Chapter 16
CHAPTER
Dekker cast a glance back over his shoulder. “It looks like almost everyone else has boarded. I’m afraid our time together here has come to an end.”
“You’re just going to leave us down here in this tomb?” Lynch asked.
“Oh, no. You will continue to be our guests. We’ll just be moving our party to a different venue. You’ll have a front-row seat to our plans for Archie.”
The mere mention of Archie made Stevie flush with anger again.
Dekker pulled a long knife from his belt scabbard.
He moved over to Nolan and crouched next to him.
“You’ve already served your purpose by bringing your daughter and her marvelous creation to us.
Thank you, Dr. Nolan.” He menacingly held the blade in front of him for a long moment before reaching down and cutting the duct tape binding Nolan’s legs.
“And that entitles you to join us for the festivities to come.”
Lynch could easily read the situation. They wanted to keep Stevie in case they needed help with Archie for whatever purpose they had in mind; they could torture or even threaten to kill her father to make her cooperate.
Lynch, as far as he could tell, was totally expendable.
They could kill him right now just to show they meant business.
Hell, it’s what he might do under the same circumstances.
So he had to make his move soon or he’d be useless to Nolan and Stevie.
Dekker stepped back and gestured toward the passage with his assault rifle. “After you, Nolan.” He inclined his head mockingly to Lynch. “And you, Mr. Lynch.”
Nolan was trying to struggle to his feet.
Stevie grabbed her father around his waist and helped lift him to a standing position.
With Dekker and his two gunmen prodding them along, they stepped through the opening, where the helicopter’s blinding searchlight was fixed on them.
The engine’s roar throbbed in their ears.
BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!
Three gunshots rang out from the hillside beside them! Lynch shielded his eyes to see that three bullets had cracked the helicopter’s front windshield. He could just make out the forms of Jessie and Kendra on the grass a few yards away, firing at the helicopter. Thank God they were still alive.
Another shot! But the bulletproof glass was holding so far.
BLAM! Another shot. This one landed directly in front of the pilot. Still the damn windshield held.
Lynch recognized a man leaning out of the helicopter’s side door and barking out orders. It was Hans Bremmer, who had been present and helping Dekker inflict unspeakable pain on him just days before.
Another shot rang out, and Bremmer took a hit to his upper arm. He fell back into the helicopter.
Dekker and the gunmen, distracted by the shots, slightly angled their guns away.
There would never be a better chance than this, Lynch thought. He grabbed one of the gunmen’s rifles and shot him in the face with it. Before the other two men could react, still another shot rang out from the hillside and blew away the back of a gunman’s head.
By now, Dekker was almost all the way to the helicopter.
He turned and aimed his gun toward Lynch, but a barrage of gunfire from both Jessie and Kendra riddled his body with bullets.
He screamed and staggered and then fell to the ground, blood pouring from his abdomen.
There was no question that he was dead. The pilot didn’t hesitate; a moment later, the helicopter flew off into the night.
Lynch immediately whirled back to Stevie and Nolan. “Are you okay?”
Nolan nodded. Stevie gave the thumbs-up sign.
Kendra and Jessie ran toward them from the hillside, still carrying their weapons.
“What the hell happened?” Kendra asked Lynch as she grabbed his arm. “I was scared to death.”
“They were waiting for us,” Lynch said. “They took Archie.”
“We saw that,” Jessie said. “Why?”
“They want to use him for something,” Stevie said. “We don’t know what. Whatever it is, you can bet it’s bad.”
“Actually . . .” Nolan said. “I overheard a few things in the past few days. But right now, I just want to get as far away from here as we can. Could we do that, please?”
“We can. Give me just a minute.” Lynch moved swiftly to the place where Dekker had collapsed. He checked the body and then headed back toward Nolan.
Kendra came toward him and touched his arm. “Why?” she asked softly.
He shrugged. “I had to be sure. Dekker was the one who spent many of his happiest hours interrogating me in that gas station. I’m not about to walk away from him until I’m absolutely certain he can’t do it to anyone else.
” Then he smiled and turned toward Nolan.
“You said you wanted to blow this joint? Let’s move. ”
They were back at the cabin in less than half an hour. Jessie treated the wounds where the arm and leg restraints had dug into Nolan’s skin, and they gave him bottles of water to stave off dehydration.
After a few minutes, Kendra couldn’t stand it any longer and had to get down to business. “Sorry to disturb you, Dr. Nolan . . . But what exactly did you hear?”
Nolan was silent for a long moment. When he finally did speak, it was with quiet deliberation.
“It was just a few things here and there. They needed Archie, and nothing else would do.” His voice had a subtle rasp, and Kendra couldn’t decide if it was his usual speaking voice or a product of his ordeal.
“They were under a severe time crunch, and there was one thing I was sure about. They were always planning to take the robot to London.”
“London?” Stevie repeated. “What’s there?”
“They never said. At least, not anywhere I could hear them talking. But they were excited. And whatever was going to happen it was going to take place on Saturday.”
“Tomorrow,” Kendra whispered.
Nolan thought for a moment. “Yes. I guess I’ve lost track of the days.
I honestly thought they were going to kill me because I was useless to them.
At first, they had a lot of questions about Archie and his decision-making algorithms. They didn’t believe me when I said I had almost nothing to do with Archie, and certainly nothing to do with his software.
They couldn’t believe a teenager could be responsible.
I was torn between being proud of your work and cursing it because it might get both of us killed. ”
Stevie reached out and took his hand. “I’m sorry it was so bad for you, Dad.”
“I was sorry, too, part of the time,” he replied.
“But I had time to think while I was down there. Maybe I learned a few things.” His hand tightened on hers.
“I found myself thinking back to the time you were a little girl and remembering how we used to fix meals together. You seemed to like doing that even more than when I taught you lessons. I liked it, too. I thought a lot about things like that while I was down there. It was much more soothing to daydream like that than listen to those guys talking about what they’d do to me if Korkil wasn’t pleased with the answers he was getting from me. ”
“Bastards!” Stevie growled.
Nolan laughed and shook his head. “That little girl I remembered would never have said that word.”
“Because those bastards weren’t around back then,” Stevie said. “I’ve learned a lot since then.” She grinned. “Some of it you even taught me.”
“I’m beginning to think I might have been teaching you the wrong things.”
“Impossible,” Stevie said firmly. “You and I both know that you can’t ever be taught too little. It just has to be filtered occasionally.”
“Then perhaps my filter isn’t as thorough as I’d want it to be.” He reached out and squeezed her hand. “We’ll discuss it sometime.”
Stevie was silent for a moment. “I think I’d like that. When you have the time.”
“I’ll make the time.” He turned back to Lynch.
“At any rate, as the days wore on, they were less interested in Archie’s inner workings and stopped asking me.
They’d gotten what they needed from your lab the night they took me, Stevie.
It just took them a while to sort through it all and understand what makes Archie tick. ”
“They knew how to disable him,” Stevie said bitterly. “They used that stun rifle to electrocute him with just enough juice to cause a total shutdown.”
“But not enough to cause permanent damage?” Lynch asked.
“No. I built in a protection circuit to keep that from happening. But if they have my lab files, they may have everything they need to reprogram him.”
“To do what?” Jessie asked.
“Anything they want.” She turned frantically to Lynch. “You’ve seen what he’s capable of.”
He nodded. “I have. And Vlad Korkil’s men received a rather brutal demonstration themselves.”
Nolan smiled. “I heard about that. Several of those men didn’t come back that day, including one who had been especially cruel to me. I admit I was happy never to see him again.”
“No one will ever see him again,” Lynch said. “You can thank Archie for that.”
Jessie paced the length of the room. “But what else will we soon be thanking Archie for? That psychopath Korkil is in control of him now. This could be bad. Very bad.”
“It could be even worse than you think,” Stevie whispered.
“They probably also have my lab notes in which I gave precise instructions on how to upgrade if necessary.” She swallowed hard.
“I had no intention of upgrading. It’s just a common procedure every scientist generally does to assure a complete product. ”
Lynch gave a low whistle. “Oh, yes, I know all about completion.”
“You don’t understand.” Stevie was almost in tears. “It was never supposed to happen. I would never have permitted it. I just wanted my work to be perfect.”
Kendra was swearing softly as she turned toward Stevie, who was now just staring miserably down at the floor. “You can get him back, right? Can’t you take control?”
“That’s the problem. The first thing they’ll probably do is lock me out.” Stevie savagely struck the wall with her fist. “I need to find a way to get back in!”