The Aegis Solution (59 page)

"Why not pick two people, one on each side, and let the group hear both?"

"What would be the benefit of that?"

"You're kidding, right? Then they could make up their own minds."

"You refer to ‘their own minds' as some monolithic thing. I'm talking about the final vote. What
do you think would happen?"

"Well, one side or the other would win. Either we would feed the people outside or we wouldn't.
That would be it."

"And you think everyone would be happy?"

Samantha paused for a moment. "Happy? I think they would be glad they were brought into the
loop, had a chance to vote, a chance to participate in the decision, instead of being left out."

Wilson, silent to this point, said, "Sadly, Samantha, that is not the case. What would happen…what
has happened out there in the world…is that you have winners and losers. And the losers are never
appreciative of the opportunity to participate in the process. When learning that they've lost, they will
claim fraud in the voting process, manipulation of the facts, and any other charge they can think to
bring. Quite simply, what occurs is that prior to the vote you have a single group; after the vote, you
have two. And, when the importance of the vote is significant, the two groups become enemies."

Sam was silent as she thought about what Pierce and Wilson had put forth. After a minute, she said,
"That is what it's been like on the outside, isn't it? Has been for years now."

Wilson nodded. "And it festers."

"You're right," she acknowledged.

"Although it was reaching intolerable proportions in the world, that was after decades of florid
prose and inciting rhetoric. Here, within the confines of Aegis, any schism or any polarization would
escalate much more rapidly. For you see, Aegis is like a lifeboat upon which we are all adrift. If we are
to survive and retain our civility…our humanity…dissension must be held to a minimum, order must
be maintained, and we must find a way to live under a common accord."

Sheepishly, Samantha looked from Wilson to Pierce. "I don't think that just applies to us. They
could've used it out there."



Another twenty minutes were consumed with discussions on the mundane details of logistics,
before Pierce, deciding that the immediate business was adequately covered, stood up. "I believe we've
already kept our citizens waiting too long. I think informing them of our situation would be the best
thing to do right now."

The balance of the gathering stood as he continued, "Wilson, I would appreciate it very much if
you would stand up there with me. Many of the people here know you and respect you. Your
participation in this would be helpful."

"I'd be happy to."

"Thank you."

The two men led the way out into the open area. The crowd, still splintered into smaller groups,
hushed noticeably, and Pierce and Wilson proceeded directly through the people toward the raised
platform at the other end of the room. Elias, Leah, Matt, Lisa, and Sam walked to the rear of the
assemblage, which was already turning to face the front.

"E.C.!"

Elias, startled by the familiar voice, scanned the group for the face. Within moments he saw Marilyn
politely working her way back toward him. As she drew nearer, her eyes momentarily left his and moved
to the side. That was when she spotted Leah, and her eyes flew wide open. Her pace abruptly increased;
by the time she reached Elias and Leah, she was running.

"Leah! My God, you're alive!"

All Leah could do was hold her old friend and say nothing as they emotionally embraced, the
moment eliciting tears from them both. Elias stood patiently as they held each other. Twice Marilyn
leaned back and stared at Leah's face, convincing herself that this was all real. The third time, her hand
came out from behind Leah's back, and she grabbed Elias' hand, gripping it tightly. The three stood this
way as Matt and his family moved a respectful distance away, giving them privacy.

During their reunion, Pierce began speaking from the front of the room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm afraid I have some astounding news. I have just been briefed by John
Wilson Chapman and his associates on recent developments pertaining to Aegis, and the rest of the
world…."

As he talked, Marilyn finally stepped back from Leah and opened her mouth to speak, when Elias
suggested that they move away from the gathering. Following his advice, they walked away and rounded
the same corner from which Elias and Leah had earlier arrived. Convinced they were out of earshot of
any members of Madison, Marilyn, holding both of Leah's hands, stared at her and said, "Honey, what
happened? We all thought you were dead. We were sure of it."

Leah grinned back at her friend and joked, "Don't know if it was Churchill or Mark Twain who said
it, but reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

She then went on to tell of her abduction and captivity for the past two years, downplaying the
torture aspects and occasionally even finding a way to make light of her travails. With all of the years
Marilyn had spent working within the intelligence community, her mind filled in the details,
unbeckoned. As Leah neared the end of her narrative, Elias joined the discussion, filling Marilyn in on
the plot they had uncovered. Whenever Faulk's role was mentioned, Marilyn's face contorted into a
mask of rage and hatred, but she kept her words to herself until they had finished and Elias asked, "Why
are you here in Aegis?" and added hastily, "Not that I'm not incredibly happy to see you."

"I found out the bastard sent you here to die."

"Faulk was never sloppy," Elias said, surprised. "How did you discover that?"

"You're right. He never let anything slip through. But maybe, with this planned epidemic so close
to happening, he actually became distracted."

"Or," Leah suggested, "it was so close to the event that he decided it didn't matter if you did find
out. Kind of his way to torture you a little before the end."

Marilyn nodded. "That fits him to ‘T.' I'll bet you're right."

"Specifically, Marilyn, what did you find out? How was he planning on killing me? And how did
you discover it?"

"I was processing and routing outgoing communication for the day. As you know, the highest-level
communications are encrypted by the sender personally. That's when I found this…unencrypted."

She reached into her purse and pulled out a folded sheet of paper, handing it to Elias. As he
unfolded it and read it, Leah looked over his shoulder, reading it at the same time.

The message was from Faulk and was directed to someone referred to only as Dragon:

    
You are absolutely correct. With the discovery of the anomalous winds at Aegis, we cannot
guarantee effective dispersion of the infectious agent into this facility. I believe that I have utilized this
as a means to resolve multiple issues. I have persuaded E.C. to enter the compound. He has orders to
eradicate Aegis. My personal knowledge and experience with this operative is that he cannot be relied
upon to carry out this assignment; in fact, I would be surprised if he did. However, we have supplied
him with Incendergel ordnance, enhanced to accomplish the objective effectively. And to compensate
for the predicable actions of E.C., we have altered the detonator mechanism. Should he place the
charges, the entire string of incendiary devices will detonate upon arming of the final unit in the series,
regardless of the programmed time. If he fails to place and set the charges, the timing device is
programmed to self-activate and detonate the entire batch of charges autonomously, overriding the
disarm mode. In the interim, we will attempt to utilize his captivity within Aegis for the purposes
discussed previously.

    
R.F.

Elias' blood turned cold. He dropped the message and whirled around, taking off at a full run,
followed by Leah. As he ran, he yelled over his shoulder, "Use Faulk's phone! Call Sweezea!"

He did not bother to look back to confirm that she was doing it. Within minutes, he found what
he was looking for…an atrium. Slamming the door open, he ran in, his eyes sweeping over the dirt for
the telltale glint of the grate covering the storm drain, his adrenalin making him impervious to the bitter
cold. He was able to spot the drain, which was almost obscured by silt, and angled his course to reach
it, as Leah shouted from behind, "There's no answer!"

"They must already be in the tunnel. I bet there's no reception down there."

He reached the grate and shoved his fingers roughly through the slots, in the process abrading one
of his fingers badly. Heaving the cover upward, Elias lifted the heavy round disk and tossed it aside. The
grate slammed into the dirt, raising a cloud of dust which whipped around them both, stinging their
eyes.

Blindly, his feet thrashed about inside the riser until finding the embedded steel rungs. He
descended quickly, Leah right behind. Taking only a second to get his bearings, Elias once again pulled
out his flashlight and ran through the storm drain in the direction of the retention basin. He was not
certain where this particular pipe would terminate in the circumference wall of the basin, in relationship
to the overflow pipe that he and Tillie had traveled earlier, the outflow tunnel which was now Sweezea's,
Tillie's, and Crabill's destination.

He heard the steady treads of Leah, who had no flashlight of her own, following closely. As he ran,
his mind independently calculated times: the time it would have taken Sweezea to get Crabill and the
two bombs they had in the utility room; the time they would have needed to locate the devices which
had been seized by Faulk's team and pick them up; the time they would take to transport the charges
through the storm system and through the overflow tunnel; the time needed to place the charges and
then…flip the switch on the final device. Adding up the times, and subtracting the amount of time
elapsed since Tillie and Sweezea left the meeting, gave Elias a sickening feeling. There was no time left.

Elias reached the basin and nearly ran off the end of the drainage pipe into the black abyss,
scrabbling to stop at the last moment. Leah skidded to an awkward halt behind him. Seeing the abrupt
termination of their path, she narrowly avoided bumping Elias, who was still wavering on the edge. He
cupped his mouth and shouted, "SWEEZEA…TILLIE…CRABILL!"



"One more to go," Sweezea grunted as he lifted the safety cover on the arming button and flipped
the switch, illuminating the red light that indicated the bomb was armed. He stood and walked to Tillie,
moving beyond Crabill, who was holding his rifle in ready mode and watching the dark tunnel for any
of the outsiders who might have already found the entrance and come in past the snakes.

He was about to speak, when he paused, listening for a moment. "Did you hear something?"

Tillie cocked her head and listened. "No. What did it sound like?"

"I'm not sure, probably nothing. But I thought it was someone yelling."

He shrugged, hefted the last device, and said over his shoulder, "Jay, let's move back."



Elias' ears were only rewarded by the echoes of his own voice, but his eyes saw a dim, flickering
light coming from his left at a point below the lip where he stood with Leah.

He pointed. "That's the outflow tunnel. They're in there."

"That means they've already arrived with the charges and are setting them."

"Afraid so."

He stepped out onto the narrow ledge and walked briskly toward the light, shining the beam of his
flashlight straight down at his feet so Leah could follow in the glow. In very little time they reached the
rope tied to the eyebolt.

"You go ahead," Leah stated firmly. "You have the only flashlight and it's stupid to send me down
first to wait for you or the other way around. Just go. I'll come down in the dark and follow the light."

He knew she was right, and said nothing, tucking the flashlight into his back pocket. He grabbed
the rope and rappeled down.

Hitting the concrete running, Elias retrieved the flashlight from his back pocket. Holding it as he
sprinted caused the beam to bounce and jitter crazily before him. He knew that they would place the
devices from the farthest point first, working their way back toward Aegis. He also knew that the last
device had to be well beyond the perimeter of the complex; otherwise, there was a chance that the
collapsing tunnel would compromise the perimeter wall. He remembered, from his earlier trip on this
route, that the basin was located fairly close to the edge of Aegis, more than likely to minimize the
necessary length of the overflow tunnel. He concluded that he had to cover at least three hundred yards
before there was a chance of encountering them.

At a full run, it was difficult to gauge distance but he guessed that he had traveled close to his
estimate. The light from ahead of him, created by the multiple flashlights they would be carrying, was
a dim, diffuse glow with no details. Dashing forward, the vague glow gradually gained definition until
he was able to discern distinct lights and three figures. He began shouting, "SWEEZEA! STOP WHAT
YOU'RE DOING! DON'T ARM THE BOMBS!"