AMPED (42 page)

“Jake called me from South Africa while you were on your way to Florida,” said Kira hurriedly. “Dutton framed him to get him out of the picture. But he escaped. And now he believes we were framed also. So he called to warn me that Dutton had you and Matt and was heading to the States.” She paused. “I knew Frey would try to use you both as leverage. So I was
expecting
his call. And I had time to come up with a plan. I knew the only way to get him to trust me with his life was to convince him I was on
his
side. While he was enhanced and I wasn’t.”

She stared intently at Desh, her large blue eyes pleading with him to believe, willing him to trust her. “When the call came in from an unknown phone,” she continued, “I knew it was Frey calling to hold you and Matt for ransom. And I was ready. I took a gellcap before I answered. It turned out to be you at first, but by the time I was talking to Frey,
I was enhanced
.”

Desh stumbled backwards. She sounded so
reasonable
. And she wasn’t enhanced now. Being able to come up with a story this complex and believable on the fly was beyond even her—or was it?

“Instead of just diverting a fraction of my capabilities to create a slower version of myself for communication, I put
a hundred percent
of my capacity into creating a Kira avatar that would pass as normal me. I made sure my eyes didn’t gleam with an inner, superhuman intelligence. That my body language, my posture, was that of normal Kira Miller. And that my word choices were hers in every way. There is only one way to lie to an enhanced mind: if
you’re
enhanced also. Enabling you to control your every facial expression at the
cellular
level so your body language is precisely on track with your words.”

“So it was all a set up?” said Desh, afraid to believe, only to be fooled again.

“
Yes!
” replied Kira emphatically. “I offered Frey everything he could want in a way that ensured he would trust me. Then when he and Dutton came to our headquarters, Ross and I could easily take them out and get you back. And finally—finally—explain to you what’s really been going on. I didn’t count on him wanting to meet here, and I especially didn’t expect a double-cross when he had everything to gain from working with me. Even so, I had Ross as my ace in the hole.” She shook her head. “The plan
still
should have worked. It was just bad luck it didn’t. Having snipers hidden out of sight is a level of caution I could have never predicted.”

This would explain the tranquilizer gun she had with her, that Frey himself didn’t understand, since sociopaths weren’t exactly dedicated to the use of non-lethal force. She had wanted to take Frey and Dutton alive so she could get as much intel as possible and unravel his organization. “Your plan hinged on Frey being enhanced when he called, so he would think he could read you. What if he hadn’t been?”

“I would have
insisted
on it,” she answered immediately, “at the start of the call. To prove my sincerity to him. Jake had given me plenty of warning, so I had multiple contingences planned out.”

As Desh considered this last, Kira’s iron grip on her emotions broke down once again and the look of pain and vulnerability returned. This time, tears flowed from her eyes as well. “I
love
you, David,” she whispered. “I know what I’ve done to your mind. And how badly I’ve hurt you. I can’t blame you for not believing me. But I swear to you, I’m not the sociopath I pretended to be with Frey. I’m the woman you fell in love with.”

Desh gazed at her, his mind numb. Everything she said was so plausible. But was he being played for a fool yet again?

“Dutton and his men will be back any minute,” she said. “You have to decide if you can trust me.”

Desh looked into her beautiful eyes, still moist but no longer producing tears. Maybe she
was
that good. Maybe his heart was clouding his judgment even now. But if this were the case, then it would be better if she
did
kill him. Death would be a welcome release.

“Okay,” said Desh, nodding. “Let’s do this.”

They hurriedly positioned themselves back to back and Desh began sawing at her cuffs with Metzger’s combat knife. Her cuffs, unlike his, had been left with a two inch length of plastic between her hands. Sawing backwards in such an awkward position with little leverage required every ounce of his strength and focus, but after just a few minutes he succeeded in freeing her.

Desh held a mental breath. What would happen now?

True to her word, Kira immediately began sawing through his restraints, her hands in front of her and, unlike Desh, now able to use the strength in her arms as well as just her hands. In less than a minute the razor sharp combat knife, its flat surfaces covered in dried blood, finished severing the plastic.

Kira retrieved her Sig Sauer from Frey’s body and Desh chose one of several automatic weapons now strewn throughout the living room. Together they dragged the sniper Desh had killed with his violent kick out of sight of the entrance, and took up positions on either side of the door, about twelve feet deep in the room. Still clutching their weapons, they put their hands behind their backs as though they were still bound and readied themselves.

Less than a minute later, Dutton threw open the door and entered, spotting Kira in front of him and to his left. “The attacker was acting alone,” he told her. “But I’m taking over for Frey, which means I’ll be needing those magic pills of yours.” He leered at her suggestively. “And for the record, I
do
like adult women.”

He was about to continue when it finally dawned on him that something was very wrong. The sniper he had left to mind the prisoners was nowhere in sight. His two companions had caught on just an instant earlier, but before they could react Kira and Desh cut all three men to ribbons.

Kira knew they couldn’t afford to do anything less, but it was a bloody massacre, and she fell to her knees when it was done, fighting back vomit.

She visibly shook off the horror of having been an instrument of death, and her physical squeamishness, and moved over to Ross to inspect his wound. “Find a fist-aid kit,” she ordered, and Desh marveled at her ability to keep getting back in the saddle after every fall. She was truly remarkable.

He raced through the safe house and returned several minutes later with a military style first-aid kit. Kira washed Metzger’s wound and went to work dressing it. He had lost considerable blood, but in the few minutes he had played possum, his enhanced mind had marshaled clotting and immune factors to the wound and directed these biochemical armies to initiate the healing process far more efficiently than his body would have done naturally. Kira was confident he would make it.

She was just finishing up when Matt Griffin opened his eyes. The dose of tranquilizer had been fairly modest, and hadn’t been enough to keep a man of Griffin’s weight out for long.

He shook himself awake and then looked around the room, taking in the gruesome bodies and massive carnage. Then he did it a second time, as though he wasn’t quite sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. Only two figures moved. Kira, who was tending to Ross, and David Desh, who he spied through the open door, keeping watch outside.

Griffin breathed a heavy sigh of relief, and Kira’s head shot around at the noise. She caught his eye and visibly relaxed.

“Kira, um . . . just out of curiosity,” he said wryly, making a show of turning his head around the room to take in the corpses that surrounded him. “Did I
miss
anything while I was asleep, by any chance?”

62

After they had freed Griffin and he and Kira had embraced warmly, Desh removed Kira’s keys from Dutton’s bullet-riddled corpse and they loaded Ross Metzger carefully into the back of the Icarus van.

“Is David fully up to speed?” asked Griffin

Kira blew out a breath and shook her head no.

Griffin’s eyes roamed between Desh and Kira and back again, as if trying to guess the possible state of their current relationship. “In that case,” he said finally, “I’ll drive.” He held out his hand toward Desh, who was holding the keys. “You and Kira can ride in the back. You two need to have some quality alone time,” he said. He raised his eyebrows. “Well, alone time if you don’t count Ross.”

Desh looked into Kira’s eyes once again. Was there really an explanation that would exonerate her? It seemed almost impossible. He so wanted there to be, but he still couldn’t rule out that her explanation of events would fall short. But there was only one way to find out. “Thanks, Matt,” he said, putting the keys in the giant’s hand. “Find the nearest woods and we’ll decide if we want to switch vehicles. I’m sure Frey and Dutton wanted their ambush of Kira to be off the record, so no one should be watching. But be alert and keep your eyes peeled anyway,” he instructed.

“Wow,” said Griffin with a grin, “it’s like we’re one big happy family again.”

“That remains to be seen,” said Desh grimly.

Desh and Kira sat in leather captain’s chairs opposite each other and belted in as Matt pulled away from the charnel house.

“Okay, Kira. If you can truly explain away everything I’ve learned, every act you’ve taken, you’re an even greater magician than I thought.”

Kira sighed. “I have a gellcap in the key ring upfront. You could take it before I start to be sure I’m telling the truth.”

Desh considered. The fact she was offering this up was encouraging. “That’s okay. Let’s just have a normal conversation. Emphasis on
normal
.”

 
“If you have even the slightest doubt, I’m going to insist you take one.”

Desh nodded.

“All of this started a little over two and a half years ago,” began Kira. “A few months before I tried the second level of enhancement. World events were getting me more nervous even than usual.”

“Yeah, world events will do that to you,” noted Desh with a frown.

“As you know better than anyone, my analysis suggested that extended life would be a disaster. That society was already struggling from the burden of overpopulation and the weight of increases in human lifespan. When social security was created, life expectancy in America was
below
sixty-five, the age when benefits kicked in. Now it’s around eighty. We’ve been putting more and more burden on the system for every year longer in life expectancy medical science is able to create. In 1940 there were six people working for each person at retirement age. Now there are only
three
. And retirement lasts longer and longer every decade. Society’s back is breaking already, and my therapy would accelerate this dramatically, which would inevitably lead to wars and the end of civilization.”

“I’m well aware of this analysis,” said Desh impatiently. How could he not be? The entire vision of Icarus had been to create efficient star travel, so mankind could leave its cradle and have room to grow—and room for an increased duration of life.

“I know. Sorry. The thing is, even having decided not to release my longevity therapy, the world seemed to be going to hell. European economies began melting down faster than my enhanced self had predicted. And most of the world’s other economies performed worse than expected as well. Terrorist states were acquiring or building nuclear weapons. Islamic fundamentalism was rising around the world, with democratic-seeming revolutions leading to even
more
intolerant rule in many cases. Given all of this, I became more worried than ever. I had thought we had enough time to solve faster-than-light travel before the powder keg went off. But what if was wrong?”

“I assume you tried to get a handle on this while enhanced,” said Desh.

Kira nodded. “Yes. But without success. The analysis for a seismic shift like increasing life expectancy by eighty years was fairly straightforward. This wasn’t. Even for an enhanced mind. It was clear that the probability of immanent self-destruction of our species was high. But just how high, and how immanent, wasn’t clear. And regardless, even assuming the end
was
near, my superhuman intellect couldn’t see any way to stop it.”

Desh listened thoughtfully as the van drove on, with Matt Griffin at the helm.

“But then the core council agreed I would attempt five minutes at the second level of enhancement. So I studied up on world affairs, geopolitical conflicts, weapons systems and strategies, the effects of various stimuli on world order, and pressure points that could trigger wars. The works. I wanted to have as much raw data as I could for my uh . . . super-enhanced self to draw from.”

Desh nodded to himself as at least one piece of the puzzle slid into place. He had found remnants of this research hidden on her computer, and had naturally jumped to the wrong conclusions. Kira Miller had wanted to be prepared for her five minutes at a level of intelligence that was all but omniscient.

“And?” said Desh.

“And . . . my mind at this transcendent level was able to easily perform the analysis. The results were even more sobering than I thought. Basically, we were out of time already. World War III or the equivalent was inevitable, and irreversible. On the course we were on, even if we invented faster-than-light travel the next day, it would be too late. Although if we did, at least a few would escape to seed the species elsewhere. But that’s
if
we could solve faster-than-light travel, something even my transcendent self knew would be a considerable challenge.”

Kira paused to gather her thoughts.

“Go on,” prompted Desh, who as usual when speaking with Kira, found himself intellectually stimulated and totally absorbed by the case she was presenting.

“Transcendent Kira realized that the only possible way to save us from ourselves was to accomplish two things. One, relieve the ever increasing global tensions between countries. And two, render every nuclear warhead on the face of the earth impotent.”

Kira paused to let Desh reflect on the enormity of these two goals.

“So during the five minutes she existed,” she continued, “transcendent Kira hatched a plan that was insanely ambitious, even for her. And she split normal me—and the person I became while enhanced—both into two personalities. One aware of the plan, who would implement and monitor it, making course corrections as they became necessary. And one who was clueless, left totally in the dark, so she would behave and react normally as events unfolded.”