Unforgettable - eARC (16 page)

She nodded, as if this were all in a day’s work for her. Then she rose from her seat, went to a door at one end of the cabin, punched a code into a keypad, and opened the door.

“Wait!” I called out, realizing she was about to leave us alone.

She turned to look at me.

“Yelena,” I said, “you’d better confirm what I said about switching to London and getting Edward on the line.”

“Of course,” Yelena said. “What he says it true. We must go to London, and I must speak to Edward Strong at Langley immediately.”

The woman said, “OK, I’ll connect you after we’re out of Iranian airspace.” She went through the door into what I figured must be the cockpit.

The whine of the engines rose higher in pitch, and I was pressed into my seat as the Grasshopper took off.

Chapter Twenty-Three

“I have Edward Strong on the line,” said a voice over the airplane’s public address system. “I’m going to patch him through to the cabin, so you can just talk like you’re on speakerphone.”

“Thanks,” I said at the same time Yelena said, “Thank you.”

After our usual identification procedure, I said, “Edward, you originally sent me to talk to Parham Rezaei because you wanted to know where Jamshidi’s secret lab is. He’s told us—it’s not in Iran, it’s in London, or at least it’s in that general area. And he’s agreed to help us by going in and sabotaging the supercomputer. So you need to redirect this plane to London.”

“Hmm. I’d rather debrief you here first,” said Edward.

“There’s no time. Jamshidi’s close to activating the supercomputer, and once he does that, we won’t be able to stop him. The computer will make itself invulnerable.”

“What are you talking about?” Edward said. “Invulnerable?”

“It doesn’t just predict the future,” I said. “It can control the future.”

After a pause, Edward said, “That’s a little farfetched.”

“Listen,” I said, “Parham Rezaei is brilliant enough that he’s figured out why Yelena can remember me. It took him only minutes to work out a whole quantum theory about how my talent works—”

“The theory is still incomplete,” Parham said.

“—and so when it comes to quantum stuff, I believe he knows what he’s talking about. If he believes this computer can take control of the future, I believe it, too.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a few seconds. “You understand, it’s difficult for me to take your word for something, when as far as my memory is concerned, this is the first time we’ve ever spoken. But everything I have in my notes says you’ve come through for us time after time, so I’ll trust that you’re serious.”

“Thank you,” I said. “So, my instinct is to go in and sabotage this computer, or at the very least learn the lab’s exact location so maybe you can send in a strike team.”

“Hmm. I’ll talk to the Brits, see if they can do something.”

“If I may interrupt,” Parham said, “Jamshidi boasts of having high-level sources in MI5. If coordinating with British intelligence alerts him, he might take the most important components and rebuild elsewhere.”

“And using our military for a strike on British soil without coordination would cause a major international incident, and I doubt the White House is prepared to authorize something like that on such thin evidence.” Edward sighed. “I’ll do what I can, but it’s really up to you guys. I’ll have your plane redirected to London.”

“Okay,” I said. I hung up the phone and looked from Parham to Yelena. “It’s up to us. Got any bright ideas?”

Yelena said, “Our best chance is to offer to trade Parham to Jamshidi.”

“What?” both Parham and I said.

“I call Jamshidi’s men, say I kidnap Parham to trade for my sisters. We give him back, and then he sabotage computer.”

“A truly elegant solution,” said Parham. “Except it’s possible that Jamshidi no longer needs me. I was supposedly working on coming up with my own version of the ChazonTec quantum viewer, and I kept stretching things out to delay him. But now that he has the viewer, he has everything he needs. Jamal can make the modifications to the viewer.”

I shrugged. “It’s worth a shot. So we get you in, you sabotage the viewer, and then…You realize that if Jamshidi finds out what you’ve done, he won’t be happy.”

Parham nodded. “It is a risk I must take.”

“We’ll try to figure a way to get you out. I guess the urgent thing is to stop the Prophet from controlling the future. Once the viewer’s out of commission, then we can do things with more preparation.”

Parham nodded. “If we can’t get our hands on the viewer, then we need to destroy the core.”

“Just get in there, plant some explosives and blow it up?” I said.

“In theory, yes. In practice…” He shook his head. “The core sounds like it is one central location, but it is distributed, networked. It consists of thousands of separate computers. Even if you take out the main processing facility, the core could keep functioning.”

“Then how do we take it out?” I asked.

“With access to the network, I could sabotage the operating code in the core. It would take thousands of hours to reprogram.”

“But they must have a backup somewhere,” I said.

“Yes and no,” said Parham. “Copies of the initial programming code are available. But much of what is in the core has been developed through evolutionary programming—the computer alters its own code to make itself more efficient. And that means some of the code exists only in an indeterminate quantum state inside the core. And it is a law of quantum mechanics that such indeterminate states cannot be copied. So there is no backup of the core itself.”

“To plan mission properly,” said Yelena, “we must have map of facility. Can you draw one?”

“I’ll do my best,” Parham said, and he set to work sketching a map on a page of the notebook I’d given him.

* * *

We landed in the outskirts of London, next to a warehouse owned by a CIA front company. To my surprise, Edward was there to meet us on the tarmac as we got off the plane.

“Miss Semyonova,” he said, shaking Yelena’s hand, “I’m Edward Strong. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. And Dr. Rezaei, thank you for offering to help us.” He shook Parham’s hand as well. Edward’s eyes briefly flickered to look at me, but then looked away, as if he had decided I was part of the flight crew for the Grasshopper. “If you’ll come this way, I’ve got a briefing room we can use.” He started walking toward the warehouse.

I was so used to him being in his office, with access to my file folder, that I wasn’t sure what to do in this situation.

“Umm, Edward?” I said.

He stopped and turned to face me. “Yes? Do I know you?”

“Yes, but I can see you’ve forgotten me. Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault.”

“He’s with us,” Yelena said.

“Yes,” said Parham, “he helped me defect.”

Edward shook his head and rubbed his forehead. “It’s this stupid Alzheimer’s. I’ve put in for retirement several times, but they keep telling me I’m ‘essential to ongoing operations.’” He grinned. “What a terrible thing it is to be necessary. What’s your name, young man?”

“Nat Morgan,” I said. “I’m a CIA field officer, and I’ve worked with you before. I’m not listed in any database, but if there’s someone you can get to access a special file folder in your desk at Langley, they can confirm that.”

“Unlisted?” His eyebrows rose. “Interesting. But let’s get to the briefing room.”

We followed him inside the warehouse, down some stairs leading to the basement, and into a conference room with a large glass table surrounded by chairs.

Edward sat at the head of the table and waved for us to sit as he dialed out on a speakerphone on the table. I took the seat to his left, Yelena sat next to me, and Parham next to her.

When a woman answered the phone, Edward said, “Shelly, it’s Ed. I need you to locate a file for me.”

“Okay,” she said. “Where is it?”

“I’ve got a young man here who’s going to explain.” He looked at me expectantly.

“Um, actually, I need you to tell her. I’ll tell you.”

He frowned. “What sort of game are you playing?”

“I can do it, Nat,” said Parham. He looked up toward a corner of the ceiling, then said, “In the lower drawer on the right side of Edward’s desk you will find a manila file folder with the label ‘CODE NAME LETHE.’” He spelled out LETHE for her, then turned to me and said, “Is that right, Nat?”

“Yes,” I said, impressed that he could remember those details.

“Okay,” Shelly said. “I’m going to put you on hold. Be right back.”

“What is all this rigmarole about?” Edward’s voice held a tinge of annoyance.

“It’s necessary,” I said. “You see, the reason you don’t remember me isn’t because of your Alzheimer’s. It’s because no one can remember me for more than a minute after I’m gone, and so if I told Shelly about the file directly, she would forget I had told her.”

“Is this some sort of joke?” Edward asked.

“There are authentication protocols in the folder,” I said. “It’s in your handwriting…which I guess you won’t be able to tell over the phone. Can Shelly recognize your handwriting?”

“Is not joke,” Yelena said. “I have seen it work.”

Parham leaned forward in his seat. “If it would help, I can give you a theoretical explanation for what is happening at the quantum level.”

Edward motioned for Parham to stop. “Let’s just wait for the folder.”

After a few moments, Shelly came back on the line. “The lower drawer on the right side, you said?”

“Yes,” I said, simultaneously with Parham.

“Hmm.” Seconds ticked off. “There are some files here, but none of them is labeled ‘CODE NAME LETHE.’”

Maybe Edward had forgotten to put it away after talking to us? “What about on top of the desk?” I asked.

“No, it’s clean,” Shelly said.

“Thank you, Shelley,” Edward said. He reached forward and hung up the speakerphone with his left hand. As he sat back, I realized he was holding a gun in his right. “Now, young man, would you mind telling me the real reason you’re here?”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Moving slowly, I raised my hands while my mind raced to figure out what to do next. I was so used to Edward believing me thanks to that file that I didn’t have a contingency plan for his holding a gun on me. Yelena was right about me being an amateur.

Of course, I’d been an amateur the day I walked into the CIA recruiter’s office, and I’d managed to get him to believe me.

“Edward.” I tried to keep my voice calm. “I don’t know what happened to your file. But I can prove the truth of what I said about people forgetting me. Ask someone to come in here and take a good look at me, then have them leave for a minute and come back. They will not remember seeing me before.”

“This is ridiculous,” he said.

“If he is lying,” said Parham, “then you can disprove it easily enough by conducting the test as he says. Think of it as a scientific experiment.”

“There is no time to start over. Mission is too urgent.” Yelena’s voice held a tone of command. She pointed at Edward. “You are experienced CIA handler. You come to London to meet with defecting Iranian scientist and former SVR agent. Do you take their folders with you?”

Edward kept the gun on me, his eyes not even flickering to Yelena as he answered her. “Yes.”

“Then where is your briefcase?”

“Uh…I’m not sure.” Edward’s eyes lost their focus for a moment. “I must have left it somewhere.”

“Call upstairs, see if anyone has found it,” Yelena said. She turned toward me and added, “I think your folder must be with ours.”

I nodded. I hoped she was right.

Edward followed her advice. After a couple of minutes during which his gun never wavered from me, a stern-faced woman walked in with a briefcase and placed it on the table in front of Edward. She was careful not to get between me and the gun. But she didn’t leave the room: instead, she stood behind me.

Edward holstered his gun, then opened the briefcase, and I was relieved to see the familiar folder on top, with a neon pink sticky note on it. “Read this first!” was scrawled on it in black marker.

He took out the file and started scanning the first page. When he reached the bottom, he looked up at me. “I believe I owe you an apology, Nat.”

* * *

Things went a lot more smoothly after that. We briefed Edward on our mission—stop the supercomputer and rescue Yelena’s sisters.

Unfortunately, there were no field operatives currently available to help us, but Edward was able to get access to a surveillance van. He drove, while Yelena, Parham and I sat in the back.

It took thirty-three minutes to get from the CIA warehouse to the neighborhood of Jamshidi Oil, Ltd. After driving past the privacy fence and gated entrance, where a single guard was on duty in a small gatehouse, Edward parked on the side of the road two blocks away.

“Yelena, make the call,” I said.

Yelena pulled out a disposable cell phone she had bought on her shopping trip back in Iran and dialed a number. “You recognize my voice? Good. I have someone you want. You have someone I want. I propose trade.”

She paused to listen, then said, “Have someone meet me at Regents Park Hub in one hour to discuss exchange. Alone. If I see a second person, I will abort.” She hung up, then removed the battery so the phone couldn’t be tracked.

Nine minutes later, three cars with four men in each drove away from the warehouse. That left only three or four men guarding the warehouse, based on the numbers Parham had seen when he’d been there.

“Of course they try to set trap for me,” she said. She pounded the steering wheel. “I do not understand why they do not just give my sisters back. It would be simpler for them.”

“You have to understand what kind of man Jamshidi is,” Parham said. “The thing he desires most is control, and he hates to show weakness—particularly to a woman. When you try to force him to give up your sisters, that only makes him tighten his grip.”

“So I should what? Get down on my knees and beg him? I would do it,” Yelena said.

“That wouldn’t work, either,” said Parham. “Obvious weakness only makes him despise you.”

“You’re doing the right thing,” I said. “This is the best way to rescue your sisters.”

“I know,” she said. “I know. I just have fear that reason he will not give them back is that they are dead.”

“Of course they’re not dead,” I said, with a certainty I did not feel. “Jamshidi paid good money for them, and he wouldn’t want to lose his investment, would he, Parham?” It was awkward to talk about her sisters like they were a commodity, but I didn’t want her to lose hope.

“Oh, quite right,” he said.

“Anyway,” I said, “I think the ones who left have been gone long enough that they can’t get back in time to save the ones they left behind. Let’s do this.”

“I’ll move the van to the rendezvous spot,” Edward said. “And if a field-op team becomes available, I’ll send them in as backup.”

Yelena handed Parham and me a Taser.

“It’s fairly simple,” I said to Parham, indicating the trigger on his Taser. “Just point and shoot. But use yours only in self-defense. Yelena and I will take out the guards.”

He nodded.

Yelena put on a pair of large designer sunglasses that covered almost a third of her face. The three of us got out of the back of the van.

“I still think I should make the initial approach,” I said. “Since they know you are the kidnapper, they’ll be on the lookout for a woman. I’m more likely to catch the gate guard by surprise.”

“He is more likely to underestimate me,” she said. “And since they think I am making trade for my sisters, he not expect me to infiltrate.”

“Okay,” I said. “But I’ll be there to back you up just in case.”

Yelena pulled a map out of her pocket, then walked slowly toward the warehouse. Parham and I followed, walking next to the cinder-block wall that surrounded the warehouse. She stopped in front of the gate, holding the map.

“Excuse me,” she said. “Can you help me? I’m lost.”

I couldn’t see the guard beyond the gate, but I heard him say, “Where are you going?”

“A warehouse where they sell Persian rugs,” Yelena said, her voice sounding almost like a helpless little girl’s. “Is supposed to be around here.”

In a perfect world, he would have opened the gate to help her. But he didn’t. “Pass me the map,” he said. “Do you have the address?”

She handed him the map through the wrought-iron bars. I was close enough to hear him unfold it.

Holding her Taser gun low, she fired through the gate. I heard the characteristic buzzing, and he grunted.

That was my cue. With a boost from Parham, I scrambled up onto the wall and dropped down on the other side. The guard lay twitching in the dirt. I grabbed the gate key and unfastened the carabiner that attached it to his belt, then opened the gate—that was faster than picking the lock.

Yelena and Parham hurried through the gate. I shut it behind them, then locked the gate. Yelena yanked the rifle off the guard’s shoulder. We strode quickly across the open area between the fence and the warehouse door. Parham and Yelena went in first, and after checking that no one seemed to be outside to have seen us, I followed them in.

Around two dozen uniformed guards stood with rifles pointed at Yelena and Parham, who had their hands raised. A rifle lay at Yelena’s feet. Several men swung their guns to point at me.

“I surrender,” I said, raising my hands.