Cloud Rebel: R-D 3 (23 page)

That was a lie.

The name and title he gave-Lead Agent Milton Smith-also a lie.

We were scheduled to infiltrate the grounds surrounding former President Phillips' home in Alexandria at midnight. Lead Agent Smith told us Phillips was out of town.

Another lie.

Did he not know with whom he was dealing?

I wished for Corinne, however, to read in him exactly what he knew and what his intentions were. I also wished for the opportunity for a quiet word with Jennifer and Brett. Lead Agent Smith didn't want that, as he had someone with us constantly while we waited at a facility located in Silver Spring.

Most of the day, Smith's agents worked all around us, checking their weapons, studying the layout of the property and examining the architectural details of the home. Much discussion was had in order to determine the best place to breach the security in place-both electronic and human. The three of us were neither consulted nor offered weapons of any kind.

What did they expect us to do if we ran into trouble? Yes, I could likely take care of myself and Brett-well-I assumed he could, too, if he chose his other shape. Jen-I had no idea whether Maye's talents in martial arts had transferred to Jen. She'd certainly never mentioned it if they had.

I suspected that the agents going in with us knew that Phillips would be in residence, and that deadly force was not only permissible, but required. I had no idea whether they'd been instructed to kill anyone they found, but found myself concerned about the possibility.

After all-Phillips had a Secret Service detail assigned and always would-as long as he was deemed alive. Wherever he was, they would be, too.

I disliked the fact that they could be considered collateral damage, without first determining whether they were involved in the Phillips clone's machinations.

In that respect, Corinne had certainly influenced me. In my early days, it wouldn't have concerned me much. After my son's death and my relationship began with Corinne, things had certainly changed.

I love you, Cabbage
, I sent to her.

Honey, be careful
, she replied.
Things are looking rather grim from where we are, and I doubt you're in for a picnic, tonight. Don't forget-you can get yourself out of there if you need to, and take Jen and Brett with you. Don't wait for the worst to happen
.

I understood what she meant, although she hadn't said it. If I hadn't hesitated to kill the original Phillips, he'd never have placed his obsession.

I will
, I promised.

Call if you need me
, she added.

I will
.

I love you, too. Don't ever forget that
.

I will never forget
.

* * *

Notes-Colonel Hunter

"What is it?" I asked. "In English," I added. Shaw was on the phone, talking psych gibberish while I attempted to decipher what he meant.

"Farrell may blow this all to kingdom come," Shaw snapped. "I just got off the phone with him. He doesn't know I'm out of the country, and he's threatening to go to whomever or whatever, to force Granville to remove Jen from tonight's plans and bring her to him instead."

"What the bloody hell is happening to everybody?" I shouted. Frankly, I wanted to put a fist through one of my office walls, but that would place me in the same rubber room with Farrell.

It was during the brief moments it took to dial Farrell's cell phone-I intended to tell him to stay put until I could send someone to pick him up-that it actually happened.

Of course, the news didn't reach us until half an hour later, but when it did, it was devastating. I'd seen video of events from the past where the course of our nation and that of the world was changed forever.

This-this could be the death knell. I knew it. I hoped the President and every other world leader understood that, too. Sarin gas, in a widespread distribution, had been dropped by near-silent drones onto the streets of Paris, especially those crowded with night tourists.

Thousands of deaths were given as an early estimate, and I imagined that the toll would increase dramatically with the rising of the sun. The city was in chaos, as hospitals were filled with those affected. Many dead were left lying in the streets as others ran to get away from the deadly, odorless killer.

Matt Michaels removed the phone I held in nerveless fingers as I watched the news on my computer screen with horror. "Come with me," he said. "We've been summoned to the White House."

"I was trying to reach Farrell-he's gone off the deep end," I babbled as Matt drove like a maniac through D.C. streets.

"I heard. The President hasn't been informed. I think it's idiocy that he still wants to go after the Phillips clone tonight."

"Is everybody nuts, now?" I asked. The visions of the unedited image feed I'd gotten from Paris continued to slice painfully through my brain.

"The President got word that the insurgency is claiming responsibility for this," Matt said.

"What? I figured they'd just fire those missiles they have and be done with it."

"Not until they have a way to fire them undetected," Matt snorted. "Which may not be impossible, if what I'm thinking has happened. I have Opal on it now; I'm just waiting for her to report her findings."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I snapped.

"The technology to deliver the sarin gas? Those silent drones? Right now, our technology is good, but not that good."

"So the insurgents got ahead of us."

"That's not what I'm saying."

"Fuck. I'm getting a headache." My cell phone rang while I rubbed my forehead to relieve the tension.

"What?" I said. No, that greeting wasn't civil, but then I wasn't on the same planet as civil at the moment.

"They've hit Berlin. Sarin again. Same thing as Paris."

"Who is this?"

"Colonel Hunter, this is Nathan. Bekzi has us hooked up to direct satellite feeds here at the villa," Nathan explained. "James is here, but he's taking notes and sending them to you in an e-mail. You should probably check it when you get the chance. We're worried they'll hit London and Rome, too, before the night's over."

"Holy fuck," I muttered and dropped the phone, which lodged between the seat and the center console of Matt's car.

"I hear that," Matt said and pressed the accelerator. The car lurched forward as Matt wove in and out of traffic to get us to the White House.

* * *

Corinne

Low-flying drones, silent as the killer they carried, destroyed hundreds of thousands before dawn arrived in Europe. Paris, Berlin, London, Rome and Madrid were all hit, in an effort to cause as much death and chaos-induced fear as they could. Almost as an afterthought, Moscow was also attacked. At least ten thousand died there, most of them while they slept.

The insurgency claimed responsibility for all of it.

Val and I-we knew that wasn't the case, but those in charge of the insurgency preened like peacocks at the news-they were proud to be blamed for so many deaths. Images of them were shown quickly, hiding their faces as usual and waving signs proclaiming the U.S. was next.

I'd heard from Ilya that the President called off their mission the night before-Granville went straight to the bunker and stayed there until dawn. They were scheduled to go again at midnight, tonight, unless another chemical weapons attack was launched.

For now, every nation on Earth was desperately searching for an answer to sarin gas. People were locking themselves inside their houses and taping plastic on windows and doors.

Val and I-we were nearly at a dead-end in our search for Norian Keef and Lendill Schaff. We were now backtracking, looking for clues in out of the way places, just to see if they could have been spotted by one of our enemies there.

I suspected the Lyristolyi, but since Phillips' cronies had Sirenali, I couldn't point a finger with certainty, yet.

"I worry that we may have to bend time to a specific place, just to follow them discreetly," Val said. I looked at Katya and Sergei, who sat at a corner table at a coffee shop while Val and I ordered at the counter for them. They were worn out from going back and forth, searching for clues.

They knew about the attacks on Europe. Disheartening would be putting their reaction into mild terms. Both were terrified.

"I think we should take them back to Bekzi," I said as Val lifted two coffee cups to my one.

"I agree, but their wishes must be considered."

"Yeah. I know."

"Corinne, is there some way you can take Papa away from that madman?" Katya lifted her eyes to mine as Val set a cup of coffee in front of her.

"Honey, I'm not sure about that-not yet, anyway, and yes, I really would like to get him out of there, just to keep him safe. He has a choice in this, too, you know."

"Katya, he will be fine. He always is," Sergei wrapped his arms around her shoulders. I wanted to weep with her when she leaned her head on Sergei's chest and sobbed.

The frustration I felt at that moment was a crushing weight. The longer our search for Norian Keef lasted, the more worried I became that he was not only being held hostage by one faction or another, but that he could either be dead already or marked for death-at a more convenient time.

His death wouldn't-shouldn't-happen for centuries. Too many things could change in successive timelines, and that could prove disastrous.

Lendill Schaff, too-if he shared the same fate.

Val and I had been concentrating our resources on hunting Norian, to the exclusion of everything else. Yes, the intent to release drones in major cities to kill the innocent had been hidden by Sirenali involvement, but I chastised myself for shutting everything else out. In other words, I felt guilty as hell about it.

Yes, I knew the insurgency had Sirenali at their disposal, so the planning of this mass killing would have gone unnoted.

I suspected, however, that the insurgency hadn't considered this method of destroying lives. They were more in the
Let's blow everything up at the same time
camp.

While they were happy to take the responsibility assigned to them for this carefully planned genocide, I doubted they'd had a hand in it.

Meanwhile, governments across the globe were once again planning meetings-teleconferences actually, since they were still wary after the last mass world leader destruction in D.C.-to discuss what to do about the insurgents who'd killed so many people already and likely had more targets in their sights.

In my mind, World War Three had a strong foothold already, and that was likely due to outside influence.

Fuck Earth
. The Lyristolyi had written that on the ceiling of the abandoned Nevada facility, after they'd scraped every grain of the drug out of it. "The Lyristolyi did this," I said, setting the cup of cold coffee I still held on the table. Katya, whose eyes were dry, now, watched as my hand shook when I released my grip on the paper cup.

"Dearest, you have been unresponsive for several moments," Val said softly beside me.

"The Lyristolyi have Norian and Lendill-if they haven't killed them already. I want to see the drones used in the attacks," I added.

"Dearest, they cannot die; their deaths will destroy the timeline," Val said. His voice now sounded far away, drowned out by the sudden noise in my ears. Visions were coming-of everything that could be affected. A new term-
God Wars
-echoed in my mind. This was the past. Something important could unravel in the future. A victory could become a disastrous defeat.

All could be lost. The panic overwhelmed me, until Val took matters in hand and placed me in a healing sleep.

* * *

Ilya

I'd spent the night in a guarded bedroom, with no communication devices available-those had been taken early on. I'd attempted to send mindspeech to Corinne, with no reply.

That frightened me.
Valegar?
I sent.

I
am here
, he replied immediately.

Corinne?

She had a severe panic attack
, he said.
I was forced to place her in a healing sleep. Things, as you likely know, are not going well at the moment. I realize you may not understand what I am about to tell you, but the timeline into the future is crumbling
.

Where are you? Are Katya and Sergei safe?

I have brought Corinne, your daughter and her husband back to the villa
, he said.
Corinne is still sleeping. Katya and Sergei are huddled with their friends and discussing the sarin gas attacks with Bekzi and Dr. Shaw. Gerrett, James and Nathan are preparing lunch for the others
.

I've heard very little about the attacks
, I admitted.
They are keeping us away from outside communication
.

They are fools
, Val said.
Lying fools, intent on performing at the direction of one whose reason cannot be relied upon
.