Shepherd (14 page)

She hadn’t set up any method to verify Onyx’s identity, much less let him in. The myriad loopholes in the arrangement should be twisting her into knots. Instead, her focus remained riveted on the command pad in her hands for the assembly of the ERDs, energy regulating devices. Small conductors, magnetic energy generators submerged in a microchip plasma and surrounded by the enhanced metals used in the kelp packaging. Luckily, an inexpensive and readily available combination of materials. The ERDs were spaced in a rectangular pattern on top of the blanket. Each one needed a coded signature to create a link to the next one. The combined circuit of ERDs required detailed instructions for Clay’s weight, settings for easement to keep him stable in the field, and detailed instructions for the distance and speed for his extraction. Fortunately, she had access to Clay’s pirated technological-command-codes library. If the situation weren’t so dire, she would have laughed at the entries. One of her own designs had somehow made its way in cyberspace and into his library.

She bit her lip and considered the final puzzle pieces. The trick was designing a fast fail-safe process for making certain the signal didn’t cut out as she brought him up.

Manipulating the laser to slice through the rebar under Clay using a separate ERD system from the one holding his body would be tricky. She had only so many hands, and the dexterity and finesse required didn’t lend itself well to voice commands.

“Access code initiated. Pending verification. Verification complete.”

Esme glanced up and frowned at the first virtual screen. The person causing the security system’s response had entered the facility. Which meant they had an access code or she’d accidently overridden some security protocol. She doubted the second option, but the security grid definitely displayed a presence in the main hallway. She’d expected to have enough time to see them coming.

“Shepherd?” The deep male voice emanated over the system circuits embedded throughout the facility. “Karma?”

Esme tapped a location number into the security grid. With one swipe, she directed the information from one side of her security screen over the icon representing the new presence. Her action relegated communication responsibility to the system. Better to let the system voice-over keep him off-track. She would have only a second to assess whether this was Onyx and salvation, or if she’d made a huge mistake.

“Shepherd location level C. Silo three.” Pita’s system monotone relayed the destination.

Laser gun clenched at her side, Esme waited for the stranger to appear at the far end of the hallway. Her finger shook over the activation sensor. She hadn’t killed before, but if this man made a wrong move, she wouldn’t hesitate. Returning to work afterward wouldn’t even give her a guilty conscience, and it would waste precious time she needed to save Clay.

From his halt as a he came into view and his long silence as his gaze took in the blanket, her laser, and the door behind her, she earmarked him as a smart and cautious man. Good, she didn’t need an imbecile to help her. Unfortunately, she could tell nothing of the large man’s character with his expression hidden behind a dark day’s growth of beard and intense brown eyes.

“Clay’s in the silo?”

She nodded. “Impaled on a piece of steel.”

“Because?”

“He was retrieving something for a…project.”

The man gave one terse nod and held out his hands. “You can scan me. I have equipment in my pack, but if you plan to maneuver Clay off whatever he’s impaled on, then we need to get moving.”

When she hesitated, he continued, “You called me for help, Karma. That’s why I’m here.”

The laser in her hand shook now, but she couldn’t afford a mistake. Even if this was Onyx, she needed more assurance. “What’s your connection to Clay?”

“Aside from what you suspect, since you seem have access to his system?” He paused, glancing at the three data screens she had activated and floating in the air above her shoulder. “Clay’s helping to rescue my stepson.”

“Code name?”

Onyx hesitated. “Wolf. I’ve also worked with Clay for years.”

She lowered the laser rifle. “If you can work the laser to cut the steel, I can get him out.”

His expression didn’t waver as he slowly shifted the pack from his back to one hand and advanced to crouch beside her. He released the strap holding the nylon pack and unrolled it. A series of mesh pockets lined the inside, filled with tools, vials, and packets of powder visible through the open weave. “Do you have a visual on the location of the wound and the steel’s width?”

She maneuvered a screen before him and selected a zoom display of the bottom of the shaft. To his credit, he winced only once and then proceeded to adjust the view from each angle. With a small device from his coat pocket, he transferred the wound’s exact location and measurements, then initiated an active stream of details on Clay’s vital stats.

“How will you remove the metal without him bleeding—” Not able to finish because she refused to voice the alternative to Clay surviving their efforts to free him, she flipped her fingers to prod him to answer. When instead he selected a small glass container of glittering gold mucus from his supplies, she frowned.

“They’re microscopic nanites adapted specifically for Clay. They’ll provide enough dispersed coagulation so I can work on suturing the major arteries affected without him bleeding out. We just need to bring him up carefully enough not to aggravate the point of entry and exit.” He glanced at her array and back at her face. “We need to ensure no jarring, no sudden drops.”

Secure in Onyx’s knowledge of what he was doing, if not totally reassured for Clay, Esme activated the final sequence to command the ERD to rise off the blanket. A grid of white lines appeared on the screen beside her. The energy wasn’t detectable by the human eye, though the low-level resonance produced a gentle thrum against her skin if she ran her hand through the field.

“Will it be strong enough?” Onyx didn’t sound dubious, although he didn’t hesitate to ask. That alone convinced her they stood a good chance of success. She moved the ERD circle to Onyx’s head. His quick intake of breath indicated he felt the energy pulse. She waited until the bots circled his waist before she altered their orientation, distributing them to form a globe around his body. Then she increased to full power.

“Hold your arms out from your side.” She didn’t give him time to respond but increased the force field to full power. His hands clenched, attempting to flail, but the energy field held him rigid as he rose with the ERD and bots into the air. A quick change of direction on her screen floated him down the hallway, finally settling him back on his feet in front of her.

A little shaken but resolute after she removed the ERD field, Onyx nodded to the screen. “I’m confident you can lift him out. How do we manipulate this field to cut him free, or do I need to rappel down to cut the steel?”

“No. That’s what got us into this mess.” She gestured to the smaller ERD setup on the blanket, avoiding details of how she and Clay hadn’t gotten to the point where he’d authorized her to build these tools. What the good medic didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. “I have another field for whatever you’re going to use to cut the rod. I can provide you a window in the field to activate the laser. You just need to have steady hands to manipulate the bots on the screen.”

“I’m a trained surgeon, Karma. I think I can handle a 3-D manipulation.” Still, he took a few minutes positioning his laser knife inside the second, smaller bot field and practiced in the hallway. It took him longer to force open the door.

Five long minutes later, Clay was encased in her ERD field, his body immobile as the doctor manipulated the laser beneath him. What should be a quick process took longer with both Esme and Onyx taking every precaution to keep Clay’s body shielded from the shifting of surrounding debris.

Esme maneuvered the horizontal gravity grid encasing Clay’s body as she monitored the circular stream of energy along the interior wall of the silo. She’d programmed the stream to shield the integrity of her signal. In theory, it would repel external signals from entering the silo and absorb stray signals within the silo. Not foolproof, but so far the stream delivered on its design. She brought Clay’s body up the hundred or so feet from his position without surprises or fatal repercussions.

She gave a quick glance at Onyx and refocused on her task. Without his brute strength, she never would have gotten the door open or cut Clay free. Esme issued the final sequence to release the security console’s shield on the silo wall so Clay’s body could move the last few feet horizontally into the hallway.

He hadn’t moved during the entire procedure. Only the long pause from orange to gray on his vital stats monitor confirmed he was still alive.

“Can you maneuver him to the console room? It would be better not to have to move him once we stabilize him.” Onyx shut the door and reached for the laser gun.

At his action, Esme hesitated in her struggle to get her frozen, stiff legs to move. Too preoccupied with retrieving Clay, she’d forgotten to safeguard her only weapon.

Seeing her hesitation, Onyx held the laser out to her. “I was only going to bring it with us. You have enough to carry. And…” He raised a brow at the split of her coat where a generous amount of thigh showed through. Pointedly he glanced away, reaching instead through the energy field to confirm Clay’s pulse. “You’re laden like a pack mule, and there are several tight turns to maneuver. I figured you’d want your hands free.”

She adjusted the coat and gathered her few tools into its pockets, too self-conscious to meet his gaze. He was right. The hallways had several hairpin turns and some short stairways she’d given little thought to. Each would require her concentration with the remote. If he had wanted to overpower her, there had been plenty of opportunities after he finished his role of guiding the laser through the rebar. Instead, he’d spent most of his time interfacing his biological monitor with the security console. She tried not to pay attention to his obvious caution for her feelings. His casual prognosis of stabilizing Clay didn’t fool her. The wound repair and rebar extraction would involve several dangerous procedures. “Fast or slow?” she asked.

The delay in his response as he finished a quick audit with his med device gave her a chance to scrutinize the ashen color of Clay’s face and the tense lines around his mouth. The first evidenced his deteriorating condition. The second reflected the pain he endured despite his unconscious state.

“As fast as you can get him there,” said Onyx.

That was the unfortunate reality she’d been waiting for.

***

The trip to the console room felt as if it took an hour. The security console confirmed it took twelve minutes. Onyx’s efforts to extract the steel from Clay’s chest, tie off damaged arteries, and patch several wounds on his neck and back felt every bit like the seventy-two minutes the tedious details required.

Yet Clay’s chest, now neatly sliced open to expose the severe damage to the processor unit of his artificial heart, displayed a problem Onyx couldn’t fix. He didn’t need to tell her. The frustration on his face as he stared at the tiny shredded module between the robotic tweezers of the huge surgery pyramid of wires and devices he’d constructed over Clay’s body said it all.

“Karma—”

“Esme.” She held out one hand to ward off his well-intended speech that they had done all they could and positioned her palm beneath the tweezers. “How does it work? Do you know?”

He opened his mouth to object and then seemed to reconsider. “Release.”

The module dropped into her hand, and she rolled the device over. “Heat, fusion, magnetic—no, that wouldn’t work. What? Tell me.”

“Esme—”

“Tell me,” she shouted at him. Not her intent, but he was going to give up. Clay was still alive. She could read the life signs on the vid screen. There was no giving up until she had tried everything or Clay faded beyond life.

“He needs a stable power source of unlimited energy.” His lips pressed together tight before he gave a brief shake of his head. “And it needs to be small enough to fit in that tiny cavity.”

“Unlimited, check.” She glanced back at the tables of supplies along the wall and rushed to search along the edges. It had to be small enough, if only she could find it.

“Esme.” The doctor pulled at her arm to turn her around.

She shook off his grip and shifted to the next table, spewing supplies left and right in her search. “Don’t touch me,” she shouted as he moved to stop her again.

There it is
. She snatched the small prototype and spun to face him. “Will this work?”

The furrow between his brows grew as he stared at the small cylinder in her hand, but he didn’t bother to reach for it. “How would it charge?”

“I can send a set of commands to initiate the reaction. It’s stable. So much so that we were going to use some of this approach to free Wolf.”

“Explain the construct of the device.”

She waved away his doubts. “For Wolf’s extraction, I’m adding an ignition layer around it to force it to combust, but this chemical combination and the containment layer was the most viable as an energy source because the isotope is so stable. If it fits in the chamber, we just need to interface it with Clay’s processor, then seal it and activate the core.”