Days' End (24 page)

“If you give me enough time, I can go through the entire code bit by bit and find out what the problem is, but I can’t do that in the next hour. I’ve got everyone working as hard as they can, but I don’t think we can do what they’re asking in the time we’re given.”

As Craig was about to spew forth even more excuses, the phone rang. Startled, Suzy picked it up on the first ring. “SecTech, this is Suzy. Uh-huh. Okay. Thank you.” She set the phone back into its cradle. “That was Joseph. Apparently the system is back online. What happened?”

“I don’t know,” Craig replied, puzzled. “But it’s probably not the result of anything we’re doing here. As far as I know everyone on the floor is reading code, not making changes. I told them to let me know if they found anything—anything—before they made any changes. I don’t want people fumbling around in the program and making things worse.”

“Good thinking.” Suzy leaned back in her chair, once again massaging her temples as she tried to come up with a new solution. “I wish Alastair were here. He wrote the damn thing, he might be able to fix it.”

“Give him a call,” Craig answered. Suzy, shocked by his statement, started in her chair. He merely stared back at her.

“What? I can’t do that. He doesn’t work here any longer.”

“Why not? Hire him on as a consultant, have him fix his shitty program, and let’s be done with it. Like you said, he wrote it. He’ll have the best chance of finding the problem quickly and rewriting whatever is causing the system shutdown. What’s the big deal?”

Suzy was at a loss for words. Why hadn’t she thought of that? Why was she hesitant to call him? She picked up the phone and dialed Alastair’s cell phone from memory. He didn’t answer so she left him a brief message describing the problem and leaving her number. “Please call me back as soon as you get this message. We really need your help on this one. Hope everything is going well. Thanks, Alastair. Bye.” She hung up the phone. “While we wait for him to call back, get back out there and see what you can do.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Craig got up and left the room.

December 24, 2:00 PM

Colorado Springs, CO

This wasn’t working. If he didn’t think of something soon, he would miss his chance. He worked scenarios over and over in his mind until it finally hit him. He called the car company from his cell phone.

“Reservations, may I help you?” asked the voice at the other end.

“Yes, I’m flying in to Colorado Springs and wanted to schedule a pick-up please. I’ll be arriving at 3:00 this afternoon and would like somebody to be waiting out front at 3:15.”

“That can certainly be arranged, sir. May I have your name?”

“Mann. Carl Mann,” he answered, not wanting to use his real name. “And I’d like to reserve Margaret, please. She’s driven for me before, and I’d prefer to have her again. I will pay extra if needed.”

“That’s not necessary, Mr. Mann. I see that she is available at that time. May I get the destination, please?”

Alastair gave her the address of his hotel.

“And may I get your credit card information to finalize the reservation?”

Alastair gave her the number, expiration, and name. “But only my mother calls me Alastair” he lied. “Everyone else calls me Carl.”

“Very good, sir. Margaret will pick you up at the Colorado Springs Airport at 3:15. I’ll put a notation on the slip to pick you up outside the terminal.”

“Thank you very much.” Alastair hung up the phone and set it on the seat next to him. Flipping on the radio he turned the car around and headed back to the airport to park and wait for his imaginary flight to land.

December 24, 2:30 PM

Outside Castle Rock, CO

The exam had shown a clear progression of effacement and dilation of Jacqueline’s cervix.

“Very nice,” said the doctor as he looked up. “Your cervix looks wonderful. What I’d like to do now is rupture your amniotic sac.” After placing a towel under Jacqueline’s buttocks, the doctor grabbed a long slender tool from the tray and inserted it into her vagina. A gush of fluids poured briefly over his hands and onto the towel. Jacqueline made a brief grimace and Nysa grabbed her hand.

“You’re doing great,” Nysa said smiling.

“Thanks, but I don’t think that was much compared to what I’ll feel later.”

“Perfect,” announced the doctor as he stood up and took his gloves off. “Now we’ll open up the Pitocin drip and get your labor started. If you start to feel uncomfortable, let me know and I’ll have the anesthesiologist administer an epidural. It’ll help mask the pain of the contractions.”

“Thanks, but I’d like to do this naturally if I can,” answered Jacqueline.

“Let me know if you change your mind. There’s nothing wrong with getting an epidural.” The doctor turned and left the room as a nurse came in to start the I.V.

Nysa sat next to the bed and held Jacqueline’s hand as the nurse put the needles in, readjusted the fetal monitor, and took vital signs. When she was done and had left the room, Nysa grabbed Jacqueline’s book off the nearby table and held it out to her.

“Want to do some reading? I think that after that Pitocin kicks in and labor starts, you won’t be in much of a mood. Besides, I’m tired of losing to you in slapjack.”

Jacqueline took the book. “Thanks.” She leaned back on the hospital bed to read as Nysa sat back to try and finish off one of the more difficult crosswords in the book.

December 24, 3:15 PM

Colorado Springs, CO

He sat on a bench holding a bag he’d bought inside. He’d figured it would look strange if he didn’t have at least a small bag with him so he’d purchased one and filled it with his laptop as well as a couple of sweatshirts from the same store. After going back to his car to retrieve the revolver, which he hid inside the sweatshirt, Alastair tried to relax as he waited for his ride.

He saw her immediately. She didn’t look anything like he’d imagined from her voice. She was in her mid to late twenties, petite, with long brown hair held back in a ponytail. She was holding a small sign with Carl Mann written on it and scanning the exiting passengers’ faces for a sign of recognition. As Alastair approached she set the sign in the car and stepped toward him.

“Mr. Mann?” she inquired.

“Yes, thank you,” he answered. “I’d like to hold onto this if you don’t mind,” he added as she reached for his duffle bag.

“Of course not, Mr. Mann. Anything you’d like.”

She opened his door and he climbed in. She closed the door behind him, walked around the car, and settled into the driver’s seat.

“Did you have a pleasant flight?” she asked as she put the car in gear and pulled away from the curb.

“Very,” Alastair answered. He withdrew the laptop from his bag, set it on the back seat and checked on the status of the Unique system. He could tell from the records that there had been multiple attempts by staff at SecTech to fix whatever was causing the system malfunctions. The problem was they were looking in the wrong location. Of course, none of the patches were working, and the system had already shut itself down twice today. Alastair would need one more window to do his work.

December 24, 4:07 PM

Castle Rock, CO

As Margaret pulled off the freeway and came to a stop, Alastair put the gun to the back of her head. She froze.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Margaret, but you have to help me. I’ve asked you nicely, but that didn’t work so now I have to resort to this. Now listen to me.” He had her pull into a nearby parking lot and kill the engine. He told her everything that had happened, starting with the offer from Scario up to her picking him up at the airport, stressing why he needed her help and that he needed it now.

“I want you to take me there right now,” he told her. “If we’re lucky, you’ll have time to get back to your family before the end. But if you say no, I’ll kill you right now. I have nothing to lose. I’m sure you can see that.”

She nodded.

“Good. Let’s go.”

She started the car nervously, fumbling her keys repeatedly as she tried to get them into the ignition. As she drove, Alastair sat in the back seat searching for the news on the radio. There was a small panel situated between the two front seats and Alastair turned the dial back and forth until he found a news channel with a clear signal. They listened to reports of unexplained mass fish deaths. From Brazil to Italy to Egypt, all varieties of marine life were washing ashore looking like they had exploded. Fishermen coming in to port told of the carcasses covering the waters like a film of oil. Some vessels required air rescue as their propellers were damaged beyond repair. Reports were pouring in regarding bodies of water from small streams to entire seas being fouled by the remains of dead fish and other aquatic life.

The next story was tied to the meteorite in Mississippi. Around the world, people were flocking to the urgent care and emergency facilities with what appeared to be severe burns. Sunlight appeared to intensify the symptoms. There was currently no explanation for the condition, but the news station was trying to tie it in with the only other major skin ailment facing the population, which had started with the landing of the meteorite.

His phone buzzed. Taking it from his pocket, Alastair saw the new message indicator and called his voicemail. “What the hell?” he whispered, frustrated that he’d missed a call. He quickly hung up the phone and dialed Suzy.

“SecTech, this is Suzy. How may I help you?”

He could hear the stress in her voice. “Hey Suz, it’s Alastair. What’s up?”

“We need your help bad, Alastair. The Unique program keeps shutting itself down. I’ve had every programmer and technician under me working on it nonstop since I got the call and nobody can figure out what the problem is. I know you don’t work for us any longer, but I need you on this one, for old times’ sake. Please.”

“Of course,” Alastair replied, the relief flowing through his body feeling not unlike an orgasm. He’d not wanted to make a frontal assault on the facility. This could turn out to be his golden opportunity. “Just tell me what you want me to do.”

“How soon can you make it into the office?”

“Not very quickly. I’m in Colorado.”

“Oh…hold that thought. Can you hang on for just a minute?” Suzy sounded excited.

“Sure.” Alastair could barely contain himself. This might be his opportunity to get onto the grounds without having to sneak in. Things would be so much easier if they invited him in the front door. He shifted and squirmed in his seat until Suzy came back on the line.

“Where in Colorado are you?” Suzy asked. “I just got off the phone with the head of their security. The facility is just south of Denver. If you’re in the area, you can just go there and work. It’ll be easier than trying to do it from here anyway.”

Not wanting to seem overeager, or raise suspicion by announcing he was only five minutes away from the facility, Alastair replied “I can be there in an hour. How do I get there?” He pulled out a notebook and took down the directions from Suzy. When she finished, there was an uncomfortable pause.

“Thanks for doing this, Alastair. You’re a real life saver. I don’t know how I can make this up to you.”

“I’m happy you called Suzy, and thank you.”

“I’ll let them know you’ll be there in about an hour. And Alastair, give me a call when you get back in town. I’ll take you and Nysa out to dinner at the nicest place in town. You really saved my ass on this. Thanks again.”

“No problem, Suzy. God bless.” Alastair hung up the phone and told Margaret to stop the car.

“Why?” asked Margaret, glancing at him in the rear view mirror.

“I just got a call from an old friend. They know we’re coming.” He saw the frightened look in her eyes. “Don’t worry, they’re expecting me to come in and fix their security system, but I can’t very well show up ten minutes after their call, now can I? Don’t you think they might be a little suspicious?”

“I…I guess.”

“So what we’re going to do is drive around for about an hour and then go. I told them I was up in Denver so it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility that I show up at about that time. Are you up for this?” inquired Alastair, leaning forward in his seat. “You look stressed.”

She pulled to the side of the road and slammed on the brakes. She turned around in her seat and glared at him.

“Stressed? I look stressed? I’ve been kidnapped by a man with a gun. I’m being forced to take him to a location where, according to you, someone has already been killed, and now you want me to drive you right up to the gates and drop you off? Of course I’m stressed! How would you feel?” She was now fighting back tears.

“I’m sorry.” It was the only thing he could think to say. “Listen, I’m sorry I had to drag you into this, but you are the only person I’ve been able to find who knows where this place is. Believe me, my life would have been a lot easier if I hadn’t had to track you down. I know you don’t trust me, but I will do everything in my power to protect you from any harm. Struggling to keep the situation from escalating, he stammered on. As soon as you drop me off, leave as quickly as you can without drawing suspicion to yourself. As far as they know you are merely a driver. If I’m successful in what I’m trying to do, the least of their concerns will be tracking you down. If I’m not, I think it’ll be the least of your concerns anyway. Either way, you won’t have to worry about them, okay?”

“O…okay,” she stammered.

“Anywhere you want to go for the next hour? I don’t think it wise to sit here on the side of the road until it’s time to go. I’d hate to try and explain to a curious cop what we’re doing here.”

She put the car back in gear and did a quick u-turn on the narrow road. “I don’t have anywhere in particular to go, but I think you’re right about not hanging around. If you don’t mind, I’ll just cruise around until it’s time to drop you off.”

“Not at all,” Alastair replied.

After spending the next hour winding their way down the 85 and through the streets of Castle Rock, they reversed their course and slowly made their way back toward the compound. The nearer they got to it, the more visibly upset Margaret became.