Rasputin's Shadow

62

I hit my comms mike. “Alpha One, this is Reilly.”

Infantino’s voice burst through my ear. “I’m here. No sign of him yet.”

“We might have a problem. Get your men ready to pull out. Might have to do it real fast.”

He clearly didn’t like this. “What’s going on?”

“Just be ready to do it if I tell you to.” I turned back to Sokolov, thinking this could get really bad in a heartbeat. “Your machine. It takes over the brain, doesn’t it? It can make us turn on each other?”

Confusion and utter horror flushed across his face. “How do you know? Have you-has someone used it?”

“Yes. Look, I need to know, is there anything that can block it? Is there anything we can do to protect ourselves from it?”

His eyes were darting left and right, his mouth was stammering as he tried to calm himself and focus on my question. “Yes, there’s-I had some ear protectors in the van, but he’s got them in his car.”

“Ear protectors?”

“Yes, like earphones. The kind they wear on construction sites. I’ve modified them, of course. With wire mesh and Kevlar plating.”

My mind was racing. “So it comes through the ears? Is that how it works?”

“Yes.” He nodded furtively. “It heats up the inner”-he caught himself-“it goes through the ear canals,” he said, conscious of the urgency.

“What about earplugs?” I pulled out my comms piece and showed it to him. “What about these?”

He turned it over in his fingers and examined it, then shook his head. “No good. They’ll provide a bit of protection, but not much. And that’s only if you have them in both ears.”

This wasn’t going to work. I couldn’t imagine the SWAT guys had enough comms sets for everyone to have two earbuds in anyway.

I could feel the seconds sprinting away. It was maddeningly frustrating. We needed to stay put-this was our one chance to get the bastard-but at the same time, we were sitting ducks.

“What about the helmets?” I asked him, pointing to the SWAT agents in the van with us. They were decked out in drab green fatigues, thick body armor that included a large crotch panel and an FBI patch across the chest, goggles and helmets. “They’re Kevlar,” I told him.

“It’s not enough. You need the mesh to break up the microwaves. Think of it like a phone signal. It can get through.” He saw my frown, then added, “If they’re on tight around the ears, they’ll offer some protection,” he said. “But they won’t block everything out. I’m sorry.”

It wasn’t much, but it was still better than nothing. I turned to the SWAT agent. “You got any extra helmets or comms units in the vans?”

He shook his head. “No. We load up in full gear.”

I looked at Aparo, then at Larisa. The three of us, plus Sokolov, were totally unprotected.

The others weren’t much better off.

KOSCHEY WAS BACK IN his SUV, with the open laptop on the seat next to him. He had the engine running, and his finger was hovering over the laptop’s keyboard.

Maybe it was time to test Sokolov’s machine a second time.

And this time, on a far more deserving audience.

He stared ahead, deep in thought, debating using Sokolov’s invention to get the Americans to do his work for him.

All it would take was one tap of his finger to switch it on and turn the whole warehouse area into a kill zone. They’d destroy one another. They’d also kill Sokolov. Which was better than letting them have him.

One tap and it would all be done.

He thought about it for a minute, picturing the scene in his mind, weighing the pros and the cons.

Either way, he needed to act.

WE HAD TO GET out of there, and fast. Which meant everyone had to get out. I wasn’t leaving Infantino and the others to face it alone.

I thumbed on my comms mike. “Alpha One. Our guy’s got some kind of brain scrambler in his SUV. It comes in through the ears. It’ll make us turn our guns on each other. Only protection is to have plugs or comms in both ears and have the helmets strapped on real tight. But it’s no guarantee. What do you think?”

It took him a second to process it, then he asked, “You serious?”

“’Fraid so,” I told him. “Look, we want this guy real bad, you know that, and this is our chance to take him down, but there’s no guarantee the helmets will work and if they don’t, it’s going to turn into a bloodbath.”

“How confident are you about the helmets?” he asked again.

I waved over the SWAT agent closest to me and checked the padding around his ears. It looked pretty tight. And the Kevlar was designed to stop most bullets. But it didn’t have the mesh.

I weighed it all up, conscious of the ticking clock in my ears.

I didn’t think we were going to get a better chance. But we couldn’t all stay.

“All right,” I said. “I can’t force anyone to stay. But I’m staying. Alpha One?”

“You bet,” he said without hesitation.

Aparo said, “Hang on a sec-”

I cut him off. “Take the car. Get them both out of here, now,” I said as I motioned to Sokolov and Larisa, then I turned to the SWAT agent. “Give me your helmet. Take your team and one of the vans and escort them back to Federal Plaza.”

Aparo started with a “Sean-” but I cut him off again.

“Sokolov’s the priority. Get him out of here. And with a bit of luck, we’ll take Koschey out too and we can all catch up over a beer later.”

He shook his head at me, but he knew it was the right call.

“Let’s go,” he told Sokolov and Larisa.

I took the SWAT agent’s helmet and strapped it on tight, then watched as they all mounted up.

Larisa glanced at me for a second before she got in the back of Aparo’s car, her eyes clearly telegraphing the concern she felt. I acknowledged her look with a slight nod. She nodded back, hesitated, then climbed in.

The car and the van drove off, leaving me and Infantino’s team to face the unknown.