Crisis Zero (18 page)

I
REALLY HAD NO IDEA WHAT KIND OF RECEPTION I WAS GOING TO
get. After all, I had taken out two fellow agents with tranquilizer darts, directly sabotaging several mission objectives. Part of me was even worried that they might let me in and then
retire
me, even if I was just a kid. Heck, I didn't even know if they were going to let us back into headquarters at all.

“Agent Zero,” said a voice behind us as Danielle and I approached the shed. “We were beginning to think you'd deserted.”

We spun around. Agents Nineteen and Blue stepped out from behind a few trees.

“No,” I said. “But I do have some pretty important information about Medlock's plans.”

“And we're just supposed to trust you?” Agent Nineteen said. His words weren't angry. The question sounded more curious.

“Yes,” I said, “the same way I've always trusted you. And for the same reasons: because I know that you two, above all, want to do the right thing.”

I honestly had a hard time saying that. I
wasn't
so sure about that anymore, to tell the truth. Could a guy who shot his former partner and best friend really ever do the right thing? But I had to sell the lie if I was going to carry out our plan.

“Carson,” Agent Blue said, “you directly interfered—”

“Yeah, I know what I did,” I said sharply. “And what I did was help out my best friend. That's all. I couldn't let you hurt him. I understand if I'm on the outs because of it. You can detain me, dismiss me, do whatever you want. But please, give me a chance to tell you and Director Isadoris what I've found out. Otherwise, we're all dead.”

“It's true,” Danielle piped in. “You need to hear us out.”

Agent Blue and Agent Nineteen looked at each other.
They didn't say anything. They didn't need to. I'd seen them practically have entire conversations without so much as opening their mouths once. Then they looked back at us, but it was too dark to see their expressions.

“Okay,” Agent Blue finally said. “But I'm sure you'll understand our need to handcuff you before we head down?”

“Of course,” I said, holding out my arms to show I had nothing to hide. “It's what I would do.”

I
T WAS AN ODD EXPERIENCE, BEING BROUGHT DOWN INTO
Agency headquarters in handcuffs. They'd even cuffed Danielle, despite the fact that she hadn't been involved in what happened with Dillon. They didn't trust anyone, after all.

Agents Blue and Nineteen said nothing during the elevator ride down into the base and subsequent walk to one of the small concrete interrogation rooms. That's when they split up Danielle and me. This didn't surprise
us. In fact, we'd planned for this before we'd even approached the maintenance shed.

As I sat there and waited in shackles, I wondered briefly if they would actually torture me. I hadn't seen them do anything like that, but I wouldn't put it past them.

Several minutes after they sat me down at the small plastic table, the lone door opened again and Agents Blue and Nineteen returned. They closed the door behind them and glanced up at the small dark bubble in the ceiling, which I knew housed a panoramic security camera. No doubt Isadoris was watching us.

As was Medlock.

He'd been very clear: Any signs of evacuation and he'd blow the base. Any signs of me telling them about his plans and he'd blow the base. All of our lives depended on what I said in the next few minutes.

“What did you need to tell us, Carson?” Agent Nineteen asked.

I buried my face in my shackled hands as if I were tired or frustrated, or both. I split apart my palms slightly so I could whisper to Agents Nineteen and Blue but not be heard by any of the recording devices that were surely in the room.

“Whatever you do,” I said slowly, clearly, and softly, “do not react to anything I'm about to say. It's imperative. Cough if you understand.”

There was a slight beat and then one of them cleared his throat. They obviously had no idea what was going on, but it was good to know they both still trusted me enough to follow my lead without blowing the whole operation right then and there. That was a good sign, I thought.

“You need to get us away from any security cameras,” I said, again as slowly and clearly and quietly as was possible. I began shaking my shoulders and head as if I were crying or something instead of talking. “Our lives depend on it. You have to trust me.”

There was another delay. And then a voice spoke. It was Agent Blue.

“Well?” he said. “Quit stalling. What did you want to tell us?”

I breathed out a low sigh of relief. They were playing along. So far, so good. But, this was still the early and easy part of our intricate, ridiculous, nearly impossible plan to save the day and fix this entire mess once and for all.

“I don't know where to begin,” I said, finally raising
my head, making my face look as distraught as possible. “I think I might barf.”

Agent Nineteen and Agent Blue stared at me warily. I wasn't sure if they were still acting the part or not. I had no idea what they'd do, or if there even was somewhere in this building out of sight of security cameras. I had come up with the barfing thing, hoping that the bathroom might be one of those places. Or at the very least to give them a believable reason to get me out of this room.

“Come on then,” Agent Nineteen said.

They lifted me from the chair and led me out of the interrogation room and down the hall toward a bathroom. As we walked, Agent Blue coughed into his hand. At the end of his cough he faintly whispered something.

“When you get out, say you need to lie down,” he said into his hand.

We got to the bathroom and Agent Nineteen opened the door for me. It was a single occupancy restroom, with just a small sink, toilet, and mirror. It was obvious from the way they'd acted that there were cameras in here. So I bent over the toilet and pretended to barf as best I could. Then I flushed, washed my hands, wiped my mouth, tried to look as sick as I could as I walked back into the hallway.

“I think I need to lie down,” I moaned. “Are these really necessary?” I held up my shackled hands.

“I suppose not,” Agent Blue said, before removing them.

“Can I lie down somewhere?” I asked again.

“Yeah, come on this way,” Agent Nineteen said. “There's a couch in Director Isadoris's office. We can talk in there.”

I nodded and followed them down the hallway. I could only assume this meant that Director Isadoris's office was the only place in the entire base that didn't have security cameras. Who watches the one guy in the country who, after tomorrow's purchase, would be able to watch anyone he wanted on the entire planet?

This thought made me even more determined, more sure that we were doing the right thing.

“W
HAT'S THIS ALL ABOUT?” DIRECTOR ISADORIS PRACTICALLY
shouted as the three of us entered his office. “I told you to conduct the entire interview in room three forty-seven. I don't care if he's not feeling well.”

“We're hoping he can explain,” Agent Blue said placing a hand on my shoulder perhaps a little too roughly. “Have a seat.”

He pushed me down onto a couch adjacent to Director Isadoris's desk. The three of them loomed around me,
waiting for me to say something. I saw Agent Smiley and the other agent I'd tranquilized at the Dirt Mall earlier that day sitting at their usual table behind Director Isadoris's desk.

She glared at me with a look that could easily kill an elderly person or small child. I tried to ignore her glowering and instead focused on my thoughts before I started speaking. Isadoris was obviously furious, which meant I'd need to get right to the point.

“I asked them to take me somewhere there were no security cameras,” I said, “because Medlock is watching your every move.”

The news visibly rippled across the faces of three men looming over me. Agent Nineteen looked confused, Agent Blue frowned, and Director Isadoris looked downright outraged. Like he would tear off a puppy's head just to release the fury.

“How is that possible?” Director Isadoris asked through gritted teeth.

He looked like a man who was losing his grip on reality. It frightened me. And not just because he was the size of a four-door sedan. More and more I was beginning to realize that I might be looking at the most powerful man
in the world. He certainly had more power than the president. After tomorrow's exchange, there'd be no question about it.

“The plans,” I said. “The ones that you sent me to steal.”

Director Isadoris cocked his head at me, only furthering his primal, animalistic appearance. “What?”

“The plans to blow up the base by drilling down from above,” I said. “They're fake. The files on the USB drive and the laptops actually contained some sort of computer virus that Medlock has used to take control over many of the base's operational systems, including access to the security camera feeds.”

“How do you know that?” Agent Nineteen asked.

“Because Medlock told me,” I replied.

“It can't be . . .” Agent Blue muttered under his breath.

Director Isadoris slammed a fist onto his heavy wooden desk. We all jumped as it smashed right through the heavy oak surface, leaving a massive, splintered crater. Had I not just watched him punch a hole in his heavily lacquered wooden desk, I never would have believed it humanly possible.

He pulled up his fist and blood dripped from several large splinters that were poking out of his knuckles like a
collection of small trophies.

“Agent Smiley,” he said, calmly picking the splinters from his hand, “disable the base security cameras immediately.”

“No, wait!” I whispered urgently.

Everybody froze. Agent Smiley's hand hovered over her computer's keyboard.

“If you do that, he'll know I told you,” I said. “And then, well . . . boom.”

“Boom?” Agent Blue said.

“What do you mean,
boom
?” Director Isadoris asked.

“Medlock will blow up this base,” I said. “He said if he sees any signs of evacuation or that you know he's watching you, or that I told you any of this, that he'll blow up the base.”

Agent Blue paced across the room. “There's a bomb here now? I thought you said the plans to blow up the base were just a Trojan horse, so to speak, for his virus?”

“Yeah,” I said. “But Medlock told me he can cause the nuclear fusion core powering the base to melt down in a matter of minutes with a simple press of a button.”

“Is that even possible?” Director Isadoris asked Agent Smiley.

She and the guy across from her exchanged a few
words that I didn't quite hear. Then Agent Smiley nodded slowly, her face still showing no emotions. Not even fear. “Theoretically, yes,” she said.

Director Isadoris swore loudly. Then he walked around to the other side of his desk and sat down. He stared at me for such a long time, it felt like he was looking right through me.

“What does he want then?” Director Isadoris asked. “What's his endgame here? Why not just blow us up now? I'm sure that'd give him a thrill.”

“He wants me to find out when and where you're making the buy,” I said.

“What buy?” Director Isadoris said.

“The Exodus Program.”

“How do you know about that?”

“How do you think?”

Director Isadoris hesitated. If anything, this only confirmed that it was true.

“Fine,” he said. “How does
he
know about it?”

“I don't know.”

Director Isadoris swore again. I was just glad he wasn't smashing holes in his massive desk again. It was too brutal a sight to witness multiple times at such proximity.

“Anyway,” I said, “he wanted me to find out when and
where the deal was happening and bring the information back to him. He said he only wants to use it to blackmail you and get his son back. But I suspect, and I assume you'll agree, that he'd use it for much more than that if he actually got his hands on the tech. If I don't report back in a few hours, then . . . boom.”

“Would you please stop saying ‘boom' like that?” Director Isadoris said, rubbing his temples.

I shrugged, not sure what else to say instead.
Kill us all
sounded a lot worse in my opinion. As did
Blow us to smithereens
. Or even
Hit the switch
.

“So why did you tell us all of this, instead of carrying out his plan?” Agent Nineteen asked.

How could he ask me that?

“Of course I'm going to tell you!” I nearly shouted. “Why would I want to help out that psycho? I was
hoping
that by telling you, you would somehow know what to do. How to stop him. Besides, you'd never trust me with that information now, not after what I did at the Dirt Mall today.”

“The what?” Agent Blue asked.

“At Arrowhead,” I said, glancing at Agent Smiley and the other agent I'd shot.

“You aren't wrong,” Director Isadoris said. “I don't
trust you any farther than I could throw you. Which, actually, would be pretty far, I guess . . . but that's not the point.”

“Well, regardless, I'm still on your side,” I said. “You do know what to do, right? How to stop him? He said if the information I give him isn't accurate, well . . . you know.”

Director Isadoris looked at me evenly and then nodded.

“Maybe we do,” he said. “But I still don't trust you enough to say anything more.”

“Why?” I asked angrily. “Because I wouldn't stab my friend in his back? If anything, you should trust me
more
for that! Besides, you wouldn't know any of this if it weren't for what I did.”

“That's assuming any of it's true at all,” Director Isadoris said.

“Well, don't test it out or we'll all die,” I said bleakly.

“Convenient, that,” Director Isadoris said. “Regardless, I just don't think I can truly believe a word you're saying. Agent Nineteen, please detain this
civilian
and get him out of my sight.”