Rising Storm

Dieter and Sarah moved to where they could see what he was pointing at. Sarah sat down hard on the floor, pressing both hands against her mouth. Frozen on the screen was a face she wasn't likely to forget. How? she thought in horror. She's dead! She's dead. She has to be dead! No one could have survived that explosion, even if they hadn't blown away half her head first. She couldn't have

escaped either; it was impossible.

And yet. This was Serena Burns. Jordan's former boss, the head of security for Cyberdyne. A new breed of Terminator—call it an Infiltrator—sent by Skynet.

'My God,' she said. Then she took a deep breath and looked up at John.

'I'm not wrong!' he said, sounding shaky.

'I wish.' she answered.

Dieter offered his hand and she took it. He pulled her to her feet easily. 'So there was another one,' he said grimly.

'Isn't there always?' John asked.

'So far,' Sarah agreed. She brushed her hands over her hips. 'Now we need to find out where she— it—is and what it's up to.'

'I'll get in touch with Wendy.' John said. 'She might know something.'

Wendy answered on tin; third ring.

'Bob's Brickyard, we lay anything.' she said cheerfully. In the background there was raucous laughter.

'Wendy!' John said incredulously.

He was calling from his room, lying back on his bed propped up on some pillows; it was kind of late and he'd been afraid of waking her. Guess I had that

wrong, he thought.

'Oops!' she said. Then he heard her talking to whoever was with her. 'Hey, guys? I need a little privacy here.'

There was a chorus of protest at that; it sounded like Snog and the gang. He smiled, remembering them. It took a few minutes, but she finally managed to get them to leave.

'I'm sorry it took so long,' she said breathlessly when she came back.

'Good thing this isn't a pay phone,' he said, letting her hear his smile.

They were silent for a while. John couldn't seem to wipe the smile from his face.

Even though they didn't speak, he found intense joy just being in contact with her. Listening to her breath—in a sense being with her for the first time in months.

'I've missed you,' she said at last.

'I've missed you, too.'

They fell silent again until Wendy said, 'Why did you call? Did you get it?'

'Your package? Yeah. Actually that's what I'm calling about. Uh… there's something on it that might relate to Skynet,' he said quickly, wincing slightly.

This was a hell of a way to say thank you.

There was a pause, then she said, 'Oh.'

'Yeah. In the 'making of part of the video they show this woman who invented the material the statue is made from. We need to find out about her. Where she is, for example.'

There was silence again and John frowned; this time the silence had a very different quality. 'Wendy?'

'Yeah. I just… I thought you might be calling about the pledge,' she said, sounding disappointed.

John almost laughed. He'd forgotten about that. But he sensed that it was important to her, even if it was absurd to him. 'I will always respect your decision on that. I know it's not something you did lightly. So if you thought I'd be mad or something, I'm not.' He waited for her response.

'You just don't care,' she said at last, sounding disappointed.

'That's not true,' he assured her. 'You care, and I care about what you… care about,' he finished lamely. He hoped that would settle her down. They needed to get onto a more important subject.

She blew out a breath that whistled across the phone lines. 'Okay,' she said, her voice slightly flat. 'What's up with this woman you want to know about?'

'Well,' he said, 'she should be dead.'

' Uh-huh.' She went silent, apparently waiting for more.

'We don't think she's entirely human,' John ventured.

'Aaaaand what makes you think that?' Wendy asked.

'She almost killed my mother, but we killed her instead, and now she's attending parties. You can see why we're concerned.'

'Yeah, that attending-parties thing, that's a real bitch.' Her voice still had that flat quality, almost uninterested, and John didn't quite know what to make of it.

'You don't sound like you believe me,' he ventured.

'Well. John. I've seen this woman's face and you're telling me you killed her.

Which is freaky enough, by the way. Until you top it by telling me she's this inventor from the unveiling but she was dead before the unveiling. What am I supposed to think?'

'You're supposed to think this is more proof that Skynet is real,' he snapped.

Now you doubt me? he thought. Now, after all these months? 'Are you guys still working on the CPU?' he asked, playing his ace.

She took a deep breath and let it out in a huff. 'Yeah,' she admitted. 'We're making some progress, too. But this, John! This is like something out of a movie! And real life doesn't have a plot.'

Oh yeah? Mine does. John held on to his temper; he needed her help and blowing his stack wasn't going to do him any good.

'Look,' he said firmly, 'I'd like your help on this. Can I count on you?'

Wendy was quiet for a while. 'You really think this woman is from Skynet?' she

asked, her voice sounding small.

'I'm convinced of it.' John waited, holding his breath.

'I may know something,' she said at last. 'Give me a few minutes to get my notes together, then get on-line. I'll e-mail you what I have.'

'Thank you,' he said, his voice ardent with relief. He listened to the silence on her end and asked tentatively, 'You're not mad, are you?'

'No. Just kind of creeped out. I'll see you on-line.'

'Okay… Wendy?'

'Yeah?'

'I love you, you know.' Somehow he sensed a smile, then he heard it in her voice.

'I love you, too,' she said. Then, briskly, 'Give me ten minutes.'

'You got it.'

They said affectionate good-byes and he hung up. For a few minutes he just lay back on his bed smiling. She loved him.

True, it wasn't 100 percent perfect; she also doubted his sanity. But she's coming through for me anyway. He kept on smiling. Love was really strange. But it was also the best feeling he'd ever had.

*Okay,* Wendy said, *I don't know how useful this will be, but to me it seems to tie in with what you want to know. *

*Shoot,* John told her.

*You remember when I told you that Craig Kipfer guy said something that sounded like an order to kill someone?*

* Vaguely.*

*Well, I kept checking into this guy and finally broke through some kind of wall.