path to conquest (26 page)

With a splendid flourish, he stabbed the keyboard one last time. The screen came ablaze with letters dancing from one side to the other, then abruptly went black.

Neville held his breath for a few endless seconds, eyes wide.

At the center of the computer screen, a single Visitor word appeared, one letter at a time. Seven letters. The word began to flash like a beacon and Neville More pumped a triumphant fist over his head.

“That’s it—you’re all mine!”

Reclining in her favorite lounge chair, Diana unconsciously tapped her foot to the stirring martial cadences of music by Wagner, the German composer. One of her staff had thoughtfully given her the tape. To her surprise, Diana had actually found it enjoyable, even inspiring.

A discordant chiming interrupted, and Diana reached for her intercom.

“I left instructions not to be disturbed unless an emergency arose. This better
be
an emergency, Ilene.”

The frightened face of a young officer appeared on Diana’s screen. “It is, Commander,” Ilene said quickly, running trembling fingers through her curly hair.

“Well, what is it?”

“We’ve detected tampering at the Persian Gulf facility.”

“Status!” Diana barked as she stalked onto the bridge.

Ilene’s slender face reflected her anxiety at coping with an angry superior. “We’re still trying to ascertain exactly what’s wrong down there, Commander.”

Diana snapped around toward the female reptilian at the communications station. “Summon Lydia to the bridge immediately.”

“She’s already on her way.

The hatch swished open and the blond security chief strode in, giving Diana her most arrogant half smile. “Another one of your plans about to go awry, Diana dear?”

Diana’s only answer was a threatening flash in her eyes before turning back to Ilene, the ruffled computer tech. “Well?” she demanded.

Ilene chewed her lower lip as she tapped commands into the console, commands the machine seemed bent on disregarding. “I’m sorry, Diana. . . . The system won’t respond.”

“Is it operative, or has it been destroyed?”

“No, no, it’s still on line.”

“Then we have no choice. Order it to start bacterial injection into the pipeline,” Diana said.
“Immediately."

Ilene did as she was told, then moaned to herself when the computer refused to cooperate. The young tech tried again, obviously hoping to avoid reporting another failure to Diana. But the commander’s patience was gone.

“It’s not working, Ilene
—is
it?”

“No, Commander. It’s being overridden at the source. I don’t under—”

Diana was no longer listening. “Lydia, have my shuttle prepared for immediate launch.”

“You’re going down there?” Lydia was perceptibly hesitant. “This is precisely why I ordered us to reposition over the Middle East. In case something went wrong, I’d be able to personally take command. Any objections, darling?” Diana said in a stinging voice.

“Just that it could be dangerous. You should delegate the task—”

“I’m touched by your concern. Is there something specific you’d care to tell me about?”

“No. Just general caution.”

“Well, Lydia, since you are security chief, I’ll feel much safer if you come with me.”

Lydia stiffened. “Risk both our lives? I think 1 should stay aboard in case—”

“I’m not asking. I’m ordering.” Diana turned and moved toward the exit.

Her face drained of expression, Lydia followed.

“Surgeon to Ferryman, Surgeon to Ferryman, come in,” Neville said into his small walkie-talkie.

After a short crackle of static, Pete answered, “Come in, Surgeon. Ready for pickup?”

“Negative. First operation’s a success. Diana tried to start bacterial injection and failed. I beat her to the punch.” “Don’t sound so happy,” said Pete. “That means they know something’s up. They’re probably on their way down right now. Let us come and get you.”

“No! I’ve got to erase the system memories.”

“Neville, don’t be an idiot,” Pete growled. “You don’t have time for heroics.”

“this has nothing to do with heroics, Forsythe. I want my full measure of revenge on Diana. And you’re not going to cheat me of that. I’ve got no time left for chitchat. I’ll call you when I’m done. Out.”

With that, Neville closed the transmission channel and tossed the two-way radio onto the floor. He went back to work on the computer keyboard and ignored Pete’s voice squawking from the speaker: “Neville . . . Neville . . . come in, you shithead!
Come in!”

“Goddamn him!” Pete snapped.

Abdul sat up in the rocking Zodiac. “What are you going to do about it, Yank?”

“We’re gonna go get him, that’s what.”

Abdul leaned forward to grab the paddle, but Pete stopped him.

“Forget that—start the motor. We don’t have time for caution.”

Diana swept into the docking bay with Lydia and two sturdy security troopers in tow. They moved directly to the waiting command shuttle and boarded it, Diana taking the pilot’s seat. She noticed Lydia’s continuing discomfort. “Certain you don’t have anything to tell me?”

“I said what I had to say, Diana. If there’s danger, junior officers should be sent to reconnoiter, not command personnel.”

Diana fired up the shuttle’s maneuvering thrusters. “Commanders take responsibility, Lydia.”

The blond officer had no comment. Diana accelerated out the hangar port and banked the small craft steeply as they flew down along the Saudi Arabian coastline.

The Zodiac’s little outboard labored against the Gulf’s currents. Abdul kept correcting for the drift by angling the rudder handle. Pete had a radio transmitter at his lips.

“Neville, you son of a bitch, we’re on our way. Estimate arrival in three minutes. Get the hell out of there and be ready.

No time for waiting around for you to satisfy your goddamned ego.”

“Uh, Yank,” Abdul said from the back of the launch. “I think we’ve got some additional company.”

“Huh?”

“Look up, about three o’clock.”

With a quick mental alignment, Pete looked over his right shoulder, up into the dark southern sky. There was no mistaking it. The duckbilled, pod-shaped form of a Visitor shuttle was approaching at high speed, swinging wide around the drilling rig.

“Diana?” Pete wondered.

“Who else?” There was a silent pause as they both considered the implications. Abdul spoke first. “We keep going, we could be her first target.”

Pete grunted in acknowledgment. “We turn around, Neville’s defed.”

“You're in charge, Yank.”

With gritted teeth, Pete was disturbed to sift his own thoughts and find he was thinking,
After what he did, why risk our lives for Neville More?

Lavi Mayer glanced aimlessly out the van’s side window. Something, some shadowy shape overhead caught his eye and he sat upright.

“What’s wrong?” Lauren whispered, her voice thick with fatigue.

But Lavi didn’t reply. Instead, he slowly opened the VW’s door and stood on the lower sill for a better view. Lauren leaned over his seat, trying to glimpse what he saw. She couldn’t, so she got out on her own side and walked around to where he stood, his elbows on top of the door.

“Trouble, Lauren.”

She rubbed her eyes, trying to sharpen her vision. Then she saw it, too—the Visitor shuttle circling the Gulf port.

“Oh, God,” she said. “Pete and Abdul are out in open water.”

Lauren and her Israeli companion looked at each other, faces clouded by the realization there was nothing they could do. Whatever was about to happen, they would only be spectators.

* * *

Lydia adjusted the ground scanner. Something had attracted her attention and she narrowed the field. Her eyes revealed a flicker of satisfaction. “Diana.”

“What have we here?” Diana scrutinized the schematic grid displayed on the control panel screen. Her practiced fingers keyed the computer to a higher magnification, then switched to an actual visual analog—two people in a small boat scudding across the surface of the Persian Gulf below the Visitor aircraft. “Triangulate and track, Lydia.”

Lydia reached for the keyboard, tapping in the appropriate commands. “Tracking, Commander. Obviously, they’re with the resistance,” she said, an accusatory hardness in her tone. “Now you know where your trusted aide Neville More went when he absconded with Dr. Donnenfeld under his arm.”

It was Diana’s turn to squirm now, and Lydia pressed her advantage. “Would you care to bet on whether More is on that platform right now? He’s the only one who’d be able to break the security system. After all, he did create it. You gave him every chance he needed to sabotage your precious project. I warned you not to trust a human traitor.”

“I didn’t trust him,” Diana snarled. “I don’t trust
anyone
— least of all you. If he’s down there, I’ll have the last word. But first ...”

“Oh, shit.” A chill made Pete shiver. No question about it—this was cold, solid fear. As the Zodiac held on course for the offshore drilling rig, the intruding alien ship was diving right for
them.

“Abdul, do something!”

“Hold on, Yank.” The Arab prince jerked the tiller as far to starboard as it would go. The inflatable craft bucked as it broadsided a rising swell, then heeled over so violently it seemed certain to roll. The shuttle loosed a volley of laser bolts that sizzled the water where the Zodiac would have been had it not changed direction so sharply.

All Pete could do was grasp the straps attached to the boat’s rubbery side walls and hold on for the ride. The rest was up to Abdul’s panic navigating. The Zodiac shuddered as it was forced to skip across its own wake. Abdul threw it into a serpentine pattern of desperate turns, and Pete’s stomach heaved with every gut-tossing swerve. But he noticed his partner was aiming for the safe haven of land.

Up above them their hunter was making a second pass.

“Mother Ship to command shuttle—
urgent!"

The quavering voice of Ilene, the young computer officer, blurted from the speaker. Diana was intent on her next strafing attack and Lydia took the call.

“Shuttle here. What—”

Ilene cut her off. “We have a red alert—critical computer malfunction.”

Diana could hear the alarm klaxon sounding in the background and she veered off her intended assault.

Braced in the bottom of the boat to keep from being pitched overboard, Pete peered wonderingly toward the sky as the enemy ship whipped past them without firing a shot. “I don’t get it.”

“Neither do I,” said Abdul. “And I don’t care.”

“Let’s swing back—”

“Are you bonkers!” Abdul screamed. “There’s not a bloody thing we can do for him, Pete.”

With that, Abdul straightened their heading and the Zodiac raced toward shore.

Diana’s face was taut with frustration. “Status, Lieutenant. ”

“We have—we have a complete memory breakdown in the science data banks, Commander,” Ilene radioed. “We can’t stop it, and it’s spreading to other banks. If we don’t take immediate action, we project the malfunction will destroy
all
systems memories and programming throughout the entire fleet.”

Diana looked to her second in command. “Analysis confirmed, Diana. All our shipboard computers are linked. The only chance to halt the spread is to purge all science banks and totally disconnect them from the rest of the system.”

“That means we’ll lose all science data.”

“
Now
, Diana. ” There was no pleasure in Lydia’s voice. This was a shared defeat.

Diana pounded her clenched fist on the control panel. “Purge science banks, Uene,” she hissed. “Cut them off
now.”
She took a deep breath, a growl rolling savagely in her throat. “I want Neville More.”

As Diana dipped the shuttle’s nose for an attack on the drilling platform, Lydia swiftly pecked at the computer keyboard. “It’s too late, Diana.” A single phrase appeared on the readout screen:
platform sequence d engaged.
Then, numbers: —-10—9—8—

“Diana, you’ve got to pull up!”

“What are you talking about? He’s down there.”

“No time to explain.” Lydia’s tongue flickered across her lips nervously.

The silent count: —4—3—

Lydia wrenched the steering control from Diana’s hands and sheered out of their dive. The shuttle’s frame moaned in metallic protest and the engines whined under the strain of an emergency climb nearly straight up. G-forces pinned them back into their seats.

Behind them, the Gulf rig exploded, rocketing shards of metal and a rippling fireball high into the night sky.

The shock wave slammed into the fleeing Zodiac, and Abdul wrestled the engine tiller with all his weight. Flaming debris arced through the sky, changing darkness to daylight, and the churning water sent out concentric circles of turbulence that hit the launch just as Abdul was slowing down to negotiate the tight space between the pier and the freighter. The Zodiac pitched a bit, but Pete managed to grab the piling and hook the anchor rope around it. He was already scrambling up the hanging ladder as Abdul cut the outboard motor. When he got to the top, he swung a hand down to pull the Saudi up the last couple of rungs.

Secondary blasts continued out at the platform, which was a fiery skeleton now. Taking one final look back, Pete and Abdul sprinted for the van. Lauren spotted them, started the engine, and was already rolling when they leaped through the open side doors on the run.

* * *

Like a bird of prey returning to its nest with empty talons, Diana’s shuttle swooped toward the Mother Ship.

“Don’t worry,” Lydia insisted. “I’m sure Neville More is quite dead. He had to be on the platform at the time we noticed his tampering. That boat was heading out when you shot at it, no doubt on its way to pick up More. It never got there. But he might be alive if
I
hadn’t taken precautions.”

Diana continued looking straight ahead, her darkly beautiful human face glowering. “
What
precautions? I want an explanation, Lydia.”

Lydia smiled, not bothering to hide her gloating. “I didn’t trust Neville, and you wouldn’t heed my warnings. So I had no choice but to act on my own. I programmed an automatic destruct sequence into the platform’s circuitry. It was set to engage if cut off from the main computer system.”