"Rehab?" she asked.
Becker nodded slowly. "The damage is extensive. He suffered major cell death in most organs. They're regrowing a heart right now so they can get him off the machine. It's going to be a long hard road for him. He may never recover fully."
Sam swallowed. She could feel bile rising up inside her. Had he been conscious for those two hours? she wondered. The fourth-gen corticovascular valves would have snapped shut as blood pressure dropped, sealing hyperoxygenated blood in his brain. Pain control would have kicked in. He might have stayed awake and aware through the whole thing. What would it have felt like to lay there, heart stopped, body riddled with bullets, blood seeping out, all of your body dying as your brain lived on, helpless… waiting to be found or to die…
That could be her someday.
Becker was talking to her again. "So you see, Sam, there really isn't anyone else."
Sam nodded. Against what Chris Evans had gone through, her own reservations paled.
"I know you have a deep revulsion to this technology," Becker said. "And I know why. And that's part of why I trust you. We all do hard things. We all take risks. Chris did. He put his life on the line. I know this is not going to be pleasant for you. I trust you more because of that."
Becker still didn't understand. It wasn't that it was so horrible. It was that it wasn't. That she had enjoyed the ability to touch another person's mind. That was what scared her. That was what felt like a betrayal. Sam felt the nausea rising higher.
But there was no one else. She would do her job.
"Thank you for taking the time to meet with me, sir. If you talk to Agent Ev… If you talk to Chris, please tell him I'm rooting for him."
Becker nodded. "I'm sure he'll be happy to hear that. I'll let you know when you can visit him. Anything else?"
"No, sir," Sam replied. She walked out, closing the door behind her. Her stomach was in full revolt. It was rising up at the thought of Chris Evans nearly dead. Rising up at the thought of what she was about to do in the name of her duty.
She held the bile down long enough to make it into the restroom, past the woman fixing her make-up, into one of the stalls, down onto her knees, and then to puke her lunch into the toilet.
Even after all these years, the memories were too fresh. Another wave of nausea hit her. She spasmed and heaved over the toilet again, retching up whatever little food still dwelt in her stomach. She would do her duty, she was certain. It was all she knew how to do. The ERD was the only family she had, the only family she'd had for years now.
She bent forward, heaved and heaved again, until nothing was left inside her.
11
SERENITY
April came. It had been five weeks since the bust. Three weeks until Kade left for Bangkok. The serenity package was ready. He'd tested it at low levels on his own. It could keep his pulse steady on a heart rate monitor, keep his breathing and pulse steady at whatever rate he told it, keep his skin resistance steady on the psych lab's biofeedback rig.
Time to give it a harder test. He turned the system up to a level of three out of ten, and went to meet Nakamura.
"Have you spent any time thinking about what you'll do after your doctorate?" the simulated Shu asked inside the VR rig.
"I'm going to apply for postdoc positions," Kade replied. "I'm really interested in higher function decoding and mapping."
There was no buzz from the lie detector.
"That's great to hear," Su-Yong Shu replied. "We may have funding for a postdoc in that area in my lab next year. I'd encourage you to apply."
"That'd be fantastic," Kade said. "It'd be such an honor to work with you."
Still no buzz.
"It's such a shame how tightly the authorities regulate neuroscience in your country," she said. "Don't you think?"
"Umm, well, you know, it's for safety reasons."
No buzz.
"Why, I'd love a postdoc position in your lab. You're one of my scientific heroes."
Nothing.
"I think the ERD serves a useful purpose in the US, even if they do go a bit too far."
Nada.
"Why, yes, I'd love to talk in more depth about how you came across your amazing insights and learn more about the mind behind those incredible papers."
Zip.
"No, I don't worry about my friends back home. What could possibly happen to them?"
Nothing.
Nakamura reached over and plucked the goggles and headphones from Kade's head. "You've done something."
Kade grinned.
"Mmm. You've done something inside your own skull, haven't you?"
Kade remained mute.
"You should have told me," the CIA man said.
"It was on a need-to-know basis," Kade replied.
Nakamura chuckled. "Well, let's see how it does under greater stress. Please understand that this is in no way personal."
Kade had a moment to be puzzled by the comment, then the CIA man was on him.
Nakamura was up, out of his chair, and halfway around the table, coming around to Kade's left, before Kade even had a hope of reacting. The CIA man took Kade's left arm, twisted it behind his back, used it to lift him painfully out of his seat.
BZZZZZZT! The stress detector went off. BZZZZZZT! BZZZZZZT!
In annoyance, Kade cranked the serenity package to ten out of ten. The buzzer abruptly stopped.
Nakamura chuckled. "Very good. Now, tell me, Kade," he crooned into Kade's ear in an imitation of Shu's voice, "does the idea of working with me in China excite you?"
"Oh, Dr Shu, I'd like nothing better." Kade ground the words out around the pain in his shoulder and elbow.
The sensor made no sound.
"In fact, Dr Shu, I have a little present for you."
Kade activated Bruce Lee. He flicked the switch to full auto, hit START.
Kade's body twisted to the right to elbow Nakamura in the head, then spun back to the left to kick the CIA man in the knee. Nakamura parried the elbow, fell back and bent his leg to take Kade's kick on his thigh instead of knee. Kade's body came all the way around, free hand lashing out in a palm heel strike to break Nakamura's nose and drive the shattered fragments into his brain.
The CIA agent dodged the strike with a preterhuman twitch of his neck, let go of Kade's pinned arm and took another step backwards into the apartment. There was a feral grin on his face.
Uh-oh, Kade thought.
Kade's body sprang forward with a lunging kick to Nakamura's groin and a spear finger strike at his eyes. Nakamura stepped forward, knocked the kick away with his forearm and dodged the finger strike entirely. Nakamura spun, and then somehow he was behind Kade.