The Gift (29 page)

“It was not poison in the sense that it would harm you physically. As I said, it was an intoxicant and you have given me no instructions on how to handle the introduction of intoxicants into our system.”

“Well, I’m giving you instructions now. I want you to eliminate any substance introduced into my body that will negatively affect my ability to function, in particular my ability to communicate with you.”

“As you wish.”

Jim felt his mind clearing instantly. “How long were we out?”

“The intoxicant was introduced on Wednesday night. It is now Thursday, shortly after noon. We were impaired for twelve hours and twenty-three minutes.”

“Where are Lisa and Esther?”

“They are here, in the same room as you. They have not recovered from the effects of the drug yet, but their gifts tell me they will do so in the next few minutes.”

“Have Haya and Althia tell them that I want them to remain unmoving; that they should try to show no indication that they have regained their faculties. I’m going to contact Sam. Let me know when they are able to communicate.”

“Yes, Jim.”

Jim waited a few more seconds for the effects of the drug to completely fade. He contacted Sam when he felt as close to his new normal as he could judge himself to be. Sam accepted the connection immediately.

“Jim, are you okay?”

“I appear to be fine, though I can feel cuffs on my wrists and something is binding my feet. I haven’t opened my eyes, so I don’t know where I am…”

“Don’t worry about that. I know where you are. Are the women okay?”

“Adam tells me they’ll recover shortly. I imagine they are similarly restrained.”

“Okay. Good. Listen, I doubt we have much time so I’m not going to be able to explain much to you right now. I can give you all the details when you safely back with us. In just a moment, the floor is going to collapse under you. You will all find yourselves inside a portion of the ship that landed in America. It’s not much bigger than the three of you and will contract a bit as it falls away from the armory, but I’ve been assured you will feel no discomfort. Are you with me so far?”

“Got it.”

“Once you are inside of it, the ship is going to travel underground for about a mile. The trip will take about twelve minutes. Your bonds will be eliminated during the journey. When the ship stops, it will dissolve around you. You will find yourselves in a group of trees on the bank of Spring Creek. I have observation on the site now. It’s deserted, but there are patrols close enough to get to you in minutes if you’re spotted. I’m going to take out the drones as soon as they realize you’re gone, or shortly before you arrive if we get that lucky, but you’re going to have to camouflage yourselves immediately, including thermally. Adia has sent the information you’ll need to construct the camouflage to your gifts. Contact me when you get there. Are you ready?”

“Yes. Get us out of here.” Jim immediately felt himself falling. For a brief moment, he was aware of physical contact with Lisa and Esther and then he found himself seated in one of the recliners in Lisa’s house with both of the women seated on the sofa across from him. Neither of them showed any remaining symptoms of having been drugged and he felt fantastic.

“What’s going on, Dad?” Lisa asked.

Jim was surprised to see that she did so quite calmly until he realized he was equally unconcerned. Of course, he knew where they really were and they did not. “I’m not quite sure, Angel. We were drugged and taken hostage by the soldiers that came to the cabin half a day ago. For some reason, our captors allowed the effects of the drug to wear off enough for us to wake up. For whatever reason, I was the first to do so. I contacted Sam as soon as I was clear enough to do so. He told me he’d sent one of the ships to take us to a location about a mile away from where we were being held. Shortly after that, we fell through the floor together and now we’re here, wherever here is. Hang on a second.”

Jim contacted Adam to see if he knew what was going on.

“I have connected you to the ship’s virtual reality system. I felt you would be more comfortable this way. Haya and Althia made the same decision for Esther and Lisa. We decided that Lisa’s house would be the most appropriate location as it is where the three of you met. If you’d like to be somewhere else…”

“No, this is fine, better than fine in fact. Good choice, Adam. Is there anything we need to know about this virtual reality system?”

“There is much that I can tell you, but if I understand the intent of your question, no. Essentially, you are at Lisa’s house as it was when you arrived on Tuesday. You may do anything you could have done while you were there.”

“Anything?”

“Yes, Jim.”

“Okay, thanks. I’m going to get back to the ladies before they think I’m being rude.”

Jim opened his eyes and started to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Esther asked.

Jim answered when he was able to pull himself together, “I just realized I closed my virtual eyes to talk to my nanotech friend and ended the conversation as quickly as possible so as not to be rude to the two of you, my companions in this virtual house. We’re not in Kansas anymore, are we Toto?”

Esther started laughing, which prompted Jim to start all over again. Lisa was able to resist for a few seconds before joining them.

“It does sound a little strange when you put it that way,” Esther said before amending herself. “Actually, I think it’s more than a little strange no matter how you say it.”

Lisa was the last one to stop laughing. “So, we’re in the matrix?” She picked up a cup of coffee sitting in front of her and took a sip. “That was a lot harder to do last time I was here.”

Jim looked at his little girl and smiled. “Yes, it was, Honey. Yes it was. We may be in Oz, or your generation’s version of it, and we may have just been drugged and held against our will, but I’ll take this life over the one we had.”

“Amen, Jim,” Esther said.

“So, what would you like to do while we wait?” Jim asked.

Lisa said, “I’d like to get an answer to the question I asked when you and Sam first told me about the gifts.”

“You want to know why Sam is the only one who refuses to change his appearance, right?” Jim asked.

“Yes, Dad, and you’re going to tell me. Like you, I’ll take this crazy life over what little I had left before, but I won’t risk Matt’s without knowing who our leader is. It’s non-negotiable, so don’t try.”

Lisa was the most stubborn woman he’d ever known, and she had a point. He made no attempt to evade. “You’re right. You deserve to know more than you do. I don’t know everything, so you’ll have to get the rest from Sam, but I’ll tell you what I do know.

“Sam was a high level intelligence operative in the Army. Nearly three years ago he was on a Joint Task Force commanded by Colonel Web. Their mission was to conduct interdiction operations against several groups supporting Al-Qaeda. Sam was largely responsible for the death of the leader of one of those groups. Following the success of that operation, Sam was ordered back to the U.S. to testify before the Senate intelligence committee. He didn’t want to leave his team, but he had no choice. The bureaucracy had spoken.

“While Sam was stateside, the new leader of the group, Saif Al-Liby, captured and brutally tortured a member of Sam’s team. From what Sam told me, his man resisted as much as any human could, but he must have eventually given Sam up. Sam blamed himself for not being there to protect him.”

Jim paused. He didn’t want to continue, but he knew he must. “Al-Liby already knew Sam’s unit. Using the rest of the information he’d tortured out of Sam’s man, he was able to determine where Sam lived. He ordered one of his cells in the U.S. to take Sam’s family hostage, with a threat to kill them if Sam didn’t exchange himself for them.

“Sam was ready to agree, but Web wouldn’t let him. He convinced Sam that the best chance his family had was to follow procedure. He told Sam that the minute they had him, they’d kill his family in front of him. Against his better judgment, Sam agreed to follow Web’s orders in exchange for being a part of the rescue team.

“The attempt to rescue them failed. The terrorist’s set fire to Sam’s home with his wife and son trapped inside of it as part of their attempt to escape. Sam was close enough to go inside and try to save them, so he did. He was pulled out of the building after losing consciousness. He had third degree burns over half of his body and severe lung damage. He was in and out of hospitals for six months after that, heavily guarded and largely alone for most of that time. Sam has no family other than his sister-in-law, Lisa and she lived in another state.

The group that killed his family was hunted down and decimated, but Sam didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, he killed his family twice over. First, by getting them involved. Then, by agreeing to follow Web’s plan to rescue them. He hated Web almost as much as he hated himself. I’m pretty sure Web has now moved to the top of the list.”

“Oh my god! That’s horrible.” Lisa didn’t know what else to say.

Esther didn’t say anything. She just moved closer to Lisa and took her in her arms. It didn’t take long before Lisa started to cry. Esther pulled her closer and let her take as long as she needed.

It took a while. Lisa had been prepared to think that Sam might have had a character flaw that somehow allowed him to take pride in his scars. She hadn’t had much experience with good men, her father being a singular exception. She was ashamed of herself. “That poor man. I feel like such a fool.”

“You couldn’t have known, Honey. Sam’s a very private man. I don’t know why he confided in me, but I’m glad he did. He needed someone and I’m honored he chose me. You don’t have to worry about Sam. He may punish himself, but I don’t know anyone stronger. So don’t go treating him with kid gloves. There’s nothing he hates more than pity. I think we all can understand that.”

Sergeant Shaw heard a soft sighing sound coming from behind the door to the supply cabinet in which they’d secured the prisoners. “Did you hear that?” He asked Sergeant Watson, his fellow guard.

“Yeah, it sounds like they’re waking up. We better check on them. Open the door.”

Shaw unlocked the deadbolt on the metal door and opened it. Inside, the room was exactly as it had been before they’d secured the prisoners inside of it. There was no indication they had ever been there. “This is not good,” he said.

“You better tell the old man. He’s not going to be happy,” Watson said.

“Me? Why do I have to tell him?” Shaw asked. Watson pointed to the rocker under Shaw’s chevrons.

“Rank has its privileges, my ass,” Shaw said before leaving to find Web.

“What do you mean they’re gone?” Web asked furiously.

“They’re gone, Sir. We heard what sounded like one of them waking up so we opened the door to bring them to you and they weren’t there. It was like they were never there.”

“Well, they can’t have just disappeared. Find Captain Fox and have her come see me ASAP, then get the rest of the team and organize a search. I don’t know how they pulled off getting out of the building, but they can’t have gone far.”

“Yes, Sir.” Shaw departed immediately to do as ordered.

Before Web could start forming a plan, the senior tech for the group operating the drones approached him. “Sir, the drones aren’t responding.”

“Which drones aren’t responding?”

“None of them, Sir. It happened about a minute ago. We thought it might be a communication problem, some type of interference, but it wasn’t. It isn’t. They’re offline completely. All of them. I’ve never seen anything like it, Sir.”

“Go get Major Thompson,” Web demanded.

“Yes, Sir.”

Jack arrived in less than a minute. Despite being woken from a sound sleep, he looked alert and ready for action. “You needed me, Sir?”

“Yes, god damn it. While you were sleeping the prisoners escaped and our drones were put out of commission. Captain Fox should be here any second now. When she arrives I want you two to come up with a plan to find them. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Sir.”

Just as Jack finished responding, Captain Fox arrived. She started to report in, but Web interrupted her. “I don’t want to hear it, Captain. Jack will get you up to speed. Find our prisoners. Now.”

“Yes, Sir,” Captain Fox replied before turning on her heel and moving as rapidly as decorum would allow away from Web. When she’d gotten half way across the room, Jack stopped her. “What was that all about, Sir?” She asked him.

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is finding those prisoners. Do you still have half of your company here?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Good. I need you to get them all up and searching around this facility immediately. Every minute counts, so make it happen now. Report back to me when that’s done and we’ll start working on a more detailed plan if you haven’t found them yet.”

The prominence of his use of the word ‘you’ was not lost on Captain Fox. “Yes, Sir.”

 
The ship dissolved around them, leaving them in a tangle on the grass covered clearing feet from the bubbling creek. Jim quickly untangled himself and then worked with Adam to establish his camouflage. By the time he’d completed that task, both women had done the same. He couldn’t see them, so he assumed they couldn’t see him. That was good.

He reconnected with Sam. “We’re here. You and I are going to need to talk when we get back. What now?”

“You’re about 14 miles from our location as the crow flies. Adia will transmit our coordinates to your gifts. You’re going to have to run here.”

Jim started to object before realizing that his new body, all of their new bodies, could in fact run that far, and do so in short order. “Okay, I’m with you.”

“Adia tells me the biggest obstacle to getting you here quickly is dehydration, which is the main reason we brought you out by the creek. Drink as much as you can before getting started, but let that be the only thing that slows you down. Web will figure out how we did this. It won’t work again, so we need to make sure it does this time. Get moving, Jim.”

“Yes, Sir.”

The last thing Jack wanted to do was bring Web more bad news, but he had no choice. He had taken a minute to shave and wash his face before doing so. He couldn’t control the circumstances. He could control how competently he appeared to be handling them. When he was done, he left the bathroom and went to find his boss.