The pride she felt was inescapable. It burned brightly inside her, competing with her fear and her shame, because more people would die because she hadn’t been able to do this sooner. Her anguish reminded her of her time in Nevada, thirsty and hyper-aware of her connection with everything around her.
Everything she’d done in thirty-six years had led her to this point. All of the false turns and mistakes seemed not to be mistakes in the end. Each discovery had added to her skill set, no matter how small. This was the reason for her life.
She badly wanted to convince these men of it, but if necessary she would force them instead.
“I want that cell line open,” she said.
“You haven’t thought this all the way through,” Shaug said, trying again to distract her.
“Open that cell line now. Are you listening to me? If I don’t talk to my friends in the next twenty minutes, the nanotech will hit us ‚rst. It’ll work in the enemy’s favor. Please. Put me on the phone.”
The command bunker was too far down. Her phone was useless, but she knew they could connect her to the cell towers outside through any of a hundred comm lines. They were dragging their feet. They’d run her request over to a man in the next row of equipment, distancing it from her. Then another soldier came back to say the towers were overloaded and they’d patch her in as soon as they could interrupt the call traf‚c up top.
They were probably searching for the physical location of the two cell numbers she’d given them. Was that even possible? She had to assume yes. If they couldn’t trace those phones electronically, they would be organizing troops and helicopters. It was a mistake to let them have any more time.
Ruth got to her feet. “Don’t push me,” she said, looking for Estey and Goodrich. She’d demanded their release and the two Rangers stood nearby.
Foshtomi was gone. Foshtomi had cursed all three of them until Shaug cut his hand through the air and the USAF commandos led her away, wild with scorn.
Ruth didn’t doubt that both men regretted what they’d done, but she was hopeful. History was behind them. Today was July 2nd, close enough to the Fourth, the birthday of their nation, and in a very real sense their actions were a revolution. If they could end the war, it meant freedom, not only from the Chinese but from their own leadership.
“I’m making my calls,” she said.
Caruso stood up as if to block her way. “We just don’t use the cell network down here,” he said. “We need a few minutes.”
“No.” Ruth held up her button. Caruso backed off. Then she walked through the dense rows of men and women, doing her best to ignore their faces. Estey had the right idea. These people were hostile and confused, and she couldn’t let any of it affect her. She stopped beside the comm specialist who had been given her numbers. Caruso and Shaug were right behind her, along with Estey and most of the USAF commandos.
“Goldman!” Shaug said.
She raised her voice to match. “If I crack this seal, everyone in this room will be breathing nanotech in seconds. Put me on the phone. Now.”
“It will get you, too,” Shaug said.
“I knew that when I walked in here.” Ruth blinked suddenly, not wanting him to see her tears — but her honesty rattled them more than any threat.
“Okay,” Caruso said. “Okay. Just wait.”
Ruth held two swords at their throats. The tiny glass packets she’d worn into the bunker were only the ‚rst of her weapons, because given the choice, she’d realized there was no choice. She needed to honor the effort and sacri‚ce of people like Hernandez and the Boy Scouts and every nameless soldier who’d died in the attempts to rescue her, even the invaders — even Nikola Ulinov. She wanted to save all of the survivors of the machine plague and the war.
Ruth had used the great leaps forward she’d found in the new vaccine and the booster, but instead of improving the booster she’d created a very dangerous new ANN, a parasite capable of interfering with and shutting off both versions of the vaccine. Permanently. The parasite had no other effects or functions, but that was enough, forever denying the world below ten thousand feet to anybody it touched. Someone with the parasite inside them would never be able to host the vaccine again. It would ruin the armies spread across the western United States, robbing them of artillery and armor and far too many more lives as they scrambled back to the barrier.
It would brie†y cause the ‚ghting to intensify. In Utah, the Russians’ only choice would be to charge into the guns of the American positions east of Salt Lake City. In Colorado, the Chinese would face the same problem. Their reserves and supply chains throughout the Southwest would be devastated. The advantage would swing to the United States, and yet that ‚rst day would be horri‚c. The losses on all sides would be crippling.
Ruth had sworn to do this unless there was a cease-‚re and unconditional withdrawal. Unfortunately, she needed some cooperation. The enemy would take any threat of nanotech seriously, but words alone wouldn’t stop them. There had to be proof, so she’d also designed a second model of the parasite. This one had a strict governor. It would only affect an area the size of a few city blocks, instead of replicating without end.
It was this second ANN that she’d worn into the bunker. She had also left four capsules of it for them to ‚nd in her lab. They would need jets equipped with missiles that had been stripped of explosives, carrying only the nanotech — and even as America announced its ultimatum, they could hit four places deep inside enemy lines, delivering incontrovertible evidence of the parasite’s strength.
There were too many details for it to be done instantly. Ruth expected to have to push them every step of the way, holding Grand Lake hostage for hours or days. That was the real reason for the ‚rst, ungoverned version of the parasite. This morning Cam and Deborah had both left the mountaintop with capsules full of billions of the parasite, running in opposite directions. They would disperse it on Ruth’s command or if anyone found and cornered them, or if she failed to make contact at all.
“Call the eight four six number ‚rst,” she said, studying the complicated radio console. “Give me your headset.” If they had someone tap the line, she wouldn’t know, but she didn’t want to be on an open microphone.
The comm specialist obeyed. He punched in the number and Ruth heard a normal telephone ring tone, once, twice. It was a stranger who answered. “Burridge,” a man said, and Ruth went cold.
She yanked the headset away with her bad hand. “This is the wrong number,” she said, whirling on the specialist.
“No, ma’am. It’s correct.”
“Burridge,” the man repeated as Ruth pressed the earpiece back against the side of her head, breathing deep in an attempt to control her panic.
“This is Goldman,” she said, testing him.
“We have your friend in custody, Dr. Goldman. And the nanotech. We—”
“Let me talk to her.”
“We know where the other man went—”
“Let me talk to her!” Ruth shouted. The triumph on Shaug’s face made her †ush with rage. She nearly snapped the glass pack in her ‚ngers. Instead, she looked away and inadvertently found Estey. His mouth was open with fear. He understood.
Without the outside threat, Ruth would not be able to control them. Even if she infected the people inside this bunker, they were already trapped by their duties here. They could quarantine themselves. It had always been a weak threat to tell them they’d have to stay, and Ruth sagged as Estey rushed to hold her arm.
Finally, Deborah Reece came on the line with none of her usual arrogance. “Ruth, I,” she said. “Ruth, I’m sorry. You can’t do this.”
* * * *
Deborah had been uncertain. That was why Ruth called her ‚rst. She didn’t worry about Cam, but the look in Deborah’s eyes still lingered in her mind. When she passed over the vials she’d smuggled out of the lab, Deborah
