Stones: Experiment (Stones #3) (61 page)

Visibly frustrated, she turns and points the rifle at the crowd.

Shots ring out from the police as a bubble engulfs and protects her. A thin arc of white plasma shoots from Matt’s hand to the woman’s pulse rifle. It explodes and falls to the pavement in ashes. Pulling her hands back in pain, she brings her blackened palms up to her face.

Matt hops down from the monument. “Hold still.” He takes her burnt fingers in his. Within seconds, new skin heals over the wounds. The woman drops to her knees, bows her head and presses it to the pavement.

Stillness floats through the crowd as it takes a collective inhale. Then a deafening shout goes up in the air. Fists pump skyward.

The man in the suit jumps down from the monument and walks away without a word.

R
yzaard looks over the list of cities. It reads like an itinerary.

Starting in Mumbai at 8:30 PM local time, the wave of destruction will move through China and the countries of Southeast Asia before turning north into Russia and west into Europe. From there, it will hop the oceans and pop up in two spots on each coast of North America as it spreads to the countries of South America. The final blows will come in South Africa and Australia.

No major country will be spared except for one.

Japan.

For all the others, the destruction will be limited to one city per hundred million of population. Every nation on earth will be required to pay a portion of the price for the coming of Paradise.

All within the space of two hours.

“Estimated casualties?” Ryzaard looks up as Jing-wei stands in front of his desk.

“It will be heaviest in Asia and Europe where the target cities are more densely packed, somewhat lighter in the Americas and Africa.” Jing-wei’s eyes drop to the slate in her hands. “Two hundred detonations in all, with an average loss of life in the range of 100,000 per shot.”

Ryzaard’s head goes up and down. “Twenty million. Less than I was hoping for, but maybe it’s enough.” He shows as much emotion as one might expect when comparing prices of grapefruit. “One tenth of one percent of the world population. Not too high a price to pay, I think.”

Jing-wei nods, lips hard as granite, saying nothing.

“I know this is difficult, but it’s necessary.” Ryzaard stands up from his chair and lets his hands drop behind his back. “You’d better get to work. You and the team have a lot to do between now and tomorrow. It will be an exciting day.”

Jing-wei acknowledges her instructions with a bow and leaves the room.

Alexa sits up on the sofa. “What do you plan on doing with the girl?”

“Where do we have her?”

“She’s in one of our high security detention cells, on the 113th floor, guarded by a 24 hour detail. Looks like they gave her a good beating, just as you ordered.”

Ryzaard raises a hand. “No more beatings. I need her to be alive and exquisitely lucid. I plan to personally administer the final beating in the room next door, all of it to be recorded in hi-def video. Especially the final moments when she cries out her hatred for Matt. I want him to see every excruciating detail.”

“As always, you’ve got a master plan.”

“I find that’s the best way to get things done.”

Alexa stands and walks to the door. “When are you going to start on her?”

“In a few hours. I need a diversion until tomorrow. Would you like to be there?”

Alexa shakes her head. “No thanks. I’m not really into torture. Gives me nightmares.”

“By the way,” Ryzaard says. “What’s the latest on the boy?”

Looking at her jax, Alexa takes a quick look at the Mesh. “Looks like Matt’s in downtown Vancouver. Healing people. Apparently he’s predicted a nuclear strike will hit in the next few days.” Her gaze goes up to the back of Ryzaard’s shirt. “He’s the butt of quite a few jokes on the Mesh. A new young prophet for the world to mock. I guess they won’t be laughing too hard tomorrow.”

“No matter. He’s quickly becoming irrelevant.”

“But he is a fly in the ointment, to say the least.” Alexa watches as the muscles in Ryzaard’s back tense. “What are you going to do about him?”

He turns and fingers the seven Stones on his chest. “Ignore him. For now.”

Alexa heads for the door. “Let me know when you need the girl. I’ll bring her to you tonight.”

J
ing-wei fights to hold down the contents of her stomach.

She walks back to the table in the center of the lab and drops into her chair, collapsing like a deflated balloon.

For a full minute, silence fills the room.

“Did he accept the plan?” Kalani’s eyes travel around the table, resting for a moment on each person before coming to a stop on Jing-wei. “Is the death of 20 million people enough to satisfy him?”

“Barely.” Jing-wei’s eyes stay fixed on her trembling fingers holding the slate in front. “Any less and he would have been furious.”

“I wonder.” Elsa takes a long pull on a slender cigarette. The smoke leaks out between her teeth as she eyes Jing-wei and Kalani. “Does that make the two of you heroes, or mass-murderers?”

“We’re all part of this.” Jerek leans forward, a hand pressed to his forehead, as if to ward off an impending migraine. “None of us have a choice. We must do what Ryzaard demands if we want to protect our lives and the lives of everyone close to us.”

“Speak for yourself.” Elsa turns her head, pouring smoke out the side of her mouth. “My job is to bring in the money. That’s all I do. And I do it very well. I have nothing to do with your plans. I’m certainly not a murderer. And I can walk away from the project whenever I want.”

Kalani’s fingers tighten around the wooden club at his side. His eyes go to Jing-wei as if to say,
can I kill her now
?

Jing-wei shakes her head.

“Ignore her. We all know the truth. Kalani and I already tried to walk away.” Jing-wei slumps forward. “Ryzaard make it clear that we have no choice. Our lives depend on doing his will. We were all fools to ever think otherwise. That was nothing but wishful thinking.”

“I came here for scientific research.” Jerek’s shoulders drop down. “I never wanted to be part of Ryzaard’s plans for world domination.”

“But after this is all over, you’re getting a small country to run along scientific principles, if I’m not mistaken. And a massive personal laboratory to boot, with unlimited resources.” Jing-wei falls back into her chair, arms hanging at her side. “We all have our own personal deals with Ryzaard. He found out what we want most, and then bought each one of us.”

“So what do we do?” Diego’s forehead drops until it touches the top of the table.

Jing-wei feels her stomach rising again. “I wish I had a good answer, but I don’t. It’s too late to do anything but follow Ryzaard’s orders. For the sake of our families and friends and everything else we care about.”

“Agreed,” Jerek says. “Opposing him will only delay the inevitable.”

“And get each of us killed.” Kalani relaxes his grip on the wooden club.

“He holds all the cards.” Diego pushes himself away from the table. “We are utterly helpless. To think otherwise is suicide.”

Elsa stands up. “This conversation never happened.”

As each of them walk away, Jing-wei can no longer hold back. She drops her head below the table and retches onto the floor, the muscle contractions continuing long after her stomach has emptied.

No matter how hard she tries, the bitter taste remains on her tongue.

J
essica is OK.

Matt runs the words through his mind as he pulls his hands back from the head of the man in the motor-chair. “All done.”

The man stands. “Namaste.” He brings both hands to the front of his chest and bows. Then he turns, leaving the chair, and walks across the roundabout to merge with pedestrians on the sidewalk.

Matt leans against the side of the lapis stone cube and lets his eyes drop. Exhaustion drains out of his limbs. Dropping his Stone into the cloaking box on top of Yarah’s, he flicks the lid shut.

No sign of Ryzaard. Maybe he’s waiting for Matt to make the next move. Or maybe he will suddenly pop out of the air around the corner. Maybe the old man no longer cares about Matt.

Not likely after the way Matt left him, barely alive and floating in a pool of lava.

Either way, Matt is strangely calm about any danger to himself. It’s Jessica he’s worried about.

The sun is setting in the west. Yarah swings her legs off the top of the cube. Once again, downtown traffic is moving through the roundabout.

“Looks like that’s it for the evening, sir.” A police officer directing traffic past the monument turns over his shoulder. “Will you be coming back tomorrow?”

“Don’t think so,” Matt says. “And you should get as far away from here as you can.”

“Wish I could, but I have to show up for work at 6:30 in the morning.” The officer looks away, apologetically.

“C’mon, Yarah. Everyone’s gone.” He picks up the bulging backpack. “Time to go.” Brushing his pants pocket, his fingers grope the cloaking box. Both Stones are safely inside.

Yarah takes his hand.

The officer shouts after them. “Can I offer you a ride back to the camp?”

“No thanks,” Matt says. “Don’t need one. We’re heading over to the train station.”

“Where you going?”

“Not sure. East. Or North.”

As the sun goes down, the outer skins of buildings come alive with video-ads. A troop of young women walk past Matt and Yarah, each sporting a neon holo costume with massive shoulders and surgically enlarged eyes. Now and then Matt catches looks of recognition, but he walks quickly, not stopping to chat.

Matt drops his gaze to the little head of black hair below. “Did you have any luck finding Jessica’s mind, while we were healing people?”

“No.” Yarah drops her gaze to the sidewalk.

Matt shakes his head. “Me neither. I tried, but I just couldn’t make a connection. Hopefully she saw us on the Mesh.” A twinge of fear rises in his chest. Best to tamp it down with a quick dinner. He forces himself to repeat the words.

Jessica is OK.

“Hungry?”

“I guess,” Yarah says.

“There’s a Japanese restaurant next to the train station.” His tongue flicks out and lubricates his lips with a thin film of moisture. “Let’s see how good the sushi is here.”

“Are you worried about Jessica?”

Matt lets his head dip into a nod. “A little. OK, a lot. I thought we’d see her today, walking through the crowd, coming out of her hiding place.”

“Me too.” Yarah swings her arm in a big circle, taking Matt’s arm with her. “Don’t worry. She’ll find us.”