Cloud Invasion (4 page)

"Do you suppose there are clones of Mary Evans?" I asked. That also weighed on my mind, and I was very worried that the answer was yes. She was too good at what she did for the enemy; I couldn't imagine that he'd let her be caught so easily if he didn't have a replacement for her.

"Why do you ask? And that sent a chill up my spine, just so you know," Auggie said.

"Well, look at it this way-all those Becker clones? They were smarter and more determined than the original ever was. What if it's the same with the Mary Evans clones? That they're better than the original?"

"Fuck." Auggie buried his face in his hands. "We've had a report. I didn't know whether to take it seriously or not," he said.

"Now it's my turn to say fuck," I grumbled. "There's another one out there already, probably reassuring the enemy's clients that all is well in murder and mayhem land."

"Do you think he could be funding the Iraqi insurgency?" Auggie asked, letting his hands drop. His dark eyes reflected his concern.

"I wouldn't be surprised," I said. "What's the latest estimate? Half a billion? A billion, maybe, pumped into that organization? That money has to come from somewhere. It may be funneled through other sources, but it could ultimately come from a single source. Where was the sighting of the Mary clone?"

"Greece, near the Bulgarian border."

I felt Rafe tense beside me, but he didn't say anything. Baikov likely figured in this somewhere, and Mary Evans' clone had probably arranged a meeting there. "What do you suppose Baikov is cooking up?" I asked Auggie.

"No idea. It makes me wonder what he's trading for what he's getting," Auggie said.

Rafe snorted; it wasn't a happy sound. "Does that mean that the Russian crown jewels are next? Or something better?" Auggie turned his attention on Rafe.

"It could be almost anything, but bear in mind, the Russians have their hands on the drug-I'm sure you've figured that out already. Perhaps Baikov is trading that for whatever he wants."

"Where the hell did he get it?" Auggie snapped.

"Ask Corinne. She was far ahead of me on that." With that statement, he rose from his seat and stalked out of the kitchen.

"You know where the drug came from," Auggie accused, his eyes narrowing as he rapped his knuckles against the granite island.

"I have very good guesses," I said. "And I don't think they're wrong."

"We need a meeting," Auggie rose abruptly. "With Farrell and the President."

* * *

The meeting was scheduled in a week, and it wasn't just Dr. Farrell and the President who were involved. Eventually the Directors of the FBI, CIA and the Joint NSA-Homeland Security Department were included.

At least Leo was invited, too, even if Marcus fell into a snit because he wasn't. He had no idea what it was about, but wanted to be included anyway. He was a prime example of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing.

Meanwhile, Auggie had given permission for an evening trip to Seattle, so Rafe and I could have dinner out. James, of course, was going, as were Auggie, Leo and Laci. At the last minute, Maye, Nick and Jeff were added, then Marcus included himself. We had reservations at a nice restaurant downtown, in a private room with a view of the bay.

"I intend to make love when we get back," Ilya murmured against the nape of my neck before we left our suite.

"I missed you," I sighed and leaned against him.

"I have missed my cabbage in my arms, calling out my name," his lips wandered down my neck.

"Honey, you may have to stop or we won't get to dinner."

"You want me that badly?" I could hear the smile in his voice.

"I can't think of any woman who wouldn't want that. I'm first in line," I added.

"You are the only one I allow in line," he turned me in his arms before covering my mouth with his.

You say the best things
, I sent to him.

I mean all of them
, he returned.

* * *

Ilya

"You hear me?" I asked as we stepped off the electric vehicle and walked toward the back end of a large barn. That's where our tunnel ended and the farm property began. Another vehicle waited there for us, ready to transport us to Seattle.

"I do," Corinne said. "I heard you before I woke this time. That's what brought me back."

"Good enough. I assume you do not hear all my thoughts?"

"Only those you send in my direction."

"Good. Very good."

"You can keep your mystery," she looped her arm in mine. I watched her smile and couldn't help smiling in return.

* * *

Corinne

Mushroom ravioli was my choice for dinner. It was delicious. I just wished I'd gotten to eat as much as I wanted.

Instead, Baikov chose to make his presence known, and while it offered Rafe the gift of revenge, it effectively killed the one possible link I had with the enemy.

Sure-ask how I got us to Crimea. Auggie sure did afterward, and he was there, the rat.

It started, I'm sure, as an attempt to make Ukraine into the enemy. Somehow, Baikov arranged for Russian missiles to fall into the hands of those posing as Ukrainian rebels, who then arranged to fire those same missiles into Crimea.

I was only two bites into my meal when the images flashed across my brain. Baikov should have stayed at home, that day. I transported everybody at the table (including Laci) to an underground bunker southeast of Ivanivka. Computer consoles surrounded us and Russian troops disguised as Ukrainian civilians were seated at those consoles, preparing to launch missiles from a site just outside the Crimean border.

The resulting deaths and destruction would be catastrophic, and all of it blamed on Ukraine. That would cause immense problems down the road, from economic sanctions to an outright takeover by Russia, with nobody willing to stand in the way.

Baikov was there, barking out orders in Russian, which, surprising even to me, I understood. He was telling them to fire the missiles.

I'll never forget the next few minutes as long as I live.

Ilya shouted at the three men sitting at computer consoles to stand down. When they didn't, Auggie, Maye and Nick made sure of it. Baikov pulled a gun and fired at Ilya. It turned out to be the wrong thing to do.

Baikov had the strangest expression on his face as he died, Ilya's eyes boring into his while his neck snapped audibly in Ilya's hands.

Laci, who'd grabbed my arm, stared at the mayhem-and the dead Russian General-in alarm.

"It's okay, they were trying to blow up Crimea," I told her before rubbing her back. The other three were still alive, and I didn't think it was a good idea to kill them in front of Laci. Leo came to Laci and pulled her away while James helped restrain the prisoners.

"I'm assuming you can get them back with us?" Auggie lifted an autocratic eyebrow in my direction, daring me to argue.

"Where do you want to take them?" I asked, ignoring his anger.

"I'd like to take them to Matt Michaels. As soon as possible," he snapped.

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow. Matt Michaels wasn't the name the Director of the Joint NSA/Homeland Security Department was born with, but that was his secret, not mine. "If that's what you want," I agreed. "Are you ready now?"

"I wish I could destroy this site," Ilya interrupted with a snarl.

"Let me do it," I shrugged.

"You can do this?" Ilya wasn't buying it. He muttered something in Russian, and it made me mad. He thought I was delusional for thinking I could destroy the thing.

At that moment, I almost let him see what I might do. I reined in that impulse and did it the safe and effective way.

I turned the whole thing into sand, computers and missiles included.

Yes, they'd called me a witch the last time. I knew they were right-in a way.

This time, nothing could be farther from the truth.

"What the fuck?" Nick muttered as computer consoles became white sand that puddled about his ankles, much like a dry sand castle pounded by a shovel.

"So much for my delusions, huh?" I snapped at Ilya, before transporting everybody, prisoners and Baikov's body included, to Matt Michael's office in Silver Spring.

* * *

"What the hell?" Matt Michaels stood and stared as all of us appeared in his office. "Auggie, I'm assuming you can get yourself home from here?" I gave him a look that said I was pissed.

"Laci," I added, "I can leave you here with Auggie, or I can take you to Seattle. Your choice."

"I'll, uh, stay here," she quavered.

I didn't blame her-if I'd been at the mercy of someone else who'd just done all the things I had, I'd be shaky, too.

"Corinne, stay here," Auggie demanded.

"Now see, I'm this close to telling you to fuck off," I said, holding a thumb and forefinger half an inch apart. "Bye."

I disappeared.

No, I didn't go back to my suite in the side of a mountain outside Seattle. At least not right away. I wanted a sunny beach somewhere, and I found it in Australia.

* * *

Notes-Colonel Hunter

"I don't know what the hell just happened," I said, drinking coffee from the cup one of Matt Michael's assistants brought to me. "She knew, somehow, and she went, only she took all of us with her. I still can't explain how she did that. Baikov was with three men disguised as Ukrainian rebels inside a bunker. They were about to fire missiles into Crimea. They had enough firepower to cause a lot of damage."

"So Ukraine would be blamed for starting a war while leaving the country ripe for a Russian invasion, after which the country would be taken over and added back into Russia with no qualms or quibbles from anyone else. Right?"

"It seems that way," I muttered. "I have no idea what Rafe said to her, but it set her off. She turned the whole bunker, computers and missiles included, to sand. I saw it. Still don't believe it, but that's what happened."

"Sand? Interesting choice," Matt leaned back in his chair. The leather squeaked softly as he shifted his body into a more comfortable position.

"You're taking this surprisingly well," I observed.

"Do you need something stronger to drink?" Matt lifted a bottle of bourbon from a desk drawer and offered it to me.

"Hell, add it to the coffee," I held out my cup.

* * *

Ilya

"What did you say to her?" Dr. Shaw asked quietly. We waited in a room down the hall from Director Michael's office, where there were chairs, sofas, a coffee machine and a small refrigerator filled with soft drinks.

Leo Shaw sat beside me, sipping coffee and watching everyone else-after calming Laci Hunter.

"I said-in Russian-that she was delusional if she thought she could destroy that bunker. It was built of concrete and steel walls, ten feet thick. It would even survive the blast of the missiles it housed, if they were aimed back at it. I had no idea what she was prepared to do. I understand that my words made her angry. I should have kept my mouth shut, instead."

"We haven't touched on all the changes that may have occurred with her," Shaw said. "It's obvious she understood what you said. Has that happened before?"

"No. She couldn't understand what I said before."

"Then this is certainly different. I'll update her file."

* * *

Corinne

After a while, I transported myself back to Seattle and paid the check at the restaurant. I got an order of the mushroom ravioli to go, along with a replacement order of what everybody else had, too, before leaving all of it in the fridge inside Rafe's suite.

I was about to choose my own suite, and he could live alone if he wanted. Actually, the suite I wanted didn't exist, yet. I took care of that. When I was finished, it was built into the outside rock wall of the mountain, past the last suite of rooms, which belonged to Maye. It was larger, more comfortable, better furnished, had a huge kitchen and pantry and not a single bug in it.

Any bugs that Auggie thought to put in it wouldn't work, either. I made sure of that. I'd handed Baikov to Ilya on a plate and he saw fit to insult me without asking questions. I shouldn't have been that angry, but I was.

I figured they'd get a flight back later that night or early in the morning; I didn't care which. Who knows how many people in Crimea might have died, and Ilya called me delusional.

"Fuck," I muttered aloud. Yeah, I'd probably overreacted, but his words had hit me wrong. I realized I was tired and out of sorts, so I grabbed a sunlamp from storage, turned it on and sat beside it until I fell asleep.

Chapter 3

Corinne

It took Auggie half an hour after he got back to the mountain to figure out I had a new, separate suite. He banged on the door after that.

I went to let him in.

"What the hell is this?" Auggie flung out an arm, encompassing my new digs.

"My suite. What else would it be?" At least this one had a wall of windows, all camouflaged on the outside so nobody would realize there was anything except rock there.

"You did this?" He blinked at our surroundings.

"I did this. Tell Rafe he can kiss my ass for calling me delusional, too. Want coffee?" I headed toward the kitchen.

"Corinne, you can't just haul off and do everything you want," Auggie walked behind me as I strode toward the kitchen.

"Really? Seems to me Rafe got what he wanted, last night," I snapped, shoving a pod into the coffeemaker. "A whole bunch of folks in Crimea are still alive today. I guess that's what they want, too. I'm sorry Colonel August Hunter didn't get exactly what he wanted, last night." I jerked a cabinet door open and pulled a cup off a shelf. Slamming it under the brewer, I hit the button to make coffee.

"Corinne, look. I don't know how hard that was for you," Auggie attempted to placate me. "I have no idea. Rafe won't talk to me. Laci is terrified. Marcus is still in shock. James, well, James thinks that was the coolest thing he's ever seen."

"Uh-huh." I handed the cup of coffee to Auggie.

"Cori, we have to talk about what you did last night. About how it was done. How long you knew you could do that. What else might be possible."

"No."

"No?"

"I don't want to be used," I said. "The President has good intentions, but she won't be able to help herself."

"Okaaay," Auggie seated himself at my kitchen island. "What do you want from me, then?"

"I want you to trust me. To believe me when I tell you something. That's what I want."

"Is that what you wanted from Rafe last night? For him to believe you when you said you'd destroy the bunker?"

"Yes. Look, I realize I overreacted-I'll admit that. But he didn't give me the benefit of the doubt. I don't know why that bothered me so much, but it did."

"Tell me," he said, making himself comfortable on the barstool, "do you know why things are so different this time?"

"It's a natural progression," I said. "That's all I feel comfortable saying right now. I hope it doesn't go any farther than you and Leo."

"The suite is nice," Auggie said and sipped his coffee.

"It's what I wanted," I replied.

"I can see that. The rugs are nice."

"Wool, power dyed and woven," I said.

"Power dyed and woven?"

"It means I used energy to do it, instead of people."

"Corinne, I almost spit a mouthful of coffee across your floor."

"I'd clean it up if you did."

"The windows are very nice. I assume they're invisible from the outside?"

"Even with the lights on," I agreed.

"Fantastic." He drank more coffee.

"Want a burrito?" I asked.

"You cooking?"

"No, I was thinking about going to Texas to get one."

"Cori, please stay here. You'll give me a heart attack if you don't."

The knock on my door almost gave both of us a heart attack. I left Auggie in the kitchen and went to let Rafe and James in.

"Nice. Very nice," Rafe said as he followed me to the kitchen.

"Before you ask," I held up a hand, "I think it was low blood sugar. Too much energy expended and not enough reserves."

"I accept your apology," Rafe said.

"Good."

He and James helped themselves to coffee before finding the food in the fridge; I'd transferred it there after completing my new home. That resulted in a flurry of microwaving, after which they sat down to a nice meal.

"Did you pay for this?" Auggie asked.

"I did. And the stuff we didn't get to eat, too, plus a nice tip and a promise to never go back there again."

"I'll fix that," Auggie grumped. "This chicken is good."

"Suit yourself," I shrugged.

* * *

Notes-Colonel Hunter

I left Corinne's new suite when the call came from the President.

It wasn't good news.

"What do you mean, they escaped?" Making sense of what Madam President shouted over the phone was impossible-for at least the first ten seconds. All I could understand initially was the word "escaped."

"Sixteen survivors that we had in quarantine escaped," she slowed her speech and calmed her temper. "We had them locked in and cared for. They all got out. I need you, Farrell and anybody else who might help with this mess. Please tell me Corinne can help. This is disastrous."

"Why?" I asked. "Why is this disastrous?"

"Because they're not human, and some of them-some of them defy explanation."

It angered me that she'd left us out of that loop from the beginning-that she'd taken control and hidden the survivors away. At first, I imagined it was to keep them away from the general population until they could be reintroduced into it without revealing the drug or the Program.

Later, I began to imagine other, more terrible things. This announcement brought the worst of those imaginings to life.

"How did they escape?" I asked.

"I don't know. I don't understand any of this. We thought they were responding to the care they were getting, but evidently, that wasn't enough."

"Is there any trail to follow? I'll bring Nick," I offered.

"Bring all of them. We can't find a trail to follow, but I'll take anything I can get."

"I hope you have records and images to help Corinne," I said.

"We do, but it's so classified, I almost didn't get to see them."

I wanted to curse. I didn't. At least not aloud. This spelled one thing to me-the CIA Director was in this up to his hairline. He and the Joint Chiefs had likely colluded to keep me out of this after they took charge, and almost left the President out of it. Now it was exploding in their faces. If the situation didn't sound so serious, I might have laughed at their faux pas.

"I'll get my bunch together," I said. "We'll be there before you can blink."

* * *

Corinne

Ilya was in the middle of being amorous when Auggie commanded everybody to pack for a trip to D.C. He was knocking on our door two minutes later, asking if I had enough energy to get everybody to D.C. without hurting myself.

"I can," I said, "But I need fresh air and something to eat afterward."

"I'll see to it," he nodded curtly. "We have an emergency, you understand, or I'd fly everybody back."

"I know."

I turned to Ilya, who allowed Rafe to come to the fore. "I'll have a bag ready in ten," he said and loped toward the door. He was just as frustrated as I was that we'd been interrupted.

"The President didn't give me much," Auggie sighed when Rafe shut the door behind him. "It doesn't sound good. I think she's saving the bad stuff for when we get there."

"I was worried about this," I said. "It didn't help that we were cut out of it. I think Dr. Farrell should have been consulted at the very least, but bigger dicks wanted to control this." I spoke mainly of CIA Director, Merle Askins; Auggie understood that. While we both thought of Askins as a boil on America's butt, everybody was secretly afraid of him.

"While I wouldn't agree openly with you under most circumstances, I'm agreeing with you now," Auggie said. Worry clouded his dark eyes as he shook his head at the state of affairs and what might wait for us when we arrived at the White House. "The President should have asked us. She didn't. Now, we're expected to do cleanup."

"Doesn't sound like an easy job," I pointed out.

"I don't think it will be. They can't find a trail to follow. That concerns me. A lot."

"Do you know where they were?" I asked.

"No idea. We'll have that information when we get there."

"Then I'll be ready in five," I said and took off toward my bedroom.

* * *

Matt Michaels and a woman I hadn't met before were already in the Oval Office when we arrived.

"You know Director Michaels," the President made introductions. "This is one of his best agents, Opal Tadewi."

"I hear you can see things about people just by looking at them," Opal held out her hand.

I shook and nodded.
Your secret is safe with me
, I sent to her. She blinked once, telling me she heard and understood.

"I can work with her," Opal jerked her head in my direction, telling Director Michaels that she felt she could trust me.

"Good. I've been briefed on the Program," Director Michaels nodded to Auggie.

"It was my choice," the President said, holding up a hand to keep Auggie from arguing.

"He knows how to keep quiet," I acknowledged when everything went silent for a moment. Maye released a troubled sigh.

"Where are we going?" Auggie asked, following the second uncomfortable silence. Nobody liked the fact that someone else knew about the Program. I suppose almost being killed on several occasions will do that to you. I didn't say it, but future threats against our lives wouldn't come from Matt Michaels.

"You're going to Las Vegas," the President said with a sigh. "Actually, outside Las Vegas is where they were kept, but you'll be staying in Vegas until you find a trail to follow."

Rafe turned slowly toward me, offering the slightest of nods. He and I were thinking the same thing; we just didn't say it aloud. Area 51 was too much of a cliché. We were headed somewhere else.

After all, you can hide a secret location near a bigger, badder-looking secret location. Everybody looks for the big one, when they have no idea that the smaller one exists.

"There's transportation ready, and anything you didn't pack can be had in Las Vegas," the President said. "The facility director will brief you when you get there."

I could see she was tired and angry. Angry that this had blown up in her face. She'd allowed the CIA and Joint Chiefs to have these survivors, possibly in the hope of creating another arm of the Program.

Auggie was pissed, too-as Secretary of Defense, he'd inherited the Joint Chiefs, who'd always been at odds with him. They were more loyal to the CIA Director than to Auggie, because Merle Askins had more power and bigger guns.

Now, the President worried that she-and they-may have unleashed something that couldn't easily be caught or contained. I had worries, too, and they included hers plus a few of my own. Mine were ultimately worse.

"What do you expect us to do with them, if we find them?" Auggie asked quietly.

"Kill them if you can," she whispered.

* * *

"We don't have much time; I hope this works," Auggie said as we trooped into a Denny's near the air base. Opal was with us; her luggage was now in one of our borrowed SUVs.

"Cabbage, what are you hungry for?" Rafe rubbed my back.

"Eggs, cheese, fruit," I shrugged. At least the day was fine and sunny. I ignored the hot part.

"Oatmeal, too?" Rafe grinned.

"Maybe. I'm hungry after toting you around," I wrinkled my nose at him.

"I can understand that," he agreed.

A waitress led us to three tables shoved together. We sat down and ordered drinks. An hour later, we were loaded onto another military transport heading to Nellis AFB in Nevada.

* * *

Notes-Colonel Hunter

Once I was seated on the plane across from Shaw, I opened the classified e-mail sent from the President. No pictures were included-not the important ones, anyway. I only saw photographs of the damage caused during the escape.

"What the hell can do that?" I placed my tablet in Leo Shaw's hands. It only took a moment before his grim gaze met mine.

"If that were Tokyo, I'd have a good guess," he said. "This isn't Tokyo, and I sure hope we're not dealing with something that size."

"Something that size would be hard to lose," I pointed out. "What if it's much smaller and much more difficult to locate?"

"Even scarier," he nodded before leaving his seat and settling on the empty one beside me so he could study the photographs easier. "Do we know if they acted together, or whether one or two got the others out?"

"I'm concerned that somebody else may have gotten them out," I muttered. "I think Cori is worried about the same thing, she just won't say it."

"If Corinne is concerned, then we certainly should be," Shaw said. "She hasn't been wrong yet. Whatever these survivors became, we should have been allowed to help. If there was any way to communicate with them, then Corinne might have reached them. I can't help but think we could have helped. Now, we have orders to kill them."