They found themselves in the hallway of a run-down office building. The SCIP door quickly disappeared from the dirty brown, bare wall behind them. Afraid of what they might find, they stood gawking like Dorothy, Tin Man, and the Scarecrow, hoping the hostile environment would give them a chance. To their relief, the place seemed abandoned. Cassiopia quickly whispered instructions to the Tel, and the group quietly shuffled along and found a door on the left that was open. They hurried in and latched it behind them.
The room was a collection of overturned chairs, tables, and trash. It was large and extended to the opposite side of the building, where dingy picture windows looked out at a city. There were newspapers and piles of garbage on the dirty wooden floor, and gaping holes kicked in the walls. Storage closets lined the right side of the room. The rest was an open work area.
“Lucky, lucky, lucky,” whispered Rogers.
“Tel, auditory levels minimum, hold position.”
“Yes, Cassiopia.”
“How long before we need to inject him again?” whispered Cassiopia.
“Now.”
“This building and these rooms must mean something.”
“The power is still on. Want to guess what kind of people own this building? I think we’re on the fourth floor.”
Alongside the door was a large storage closet. Cassiopia gently pushed the sliding panel open. It was a wide, empty walk-in. She leaned close to the robot and spoke softly. “Tel, translate here and put the objective down so he is sitting on the floor with his back against the wall.”
The robot rocked back and forth and complied.
“You will stay here and guard this man and not let any harm come to him. You will not let anyone else have access to him. You will protect yourself at all times. You will accept no input from anyone except Ann Rogers or me. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Cassiopia.”
Cassiopia turned to Rogers. “We’ll need to keep him here, near the SCIP location in case we need to make a quick exit.”
“Understood,” replied Rogers. She kneeled by the sleeping form, dug in her satchel, and withdrew a small plastic case. Snapping it open, she removed a small syringe, cleared it for air, and injected it into the Alaman’s arm. When it was done, she stood and nodded to Cassiopia. “That gives us another six before he’ll need more.”
Cassiopia bit her lip. “No way to tell if Dreamland pharmacy parallels reality pharmacy, but he’s real and so is the drug, so it should be okay.”
“A chance we’ll have to take.”
They cautiously searched the dusty room. Rogers went to the windows and stood back out of sight, studying the surroundings. After a moment, her eyes lit up. She picked up a newspaper from the floor and read the cover. She went to Cassiopia, pointed to it and spoke in a hushed tone. “I don’t believe it! It’s Washington, D.C.! Intel was right. This must be the target.”
To Cassiopia’s surprise, chills ran up her spine. The reality of what they were doing suddenly set in.
Rogers moved quietly over to a second closed door that opened to the hallway. The window in the door was glazed but scratched enough that she could see through it. Across the hall, a door was open. Beyond it, blueprint drawings were spread out on a long table. There still did not seem to be anyone around.
Rogers scanned outside the windows once more. “This is a rundown section on the outskirts of D.C.,” she said, and she turned to face Cassiopia. “They must be using this place to operate out of. We’ll have to hang out here out of sight and hope they return. I hope it’s not a long wai….”
The room suddenly lit up as though someone had switched on a giant spotlight. Rogers and Cassiopia spun around to look in time to see a massive blossoming white light rise up in the sky in the distance. Rogers screamed, “Oh my God, we’re too late!”
The first concussion hit a fraction of a second later. It blew out the glass windows spraying shards of glass all over them as they twisted to turn away. The concussion drove them both to the floor and pushed them along it through the rubble. It covered them with dirt and debris and did not let up, pressing them into the piles of shattered wreckage.
A second wave hit before Cassiopia had time to breathe. Through the haze of dirt and wind, she watched the upper floors of the building peel away and disappear leaving a hazy gray sky overhead. Waiting for it to subside, she could see the mushroom cloud rising up in the distance, expanding outward like a monster surveying its territory. The air crackled with electricity. Waves of heat and wind continued to pass over. It seemed like it would go on forever.
The blast abruptly ended, though angry wind and a rumbling from all around continued to fill the air. Cassiopia pushed at the wood, dirt, and glass covering her and struggled to get up. Her skin felt as though ants were crawling on it. She stood and found Rogers already on her feet. The world had lost all color. Everything in every direction was a dull shade of brown. They had been on the fourth floor of an office building, but now it seemed like they were at ground level. In every direction, there was nothing but colorless debris, a flat land of trash and dirt. The sky was a sullen darkness with the mushroom cloud continuing to grow. Trash rained down from it all around. Fires were burning everywhere.
Rogers looked at Cassiopia but was unable to speak for a moment. Partly composed she stammered, “Shit! We were too late. Are you hurt?”
Cassiopia stood bewildered. She looked down at her torn, discolored clothing, and then back at Rogers. “I don’t know. My skin is tingling pretty bad.”
“Radiation. Shit! Is this real?”
“I don’t think so.”
“We’ve got to get out of here. Where’s Alaman?”
They both turned amid the garbage and looked. Standing amid a particularly tall pile, the Tel robot had remained in place. They stepped over the debris and found Alaman’s body beneath the rubble. He was still unconscious.
“Let’s get out of here, Cassiopia. We won’t find anything in this place now. Let’s hope Dreamland radiation isn’t real, or we’re really screwed. This was a bad idea.”
Cassiopia dug in her pocket for the control to the SCIP door. She pulled it out and was about to press the recall when another wave hit them.
But this time it was different. A vortex of thunder suddenly surrounded them. The world went into a spin and became a speeding blur. Cassiopia held out her arms to keep her balance. Rogers bent at the knees and took a ready stance, unable to comprehend what was happening. A loud clap like thunder ended it. Instantaneously they were again standing in the office building just as it was when they had first arrived. Their clothes were clean and not torn. The feeling of radiation was gone. Rogers turned to Cassiopia to suggest they hurry and leave but was interrupted by chanting coming from across the hall.
Cassiopia raised one finger to her lips and quietly went to the door to look. Through the scratches in the door window, she could see Alaman cross-legged on the floor praying and chanting. She waved Rogers to join her. Rogers peered through the window, looked around at the restored surroundings and stared at Cassiopia in silent puzzlement.
Cassiopia whispered to her, “You see what’s happening? He’s playing the bombing over and over in his mind. We came in right at the end, and now it’s starting over. We still have a chance.”
Rogers was clearly shaken, but as she thought back to why they had come, her composure quickly returned. She whispered back, “Son of a bitch. Let’s hope we don’t get that far again. Some of it hurt. Let’s get these bastards. How much time do we have before it goes off again?”
“No way to tell.”
Cassiopia went to the closet door and opened it to check the robot and Alaman’s unconscious form. Both were in place and undisturbed. She returned to the door to watch the Dreamland Alaman. He was moving around, spreading out papers on a long table. Beyond him, there was a mattress on the floor with blankets.
Cassiopia whispered, “I think we have some time. If the bomb was about to go off, he would have left
. We may be in a good place.”
Rogers leaned over and kept her voice low. “Okay, if we’re staying, I’m going to have to leave you and run some errands real fast.”
“You’re going to go? Where?” she whispered back fearfully.
“One of two things has to happen. Either Alaman is waiting for his associates, and he’ll be leaving with them, or he’ll leave on his own, walk a few blocks to his car, and take off. They never park near their hideout so they can tell if they’re being followed. It’s for sure he’ll have a weapon somewhere. We’ll need a car to tail these guys, and I need a gun.”
“How can you get those things?”
“I’ll either steal a car or rent one. I can walk in any gun store and buy a weapon using my Fed ID. Hell, I’ll bet I’m even in the system in this place.”
“But what will I do if he leaves, or the others show up?”
“Just stay quiet, and keep an eye out. Can the Tel protect you if you’re discovered?”
“I don’t know. Probably.”
“So, if they look like they’re going to come in here, hide in the closet with the Tel. I saw a rusty old fire escape on the south side of the building when we came in. I’ll use that to come and go. It’s for sure they’ve got the entrances set up to tell if anyone’s been here. Don’t leave unless it’s life or death. I won’t take long. I know my way around this town.”
Rogers went to the windows on the far side of the room and found one that wasn’t painted shut. With coaxing, it opened. She looked back at Cassiopia, gave a thumb up and stepped out onto the catwalk. A moment later, she was gone.
Cassiopia turned back to the closed door and watched her suspect through a scrape in a pane that was just the right height. The man was excited and busy. He was not wearing the same clothes as the sleeping Alaman. He was dressed in gray mechanics coveralls and work shoes. Through his open door, she watched as he sat on the floor in a lotus position and began bending forward and back in prayer. At one point, he stopped, drew a cell phone from his pocket, read something on it, and then resumed his prayer along with chanting and waving.
After forty-five minutes of bowing and chanting, the Dreamland Alaman suddenly rose and headed right at her, causing her to jerk aside from the window. To her relief, his footsteps turned to the stairs and faded. She went to the front windows and staying back out of sight, watched the street below. Alaman emerged onto the sidewalk and headed off to the right, looking around constantly. Moving along the windows, she followed his progress. The city was deserted. There were only a few cars parked along the street. Alaman crossed at a corner and continued a half a block, before stopping at an old, unwashed brown foreign car. He studied his surroundings before opening the trunk and digging around in it.
Cassiopia realized this was her chance. Rogers was not here to ask. It was up to her. She slowly opened the door and checked the dingy hallway. There was no one. She stepped out and entered the room where Alaman had been working. It was similar to the one in which she was hiding. Being careful not to disturb anything, she checked the closets but found them empty. There were folding chairs scattered around a single long table at the room’s center, and another near the mattress on the floor. A couch with holes in it sat beneath the opaque windows at the front. She went to the table and began studying the documents on it. Some were in blueprint, others in pencil with a few printouts attached. None of it was English. The drawings were some kind of detached schematics, portions of a larger assembly. There was nothing to show the entire device, whatever it was. Some of the blueprints suggested hydraulics or coolant of some kind. There were wiring diagrams that showed thermocouples, probably for measuring temperature. There was not enough information to be sure.
Fearing she had taken too long, she hurried back to the door and looked out. The hall was deserted. She crossed over, quietly opened her door and slipped inside. At that moment, the sound of footsteps reverberated up the steps. She cursed herself for having cut it so close.
Through the small spot in the glass, she watched Alaman return. He resumed his nervous milling about, now frequently looking at his watch. He kept disappearing from view as though going to the windows. Another half-hour of restless pacing and the answer became clear. The sounds of a fresh set of footsteps echoed up the stairs. Alaman heard the approach and came out to meet his associate. In the hall, they embraced and bowed to each other and talked excitedly in a language she did not understand.
A hand suddenly touched Cassiopia’s shoulder. She jumped back violently and almost cried out. Rogers stood behind her holding one finger against her lips and dangling a key. She shifted carefully beside the door and peered through the window. Nodding, she backed away and spoke in a whisper. “We’re parked in an alley, one block away, that way.” She pointed to the south side of the building. “I bought it with my credit card! This is an extra key. Take it. It’s a dark blue sedan.”
Cassiopia took the key and stared in amazement.
Rogers bent over and dug in the satchel on the floor beside her. She drew out a small earpiece and boom mike wired to a belt transmitter. She whispered, “Put this on. I’m betting if the door controller works, these will too. We can stay in touch.”
Cassiopia worked hers into position over her ear and clipped the transmitter to her jeans. Rogers’ subdued voice immediately squelched in. “How’s that? You got me?”
“Loud and clear.”
“How long has the other guy been here?”
Cassiopia held up five fingers.
“Did I miss anything else?”
Cassiopia lowered her chin and kept her voice down. “Alaman went to his car. It’s the foreign one a block to the north of us. I’ll bet he went to get a gun. I snuck over and took a look at their papers. It’s sections of something that uses water or hydraulics, or coolant, or something. It doesn’t look like a bomb.”
“You went sneaking around over there while he was gone?”
Cassiopia shook her head.
“Wow. You never cease to amaze me. You have balls, girl!”
Cassiopia smiled.
They returned to the door in time to see the two men gathering some of the paperwork and getting ready to leave.
Rogers clicked on her mike, “Oh crap, here we go.”
The men exited the room, shut and locked the door, and headed for the stairs.
“Okay, Alaman’s buddy must’ve got dropped off, because I saw no other new vehicles out there, and I made it a point to check. So, they’ll be taking his car. You go get ours and bring it around but keep out of sight until I call you. I’ll follow them on foot until they’re on the road, then you pick me up fast so we stay with them. Got it?”
“I guess….”
“We’ll follow on the stairs. The fire escape is a bitch.”
Rogers led the way, moving softly down the stairwell, pausing at each level then continuing down until they had reached the main floor. She motioned Cassiopia out the back door and ran to the front just in time to pick up Alaman and his associate heading along the sidewalk toward their car. They were two men walking slowly, but in a hurry, trying to appear calm in a nervous, eager sweat. The deserted sidewalk and street made their act less than dramatic, almost comical. Rogers would have found it laughable except she had experienced their real intentions.
When there was enough separation, she slipped outside and took cover in a storefront alcove. They opened the trunk of the small gray car and milled around looking guiltier than ever. Finally, Alaman slammed it and they climbed in. A squealing U-turn on the empty street put them on their way.
Rogers pinched her transmit button. “Cassiopia, move out. Hurry!” She looked back and to her relief the sedan pulled out of the alley and skidded in the loose dirt up to the curb. Rogers jumped in and pointed. The chase was on.
Chapter 24