The Tomorrow Heist (21 page)

“These machines are very sophisticated. Just like before, it's trying to save itself. It's dumping Mikawa, bit by bit. We're losing him.”

“What about the other robot?” Tatsu said.

“We'll never initialize it in time. The buffer will be completely empty by then.”

“There's got to be something we can do!” Tatsu pleaded.

Nagura ran his hand through his hair and paced. Tatsu was sure all was lost, when suddenly Nagura stopped and looked at Umi.

“What is it?” Umi asked.

“It's a long shot, but there's only one networked system close by that could handle this amount of data.”

“Is that possible?” Umi asked. Tatsu realized what they were talking about.

Ashita
.

“Maybe. But we have to decide now. We've already lost eight percent of him.”

“Umi, maybe we should—­” Tatsu didn't get to finish.

“Do it.”

 

Chapter Twenty-­eight

Unknown

“W
HO
'
S
THERE
?” L
EW
said again. The voice had been so small and brief, he was starting to think he'd imagined it. Just as he was about to give up and get back to what was in the crate, he heard it again.

“Please. Help me. It's trying to kill me.”

Lew zeroed in on the source of the strange voice. It was coming from behind a stack of boxes. He stared at them, trying to see who was in the room with him. Finally, he saw a single eye staring out at him from a crack between two crates.

“What's trying to kill you?” Lew asked, edging forward. “Come on out from behind there. I won't hurt you.” Whether Lew would actually hurt him or not depended on what the voice did next, but Lew needed answers. And clothes, he thought, shivering.

Slowly, a thin, shaking man stood up behind the crates, his bloodshot, wide eyes rimmed with thick black circles. As he stood up, his gaze flicked left and right, like a squirrel in the park being offered a peanut. Lew had seen that look before. On detainees in Kuwait. This guy was sleep deprived. Sleep deprived times ten. The soldiers interrogating them would wake them up whenever they fell asleep—­play loud music, hose them down with ice water—­whatever it took to keep them from getting any rest. After days or weeks of this, they got this same look—­and started to hallucinate. If it went on much longer, they'd literally lose their minds. This guy wasn't far from there.

“That's it. All the way up. Who you hiding from, buddy?” Lew said in an almost singsong voice, like he was talking to a child. Lew was holding his hands up too, so the man could see he wasn't armed.

“I'm hiding from . . .
him
,” the man said, practically hissing as he pointed up at the ceiling. There was nothing on the ceiling but more white.

“What's your name?” Lew asked. The man was dressed in an oversized lab coat, filthy to the point of being brown. He kept glaring up into the corners of the room.

Crap
.
This guy isn't going to be any help at all.

“It wasn't my fault, you know.”

“Of course it wasn't, buddy. These things just happen sometimes,” Lew said.

The man stood up straight and just looked at Lew. Then he started nodding and crying. “Yes. You understand. It wasn't my fault. But I'm the only one they put down here. How is
that
fair?” he said, coming out from behind the crates.

“It's not . . . I'm sorry, I forgot—­What's your name again?”

“
Reese
,” he said in an even lower whisper.

“Hey, Reese. I'm Lew. Do you think you can help me, Reese? I'm kinda freezing here.”

“Where are your clothes?” Reese said, seeming to notice Lew's lack of attire for the first time.

“
It
took them,” Lew said, hoping if he played along, he'd get further. Direct questions weren't doing much.

“I knew it! We need to stick together Lew. Maybe . . . maybe you can stand guard while I get some sleep? I'm so tired.”

Bingo.

“I know you are, buddy. Now, clothes. A T-­shirt, a blanket—­anything.”

Reese's focus came back to the room for a moment. He stepped over to a steamer trunk and swung it open. Inside was a mini wardrobe. Shirts, underwear, socks, shoes—­the works. The shirts were too small for Lew, but he found a grubby football jersey that fit him. He slipped it on. Everything else was too small, but this would do for now.

“Do you know anything about that?” Lew asked, pointing at the triangles and the ocean beyond.

“It's the ocean,” Reese said matter-­of-­factly. “We're on the bottom.”

“Uh, the
bottom
? Exactly how far down are we?”

“Not . . . not my specialty. They told me about five hundred meters. Not the bottom-­bottom, we're on a ridge.”

Jesus
. Lew did some quick calculations. Five hundred meters. About sixteen hundred feet. Somewhere around fifty-­one atmospheres. But he didn't feel it.
Of course
.
The atmosphere must be normalized. We're on some sort of specialized submarine.
Lew knew from his time in the military that submarines had gone a lot deeper than this.

“Do you know anything about these?” Lew said, walking over to the crate he had been in.

Reese walked over and looked inside. On the bottom lay two human-­looking robots, one with a damaged head, blackened like it had been burned. Impossibly, Reese's eyes got larger than they already were. He started panting like he couldn't catch his breath.

“No! You're with them! You're with it! Get away!” Reese was blathering, backing away from Lew like he was the plague.

“Easy, easy. I'm not with anyone.”

“No! You're lying! You want to kill me!” Reese threw one of the small crates at Lew. While he was ducking, Reese pressed a panel on the wall and a door slid open. He ran out, straight into a ­couple of guards who stood outside. Lew stayed in a crouch and eased back behind the crate.

“There you are, Reese,” one of the guards said. “We've been looking for you.”

“No! He's with you! You all want to kill me!”

“Reese, settle down! You want me to use my Taser again?” one of the guards said, pulling a Taser out of his belt. Reese immediately stopped thrashing.

“No. No, I'll be good. No more tasing.”

“Attaboy. Now, the boss lady wants to see you. Pronto. Let's take a little walk, and maybe she'll let you sleep tonight.”

“I'd like that,” Reese said, as the trio moved away.

Lew waited a few more minutes before he came out from his hiding spot.

What the hell was going on here? And where the hell was Jonny? He tapped behind his ear a few times.

“Jonny? You there, buddy?”

Only silence.

He didn't have a choice. He'd have to try to find him. But if he started lurking around a submarine dressed the way he was, it would be almost impossible to keep from being spotted. Unless they'd gotten their hands on something like a Typhoon-­class submarine with it's massive multifloored layout. Even then. And where the hell would they get—­

“
Hello, Lew.
”

Lew looked around for a second, then realized it had come from his implant. It wasn't Jonny, though.

“Hello? Is that you, Fahd?” Lew thought about how much he would love to get his hands on that little bastard.

“
No, we are not Fahd.
”

We?

Lew got up and moved to the door. Staying in one place like this was too risky. He had to get moving. He peeked around the corner of the door and felt prickles crawl up his back and into his neck from what he saw. His mouth fell open as he looked around and up . . . and up and up and up. He was definitely
not
on a submarine.

“If you're not Fahd, then who the hell are you?” Lew managed.

“
Our name is Mikawa. And we have a proposition for you, Lew.
”

 

Chapter Twenty-­nine

Jirojin Maru

2:30
P.M.
Local Time

B
EFORE
AN
YONE
COULD
react to Tatsu's fantastic story, a powerful wave broke over the starboard side and slammed down onto the already waterlogged group sitting on the heliport pad. Tatsu, the smallest and lightest of them all, was almost washed away by it, but Per grabbed her in time.

“Here comes another one!” Jonathan yelled. The foursome huddled around Alex's body and grabbed onto each other. They weathered the onslaught, but just barely.

“If they keep getting stronger, we won't be able to take much more,” Maggie said, huddled into Jonathan's side.

“Tanaka! Where the fuck are you?” Jonathan yelled into the air. There was a slight buzz from his implant, but he couldn't make it out with the storm raging over him. “Say again, Tanaka?”

“
I'm . . . I'm almost . . . there,
” Tanaka said louder, sounding strained. A minute later, Tanaka emerged onto the heliport, and Jonathan saw why his speech was halting.

“Tanaka!” Tatsu said.

Tanaka had been shot; deep red, almost black, blood oozed from a stomach wound in his pristine white uniform. His mask was pulled down around his neck, and he held another mask in a bloody hand. As soon as he reached the heliport, he fell to his knees. Jonathan got up to go to him.

“Tanaka! What the hell—­” But then he looked starboard and saw a monster wave bearing down on them, bigger than the last two combined. “Grab onto something!” But there was nothing except each other. Tanaka was alone, kneeling, and wounded. Jonathan dove at Tanaka just as the wave crashed down.

Jonathan felt like someone had dropped a building on him. His senses were obliterated for a terrifying moment. Nothing but the roar of the storm. When they returned, he was sliding. Somehow he'd managed to grab Tanaka, but from the looks of it, he was out cold. Deadweight. And dragging Jonathan at incredible speed toward the port side.

Jonathan could hear Lew's voice in his head—­
Let go, stupid!
—­but he hung on. If he let go, Tanaka was a goner if he wasn't already. A tug on his leg made him look back. Per was hanging on to him as the three of them slid toward, then over the side.

Jonathan distantly heard Maggie and Tatsu screaming. He opened his eyes and saw that he still had ahold of Tanaka's hand, but the two of them were well over the side of the boat, staring down at the dark, roiling ocean forty feet below them. He looked back and saw that Per had grabbed onto the railing and was having no trouble at all hanging onto it, but he was struggling with his other arm's load.

How is he—­
Then Jonathan saw how Per was able to hold so much weight—­now and when he'd jumped from the chopper. Per's sleeve had pulled up to his elbow, or what should have been an elbow. In its place was a mechanical joint.
He's part machine!

“Let go of him!” Per yelled. “You can't save him, and you're going to kill us both!”

No way am I letting go of the poor bastard.

“Jonathan! Let . . . let me go,” Tanaka managed. “He's right.” Jonathan looked down and saw that Tanaka had come around, but his pupils kept trying to roll up under his eyelids.

“No! Nobody dies!” Jonathan shouted.

“He's already dead!” Per answered.

Then Lew's voice in his head again:
Jonny, think of Natalie. Think of Maggie. Hell, think of me!

A sound built in Jonathan's throat like a rising roar. He looked in Tanaka's eyes, which seemed hooded and vacant.

“I'm sorry,” Jonathan said, as he let go and watched Tanaka fall like a rag doll. He hit the surface and disappeared under the dark waves.

“
Fuck!
” Jonathan howled at the storm as Per hauled him up. They fell back on the deck, panting. They looked at each other and after a wordless moment, Per nodded. Per put out his human hand, and Jonathan grabbed it, each pulling on the other to stand. “Let's get out of here.”

Jonathan marched past Per, ignored Maggie and Tatsu, and walked right through the doorway into the ship. Tanaka's mask had been around his neck, not on his face, and—­not counting his bullet wound—­he'd been fine. Jonathan headed down the hall to the first junction and took a deep inhale. When he exhaled and felt normal, he ran back to the doorway.

“Let's go!”

“What about Alex?” Maggie called.

“Leave him,” Jonathan said. “Let the fucking sea have him.”

Everyone ran inside, entering a little tentatively but continuing when the air didn't lay them out.

When the foursome reached a Y in the corridor, they stopped. Everyone was shivering.

“We need to get out of these clothes,” Per said.

“There's a maintenance room just down this hall,” Maggie said. “There should be some coveralls or something.”

A few minutes later, they were all dressed in gray coveralls that said “Tenabe” on the back. The coveralls were baggy but fit Jonathan's lanky frame. Everyone else had to roll up the legs and sleeves, including Per. Jonathan thought they looked like the worst moving company in the world. The thought—­and nonchalantly seeing Maggie strip down to change—­had lightened his mood.

Maggie had dumped the messenger bag, thanks to the big pockets in the coveralls. She and Jonathan had guns in their pockets, and Jonathan carried the machine gun they'd taken off Alex slung over one shoulder.

“Now what?” Maggie said.

“Head to the moon-­pool room,” Jonathan said.

“Why?” Maggie said.

“To hopefully get to the sub before Morgan does and get down to Ashita.”

“Again, why? Who is this Lew that Alex hit with a pipe and sent down there?”

“He's my partner. There's not enough time to explain everything, but I'm not with the CIA,” Jonathan said.

“You don't say,” Maggie said. Jonathan looked at her, not really that surprised. “The implant made me suspicious, but if you were CIA, no bloody way would you have run around the ship trying to save a bunch of scientists. That was all Jonathan.”

“Look, just show me where the moon-­pool room is; you don't have to come down. I know you—­”

“I'm coming,” she said flatly.

“Don't take this wrong, I need the help and then some, but why? Even if I can get down there, the odds of a return trip are not promising,” Jonathan said.

“Jonathan, you just saved a hundred lives. Lives that, technically, I was responsible for. Without you, even if I had discovered Umi's plan on my own, they'd all be dead. Including me.”

“Per and I are going, too,” Tatsu said out of the blue.

“Whoa, what?” Jonathan said. Maggie would be helpful, and he'd actually been hoping she'd come down with him. But these two? Per had saved his life, and no doubt that arm of his would come in handy, but Tatsu? She was practically a kid though she did have the inside track on this whole plan of Umi's.

“I've got my own score to settle with Umi before she dies. Which means I don't have much time. And I promised to show Per something down there in exchange for his help.”

“Show him something,” Maggie said, disbelief evident in her tone.

“Rest easy. I have no intention of interfering with your search for his friend. I simply want information. That is all,” Per said.

“But will you help if it's needed?” Jonathan asked. “If you've got some kind of death wish—­”

“Yes, of course I will,” Per said. “And I have no intention of dying anytime soon.” When Jonathan couldn't detect any deception in Per's eyes, he shrugged at Maggie.

“So, it's a party,” he said.

“
J . . . Jonathan.
”

He spun around but realized no one around him was saying anything. It was his implant. Tanaka was still
alive
.

Then all Jonathan heard was coughing, gasping and grunting. Jonathan imagined the wounded Tanaka fighting to tread water in the violent seas. With his last breaths he was trying to tell him something.

“Tanaka?” Jonathan said. The shock on everyone's face was evident.

“He's still alive?” Tatsu asked.

“What's he saying?” Maggie asked.

Jonathan waved them all quiet.

“
. . . SB,
” Tanaka said, followed by thick swallowing noises. “
. . . ata dev . . .”

“Tanaka, you're not making any sense,” Jonathan said, but what could he do? Tanaka would be lucky if he had two minutes left. Whatever he had to say was crucial, or at least Tanaka thought so. If he was ever in the same situation, Jonathan wondered if he'd be saying anything besides “help” and Natalie's name.

“
. . . database . . . virus . . . dead lights . . .”

What the hell? He'd heard those words completely, but they didn't make any sense. Maybe Tanaka had already lost too much blood. Maybe—­

“
Destroy Ashita!
” Tanaka screamed. Jonathan hoped it was only in frustration at getting his point across. Regardless, Jonathan couldn't do that. Never mind the loss of life of whoever was currently down there, that might include Lew.

“
USB . . . device . . .”
then gurgling. Tanaka fell quiet and didn't speak again. It was over. Jonathan looked at the others and shook his head. He wasn't sure what he'd heard or if it was even what Tanaka had wanted to say, but he kept it to himself for now.

With Tanaka gone, they continued their trek to the moon-­pool room, albeit a little more somberly. They came to a large metal door with a wheel on it. Maggie spun the wheel on the door and yanked it open. Inside was an air lock, a small chamber with a similar door on the other side.

“There's only room for two of us at a time,” Jonathan said. “Maggie and I will go first. You guys come in after.” Before anyone could complain, Jonathan shoved Maggie inside, stepped in, and pulled the door shut behind them.

“Press that button there,” Maggie said. Jonathan did, and they waited for the indicator over the inside door to turn green.

But it wasn't an accident that Jonathan had gotten in there with Maggie alone. As they waited, he told her what Tanaka had said.

“What the hell are dead lights?” Maggie asked.

“I have no idea. I was hoping you'd know.”

“Not a clue. But until we do, I think you're right to keep it from our companions.”

“See, we always did, um, think . . .” Suddenly Jonathan was very aware of the tight quarters and how close he was to Maggie's body.

“ . . . alike,” Maggie said, her voice softer than before. The air seemed electric. She licked her lips, and Jonathan could feel himself unable to resist leaning in. But just as their lips were about to touch, something occurred to him.

“Of course,
data
device!” Jonathan said, routing through the pockets of his coveralls.

“That is the oddest rejection I've ever gotten,” Maggie said.

“That door will keep them out until we leave and shut this door, right?”

“Uh, yeah. The pressure has to equalize before they can open theirs. Why? What's a data device?”

“This,” Jonathan said, pulling out the data device Fahd had given him. Maggie looked thoroughly unimpressed.

“It's a phone.”

“Let's hope it's more,” Jonathan said. He reached up and pulled the end of his pendant apart, revealing the USB plug. “Cross your fingers.”

Jonathan inserted the USB drive into his data device. For a terrible second, nothing happened. Then the device came to life, a light on the USB drive blinked, and Jonathan could hear Fahd's voice through his implant. He quickly explained what was happening to Maggie and asked her to be patient.

“
Welcome to phase two, Jonathan. Your real mission,
” Fahd said, the display of the data device coming to life. An old woman's face was displayed.

“
This is Umi Tenabe. You've no doubt been told quite a bit about her, by now. She's deadly. Don't underestimate her, or it will be the last thing you do. In cooperation with certain factions of the Japanese government, she's built this.
” The data device now displayed a geodesic dome under the sea, huge white triangles all across its surface.

“
It's called
Ashita
—­Japanese for
tomorrow
—­and is a self-­sustaining deepwater city capable of housing almost five thousand ­people. In tourism mode, it can house twenty-­five hundred ­people and host hundreds of others as guests. Or, that was the plan given to the Japanese government. Our intel, while not corroborated, says Umi has reneged on their deal and is holding Ashita hostage, if you will, threatening to expose sensitive information about key government personnel if they should try to take it back by force.
”

“
Which brings us to your target: Umi's database,
” Fahd said. A metallic briefcase displayed on the device.
“For sixty years, Umi has done business with some of the largest and most important corporations on earth, including defense contractors, governments, and even DARPA. During every transaction, every deal, she either made information part of the terms or made arrangements to steal information. What she has now is the most complete and dangerous database of scientific research and military design ever compiled. If any one government were to get their hands on it, the balance of power in the world would change forever.

“
Our intel says that the database is on Ashita. Umi had her scientists incorporate the data into the city's advanced AI control computer, but one of the scientists is now with us. He was sent in from some company called Crystasis, but once he was in place, we approached him. He made a copy of the database and hid it. It is imperative that you contact him and, primarily, get the database out, but also retrieve our man, if possible. His name is Dr. Reese.”