Legacy of a Mad Scientist (8 page)

Fox knelt in the thin layer of soft dust. He appeared
to be tying his shoe. When his hand touched the item, a shock went
through him. The device was unique, different; it felt angry.
Unlike the original device, the Micronix, this one announced
itself. It told Dr. Fox, it was the Metachron.

He lifted the small device from the floor of the
crater and dropped it into his pocket. The moment the device left
his hand, he felt relieved.

He stood in the center of the crater for several
minutes, pondering the implications of this new development.

Several miles overhead the operators aboard Kojima
chuckled. "He's good," Carlson said. "I didn't even see that. Did
you see that?"

"I didn't," Bryce replied. "Smooth."

"Even the cameras didn't see it. Very smooth,"
Wilkins laughed.

"Too bad the new spectrometer got him," Carlson said.
"Oh, what? It's not recording? Fellas, we may have a glitch with
the new spectrometer, it seems it has a habit of turning the record
function off."

"Noted," Bryce and Wilkins laughed.

Fox knew these men personally. They were trusted
agents of the highest caliber. They had each been issued their own
amplifiers, albeit with limited permissions, and the orbiting lab
was composed of Micronix-formatted terillium. There was no doubt
where their loyalties lie.

Ross finally arrived and made his way through the
crowd outside the Noodle House. The Chinatown restaurant didn't
have a proper name. The symbol simply read 'noodles' and so that
was what they called it.

Despite the throng flowing past the doors, the
restaurant was rarely more than half full. The lack of a wait
combined with the incredibly poor service, in a foreign-speaking
part of town, made Noodles a winner for the quick and dirty parlay.
Throw in the fact that no windows faced the street and Ross was
satisfied, regardless of the menu.

King and Snow were already seated when the major
arrived. Both had ordered and been served. He waved to Jenny, the
manager, who waved back. Almost as soon as he'd settled into the
booth, a waiter arrived with a small cup of green tea and steaming
bowl of the house specialty.

“Where have you been?” Captain Snow asked, blowing
the steam from her own bowl of noodles.

“Your food is still hot, what are you crying about?”
Ross replied.

“We’re on seconds,” First Sergeant King smiled. Even
dressed in civilian clothes, the sergeant’s sharp flattop and
massive build identified him as a cop, active military or private
security. He’d retired after serving twenty years with Uncle Sam’s
Misguided Children and immediately been snapped up by the Secret
Service.

Still serving in the Corps, Captain Snow, though
female, looked equally dangerous. Her broad shoulders and powerful
arms offset her natural feminine beauty. Ross never got used to
seeing her in two places at once, as one of Snow’s copies had
married Dr. Fox and was now raising two kids. Ross’s nine-to-five
was as commander of the primary security team for this woman’s
other self and her children, Ashley and Geoff.

Major Ross was, himself, just as obvious; standing
over six feet, carrying two hundred and fifty pounds of lethal
muscle. He also had several handguns concealed about his person.
There was no way he was ‘just another guy.’

“Sorry it took me so long. I grew a couple of tails
this afternoon, so I had to stop for a quick shave.”

"What have you got against good food, anyhow?" King
asked.

Captain Snow laughed.

“Since when do you have a problem with Noodles?” Ross
countered. "This place is great. No crowds, half the lights don't
work."

"That's so you can't see what you're eating," King
laughed.

"Oh come on. They stopped serving dog years ago,"
Ross answered.

"That's not funny," Snow smiled. "What's the
emergency, anyhow?"

King sat up. "Didn’t you hear? Epsilon? Boom, gone
daddy gone.”

“What?” Snow looked shocked.

Ross and King both nodded.

“It gets worse. Seems your boyfriend…” King
started.

“My husband?” Snow corrected him.

“Whatever.” King rolled his eyes.

“It does sound weird, doesn’t it?” Snow smiled.

“Well, earlier today…” the first sergeant gave a
newsman’s delivery.

“Can you believe I haven’t seen him in five years?”
Snow asked.

“You see him every day,” Ross said.

“Only in my dreams, when we sync. But not
Me
.
Her.”

“You can’t be jealous of yourself,” Ross said.

“Can we get back to why
I
called this meeting
please?” King asked.

“To be continued,” Ross said to Captain Snow.

Snow waved a hand and looked away, laughing.

“About…” King looked at his watch. “Four hours ago I
got called into the Deputy Chief’s office. The buzz was that the
Intel desk was all hot and bothered by something they picked up.
I’m still not sure how they got it, but I got a copy of what they
got…”

King pulled out a stream player and set it on the
table. “This has been making the rounds upstairs. And this is not
good. But when you throw in the explosion of Epsilon a couple of
hours later, after they were already wound up about this…”

“Come on already,” Snow said.

King pressed play.

Ross rolled his eyes, well aware of what was
coming.

The monitor lit up with the images of Doctors Fox and
Te.

"You're telling me that an equation can be used to
detonate, what? That little chunk of metal you carry around? Or a
gravity disk?"

"Dr Te, I think this equation could detonate any
sort of deposit you feed it to, a vehicle, a building or an entire
district. It could burn the stagnant terillium in the air around
us," Fox said.

Captain Snow hit the pause button. “What the hell?”
She shook her head in shock and confusion.

“That was 4:37.” King pointed out the date-time
overlay.

“And this…” He switched the player to another stream.
“This is nineteen-thirty-one, pacific standard.

The player showed a satellite image over the western
Mojave. Ross immediately recognized it. The flash from the Epsilon
location was unmistakable.

The camera zoomed in, but there was only smoke and
dust.

The footage scaled up and was examined in slow motion
by an operator. There was no warning.

One moment the buildings were there, and over the
course of a few frames, a bright light spread outward, engulfing
them.

The singular light then contracted, leaving only dust
and smoke. In real-time, the flash lasted only a fraction of a
second.

“They are saying Fox can do that, at will,” King
said.

“God help us all.” Ross stared at the ceiling. “If
Fox could do this,
at will
, do you really think this would
be how he announces it?” Ross answered his own question, “No. This
was an accident, plain and simple.”

"It could have been sabotage," Snow suggested.

“That’s exactly what they’re saying downtown,” King
said.

“It’s not sabotage.” Ross shook his head. “It’s
project failure. You don’t have to read anything into it.”

“Stanwood is saying it was deliberate. He’s saying
this is Fox putting the Fed on notice. This is his
shot across
the bow
as it were, and he’s got a lot of people onboard
already. Half of the cabinet is buying into it.”

“What’s Croswell doing?” Ross asked.

“I didn’t talk to him, but I’m pretty sure he’s aware
of it all. From what I hear, Stanwood has the Chief of Staff, the
Attorney General, the DOJ and Homeland in his pocket. Secretary
Croswell holds the Joint Chiefs, the DOD and the Agency. But if our
names get leaked, the game is up. He can’t bail us out if we’re all
in the same cell.”

“How did you hear about this?” Ross asked.

“You’re gonna love it. I was called in for a
joint-training mission, between the Secret Service, Homeland and
the Bureau. They even have reps from the Coast Guard and the DEA,
to collaborate on a Dr. Fox Worst-Case-Scenario. Right now, it’s a
what-if
, but that’s always how it starts.

“If they force the issue… If Fox decides he isn’t
interested in surrendering… If he decides to run with this, just
for shits and giggles, it will destroy this administration and the
country.”

“They can’t beat him,” Snow stated.

“They don’t have a hope in hell,” King agreed. “But
if they throw the entire weight of the government at him, and he
removes the players… Even one at a time… If he decides to take it
personal and political…”

“The world will be a better place? What?” Snow
asked.

“They’ll be calling him emperor, and offering him a
golden crown, is what,” Ross concluded.

“That sounds nice,” Snow said.

“It’s usually followed by a series of stab wounds,”
Ross said.

“But they don’t know what we know,” Snow said.

“Which is what?” Ross asked. “For all we know, he
could nuke Angel City if he has a nightmare.”

“Yeah, well, I never liked this place much anyhow,”
Snow said.

“Are you kidding? I Love AC! Can’t get enough of this
town,” King laughed.

“That’s because you’re never here,” Ross smiled.

Across the canyon from the Fox home, rows of houses
were set into the hillside. At the crest, a series of cascading
balconies concealed an operations center behind tinted panes. By
their dress and bearing, it was clear the occupants were field
agents of the highest caliber, all but one.

To describe Fifth Gate Citizen Otto Malvinas as
portly would do the man a disservice. Otto had spent a lifetime
acquiring his bulk. Weighing a stout three seventy, he boasted of
being as wide as he was tall.

Upon learning of the Project Epsilon failure, Otto
decided to visit the Fox homestead. He was intrigued by the pipe
dream of the MCX, and felt that technological breakthroughs were
best intercepted early.

As the owner of the parent company that had recently
purchased Washington Security, Otto had come down with his
bodyguard to inspect the operation. He and Bell had arrived late in
the evening, after eleven, and now stood in the central command
room with Captain Faulkner.

The captain explained that the house was filled with
surveillance equipment and long-range suppressed weapons, all
controlled by a master switchboard. He pointed out that the
recording drives were backed up to double-blind positions. Plus,
the DOD had vetted all personnel to ensure competence and
loyalty.

Malvinas had many questions for the captain, and it
was clear the officer's patience was being tested.

Bell asked permission to step outside for a smoke and
left the command center.

A young sergeant monitoring the surveillance screens
interrupted the captain and chairman Malvinas. He pointed out the
arrival of a large truck on the street between the command post and
the client. It touched down, and three armed operatives stepped
from the back of the truck.

Upon sight of the operatives, the command post came
alive with activity, surveillance systems delivering high-contrast
images of the mercenaries making their way across the canyon toward
the Fox home.

Otto smiled with excitement. "What happens now?" he
asked.

"Now it gets fun," Captain Faulkner replied, smiling
for the first time since Otto's arrival.

At the Chinatown Noodles shop, King continued his
protest. “It’s Stanwood, man. He’s all over this. I told you, we
need to handle him. If we don’t, it is just a matter of time till
he gets our records, and when he does, it’s gonna be Goodnight
Gracie, for all of us,” King made a circular gesture, but Ross and
Snow both understood that he was including the six absent members
of their team as well. “If we don’t get proactive here, and I mean
right quick, we’re not going to have a chance.”

“He’s the National Intelligence Director. What are we
going to do, go after the entire cabinet? Kill everyone who
disagrees with us? Take out a bunch of intelligence directors and
politicians? A coup? Are you talking about a coup? That is
treasonous,” Ross pointed out.

“What about this, what about just Stanwood?” King
offered.

“We can’t kill Stanwood. He’s hands off, Andrew said
so,” Snow stirred her noodles.

“Yeah, well, he’s not sitting at this table,” King
stated.

“They have known each other since they were kids,”
Major Ross said. “Fox, Stanwood and Croswell all went to school
together. We’re not killing him. If he’s gotta die, that’s for Fox
to decide.”

“What about exposing him?” King suggested.

“We have to get him to break the law first,” Ross
said.

“I mean to the operating system, dose him with
Mike.”

“What?” Ross asked, dumbfounded.

“We know Stanwood has never been exposed to the
Micronix. So… Let’s expose him.”

“That’s no kind of solution,” Ross asked. “Give our
enemy our secret weapon? Why not just give him access to all our
gear too? Just open up our whole operation and invite him in? Make
him
one of us
? I don’t like the sound of that. Not one
bit.

“There’s no guarantee it won’t make him worse,” Ross
added. “He’s not stupid. If anything, it might make him a much
bigger threat than Fox. You would essentially be giving him
everything Fox knows, to use in any way he saw fit.

“If there is a way to detonate terillium, Joseph
Stanwood is the last person we want to give that to. Like giving
Stalin or Hitler the nuke instead of Groves and Roosevelt.” Ross
stirred his noodles. “Let’s not forget exactly ‘who’ the bad-guy is
here.”

“Okay,” King said. “Just playing along here… a bad
guy who might actually have a point, who we cannot kill and cannot
convert. Stanwood is going to have to come to Jesus on his own?
That’s our plan here? He needs to see the light, and we are just
waiting for him to open his eyes?”