CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
"Love the One You're With" - Stephen Stills
"Scanner ready."
"Ready, Marlene?"
"Yes."
"Not much activity," Carlos said as much to reassure himself as to reassure her. He knew it didn't take much power to send a homing signal. For all he knew, she may have already done that. He froze all movement, deep in thought.
"Kieran. Kieran? Damn, where is she?"
"Haven't seen her, Carlos," Harry offered.
"Neither have I," answered Marlene. "Does this mean we can't do this now?"
"No, we have to. A little activity in that chip of yours could be just the thing to lead the Cyber to us. We wouldn't want that, would we," he said, trying to calm himself and the other Shadows who were present.
"Don't worry, there's nothing to it. Harry can do it. Can't you, Harry?"
Not wanting to alarm Marlene, Harry moved away from the scanner table and motioned for Carlos to follow.
"I've never done anything like this before."
"That's all right. Neither have I. If Kieran says it should work, it should."
Harry's trepidation was apparent.
"It’s all right, Harry. All you have to do is point the wand directly at the base of her skull and hold it there. I’ll do the rest. The idea is to overload your chip directly. I'll control the volume. If it works, you're next, Marlene."
"And if it doesn't."
Carlos shrugged. By this time, it was already too late.
"Okay, let's do it."
"Harry?" It was Marlene.
"It's all right, I can do this."
"You're sure?"
"I trust you, Harry."
Her words almost stopped him, but Carlos snatched his attention.
"Frequency. Tuning. See that flicker on the scanner, that's a Cyber signal. It's weak, but it could be enough to do us in. The goal here is to stop it completely. We can do that if we break or disable the chip with the vibration. We'll get the parts out later before the body tries to do it first and we've got bigger problems."
Both Harry and Marlene looked at him. "Infection," he answered. "We'll have broken the protective shield and the body will regard the parts as foreign bodies, which, of course, they are. Believe it or not, getting those out is the easy part."
Carlos squatted down to be eye-level with Marlene as she lie on the table, and spoke tenderly to her.
"I know this is frightening, but I know it will work. Actually, it was Kieran's idea. She's good working with machine trash, so I trust her judgment. Too bad she's not here to see the results though. The sound waves won't hurt you. Think you can trust me, too?"
She smiled weakly and nodded. She had trusted both of them from the first and that was odd, but she had trusted Makr, too.
"Ready, Harry?"
Harry nodded.
"Hold it steady over the chip," instructed Carlos.
"Nothing's happening. I can't hear anything."
"No problem, that's just a frequency we can't hear. We should be changing it by making it vibrate. Anything?"
"No."
"Volume up. Now?" Carlos looked at Harry who shook his head. “How are you doing, Marlene? Any pain?"
"Just a slight headache."
"Let me know if it gets worse. Harry?"
"No change."
"Damn. Damn. Damn!" Carlos turned away to think, then adjusted the scope. "Changing the wave pattern. Oscillating."
"Flickering weak. Weaker. Out."
"Let's look at the scanner to be sure." Carlos turned from the scanner to Marlene. "Looks like we got it," he said with a relieved sigh and held out his hand to Harry to shake. "Thank you."
He switched off the scanner, unaware that a fraction of a second before the screen went black, a single flicker had been emitted, stronger than the one they thought they had diminished. Harry saw it. He was silent.
Both men helped her sit up. As she did, she reached over first to Carlos, and then to Harry, kissing each of them on the cheek. "Thank you. I love you both."
"Oh, you're just glad we were able to neutralize the signal," said Carlos, who turned away as if suddenly unsure of how to deal with the mildly intimate exchange.
"You're next, Harry, but we have to wait until tomorrow. The ultrasound laser drains too much power. If we don't watch it, we'll be sending Makr's goons a flare they can track."
"Such a romantic," said Marlene sarcastically, but happily.
Carlos liked her smile. But he knew she and Harry seemed to share another kind of smile—a secret smile.
To Marlene, Harry's smile was dark now. She had ever seen it before, but she knew she deserved whatever emotion it hid. He still hates me. I understand. No, I hate me, too.
I forgave you the moment it was over, he thought, but everything was so confusing I guess I forgot to tell you. A lot has happened since then. Everyone has done things. How can we not forgive ourselves for being human? It is out of our hands, out of our control. The world will go on.
Harry knew he loved her very much, and yet something inside told him that they would never be together as lovers. And, for some strange reason that it simply didn't matter somehow.
From the moment Harry saw the signal flicker he was consumed with worry. Thank Makr, Carlos didn't see it. Makr knows! He has to know it. Harry would have to get the two of them out of here before they could bring death to the Shadows' door.
Barry was right after all. I am dangerous to have around.