AMPED (21 page)

The men coming after her would quickly discover she had taken the night vision scope, and given her attack on lamps, would assume she planned to cling to darkness. But she had no intention of relying on night vision to gain an advantage. Their night vision equipment was superior to hers, so she would do the opposite. She would stay in lighted areas to the east while they were running around with their goggles down searching the darkness to the west.

She was almost half a mile to the east when reinforcements appeared, fanning out from Jake’s building westward. She continued sprinting at a pace she could have only maintained for a minute or two if not for her ability to optimize oxygen delivery to her muscles.

She had covered several more miles and was sprinting across a deserted parking lot when a shot rang out behind her. Apparently, not
everyone
was looking to the west.

Shit!
she thought. Even
she
wasn’t immune from bad luck. She had already determined this was the riskiest stretch of ground she had yet covered, since she was somewhat visible, despite the lot not being lighted, and there was absolutely no cover to be had.

“Halt!” shouted a deep voice behind her, and she calculated from its direction and distance that even with her amplified reflexes and reaction time, she needed to follow this order. She stopped abruptly and turned around. A lone commando was holding an assault rifle on her unwaveringly, fifteen feet away. “Hands up!” he barked.

She lifted her arms straight up, gripping the colonel’s laptop in one hand. When her hands reached as high as they would go she released the computer, which fell to the ground and smashed into the concrete near her feet.

The commando followed the dropped computer for only a few seconds, but this was enough. Having precalculated the effect of her diversion, Kira was a blur of motion from the instant she released the laptop. Before he could return his attention to her, she had removed her gun and shot the weapon from his hand, and then, already racing toward him, put a bullet through the meaty part of his leg, making sure on behalf of her pathetic alter ego that the wound was one from which he would fully recover.

She closed the distance between them in seconds, not wanting to give him a chance to alert others to her whereabouts. She reached him just as he finished drawing a second gun and kicked it from his hand before he could squeeze off a shot. He tried to fight her off, but he would have been no match for her even with a fully functioning leg, and like the others who had faced her previously, he, too, was soon unconscious.

And Kira Miller continued on into the night.

27

The colonel walked along the east perimeter of Peterson Air Force Base and frowned deeply as he spotted several helicopters in the distance, returning to base after yet another unsuccessful search-and-destroy mission. His forehead was bandaged, and he had a nasty headache that had lasted a full twenty-four hours and showed little sign of subsiding.

“At this point, we’re probably just wasting our time,” said John Kolke walking along beside him.

Jake nodded. “Four more hours, and I’ll call off the search. At least from the air.” He shook his head in disgust. “By now she could have reached anywhere in the world.” He stopped walking and stared up at the razor-wire fence, wondering if the girl had pole vaulted over—or perhaps levitated.

“I have to admit,” said Kolke, “I always thought you were giving this woman too much credit. She couldn’t possibly be as good as you thought. But I was wrong. I still can’t quite believe what she was able to do. In addition to you, she took out four of our best men without even breaking a sweat, and then managed to run a gauntlet and somehow escape. I spoke with Lieutenant Doherty, the guard outside of your office who fought her hand-to-hand—at least
tried
to. He told me he never came
close
to landing a blow.”

 
“If only I would have been conscious,” said Jake, knowing there were a number of ‘if only’ scenarios he’d be beating himself up over for some time to come. “We’d have probably stopped her. Or had her at the fence line. The second it was clear she was heading for the west perimeter, I would have sent all of our forces
east
.”

“I’m not sure that would have mattered. Yes we concentrated our forces and technology on the west perimeter, but it’s not as though the east was unprotected or unwatched. You can’t just waltz out of a base when it’s on high alert, no matter which perimeter you choose.”

A burst of rage surged through the black-ops colonel, but this only served to heighten the pain in his head to excruciating levels. He forced his emotions to settle down and the pain subsided to merely throbbing.

Now they were almost back to square one, he thought in disgust, but this time he kept his anger in check. No Rosenblatt, no Desh, and no Miller. And she had all but telegraphed her escape. She had offered her help and told him he knew how to reach her, as though she wasn’t even a prisoner. Her audacity was mindboggling. She had practically dared him to take greater precautions, and he, like a fool, had ignored his instincts.

But why had she spared his life? And the lives of everyone else she had encountered? They had been hers for the taking. By not killing them, she had slowed her own escape and increased the chances she would be caught.

Jake had turned into a ruthless monster when he had been under the influence. The tiny voice that was his true self had tried to rein in his altered self, but had been ignored. The force of personality it must have taken for Kira Miller to stop her enhanced self from killing anyone during her escape must have been off the charts. Jake was certain he could not have done it.

Did this mean that she wasn’t the monster he was led to believe? Was her story true after all?

He frowned, and shook his head, almost imperceptibly. More likely, this was exactly what she
wanted
him to think. She was a monster fooling the villagers into thinking she was docile, to put future hunting parties off guard.

Kolke gestured in the direction of their offices. “Should we head back?” he asked, interrupting the colonel’s musings.

Jake took one last look at the perimeter fence in both directions for as far as he could see, as if somehow a clue to how she had managed it would emerge where none had before. “Yes. Let’s go,” he said as he began walking. “We have a lot of work to do.”

28

David Desh and Matt Griffin pulled up to the guard gate in a van, the technology on their key rings ensuring any camera that picked them up wouldn’t get a clean enough imagine to satisfy the needs of facial recognition software. Desh had altered his appearance enough that even if the guard had a picture and description, he was sure to let him pass. And Griffin was still off the grid as far as the military was concerned, which was good, since no wig or application of makeup could hide this bearded bear of a man.

“Bill Sampson,” said Desh to the guard. “Crazy Eddie’s Carpeting. We’re here to install carpeting for a . . .”

Beside him Matt Griffin consulted a tablet computer he was holding. “Captain Hernandez,” he offered.

“Right, Captain Hernandez,” repeated Desh. “I have the work order right here. I’m told you’ve been notified to expect us.”

“Why isn’t there any writing on the van?” asked the guard suspiciously. “Shouldn’t it say
Crazy Eddie’s Carpeting
?”

Desh smiled. “We’re independent installers,” he replied smoothly. “Eddie sells it, we install it.”

“Mind if I look inside?” the guard asked politely. But Desh knew it wasn’t a question.

“Sure thing,” replied Desh.

The guard opened the sliding door. There was nothing inside except a long wooden box along one wall, about the size of a coffin. He lifted the lid, which was on hinges, and peered inside. The container was completely filled with a tightly rolled section of thin carpeting.”

“What’s with the box?”

“Makes it easier to carry the carpet,” explained Desh. “I’ve got a bad back.”

“Doesn’t look like a lot of carpet,” noted the guard.

“It isn’t. We’re just doing a few closets. Shouldn’t take us more than an hour or so.”

Satisfied with Desh’s answers, the guard tore off a sheet from a pad of paper, with each page depicting a map of the base. “You’re here,” he said, drawing an X on the pad. He ran his pen straight, then right, and then left. “On-base housing is here,” he added, marking another X. “Do you have the captain’s address?” he asked, handing Desh the map.

Desh nodded and the guard waved him through.

Once they were out of sight of the gate Griffin’s fingers moved over the tablet.
We’re in
, he wrote.
Be ready for pickup in approximately six minutes
.

He hit
send
and the message appeared seconds later on the computer of a Major Hank McDonough, received by an e-mail address unknown to him.

Kira Miller sat in Major McDonough’s comfy mesh chair and breathed a sigh of relief. Not that she had expected them to have any trouble. Griffin had seen to it that the forged work order to install carpet for the actual Captain Hernandez was sent to the guard station computers. Still, you never knew.

I’ll be waiting
, she sent back.
With bells on
.

Actually, her three nights and two days as an uninvited house guest of the major and his family, who were happily on leave in Cancun the entire week, had been just what the doctor ordered. When she had used Jake’s computer during her escape to tap into the base’s personnel records, she had learned that nineteen families were on leave that week. And her enhanced self had chosen well. Her temporary hideout had been perfect. The major’s wife was very nearly her size, and had tasteful clothing that was quite comfortable. And they had a well stocked cupboard, which was more important than ever after she had come down from her gellcap induced adventure. She had been pushed to her limits—this time
physically
as well as mentally—and her hunger had seemed unquenchable.

The major had a smooth Internet hookup, and she had been able to spend hours reading scientific literature; planting information she wanted to be accessible by her amped mind in the future. She was careful not to do anything that could tip off the neighbors that the major’s house harbored a squatter, which including going outside, getting too near a window, or turning on a light at night—all of which had done wonders for her—ensuring she did little else but read and relax. For the first time since she could remember, she was able to catch up on her sleep. She felt like a new woman.

But, alas, it was time to go. The hunt for her had cooled off enough and she had too much to accomplish to waste another second convalescing here. But she would miss this place. She hadn’t been in a homelike atmosphere for some time, and sipping cocoa and reading in a comfortable bathrobe—even if it wasn’t hers, was a welcome respite from a life that had grown ever more complicated and intense.

She had to remember to have Griffin anonymously pick up the tab for the McDonough’s weeklong stay in Cancun. It was the least she could do—especially since she’d practically cleaned out their cupboard the very first night. Good thing the refrigerator and freezer were well stocked as well.

Any trouble finding the magician’s prop
? she e-mailed the two men in the van.

Given the heightened alert the base was still under after her supposed escape two days earlier, she knew the guards manning the gate would conduct a thorough search of the van on the way
out
as well as in. But lithe magician’s assistants had been crammed into small, secret compartments in coffin-shaped boxes for decades. This was a simple illusion requiring a simple prop. And Desh and Griffin didn’t even need to saw the box in thirds while she was inside and pull the pieces apart. They just needed to ditch the carpeting somewhere it wouldn’t be found, wait an hour or so, and then leave.

No trouble at all,
came the reply.
When money isn’t an object, all things are possible
.

There was a pause, and then another message appeared on Major McDonough’s computer.
David says to tell you we’re one minute out, he loves you, and if you risk yourself like this again, he promises to kill you
.

Kira laughed. She still couldn’t help but love David Desh. Now she just had to be sure she really
knew
him. And decide if she could trust him.

Part of her was tingling in anticipation of seeing him again. Of melting into his arms.

But another part was wary.

She and her husband needed to have a little talk.

PART TWO

“I am become death, the destroyer of worlds.”

—J. Robert Oppenheimer, father of the atomic bomb

upon seeing the first test detonation

(quoting from Hindu scripture)

29

Once the countries of the world agreed to cooperate, they needed to decide where they would gather. Olympic villages were considered from the past several Olympics, but no matter which country was proposed to host operations, scores of other countries were vehemently opposed.

It was quickly agreed that this project would be done under the charter of the United Nations, since all but a few of the world’s countries were members.

The United States argued that because it gave the most money to the United Nations, and the organization was headquartered in New York, the operation should be conducted on U.S. soil, perhaps near Area 51. This was a location the U.S. used to test advanced aircraft and weaponry and could be easily converted for the current purpose. Besides, since Area 51 had been rumored for decades to be the site at which the U.S. studied alien spacecraft, it seemed fitting to finally make the rumor true. A number of countries agreed to this proposal, but China and Russia were so adamantly opposed, and were able to get enough of their allies to rail against it as well, that the proposal fell though.