Diamond Rain: Adventure Science Fiction Mossad Thriller (The Spy Stories and Tales of Intrigue Series Book 2) (20 page)

“What is it?” she
asked.

“You kind of passed
out, Sue Ann.”

“I feel weird, but I
had even stranger dreams.  How long this time?”

“About half an hour. 
Paul called.”

“A story?”

“You guessed it.”

Sue Ann sensed everyone
in the room breathing a little easier, but she had no idea why.

“Is that my phone?”

“Ya, here,” said
Thomas.

“I’ll get back to him
in the hall.”

“I got the message.”

“You know me.  Only
from the horse’s mouth.”

Sue Ann left the room,
calling as she walked out.  Thomas looked at Ekaterina and then around the
room.  Yochana spoke first.

“There’s a Gulfstream
waiting back at the airbase.”

“I’ve changed her life
forever.  There’s no turning around from here for her and she doesn’t even know
about it,” said Thomas.  His guilt was weighing on him.

“You changed my life
too forever, Thomas.  I don’t see you fretting about that,” said Jean Pierre.

“Maybe you’re right,
Lanky.  It just feels different somehow cause I planted the interest in Lau in
her.”

“I thought you said it
was there and you just highlighted it a bit.”

“Ya, ya.”

“Lau’s cooperation is
essential to our plan.  You had no choice, Thomas,” said Ekaterina in a
comforting tone.

“I’m alive ’cause I’ve
only been wrong about people one time,” said Macaulay.  “Just the once,” he
added.

“When was the one?”
asked Ekaterina.

“Kefira read me and
trapped me.”

“About the suits?”

“No, I really only ever
trusted my sister in my life.  She used that against me.”

“And the suit,” added
Ekaterina.

“She got it because my
sister trusted her.”

“You could’ve had
whatever you wanted,” said Yochana.

“Maybe the years made
me wiser.  I dunno, but I didn’t trust myself with it.”

“Age mellows us all,”
said Ekaterina.

Macaulay winked but
said nothing.

Thomas probed Macaulay
and to his surprise there was truth to the terrorist’s confession.  The same
look into Ekaterina found regret for her decisions, her past, her truncated
relationship to Kefira.

Sue Ann came back into
the room looking as if she’d been supercharged.

“Back to Qatar for me.”

“I’ll get my stuff,”
said Thomas.

“Paul told me he told
you.  You’re not going.”

“I was hoping you’d
change his mind.  You sure you want to go there alone?”

“Gotta do what’cha
gotta do.  Besides, it’s an amazing opportunity.”

Yochana nodded at her.

“We thought you’d say
something like that.  There’s transport waiting for you at the Haifa Military
Airbase.  You’d better get going,” she said.

They all stood and
wished her well, none more so than Thomas.

The flight to Qatar passed pleasantly.  Sue
Ann prepped for her upcoming interview with Lau and possibly Chou. 
I’ll be
the most sought after ‘talking head’ in the world after this. 
Lau’s
personal jet was waiting on the tarmac in Qatar.  The trip to central China
started on a military transport arranged by Lau and the first leg went without
a hitch. 
Wonder why the butterflies?  I should be scared but I feel like a
school girl.  I can’t believe it.  I’m actually looking forward to seeing Lau
again.
  Sue Ann surprised herself with her
blasé
attitude about
riding second seat on a supersonic fighter.  Even landing on the
Liaoning
didn’t
faze her.

When she stepped out
onto the wing and the pilot helped her, Sue Ann’s radar caught something off in
the air, but it was too late.  The Taser knocked her flat.  Chou’s man picked
up her shoulders and dragged her to the edge of the wing.  He passed her down
to two more men waiting to move her to Chou’s white helicopter.  They dropped a
sack cloth over her head and attached her to her seat with tie wraps.  When the
helicopter landed on top of Chou’s underground headquarters, the general made
sure Lau was top side to witness his men manhandling a struggling Sue Ann into
the elevator entrance.  Though he could not see her face, Lau knew Chou had
just secured a new insurance policy. 
There’s a traitor in my group,
otherwise Chou never would have known about her arrival.  Macaulay gave me a
code word to release the molecule.  This’s the final straw.  My enemies are
helping me and my friends are blackmailing me again.

Chou signalled to Lau
to follow him down to level five – the prison level.
 
Lau sent a message
to his workstation by willing a stream of his suit to enter the system.  His
carbon molecules sought out Macaulay’s
jpeg
on his desktop.  By a
prearranged set of keystrokes, Lau communicated the dire situation back to Yona
Street via Macaulay’s underground network.  The words, ‘Diamond Rain’ bounced
around in his head as he tried to look nonchalant on the elevator ride down. 
On level five, they went straight to Chou’s personal interrogation room.

Chapter Seven

Kefira’s Edge

Thomas sped over the Internet thanks to the
bent triple helix molecular transformation suggested by Jean Pierre.  In his
heart, he thanked Jean Pierre. 
He never would’ve shouted if the technology
couldn’t be breached.  My feeling about doubts must’ve chimed something in his
head.  I’m going in there and I’m going to do it. I know I can do it.  When she’s
back, I’ll be able to focus. 
The path into Lau’s computer system
controlled by the worm he had inserted into Macaulay’s message would still be
open.  Lau’s tracing analysis software couldn’t detect diamond molecules in any
form let alone in ‘stealth’ mode.  Before he knew it, Thomas had entered the
Chinese command complex.  The path to Kefira’s cell stood out with markers left
by trace elements from his first visit.  He materialized in Kefira’s cell
without any interference from Chou’s high powered force field.  His hunch paid
off.

Light glimmered from
every pore of Thomas’s existence.  Kefira held her position, each foot crossed
over the other knee.  She doubted that it was Thomas, felt sure it was another
of Lau’s ploys.  Then beams of diamond refracted light contained in streams of
connections between them swirled around her.  She felt Thomas’ mind.  His
telepathy repeated: ‘Leave doubt behind.’  She did and Thomas’ love cocooned
her while his suit spun creating a dirt devil of molecules in the room.  The
two of them vanished into thin air and instantaneously materialized in Haifa at
Ekaterina’s Mossad head quarters.  Ekaterina blinked and rubbed her eyes.
Thomas fell exhausted into a seat.  Kefira could not believe her eyes. Yatsick
ran to her and hugged her before he realized what he was doing.  Jean Pierre
took off his shirt and wrapped it over her naked shoulders. They all rushed to
hug an apparition before it disappeared.  It did not disappear.

Kefira extricated
herself from Yatsick’s grasp and left him to manage his embarrassment.  She
ignored everyone else in the room but Thomas.  Their eyes seemed to be
connected by an invisible thread, winding itself tighter and tighter.  Her
whole being shook as his arms folded around her.  He dropped the suit.  Just
Thomas took her into his arms and tenderly touched her matted hair, his breath
in her ear producing uncontrollable sobs in her.

The others looked on a
little dumbstruck.  Everyone had sensed the relationship between the two of
them, but no one realized the depth of the emotional connection between Thomas
and Kefira. 
He dropped the suit,
thought Ekaterina. 
She’s the key
to keeping him under wraps.  We haven’t lost the weapon.
 Yochana nodded
her understanding and raised her eyebrows.  She too had noticed that Thomas had
dropped his suit to have a real bond with Kefira.  As the woman who raised
Kefira, a blush of joy passed over Yochana’s cheeks to see the happiness in
Kefira’s posture and eyes.  Jean Pierre looked at Macaulay and raised his palms
outward, a Gallic shrug looking for clarification.  Macaulay mouthed the word Kefira
to him and winked.  He also whistled his trademark triplet.

Kefira rapidly adapted
to her environment and assimilated all the information Thomas had shared with
her by transferring information with his mind. Rapidly, she took control of the
situation.

“Thomas and I need a
bit of time.  I’ll wash.  Jean Pierre, rustle up some grub for me, would you? I’m
famished, but nothing too hard to digest please.  I’ll be back in half an
hour,” she said.

Thomas snapped closed
the small piece of equipment on his arm.  He nodded to Ekaterina.  She knew he
had just given her control of the next time he used the suit because he had
closed the storage piece with her imprint on the opener.  A grateful feeling
passed over the commander.  Somehow she knew the baton had passed to the next
generation.  She turned to Yatsick, who was looking sorry for himself.

“Yatsick, we all felt
the same way.  Don’t beat yourself up.  Get that other implement, the one with
Kefira’s print on the opener.  I want you to give it to her when they get
back.”

Yochana nodded
agreement.  Just at that moment Macaulay’s phone buzzed in his pocket.  He took
it out and read the message.  His expression changed.

“Chou’s got Sue Ann.”

“Thank God we let
Thomas work his magic,”  said Ekaterina.

“But Lau won’t get the
message, Chou will,” blurted Yochana.

“I took some
liberties,” said Jean Pierre, looking pleased with himself.

“What d’ya mean?” asked
Thomas as he stepped back into the room.

“Macaulay and I planted
some insurance in the molecule Thomas passed on to Sue Ann.”

“What kind of
insurance?”

“I never trust anyone,”
said Macaulay.  “Sorry.  There’s always gotta be a back door out for me.”

“What’s the back door?”
asked Ekaterina.  Her voice showed the depth of her suspicion.

Jean Pierre smiled.

“It’s nothing sinister,”
he said.  “Remember, Thomas, we designed the message molecule together.  At
Macaulay’s request I included a code word in it for just this eventuality.”

“Macaulay, you set her
up,” shouted Thomas, reaching for his wrist kit.  He was now regretting his
earlier decision.

Thomas looked at
Ekaterina and raised his wrist.  Ekaterina slowed him down with an open palmed
gesture in his direction.

“Hold yer horses, son. 
I didn’t set anyone up,” said Macaulay.

Kefira came back into
the room sooner than expected.  The shower had refreshed her and she glowed
with renewed vigor.  She looked cleansed both physically and mentally.

“Where’s my lunch, Jean
Pierre?” asked Kefira, defusing the situation a little with her interjection.

“In a minute.  Sorry. 
We got caught up here.  Anyway, the code word is programmed to eject the
message to the sound of Lau’s voice and only Lau’s voice.  So only he can use
it,” Jean Pierre said, continuing the discussion.

“I’m missing something
here,” said Kefira.

“The long and the short
of it is this,” said Macaulay.  “Even if Sue Ann’s under duress, Lau just has
to say the words: ‘Diamond Rain’ and the message molecule’ll be released from
Sue Ann and passed to Lau in a bolt of light.  Chou won’t be able to do a thing
about it.”

“What if Lau’s taken
prisoner too?"

“Chou still needs Lau
too much.  If he didn’t, Lau would be dead by now,” said Macaulay with a
satisfied grin.

“What’s in the message
molecule?” asked Kefira.

Thomas turned to
address her.

“When Sue Ann and I
were in Chou’s clutches, I managed to get an almost complete mind map of Chou’s
memories and plans.  I just sent that mind map to Lau.” he said.

“How can you be so sure
Lau’s trustworthy?” asked Kefira.

“I can’t.  I’m just
hoofing it.  The way I see it we’re dead in the water anyway.  It’s a stalemate
at best unless we pry Chou out of the works.”

Kefira looked
unconvinced.  Macaulay shrugged, then he decided to take the explanation
further for her benefit. 
No harm in telling her
, he thought.

“Lau has the motive,”
he said.  “We’re just giving him a little nudge.  Getting that information directly
from us through Sue Ann should tumble him over to our side.  Now we just have
to wait for a signal from Lau,” he added with a finality which suggested he was
convinced it would work.

“It’s a hell of a
gamble,” said Ekaterina.

Ekaterina looked Kefira
in the eyes.  Something from the past was welling up and troubling her.

“I was wrong to leave
you hanging out to dry like that.  You were so small and so helpless.  I left
you in good hands, but I-”

“Water under the
bridge, Mother.  I forgive you,” said Kefira.

Ekaterina took a
mechanism from Yatsick’s hand.  She opened the knob on it after her thumb print
unsecured it.  Utility fog hung in the air amongst them because Kefira’s watch
had been activated too.  The fog swooshed into Kefira’s device and she attached
it to her wrist.  Thomas felt something leave him; a great weight was off his
shoulders.  Kefira stood a little taller.

“You are truly the
spear, now child,” said Ekaterina.  “This fog is the new spear. From my
generation to yours-”

“Your counsel will
always be important to us,” said Kefira as she took Thomas’ hand.  “Yatsick,
make a fog holder with a choice of prints to open it.”

“Already done.  Just
have to scan in another print.”

“No, I mean only two
prints possible.”

“Sure,” said Yatsick
with a glance at Ekaterina.

The waiting game had
begun.

****

Thomas and Kefira returned to her room. 
Ecstatic energy flowed between them as he closed the door and reached for her. 
She melted into his arms, savoring every point of contact.  His breath tingled
in her ear and his tongue played with the nape of her neck.  She pushed herself
against him and felt him responding to the pressure of her body.  His hands
circled around her abdomen kneading the supple layer of soft muscle covering
the sway of her hips.  Her musky odor, made with a homemade scent borrowed from
Yochana, intoxicating him.

“How I’ve longed to
have you in my arms,” Thomas breathed softly.  Holding Kefira was truly
magical, exciting him in a way that surpassed even the delights the suit had
brought him.

Kefira turned towards
him.  Her breasts crushed against his abdomen.  He could feel her nipples taut
with excitement.  His mind started to swirl into her influence.  They kissed
and caressed each other, holding tighter and tighter, the sexual tension
between them growing. He bent to pick her up, but she put her hands on his
chest, breaking the flow.

“Not yet Thomas.  I’m
so grateful to you.  I don’t know if I could have lasted another day there, but
this, this is too soon.”  She smiled softly.  “Don’t get me wrong.  It feels
right, it feels wonderful, but I’m too raw.  Just hold me close.  I guess I
need time to recover.”

Thomas ran his fingers
through her hair and smiled at her.  He kissed her again, lingeringly, deeply,
before relaxing and holding her a little way away from him so he could study
her face.  He smiled again.

“Whatever it takes, I
can wait,” he said.  He embraced her once more.

They lay down on Kefira’s
twin bed and snuggled close.  Thomas felt warm and comfortable and the strain
of the previous few hours overtook him.  He was snoring before he knew it.

 Kefira lay in his
embrace, but her mind was racing.  She’d just made a connection about the
nanosuits.  It was something she felt when she was inside Thomas’ partial clone
of his suit – her defensive shield in Chou’s prison. 
That’s it.  The suits
can be duplicated whole but they require partners to go through the replication
process together.  It’s a matter of trust between the partners and there’s
something more.  It’s more than just trust, but what? 
She thought about it
as she drifted off into her first comfortable and secure sleep in a long time.

Her dreams flowed
through scenes in the warmth of her father’s love on Paros in her childhood
home.  She was once again listening to her father’s voice as he read her
bedtime stories and she could feel the heat from the fires he made in late
autumn.  Here she was again, picking grapes in their small vineyard in the
searing Greek sun and then dropping gratefully into the cistern behind the
house.  Her favorite memory of all filled her dream.  Small flowers on the
leaves above her head as she luxuriated in the cool underground waters of the
marble cistern that magically changed into butterflies when disturbed.

She awoke.  It had
grown dark outside and Thomas was gently nibbling her forehead, cheeks, nose
and lips.  His hair, grown long since she’d last seen him, dangling on her neck
as he moved down.  She cooed, then moaned as he reached the space just under
her collar bone.  His hand cupped the weight of her breast.

“Thomas, oh, how I’ve
wanted this.  For the first time in my life, I feel complete.  Complete just
lying in your arms.”

They stopped caressing
and looked into each other’s eyes, kissing gently between sentences.  No rush
in their lovemaking.

“All my life I’ve been
following my mother’s lead.  Running from this feeling, afraid.  Why?”

They kissed more deeply
and Thomas felt himself moving in unison with Kefira.  She was thrusting up
under him and he was gently receiving her momentum, then the tide turned and he
was plunging into her warmth.  All their thoughts swirled around them in the
suits. All the tensions of her captivity and his longing to rescue her released
in their intimacy. They climaxed together, both of them squeezing each other,
sweat trickling between their breasts.  Thomas rolled over.  Kefira
instinctively covered herself with her arms as she turned towards him and
looked up.  He felt her eyes drinking him in and his eyes returned the love he
felt.