“Who won’t even begin to understand what he’s doing,” countered Desh. He shrugged. “I think it was a mistake, but the stakes are very high, as usual.” He frowned deeply. “Probably even higher than usual. I get that. And it’s too late now anyway.”
Kira gritted her teeth. “Um . . . there is one other thing. I thought you’d support this idea so I kind of . . . volunteered you. Jake agreed to the same deal for you as well. Sorry for not checking first. But there was no time. And I thought for sure you’d want to chaperone Matt.”
Desh nodded. “I do. I might not have made this decision—although it would have been close—but you and Matt agreed. Given that, making sure I could be there with him was the right choice—just in case one of Jake’s confidants isn’t as trustworthy as he is.” He shrugged. “Why not? In for a penny, in for a pound.”
“Since when did you start quoting British proverbs?”
Desh smiled. “I like to hold a little back,” he replied. “So I can surprise you now and then.”
“Good. Surprise can be good for a marriage,” she said, smiling for the first time in a long while.
Desh fought to keep his face placid, but this remark brought him back to reality. For just a moment he had let himself forget—let himself believe he was talking to the Kira he thought he knew. Surprises could be bad for a marriage as well. He wondered how many more were in store for him. And yet part of him clung stubbornly to the belief that there was a valid explanation for Kira’s actions. There had to be. He loved her too much for there not to be.
“Here’s the million dollar question,” continued Kira. “Given your condition, are you sure you’re up for this?” she asked, the deep concern in her voice unmistakable.
Desh nodded stoically. He had to be up for it. With Connelly gone, he was the only option. “I’ll be good as new in no time.”
Kira sighed. “I’m going to hold you to that,” she said, forcing a smile. “But make sure you get a gellcap from Matt the second you see him. And take it right away.”
Desh nodded. An enhanced mind could actively direct the body’s healing processes, putting into motion a highly accelerated recovery.
Kira let him know a jet was waiting for him at Camp Pendleton whenever he felt up to it. “By the way, no luggage allowed. The colonel will change you out of your clothes before you arrive and provide additional clothing for you once you’re on board. No keys, no cell phone—no underwear,” she added pointedly. “Matt will be able to keep his pill bottle, but that’s all. Apparently, Jake doesn’t like bugs. What happens on Copernicus stays on Copernicus.”
“Not surprising,” said Desh. “I’m going to call Jake as soon as we’re done. I assume he gave you his number?”
“He did.” She paused. “I know you have the sturdiest phone money can buy, but I’m still impressed it survived your ordeal.”
“Are you kidding?” said Desh with a broad grin. “When the world comes to an end, all that will survive will be the cockroach and my phone.”
“An end of the world joke would have been a lot funnier yesterday,” noted Kira grimly.
50
Desh’s call to Jake was answered almost immediately. “I found Eric Frey,” said Desh after he had identified himself. “The man who set us up. The one from USAMRIID Kira told you about.”
“Go on,” said Jake noncommittally.
“I confirmed he has his own supply of gellcaps. In fact, he took one while I was with him. That’s where you got your sample from. He knew all about your activities. He said he had a man inside your camp.”
Desh went on to detail how he had found Frey, who had assumed the identity of Adam Archibald, an identity he was surely sloughing off like snake skin even as they spoke. He then described how Archibald/Frey had escaped.
Jake considered. “Do you have any evidence other than your word? Anything you can tell me to convince me you’re not just making this up?”
“Just pay attention to news out of San Diego tomorrow. You’ll hear that this Archibald is missing and they found his yacht abandoned and trashed. I’ll be at Pendleton soon. But I want a slightly slower jet than you had planned. Slightly larger and more comfortable also. So I can recuperate. And make sure you have a fully equipped medic on the flight.”
“Roger that,” said Jake. “See you in the South Atlantic.”
***
Ari Regev’s medic friend had agreed to load Desh up with a last dose of antibiotics and pain killers and drop him by the Pendleton gate. But first Desh wanted to check on the bugs he had planted to keep tabs on his wife. He forced himself to fight off his guilt, to push through the intense love he had for Kira Miller, and to remember that if her alter ego had taken over, all bets were off.
The video footage was on his computer, and he accessed it with his indestructible phone. He fast forwarded through the footage, most of which didn’t even have Kira on it. His mind had started to wander when he caught something that caused him to stop the video.
He wasn’t sure what he had seen, but his instincts told him to take a closer look. It had happened so fast that if he had blinked at the wrong moment he would have missed it.
He hit rewind and then ran the footage forward again.
The room spun around him as though he were hopelessly drunk, and his temples began to throb.
Ross Metzger was on the screen. On Kira’s computer monitor.
Alive after all.
Desh had suspected the breach of the physics facility was too flawless, and was either an inside job or had been planned by someone who had been enhanced.
But maybe it had been both.
Desh had ruled out the possibility that Metzger had faked his death because Kira kept close watch on the gellcaps, and without one of these—which Kira insisted he did not have—he couldn’t have done it. It had never occurred to Desh that the women of his dreams, the woman he was passionately in love with, had simply lied to him.
But it was occurring to him now.
He played the footage from his hidden camera, which showed Kira receiving a video call from the not so deceased special forces pilot. After greetings had been exchanged, Metzger said, “I know we’ve both been crazy busy, but I thought a face-to-face call was long overdue.”
“You were right. But unfortunately, you caught me at a bad time. I have some things I need to take care of. I need to call you back later.”
“I’ll be here,” he said.
“Good. But from now on, don’t contact me. After Denver was destroyed there’s more activity here than usual.” She paused and looked upset. “And I think David is beginning to suspect something is up.”
Metzger’s eyes narrowed. “Why do you think that?”
“No concrete evidence. Just intuition. David’s been acting funny toward me. It’s subtle, but I’m picking it up. And he’s the last person we should ever underestimate. So send me a scrambled text when you want to have a face to face, and I’ll contact you. No use tempting fate.”
“You’ve been very careful, Kira. You’re probably just imagining things.”
“Could be,” said Kira. “But let’s not take that chance.”
And with that, the connection ended.
51
The story of the alien nanites spread around a horrified globe in hours. Every man, woman, and child was stunned to their cores. What did this mean? Would the nanites emerge as a powerful force for good, improving the human condition? Or were they a harbinger of doom? Was the end of the world only days or hours away?