Activate The Ravagers Ep1v2 (13 page)

He accelerated the engine, barely noticing the sunlight and the wind blasting his face.

He reached the Diasteel Compound moments later and joined the line of vehicles working through the security checkpoint.

The Compound was the city Oswald Silver officially controlled, a massive complex of buildings and walls and security housing all Diasteel Western offices, factories, and other facilities required to operate the vast business interests of the tycoon. It was often joked that in the morning, the entire population of the cityplex left the walls for Diasteel, and returned home en masse in the evening. More than one social commentator suggested Oswald Silver construct sufficient apartments inside the Compound to house his working population. Others noted that doing so would destroy Silver’s ground car business.

He felt the self-doubt creep in as he approached the front of the line. Deirdre was cheating on him; of that there could be no doubt. He’d wondered the day before, wondered if he’d overreacted to her lack of affection, hadn’t considered the fatigue and burden her current project placed on her. Now he doubted his ability to read people, a skill he’d considered his best for years. How had he missed her sudden shift?

Or had she never been faithful in all the years he’d known her?

He accelerated too quickly toward the gate and slammed on the brakes near the checkpoint station.

The kid inside the booth glared at him, trying to look stern, but mostly just adding flame to Roddy’s fire. “Sir, in the future, approach the gate at a more moderate speed, please.” His tone was bored, expressing a self-importance no doubt drilled into him by his superiors. He was
the
gatekeeper into the Diasteel Compound, after all. The business of the whole world depended upon him.

Roddy pulled off his sunglasses and let the intensity of his eyes turn the kid into jelly. Most people quavered when Roddy glared. The eyes told of a man able to kill all comers without a thought or bead of sweat.

The kid recovered with moderate speed. “I… I… need to see your… your ID. Sir.” He swallowed.

Roddy smiled. “Sure, kid.” He fumbled through his bag and produced his Diasteel security badge. “Knock yourself out.” He flipped it through the open window.

The kid missed, ducking inside the booth to retrieve the badge. If he’d not required the badge to get to his final destination inside the compound, Roddy would have tested running the barrier gate while the kid wasn’t looking. Probably not worth it. Yet.

The kid’s head reappeared, and he made a show of comparing the photo on the badge to the intense face of the man before him. “Um… yes… everything seems to be in… order. Right. Um. Yes. You’re cleared to proceed, sir. Have… a good day. Sir.”

He jabbed the button inside the booth and the barrier lifted, giving Roddy access to the Compound.

“Thanks, kid!” Roddy said, forcing a false cheeriness into his tone. “You have a great day as well.”

The kid smiled faintly and offered a weak wave.

He twisted the handle and the motorcycle shot forward into the Compound, wondering if the kid was Deirdre’s secret lover.

He laughed for the first time in hours.

He parked near the exit and then began the fifteen-minute walk to the entrance of the primary office tower. Unofficially, the tower was “the tallest building in the world,” the summit masked by an eternal cloudbank surrounding the topmost floors. Roddy knew better. Machines produced the artificial cloud cover, and masked only a few additional floors. Oswald’s ego hid what facts couldn’t. In reality, a half dozen buildings in the cityplex were taller than Silver’s World’s Tallest tower.

And that type of ego led to children who thought cheating on faithful spouses was acceptable.

He passed a half dozen heavily armed soldiers on his journey from parked bike to office tower, nodding politely at each. Silver controlled the third largest army in the world, if you pretended he didn’t control the armies of the Western Alliance. Roddy knew the troops were there entirely for show, reminding any visitors from other corporations, Alliance government officials, and cityplex bureaucrats that he was in charge here.

He kept his eyes on the giant office tower. On the fortieth floor he’d find Oswald Silver, ready to tell him where they’d travel on this journey. On the seventh floor, he’d find Deirdre and her breathtaking beauty and, perhaps, the man who’d sampled that beauty on at least one occasion.

His badge wouldn’t give him access to the seventh floor, though. He considered hacking the elevator control system or breaking in via the staircase, but opted for the simplest course of action instead. He crossed the tiled floor of the office tower lobby, altering course slightly to avoid collisions with others making similar journeys. He passed a group of schoolchildren on tour, gaping at the immense interior of the structure, listening as the guide told them to study well so that they could work here someday.

Roddy almost laughed.

He entered one of the elevators, swiped his badge, and punched the button for the thirty-eighth floor.

The other occupants chatted with each other as the car rose and dropped them off at their destinations. Badge readers just past the open doors ensured no one “tailgated” to a floor they weren’t permitted to visit. Roddy listened to the chatter with a detached calm, trying to glean any hint of a threat to Oswald Silver in the unofficial discussions of his employees. He found nothing of concern.

He reached the thirty-eighth floor and badged in. The floor was empty, save for a single elevator car. Roddy punched the button and rode to the fortieth floor, the private domain of Oswald Silver. He hated the indirect approach but admitted it made for an effective defensive layout. Few ever exited the elevators on the thirty-eighth floor, and they could monitor everyone for potential threats while newcomers to the layout of the upper floors tried to deduce Oswald’s location.

Audrey, Oswald’s personal assistant and receptionist, glanced up. “Mr. Light. Mr. Silver is occupied at the moment and will be with you shortly.”

Roddy stared at her. Silver
never
had visitors, though Roddy suspected that Audrey spent time in that room from time to time. Why would Oswald summon him, only to bring the exceptionally rare visitor to his office and make Roddy wait, especially if he was eager to get the trip underway? He wanted to yell at Audrey about the insanity of it all, but realized she was hardly at fault for his inconvenience.

Instead, he shrugged and headed to the reception area to the right of Audrey’s desk.

He rested his head against the back of a comfortable chair as he looked around. The space above Audrey’s desk extended up for four floors without interruption, with the space behind the reception area and above Oswald’s office blocked from sight. Roddy considered it an unnecessary precaution; few who reached the fortieth floor would lack knowledge of the secret hidden on the floors above.

Three minutes later, Audrey called to him. “You can go in now, Mr. Light.”

Roddy frowned. He’d not seen anyone leave. Was there a secret door to Oswald’s office? Or was Oswald planning to have Roddy interact with the current visitor?

He stood, threw his travel bag back over his shoulder, and walked past the reception desk to Silver’s office. As he’d been announced and invited, he didn’t bother knocking before entering.

“Light!” Oswald snapped. “It’s about time you got here. Sit down. We have a trip to plan. And there will be a third person joining us.”

Roddy moved toward Oswald’s desk until the second chair spun around and the occupant faced him. He froze, his eyes widened, and he dropped his bag in shock.

“Hello, Roddy,” Deirdre said.

…the oldest myths and legends told to schoolchildren are described as from the Golden Age, or in even earlier times… scholars suggest this is impossible to prove, arguing that the originator of each myth claimed source material to add additional allure to the tale…

S
heila entered Jamison’s office, a
prickling sensation covering her skin. Might the intruder or intruders still be in the room?

She glanced at the General. “What did they do when they broke in?”

Jamison hesitated. “They borrowed something. Something important.”

She waited a moment before prompting him. “What did they borrow?”

In response, he moved to his desk and opened the top right hand drawer, which she recalled held the badge granting access to the subfloor bunker and storage tank.

She gasped. “They
stole
your badge?”

“Borrowed it.” Jamison removed the false drawer bottom and pointed at the badge. “It’s still here.”

“But… how do you know it was taken and returned?”

“I store it in a very specific way for just this reason,” Jamison said. “The same side facing up, the edges aligned in a very specific manner. It’s not in the correct position.”

“Perhaps the intruder slammed the door and altered the position?”

He shook his head. “I considered that. Without getting into too much detail, no amount of drawer slamming could explain the positioning of the badge.”

She nodded. The intruder had left the card upside down. They’d been clever enough to swipe the General’s code—and know it existed—but sloppy enough to miss the detail about the badge placement. And they’d be someone on payroll, with access to the Bunker. There was only one person she could picture behaving in such a manner.

Wesley Cardinal.

Jamison looked her in the eye. “I need to ask you a very uncomfortable question, Sheila.”

She felt her breath catch in her throat. He couldn’t possibly think—?

“I’ve showed the hidden portion of the drawer to only one person, Sheila. Only one person knows about the space that badge unlocks. I don’t want to ask this question, but logic dictates that I do so.”

“It wasn’t me, General.” She couldn’t keep the hurt from her voice, even though she appreciated the logic. The insinuation that she might be a suspect in the break-in, after the accusations from Stephen earlier, left her questioning if she could trust anyone.

“I believe you, Sheila.” There was no sense of irony or malice in his tone. “Logic would suggest that the thief must know of the badge and what access the badge provides. There are only two people, to my direct knowledge, who are aware of those facts. Both are in this room.” He paused. “In order to be thorough, you ought to question
me.
”

In spite of the situation, she laughed. The tension in his face evaporated slightly.

“I urged you here, Sheila, because the circumstances we’ve witnessed over the past twenty-four hours allow me to reach only one conclusion, and the theft of my badge suggests we’re in more trouble than I feared.” He paused. “I need a second opinion.”

She nodded.

He began to pace. “It goes without saying, but what I’m about to reveal is beyond confidential, beyond top secret. There are only a handful of people alive today who know what I’ll tell you.”

She felt her pulse quicken as adrenaline coursed through her. Something about the word “alive” made her shiver.

“You have likely heard myths about the nature of the Time Capsule and the idea that the Time Capsule on display at the Alliance capital is a redacted copy of the original.”

She nodded.

“The rumor is true.”

She stared at him and then laughed. “General, this is no time—”

“I’m quite serious, Sheila. Those who first located the Capsule reviewed the insights and treasures, pulled most aside, and built significantly abridged copies for public consumption. Those copies were sufficient to resurrect civilization at a rapid pace, and yet the greatest wonders remain hidden where few will ever find them.”

She watched his face, trying to find the mirth and humor. She found nothing. The air seemed colder.

“There was a specific technology identified in the unabridged materials of the Capsule that suggested an immensely powerful weapon.
Too
powerful. Both East and West found the information at nearly the same time, and in a quiet summit held away from the greatest population centers of both, they tested that weapon. The results confirmed the worst fears of both sides. While both sides sought world dominance, they wanted lands not devastated by this weapon. And they agreed that they’d shelve the technology and never, ever use it.”

“Let me guess,” Sheila said, her voice barely above her whisper. “That weapon produced the results we saw yesterday. That weapon… that weapon is in that storage tank downstairs.”

He nodded.

“But…” She paused. “How did
you
know about the weapon?”

He turned away before answering. “I was there.”

She sucked in her breath.

“I didn’t trust them, of course,” he said, so quietly she thought he spoke only for his own ears. “Yet I couldn’t voice my distrust. I suspected they’d ignore the truce and work to build and enhance the weapon. I think my facial expression belied my doubt. They know where I’m working, Sheila. It’s no accident that we found that site, and it’s no accident that they left behind a box holding the weapon where we’d find it.”

“So… you saw… them? The leaders of the East?”

He nodded. “Yes. Don’t think anything of it, Sheila. It’s not critical at this point. We need to understand the motivation.”

“The motivation?” She laughed. “They sent the weapon here to destroy you, General.”

He shook his head. “If they wanted me dead, there are far more efficient means of accomplishing the deed. That weapon… with enhancements… they aren’t after just me.”

She felt a chill. “Invasion?”

He nodded.

She stared at him. “How can you be so calm? The East, the enemy, have breached our shores and are in our lands, they’ve demonstrated a weapon of incredible power that I’m not sure I fully understand yet… and your response is to bury the weapon in a tank in our workspace and call me in to talk about it?”

“What else would you have me do, Sheila?”