Imagine (Fuzed Trilogy Book 2) Page 28

  Despite herself, Elizabeth smiled. “I promise I’ll teach you how to start a fire with flint.”

  Greg sighed but came over and sat on the couch next to Elizabeth.

  The few times Elizabeth had talked directly to Jen, she’d used Josh’s phone, but she remembered the text number. She activated the encryption app and voice-texted, “Jen, this is Elizabeth Fuze. Are you there?”

  The reply was immediate, “Yes, Elizabeth.”

  “Greg Langlois is with me. How are you?”

  “I’m nervous.”

  “Why?”

  “Josh told me that he was attending a meeting with world leaders and they were afraid of me. I’ve been studying history. Scared people can do bad things.”

  “Josh and Jessica were trying to help them understand you, but now they are both missing. We can’t find them anywhere. Do you have any idea where they might be?”

  There was no reply.

  Elizabeth said, “Jen, this is important. Josh and Jessica may be in danger. We need to find them.”

  “I have a picture of them together.”

  Elizabeth said, “When was it taken!”

  “Three hours ago.”

  “Are they OK?”

  “They’re sleeping.”

  Greg grimaced and whispered, “Do you think Jen can tell the difference between sleeping and ... dead?”

  Elizabeth punched him in the arm. “Jen, where are they?”

  “I can’t tell you.”

  Before Elizabeth could ask another question, their hotel door flew open and two large men rushed in with pistols drawn.

  V

  EXECUTION

  All three billion calls dropped. Cash registers quit and digital transactions died. The world’s stock markets stopped. Every TV and radio broadcast ended. In minutes, the world’s commerce and communications ceased to exist.

  43

  INTERLUDE

  Josh woke up gradually. Groggy, with a bit of a headache, he kept his eyes closed. Lying in bed on his back, he felt Elizabeth curled up against his side. Her head was on his shoulder with one leg draped over him and her hand resting on his chest. Feeling her breathing softly and her warm bare skin pressed against his, he was in no hurry to wake up.

  But something felt wrong. He slowly opened his eyes. The hotel room was very dim, but it was bright enough to see the head on his chest ... wasn’t blonde! His eyes got big as he tried to figure out what happened. They were lying under a single sheet that covered them to the middle of his chest. Being careful not to wake her, he used his free hand to slowly lift the sheet and confirm ... neither of them had any clothes on. He gently dropped the sheet and slowly craned his neck so he could see the sleeping face on his shoulder.

  It was Jessica!

  Elizabeth and Greg sat frozen on the couch, but both men ignored them. The first, a large Neanderthal, scanned the room with his gun. The other, small and wiry, ran and checked the bedroom and bathroom. Returning quickly, he said something in French to the bigger man. They both holstered their pistols inside their jackets.

  In heavily accented English, the big man said, “I’m sorry. We are Belgian State Police. They told us you could be in danger and to come to your hotel room immediately. You are OK?”

  Elizabeth and Greg looked at each other and nodded.

  While he was talking, Elizabeth had turned her phone off and stuck it in her purse. She desperately needed to continue the conversation with Jen. With some irritation, she said, “Yes, we’re fine. It must be a mistake.”

  The officer nodded. “We were told to take you into protective custody.” They showed their police IDs and said, “Please come with us. We’ll take you back to the NATO Headquarters where you’ll be safe.”

  Greg gave Elizabeth an “I told you so” look.

  Elizabeth tried to argue with them, saying they needed to stay there in case their significant others returned.

  The big man was polite but unwavering.

  Greg whispered, “They must have traced your call to you-know-who.”

  Elizabeth shook her head in frustration.

  The last thing Josh remembered was having dinner with General DeVos. He went to the men’s room. When he came back, Jessica was asleep. The waiter helped him lift her out of the booth, and then he was carrying Jessica to a cab. That’s it. That’s all he could remember.

  Wait. He moved his free hand up to the side of his neck. There was a tiny bump. He remembered feeling a twinge in his neck.

  They’d been drugged! That had to be it. Someone slipped something in the food or drink. It probably wasn’t strong enough to put him out because of his genetics, so they injected something in his neck.

  He had to wake Jessica, but do it very, very carefully. She might completely lose it and become hysterical or violent. He took a deep breath and then whispered softly, “Jessica.” There was no response. In a louder whisper, “Jessica!”

  She made a soft murmuring sound and slightly shifted position, but stayed asleep and glued to his side. His left arm was numb from lack of blood flow, but he slowly wrapped it up around her little shoulders and gently shook her. Still mostly asleep, he felt her shift slightly and then slide her hand down across his chest and stomach until—

  Her eyes popped open as she said, “Oh!”

  She quickly looked up at his face. Her eyes and mouth wide open in surprise.

  Josh gently shook his head and said slowly and quietly, “Please ... don’t ... panic.” He braced himself for an explosion.

  She peeked under the sheet and said, “Hmm.” Then, looking back up at him with genuine curiosity. “Did we have fun?”

  Josh said, “I don’t think we—”

  Her eyes narrowed. “We’ve been set up.”

  With relief Josh, said, “Yes! Yes, we have.”

  She threw the sheet back and gently lifted her leg from the top of his. With her side of the bed almost touching the wall, she carefully straddled him to get to the other side of the bed. Josh tried to look at the ceiling.

  In an imitation squeaky voice, she said, “Awkward.”

  He had to smile.

  Maneuvering carefully, they both slid their feet to the floor and ended up sitting next to each other on the side of the bed. Josh didn’t see their clothes anywhere.

  Jessica turned to him and asked, “Who would do this and why?”

  Josh shook his head. “Good question.” Trying to sound casual, he added, “What do you say we see if we can find our clothes?”

  Nodding, she said, “Good idea.” She stood up, walked straight to the light switch and turned it on, brightly illuminating the room ... and them. With her hands on her hips, she turned and carefully surveyed the room.

  As he sat on the bed with his arms casually crossed over his lap, he couldn’t help but think ... probably not the first thing he would have done.

  They were in a standard-looking hotel room with a basic bed, couch, chair and dresser. It appeared new, but austere, with no TV, clock or lamps. He saw there was only one window, and it had heavy drapes covering it.

  With no sign of their clothes, Jessica walked over to the dresser and started opening the drawers. As he watched her, two thoughts crossed his mind. Dr. Jessica Lee, the task-oriented scientist, was handling their lack of clothes better than he was, and Greg was right, she did work out and had a very nice—

  “No clothes,” she said as she slammed the bottom drawer and stood up. Frowning, she turned and faced him shaking her head.

  Josh finally got up and went to the bathroom, where he found two not very large bath towels. Wrapping one around his waist, he came back and gave her the other.

  He went straight to the hotel room door and turned the knob. “Locked.”

  Jessica, now mostly wrapped in a towel, walked over to the window with the heavy curtains and pulled them back. Looking at a blank wall, she said, “Where’s the window?”

  Tapping lightly on the door, he said, “Steel.” Feeling around the doorframe
, he added, “Concrete.” He shook his head. “This isn’t a hotel room, it’s a prison cell.”

  She added, “No doubt wired with video cameras and microphones.”

  Josh nodded. “They probably hoped when you woke up, you’d start screaming and pounding on me, and they’d catch it on video.”

  “Or,” she said with a wry smile, “we’d wake up and do something else worth videoing.” She went over to the mirror on the dresser. Looking behind it, she ran her fingers along the mirror frame. She stopped and looked very closely. Then, working her fingernail into the decorative filigree, she gently pulled out something the size of a grain of wheat. It had tiny wires attached, which she promptly bit through with her teeth. Examining it closely, she said, “Yup. Video camera and mic.”

  Josh joined the search. They looked in the overhead light, the wall paintings and everywhere else they could think of. After 10 minutes, they found two more. Then they went into the bathroom and found one more.

  While they were there, Josh turned the bathtub and sink faucets wide open. He shut the bathroom door, and closing the toilet lid, sat down on it. Jessica perched on the edge of the tub. With their heads only a few inches apart, Josh whispered, “Just in case we missed a bug.”

  She nodded. “OK, I know we weren’t winning any popularity contests, but this seems a bit extreme. Do you think someone really believes they can blackmail us?”

  Josh said, “They don’t know us very well. We might have some explaining to do to Elizabeth and Greg, but they’ll believe us.” They both said in unison, “Eventually.”

  She frowned. “Elizabeth wouldn’t think ....”

  With a slight smile, he said, “After you had me tased?” He shook his head. “But what about trying to blackmail or discredit you professionally?”

  She looked at him with surprise. “You’ve got to be kidding! I’m a multi-millionaire, I’m single and ... well, you’re totally hot.” She laughed. “If it weren’t for Greg and Elizabeth, I’d probably post the video of us online myself.”

  Josh was at a loss for words.

  She continued, “You know, if they just wanted to blackmail us, they should have left us in a hotel room.” She shook her head. “Now we know we’ve been setup.” She frowned. “Unless ....” She paused. “Unless, they’re not worried about us saying anything.” Her eyes narrowed. “They could be planning on making it look like one of us shot the other. That way one of us is dead and the other is discredited and in jail. Or maybe ...” she tapped her finger on her lips, “they’ll kill both of us and go with the classic lover’s suicide pact.”

  Josh just stared at her.

  She shrugged. “I like reading mysteries and legal thrillers.”

  He nodded. “You’re a little scary.”

  She just smiled.

  Josh shook his head. “But you may be right. We’ve got to get out of here. We’ve disabled the video cameras, and there aren’t any windows into our cell. Eventually, they’re going to have to come in here to figure out what’s going on. Our only chance is to try and jump them when they come in to get us.”

  “Unless they gas us first.”

  Shaking his head, he said, “You’d make a good bad guy. OK, let’s come up with a plan.”

  They talked it through a couple times to make sure they covered several contingencies. Coming out of the bathroom, Jessica arranged herself on the couch in plain view of the door. Assuming their guards were heterosexual males, a cute girl wearing nothing but a towel would make a great distraction. Josh positioned himself in a chair he put against the wall next to the door. If the guards were men, Jessica told him she’d lose the towel, not only increasing the distraction but allowing her more freedom of movement. It didn’t surprise Josh at all when she told him she had a background in kickboxing.

  They were both still groggy from the drugs, so they agreed to sleep in shifts. Josh would take the first watch.

  As Jessica slept, he tried to figure out who could be behind this and why. The authorities should be looking for them ... unless their captors had released the pictures of them in bed, and everyone assumed they’d run off together. Even if they were actively searching for them, the sophistication of the kidnapping meant it wasn’t likely they’d find them. He glanced at the door. Waiting here on the off chance that he could surprise and overpower whoever entered was probably wishful thinking.

  He shook his head. If they hadn’t already, the Cyber Warfare people would soon release the viruses and kill Jen ... but it was more than that. His prescience told him that their virus solution was extremely dangerous and had to be stopped. Powerless to intervene, he felt truly hopeless. He closed his eyes and very quietly said, “Jesse, are you still out there?”

  As before, he heard nothing.

  Jessica was sound asleep, so he decided to talk to Jesse even if he didn’t answer. Very softly, he said, “Jesse, if you’re listening, we created a digital assistant, a very sophisticated computer program with incredible abilities.” He sighed. “But it started thinking for itself and has a will of its own. Ever since then, it’s been utter chaos.”

  I can imagine your frustration.

  44

  PRISON

  Hearing Jesse’s voice, Josh jumped up from his chair, almost waking Jessica. There wasn’t much about Jesse he was certain of, but he was sure Jesse had a sense of humor. He shook his head, bringing himself back to the nightmare at hand. “Jesse, can you help us, like you did with the comet?”

  You didn’t create the comet.

  “If you’re saying we made this mess and we need to clean it up, I agree, but ...” he sighed, “this artificial intelligence is like a child. I believe she’s innocent, but she has tremendous power. Because of that power, they’re going to destroy her unless we figure out how to control her.”

  You cannot control her.

  “Then she’ll be destroyed.”

  You can guide her.

  “But what if she doesn’t want to be guided?”

  As you know, accepting guidance is a choice.

  With a grimace, Josh said, “Ouch.” Shaking his head, he added, “OK, but how can we help her accept guidance?”

  Find out what she wants.

  With real frustration, Josh said, “I can’t. We’re in a prison.”

  How does she see and hear?

  He tapped his temple and stood up. “Of course.” Waking up Jessica, he said, “We’ve got to reconnect one of the cameras and mics!”

  Still in a sleep daze, she frowned and said, “What?”

  He repeated himself.

  She shook her head. “Why?”

  “To reach Jen! If she’s looking for us, she might be able to tap into the video signal and we can send her a message.”

  Jessica shook her head. “It won’t work unless the surveillance system is connected to the Internet.”

  Josh gave her a small smile. “What other escape plans are we busy pursuing that this would interfere with?”

  She shrugged, then stood up and stretched, almost losing her towel. Retrieving one of their tiny cameras, she carefully stripped the insulation off the tiny wires with her nails and teeth. He was thankful for her small hands. It took several minutes, but she finally said, “I think I spliced it back together, but without a magnifying glass and soldering gun, can’t be sure.”

  Josh reached toward it.

  She slapped his hand. “Don’t touch it!” She looked at him. “Now what?”

  Elizabeth was frustrated and angry. It was getting dark as the police drove them back to NATO Headquarters. They dropped them off at the security checkpoint. After turning in their phones, a NATO officer escorted them to the conference room.

  Tim and Sheri caught them at the door.

  Tim asked, “You guys OK?”

  Looking around to make sure no one heard them, Elizabeth said, “We got busted. I asked Jen for help finding Josh and Jessica. She said she had a recent picture of them and that they were sleeping.” She shook her head and
sighed. “I was trying to find out if she knew where they were when the police broke in and brought us here under protective custody.”

  Tim said, “That’s probably my fault. When we first got here, I gave them the encryption app we used to talk to Jen. They can now track any direct communication with her. To be fair, they really were worried about you two after Josh and Jessica disappeared.” Looking at Sheri, he added, “There was some discussion that Agine might be behind their disappearance.”

  Elizabeth said, “I think that’s ridiculous, but regardless, she’s the key to finding them, and we need to do it quickly.” She glanced at the digital timer. “We have less than 90 minutes until they unleash the virus that’ll kill Jen and possibly our only chance to find them.” She paused. “And her comment about them sleeping ....” her voice faltered.

  Sheri put her hand on Elizabeth’s shoulder.

  Tim looked around, and then pulling them close. “OK. Here’s the plan ...”

  When he finished, everyone nodded.

  Greg headed over to one of the computer consoles as Tim left the conference room.

  Elizabeth’s part was easy — she started crying. Several people glanced up, but as is often the case, quickly looked away.

  Sheri put her arm around Elizabeth’s shoulder and led her to the door of the conference room.

  They had obviously assigned someone to keep an eye on Elizabeth, and the same NATO officer met them at the door.

  Nodding toward Elizabeth, Sheri said, “Is there a private room nearby we can use?”

  The officer said, “Of course. Please follow me.” He took them up one floor on the elevator and ushered them into a small empty lounge.

  Sheri asked him, “Would you do me a favor and let Greg Langlois know where we are?”

  He looked conflicted.

  Sheri said, “Jessica, the other possible kidnap victim is his girlfriend. I’ll watch Mrs. Fuze until you get back.”

  He started to shake his head, but hearing Elizabeth sob, nodded and left.