“Yeah, he called it,” I say. “So Ramuhalli showed up?”
“Uh huh. He never took to the road. He was just out having introspective thoughts in the woods.”
“That may be another fight you’ll need to break up. Little prick.” I hear the voices of TMAers looking for us, speculating on our whereabouts. “What’s Prasad thinking? Why has there been no rescue mission?”
“I never know what Prasad’s thinking. That’s a pretty unique brain he has there. One thing that occurs to me is that we each had an accelerator pre-set to return us after four hours. So either Asmus undid that preset, or they did activate and all that arrived at TMA was the accelerators with no bodies attached. Either way, Prasad must have known there was trouble. So what would he do? If two security guys did us no good, then would he think his main option was to send a bigger security team?”
“Maybe.”
“But as you know, accelerating people en masse is a dangerous proposition. Something in the timeline is bound to get screwed up by that.”
“But we’ve already got a barnful of TMAers here.”
“Yeah. But the argument still holds doesn’t it? The more people out of time, the bigger the risk. Truth is, we didn’t have much of a plan. We just wanted to get the reconnaissance done and then draw up the plan. I see how that thinking was flawed.”
“Ha. The great Prasad.”
“He was trying to get you out of danger,” Gallie says.
“So, on a scale of 1-to-10, how well would you say that worked?” She smiles. Within minutes we’re found and escorted back to the barn for what I expect to be an intense townhall meeting.
THIRTY-SEVEN
Barn life drags on. Health deteriorates. Any pharmaceuticals that were being taken before the abduction had been left behind or had run out, and there is no way of treating new ailments. Chrissie Kim is in the worst shape, doubled-up in pain when it gets really bad, whatever it is. Fights break out more often and Mack McEwan has taken to being Gallie’s right-hand man when it comes to policing. He has the look of a someone you shouldn’t upset. The balance is to keep the peace in our displaced little community without going full-on Animal Farm. The food continues to arrive, but my ongoing nightmare is that it stops. I convince myself that if Asmus were a cold-blooded killer then I’d already be dead–so would we all. But then the guards ...
Gallie and I take off regularly, sometimes to test each other’s sense of reason and strategize. This is generally a failed effort. Sometimes it’s because an exchanged glance ignites something. This is always successful.
It’s a week, I think, since I was in the mansion. Hugh Wagner tells me I have a visitor, nodding toward the back door of the barn. I’m guessing it’s the same visitor I had last time and I take Gallie with me.
There’s still a faint shadow of Bess’s bruise. She’s wrapped in a heavy woolen shawl, shivering in the cool morning air. “Hello Joad,” she says, breathing out vapor. She nods at Gallie. She sees I’m looking at the sack she’s holding close to her chest so she hands it to me. I open it to see a semi-automatic handgun, and I tilt the bag toward Gallie so she can see it, too. “Kasper gave it to me in a moment of affection. For self defense.”
“Did he give you that bruise?” I ask. She looks at Gallie but doesn’t answer.
“I need to escape,” she says.
“What do you think we can do with this?” Gallie asks, pointing at the sack. Bess looks around cautiously.
“I can get you in the house,” she says. Gallie and I exchange a glance. “Middle of the night is best.”
“What about the sentries?” Gallie asks.
“They’re incompetent. Clowns. For all Kasper’s determination and planning, he’s never gotten any discipline into them.” She shivers. “There‘s a way in.”
“And once we’re in?” I ask.
“If you can get your hands on accelerators, that’s all you need, right?”
“Maybe,” I say. “But I saw the woman in the headset and I’m guessing there’s no way we could figure out how to work the technology. It’s too different.”
“There may be wrist accelerators in there–our wrist accelerators,” Gallie says.
“But they were programmed to return after four hours.”
“Wouldn’t Asmus have deprogrammed them?”
“You’d think so. Allowing unattached accelerators to show up at TMA would be asking for trouble. But then, that’s how a rational lunatic would think.”
“And even if they’re in there, could we find them? And get to them?” Gallie says.
“I know one thing,” Bess says. “Outside of what he calls ‘The Center’, the house is strictly contemporary, give or take a few weapons. That’s how Kasper wants it. We get a lot of high-ranking visitors–British army, mainly.”
“Is the Center the place where the arms are received?” I ask. Bess nods. “But that has some kind of biometric scanner for entry doesn’t it? How do we get in? Do you have access?”
“No, but Mancini does.” We ponder this.
“So,” I say “if we can get into the house undetected, if we can coerce Mancini into giving access to the Center, if the accelerators are there, if we can find them, and if we can operate them, then this will work.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Gallie says.
“And I come with you,” Bess says as a statement, not a question.
“You come with us,” Gallie says. Bess looks at me. I nod. “And once we’re back, we figure out how to free the rest. So–”
“Gallie,” Bess interrupts. “Can I have a minute with Joad?” Gallie gives me a look that’s gone too quickly
