46

BETRAYAL

When the security systems of the cottage detected the approaching aero, I was watching the Pilgrim holo with Chris, while Angelee cleaned up after dinner. We were at the part in the movie where the main character and his friend were in the mountains and some shepherds were showing them various visions. And the one we were watching was rather scary, especially for a four-year-old like Chris: a group of blind men were stumbling around in a dark, gothic cemetery, bumping into eery gravestones and mausoleums, unable to find their way out. The crashes of thunder and the screams of the trapped men were so loud that I almost didn’t hear the voice of the Living House A.I. above the din.

“What did you say, Vera?” I asked after pausing the holo.

“A BASS aerocar crossed over the eastern property line eleven seconds ago, Michael. It is flying toward us over the vineyards on the east side of the house and will arrive here in one-point-two minutes.”

“Stay right here,” I said to Angelee and Chris, who had picked up on my surprise and were already looking panicked. Darting into my room at a rapid pace didn’t help them either, I’m sure, but I didn’t have much time.

I called Terrey on the net room, and was informed by it that we were unable to connect. I called Min and got the same message. Finally, I tried Lynn at our house with the same result. Obviously someone was jamming any communication that I could use to get information or help. So now I really had to make some tough decisions fast, before the aero arrived.

I thought about it frantically as I stepped back out to the living room. If it was Korcz or someone else coming to kill me, they could easily have one or more BASS grenade launchers, or even use that function on a standard BASS assault rifle to blow us to kingdom come while we were in the house. And just like the attack on the Marin Center, that’s what I would do in this situation—I wouldn’t risk a firefight unless I had to. So that meant I needed to make myself a harder target, and separate from Angelee and Chris if I wanted to keep them safe, which I definitely did. I had become so attached to them, I was actually more willing to endanger my own life than theirs.

I could only come up with one move right now that addressed both of those concerns, and I didn’t have time to think further about it.

“Vera,” I said. “After I exit the house, secure it as tightly as you possibly can, and only open it for one of us. If it is breached by an intruder, call 911 immediately.”

“Yes, Michael.”

“Angelee,” I said. “Stay in this room. If you hear the front door being broken in, run out the back and into the vineyards. Flee through them or hide inside them until help comes. If you see someone other than me come around the back, run through the front door and do the same thing. Do you understand?”

She nodded nervously, and Chris’s little mind must have understood, too, because he was now fearfully clinging to her leg.

I grabbed the gun belt with the two boas from my room and rushed out of the front door, strapping them on and telling Vera to link her security cameras to my glasses. Soon I was four or five rows deep into the vineyards, so I couldn’t be seen from in front of the horse. I could see the intruder, however, because I imported the view from the house’s roof camera to a window in my glasses, and watched the aero draw closer in the waning sunlight. I was relieved to see it slow down and land in the open area in front of the house, which meant that whoever was behind the wheel probably didn’t know that I had exited it. But I was afraid that he or she might simply fire a weapon toward it from the window of the aero, and I didn’t know if I would have the angle or the aim to prevent that.

I prepared for that and other possible eventualities as I switched the window in my glasses to the front camera of the house. In that way I had a good view of the now stationary aero, but I couldn’t see it with my own eyes because I was crouched behind the yellow and gold grapevines. So in case I had to react quickly, I reminded myself that I would have a different angle on the car if I rose to standing position and fired upon it with the guns I now had in my hands.

That turned out to be unnecessary at this point, because the driver’s side door merely swung open, with its window remaining closed, and Korcz climbed out of it. Both of his empty hands were up in the air, and he looked in the direction of the front door of the house, as if he was waiting for me to speak to him from it. He wasn’t as stupid as he looked, I remembered, and undoubtedly knew that I would be staying in a building with security and surveillance systems. Presumably, if I didn’t speak to him from the house, he would have stepped closer to it and rang the doorbell. But I did speak to him, from my position to his right side, because I wanted to draw his attention toward me and away from the house, and my new “family” inside of it. I also prepared myself to make a fast move sideways in the row of dirt between the vines, in case he starting shooting toward the sound of my voice.

“Korcz,” I said from my hiding place. In my glasses I saw him turn in my direction, but he kept his hands in the air. “Why are you here?”

“I came to warn you,” he said in the thick Russian accent. “I think you have been betrayed.”

My mind was running a mile a minute, and one thought I had was that if he was the traitor, this could be an elaborate ruse, though I couldn’t see why he would take this approach.

“Why didn’t you call me,” I asked, “if you wanted to warn me?”

“All the comms are blacked out,” he said.

“How did you get out of your room, and how did you get here?”

“The girl, the number four,” he shouted, probably because he sensed my skepticism and was desperate to convince me. “The one with no body, she told me.”

“Yon?” I said, remembering the name because it had been displayed on my screen several times. “Why would she do that?”

“I think she likes me. Because I stood up for her. I don’t know.” He paused. “I know she likes you. Mebbee she wanted me to warn you.”

“So who betrayed me?” I asked, even though I knew what he was going to say.

“Terrey and his women.”

At first this all seemed contradictory to me—why would Yon help Korcz, or me for that matter, if she and her sisters were part of a plot against me? But then I remembered that her sisters had described Yon as something of a loose cannon, and it seemed more plausible.

“You don’t understand, Korcz,” I said. “Terrey owes me his life. He would never allow any harm to come to me.”

“And he has not,” the big bald man said. “But I think he will kill the double and your woman for the Chinese.”

This hit me like a brick. All at once I could see how Terrey might possibly have played me for the huge amounts of money he was paid to protect us, and then made a deal with Sun for another huge amount. If I had his lack of attachments, the bills that he owed, and the mercenary mind-set, I might have done the same thing. But could he be callous enough to let my wife die in the process? Didn’t he realize that I loved her enough that it would hurt me deeply, and that I would chase him down and make him pay for it? Maybe not, I thought. He’s probably under the impression that I was having an affair with Tara, so he might even think Lynn’s death would somehow free me. But what about the baby? He had bought abortions for a number of his conquests, I knew, and he never had children himself, so maybe he didn’t think life in the womb was very valuable. But I couldn’t take the time right now to wonder about any of this—I had to act in case it might be true.

“What makes you think Terrey is doing this?” I asked Korcz as I stepped out from my cover, and kept one of my boas ready as I frisked him. He was unarmed.

“The call that I got on the plane here, from a Chinese number,” the Russian answered. “How could they have known about me being hired, and why would they be so stupid to risk a traceable call? It is more like the call was to make me look bad, to—how you say it?—make me look suspicion, so you would not be suspicion of the real traitor.” Speaking of stupid, I thought, this man is definitely not as stupid as he looks, or as his halting English makes him seem. He continued: “But what made me sure is that there is always traitor because the Chinese likes traitor. But traitor was waiting, not killing, for more than a week. Why would he wait? Only two reasons.” The pockmarked man held up a single finger. “One, traitor had no opportunity. That is true of me, Stephenson, and Tyra, and I knew we were not traitor. Two, traitor had opportunity, but reason to wait, like making ‘big bikkies’ of money every day he is protecting you.”

Definitely not stupid, I thought again, because this made a lot of sense to me, too. But it also reminded me that Korcz was smart enough to be lying convincingly, and it occurred to me that there were two assault teams, so there could be two traitors. I needed more proof of the big Russian’s claims.

“Get back in the car,” I said, and joined him in the front seats of the aero, holding the gun on him with one hand and opening comm windows in both our names with the other. Calls from the aero were still being jammed, but I was hoping that someone might be watching for at least one of us.

“Yon,” I said out loud, feeling kind of silly doing so. “Are you there? It’s Michael Ares.” I felt even more silly when no answer came, but I pressed on anyway. “Valeri Korcz is here with me.”

Nothing happened again, and kept happening for almost a minute, so I fiddled with the comm grid again to give as many signs as I could of me trying to use it. As I did, I inadvertently brought up Korcz’s last display and saw that he had been checking out the aero’s inventory of weapons on his way to the cottage. My hand tensed on the grip of the boa, and I asked him why.

“I will help you save your wife and baby,” he said. “Because I do what I am hired to do.”

I didn’t have an opportunity to question or admire this statement on his part, because as he finished it some words in all capitals appeared on the inside of the windshield.

YON: THERE IS A LOT HAPPENING RIGHT NOW. I ONLY HAVE A MINUTE.

“Yon,” I said, “did you help Korcz escape from the hill?”

YON: YES, I DID.

“Why?”

YON: THE CHINESE WERE COMING, AND THEY WOULD HAVE KILLED HIM. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN AN UNNECESSARY DEATH.

My mind raced again, with thoughts of Chinese at the hill base and “unnecessary death,” which implied that there was “necessary death” about to take place. My window with this bodiless woman was about to close, so I had to make a leap-of-faith decision to trust her and Korcz, and hope that they weren’t both working together as traitors. Then as if I was being rewarded for that faith, a last question came to mind that could confirm whether it was well-placed.

“Yon,” I said in the most charming manner I could muster, and smiled in case she could somehow see my face, “would you please unblock our comms, or at least open one private link for us, so we can see what’s happening at the hill? I would really appreciate it.”

There was no response for a while, and again I feared the worst as we waited in the silence of the car. But then the comm system flared to life, and we could see that she had granted my request.

YON: GOTTA GO NOW. WON’T BE ABLE TO TALK ANYMORE. I LOVE YOU!

“I love you, too,” I said for good measure, with a smile that quickly disappeared when my eyes turned in horror to the one link Yon had provided for us. The video window was looking through Min’s eyes at several people in the hill’s big hangar bay, and despite some obvious damage to his vision (and some water from his tears?), I could tell who they were. One was my double, dressed in my clothes and standing groggily with his hands tied behind his back. Another was General Zhang Sun, dressed smartly in a black suit and standing proudly over the sprawled body of my half-conscious wife, who was wearing absolutely nothing. At first I could only see her in the side of Min’s view, because he had been looking at Sun, but then when his eyes swept right and landed on Lynn, he immediately looked down out of respect or embarrassment, or both, and then tilted his head back and looked up from the pain he was experiencing. When he looked down, I could see that he had been dismembered so badly that only his head and the top of his torso remained, with a bloody spinal cord and various tubes and cords hanging from its bottom. And when he looked up, I could see that what was left of him had been hung by wires from the end of a helicopter propeller, so he would have to watch helplessly as Sun enjoyed his revenge.

Knowing this was the only reason to leave Min alive, I also guessed that Sun would do something similar to Jon, thinking he was me, and make him watch as Lynn was killed. I realized this could happen to my wife at any second, but I tried to control my panic and think about it, rather than letting my emotions rule and doing something stupid. I also thought that Sun would probably want to prolong his gloating, and therefore Lynn’s death, though within reason because he probably had a limit on the amount of time he could be there and still leave safely. So I calculated my options, and told Korcz to get the guns out of the trunk.

I stepped out of the car and walked around the front to get into the driver’s seat, and as I did, Angelee and Chris came running out of the front door of the house. They must have been watching from the window—contrary to my instructions—and could tell that I was leaving. The young mother threw her arms around my ribs and the little boy around my leg, and both held on for dear life. I didn’t even have time for a conversation, let alone to give them the explanation they deserved, so to get them to let go I had to make some quick promises that I knew I couldn’t keep. I told them that I would be back soon and that we would be together for a long time. I could almost feel Angelee’s excitement that she would have a husband, and Chris’s that he would have a father. But I didn’t have time to feel guilt or anything else about it myself, so I got in the car and fired it up.

I returned the waves of the smiling woman and boy as the aero lifted off, and then looked over at Korcz, who now sitting in the passenger seat. The big Russian raised his eyebrows slightly, but didn’t say anything.

I set the autopilot to fly to the hill bay, at the highest speed I could select. I thought of summoning some BASS peacers to the hill, now that I knew who the traitor was, but I still couldn’t call out. Even if I could, there were so few of them in or near the Valley, if any, and they would all be much farther away than I was. We had told them all to keep clear of the hill when the kaleidocide began. So I moved on to my next option, and tested the extent of the link Yon had opened for us with Min. I spoke to the bodyguard verbally, and was glad to see that he was able to hear and answer via the silent communication capabilities of his cyberbrain.

I am very sorry, Mr. Ares. These words were posting on another part of the windshield. I have failed you.

“Nonsense, Min,” I said. “Let’s see if we can do anything about this…”

I still have some hidden weapons capability, but I cannot use it unless I can get my neural controls back online. I’m trying, but even if I do, I would not be able to locate the enemy soldiers, and even if I could locate them, I only have enough ordnance to eliminate two of the ten.

I realized, from Min’s words and from the slight distortion in the air next to the double, that China had developed a cloaking device for its soldiers and that a pair of them were holding Jon upright so he would have to wake up and witness what was coming. And before the conversation between Min and me could continue, Terrey’s voice boomed through the hangar’s speakers, and I found out what Sun had planned for Lynn’s death.

“You have what you wanted now,” Terrey said, “and I’m sure you saw the injectors on Mrs. Ares’s ankles when you removed her clothing. Which was hardly necessary, by the way. The nanites would do their work on her skin even if she was dressed.”

“But we would not be able to watch them do their work,” Sun answered, with a perverse smile that confirmed the implication that he had enjoyed humiliating my wife. “And I need you to come back here and activate the devices.”

“That won’t happen,” Terrey said. “I’m long gone already, and going much farther away so I can’t be tracked by you or anyone else. But I will activate them by remote control so you can have your fun watching her suffer and die—after you transfer the money to my account. If I had started the process already, you might not have paid me.”

“Half now,” Sun said calmly. “The other half when I am safely away from here, as we agreed. And you will activate the injectors first, before you receive your payment.”

Terrey paused before responding, but then said, “Fine. Have fun.”

Min reluctantly looked directly at Lynn’s prone form for the first time, sacrificing his honor so that I could see what happened to her. The small devices attached to her ankles sparked to life and caused her body to spasm, as what looked like a thick liquid began to spread out in all directions on her feet and ankles, traveling slowly up her legs and covering all the skin with a multicolored surface that looked like a living tattoo. I knew that nanotechnology had been largely a bust in the scientific community because of its limited power supply, but I also knew that it had caught on as a fashion decoration which could only be used in patches like the triplets did, because of potential dangers to the dermal system. It wasn’t hard to figure out why Sun chose this torture for my wife, or why he picked nanites that would cover her body with so many different colors. But he elaborated anyway.

“This is the ultimate form of xing lu cai se,” he said to Jon, thinking he was me. “And it is an especially appropriate punishment for you. You took my partner from me, now I am taking yours—with interest.” Lynn convulsed on the floor as the colors made their way up toward her hips, and she clutched at her big belly as if she was trying to protect the little girl inside it.

I checked the aero’s HUD for our ETA to the hill, which was still several minutes away, and reached into the backseat for one of the assault rifles that Korcz had put there from the trunk. He grabbed one, too, and we both began to ready the weapons by turning off the safeties and chambering rounds in the main barrels and the grenade launchers. I was very surprised that the big Russian was willing to join me in this, because suicide was the only word that described what we were about to do. Maybe he thought that it was so clearly the right thing to do, and was therefore a good way for both of us to die.