RESTORATION (a science fiction novel) (RESTORATION (the science fiction trilogy)) (66 page)

The rack ends were wider than the servers themselves and would block the view of his hand sticking through from the camera in the next isle.  He put the mirror in his left hand and put his flashlight in his mouth.  He put the cable in his right hand and stuck it through to the other side.  He started moving along sideways on his knees looking and feeling for an empty port.  After several minutes his finger finally fell into an empty hole. 
“Thank God!”
 

His whole body was beginning to cramp up from the awkward position he was in.  He fished the cable through a little further with his right hand and turned his head sideways to shove both arms through just as far as he could.  He was working blind now because his arms were barely long enough to manipulate the cable in his fingertips even with his head turned and his chest pressed firmly against the servers. 

He struggled for several minutes turning the cable around a few degrees trying to get it aligned so that it would plug in.  He had such a tight bend in the cable that it kept springing back on him before he could get it in far enough for it to lock.  He was about to give up he heard the click. 
“Yes, it was in!”

He pulled his arms out and rested for a minute.  He leaned back and arched his back to relax the muscles that had begun to cramp in his back and legs.  Then he realized again how sore he was from the wild romp with Alice and he smiled at himself. 

“She was something else!”  

He reached through again to make sure the cable was routed smoothly in between the others so that it would blend in.  He knew the loose end didn’t need to be plugged in anywhere but it shouldn’t be seen either.  He pushed it into the middle of a large bundle of wires that passed through from one side of the rack to the other.  There were several different colors of cables that had
been used and it appeared fairly random.  The black cable that John had provided blended in nicely as there were a lot of other black ones. 

Looking for this thing would be like finding a needle in a haystack.  It would not be discovered by eye, it would have to be someone who tracked it and knew exactly which port it was in.  According to John that was not going to happen because he had encrypted it so well that not even a guy like Glitch would be able to trace it. 

He put his sweat shirt back on and packed up his mirror and flashlight.  He headed out but something wasn’t right, he went back and looked around and then he realized his hat wasn’t on his head, it was in between the server racks.         
“That would have been bad!”
He retrieved his hat, put it on and headed out. 

Just to be sure he looked around again and checked his pockets to make sure he didn’t leave anything else.  He got the stool back out and climbed up to retrieve the loop off the camera.  He rehearsed it in his mind again just like before.  He removed it and reconnected the cam in less than two seconds.  He jumped down and put the stool back.
        
“Phew!  Smooth as silk.” 

He peeked out into the
hall, the coast was clear so he exited calmly with his head down slightly.  He went to the men’s room where Todd and his friend should be and stuck his head in.

“Oh sorry,” he said, and went right back out.  That was the signal to Todd that he was done, mission complete.

The whole procedure had only taken about thirty minutes but it seemed more like an hour to Toby.  Todd stayed and drank the rest of the beer with Ronny.  They were having a good conversation and Todd was thinking he might be able to get Ronny on board with what they were doing. 

Ronny had arrived there about six months after Todd and the two of them hit it off quite good from the beginning.  Back then everyone thought they were all going to get out and be rich but since then they had all seen Cyrus kill off over half his force for one infraction or another.  He would just recruit more people to take their places and he made examples of people early on that disobeyed. 

Lately though, he had backed off the killing and that had some people spooked and wondering what would happen next.  Everyone was so terrified of him that they pretty much towed the line.  Todd and Ronny could easily be terminated if they got caught doing what they were doing right now.  The thing was, they were both so well connected with all the other guards that whoever caught them would just wind up joining them. 

Beer was a premium commodity in that place; a guard would probably let you start a small fire in Glitch’s office if you gave him enough beer and a Cuban cigar.  The beer was almost gone and Ronny had been away from his post a little too long so Todd made his move.
         “Hey man, you ever think about trying to get out of this gig?”  Ronny was a little surprised at the question.     

“Well, yeah I guess I have but I thought you were a lifer man, what gives?”
         “Well I don’t know I was just thinking the other day that if there was a way to get this damn bomb outta my gourd, then I could blow this pop stand and go start a new life doing something cool.”
         “Like what?” Ronny asked.
         “I don’t know, maybe start my own custom hot rod shop, I’ve always loved old muscle cars.” 

Ronny looked at his finger nails and rubbed his thumbnail across the nail on his forefinger as if it had a snag on it.
         “Hmm, sounds like a fun thing to do, but uh, how do you propose a guy could get free and clear of this whole mess?”
         “I don’t know exactly, let’s go over to the server room and talk, don’t want to get you in trouble you know.”
         “Yeah good idea, I’ve been away a good while now.” 

Not five minutes after they went over there another guard stuck his head in.
         “Hey Ronny, just checkin on ya.  Hey Todd,” he said, and then he was gone. 

They went back to their conversation.  Ronny told him he would get out of there if he ever got the chance, maybe Todd would like an apprentice in his new hot rod business. 

Todd said, “well Buddy let’s make a pact, the first one of us that sees an opening comes and gets the other one and we go for it.”  Ronny smiled.     

“It’s a deal buddy,” and they did a fist bump to seal the agreement. 

“Well it’s gettin late Pal, I gotta get up early tomorrow and head out to the house to play Daddy to Toby again.”  They both got a laugh out of that as Todd was leaving.

Out at the safe house Glitch and Cyrus had entered the garage and put the door down.  The two guards went in first and discovered the situation and came back out to get them.  Cyrus walked in and immediately began looking around for clues.     

“Where in the hell was Dodge?”
  The prize that he had waited on for so long. 
Where were his men? 
He had sent two of his best guards to carry out this assignment.  Not only were they trustworthy they were tough as nails.  Nobody in their right minds would mess with those two gorillas.   

Glitch went into the kitchen and saw the note and chuckled a little to himself. 
“Oh boy, this isn’t going to be good!  But he can’t blame me for this one no way no how.”
He had kept this entire plan from Glitch so this was all on Cyrus, no one to blame but himself. 

“Um, Cyrus, you might want to come in here and take a look at this.”
         “What is it Glitch?” Cyrus snapped as he entered the room.  Glitch just pointed to the note and then watched with restrained delight as Cyrus read it to himself.  Glitch could see his lips moving to the very words he had just read himself, and then noticed a big vein starting to throb on Cyrus’s forehead.  What they didn’t know was that the note was actually left there by the Black Ops Team Cleaners, not Cyrus’s men.  It read . . .

syris
, we kwit!  don’t wast yur time on our head boms becauz we are alredy long gown.  we aksidently killed yur buddy dodge so we chucked him in a dumbster and set it a fire.  sorry yur hole rullin the world thing did no work out!  ha ha   p.s.  see ya in hell!

Cyrus began to shake and convulse with anger.
         “Guard!” He yelled.  One of the guards came running.

“Yes Sir,” he said.
         “Do you know the men that I dispatched for this assignment today?”
         “I don’t know Sir, what were there names?”
         “Their names?” Cyrus repeated.  “Their names were 735 and 742, do you know them?”
         “Well Sir, I do know Brian, I mean 742, I know him Sir.”
         “Is he a good man, can he be trusted?”
         “Oh, yes Sir . . .”

Before he could say another word Cyrus reached out and crushed his neck with one violent grasp that caused the veins to pop out even more in Cyrus’s forehead.
         “You’re a liar!”  Cyrus screamed as he released him and his dead body hit the floor like a sack of flour. 

The other guard had heard the commotion and came to see what
was the matter.  Cyrus looked at him as he entered.    

“Did you know this man?”
         “Uh, well Sir, not very well.”  He knew him plenty well but had overheard part of what had been said already and just hoped to get out of this alive.
         “Good,” Cyrus said, “Let this be an example to you, sometimes a man is known by the company he keeps.  Did you know 735 and 742?” 

The guard looked at Glitch and he nodded his head very slightly in a “no” motion to the guard.
         “Uh, no Sir,” I didn’t.  He answered.
         “Good, check the perimeter, see if you can find any clues as to where these idiots 735 and 742 are off to.  When you get done with that you can dispose of 718 here.”
         “Yes Sir,” he said as he ran from the room more out of fear than obedience. 

Glitch stood there for a moment and looked at 718 lying there dead on the floor.
         “Ya know Cyrus, I happen to know that 718 was one of your best and most loyal guards.”
         “So what are you saying Glitch, that I was wrong for killing him?”
         “Nooooo . . . , I wouldn’t say that” Glitch said as he opened the fridge.
         “Wow,” he said, “This is stocked really well,” he turned his head around and looked at Cyrus.

“Want a sandwich?”
         “Are you making it?”
         “Um, sure I guess so,” replied Glitch.  I was gonna make me one anyway.”  He began recklessly tossing everything he wanted out of the fridge on to the island counter top behind him.  Cyrus was yanking drawers clear out of the tracks onto the floor.     

“Where did these idiots keep the bread?” He said.  Glitch looked around.     

“Try the little roll top thing by the flour can there, the one that says bread.”  Cyrus ripped the front of it clear off.     

“Yip, here it is.”

They were almost done throwing their sandwiches together when the guard came back in to report.  He was surprised they were making food, it was out of character for these two.          “Um, Sir, I have checked the perimeter and only found a few drops of blood just outside the garage door and some marks like something had been dragged a few feet across the garage floor.  I can’t say for certain it was a person, might have been an object instead.  I went one block in each direction and there is no sign of the van they were driving.” 

“All right, well done, you want a big ole sandwich?”
         “Um, okay,” he said.  He started building one.
         “Yeah, we might as well eat this 735 and 742 sure aren’t gonna be needing this stuff now,” joked Cyrus.  Cyrus was chewing a big mouth full of sandwich as he pulled out a modified skyphone from his pocket.
         “Let’s see, destruct sequence.” The keys were beeping as he entered a complex sequence.  He paused and said, “and 735 dash 742, oh, whoops, don’t want that, that kills everyone from 735 to 742!” 

They all started laughing and spitting bits of sandwich all over.

“Oh my god!” Said Glitch, “you almost killed seven guys.”
         “Okay let’s see,” said Cyrus, “back space that out and enter 735 comma 742 and enter.  Okay, they’re both dead.  Those two idiots won’t be writing any more stupid notes.”  They all three started laughing hysterically this time.  The guard still had a mouth full of sandwich.  He stopped chewing and talked out the corner of his mouth.     

“Thank God you caught that I’m 739!”  They all laughed even harder.
         “Big difference between a dash and a comma, huh?”  Said Glitch.

Chapter 31
   
 
Out at the farm Dodge was lying on a table.  He was being neatly patched up by Caitlin.  John had acquired a new laser stitch 3000, the latest in wound repair technology.  It utilized body soluble mesh and a spray resin that transformed into a flexible patch when hit with the laser.  The repaired area was stronger than skin and cured instantly.  The mesh contained antibiotics which were absorbed into the skin as the mesh dissolved during the healing process.  It was a fantastic alternative to the old methods that used messy awkward mesh patches and resins that had to be hand mixed and then quickly applied.  The new methods left little or no scars and healed faster.  He had two broken ribs that required sonic bonding and several other scratches and bruises but nothing life threatening.

The two dead guards were being observed by Alan and Jason.  John predicted that when Cyrus discovered the note he would likely detonate the charges in their brains.  Sure enough they heard something and saw their heads jump up off the table when they went off.  They were already dead so it made no difference but it confirmed that Cyrus knew Dodge was missing.