Special Talents (45 page)

"Go on, Richard," said Chang. "I'll handle this."

Moser just smiled at Jeremy and then began to move away from the Capital Building. Chang also smiled as she moved toward Jeremy. He had no delusions about what she was going to do. But he could also tell she wasn't using an ability. Whatever she was able to do, it was some skill she had learned.

Jeremy backed away from her instinctively. She obviously had some skill or ability that allowed her to kill and make it look like natural causes. And she was proficient in the martial arts. She had proven that at the impound lot. As she reached Jeremy she reached up intending to grab his neck. Lord only knew what type of death she had planned for him.

Suddenly a hand struck out from Jeremy's side knocking Chang's hand away. An instant later someone kicked Chang in the chest causing her to stumble back several feet. A moment later Janet stepped between Jeremy and Chang.

"You must be Shannon Chang," said Janet taking a defensive stance. "I've been wanting to meet you. I've been wanting to 'thank you' for what you did to my friends at the police impound lot."

"Well, Ms. Liu. You're braver than I gave you credit for. I thought you were simply Dr. Sloan's little puppet. That you would never act on your own. It seems I was mistaken."

"I'm no one's puppet, sister. I make my own decisions. Unlike you. Simply doing whatever Moser tells you. And you're not even Muslim. Why would you help him murder millions of people?"

"I have my reasons," said Chang. "You should join us. Together we could be unstoppable."

"Naw," said Janet. "I wouldn't look good wrapped in a bed sheet with a towel wrapped around my face. I think women should be allowed to think as they please and do what they want. I'm not cut out to be some crazy Muslim fanatics' concubine."

"I'm no concubine. I do as I please. And no one, not even you, can stop me."

Suddenly Chang struck out. It was obvious she had fully intended to kill Janet with a single blow. The stakes were high. If she lost, at the very least she'd spend the rest of her life in prison. And she was clearly not about to do that.

But Janet seemed ready for the attack. She easily deflected Chang's attack and counterattacked with one of her own. She struck Chang along the side of the head causing her to stumble back even farther. Chang just smiled at Janet and attacked again.

For several moments the two sparred. Attacking and counterattacking the two seemed too evenly matched for either to win. Jeremy could do little but stand and watch. He had no weapon and he had no training in the martial arts. Chang had all ready proven she was more than a match for him. But against Janet she seemed to have met her match.

Suddenly Janet struck out intending to fell Chang with a blow to the face. With his vision, Jeremy could tell that Janet was using her strength ability. And he could also tell she had pushed it as far as it would go. Once she connected with that blow, Chang would be incapacitated. Or ever worse. When Janet connected with that blow, using her incredible strength, it was very likely she would snap Chang's neck like a dried twig.

Chang twisted to one side barely missing the blow. As she did, she reached up with her left hand and grabbed Janet's wrist, spinning her around. An instant later Chang used the first and middle fingers of her right hand to strike Janet in the neck. It wasn't much of a blow. Barely a quick jab. But apparently it was enough to do the trick. Janet collapsed on the ground and lay there motionless.

Chang all but ignored Janet. Her opponent no longer a threat she obviously had decided to finish what she had started. Jeremy backed away from Chang knowing she would kill him next. She took a step toward him and suddenly several people came around the side of the grove of trees. She looked at them for a moment and then smiled.

"I guess this will have to wait for another time, Dr. Sloan," she said. "Until next time, then."

Chang turned and ran into the darkness in the same direction Moser had gone only a few moments before. As she disappeared into the darkness, several Secret Service agents arrived. Two of them stopped at Jeremy while the rest followed Chang.

Jeremy knelt down and checked Janet. She still had a heartbeat. She was simply unconscious. When she had lost consciousness she had stopped using her ability. She moaned slightly as she opened her eyes and looked around. Seeing that she was okay she instructed the two agents to stay with her and then hurried back around the grove of trees to see what was going on with the third man. Jeremy rubbed his head. He was beginning to get a headache. He knew from experience that meant he had used his ability too much.

As Jeremy rounded the grove of trees was the third man standing very near the Capital Building. He was surrounded by more than a dozen Secret Service agents, all of whom had their sidearms drawn and were pointing them directly at the man. He was dressed in a suit and Jeremy could tell he had an identification card hanging from his lapel, although he couldn't tell what kind of card it was.

The man stood looking at the group. Oddly, he was also wearing a large backpack. It seemed to be full from the way it bulged. And in one hand the man was holding some kind of device that had a cord running from it to the backpack. He held the device high and was looking at the agents one after another.

"Hold your fire," Scarborough ordered. "He's holding a dead man's switch."

A dead man's switch. Jeremy knew of them. They had originally been designed to use in modern trains. In the event an engineer became incapacitated, say due to a heart attack or other calamity, the dead man's switch would automatically operate stopping the train and possibly preventing a wreck or other mishap. Since their invention, they had been applied to many other areas as well.

In this case it wasn't hard to tell what its function was. The device in the man's hand was the detonator for the bomb. The bomb that he carried in the backpack he wore. It was a simple device. Press the plunger on the switch and the bomb was activated. If he let go of the plunger for any reason, the bomb would detonate. Which meant if any of the agents shot him, they'd set off the bomb. Their only recourse was to disable the switch so the bomb couldn't be detonated.

"Give it up," Scarborough said to the man. "There's no way out. There's no reason anyone has to be hurt. Deactivate the switch and I promise you won't be harmed."

"My name is Harold Baker," said the man. "I do this in the name of almighty Allah and the oppressed Muslims of the world that the American government has sought to subjugate and murder. Allah has declared that those who oppressed the faithful and righteous of the Muslim faith must pay for their acts of heresy and blasphemy. Allahu Akbar."

Allahu Akbar. Translated it meant "Allah is the greatest". It was the opening declaration of every Islamic prayer. And it was also the phrase uttered by many suicide bombers just before they detonated their bombs. As Jeremy and the others watched in horror, Baker opened the hand that was holding the dead man's switch to the bomb on his back. As the switch fell from his hand, he closed his eyes and raised his head to the heavens.

At almost the same instant someone rushed from the crowd of agents that was surrounding Baker. Jeremy recognized Simon as the latter tackled Baker and the two went tumbling to the ground. But it was all ready too late. Baker had released the dead man's switch. An instant later, the bomb detonated.

Jeremy's hands came up involuntarily to shield his face. He knew it was a futile move the moment he did it. As the bomb detonated he knew they would all be vaporized almost instantly. For just an instant he wondered if he would feel any pain. Or if it would all be over too fast for any pain to register.

He heard the explosion and saw a bright flash of light. But the impact of the bomb never came. As he lowered his arms he saw the explosion even now beginning to dissipate. Everyone else stood around looking. They all seemed confused. No one was injured. The fragments of the bomb flew out in all directions but passed harmless through the bodies of the men and women gathered around.

"What happened?" questioned one of the Secret Service agents. "Why aren't we all dead?"

Suddenly Jeremy realized what had happened. Simon had tackled Baker. In the instant when he had first made physical contact with the bomber, Simon had used his ability to phase them both; along with the bomb Baker was wearing. In that split second between when Baker had released the dead man's switch and the bomb had detonated, they had been phased.

Simon had often said how his phasing made him almost like a ghost. Insubstantial to the "real" world. It was how he had been able to get into places and steal what he had needed. In his phased state, most security devices were useless. Motion detectors and head detectors didn't register him. He could move about as he pleased without any fear of being detected.

It had worked the same way with Baker. In their phased state the explosion of the bomb had been like watching it in a movie. While they could see the explosion, and hear it, it was absolutely no threat to the "real" world.

"Simon," Mariah gasped as Jeremy realized that the rest of the team would also figure out what had happened.

Simon would have known that in their phased state the explosion would not have been a threat to anyone else. Even an atomic explosion would have presented no danger to the "real" world. But it would have been different for him and Baker. The explosion would have affected them as any explosion would have. Simon had sacrificed himself to save the team and all the Secret Service agents in front of the Capital Building. And the untold millions of others that would have been affected by the atomic explosion. Just then Janet walked up to the group, the two Secret Service agents with her in tow.

"Sorry, Jeremy," she said. "I tried to take Chang out. I pushed my ability to its limit hoping to take her down. Unfortunately she was better than I anticipated. She was able to avoid my attack."

"Are you okay?" Jeremy asked. "What happened? You were unconscious."

"Like I said, I pushed my ability to its limit," responded Janet. "I guess it was too much. I passed out. When I came to these two were standing over me and told me what happened."

"I guess when you pushed your ability your body hardened to the point where Chang couldn't use her skill against you," said Jeremy. "She was probably convinced she had killed you which is why she then turned on me. Luckily help arrived just then and she decided to make her escape. If she hadn't I have no doubt she would have killed me. Thanks, Janet. You saved my life."

"What happened? James asked, rushing out to the group gathered around. Conroy was close at hand.

"The bomber has been stopped," said Scarborough, a note of sadness in his voice. Even though Scarborough had no abilities, he was very familiar with the abilities of the rest of the team. He, too, would have realized what had just happened with Simon.

"There was an explosion," said James. "I heard it from inside the building."

"A . . . minor explosion," said Scarborough. "No one was injured. It's all over now."

"I'll go let the security in the building know the suicide bomber has been stopped," said Conroy as he turned to head back into the Capital Building.

"What do you mean a 'minor explosion'?" James asked. "We were told that there was a nuclear device. Those don't create a 'minor explosion'."

Jeremy thought for a moment. James was right. Even in their phased state, it should still have been a nuclear blast. He had seen films of some of the early nuclear tests. The explosions were always massive accompanied by what was usually described as a mushroom-shaped cloud. But there had been no massive explosion. And no mushroom cloud. From all appearances, it had been nothing more than a normal explosion.

"Richard," said Jeremy, "that wasn't a nuclear explosion. Even assuming Baker was carrying a minimal load the explosion should have been much larger. I don't think there was any nuclear material in the bomb."

"It looked more like about 20 pounds of C4," said one of the Secret Service agents.

"Agent Monroe is one of our explosives experts," explained James. "If he says it was 20 pounds of C4 then you can bet that's what it was. But if the suicide bomber was carrying just a regular bomb, where is the nuclear device we were warned about? And how come no one was injured when the bomb went off?"

"Someone was," Conrad choked out. "Baker was killed. So was Simon."

"One of our team members," said Scarborough. "He sacrificed himself to save everyone else."

"I'm sorry," said James. "I was hoping we could do this without anyone getting hurt. I'll be sure to inform the President of your sacrifice. I'm sure he'll want to do something for your man's family. But at least the danger is now passed. The bomber is dead and the threat to those gathered inside is passed."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Agent James," said Jeremy.

"What do you mean?" James asked.

"Sun Tzu," said Jeremy.

"The Art of War?" questioned James. "I've read it. What does that have to do with any of this?"

"I read it, too, in college," said Jeremy. "In it Sun Tzu talks about spies. Specifically he mentions the doomed spy."