The vague non sequitur didn’t tax David’s mind. “Immortality?”
“Yeah. It looks like the solution to all your problems, the thing that will bring you everlasting happiness. Until you get it. Then your mind adapts and resets, and you find yourself faced with a new and equally compelling set of wants and wishes.”
“I see I’m not the only one feeling philosophical.”
“As you said, this has to be either the beginning or the end.”
Pierce began playing with the seat buttons, adjusting the footrest and lumbar support. “Even putting our current predicament aside, it’s been disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t give it up. In fact, I’d do anything to keep it. But after the first few years…” He shrugged.
“I know what you mean.”
“It’s not different for you?”
“Why would it be?”
“Eos was your creation. Your achievement. I’d think that would bring a whole other set of emotions into play. You didn’t get the fame, but you’re still the first man to walk on the moon, so to speak. That has to be profoundly gratifying.”
“You’re comparing me to Armstrong. At the time, I might have agreed with you. But to your earlier point, a better comparison might be Oppenheimer or Nobel.”
Pierce hadn’t considered that potential perspective. It introduced a whole new calculus. A change in engine hum indicated that he’d have to work the math later.
The aircraft slowed.
Pierce watched out the window as the props rotated upward until they resembled helicopter blades. Then the AW609 began to descend. He couldn’t see Seven Star, as it was directly below them and they were still flying at considerable height.
For a few tense seconds, Pierce feared an explosion. The eruption of the great ball of flame that would engulf him and David along with their aircraft, leaving Aria the sole survivor. But the blast never came, and the tiltrotor touched down.
As he disembarked behind David, Pierce felt the strongest sensation that he’d never leave. He paused right there, his feet still on the steps. What would happen if he turned around, if he insisted on returning to the mainland? The answer was obvious. He’d be exactly where he was before, in an untenable position. No, there was only one sensible direction. Forward.
Like Neil Armstrong, he took a figurative leap by putting one foot on the ground.
65
Spicy
IT TOOK SKYLAR AND CHASE a while to figure out how to place a tracer on an email. They tried doing a simple lookup using a paid service, but it just directed them back to the software provider’s headquarters in Buffalo, New York. In the end, they subscribed to a commercial service used by companies to track promotional campaigns. It promised to tell them when and where their email was opened.
They composed and sent the email as a one-recipient campaign from Tory2233@hushmail.me. The program then opened up what it called Worldview, a global map where opens and clicks would populate with color-coded pins.
Skylar leaned back in her chair. If the email wasn’t opened immediately, she figured it could easily be hours. Maybe even days. But she was hopeful, since Tory had primed Aria with his call.
They were back in a chain hotel room. This one further from the water, thanks to the prices on Miami Beach. Chase’s card had been rejected—over his limit he was sure—so it had gone on hers. She added money to her growing list of problems, but without bitterness.
Justice had been served.
Chase had shocked her three times when suggesting his plan for Tory. First with the capture, then with the interrogation, and finally with the payback. Crash! Bam! Boom! They were the three most violent events of her life.
Except for her own near-cremation.
And that, of course, was the point. Fighting fire with fire.
“There are times when ideology should reign supreme, and times when you have to drop to their level to win. Do you want to win?” Chase had asked, sincerely giving her the choice.
She did not regret her decision.
But she was a bit nervous about the new status quo. Chase had assured her that there was a code among intelligence officers, and it would keep Tory in check. Their Finnish foe was now honor bound to respect their balancing act. He would not seek revenge, Chase asserted.
To illustrate his argument with an example, Chase had pointed out that intelligence agencies never targeted the families of their rival officers. They didn’t kidnap children. They didn’t threaten spouses. For centuries the rule had remained inviolate even between the bitterest of rivals. Skylar had to acknowledge both the existence and the power of the code, and was further comforted by the knowledge that Tory would be stuck in a hospital until this was over. Nonetheless, she retained a nagging feeling.
At that moment, in that lull between storms, as her adrenaline ebbed and her energy rebounded, she found herself battling waves of powerful emotions. They were churning inside her, swaying her this way then that, ever closer to overload.
Chase returned from the bathroom to stand behind her. “No flag on the map yet.” It wasn’t a question. He could see the screen. “I’m thinking about calling in an order to that Chinese place we saw down the street. Would that work for you?”
Skylar struggled to reorient herself. Food had been the furthest thing from her mind. “You need my credit card?”
“I figure I’ll give Tory’s Amex a try. Not much risk with takeout. There are a hundred hotels around here.” His expression changed as his eyes fixed on hers. Now they were the sweetest shade of blue. And so incredibly kind. “Hey, are you all right?”
She felt a sob welling up from deep within. One of those uncontrollable releases of emotional energy that usually attack at the climax of good dramatic movies. She found herself standing as she struggled to suppress it. Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around Chase’s neck and pulled his lips to hers.
He remained a bit rigid at first. No doubt he had his own conflicting emotions. But her body just powered through, the way it always did when meeting resistance. Her hands ran over his back and through his hair while her mouth worked of its own accord, desperately trying to satisfy an appetite deep within, regardless of cost or consequence.
His gears kicked in before she needed to come up for breath.
Soon his hands leapt into action. Outside her clothes at first, then within. Caressing, petting, pulling, and squeezing. Her shirt flew off, followed by her bra. Pants dropped as they toppled onto the bed, mouths still melded. The fervid kisses continued as their feet began kicking in clumsy attempts to jettison the garments that still clung to their hungry flesh.
Once all their skin was sufficiently exposed, their legs intertwined and a rhythmic motion developed. But he didn’t go in. When she reached the point where she couldn’t take it any more he pulled away and looked her in the eye. His eyes were bright with desire but tinged with concern. She whispered the answer to his unasked question. “Yes.”
He slipped inside and engaged the electricity, a buzzing in her intimate areas that radiated outward in pulses of bright pink light. She closed her eyes and clenched his back, riding her own pent-up emotion as much as his beautiful body. The pulsing grew faster and stronger, slapping her with wave after wave until her world exploded and her body spasmed and she writhed beneath the pleasant tremor of passions released.
He clung tightly until her body went limp and her lungs regained their ability to breathe deeply.
When she finally opened her eyes, Skylar found Chase staring at her, wearing a warm smile. He was propped up on one elbow, his left leg still draped over hers. “You’re a dream,” he said.