The Phoenix Variant: The Fifth Column 3 (26 page)

Aviary’s phone started buzzing in her pocket. Her half-drunk cup of water splashed to the carpet. She retrieved it.

‘It’s Jay,’ Aviary said.

Nasira shook her head. ‘No, it isn’t.’ She took the phone from Aviary, answered the call and switched to speaker.

‘Yeah?’ Nasira said.

‘Might I ask who I’m speaking with?’ Denton said.

She swallowed. ‘Nasira. Word on the street you got some friends of ours.’

‘Yes. We’ve had a good little chat. It’s been fun,’ Denton said. ‘I have a deal for you. One might say a one-time only offer. You know, one of those.’

‘Whatever,’ Nasira said. ‘Get to the point.’

‘Is Sophia around by any chance?’ Denton said. ‘She’s much more fun with the negotiation side of things. You’re a bit … rushed.’

‘She can’t come to the phone right now,’ Nasira said. ‘Guess you already know that ’cause you read minds—wait, you can’t do that over the phone. My mistake.’ She allowed herself a tiny grin.

‘I assure you, it’s not necessary,’ Denton said. ‘What’s necessary is the meteorite she’s carrying be returned to its rightful owner.’

‘The museum?’ Nasira said. ‘Yeah, you blew that up. Guess there is no owner now.’

‘I see Sophia has made some new friends—a good operative of mine and a large bunch of Blue Berets. Unfortunately, she will need to make a choice. Very soon. Hand over the meteorite or I blow your friends to dust.’

Nasira felt her frustration fade, leaving her cold. ‘Which friends?’

‘Jay and Damien,’ he said. ‘Or, as I like to call them now, Jaymien. Has a nice ring to it. And so do a couple of subway platforms lined with explosives. Motion triggered, so they can’t quite get up and walk away, if you catch my drift,’ Denton said. ‘Any attempt to rescue them, one of your friends goes boom. For every thirty minutes you fail to deliver the meteorite, one of your friends goes boom.’

‘Make it every sixty minutes and you got a deal,’ Nasira said.

‘Thirty,’ he said.

He ended the call.

Aviary was staring at her.

‘That ain’t good,’ Nasira said.

‘Your negotiation skills?’ Aviary said.

‘No,’ Nasira said. ‘I need to get them out of there before he flips the switch.’

The phone buzzed again. This time it was Sophia’s number.

Nasira answered. ‘It’s me.’

‘I just got into range. Are you and Aviary OK?’ Sophia said, seemingly calm.

‘Fine,’ Nasira said. ‘We had to bail from the control center.’

‘I know,’ Sophia said. ‘Denton’s cut the power to all the tracks.’

‘Didn’t take him long,’ Nasira said. ‘What’s the deal with you? You have the rock?’

‘I do,’ Sophia said. ‘I need you to listen carefully. You won’t agree with everything I’m about to tell you, and that’s OK. I’m telling you so you know what to do next.’

Nasira didn’t like where this was going. ‘Yeah, well I have something to tell you as well.’

‘Listen to me first,’ Sophia said. ‘I’m turning myself in. With the meteorite.’

‘To who?’ Nasira said. ‘Denton? Listen up—’

‘No, the commander of the Blue Berets,’ Sophia said. ‘DC is working with him. They’re escorting me in now. They don’t want to keep the meteorites. They want them destroyed.’

‘And you believe that?’ Nasira said.

‘It doesn’t matter what I believe,’ Sophia said.

‘It matters if you trust them,’ Nasira said, not bothering to lower her voice.

Aviary looked on with alarm and an empty cup.

‘I don’t,’ Sophia said. ‘That’s why I’m telling you.’

‘You sacrificing yourself?’ Nasira said. ‘That ain’t a good idea. I just got a call from Denton.’

‘How?’ Sophia said.

‘Using Jay’s phone,’ Nasira said. ‘He has Jaymien, I mean, Jay and Damien.’

‘OK, I have a plan,’ Sophia said.

‘No, listen up,’ Nasira said. ‘You have thirty minutes to hand over the rock. If you don’t, one of the boys gets blown up. He’s wired the platforms with explosives. Another thirty minutes, he blows another one.’

‘That doesn’t leave much time,’ Sophia said.

‘Yeah, no fucking kidding!’ Nasira said. ‘So turn around now. We need a new plan and we need it now.’

‘The commander is the only one on this island right now who has a chance at stopping all this,’ Sophia said. ‘He’s the only one with the numbers and the resources. I can’t just keep running the tunnels like a rat in a maze—you know that. With the commander, we can stop Denton before he blows anyone up.’

‘Listen to yourself. He’s Fifth Column,’ Nasira said. ‘He’ll kill you. If not now, later.’

‘That’s where you come in,’ Sophia said. ‘I’m drawing Denton’s fire. To the Waldorf Astoria and into the commander’s trap. That’s their plan. And we’re doing it now.’

Nasira realized where she was going with this. ‘He’ll be distracted. That’s when I make my move?’

‘Not on me,’ Sophia said. ‘On the boys. And not a moment before. If Denton makes it out alive and hits the trigger, the boys are safe.’

Nasira knew Sophia couldn’t say it in front of DC or anyone else who might be listening from her end, but she knew that once she’d got the boys out, Sophia was expecting her to come help with whatever shit storm she was about to walk into.

‘And then you want us to come for you?’ Nasira said.

‘You do what you need to,’ Sophia said. ‘The important thing is Denton doesn’t get the meteorite. The more people in play here, the worse his odds.’

‘Ain’t doing great for our odds either,’ Nasira said.

‘You know where I am,’ Sophia said. ‘You can see what I see.’

She was referring to her location, which Nasira could still access on Aviary’s iPhone. And that meant Denton could too.

‘Gotcha,’ Nasira said.

‘I’ll speak to you soon.’

Sophia ended the call.

Nasira stared at the phone for a moment, silent. She switched to the map. All three remaining Fifth Column operatives were clustered in Grand Central terminal. Even though Aviary had turned off her phone’s location, they could still see Sophia’s. She was moving toward the Astoria.

‘Sophia’s dot has an orange outline,’ Nasira said. ‘That wasn’t there before.’

Aviary nodded. ‘Below fifty-percent battery. I should’ve given her a backup.’

Jay and Damien were together on Lexington Avenue, or at least their phones were. They didn’t have an orange outline yet, and they hadn’t moved since the last time she checked. Probably due to lack of reception.

Only three buildings away from her and Aviary.

She couldn’t tell if they were actually on the avenue or underground. It seemed unlikely they’d be out in the open.

The map on her screen disappeared, replaced by an image of a subway station. The image was moving. Nasira realized it was some sort of live camera feed—from Sophia’s iPhone.

Nasira tilted the screen to show Aviary. ‘What the hell’s this?’

‘Oh shit.’ Aviary stood and reached for the handset. ‘That’s the wide-angle lens on the bottom of the phone; I put in there myself. Looks like a headphone jack.’

She turned her phone over and Nasira could see two headphone jacks, only one was fake. There was a very small glass lens inside, so small it almost looked like a tiny screw.

They watched as the camera feed moved through the subway platform. Sophia was walking with her phone in one hand.

‘You can see what I see,’ Nasira said, repeating Sophia’s words. ‘She wasn’t talking about the map, she meant the camera.’

Aviary reached for her ruck and removed a small laptop. She placed it on a nearby desk and flipped it open. Soon she had the camera feed onscreen. It was wider now. As Sophia moved with her phone, Nasira could see all the way to the left and right. She could see the people walking beside her. DC and that other operative.

Aviary hit the volume key on her laptop. ‘We have audio as well,’ she said.

Nasira could hear the trio’s footsteps bounce from the subway tunnel walls. They moved up a flight of stairs to a mezzanine level. At the end she could see masked Blue Berets waiting for them. Their carbines were lowered, trigger fingers pointed to the tiled floor.

‘Can you watch more than one stream?’ Nasira said.

Aviary, hunched over the laptop, rolled her eyes. ‘I can have eight if I want. As long as you don’t go too deep in a tunnel. I think the only reason Sophia could call you from the subway platform was ’cause her phone hijacked the cellular connection of someone else’s—probably one of those soldiers on the mezzanine above.’

‘Grand Central will work?’ Nasira asked.

Aviary straightened up. ‘Upper levels,’ she said. ‘Same as before.’

‘How many phones do you have?’ Nasira said.

‘Why?’

‘I have an idea,’ Nasira said, taking Aviary’s ruck and rummaging through. She found four more iPhones, each in a different colored rubber shell.

Aviary helped her, reaching in. ‘Here’s an earpiece,’ she said.

Nasira took it and slipped it into her right ear. Aviary also handed her a wireless microphone to pin under her T-shirt. Then she scooped up all four iPhones and started searching the nearby office desks.

‘What do you need all those for?’ Aviary said.

‘Denton has three operatives,’ Nasira said, finding a roll of duct tape and shoving it awkwardly into her jacket pocket. ‘I don’t.’

She slipped the iPhones into her jeans pockets—two in each side.

Aviary was staring at the map on her iPhone. ‘You’re not meant to go now: the operatives haven’t moved out yet.’

‘I’m getting into position,’ Nasira said, setting her watch to twenty-five minutes and counting. ‘Once Denton moves for the Astoria—if he moves—I won’t have much time.’

‘I’m not some stupid kid you can lie to,’ Aviary said, her voice rising. ‘You just ran from them and now you’re going straight back in? Before you’re even supposed to!’

Nasira felt her hands ball into fists. ‘What I’m supposed to do is save my friends.’

‘And Sophia isn’t your friend?’ Aviary said.

Nasira stepped toward her. ‘I’ve known her longer than you have,’ she said. ‘Maybe you’re forgetting where we came from.’

Aviary stepped up as well. ‘Pretty hard to forget, actually.’

Nasira exhaled slowly. ‘I know how much you mean to her,’ she said. ‘I ain’t gonna be responsible for you getting a round through the head.’

‘I’m still alive,’ Aviary said, her eyes suddenly glassy. ‘I know you think I’m some little girl who plays with computers and explosives.’

Nasira shook her head. ‘It’s not that, we’ve had years—’

‘I’ve had some training too,’ Aviary said. ‘But I get it. I get that I’ll never be like you. What you guys have, I’ll never have that,’ she said. ‘But it doesn’t mean I don’t care and it doesn’t mean I don’t want to help.’

Nasira turned away, but didn’t move.

‘It doesn’t mean I’m useless,’ Aviary said, her fingers descending on the laptop keyboard.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ Nasira said.

Aviary held up a finger to silence her. She was inspecting a blueprint of Grand Central terminal, but it wasn’t the same blueprint she found the last time they were in the terminal.

‘You’ll need to disable the control center before you can set foot on any of the concourses, right?’ Aviary said.

‘And I suppose you have a plan for that?’ Nasira said.

‘As it turns out, I do. But I need access to the network those computers run on,’ Aviary said. ‘And I think I know where you can find it.’ She pointed at a spot on her laptop screen.

‘What’s that?’

‘The Campbell Apartment,’ Aviary said. ‘Cocktail bar on the third level. Used to be an apartment for some rich dude. Looks like a lot of the wiring runs through there, including some new fiber for the upper levels.’

She pulled one of her ethernet-to-antenna hubs from her ruck and gave it to Nasira. ‘This gives us access to the fiber optic cable, which should already have an ethernet port you can use. That cocktail bar has, according to this, access to the same fiber connection as the control center. All you need to do is connect your phone and hit this button—’ Aviary showed her the button in the Settings app ‘—Personal Hotspot mode, with a difference. Hit the
Hijack
toggle on this panel and it gives me direct access to the network your phone is hooked up to.’

Nasira was confused. ‘So I just hit the button and—’

‘Yes. Just hit the button and the Hijack toggle,’ Aviary said.

‘And what’s the point of all this?’ Nasira said.

‘Once we have access, I can shut the security cameras down in seconds. Minutes. Five minutes. Maybe ten. Can you get us to the Campbell Apartment? West end, upper level.’

‘I can get there but I’ll pass at least one camera to get inside, and another once I’m inside, I’m guessing,’ Nasira said. ‘And another in the bar.’

Aviary consulted her laptop. ‘Yeah. That’s a risk we’ll have to take. I don’t think anyone watching the cameras will be focused on the upper levels. Just the main concourse and lower levels.’

‘It’ll have to do,’ Nasira said. ‘But you need to move locations.’

‘Why?’ Aviary said. ‘I’m coming with you.’

‘Denton was trying to get a fix on us. And you’re not coming.’

‘You can’t leave me alone!’ Aviary said. ‘What if I get shot? Or worse, captured!’

‘That’s why you’re moving locations,’ Nasira said.

Her hands tightened into fists. ‘You don’t want me to come?’ Aviary slipped her laptop into her ruck and stood, soaking wet. ‘Fine! I’ll go hide while you face off with those operatives all by yourself!’

‘Sophia, it’s nice to finally meet you,’ the Commander said.

He stood between identically dressed Blue Berets, all wearing ballistic masks. One of them looked different though, dressed more in casual gear with just boots and a mask added to help him blend with the others. She noticed he wore a thin permeable hood and his mask was modified with chiseled eye holes to give him a wider peripheral. Black camo cream blended the skin around his eyes with the mask. She was beginning to think the masks served a psychological purpose more than a protective one.

On her two o’clock, four Blue Berets were standing with carbines. They looked ready to step in if Sophia tried to make a run for the Commander.

Sophia and Czarina had been escorted into the ballroom by DC. He probably figured she wouldn’t go if Blue Berets tried to march her. She still carried his sword, now in its sheath, and her ruck. She carried her Glock on her belt. Czarina was wearing the ruck that contained the meteorite.

Sophia drew short in the grand ballroom, just before the seven-piece chandelier that glittered above. Czarina and DC remained on either side of her.

Czarina had been relieved of her carbine but Sophia had insisted on keeping her pistol holstered. DC had talked the Blue Berets into leaving it. The Commander still eyed her holster.

‘
It’s a good holster,’ Sophia said. ‘Thank your men for it.’

The Commander gave a slight nod. He said nothing.

The ballroom was empty near the stage. The rest of the ballroom was scattered with tables from a function earlier that evening. She noticed platters of salmon and flutes of champagne. The Commander stepped forward to drink from one.

He was indistinguishable from his soldiers. She couldn’t see any insignia or feature that differed from the others. She only knew he was the Commander because he addressed her, and his voice betrayed his age.

She watched him remove the mask. He didn’t look entirely familiar but she was sure she’d heard his voice before. Or a voice quite similar.

The Commander had a shaved head and a trimmed graying beard that ran patchily across sharp cheekbones. His nose was narrow, slightly hooked.

‘I can’t help but be a little curious regarding your plan,’ Sophia said.

She kept her Glock in her holster where he could see it, but held her iPhone in one hand, the concealed lens pointed in his direction. The lens was wide enough that the other Berets were in view. She knew Nasira and Aviary would be watching.

‘And with good reason,’ the Commander said, his thin lips pressed together. ‘My men are in place. Do you have the meteorite with you?’

‘I do,’ she said.

Sophia tried to read him but he was standing too far away. She could only pick up on DC’s emotional state and that of the Blue Berets standing off side. They simmered between restlessness and anxiety.

‘Good,’ the Commander said. ‘Then I trust you’d like to hear me out.’

She didn’t have much choice. If she resisted now it would be difficult. She knew she couldn’t trust DC.

‘What do you plan to do with the meteorite?’ she said.

‘Set a trap for Denton,’ he said, ‘that he can’t resist.’

‘It’s the only one he doesn’t have,’ Sophia said. ‘But I suppose you know that.’

The Commander’s narrow, dark eyes flickered between Sophia and Czarina, perhaps trying to figure out who in fact was carrying the meteorite. They were both wearing rucks and the meteorite could be in either.

‘I have five platoons,’ the Commander said. ‘One on the fourth floor, ready to take the stairs and cut off Denton’s forces in the west foyer. The other on the second floor, ready to take the main stairs and cut off Denton’s forces in the silver corridor. I have one platoon split into two fire teams, one covering the west entry to the building and the other covering the east. We also have four snipers, two on either side.’

‘Where do you plan to keep the meteorite?’ Sophia said.

‘Basildon Room, northeast corner,’ he said. ‘Walls are wired with flashbangs and CS gas, remotely triggered.’

‘Your plans for Denton?’ she asked.

‘Capture,’ he said. ‘Kill only if necessary. Given his … value I would prefer him alive.’

‘Why do you want to stop him?’ Sophia said.

‘He has been a liability ever since his father was killed by the Akhana,’ the Commander said. ‘But now, he’s out of control. It’s time we brought him in.’

‘And what about me?’ Sophia said. ‘Is it time you brought me in?’

He arched a whisper-thin eyebrow. ‘It might shock you to learn you aren’t as important as you once thought. The deranged minds of Cecilia and Denton aside, we have little interest in one broken little operative.’

‘Hey, I’m no Denton but I figure if you have the opportunity to kill me, you might embrace that,’ Sophia said.

‘Under normal circumstances perhaps,’ the Commander said. ‘But right now you are more use to us alive than dead.’

‘At least until I hand over the rock,’ she said.

‘Don’t get in our way, we won’t get in yours,’ he said.

‘What are your plans for the rocks?’ she said.

‘They will be destroyed,’ he said.

‘They?’ she said. ‘You haven’t destroyed the one from Peru?’

A vein quivered above his right eye.

‘We have the Peru meteorite. It will be destroyed as soon as we have Denton,’ he said. ‘Not a moment sooner, not a moment later.’ He finished his flute of champagne. ‘You can keep running. With the meteorite on your back. But your chances are not … encouraging. Or you can pass the burden to us. Which is what would’ve happened before you stole it.’

‘Actually I didn’t—yeah, never mind,’ Sophia said.

‘This isn’t your fight,’ the Commander said. ‘Denton is our mess and we need to clean it up ourselves.’

‘And I’m his mess,’ Sophia said. ‘What guarantee do I have that I can walk out of here alive?’

The Commander held his ballistic mask in one hand, inspecting it. ‘We’re here to do our job,’ he said. ‘That doesn’t involve you.’

‘Of course,’ Sophia said. ‘And if you don’t do your job the details of this plan can be passed on to Denton.’ She held up her phone. ‘Camera feed.’

‘Oh, that’s not a problem at all.’ The Commander lifted the tablecloth beside him, revealing a microwave-sized cell phone jammer.

Sophia looked down at her phone and realized it had no signal. The Commander was blocking all frequencies, including his own communications, inside the grand ballroom, which meant her phone couldn’t even hijack his for reception.

The Blue Berets moved toward her, carbines raised.

‘I’ll need you to raise your hands, Sophia,’ the Commander said. ‘Just as a precaution.’

She noticed the masked soldier in casual gear approach her and produce a different weapon, a slimmer, more compact tranquilizer rifle. He fired into her neck.

She turned to DC. He’d stepped away from her. Another tranquilizer dart cut the air near her, striking Czarina in her neck. Sophia tried to fight the solution in the dart but it was useless. She dropped to her knees.

‘You promised you wouldn’t hurt her,’ DC said.

‘And I’ve kept that promise,’ the Commander said. ‘As long as you keep yours, neither of them will be harmed.’

Sophia slumped forward. Her eyes were closed before she hit the floor. The voices drifted to nothing.