"We're not local cops," said Sam. "We're ERD. We care about the technology. If you cooperate, your guinea pigs here probably aren't in much trouble. If not… you and everyone here are in a deep pile of shit."
"I want them all off the hook. Rangan and Ilya and Wats too. No arrests, no jail, no probation, nothing."
Sam wanted to shake her head again, but couldn't. "I'm not the person for you to bargain with. Surrender and come in with me. Just you four. No one else has to even know what's going on. Then we can negotiate."
Wats spoke to Rangan. "Can you blur her senses? Make it so she can't hear us? Can't read our lips?"
Rangan nodded. Sam started to object, found that she couldn't speak. Her vision started to fail. It narrowed into a tunnel, grayed out, then simply vanished. She didn't see blackness. She simply didn't see. Sound disappeared. She was blind and deaf.
Sam fought to choke down a rising panic. Few nightmares were worse for her than losing control of her mind and body. Breathe, she told herself. She could still feel her body, still feel her chest rise and fall, still feel her arms tied behind her back and her feet tied to the chair. She clung to that solidity.
Wats exhaled slowly. How to convince these kids of what was necessary? "Listen, this woman will say anything to you to achieve her goals. She's lied from the beginning. She's going to keep on lying. Once the ERD have you in custody, you're theirs. You won't get a lawyer. They can do whatever they want to you, and you won't ever get out from under it. You understand?"
He looked around the room. Ilya met his eyes. Rangan was nodding, his face pale. Kade still had his eyes on the ground. Wats could feel their emotions. Rangan: fear and anger. Ilya: defiance. Kade: guilt and self-doubt. He was reprimanding himself for creating this situation.
"Kade. Sit up straight, my friend. It doesn't matter how we got here. We're here." Wats saw Kade nod at his words, felt the kid get fractionally more of a grip on his emotions. "Look, our getaway plans are solid. If we stay, they have us for sure. If we bolt right now, we have a chance. It's a deep dark hole or a chance at getting out. We've got to do the sensible thing."
He paused, looking around. Rangan was ready. He didn't know what to make of Ilya and Kade's emotions.
"OK, you all ready? Rangan, can you knock her out and leave her that way for a few hours?"
"I'm not going," Kade said.
Wats paused again. Then, "Kade, if you stay, it's over. You won't ever get free of them."
Kade nodded. "I know. It's just… If we run, what happens to everyone else here? Antonio, Jessica, Andy… The volunteers that measured out the doses and hooked up the repeaters. Do we tell all of them to run too? They don't have fake passports. They don't have someplace to run to. They just get fucked. Hell, what about Tania, Wats?"
Wats flushed. "If you stay here, you get fucked too," he replied.
Kade shook his head. "Ilya's right. If they want me for something, then I have leverage. It's a bargaining chip. I can get other folks off the hook."
"You have bigger things to attend to," Wats replied.
Now Kade exuded anger. "That's a cop-out, Wats. We created this situation. It's our responsibility." He calmed himself, spoke more softly. "Actually, you know what? It's my responsibility." He shook his head.
Wats let his breath out slowly again. He had to reach this kid. "Kade… It's important that you get out of here. All three of you. What you're doing here is powerful. It has potential. It can save a lot of lives. It can end wars. It's bigger than you. It's more important than just this party. You're more important."
"I'm not more important than the hundred people out there," Kade said sharply.
"Your work is."
Ilya cut in. "Wats, we can't let the ends justify the means. These people haven't done anything wrong. We haven't done anything wrong. We have to fight. We can take this public, take it to the press…"
Wats shook his head. So naïve. "Ilya, they're not going to let you, don't you see? You have no rights in this country, not as of tonight. They're not going to let you near the press. And even if they did, no one would care."
Ilya stood her ground. "We have to try. We have to stand up and fight for what's right." She exuded resolve, defiance.
This wasn't going to work, Wats saw. As much as he'd tried to educate them on the realities of the world, they wouldn't ever understand until they'd experienced it first hand.
He turned to Kade.
"Then give me the code," he said. "The design, the blueprints, the recipe, all of it. If you disappear, I'll get it out into the world."
Kade shook his head. "It's not ready yet."
"Kade, if you go to jail, it'll never get out. This may be your only chance left to make a difference with it."
Kade kept shaking his head. "It's too easy to abuse. Look at what we're doing to her right now." He gestured towards the now blind and deaf ERD agent tied to the chair. "If we let it out now, people will get hurt."
Wats kept his breathing steady, held onto his calm. "Then I'll find someone trustworthy to keep working on it until it is ready. Don't let it go down the drain."
Rangan interjected, "I'm not staying either."
Kade turned and looked at him. There was no surprise there. He just nodded. "OK. I'm the one with the bargaining chip. The rest of you get out of here. You too, Ilya."
"I'm with you," she said. "We have to fight for what's right."
Wats relaxed fractionally. Rangan had the full code and design. If Rangan got out too, then all was not lost. Then he looked again at Kade and at Ilya. These were his friends. The best friends he'd made since he'd left the Corps. He doubted he'd ever see them again. He let his eyes drink up the sight of them.
Wats picked Kade up in a bear hug. Kade winced, then relaxed into it. Wats moved on to Ilya, picked her up off the ground and twirled her around. She squealed, despite the grave circumstances. There were tears in her eyes. Then Rangan said his goodbyes as well.
At the door, Wats turned and soaked up the sight of Ilya and Kade once more. "I won't forget you," he promised. "Good luck." Then he and Rangan were gone.
Saturday 2040.02.18 : 2108 hours
Department of Homeland Security – West Coast Tactical Situation Center
Three hundred and fifty miles to the south, ERD Special Agent Garrett Nichols watched the developing situation with some interest. Five of them clustered in the command and control room at the Department of Homeland Security Tactical Situation Center outside Los Angeles. The Drug Enforcement Agency liaison and the Department of Homeland Security Counterterrorism Division liaison sat quietly behind him. This was a joint operation, but given its nature, the Emerging Risks Directorate of DHS had operational command.
His two analysts sat at the consoles in front of him. Half a dozen giant screens filled a wall that all of them could see. Screen 1 showed overhead false color visual of Simonyi Field, as seen from the Coast Guard's HQ-37 Sky Eye flying silent circles one thousand feet above it. Hangar 3 was their focus. Lights illuminated either end of the vast building. Cars in the nearby parking lot shone in infrared, their engines still warm.