“As most of you now know, further gravitational readings and further math indicate that this object is headed directly toward Earth. As of an hour ago, it was travelling just over a million miles per hour, and it is still slowing. If it continues to decelerate smoothly, it will intersect our planet in exactly twenty-two days time.”
19
John Kolke waited patiently for his commander to return to his office, one of several the colonel maintained at military bases across the country.
Colonel Morris Jacobson entered and took the chair at his desk, facing his second in command, and he didn’t look good.
Kolke was confused by his demeanor. “You did tell Rosenblatt about his daughter, right?” he asked.
Jake sighed. “Yeah, I told him.”
“Then why do you look so miserable?”
“It didn’t go the way I thought it would. I might have made things worse.”
“What? How is that possible?”
“Part of him is desperate to believe me. But part of him thinks this is some kind of cruel mind fuck. That I’m giving him hope, just so I can snatch it away later to destroy him even more. So he’s afraid to believe me, just in case it isn’t true. If he believed me, and then it turned out I was lying, it would be like losing his daughter twice.”
“I see what you’re saying,” said Kolke.
Jake checked his watch. He had about twenty minutes before he called Miller a second time. His people had gotten nowhere tracing the call or finding Miller’s IP address, as expected.
“So what did you think of Kira Miller?” asked Jake. Kolke had listened in on his call, but Jake had wanted to delay any postgame discussion until after he had spoken with Rosenblatt.
“She’s impressive,” replied the major. “Her reputation is well earned. Her charisma comes through, even when you can’t see her. And from her pictures, I can only imagine how much seeing her in person adds to the effect.” He paused. “You can’t possibly believe she’s sincere about this trade, though.”
“No,” agreed Jake. “Not for a second. But we need to figure out what her angle is. She didn’t go through this charade for her health.”
“It has to be a rescue attempt.”
“I agree that’s the most likely explanation. She’ll set up the handoff so she’ll know where we’ll be with her people. Then she’ll attack. Or members of her group will. She’ll count on those pills of hers giving them the advantage, no matter how we protect ourselves.”
“So how do you want to play it?”
Jake didn’t answer for almost a full minute. Kolke waited patiently while the colonel weighed options in his head. “We restrain Desh and Rosenblatt at a location far away from where we acquire Miller. Metal handcuffs, plastic handcuffs, leg irons, the works—we bind and gag them so thoroughly we can walk away without any worry they’ll escape. In an apartment, maybe. Or a hotel room.”
“What about in a self storage facility? In one of those little steel rooms you can rent out?”
“Perfect,” said Jake. “When Miller is safely in our custody, we tell her people where to find Desh and Rosenblatt. This way, ambushing us does them no good. Not if they want their people back.”
“I like it. But she’ll never agree to it.”
“If you’re right, I’ll have at least forced her to show her hand. She’ll still be intent on outsmarting us, so the discussion won’t end there. The ball will be in her court, and you’d better believe she’ll hit it back.” He paused. “But for some reason, I think she’ll agree to just about anything I propose.”
Kolke’s face wrinkled in confusion. “Why?”
“Because she’s a lot smarter than we are. Even without her magic pills. We’re just thinking a move or two deep and congratulating ourselves. She’s playing a different game. I think she already factored this play into her equation.”
“If that’s true, then you should refuse to deal. Period.”
Jake smiled. “Yeah. Probably. But if I do that she’ll have won forever. She already has me second guessing myself, jousting at shadows. But if I believe no matter what I do, she’s a few steps ahead, then I’m paralyzed and may as well pack it in now.”
“So what else do you think she might have up her sleeve?”
Jake rubbed his head. “There is one flaw in my plan. Even if she can’t directly free her friends, she could try to capture me and force me to give up their location.”
Kolke considered. “Not if you don’t know it,” he said.
“Good thought, Major. Very good thought.” Jake paused for several long seconds. “So we can play it like this. You and I separate. You leave Desh and Rosenblatt bound somewhere, but you don’t tell me their location. But now it should be in an apartment. Far more of these than there are storage facilities. If she really does give herself up, you tell her people where to find our two guests. If she kills or captures me and our team while we’re trying to take her into custody, you just re-gather the prisoners and she’s no better off.”
“Not to rain on this parade or anything,” said Kolke wryly, “but under this scenario, she might not get her people back, but you’re still captured or dead. Doesn’t seem like much fun on your end.”
Jake laughed. “Well, I’ll do my best to see that this doesn’t happen. It’s just a worst case. We can have her rent an SUV and give her driving instructions as she goes, so we can’t be ambushed. We’ll find a stretch of low ground between two cliff walls—like a shallow canyon,” he said, his head tilted back as he thought it through and tried to envision the handoff in his mind’s eye. “One she can get to quickly by off-roading. We can have helos overhead making sure she isn’t followed and snipers on both cliffs. Most with live ammo—but a few with tranquilizer rifles, just on the off chance she doesn’t try anything.”
“That seems like . . . adequate . . . protection,” said Kolke, and Jake could tell his second in command was convinced this was overkill. Maybe so, but this woman’s capabilities had him spooked.
Kolke was about to continue when Jake said, “hold that thought,” and picked up the phone on his desk. He described the kind of terrain he was looking for in the Colorado area to the woman who answered, and that he needed the GPS coordinates of such a place communicated to him as soon as possible. He hung up and gestured to the major. “Go on,” he said.
“I was just going to say, if she agrees to this—a huge if in my book—she’ll have zero chance. Even if she takes one of her pills when you encounter her.”
“Don’t forget that she and her Icarus friends can come up with breakthrough technology every time they’re enhanced. Very little is beyond the reach of their minds. And even without a technology advantage, if she’s able to take a gellcap, you don’t want any part of her. That’s where the tranquilizer comes in. We use one to put her to sleep. When she’s down, we maintain our positions—snipers and helos—for ninety minutes. Even if she enhanced herself just prior to the encounter, the effect only lasts about an hour. After ninety minutes, we tape her mouth shut so she can’t surprise us and take a pill, strip her naked to eliminate the possibility of hidden technology, and take her in.”
“Easy as pie,” said Kolke dryly. “What are we waiting for?” He paused and shook his head. “It’s a good plan, Colonel. But I’m still afraid she’ll never agree to it,” he added.