Chapter Forty-Eight: Three Strikes

Over the strenuous objections of the usually silent Turk and Crowbar, Toby was on the Rocinante and on the way to the police perimeter within minutes. The Gray Guard scrambled aboard their floaters on short notice and accompanied him. Bruce and Twenty-two also came along; the alien had never left the ship.

“At least don’t fly in a straight line to the school,” Turk said. “Take an unexpected route.”

Toby himself was at the controls, which were on manual. “Do you really think that’s necessary? With twelve Gray Guard floaters surrounding us? In case someone’s waiting below on the off chance I might fly overhead?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” He swerved off course, closely followed by the Gray Guard ships.

“You realize what you are doing is stupid?” Turk asked. Turk had never spoken to him that way; he’d rarely spoken to him at all. The two had once apologized for not preventing Dr. Heilig’s attack, but even then their words had been sparse.

“If you had a family member who was in danger like this, what would you do?” Toby asked. Crowbar had also wandered over and taken off his sunglasses.

“I do have a family member who is in danger,” Turk said.

“You mean right now?”

“Yes,” Turk said, taking off his dark sunglasses. His eyes were dark and piercing. “Like me, he’s doing a job, but someone’s making his job dangerous. What do you think I should do?”

“You should do what you can to protect your family,” Toby said. “That’s what I’m trying to do.”

“No you’re not,” Crowbar said. “Going to the school doesn’t help Tyler. Your presence doesn’t help the police or the Gray Guard.”

“You’ve always tried to do the right thing, from what we’ve seen,” Turk said. “You’ve always balanced what’s needed with the necessary politics. This time you’re acting emotionally.”

Perhaps they were right, Toby thought. Yet he felt he had to be there. He couldn’t sit back at The Ranch and listen to reports. He was Tyler’s father, and he had to do something.

“I probably am acting emotionally,” he said. “But Turk, you said you had a family member who was in danger. Don’t you want to go where he is, even if you can’t help him?”

“Of course,” Turk said. “That’s what I’m doing.” He pointed at Crowbar. “Didn’t you know? He’s my brother.”

Toby was stunned, but even more, he was embarrassed not to have known. He’d noticed the resemblance between the two when he’d first met them, and yet had never made the connection.

“I’m really sorry, I should have known,” he said. “We rarely talk, so I guess my mind was always on other things.”

“It’s your job to have your mind on other things,” Turk said. “That’s why we rarely talk to you. Our job is to protect you, not distract you. And this trip is not making our job easier.” He and his brother put their sunglasses back on.

* * *

Reese watched through an eyeglass from a field in North Potomac. The Rocinante and the surrounding Gray Guard floaters went by in the distance. Too far away to shoot down. He’d set up a surveillance camera on Moderate Headquarters. It verified that Toby was there that morning. He’d known that the moment Platt heard the news about Tyler he’d go to the school. What father wouldn’t? He’d expected him to go straight there. He hadn’t. Instead he took a more circular route. He lost respect for Toby. A true father would have taken the fastest route.

Reese had taken a trip to eastern Russia during the Kim War. There he’d killed a number of Russians to get his hands on an army-issue shoulder cannon. But it was useless from this distance. Nor could he get the shoulder cannon anywhere else with a direct line on Platt. The Gray Guard’s proximity scanners made sure no weapon could do that under normal circumstances. Even the air space over Toby during speeches was guarded by Gray Guard floaters.

Plan A hadn’t worked. Strike one, he thought. Time to return to the school for Plan B. And if necessary, Plan C. He patted the shoulder of his missing right arm.

* * *

A tall, metal fence surrounded Germantown Middle School. By the time Toby got there—with Bruce, Twenty-two, Turk, and Crowbar all at his heels—police had surrounded it with drawn weapons. Frantic parents stood across the street behind red crime scene police tape.

Chandler met him near the front gate, which police had turned into an impromptu headquarters, using the fence and several parked floaters for cover. It was the only place they could look in without clambering over a fence, and so was the logical place. A colorful blend of flowers surrounded the base of the gate; Toby wondered if there was any chance they were real. Fall had just hit the area, and there was a chill in the air.

“How the hell did someone get through security?” Toby asked.

“We have no idea,” Chandler said. “There were guards at all the doors and at Tyler’s classes, and proximity scanners all around the school. It simply isn’t possible. It must have been an inside job.”

“Why isn’t anyone going in?” Toby asked, trying to ignore the flashing police floaters in the parking lot. Turk and Crowbar had their weapons drawn, Turk a laser, Crowbar a handgun. The Gray Guard had formed a rough protective circle around him, weapons also drawn.

“The message from ‘Windmill’ said he’d blow up the school if anyone goes on the school grounds,” Chandler said, glancing at Twenty-two. “He said that to prove it, he’d set off some explosions, and witnesses tell us there were explosions on the school grounds about the time we received that message. If the school followed procedure, they went into lockdown. That means the students and faculty are behind locked classroom doors. Until we know more, we don’t want to go in. The message was untraceable; whoever did this knew what he was doing.”

“Has anyone spoken with this Windmill?”

“He’s set up infowave scramblers somewhere inside. No messages are going in or out of the school, and the proximity scanners are blocked. The message said he’d communicate with us soon, though I have no idea how.”

As if in answer, a musical tone rang out. Chandler nearly jumped while Turk, Crowbar, and several police and Gray Guard all aimed their weapons at the source of the sound.

Turk found it first, a tiny green phone set hidden in the fake grass, next to a blue floater parked a dozen yards down the street. A green phone line ran from the phone, through the grass, and under the fence and into the school grounds. Nobody had noticed them in the short time they’d been there since their attention was on the school. They’d had no reason to search the area outside the fence.

Chandler took the phone from Turk. There seemed nothing special about it. He motioned for the others to step back. Then he clicked the receive button and said, “Hello?”

Toby leaned in close to listen.

“This is Windmill.” There was a long pause. “Who am I speaking with?” The phone was set to speaker mode, so all could hear. The man had a raspy voice and breathed between words.

“This is Stuart Chandler, director of the Gray Guard. Mind telling us what’s going on?”

There were several breaths before Windmill continued. “I hold Tyler Platt hostage here in the school. The school is rigged to blow up if anyone tries to enter the grounds or leave the school. Do you understand?”

“Perfectly. Why are you doing this?”

“I have certain…demands. But I will only make them to Toby Platt. May I speak with him?”

Toby looked up sharply. How did Windmill know he was here?

“Stay back,” Turk said. “Let me see the phone.” Chandler handed it to him. Turk examined it, then deftly pulled it apart and examined the inside. “It looks clean.” He put it back together and handed it back to Chandler.

“Twenty-two, could Zero sense what’s going on in there, and rescue my son?”

Twenty-two ambled closer to the phone, which she examined with her sensor. “Yes,” she said in a low voice. “I’ve called Zero; it should be here in a minute. Zero should be able to detect any weapons in the school and grab them with its tractor beams. It can also grab anyone holding a weapon.”

“I haven’t got all day,” Windmill said. “I know Toby is there. If I do not speak with him in the next twenty seconds, I will put a bullet in Tyler’s head.”

“Give me the phone,” Toby said. Chandler handed it to him. Toby whispered, “I’m going to try to stall for time so Zero can get here.”

“Who’s Zero?” Chandler asked, but Toby ignored him.

“This is Toby Platt,” he said into the phone. “You have my son. What do you want?”

There were several more breaths. Then the rasping voice came back on. “Mr. Platt. I have followed you around the globe, and finally we get to talk.”

“What do you want?”

“Are you standing next to the blue floater? Of course you are; that’s where I put the phone. You would have made a great president.”

As Toby stared at the phone, everything went to slow motion.

Turk and Crowbar leap between him and the blue floater.

Bruce steps between Toby and the two bodyguards, arms held up as if to protect him.

The blue floater explodes like a huge firecracker, pieces soaring off in all directions.

Turk and Crowbar hurtle through the air over Toby’s head as if shot from a cannon, their sunglasses and weapons spinning away.

Bruce slams into Toby, and they fall to the ground.

Shouts and screams and cries of pain.

Toby tries raising himself to his hands and knees. He’s surrounded by motionless Gray Guard on the ground.

Toby collapses on his back.

Twenty-two stands over him, looking down.

A man in a faded blue uniform appears, yelling, “I’m a doctor!”

The man leans over him, breathing heavily, and says, “You’re still alive. Strike Two.” He grins.

The man’s right arm falls off. Under the arm is a sword that seems to come directly out of the man’s shoulder.

The sword stabs down at Toby’s neck, a blur in slow motion.

Something—an eyestalk?—swipes at the sword.

Half an eyestalk shoots past Toby. The sword misses his neck and digs into the ground.

The man raises the sword again as Twenty-two advances on him, pink blood pouring out of the eyestalk stump. She is yelling into the sensor she holds in one of her hands.

The man backs away, then lunges at the alien, who falls backward to avoid the sword.

The man raises the sword over Twenty-two.

Something flashes out of the sky. Toby turns his head and sees a black dot silently swoosh down. The instant of impact between Zero and the one-armed man sears into Toby’s memory.

Wind and an explosion like thunder hits Toby.

The world fades out.