Legacy of a Mad Scientist (34 page)

“Dr. Angus MacPhail,” Stanwood said, interrupting Von
Kalt’s cerebral locomotive.

“You arrested him, didn’t you?” Von Kalt asked,
smoothly shifting tracks.

“He lawyer-ed up and returned to Glasgow.”

“So?”

“So, pack your gear.”

“We have no jurisdiction there.”

“That’s why it’s just going to be you and me.”

“We’re just going?”

“We’ll be working with Scotland Yard and
Interpol.”

“Do they know that?” Von Kalt asked.

“What?”

“I think you’re making a mistake.”

“Surprise, surprise.”

“What do you want with MacPhail anyhow?”

“He’s got something he needs to give me.”

“You honestly want to up and leave the kids?”

“They’re just kids. We know Ross has them. When they
turn up, we’ll come back.”

A car swerved to the curb in front of Ashley and
Geoff, they froze. Ross popped open the hatch, "Get in," he said.
Ross looked to be bleeding from at least two gunshot wounds to the
midsection and another to his left shoulder.

"Hurry up," he said, with a calm that belied his
injuries.

Ash approached the car, Geoff trailing along behind
her

"Come on, they're going to be here any second, and I
need your help.”

Ashley put her right hand into her back pocket and
slipped into the transport. Geoff climbed in and sat next to her.
The door closed behind them, and they lifted off.

Ross put the vehicle in gear and scrambled the
booster drives to get them away from the agents.

Once cruising safely in city traffic, he engaged the
autopilot, took a deep breath and turned his chair from the console
to face them.

"So, now, when you're running, there are three things
you need to be aware of." Ross didn’t waste time.

"Running?" Geoff asked.

"Three rules," Ross snapped his fingers, cutting off
Geoff’s interruption.

“One, family first. Trust no one. Well, trust each
another, but no one else. As long as you've got each other, that's
all that matters.”

The grizzled veteran waited for some kind of
acknowledgment. Ash nodded and elbowed Geoff who did likewise.

"Number Two. Never go anywhere you can't escape from.
No small places. No confined spaces. Know your exits or don't go
in.”

The brother and sister nodded; the message was
clear.

"Three. Never go anywhere twice, not ever. Never ever
go anywhere twice. Repeat them, now, one two three, please.”

Ross coughed, his hand came away bloody. “One two
three,” he said, grabbing napkin from the side console.

Ash looked to Geoff and nodded. "Family first,"
Ashley said.

"Family first," Geoff repeated.

"Two..." Ash started.

"Don't get trapped," Geoff jumped in.

"Don't get trapped, " Ash nodded.

"And three, don't go anywhere twice, ever," they said
together.

"That's right. It's a big world. Plenty to see and
never get bored." Ross seemed pleased. "Okay, now. Four things you
need to survive. Some people say three, I say four. Here they are;
food, water, information and energy. To get any of them, you can
use cash.”

This took a second to sink in for Ashley. Geoff
remained quiet.

Ross relaxed into the chair and took slow
breaths.

"Trust no one? What about you?" Ashley asked.

"Don't trust me either. You don't know me from Adam,
but I'm wounded and not trying to hurt you at the moment. I’d say,
right now, I need your help more than you need mine right now.
Besides, you have a knife in your hand, don’t you?”

"You worked for my father," Ashley said, ignoring his
comment about the Micronix.

"I did, until yesterday.”

"What happened?”

"You saw what happened," Ross answered.

"I saw..." Ashley let the statement hang
unfinished.

“Where have you been?” Ross asked.

“What do you mean?” Ashley replied.

“You disappeared.”

“Disappeared?”

“We lost you. We were ready to pick you up last
night, but you vanished off our scanners.”

“What are you talking about?” Ashley asked. “We spent
the night in the park.”

“Under a slide,” Geoffrey added.

“You what? The park was crawling with feds until
after midnight.”

“Not where we were,” Ashley said.

“We didn’t see anyone,” Geoff added.

“No kidding.” Ross coughed again.

"What are we going to do?" Geoff asked.

"We're going to a safe house," Ross said.

"Not Mexico?" Ashley asked.

"No. Why would you do that? That’s a horrible idea.
What's in Mexico?" Ross asked.

"Mexicans," Ashley replied.

"We're not going to Mexico. We're going to Canada.
But not yet, we need IDs first and that's going to take a couple of
days," Ross answered.

Ashley glanced over to her little brother. Geoffrey
followed the conversation intently. Ash noticed that he didn't miss
a gesture or subtle bit of emphasis.

"Are you going to tell us what happened to our
parents?” Geoff asked.

Ross coughed. "You were there.”

"But what happened?" Geoff asked. "Why?”

“That could take years. Hell, I’m not even sure I
know.” Ross took a deep breath and coughed again, pressing his hand
to his side.

"Are you okay?" Ashley asked.

"I'll be fine." Ross plugged his phone into the
console. "Hold on, I have to make a call.” He dialed a line and
leaned back, trying to catch his breath.

The call was connected, and CWO Reid’s face filled
the terminal “What’s up?” he asked. “I was beginning to get
worried. Are you okay?”

"I need you to send a trauma kit over to St.
Vincent's.”

“What’s up, you don’t want to talk this way?”
Ried asked in a thought, over the amplifier. Out-loud, he said,
"We've got a few there, courtesy of our old friend, Justin
Case.”

“Fox asked us to keep this fifth wall up, keeping
up appearances. Ash has Mike in her pocket.”
"Great. I'm
sending you the intercepts now. I'm pretty sure it's the NID and
his deputy, but I want confirmation. Did you get anything?”

“Sure, copy that.”
"We've got new units in the
decanter, but there's no rush. We’re one-eighty; however you look
at it.”

"I need twenty hours before I can travel, if you
haven't already wrapped things up by then. Any progress on the
visas?" Ross asked.

"Everything is approved and in the pipeline. It'll
take forty-eight to seventy-two. I'll keep you updated. Manana, muy
amigo.”

"See you." Ross relaxed back into the chair.

Geoff looked over to Ashley, pleading with her to ask
the question in his eyes. Despite their separation in age, Ashley
and Geoff were still close enough to understand each other with a
glace.

"Tell us," Ashley said.

"Tell you what?" Ross asked.

"Tell us what you know," Ashley answered.

"I'll give you a rundown, sure.” He coughed, but
lightly. "I've known your father since we were kids, went to school
with him and a bunch of 'the guys.’ Most of them were destined for
greatness. I was destined for the officer corps, infantry. I did a
good job most of the time, which means I excelled at killing bad
guys. Eventually karma caught up with me and took my leg.

"When your father approached me with the 3 AM
project, I have to admit, I was interested. There were eight of us,
nine including your dad.

"You may think your old man was a book worm
scientist, but he was not. He was one of the toughest guys I've
ever met. His code name was Red, and I'm telling you, we never went
on a mission that didn't get wet."

Ross leaned back in the chair. Talking seemed to be
making him tired.

Geoff tugged on Ashley’s shirt, “What does he mean,
wet? Like seals?” he asked.

Ash shrugged him off. "Who was that on the
phone?"

"Reid, he's chasing down some of your dad’s friends,
making sure everyone who might be in danger is safe.”

“In danger from the guy who shot my dad? Why didn't
you stop him?"

"Believe it or not, because your dad asked me not
to.”

“What do you mean?” Ashley asked.

“I mean your dad trusted that guy, and I don’t think
he believed he would hurt him.”

“Isn’t anyone going to do anything?!” Ashley was
getting angry.

“Here’s the situation,” Ross said. “Our government is
fractured. It’s at war with itself and you to have just be come the
equivalent of a castle or a mountain pass, you represent
tide-turning potential.”

“What is his name?” Ashley asked. “The man with the
gun. Tell me his name.”

“The less you know the safer you are. They’re looking
for you, and the less you know the safer you are.”

"What do they want with us?" Ashley said. "We're just
kids.”

"You're not
just
anything. They want you, they
want the evidence.”

Ashley held up the prototype. "This evidence?”

“That’s nothing,” Ross smiled. "You are the
evidence."

Ashley turned to look out the window.

After a long pause, Ross spoke. "When negotiations
between the government and your father broke down, things unraveled
pretty quickly and everyone started improvising. The people in
Washington panicked. They were very scared by something your father
had been working on.

"Those agents in the forest... Ashley, what happened
to those agents last night, those soldiers who were chasing you?
Did you kill them?”

"Last night?" Ashley asked.

Geoff looked up at her.

"Four soldiers were killed. Did you do it? What
happened? Do you remember any of it?"

"We didn’t kill anyone. I remember all of it," Ashley
looked at Geoff.

Geoff nodded.

"It was Mr. Dunkirk," Ashley said.

"It was, " Geoff said. "We saw him in the trail, just
before they caught up to us. But we were running, and we couldn't
see what happened. We heard them fighting. We heard gunshots."

"It was him? He was there?" Ross asked.

"His shirt was covered in blood,” Ashley added.

"Bobby was there too. We saw him," Geoff said.

"Who’s Bobby?" Ross asked.

"Bobby Dunkirk," Ash replied.

Ross cleared his throat. "While you guys were at
camp, your father went missing for almost three weeks. He vanished
somewhere in the DC area, after a briefing at the White House. He
didn't turn up until yesterday, when you saw him at home. We
figured out where he was and who had him. We talked to him, but he
asked us to stand down. He wanted to let this play out. None of us
thought it would go this far.”

"What are we going to do now?" Ashley asked.

"What did your father tell you to do?”

"He said to head south, to Mexico, until you found
us.”

"Mexico, right! Okay, sure, if you're ever all alone,
that's the thing to do. But since I found you, we're going to do a
little better than that.”

"We're going to make them pay?" Ashley asked.

Geoff was fixated on the traffic outside his
window.

"Soon we'll all have new identification and visas for
Canada. I'm a software engineer who just got a big contract in
Vancouver.”

"I don't want to go to Canada," Ashley said.

"How would you know? You've never been there.”

"How do you know I've never been there?”

Ross laughed and clutched at his side.

Ashley scowled, "I'm not going to Mexico or Canada.
I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to find out who did this. I'm
going to find them, and I'm going to kill them. I'm going to kill
them all." The tears in her eyes and her trembling voice did little
to conceal the child's furious anger.

Geoff lowered his eyes to the floor, the streaming
weather and vehicles no longer appealing.

No one spoke again until they reached their
destination.

Saturday, Noon, July 25, 2308

The transport settled into a landing trajectory over
the small parking garage for the T-shaped motel. It consisted of
seven units, four singles and three suites, tucked away in a run
down industrial district. They parked in an automated garage, and
waited for the door to fully close, before exiting the vehicle.

"We'll wait here while I arrange new documents for
us. We're going to set up your room downstairs. You can eat what
you like, just don't go outside. There's nothing to see, and there
is no such thing as fresh air around here anyhow.”

Ashley and Geoff followed Ross from the garage to the
central corridor. They could access all seven of the units from the
central maintenance passage, as well as the garage and main office.
It was obvious the facility had been used as a safe house for
several dangerous cases, not all of them successful.

"How long are we going to be here?" Ashley asked.

"A few days. We've got our work cut out for us
tonight. Come on, grab those groceries.”

Ash and Geoff realized the back of the transport was
packed with lots of stuff besides groceries. As they carried bags
into the kitchen, the children were hard pressed to find counter
space. Ross gestured to the floor as the table and counters were
covered with bags of other supplies.

Ross coughed a few times, his hand coming away wet
with blood. "There's something I've got to take care of. I'll be
back in half an hour. Don't break anything."

Ash and Geoff made several trips from the transport
back to the kitchen. Ross had purchased every kind of pot known to
man. Some of the bags threatened to rip; they were so full of metal
cups, pots and pans. Deeper in the car there were several bags of
industrial materials.

It took the children almost twenty minutes to unload
the cruiser.

Forty minutes later, they still hadn’t seen Ross and
decided to eat. Ashley made sandwiches and Geoff poured juice.