Crow - The Awakening (75 page)

Lohet finally got out of Sally's embrace and looked at her for a moment, "You need to stay here. We will return shortly." She nodded and he started walking out.

"She's a what? Rachel's dead!" Brandon exclaimed after Penipe, the pain flaring anew.

Lohet looked at him as he walked by. "No. She's not." Without another word he was gone. Brandon ran through the jungle to the greenhouse door and looked around, but there was no one out there except bodies. He turned to look at Sally and Jonah. Sarah and Charley were also staring at them.

Sally fidgeted. "It's a long story," she said as she wiped her eyes.

"I hope you don't mind, but we want to make sure things don't get complicated again," Jacob said as an agent put a heavy leather collar on Steven. It had metal studs facing inward and a couple of small metal cylinders attached to it. Jacob held up a little remote. "If you run, then it's nighty night. I'm sure you understand our position, given the last couple of days."

Steven glowered at him and sat back in the SUV as they packed up. It was a heavily armored SUV that had a retractable turret and heavy machine gun in the center, attached to the roof. "I'd have chosen another mode of transportation, but there are some folks out there that are not very nice. I think you've met them. Nasty buggers," Jacob explained as he got in on the other side. An agent got in after Steven and he had to scoot over so that he sat in the middle between the two. An agent sat on either side of the turret hardware facing them, manning the weapons controls, and still another agent got into the passenger seat up front.

"All of this, just for me?" Steven said glumly.

"I don't think you appreciate just how hard it was to capture you, Steven. I have to say, I am extremely impressed. There is no one on the face of this planet that could have eluded our operation like you have. No one." Jacob beamed at him, patting his leg.

"Except alien me," Steven said sarcastically, looking out the window as the vehicle pulled out into traffic.

"Yep. That is a question we are going to have to answer when we get to headquarters. But I promise it won't hurt. Just a little blood drawn, a few MRIs and other scans. The usual physical examination." Jacob looked at his phone and typed in something. Steven didn't see who he was texting but assumed it was the base they were heading toward.

"Just what do you hope to find?" Steven asked, wondering why they thought he was some sort of superhuman. He didn't get bitten by a radioactive spider or fall into a vat of toxic waste after all.

"Oh, it's not a matter of hope, dear Steven. What I am most impressed by is how you simply do not know. I know it now. You are completely oblivious as to who you are." Jacob looked at him. "I find that fascinating. A level of denial that confounds logic."

"And it's more logical to believe little green men are walking around aiming ray guns at you?" Steven retorted.

"I think you might have a change in attitude once you see what we have at our facilities, Steven," Jacob grinned. "And once you see the results of the tests. You simply have no idea of just who you are," he repeated, dumbstruck.

Steven looked down at his knees. "You can say that again." Something occurred to him. Bad people that his godparents had warned him about. He looked sharply at Jacob.

"What have you done with my parents?" Steven demanded, bristling with indignation.

"I told you, Steven. We cut them loose and aren't interested in them. They're perfectly safe. Scouts' honor," Jacob insisted.

Steven was confused for a moment then shook his head, "No. My real parents."

Jacob looked at him, at a loss. Steven rolled his eyes. "Okay, that's my phone you have there. Give it to me and I'll show you."

Steven held his hand out expectantly. Jacob looked at him warily, but curiosity got the better of him. If those weren't his real parents, someone has done a very thorough job of hiding that fact.

The video was still on the phone and Steven sighed, relieved. He showed the video to Jacob. "This is them at their lab." He pulled up another video. "And this is them in some detention center. One of your detention centers."

Jacob's eyes went wide and he grabbed the phone, looking at the second video. "Steven, do you know what this is?"

"Yeah. My parents. I want to know why you took them." Steven hesitated, "And I want to know if they are still alive." He looked hard at Jacob, trying to make sense of his reaction.

"Son, you really don't have a clue, do you? How can you be so smart and yet so stupid?" Jacob looked at him. "Look at the offset of this video." He replayed it for Steven.

"What am I supposed to see?" Steven looked at it, then Jacob.

Jacob frowned then looked at the video. "Perhaps this will help." He copied the video over to his tablet, then did some work to it and played it back for Steven again. This time it was two videos side-by-side, each one slightly off from the other. "The original video was actually two videos, Steven. And those were videos as seen from eyes. Two eyes." He watched the video again as he showed it to Steven. "Look, the hand. Put your hand in its place and imagine where your eyes would be."

Steven looked at it, then back at Jacob. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You were seeing through their eyes. You have actually tapped into their inner neural network!" Jacob laughed. "We've been trying to do that for years. Years, Steven. And you just dance your way in." He waved his hand as he looked at the video again then back at Steven. "You know, I meant it when I said I'm your number one fan. I really did." Jacob grinned.

"You still haven't answered my question." Steven felt like he was being distracted on purpose.

"That is because we don't have your parents, Steven. We never have had them. We didn't even know they existed." Jacob grinned, completely tickled. He pointed at the video. "These guys have your parents." Jacob leaned toward Steven and whispered conspiratorially, "Aliens." He leaned back. "Oh, this is so rich. I hope we're recording the look on your face." He looked around at the SUV's cameras.

Steven just gaped at him, speechless.

He looked at Steven then back at the video. "You know, you really do look a lot like your mother." He looked at her, then looked closer. He zoomed in on her with his fingers. The resolution of the video was spectacular. "Except, is that fur?" Steven looked at it as he zoomed in. The fur was apparent, but not quite as thick as Asherah's. Jacob looked at Steven and grabbed his arm and looked at it closely, then took a flashlight from his pocket and shined it on his arm at different angles. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you have a little bit of fur yourself."

"Don't be ridiculous." Steven pulled his arm back. He rubbed his arm where Jacob had gripped it, then couldn't resist looking. It was just an arm.

Jacob sat there and looked at him, contemplative. "That would explain a few things." He looked at the video of his father, zooming in as well. The quality of the video was astounding. Jacob was able to zoom close enough to see the pores of his father's skin. "Looks like a normal human to me." He sat back and gave Steven a calculating look. "An alien mother and human father. Wow. I really can't wait for our physicians to get a look at you, Steven. This is really, really exciting."

Steven looked at him skeptically, still rubbing his arm where Jacob had grabbed it. More and more he was becoming convinced that he wasn't the insane one in this vehicle and he glanced around wondering what he had gotten himself into. He looked out the tinted window, watching the lights of the highway pass by as they headed out of Seattle.

The four congregated on a bluff overlooking the mine. The mountains were rugged, and the mine looked like it was cut into the base of one nearly at the bottom of the valley below. The road that led up to it was very much unmaintained and the surface appeared to have degraded over time. A larger highway was cut through the mountains but totally bypassed the mine. Lohet was unsure just how they would get a vehicle down on that old road. It looked like it has been abandoned for decades. Not even any tire tracks going into the mine; Lohet knew better. He saw that the dust on the road going in was fresh. And he saw that the barricade into the mine was actually an automated gate, all cleverly hidden.

Sirel was out surveying their technical defenses. These people were heavily armed and armored, so it stood to reason that their base of operations would be likewise protected. Getting in would be a challenge. Getting to Steven could be even more of a challenge.

Migalo returned from a perimeter sweep to ensure that their immediate location was secure. He was well armed this time, with weapons normally reserved for the Sadari. His armor didn't fit very well, however. "It's too loose," Migalo grumbled as he walked up to Lohet. Lohet appraised the armor. It was custom fit to the wearer. But this wearer had another inch of thick fur when he was fit for the armor, fur that had been shaved off to make him look more human on this assignment.

"It'll have to do." Lohet looked back down at the mine. No vehicles had gone in during the time they had been there, so they had to assume that they had arrived beforehand, or that they had used another entrance. Lohet will have to task Sirel to find any alternative entrances when she returns.

"What do you think they'll do to him?" Penipe walked up behind Lohet, fiddling with her own armor. It likewise was a little loose, but her fur had not been as thick as Migalo's so it wasn't as bad fitting.

Lohet looked at her, "What were the techs looking for?"

Penipe dug back into the memories she had torn from the agent back at the greenhouse. "They were very impressed with his technology. They wanted into the Sadari network."

"Then they will probably interrogate him, get him to divulge what he knows about the Sadari technology, and then they will kill him," Lohet said, matter of fact. It was a motif these people had demonstrated repeatedly.

Penipe looked down at the mine. "And Asherah."

"Yes." Lohet looked at Penipe. "Asherah may already be a casualty, Penipe. You know what we have to do with the deviant when we are done with him."

Penipe nodded, wiping her nose as she fought to control her trembling. "I just want to be there when we do it. I want to be in his head. I want to find some way to save her."

Lohet looked out at the base. "I hope you will be able to do that, Penipe."

Sirel landed and walked up to Lohet, grabbing his hand. "They have another entrance."

Lohet frowned. It was not on the specs they located in the mining archives. "Take us there."

Sirel held out her hands and the three grabbed them and suddenly they were whisked away, flying through the trees at a dizzying rate. Lohet could probably still have run and beat them there, but this was better than trying to get directions.

The other entrance was about a mile away. It looked like a plain rock wall, but on closer examination Lohet could see the seams. The attention to detail was remarkable. However, Sirel could detect the technology required to operate the doors.

"A convoy has recently driven through here," Migalo said, pointing. The dust still hung in the air and he could taste the diesel fumes in the air. "He is already in the base now," he growled. It would have been easier to intercept them out in the open than try to collect their prize in one of the most dangerous places their deviant could be taken - under countless tons of heavy stone just waiting for him to have an incident.

"The other entrance must be a decoy and probably dead ends into a kill box," Lohet observed, frowning.

Migalo grinned, baring his teeth. "It's a good thing Sirel is so attentive." Lohet gave him a cool look but nodded.

"That is the purpose of surveying and gathering intelligence, Migalo. Sirel, what about the ventilation shafts?" Lohet looked at her.

"They concreted in most of them and left a few decoys. And those decoys are just loaded with cool toys," Sirel giggled. She pulled out a scanner and pulled up a holographic screen, expanding it for all of them to see. "But they missed a couple of really old ones, here and here." She pointed to them. They did not appear on the old mine records and must have been bored out after the mine was established.

Penipe looked at the scans and saw that they went to the deepest levels of the mine. "They will probably be blocked off but they may be our most direct route down to the lower levels."

Lohet nodded. "We will need a diversion in case they have alarms and defenses in those shafts that Sirel cannot deactivate." He looked at the rest of them. "I will cover that."

"Oh, Lohet, how little faith you have." Sirel batted her eyes at him.

Lohet looked at her and grinned. He knew she didn't take it personally, but expected them to consider all contingencies just in case things didn't go quite how they expected. In this situation with very limited intelligence, chances are things won't go as planned at all and they will end up having to make it up as they go.

Migalo grumbled, looking back down at the entrance. "It's suicide for them, Lohet." He shuddered at the idea of the mountain just dropping on them because these people foolishly set off the deviant in a mine.

"They don't know what he is, Migalo," Lohet responded. "I just hope we get in there in time."

Steven was jolted from his half doze as the vehicle drove from a dirt road onto a concrete platform, bumping as it rolled over the ledge. The bright floodlights were a shock after the moonlit highway and Steven blinked. He looked around and saw that he was in what looked like one of those mountain tunnel passes, concrete lined, well lit and clean. He was surprised at how close to Seattle they were. They went through a series of heavy doors until they reached a vast cavern that appeared to house a fleet of vehicles and a few strange looking aircraft.

"Those are our latest toys. Long range drones armed to the teeth," Jacob pointed to them proudly as they passed by. "Pilots sit in a truck and control it from wherever they are. Not unlike the DoD drones, of course. But with a twist. We've been trying to emulate the neural network that you so handily cracked into. The drone is semi-autonomous."