Encrypted (36 page)

“They want you to decode for them, Ronnie, and…” Zach could hardly believe what he was about to say. “And I think you should.”

“After what they did to you?” she hissed, pulling away from him.

“Yes,” Zach rushed on. “This
is
about the world being stricken by
—
”

“I get it,” Ronnie interrupted
,
but then her eyes softened. “You don’t think I get it? I am totally on board with helping
to
save the world
—
”

“Um, with a little help?” Quirk interjected.

Ronnie didn’t even glance in her assistant’s direction as she answered. “But not for
them
.”

Zach could completely understand her reluctance. After the way Grant had treated him? The way he was treating them now? Then
,
add in the fact
that
Ronnie was on the FBI
’
s
T
en
M
ost
W
anted list
for cyber crimes
. Still
,
he needed
her
to hear him out.

“Ronnie
,
they need you alive so
—
”

But she shook her head. “Zach, you know
that
I love your optimism, but they may leave me alive, but they’ll kill you.” Ronnie nodded to
ward
Quirk and the pilot. “All of you.”

“Yep,” the pilot said as he ground his cigar between his teeth
,
all the while flying them through a war zone.

Despite the pilot’s expertise
,
another explosion hit so close
ly
that the wall of the chopper flared red and the helicopter veered so far over, Zach was pretty damn sure
that
they were going to crash
-
land. Finally
,
the pilot righted the
aircraft
, but now they only cruised a few yards above the ground.

“I think they’ve decided
that
even Ronnie is expendable,” Quirk informed them.

And Zach couldn’t argue. Out
of
the front, now cracked, window, the two jets banked sharply
,
coming back for another pass. His own government was going to shoot down a civilian chopper. Grant was willing to kill the very woman who could help him.

“Yeah, we’ve got a problem,” the pilot announced
,
clutching the joystick with both hands. “We’re leaking fuel. I need a plan ‘B
,
’ pronto.”

What plan
B
? But then
,
Zach saw Quirk and Ronnie exchange a look.

“What?” he asked. “You mean you
really
have a plan
‘
B
’
?”

* * *

Um, yes they had a plan
B
, but if plan
A
had been poorly planned with questionable execution, then plan
B
, well
,
plan
B
was suicidal. Ronnie was so
loath
to broach it that Quirk was the one
who
had to speak up.

“We
do
have El
Blinko
.”

Zach looked
at
Quirk
,
then
at
her. “What’s that?”

“An EM gun,” Quirk supplied.

“We
hope
,” Ronnie countered. Even hope was a bit of a stretch.

“That thing will take down my bird,” the pilot grumbled, grinding down on the cigar. However
,
Quirk was quite full of himself.

“No, no, no,” her assistant said as he rummaged around in their gear. “That’s the super
-
cool thing. It is
uni
directional.”

“Sort of,” Ronnie added quickly as Zach frowned. “It’s a prototype.”

Despite the pilot’s original qualms as the chopper rocked back and forth
—
nearly spiraling out of control
—
he seemed more open to the idea than Ronnie.

“How
proto
is proto?”

Ronnie rushed in before Quirk could add his spin to it
.
“Pretty proto.”

Quirk
crossed
his arms. “It
worked
in Zurich.”

“It took out a
city block
in Zurich.” Ronnie answered as the chopper rock
ed
nearly horizontal, forcing her to grip
the seat,
and
then get slammed back against the bulkhead as the pilot righted the craft. Therefore
,
she did not argue as Quirk kept right on putting the EM gun together as they argued.

“
One
,” Quirk emphasized
,
with a single finger up in the air. “Just
one
block.” Ronnie tried to introduce some reality to the situation
,
but Quirk talked right over her. “I’m telling you, I’ve made some modifications. It’s got a
way
tighter range.”

This time
,
when the helicopter bucked, everyone was thrown to the floor. Not that she didn’t mind Zach’s legs wrapped around her, but she would prefer it not to be because he was busy trying to keep a large crate from falling on both of them.

“It’ll work,” Quirk insisted as he rose.

“Or?” Zach asked, holding out a hand to help Ronnie to her feet.

“We go down,” the pilot finished in his surly manner.

Ronnie’s assistant tried to point out the window
,
except
that
the chopper bucked and nearly knocked him on his butt. “Like we aren’t already.”

Quirk must have realized that he had just insulted the pilot
,
for he quickly followed up
with
, “Not that you aren’t the
best
pilot, but
come on
!
Who can stand up to five-on-one action? It is now or never.”

With explosions sounding all around and them leaking fuel, what choice did any of them have? The pilot gave a curt nod.

“
Goody
!” Quirk exclaimed as
he
put the finishing touches on the device. “I’ve been utilizing the spark
-
gap model of electromagnetic
—
”

“Okay,” Ronnie stated
,
“
e
ven
I
don’t care. Just get it out.”

Quirk pouted just a bit
, and
then pulled out his prize. Unfortunately
,
he had modeled it after the classic Flash Gordon ray gun
—s
omething that didn
’
t escape the pilot.

“I changed my mind,” he grunted.

But there was no turning back. “We’ve
got
to try,” Ronnie said as she held her hand out for the gun, but Quirk pulled it to his chest.

“It’s my design.”

“Since when have you
shot
a real gun?”

Wounded but practical, Quirk went to turn the weapon over to her, but Zach intercepted it.

“And since when have
you
shot at real people?” he asked.

“Yeah, but
—
” Before she could fully respond, Zach unlatched the helicopter door, aimed at the planes and fired. The gun revved, making a wicked science fiction
whooshing beep
sound
,
and
then shot out glitter along with a light show.

“What the
—?
”
Zach asked himself, in shock.

Ronnie tried to brace Zach’s hand, but before she could, the gun actually fired. As in fired big time. As in the recoil
threw
Zach against the bulkhead
—
nearly knocking him unconscious.

“Sorry
.
I should have explained that
the
gun packs the punch of the equivalent of 250,000 joules of energy.”

Zach shook his head, trying to clear his vision. “That would have been good to know.”

The chopper swooped and dodged as missiles headed their way.

“Not only didn’t your damn gun work
—
”

“It worked!” Quirk insisted. “Just wait!”

But the missiles kept coming.

“I’m waiting…” the pilot said, not sounding at all patient.

“They must have maximum shielding,” Quirk concluded, turning a knob on the gun. “This thing is going to eleven.”

Ronnie took up the gun, since
,
you know, Zach was still tilted
at
a weird angle. She braced herself against the door and fired at the approaching missiles.

Just feet from hitting their side, the missiles sputtered
,
losing speed and altitude, then dropped from the sky, crashing to the earth. Ronnie didn’t wait. She took aim with the holographic sight and fired at the planes.

The gun revved
,
and at least she was partially prepared for the kick. Her shoulder
, however,
might never be the same again. At least she wasn’t on her butt. The lead plane’s wings tilted precariously as its partner’s nose suddenly dipped down. The two nearly collided with one another on their way down. The canopies popped off one jet as the pilot ejected.

His plane crashed in a fiery pyre while the other righted itself, streaking out of range.

“One down. Four to go
!
” she yelled over the wind as Zach gave her a weak smile while pressing the wound on the back of his head.

For the first time in a while, their helicopter actually flew
in a
straight
line
. It was a weird sensation. As the other two planes made their run
s
, Ronnie took aim. She fired, but the pilots must have caught on to the weapon
,
as they both
backed
away, trying to outrace the invisible enemy. One succeeded. The other began circling and circling to the right. The EM burst must have knocked out their left rudder controls.

Ronnie would take it. “Two down. Three to go.”

Without missing a beat, she aimed at the plane streaking by
,
and fired. The thing dropped a good hundred feet in the air before rolling beyond the horizon.

“We’ve only got one plane and the chase chopper to worry about,” Ronnie informed Zach. He did his best to look optimistic.

“Yeah, about that,” Quirk
began
. She turned to face her assistant. She did not want to know what was about to come out of his mouth. “You only have one more shot.”

“What?” she looked down at the EM gun, wishing she had taken more interest in Quirk’s side project.

“Remember?” Quirk asked
,
and
then launched into an imitation of her that even Ronnie had to give him credit for. “Why pay for more than five shots? When are we ever going to need more than
five
EM pulses?”

Damn it
!
She should have known
that
once she got mixed up with Zach
,
they would, at some point, clearly need six EM shots. But alas, she was too busy manufacturing an iPod to communicate with the FBI agent chasing her to think of it.

Ronnie turned to the pilot. “Up to you.”

“If you can get the plane, I can take the chopper.”

You know, she could see why Quirk was drooling.

“I could take the stick,” Ronnie suggested to the pilot.

“
You
can fly a helicopter?” Zach asked as he rose gingerly from the floor.

Quirk snorted. “Sure. If Comanche Chopper Extreme counts.”

As the plane made its way around to make another run at them, Ronnie helped Zach to a seat.