The Victor Project (24 page)

     “No and I kept a good eye out,” said Rick.

     “We’ll I’ve been watching the door since you came in and no one over twenty-five has entered,” said Grunt.

     “You know that no one has ever told me what your real name is,” said Rick.

     “That’s because no one knows, except William,” answered Grunt.

     “Why?’ asked Rick.

     “The less people know about me, the less the government knows.  That’s the way I survive,” answered Grunt.

     “Good creed,” said Rick.

     “Gary,” said Grunt.

     “What?” said Rick.

     “It’s Gary.  My first name is Gary, but don’t call me that,” said Grunt.

     “Why did you tell me?” asked Rick.

     “I figure in a few days it’s not going to matter one way or the other,” he replied.

     “So, what about Val?” asked Rick.

     “Nothing.  I waited for her for over four hours,” replied Grunt.

     “Maybe she never got your message,” said Rick.

     “Maybe, I hope she’s hiding out,” said Grunt.

     “She’s no dummy.  If she’s being followed, then she wouldn’t drag them to you.  Maybe she needs more time,” said Rick.

     “Time to do what?  Nobody has time,” said Grunt.

     “OK, so it’s you and me.  We get the job done,” said Rick.

     “And do what, jump up in the air and wave our hands?” asked Grunt.

     “I don’t know right at this moment.  What was William’s plan?” asked Rick.

     “We didn’t have time to make one.  He was supposed to get back with me the next morning so he could sleep on it,” said Grunt.

     “So do you have enough information to stir things up?” asked Rick.

     “I’ve got a ton, but it’s all based on that one disk.  It wouldn’t hold much with the public.  They need to see something going on, like people dying from the virus in one of the zones,” said Grunt.

     “That would…I almost forgot, an old buddy of mine contacted me through EarthNet and told me something you are not going to believe.  There is a space station up there.  He said something about coming across a government plan to evacuate people from earth up to it,” said Rick.

     “That’s pretty much what we’ve found out on our own,” said Grunt.

     “Right, but don’t you see?  He could be our conduit.  He could be our live action video, at least proving the evacuation is taking place.  So think about it, we’ve got government files of the evacuation and we’ll get John to supply some living proof that the station exists, then all we need is proof of the virus,” said Rick.

     “Great, you can film me dying when I contract it,” said Grunt.

     “I’m serious.  Grunt we’ve got to try this.  I’m not going to just sit here and die.  William wouldn’t want us to give up.  Think about it, we’re possibly the only ones on this earth who can save the human race,” said Rick.

     “You forget that there will be survivors up there,” said Grunt.

     “Fuck them.  I’m talking about these people, the ones that deserve to live, the ones that really make up civilization, not the aristocrats that have treated us like lab rats over the past few hundred years.  If we save the population of even just one zone it will be worth it,” said Rick.

     “You come up with a good plan and I’ll wave your flag,” said Grunt.

     “I’ll make you a deal.  Let’s just start down the road and if it dead ends, we just walk away,” said Rick.

     “How can I refuse an enticing offer like that,” said Grunt.

     “You can’t.  Look, first we’ve got to check my mailbox for another message from John,” said Rick.

     “That’s easy.  I can do that from the shop,” said Grunt.

     “You think the government might have found that place by now?” asked Rick.

     “Not our little headquarters.  Not my shop.  It’s my own little invisible world,” said Grunt.

     << >>

     It was around one o’clock in the morning when Val awoke and sat up in her bed.  She had excused herself around eleven o’clock, retreating to her bedroom and immediately climbing into the soft bed.  Most of the day she had been with Kerry and during that time had done her best to put William’s death out of her mind.  By the time the movie ended late last night, the urge to weep had become too strong.  From the time she slipped into bed until now, tears had overcome her. 

     Now alone in the dark and with her thoughts much clearer, she remembered the word that had been agreed upon for emergency such as this.  If Grunt or someone had left the message, it was most likely on her voicemail at the apartment and not on her computer, neither of which she had checked in almost forty-eight hours.  The only safe procedure for checking the machine was from a public phone.  If the government was tracking incoming calls to her apartment, calling from the home computer would translate to death for her friends.  Calling from her mobile was out of the question.  Unfortunately, leaving the house at this time of the night to use a public phone would be ludicrous.  Besides, she was going to need her sleep if tomorrow promised a meeting with Grunt and a revival of their mission.  Checking for the message would have to wait.

<< >>

     Rick followed Grunt through the front door of a run-down electronic shop in a part of town that many feared to tread at night.  The walls of the store were lined with shelves that were in turn filled with used electronic gadgets, mostly coated with an eighth inch of dust.  The sign on the door said the place closed at six o’clock on Saturdays, which didn’t matter to Grunt since someone had given him the key to the place.  While Grunt fumbled through his key ring, Rick wondered why he had picked a spot like this for his hideout, or even how he picked a spot like this.

     “This is it,” he exclaimed as he bolted the closed door.

     The place equaled the square footage of the bathroom in his apartment.  Wires hung from the ceiling and walls and even lined the floor in various directions.  Electronic gizmos were stacked in two of the corners and on a few ratty randomly placed shelves.

     “The guy that owns this?” asked Rick.

     “He doesn’t know and he doesn’t care.  I rent the space from him and he keeps his mouth shut,” said Grunt.

     “What does he think you do back here?” asked Rick.

     “I told him I’m working on a new and improved WI screen.  If he ever asks, that’s my prototype right there,” said Grunt.

     “That piece of junk is twenty years old,” said Rick.

     “For all he knows I’ve tweaked it and now it’s a twenty year old super-WI,” answered Grunt.

     “I guess this is as good a cover as any,” said Rick.

     “This is the best,” Grunt remarked.

     “How are we going to check my messages,” asked Rick.

     “Are you kidding?  If you sneeze you’ll miss me retrieving it.  First I log onto the network, under a phony ID of course.  Then I break through a couple firewalls.  Breaking into these customer net systems is like cutting through butter with a hot knife.  What’s your ID?”

     “I don’t remember, my VC does everything for me,” said Rick.

     “Never mind.  I’ll just search for your name,” he replied.

     It took about sixty seconds for the search to complete its task.  Rick grabbed a broken chair and made his best attempt at sitting while Grunt tapped out the beat to some song with a pen.  He wondered what Grunt would do without William after all this was over, if he lived through it.  Grunt most likely had some type of day job.  For some reason he had never thought to ask what it was.

     “Bingo, there’s your ID and password.  Now we just log on and check your messages,” said Grunt.

     “What if they trace my ID here?” asked Rick.

     “They can’t.  As I journey through the net systems my program creates a few phantom users.  It keeps track of the users and any pings that hit them.  When someone knocks on the door, I just shut the phantom down.

     “You’ve got a message from McKintrick,” said Grunt.

     Rick drew closer to the screen as the message displayed.

    
Rick

     The plan that I spoke of in my last communication has begun.  If I am correct almost everyone is on board.  Some virus is spreading on earth.  I know that for a fact.  Zone 6 has contracted it.  Evidently our government cannot stop it.   I think the rest of the world outside of the
United States is gone.  I desperately need to speak with you.  Contact me through this address immediately.

     John.

     “That confirms it.  This virus has killed most of earth’s population and is now bearing down on us.  Our own people are dying and the government has told no one.  They’re just bailing out,” said Rick.

     “Somehow the terrorists are able to spread it from zone to zone,” said Grunt.

     “I don’t care about that.  There’s not a chance in hell you and I are going to stop them.  What we CAN do is inform the people that are still alive of what is going on.  You said you’d stick with me as long as I had a plan, right?” asked Rick.

     “I think I might regret saying that, but yes,” answered Grunt.

     “Here’s the plan.  I think the media will put the information on TV if we can substantiate it.  So we get John on video or a satellite feed or something and, this is the hard part, we get direct communication with Zone 6.  The files from the disk, John’s live testimony and the vivid pictures of death from Zone 6 are the key, all three,” said Rick.

     “That’s your plan,” said Grunt.

     “That’s it.  We’re half-way there.  Can you swing it so that John can contact us here?  I mean live not through some message,” asked Rick.

     “I’m not sure,” said Grunt looking around the room.

     “Come on, I know you can do this,” said Rick.

     “A year ago I was working on breaking into the satellite network.  The feeds have been government encoded for years, you know.  William made me stop because he was afraid the government would catch on to me and blow Mars’ operation,” said Grunt.

     “Where is it?  Let’s try it,” said Rick excitedly.

     “It’s not that easy,” said Grunt.

     “You’ve got to try,” said Rick.

     “It would be a lot easier if I had some help,” said Grunt.

     “What do you need?” asked Rick.

     “Not you.  I need someone with better skills than myself,” said Grunt.

     “I’m afraid it’s just you buddy.  We can’t risk getting anyone else,” said Rick.

     “All right, but I’m afraid it could take a few hours,” said Grunt.

     “Reply to John, telling him to hold on and that we are working on something.  Tell him we’re planning on linking up with him live and for him to have some proof of what’s going on up there.  We’ll get back to him in a few hours,” said Rick.

     “I said it MIGHT take a few hours,” said Grunt.

     “That’s all we got,” said Rick.    

CHAPTER 15

     It seemed like Val had driven over fifty miles to find a public phone.  As an excuse, she had told Kerry that she wanted to get out of the house and go for a drive.  Kerry acted like she understood, but since she hadn’t yet told her the reason for taking refuge in her home, it seemed awkward.

     Val felt a rush come over her when she heard the one word message on her phone, but the emotion immediately changed to frustration when the machine voiced the time-stamp it had registered.  Grunt had left the single code word almost forty-eight hours earlier.  There was not a chance in hell that he would still be waiting for her, but at least she knew that two days ago he was still alive.  Without her response, he had now probably given her up for dead.  As she walked back to her car, Val fought to recall a place where Grunt would feel safe enough to use as a hideout.  During the night, she remembered telling William that if she had a choice, she would rather go out shooting.  Hiding out like she had been for the last twenty-four hours was the coward’s way.  Today she would find Grunt no matter what the risk.

     A man walking his robotic pet caught Val’s eye as she pondered her next move.  The gizmo suddenly reminded her of Grunt’s shop, as he called it.  Grunt had only taken her there once in the past and although she could not remember the name of the street where it was located, she was certain that it was somewhere in the south part of the city.  She could also recall the image of the run down electronic store that Grunt’s shop hid inside.  There was no reason to head back to the house.  The search for Grunt and Rick was to start now.  Before the day ended, she would have to think up a good excuse to give to Kerry for being gone so long.

<< >>

     When Rick awoke from his nap in the corner of the room, Grunt was still hard at it trying to figure out a way to tap into the government’s satellite network.  Throughout the last few hours, he had evidently been running his hands through his hair, which now resembled a used mop.  Having not looked in the mirror for over twenty-four hours, Rick began to wonder if he looked much the same.

     “How is it going?” asked Rick.

     “Not good.  What time is it?” asked Grunt.

     “ten-forty-five,” replied Rick.

     “Look, I’ve been at this for six hours and I still got zip.  I just don’t know enough about how satellites function,” said Grunt.

     “So what’s next?” asked Rick.

     “I don’t know.  Let me think a little more.  Maybe I can place a call to someone and keep it discrete,” said Grunt.

     “Shit, I almost forgot.  We need to see if John responded to my message,” said Rick.

     “You think he got up in the middle of the night and read his message box?” asked Grunt.

     “I don’t know what time it is up there.  For all I know it could have been three o’clock in the afternoon when we sent the message,” said Rick.

     Grunt took a moment to once again step through the routine of logging on with his phantom users.  The two of them had now been in Grunt’s shop for almost ten hours.  During that time period, the virus could have struck their zone and they wouldn’t have known it.  There was not one radio or working television in the shop, at least not in their tiny back room.  Within the next hour Rick needed to catch up on the news and get a grip on what their next move should be.

     “I’ll be damned.  He replied,” said Grunt.  “He says he can transmit to me without using the government’s standard encryption.  He says he knows Zone 5’s coverage area to transmit to.  All I have to do is set my receiver for the 10,700 MHz band and boom, I’ll get it.  He says to beware though, that anyone else can receive the transmission also.”

     “Who cares at this point?  All of the bad guys are up there with him,” said Rick.

     “This will make it easier for the station to pick it up also,” said Grunt.

     “He says that he will transmit to us at eleven-thirty earth time,” said Grunt.

     “And you can set this thing up to both receive and transmit?” asked Rick.

     “This baby right here can be anything I want it to be,” said Grunt with a sinister smile.

     “With him as a witness and maybe even some solid proof, we can go to the local television network.  I’m going to go out for something to eat and catch up on what has happened in the last ten hours,” said Rick.

     “You’re picking up some food for me also, right?” asked Grunt.

     “Of course.  What do you want?” asked Rick.

     “Anything, a lot of anything.  And caffeine,” answered Grunt.

<< >>

     The tone of the doorbell for Ben’s living pod startled him.  It was just another thing he hadn’t yet gotten used to on the station, sleep was another.

     “Door open,” commanded Ben.

     As the door slid open, Sherman rushed through in a state of panic.  Luckily the automatic door closed before he spoke.

     “It’s on board,” said
Sherman out of breath.

     “What’s on board?” asked Ben.

     “The virus.  They have ten or so cases in sick bay right now,” answered Sherman.

     “Are they sure?” asked Ben.

     “One hundred percent,” said Sherman.

     “But every one of us got the complete by-the-book immunity tests,” said Ben.

     “We did, at least they tested you and I.  I guess they could have missed someone.  Maybe someone brought something else on board that was contaminated, like food or something,” said Sherman.

     “Or a terrorist somehow got it on board C-Orbit,” said Ben.

     “Well, we’re not sure why or how, but somehow it has gotten to the President and his family,” said Sherman.

     “Are they dead?” asked Ben.

     “Not yet,” Sherman replied.

     “What about evacuation back down to earth?” said Ben.

     “They’re talking about it now, but the launches and landings have to be coordinated with the GEP center.  For all we know they could all be dead.  Then there’s the dilemma of who goes and who stays.  Simply riding back on the transport could get you exposed to the virus.  It doesn’t look good,” said Sherman.

     “Where’s your wife and kids?” asked Ben.

     “They’re touring the ship with your family as we speak.  I doubt if they know about the virus,” said Sherman.

     “Well you might as well stay here and have one last drink with me,” said Ben.

     “With all our scientific knowledge, all our controls and precautions and all our planning, we still couldn’t escape the virus.  Explain it to me so I can understand,” said Sherman as he took a seat.

     “Mother Nature always wins.  That’s the explanation,” replied Ben.

<< >>

     From where she was parked, Val was certain she would spot Grunt walking into the front of the electronic store.  The question was whether or not it had a back door that they were using.  Back door or not, it looked as though the store was closed for the day.  The front display windows were dark and not a soul had moved inside since she began her stakeout. 

     The length of time that she was willing to wait for Grunt to emerge hadn’t been contemplated up to this point, but if she was to wait even one hour longer, she would have to feed herself.  Unfortunately, she had skipped out of the house without eating breakfast and her stomach had been reminding her of that fact since she had parked the car three hours earlier.  Only twenty yards behind her stood a Chinese restaurant and during the last thirty minutes two people had entered through its front doors.  In a few more minutes it would be eleven o’clock.  Hopefully the people that had arrived were the owners and would open soon.

     As her mind began to search though a Chinese menu, a man exited the front of the electronic store.  This man was no stranger, Val recognized Rick’s stride even before she could focus on his face.  So much emotion poured through her that she almost screamed his name from the vehicle.  Quickly she started the car and pulled along side of where he walked.

     “Rick,” she yelled through the passenger window.

     Rick stopped immediately and ducked down to see Val’s smile lighting up the car.

     “Get in,” she said.

     Without hesitating Val slid across the seat and embraced him.

     “I can’t believe what I’m seeing.  We thought you were, you know,” said Rick.

     “Well I’m not.  I just had to hide out a while,” she replied.

     “How did you find us?” asked Rick.

     “I remembered this place.  I couldn’t go in though.  I wasn’t sure who had been caught.  Is Grunt alive?” she replied.

     “Yea, he’s in the shop.  I’m glad your back,” said Rick with a smile.

     “I’m glad I found you alive.  How can I help?  Are you working with Grunt?” asked Val.

     “We’ve got a plan.  An old college friend of mine contacted me from a space station that the government is using as a refuge.”

     “Space station?” Val interrupted.

     “Yes, the purpose of the Victor Project was to evacuate key personnel to a space station in case of a disaster.  Evidently, my old college friend John McKintrick is one of the engineers who built it and is currently on board.  He contacted me when he heard about the virus here on earth.  He just told us that the evacuation is complete,” said Rick.

     “You mean our government, the government we elected, has left us here to die?” asked Val.

     “Exactly.  And here’s the plan.  We’re going to use John’s live testimony and the disk with the Victor Project details to convince the media about the virus and the evacuation.  What would seal the deal is some real footage of the virus that is striking Zone 6,” said Rick.

     “The virus is in Zone 6?” asked Val.

     “That’s what John has told us,” said Rick.

     “And you trust his information?” asked Val.

     “One hundred percent,” answered Rick.

     “Then it is all true,” said Val.

     “Yes, I’m afraid so,” said Rick.

     “If we stay inside this test-tube we’ll all die,” said Val.

     “I need you to hold it together Val.  More importantly, I need ideas.  If we allow emotions into this, we’ll most certainly die,” said Rick.

     “I’m not going to lose it, if that’s what you mean.  I guess I’m just realizing that it’s all up to us,” said Val.

     “So what have you heard over the last twenty hours?” asked Rick.

     “Nothing,” answered Val.

     “I need to know if the virus has struck this zone,” said Rick.

     “I would have heard about that,” said Val.

     “Look, I was going to get Grunt and I something to eat.  You might as well stick with us for a while,” said Rick.

     “I think that Chinese place back there is open,” she interrupted.

     “Good enough,” said Rick.

     “Why don’t we hijack one of the Traveler vehicles and take it to Zone 6 ourselves?” said Val.

     “It would take to long.  Besides the things are pre-programmed for direct commutes only.  You can’t steer them,” answered Rick.

     “Then why don’t we hijack the Traveler from Zone 6 when he arrives to get our proof?” exclaimed Val.

     “Once the government discovers that the virus has struck the zone, they won’t let the Traveler leave.  If the Traveler had already departed before the virus makes itself known, he won’t even pass the blood exam for entrance,” said Rick.

     “That’s the only idea I had,” said Val.

     “Don’t give up.  I feel there’s something out there we’re missing,” said Rick.

     The Chinese place was open as Val had guessed and within a few minutes the two of them were sneaking back through the front of the electronics store with two large bags of food and drinks.

     “Where in the hell you been?” asked Grunt.

     “Look who I found,” said Rick as he allowed Val to slip through the doorway.

     “Oh my god.  I thought you were dead,” said Grunt as he jumped up and gave her a hug.

     “She remembered this place.  She was sitting in her car out front staking it out,” said Rick.

     “You know, while you were gone it hit me that it just might be a Traveler that is the terrorists,” said Grunt.

     “That’s a possibility,” said Rick.

     “That would explain how the virus got inside.  Could one of you guys sneak a vile passed the guards?” asked Grunt.

     “Yea I guess so.  But that’s just another scenario we can’t prevent and another reason that if we don’t open these zone gates, we’re all dead.  Has John transmitted yet?” asked Rick.

     “Any minute.  Your question should be, will it work?” replied Grunt.

     “I’m an optimist,” said Rick.

     “I’m optimistic that there’s food in that bag,” said Grunt.

     “You ever ate at that Chinese place up the street?” asked Rick.