CHAPTER 26
~T-minus 35:21~
It was rare that Will was truly at a loss for words but as he sat in the back of that vehicle, waiting for his heart to return to its typically vigorous but steady cadence, he realized that there was little he could say to Sam to explain their current situation. Sam, who could exhibit at least some grace under pressure, had secured his seat belt and was braced against the door in case the vehicle put on another burst of speed. Will, by contrast, was fully stymied, able to do nothing more than take in his surroundings. The car itself was not especially interesting - just a typical interior to a typical sedan, cleaner than his own vehicle but otherwise very similar. Diana was at the wheel, an ear piece clipped to one ear, occasionally glancing into the passenger seat at something Will couldn't make out.
"Paul, I'm not going to ask you again." Diana mostly ignored her new passengers, opting to focus on berating the person at the other end of the call. "You need to make the damn call and if you don't, I'll hold you down and force you...That's no excuse. Man up and do it...Fine, you can call your delicate snowflake friends and cry to them about how I was mean to you. That can be your second call, all right? Second. Just do it already." Click. She glanced in the rear view mirror. "You two doing all right?"
"I remember you," said Sam. "From the trivia thing. Diana?"
"Diana Jameson," said Will, wrapping an arm around his brother. "This is Sam, my little brother. I like to bring him along with me so he can learn from my mistakes. What did you learn today, bro?"
"Um..." Sam kneaded his hands. "Fighting is stupid?"
"That's a good one." Will studied his knuckles, scarred and misshapen from too many pointless scraps. "I don't know why I get in fights, I never win. But hey, you lose even when you win, right?
"You're lucky," said Diana, glancing again at the passenger seat. "The police have been rough lately, and they're going to get worse. I'd stay off the streets if I were you."
"Is there someone up there?" said Will.
A tiny face framed in golden braids appeared just over the back of the seat, bright turquoise eyes scrutinizing the new arrivals. "Hi."
Will waved at the child. "Hello."
"Come on, Becky, sit down. You know that isn't safe." Diana reached over and tugged gently at the girl's arm and she reluctantly returned to her seat. "Sorry about that. This is Becky."
"Yours?" said Will. "She doesn't look like you."
"Sometimes everything skips a generation," said Diana. "She takes after her grandmother."
"You drive like that with a little girl with you?" said Sam.
"Well, I didn't expect to have to come and rescue you," said Diana. "Good timing, though, 'cause there's someone you need to meet. You don't mind a change of plans, do you? Hey, doesn't matter, I'm driving."
Will sank back into his seat. "Well, this was an interesting surprise, right?"
"Will, I'm scared," whispered Sam. "What's going on? This doesn't make any sense."
"I know," said Will. "I'll tell you about it later. Just try to roll with it for now, I can't imagine that it'll get much worse."
The car wound its way through the side streets of Patmos, advancing slowly toward the edge of town until it came to a stop at a small business hotel - one of several such establishments built quickly to accommodate what the town elders assumed would be a rush of new activity. Diana emerged first, scanning the area first, then taking Becky out of the passenger seat. "All right, boys, get out and hurry up. They're probably watching us here, too." She moved swiftly into the building, taking pains not to look around excessively or otherwise call attention to herself. Will took Sam by the arm and followed suit, though he couldn't help but eyeball the cars in the lot and on the road behind him, searching for the Jameson agents that he was sure were present here as well.
"We're set up in one of the conference rooms," said Diana. "We're not actually staying here, it's better if we stay mobile."
"Wow, you two are pretty paranoid, aren't you?" said Will.
"It's not paranoia, Ben just isn't ready to see Joshua yet," said Diana. "It's a really long story, so just believe me when I say that he has good reason."
"Are you talking about daddy?" Becky's head pivoted, her feet knocking against Diana's abdomen as she attempted to wriggle to the ground. "Where is he? He's gonna show me around."
"Your dad is busy. Please don't kick your mom in the ribs." Diana lowered the girl to the ground, crouching before her. "He'll be done soon, then you can go explore, okay?"
"He's always busy." Becky planted a hand on her hip and pointed a plump finger at Sam. "I wanna play with him."
"With me?" said Sam.
"Could you?" said Diana, rising to her feet. "Look, it's only going to be for five minutes, maybe ten. We're trying to keep her out of this mess as much as we can."
Will rubbed his chin. "Geez, I don't know if he's gonna want to do that. She's what, four? That's some responsibility."
"Please, it's the easiest babysitting gig in the world," said Diana. "I did it enough times when I was his age."
"No, I'll do it." Sam shrugged and flashed a smile. "...You know, for ten minutes."
"Perfect." Diana grabbed Will by the wrist and gave his arm a gentle jerk. "Come on, we don't have all day."
Will followed Diana past the reception desk and down a needlessly long corridor decked out in typical corporate blandness, a hall echoing with the muffled rhythm of footsteps on the thin carpet. They encountered the source of the sound as they rounded the corner - a scrawny, brown-haired youth with the hyperaware look of a frightened terrier, a phone locked fast in his pallid knuckles.
"Shit, whoa!" The man hopped back against the wall as the two of them came into view. "Diana! Geez, don't sneak up on me like that! Who's this guy?"
"He's..." Diana's eyes fell to the phone. "Holy shit, Paul, you haven't made that call yet? We've been gone over twenty minutes!"
"You don't understand," said Paul, rubbing his temples. "It's not that simple."
"Yeah, it really is." Diana stepped in front of Paul, blocking his tiny route. "Look, if you don't have the guts to call Aaron, send a text, but get on it. It didn't take me this long to call Lidia."
"Lidia doesn't hate you," said Paul through gritted teeth.
"She does a little," said Diana. "Come on, you're gonna let the state get blown off the map because of something that happened in high school?"
"Oh shit, I know who you are now!" Will crossed the room to Paul, smiling broadly. "You're the trivia kid, right? The one from Northwest? I've read so much about you! Hey, did all that crazy shit really happen at your school, or was Ed making it all up?"
Paul clapped his hands to his face. "Man, I don't want to talk about this right now..."
"Just do it, Paul. If I come out and you haven't made the call, then I'm gonna slap some sense into you." Diana pushed past Paul and into the nook beyond, a tiny hallway ending in a plain door. She ignored the biometric pad securing the room, instead tapping a few buttons on a device crudely wired into it. The pad chirped out a merry beep, followed by the broad sound of the lock sliding open. "Jameson manufactures these things," said Diana. "It's better if he knows as little about our position as possible."
"Man, who's making all these gadgets?" said Will.
"We have an inside man," said Diana. "Come on."
Rare is the conference room that is at all memorable but this meeting space was dull even by those standards, a weary carbon copy of a similar space to be found in almost any business hotel in the region. It had the expected fluorescent lights with their magnified hum, the expected fold-out tables that emerged pre-aged from the factory, the expected video projector pointed at the expected worn-out projection screen. The room was nearly devoid of both the people and equipment that would normally be found there - empty save for a few pizzas, some scattered office supplies and two individuals. One of them Will had already met - Lidia Zhang, slice of pizza in one hand, typing furiously on a notebook computer with the other. The other was a dimly familiar face, one Will had glimpsed in passing at some juncture in his life. His chiseled features were lost beneath a three-day sprig of beard hair, his thick auburn hair unkempt, his boutique clothing wrinkled from fitful nights without changing. He was the type who might have been considered handsome if he had even a passing interest in his appearance.
"You're Will Scarborough, correct?" he said. "I'm Ben Jameson. We've met."
"...In the Orientale. I know." Will winced and rubbed his abdomen. "Sorry if I'm a little off here, but between the beating and the chase, I'm not at 100%."
"You're lucky, you could have been a lot worse off," said Ben. "Do you need any medical attention?"
"Nah, I've had worse." Will crossed his arms and leaned back against the door. "So this is what a Jameson base of operations looks like, huh? I'm a little disappointed."
"Base of operations? Nothing so dramatic, Will, this is just a place to hide out while we try to reason our way out of a problem. Take a seat, I'll explain as best as I can." Ben led Will to a seat next to Lidia. "Will, this is-"
"We've met." Lidia reached for another slice of pizza. "Ben, does he really have to be here? He's a nobody, he brings nothing to the table."
"He's in the middle of it. That's enough." Ben leaned back against the table, a posture of forced ease. "What we're doing here is pretty simple, Will. We're trying to talk Joshua out of the test. At this point, there's no one else with the authority to call it off, so we're going right to the source."
"But you're his son!" said Will. "Jesus, man, just talk to him!"
"It's not that simple, Will. We don't get along. The last time we spoke..." Ben squirmed and shifted, his voice wavering ever so slightly. "...It's been a long time and he's not going to listen to me. That's the advantage of having that kind of money, you don't really have to listen to anyone. There are a few people he respects, though. Two of them are right here in Patmos: Dr. Bellamy and Mr. Zhang. He's trusted those two for as long as I can remember."
"I hear you," said Will. "You get the kids of your dad's friends here, and persuade him by proxy."
"Absent God contacting him in a dream, it's our only real hope of putting a stop to this." Ben leaned over to Lidia. "Have you gotten through to your father yet?"
"I've been working on him for days, but he's not budging," said Lidia. "You're putting a lot of stock in me, Ben. He hasn't had much respect for me lately, not with everything that happened in the old country."
"Are you talking about Roderick Butler?" said Will.
Lidia's fingers blanched as she reflexively grabbed the edge of the table. "Who told you about that? Which one of you assholes has been talking-"
"Chill out, Lidia, we haven't told him anything," said Diana. "He's been hanging around that Mills girl, I'm sure that's where he got it."
"Everyone calm down, we can hash this out after we're done," said Ben. "Bellamy's the tough nut. Even if we can get his son on our side-"
"Which is a long shot because he truly hates Paul," added Diana.
"Even if we get him on our side, there's no telling how the father will react," said Ben. "He's a bit of a zealot himself."
"You're telling me!" said Will. "Guy was trying to talk your old man into having me whacked. He's as psycho as the son."
"True, but we don't have another in," said Diana. "The only other person any of us could think of was Dr. Richter, and who the hell knows how to find that guy."
Will hopped out of his seat. "So what, this whole operation is just the four of you then?"
"Plus our silent partner," said Ben. "The person who's been giving us data on Jameson's systems. Probably the same one who leaked those documents to you."
"So what, I'm supposed to be number six?" said Will. "I mean, how does any of this involve me?"
"Really, it doesn't," said Ben. "You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. You've been a victim of circumstance all along, Will, starting from the day you got those files by mistake."
"Yeah, well, I ain't connected like you guys," said Will. "I'm just some loser. Ask anyone."
"I'm not so sure," said Ben. "I saw the way you rallied those people at the protest. You have charisma, even if you don't know it. Maybe you'll end up leading the resistance that puts a stop to this. Right now? My priority is keeping you alive and out of trouble."
"Hence the rescue. And this thing." Will tossed the rescue gadget onto the table. "Well, thanks for that, but I can't help you. In case you hadn't notice, I've been looking forward to this. You see, I've got this party planned-"
"Dancing at the brink of the apocalypse?" Ben pulled a flier out of his pocket and smoothed it on the table. "I saved one of these from the police. I think you're going to be disappointed in the turnout, they've pulled them all down."
"I don't think so," said Will with a chuckle. "I put up fifty of those things."
"That's about how many we found in the trash," said Ben.
"Seriously?" Will muffled a growl. "...Well, that's okay. I don't really need those fliers I've rented this great little outdoor sound system. Totally wireless. The quality isn't great, but this thing can fill space like you wouldn't believe. They'll hear it over half the town. Plus I've got a generator and a bunch of flood lights. No one will miss this."
"You know you're marked, right?" said Diana. "We probably can't save you if someone comes after you, and you're in their sights now."
Will paused, braced by the notion that he had made such a dangerous and efficient enemy, then released the stress with a shrug. "Doesn't matter. It's all going down in a few days. If they cap me first, it'll just be another disappointment."
"Can't you grasp this?" Ben put his hands on Will's shoulders. "You've got a chance to save lives here, maybe billions, maybe the whole world. You're honestly telling me that you won't take it?"
"Exactly." Will brushed Ben's hands away. "Who the hell needs the world, anyway? And it's not like it was going to last forever, anyway. The people are doomed, the planet is doomed - we can at least enjoy it, right? I'm going to enjoy the hell out of this."
"You expect us to believe that you're that much of a nihilist?" said Diana.
"Know what? You don't get it." Will stomped to the door, each footfall demonstrating his contempt. "I ain't no nihilist. I just can't think of anything in this life that I'd rather see than the flaming end of it all. The big event. That's what matters, the only thing."
"The only thing?" said Ben. "What about your brother?"
"Sam? He'll..." Will trailed off to nothingness, lost deep within his own space. "...He's not going out with me. He'll survive this. I'll make sure of that. I've got plans."
"Plans?" said Lidia. "How can you still be so stupid after everything you've been through this past week?"
"You know what? You're right." Will turned back to the group, waving a finger in time with each utterance. "I am stupid. And I'm a loser and failure and all those other things that people say. But there's one thing I can do, one thing - I can keep Sam moving forward. He's the one who's gonna change the world, that's why he's here, and me? Maybe I'm just here to step in front of a doomsday bullet for him. So tomorrow, I'm putting Sam in the shelter, and then I'm going to the hill to watch the show, and there ain't a thing any of you can say to change my mind."
Ben walked to Will's side, leaning in close, whispering the words right into his ear. "I haven't known you for very long, but I can already tell that you care about your brother deeply. You're more of a father to him than Joshua ever was to me, so why aren't you trying to protect the world for him?"
"Sam's plenty tough too, okay?" said Will, mirroring Ben's whisper. "And he's learned what not to do from me, I'll tell you that much. Whatever the next world will look like, he'll thrive in that one, too."
"And you don't think he'll need you?"
"Me? No. I'd only hold him back."
"Fine." Ben snatched a pen from the table, scrawled something on the back of the flier and pushed it into Will's hand. "I can tell that I won't change your mind, but before you prance off to watch everything burn, I think there's someone you should meet. His name is Jedediah DuFresne. I'm sure you know who he is."
"The guy who dreamed up the machine, right?" said Will. "The one who used to argue with the protesters?"
"Exactly." Ben handed Will the flier. "He lives right here in town. I don't know why he's been keeping silent through all this, but I've spoken to him and I think you should, too. If you're going to go, go as soon as you leave here. For all I know, Joshua could already have men watching his house, too."
Paul made an abrupt entrance, stumbling through the door, narrowly avoiding a direct collision with Will, and finally flopping against the wall holding his phone away from his body. "Guys...I got through to Aaron, but he won't listen to me. I told you this wouldn't work."
"Keep him on the line, I'll deal with him." As Ben jogged to the other side of the room, he looked over one shoulder at Will. "Consider what I told you."
"All right, I'm gonna go check on Becky." Diana nudged Will's shoulder. "You coming?"
"Yeah, I'll be there." Will looked at the flyer crumpled in his fist, the address staring back at him. "Change my mind, huh?" he muttered to himself.
"You should talk to him. It's worth your time." Lidia opened the pizza box and, finding it empty, pushed it aside and opened the next one beneath it. "I don't share all of his fears, but he is a brilliant man."
"Sure," said Will. "Whatever, right? After all the effort I put into into planning this all out, I don't see how this guy is going to make me call it all off."
"You really are pathetic." Lidia looked up at Will, flipping the hair out of her face. "I don't buy any of this bullshit you're trying to pass about witnessing the end of the world. You're not as unique as you think, Will. I've met plenty of people just like you, who think their lives are so empty and hopeless that they fantasize about catastrophe. If you'd led a harder life, you'd know that there's no beauty in disaster. Just death."
"Yeah, well, maybe I'm different. And maybe this is different. You don't know everything, you know. You don't know me." Will tapped his foot as he reached for a response. "But let's say that you guys have a point, a little one. You know what? I don't care. I'm excited for this."
"And your brother?"
"He'll be fine. I'll make sure that he's fine."
"Fine. I really don't care." Lidia added another slice to her plate. "Unlike you, I have a future after this."
"Which is?"
Lidia peered directly ahead, not even tossing a glance at Will. "...You don't know me, either. Don't think you do just because you heard a name."
"It's not the name, it's what it does to you." Will let out a loud sigh. "I'm done with you guys anyway."
Will was prepared for an ambush, but none awaited, only the drab hallway leading out to the hotel lobby. There were all smiles there, young Becky running in circles and cheering without restraint while Diana tried to wrangle her. Sam was seated before the two of them, wearied a bit and plainly pleased to be free of the responsibility.
"Well." That single syllable of Will's concealed an expression of pleasant shock. "So everything went well, I take it?"
"More!" said Becky. "I wanna hear more! I wanna stay with Sam."
"Looks like she has her first crush. Lucky me." Diana scooped Becky into her arms and headed back into the conference room. "Come on, let's go see daddy."
Will watched Diana disappear down the hallways before returning his attention to Sam. "What did you do to get that response?"
Sam shrugged himself to his feet. "I told her the story of Valeri the Thief. She loved it."
"You are an exceptional person, you know that right?" said Will. "All right, we can't go back and get the car just yet. What do you think? You cool with a little walking?"
"Of course not," said Sam. "Are we headed home?"
"No..." Will chewed on his lip. "...No. There's a stop we should make first. Someone I've been told I should meet."