CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Elko
There were only a few cars in the parking lot this late at night, and not a person was in sight. It was a single building even now after all these years, but large enough, about the size of the High School. Security cameras covered the entrances, but mostly the security was on the inside, not the grounds. Key cards like the one Motega stole restricted access.
Motega and Alina got out of the car, immediately accosted by the rain. Alina started walking towards the building, but she noticed Motega turn back to get something out of the trunk. “What are you doing?” she hissed in a low voice. The open trunk blocked her view of Motega.
“I just have to get something,” he said. He closed the trunk and she turned back to the building when Motega grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks. He whispered into her ear. “Side door.”
This had to work, she thought, nervously looking over her shoulder. It just had to. Though it did briefly cross her mind that none of her family and friends would be killed if the nuclear bomb was allowed to go off, since they were all long dead. She wasn’t sure that was any consolation, however.
They finally reached the side door and the small overhang provided no protection from the rain. Motega held up his card to the reader on the door. It flashed green with a beep and the door clicked open.
***
Dravin rubbed his neck, sore from straining over the Quantum Entanglement Device all day. Now that it was in his hands he did not intend to rest, perhaps a bit overconfident in his victory. After walking down a couple hallways toward the main entrance his hand tingled as his phone rang. It was starting to become second nature, now, squeezing his hand correctly to activate the phone and holding his fingers near his ear and mouth.
“Agent Davidson,” a voice rang in his ear.
“What is it?” Dravin said, not slowing down in his march.
“You told me to call about any disturbances.” It was one of the guards at the security monitoring room.
“Yes, I did. So tell me,” Dravin said, coming to a stop.
“Someone just entered the facility,” the guard said. “Using your key card. Since you haven’t checked out yet, I thought I’d double check with you.”
“What?” Dravin exclaimed. “I’m still inside the building. Who is it? What does he look like?”
“Oh, bringing up the camera now,” the guard said. Absolutely worthless, these people, Dravin thought. “A man and a woman. The man looks to be Native American, long hair. Should I call for backup and apprehend them?”
“No,” Dravin said, a smile spreading across his face. “I know them.”
“What should I do?”
“Let him in,” Dravin said, spinning around now to go back the direction he came, to the device. “Meet me at my office.” His office bordered the QED room; he didn’t want Motega to know he was waiting for him. The mouse comes right into the lion’s claws, Dravin thought to himself, grinning wide. “We’ll be waiting for him.”
***
As soon as they entered the building Motega shrugged off his now soaking suit coat and Alina tried to squeeze some of the water out of her hair. “How are we supposed to find the QED in this building?” Alina asked as water pooled at her feet. It was a decently large complex; they could find it, but it would take time.
“Have a little faith?” Motega said. He looked around, trying to recall the floor layout. “I’ve been here before.”
“You have?”
Motega nodded. As they approached an intersection in the hallway he stopped and leaned up against the wall. “Do you have a mirror on you?” Alina pulled out a small compact mirror for makeup. “That’ll do,” he said, taking the mirror. He held it out and extended it around the corner so he could see down the hallway. There was no one there.
“Come on,” he said, leading the way. “When we were first approved for this project a couple of FBI agents brought me to this facility. Dravin wasn’t on the project then; he probably hadn’t found out about it yet. They showed me around, wanted me to work on the QED here, but I didn’t want to always have the government looking over our shoulders.”
Alina held her lips tight. “So, let me get this straight, you pushed me away because you wanted to be with me?”
“Is this really the time to be having this conversation?” Motega said, turning a corner. He forgot to look this time first, though, and quickly backed up. His eyes darted back and forth, betraying the problem. There was someone coming, a white man in a black suit and tie. He waited several beats before extending the mirror. They were in the clear.
“I wanted to date you for—” Motega said, walking on again, but he cut off quickly, coming face to face with a white man in a black suit. He looked more surprised to see them, though, and Motega took advantage of the delay, immediately slamming his head against the other man’s forehead. The man crumpled to the ground.
Motega rubbed his forehead where he hit the other guy. “Remind me never to do that again.”
“Oh my goodness,” Alina said, holding a hand to her chest. “What do we do?”
Breaking and entering, sneaking around, head-butting federal agents. This wasn’t the kind of thing he had experience in. “Quick, help me out here.” They bent over and pushed the man backward, into the room he had come out of. Motega shut off the lights and closed the door. “Let’s go. We’re almost there.”
“You didn’t finish,” Alina pressed as she followed.
“I wanted to date you for a while now,” he said. “But it would have been weird, and maybe a little wrong, to date my assistant, especially since I paid your check from the grant money. But if you were working somewhere else — and this job was still in the cities, close by — then we could.”
“I... I didn’t know,” Alina said. “I always just assumed you didn’t notice me.”
“Back to business, now,” he said, coming up to the door that should hold the QED. Motega tried to prepare himself mentally for what was about to happen. They needed to find and activate the machine, hoping that that made 5,000 people disappear so that a nuclear warhead wouldn’t wipe out many more people. Failing that, he had to destroy it. They had to destroy a machine that stood as the culmination of his life’s work and research. His progeny was too dangerous to be invented.
They entered the lab and Motega took a step back. “They’ve dismantled it,” he said with a gasp.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Alina said. “We can put it back together.”
Motega examined the situation. She was right. The core of the machine sat at the back of the room underneath a large mirrored pane of glass, one of those one way windows. It was even plugged in. The casing and gel packs on top had been removed, placed on a nearby table, and a panel on the front of the machine was open, a few pieces removed from the interior.
“Sure, sure,” Motega said. “Just give me a minute.” He stared at the pieces, horrified, the anxiety in his chest rising a few notches. He had hoped it would be as simple as walking in and flipping the switch. “Okay, we can do this.”
It really hadn’t been as bad as he thought. The casing on top fit back together fine, though he wasn’t sure that was important for the effect of the secondary field that originally suspended them in time. There were three major pieces taken from inside the device, but the tools used to take it apart were still here. Without a word, they got to work reassembling the device. He checked that the power to the machine was good, then they stood in front of it.
“Ready?” he said.
Alina nodded. “As I’ll ever be.”
Motega pressed the button.