The Traveler (42 page)

“No, sounds like a good position to me,” Niles said as he made his way over to a chair and sat down. Moira was silent as she took in the scene before her. Her eyes sadly found the Koblentz family and she wanted to call out to them but she forced herself to remain still. Then she saw the small baby wrapped tightly against the night. She had heard a few days before that the mother had gone into labor. She had always insisted on being informed when the offspring of one of her children were born as each child received a full scholastic scholarship. But now it looked as if all of that were over for her and her extended family.

The Russian half bowed and then looked at the small balding man who had just taken a seat. The portly man was in poor shape as the Russian soon discovered. He was scared and had a limp and an arm that didn't seem to work quite properly. All in all these people were not the meek scientific types he had expected. They would bear watching.

“Alexi Doshnikov.” He straightened after the brief protocol of the bow.

Virginia and Niles had heard the name and they could see by the look on the Traveler's face she had heard of the mobster herself. It also looked as though a small smile eased across her lips. Compton looked up and he could see one of the outside monitors in the reception area and saw the face of Xavier Morales appear and then disappear almost as fast. Suddenly he saw that Europa had shut down all of the monitors inside the building. Even the cell phones died in the Group's pockets. Europa had pulled the plug. At least he knew they were being monitored by an outside source.

“The police have been called,” Ryan said as he looked angrily toward the director. The act of defiance started here at Group right at the top of the heap and worked down.

“Oh, that,” Doshnikov said with a sad smile on his face. “The local authorities have a small terrorist act on their hands, nothing major I assure you, but it seemed to be directed at Brooklyn's pride and joy of an arena, so it looks as if any response time from the police may be an extended and lengthy proposition.”

“See what I mean about talking as if you're a sophisticated villain,” Ryan said angrily, but kept his smile from reaching his eyes.

“My friend, your little quips of humor have a decidedly harsh and mocking edge to them, and I am growing tired of it. Out of respect for the Traveler, I will not have you shot in front of her, but keep in mind there is no help coming and that mouth of yours is a severe liability to the survival of this innocent family.”

The door opened from the outside and Will Mendenhall, Sarah McIntire, and Anya Korvesky walked in as if they were unaware of what was happening. Jason noticed none of them were carrying the M-4 rifles they had had earlier, but at least all of them played the role well as their eyes widened in mock surprise as they slowly raised their hands into the air.

“These are the two that were on top of the building this afternoon,” one of the larger men said as he stepped forward and frisked Mendenhall. Will had to smile when he saw the melted nylon of the man's coat pocket.

“Have a little accident there, Ivan?” Will asked as he nodded at the man's pants where the confiscated cell phones had melted down. The Russian angrily tossed Mendenhall against the wall and made a far more thorough and rough search of the captain. Ryan winced as he realized Mendenhall was trying his best to provoke these men.

“Where are my four men?” Doshnikov asked as he stepped menacingly toward Ryan, who held his ground.

“It seems we left them in the loving arms of some very motivated Italian folks. You might know them since they ran these neighborhoods a hundred years before you were born, Stalin.”

The backhand to Ryan's jaw caught everyone but the navy man off guard. Jason shot Will a look to let him know that he just took the heat off of him and for the captain to knock off antagonizing these assholes. That was his job and he prided himself on doing it well.

“I will deal with our Italian friends another time. For now you will take us to see this marvelous machine you have stolen from our poor Madam Mendelsohn. If you do this, we will utilize this golden ticket”—he nodded at the young family and the baby the mother held close to her chest—“one time and one time only. And then you can return to rescuing Jews or whatever it is you people do. I couldn't care less. I need one night only, one trip only.”

“What do you hope to accomplish?”

All eyes turned and faced the Traveler. She was leaning forward in her chair and waiting as if a patient teacher had asked a backward student a question.

“A great many things, Madam. They may not be the noble endeavor you and your associates have planned, but one that will benefit this great city very much. One that I might add benefited your own company very much indeed. Ah, don't tell me you are unaware how your board of directors made their fortunes, are you? Come now, who's being the naive one here, Madam? Yes, we have a far less noble, but yet beneficial endeavor.”

“And that endeavor is?” Moira asked just as patiently as before.

A warning look from Alice Hamilton failed to still the questioning by the brilliant scientist.

“Alas”—Doshnikov looked from Alice then back to Moira—“I'm afraid my quest is one of avaristic value alone, just as your board of directors before me. Only I won't be nickel-and-diming, as these Americans like to say. I'll be making my moves all in one night, and the special thing is, and I mean very special, is the fact that other than the use of this magnificent doorway, it will all be completely aboveboard and legal. You see, I plan to be running this city this time next year and I plan on having the financial backing to do it.” He smiled and stepped closer to the wheelchair-bound Moira. He patted her old hand and then turned over the wrist and saw the tattoo: 674392. “And your miracle of science is going to supply me with that opportunity.”

Moira only smiled as she pulled her arm free of the man's grip. Then she turned and gestured for the new mother and held out her hands for the baby.

“That is not recommended,” Doshinikov said as he stepped between the mother and the Traveler. “As the child has yet to be burped, and we wouldn't want that, would we?” he joked, and then saw that the tattooed Ryan wasn't laughing.

Niles nodded that they should adjourn to the observation room. He waited until it was just him, Virginia, Alice, and a Russian guard before following. He nodded descreetly toward the darkened monitor. Both Virginia and Alice knew then that Xavier Morales was knowledgeable of their situation.

But could the new computer whiz do anything about it?

*   *   *

As the Russian took in the stirring sight of the Wellsian Doorway and the many technicians who were preparing for the return dimensional shift when and if the signal was received, they could not prepare themselves adequately for the size of the operation. Seeing the many angry-looking technicians made Doshnikov momentarily hesitant about the size of his task. But seeing the doorway eased the problems to the back of his limited brain.

“Everyone is just so busy, a stirring sight indeed,” he said as he placed a manicured hand onto the shoulder of one of Virginia's female operators. The specialist recruited from George Mason University but five weeks before turned her body away from the man's cold touch.

“We aren't going to allow this, you know that, right?” Ryan said as he nodded at the director to hurriedly escort the young science tech from the room.

“Oh, I think we can come to an understanding,” Doshnikov said as he nodded toward the baby and the closing door where the female operator had just left.

“We won't be killing the baby, you will, along with the doorway,” Ryan said as he didn't want the director speaking directly to this man.

The Russian looked at his watch as he again stepped to the window.

“Oh, we will be killing far more before we even get to the child.” He turned and smiled as the noise was heard from below through the speakers on the observation room wall.

Ryan stepped hurriedly to the glass and saw that the room had filled with many men and all of them were carrying automatic weapons. They had bypassed external security somehow and entered through a portal the Event Group had no idea was even there. The plans for the building didn't include another exit.

“Oh, these dramatic shifts in circumstances always give me that comic book thrill,” he said, smiling, and with mock excitement as he took in an even angrier Ryan. “Or is that too wordy for you?”

Below on the platform floor, the Event Group technicians were rounded up and forced against the wall and held there.

“Now,” Doshnikov said as he turned and faced the people in the room, “let's see if we can make this expensive slot machine pay off.” He pushed Ryan toward the stairs. “Shall we?” Jason made eye contact with Niles on his way out. He silently pleaded with the director to not antagonize these men. As he told Will earlier, that was his job to keep the black-hearted men off balance.

Below them the doorway lay dormant. In Nevada Xavier Morales wondered just what he and Europa could do to help because if they could not resolve the situation sooner rather than later, Colonel Collins might not have a way to come home again.

Director Compton said he would face excitement even inside the complex, but thus far in his limited experience with Department 5656, this was just plain ridiculous. Xavier hit the emergency switch located at his desk and the warning chimes sounded throughout the complex. The Event Group was now on alert for a possible hostage rescue in Brooklyn.

*   *   *

With the exception of Niles, Alice, Moira, and two of the larger Russian guards, the group was led down the stairs. The three were left behind because of age or infirmities, along with the outright thought that the three could cause no harm, even if they somehow escaped. But in all reality Doshnikov just didn't have the time to get them down the stairs and ensconced in the large elevator.

The Russian immediately left the group after stepping from the stairwell. The rest were being brought down by the freight elevator. He wanted to gaze upon the doorway by himself. He saw his fifteen men had secured the technicians safely—after all, they would be the ones to help him achieve his goals this night.

He turned and saw the doorway as it sat silent and still, steaming like a hot iron. The lasers were being cooled through the conduit system that was currently being flushed with liquid nitrogen, which made a loud and ear-piercing noise as it struck the hot system. The Russian didn't even flinch at the loud noise as he was mesmerized by the sight of the ceramic-covered doorway.

The radiation warning lights were flashing their yellow cry of danger as the system was being rebooted. When Virginia reverse-engineered the doorway she was only guessing at the turnaround time. Moira had explained that at the height of their dimensional jumps they had a twelve-hour turnaround time to reboot their systems and to recharge their antiquated laser platform. That was when she realized how painful Moira's trips were through the German Doorway before the advent of the advanced lasers of today. It was a wonder the girl child had survived even the four experimental jumps back in Germany.

Doshnikov saw something just beyond the doorway and stepped up to the platform. He cautiously ran a hand through the air to make sure nothing vanished on him. Then a loud scream sounded and the Russian almost screamed. He turned angrily at the intruder to his thoughts. It was the man they called Ryan. He had screamed as soon as the elevator doors had opened wide enough for him to see what he had been doing. He intentionally made the Russian look the fool. Jason was brutally pushed forward as he and Mendenhall laughed at the fright he had put on the mobster.

Doshnikov returned to what had attracted his attention. He grimaced and then stepped through the front portal of the doorway. He took five steps inside and then reached down and felt the cold steel. He then reached over and retrieved something from the deck. He straightened and saw that it was dirt and some form of moss. The entire entryway to the doorway was covered in what looked like ash. He looked down and the trail vanished after only a few feet. He brushed the dirt and ash away and slapped his hands together and then turned to face the others. He moved over to the glass partition where the Event Group technicians sat stoicly, not moving but not frightened either. Most were defiant and just waiting for Commander Ryan to lead the way and tell them what to do. They had come to learn the colonel's security department was always one step ahead. They all turned when they heard a grunt and saw that Jason Ryan had been clubbed on the head pretty good by one of his captors. The reality of knowing they may not be one step ahead didn't frighten them as much as anger them. After Overlord, it was pretty damn hard to scare people from Department 5656.

“Perform your duties well and you will soon be set free”—Doshnikov gestured around him—“to go about doing whatever it is you very strange people do. Do not perform them and I'm afraid there will be repercussions. Starting with that small child. And I know how you Americans can be so aghast when harm befalls children.” He gestured toward his men. “Take the family Koblenz to the observation room. Give me the detonator.”

The detonator to the explosives strapped to the baby's carrier was passed to him and the family was moved back into the elevator once the threat was made and understood. It was then that a groggy Ryan looked at Mendenhall and then his eyes found the small detonator device in Doshnikov's hand. Will nodded but at the moment there wasn't anything he could do about it. Anya and Sarah were also watching and examining the detonator. The key here was to make sure that the baby and family were left unharmed. To every man and woman in the Group, that was now the priority, even beyond the safety of Jack and his team, Everett or themselves. Niles had explained time and time again: what they did was not worth one innocent life in their pursuit of historical acumen. Ever.