down at the city below them. “Let’s grab a
coffee.”

“Sounds good to me,” King answered.

“Kendrick.” Fox nodded.

Agent Kendrick pulled out of the Angel City freeway
traffic and set the transport into drift mode. The vehicle
activated its vertical anchor and swung out over the relatively
empty city space, curving away from the traffic. Fox opened the
hatch and twisting the dial at his belt, vanished.

King nodded to Kendrick, activated his phase-cam and
also vanished from the car. A moment later, the hatch was closed
from outside.

The communications terminal on Stanwood’s desk began
to ring.

“Speak of the devil,” Stanwood said. He tapped the
accept button and smiled at the projected image of his Commander in
Chief.

“Mister President, how are you, sir?”

“Director Stanwood,” President Conway said. “Before
we get started, I just want to say that I know we originally agreed
that your assignment to the Intel desk was going to be temporary.
But everyone down here is very impressed with your handling of
things over these past six months, so unless you have any
objections, we’d like to go public with your acceptance at the
daily briefing, later this afternoon.”

“Thank you, sir.”

President Conway looked off-screen, “John, Stanwood
says he’ll take the post, so let’s push that paperwork through
Justice and get him new letterhead and whatnot.”

The President looked back at Stanwood. “Would you
like new business cards?” He looked away again, “And get him a
couple of boxes of business cards, would you, Chief?”

John Phillips, the President’s Chief of Staff, could
be heard grunting his acknowledgement from elsewhere in the
office.

“What was it you wanted to talk to me about,
Joe?”

Von Kalt watched Stanwood from across the room.
Stanwood looked choked up, as though he were touched that the
President had called him by his first name. The director seemed to
be falling for it.

Von Kalt wanted to slap him.

“What’s that, Sir?” Stanwood had been distracted by
Von Kalt’s open look of contempt.

The President smiled at Stanwood and then looked over
his shoulder again, calling to Phillips.

“John, why am I on the phone with Director
Stanwood?”

“Fox and The Rusty Bucket,” Phillips replied.

“What…” Completely derailed, Stanwood looked around
his own office, for some clue to his agenda.

“Fox!” Stanwood exclaimed, straightening up at
once.

“Yes, Director,” the President replied.

“Fox is a menace!” Stanwood seemed like he was on
drugs.

The President and Von Kalt both laughed.

“Who is that over there?” President Conway asked.

Stanwood turned to Von Kalt, who leaned into fame and
waved, “Good morning Mister President.”

“Rudy! How the hell are you?”

“I’m good sir. And you? The First Lady?”

“We’re great, Rudy. I’ll let her know I bumped into
you, well not literally…” The President smiled. “She’ll be
thrilled.”

Von Kalt laughed at Stanwood’s shock and
confusion.

“How’s Sam, Samantha?” the President asked.

“Very good, Sir. We just had a boy last year,” Von
Kalt replied.

“Congratulations! John…”

Phillips was already on his way. The lumbering bear
of a man came right over the President’s shoulder. He held a
smoldering black cigar in his hand. The President pushed it
away.

“Rudy! How you been kid? Great to see you!” Phillips
exclaimed.

Stanwood leaned back, clearly frustrated.

“Mr. Phillips, good to see you too.” Von Kalt caught
Stanwood’s discomfort and tried not to rub it in too much.

Phillips waved goodbye, “I got this thing going on
over here, but we gotta catch up sometime soon. Later, kid,”
Phillips was gone as quickly as he’d arrived, leaving the President
to fan the cigar-stained air around him.