Chapter 11
I looked down at the floor again as the elevator started to descend. The nervous atmosphere was practically palpable, and after what felt like hours but had only been a matter of seconds, I looked over at the man at the front of the elevator. He rolled his wide shoulders, and I saw him tense and release his hands into fists a few times. However, he hadn’t looked at me again since he’d stepped into the elevator. He kept his eyes forward on the door and ignored me the whole time.
The jazz music in the elevator tinkled away in the background, but it suddenly felt weirdly out of place. Everyone was quiet, and I saw more than one frightened look cast in the direction of the living mountain before people looked away. I knew I could fight the guy off after what had just happened with the other goons Nefarium had sent after me, but none of the other passengers had my skills or my protective second skin. It would be a bloodbath if the man launched an attack in the confines of the elevator.
The elevator stopped on the second floor, and the doors slid open. The slender man beside me edged around the muscular man and stepped out into the hall, and every cell in my body screamed at me to follow him, to get out of the elevator and away from the man while I still had a chance. This was it. This was my way out of here.
I thrust myself forward and skirted past the muscular guy without meeting his eyes. I was almost out, and then my stomach did a somersault as I felt his hand close around my arm. However, he was surprisingly gentle. I was halfway out of the elevator, and I looked longingly out into the hall, but in the end, I turned back to see why he had grabbed my wrist.
When I looked at him, I realized that he was smiling at me. If this was some kind of intimidation tactic, then it was a really weird one. We stared at one another for a moment, and then I glanced down at his hand on my arm.
“Sorry, man,” he said brightly as he took his hand away. “I just thought you should know that your shoelace is undone.”
He pointed down at the floor, and I discovered that the laces on my left shoe were indeed untied.
“Oh,” I laughed as all the tension left my body. “Thanks.”
“See you around,” he chirped as the elevator door closed, and I was left standing in the hall on the second floor.
“Holy shit,” I panted as I darted into the stairwell. “I thought he was one of them.”
“Right place, wrong guy,” a voice said to my right.
I spun around to see the slender man from the elevator. He stood on the steps with a gun raised in my direction. There was a silencer on the end of the barrel, and it was pointed right at my heart. He had a smug smile on his face, and the cold look in his eyes told me that he could kill a man without even blinking.
“Come on,” I sighed out of frustration.
Nothing was ever easy.
“I hear you cheated,” he said as he took an intimidating step toward me. “My boss doesn’t like cheaters.”
“You are seriously going to kill me?” I groaned. “That’s not going to be good for tourism.”
“I’m good at my job,” he snickered. “This is not my first time, just like it probably wasn’t your first time cheating.”
“Alright, fine, I cheated,” I replied. “I’ll come clean. I have an alien robot that talks to me telepathically, and it calculated where the ball would fall for each spin.”
“Will,” Francine scolded me.
“Very funny,” the guy said.
“See?” I said to Francine. “He doesn’t believe me.”
“No, I don’t,” he said as he started to pull the trigger.
I moved to dodge the bullet, but even the nanobots couldn’t make me fast enough to do that. The bullet hit me on the shoulder, and I let myself fall backward. It felt like I had just been punched by Mike Tyson, but I had no holes in me, thanks to the suit.
The gunman didn’t know that yet, though, so I lay on the ground as still as I could, held my breath, and hoped that my plan worked.
I heard footsteps as he crept down the stairs toward where I laid on the landing. He was no amateur, so I assumed he would still have his gun pointed at me, which meant that when I made a move, I had to move fast. He arrived next to me and nudged my body with his foot like though I was a dead deer he had killed on a hunting trip. I didn’t react. I just laid there like a marionette with no strings.
“I don’t know what those other assholes meant when they said you were dangerous,” the man sighed. “That was very underwhelming.”
I heard the rustle of his clothes as he lowered the gun, and then the click of the safety, and that was my cue. I pulled my gun out of my blazer, rolled onto my back, and fired all in one motion. It happened so fast that he had no time to react, and I watched as his eyes widened for a moment in utter shock mixed with pain.
Then, he crumpled like a piece of paper and ended up on the floor, unconscious.
“Well, the stun mode works,” I said as I checked his pulse, which was steady.
I did a quick check for cameras then, but of course, the man had selected a place where whatever he did wouldn’t be captured by any of the casino’s security feeds. It also meant that no one had seen what I had just done, or that I wasn’t actually injured, so I jogged down the last set of stairs to the first floor and cracked open the door.
The first thing I spotted were the five very large men with obvious earpieces who stood in the lobby and scowled at everybody. The employees behind the check-in desk were trying to pretend the men weren’t there, but the crowds of people split around them like waves against the rocks. Of course, I now knew that there could easily be other Nefarium security guards mixed in with the ordinary tourists, but I could deal with that if and when they revealed themselves. For now, no one knew where I was, and that gave me the upper hand.
“Is there another exit?” I asked Francine as I studied the men.
“Not one we could reach without being seen,” Francine replied.
“Okay,” I sighed. “So what’s nearby?”
“There is a business center, a small dining room, a museum, a staffroom--” Francine began.
“Is that the staffroom by the desk?” I asked. “The unmarked door?”
“Yes,” Francine confirmed.
I watched as one of the employees entered the staffroom wearing one of the hotel vests and then reappeared a moment later in a t-shirt and jeans. He waved to the people manning the desk and then walked toward the main entrance.
“I’ve got an idea,” I said.
I waited until a large group of people were passing through the lobby to slip from the stairwell and cross to the staffroom. I slipped inside, emptied my blazer pockets, and then shoved the jacket beneath a bench. I grabbed one of the vests from a hanger, refilled my pockets, and tucked my weapon into my waistband. I did a quick check in the mirror and saw that the vest was large enough to conceal the bump of the gun unless you really squinted.
“Will this work?” Francine asked.
“Only one way to find out,” I replied.
I pulled the door open and stepped into the lobby like I was just another employee on a mission. I walked across the tiled floor like a man who had somewhere to be, and I didn’t look at anyone who wasn’t directly in my path. It took everything I had not to start running for the exit, but no one seemed to even notice I was there.
There were three burly guys right by the door, and I had to pass them in order to leave the hotel. They hadn’t looked over at me yet, and I didn’t slow my pace until I was right beside them at the door. Freedom was right through the doorway, and all I needed to do was get out without getting caught, or else things would get ugly. And wouldn’t Agent Miranda just love that. I could see him storming into the Las Vegas Police Department’s building and demanding they release me into his custody, and that was something I couldn’t let happen.
I was close enough to the automatic doors for them to slide open, and I held my breath as they did. I kept my eyes facing forward, but I could feel the three men look over as I started to walk out of the building. None of them had seen me in person at the casino, although I was sure they had some kind of a description of me. But the uniform did its job despite the luggage I carried, and I was suddenly someone they had no interest in.
There was a long line of cars in the forecourt, and quite a few of them were expensive, higher-end models. I spotted Teslas, Maybachs, Porsches, and of course, plenty of Italian sports cars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis. All of them were stunning cars, and for a moment I imagined myself driving away from all this in one. But, I had no keys for them, so I figured that would be an idea that would stay put in my imagination.
So I walked past the cars and headed for the Strip. I took one last glance over my shoulder before I joined the crowds, and I sighed in relief when I saw that none of the men were looking in my direction.
I started to grin, but then I saw the guests suddenly step away from the doors like something had pushed them out of the way. Cornrows emerged a second later, closely followed by the lobby goons. His eyes found me, despite the vest, and he pointed a long finger in my direction.
“That’s him, you idiots!” he shouted.
“Shit,” I muttered as one of the men put a finger to his earpiece. “This isn’t good.”
Cornrows was already charging toward me, and I started to run down the strip.
“Wait,” Francine ordered. “I have a plan.”
“What?” I demanded as I nearly slammed into a very fat man on a scooter.
“Go back,” Francine said. “I have a plan.”
I’d only made it about two steps along the sidewalk, so I turned around and darted back to the hotel entrance. Cornrows had become entangled in a couple of luggage carts, which was the only reason he wasn’t there to grab me.
“Do you see the white Tesla to your left?” it asked.
“Yeah,” I replied as I looked over to the vehicle.
“Get in,” the AI said.
“I don’t have a key,” I replied as I hurried over to the car.
“Who said you needed one?” it said.
The door started to open, and I threw myself into the driver’s side.
“What the--” the man with cornrows said as he finally freed himself from the carts.
“He’s getting away!” one of the other guards shouted as they began to sprint toward the car.
“Go, go, go!” I said to Francine, since I didn’t have a key.
The guards were nearly on us, but Francine still hadn’t started the car. I had no idea what the plan was, but I assumed it involved driving away from the very angry-looking group of men.
“Francine?” I said. “We really need to get going now.”
“I am working on it,” the AI said calmly.
“Francine,” I said nervously.
They were closer. One of them had reached the door and banged his meaty fists on the window.
“Get out of the car!” he demanded.
“Francine!” I shouted.
The engine suddenly engaged the wheels, though without the revving engine that I usually associated with quick escape scenes. The car shot forward and knocked two of the men out of the way, and though I reached for the steering wheel out of habit, Francine was clearly in control.
The Tesla lurched into the street, and we nearly collided with a cab and an old Datsun. But somehow, Francine managed to maneuver the Tesla through the tight spot and then pointed us in the right direction. There was a cacophony of car horns for several seconds, and when I looked over my shoulder, I saw that several of the guards had followed us into the street. A few gave chase, but Francine picked up the pace, and soon, there was no sign of them.
“Damn, Frankie, where’d you learn to drive like that?” I asked as I took over the steering from the AI.
“I hope it was satisfactory,” the AI replied.
“Satisfactory?” I said. “It was amazing! You should have seen the looks on their faces. They didn’t know what to think.”
“I am glad to have helped,” Francine replied. “Those men did not seem to like you very much.”
“Understatement of the century,” I sighed.
“Do you think they will report you?” it asked.
“No,” I said. “At least, not until the owner of this Tesla demands his car or they can clean up the mess. The police will start asking too many uncomfortable questions if they turn me in now. Once they erase any traces of the fight, then they’ll probably turn me in.”
“That is logical,” Francine said. “Though to be fair, you did actually cheat on the roulette wheel.”
“Yeah… but they didn’t know that for sure,” I chuckled. “And besides, I did it for the greater good, not that they would know.”
“You do not need to justify your actions to me, Will,” it said.
“You’re right,” I said. “I just really hope that we’re ready in time for the invasion, you know? Or else all of this will have been for nothing…”
There was a silence then, since neither of us quite knew what to say.
“But enough of that kind of talk,” I said. “I think it would be best if I got the next flight back to Kansas.”
I drove the short distance back toward the airport and parked the Tesla in short-term parking. I felt bad for taking the car, but I was sure that whoever owned it would get it back soon enough. It was relatively unscathed, and all the witnesses could say was that a hotel employee had taken the car and been chased by several large, angry men. The men would probably claim they were simply fulfilling their duties as security for the casino, but that might raise other questions that management was unwilling to answer just yet.
The ticket desk was busy, but I managed to book the last flight back to Kansas. I even managed to get a first-class ticket, although, for such a relatively short flight, it seemed kind of pointless. But, it was the only seat left on the plane, and I did enjoy the extra legroom.
However, I didn’t fully relax until the cab from the Wichita airport pulled into my drive and dropped me off near my front door. The sun had begun to come up by then, and the orange morning glow illuminated the countryside. I heard the birds chirping and smelled sweet hay on the morning breeze as I stepped out of the cab, and I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. I watched the cab until it was out of sight, and then I trudged over to my door and rummaged around for my house keys.
I yawned as I entered through the front door, so I went straight to my bedroom and threw myself on the bed. I had somehow survived Las Vegas, and now I was home, safe and sound. I sighed happily and pulled the blanket around me, even though I was still fully clothed.
“Are you pleased to be home, Will?” the AI asked.
“Hell, yeah,” I replied. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more pleased. God, what a night.”
“I would describe it as very successful,” Francine replied. “Is that not accurate?”
“It was successful,” I said. “But I could have done without all those guys trying to kill me.”
“But you handled it,” Francine pointed out.
“Yeah, I guess I did,” I replied. “I can hardly believe that I was the one doing all that. It all felt so natural. And when that poor guy tried to punch me… Also, someone actually shot me today, but the bullet couldn’t penetrate the suit. Now that’s crazy.”
“Well, they did not succeed in shooting you, technically,” the AI said.
“Yeah, thanks to the nanotechnology,” I replied as I rolled my shoulder. “You were right, though. It did hurt like a bitch.”
“The suit stopped the bullet from breaking the skin, but bullets will still make contact with a great deal of kinetic force,” the AI said. “There will be some pain on impact, and probably some bruising as well.”
“You’re telling me,” I huffed.
“We managed to win enough money to begin construction of the robots, and to start building my AI core into a ship,” Francine said.
“Thank God for that,” I replied. “Because I don’t think we’re going to be welcome in Vegas again any time soon.”
“I will begin placing orders for the relevant materials,” Francine added.
“Great,” I said. “But…”
“What is your concern?” Francine asked when I didn’t continue.
“Well, those government guys, or so-called NASA agents, they have it out for me even after I cooperated and let them take the meteor away,” I said.
“Agent Miranda did seem determined to investigate further,” Francine agreed.
“So, what if they’re watching what I’m doing?” I asked. “If I start ordering all this crazy stuff like the aluminum and the aero-gels and all that malarkey, they’ll know I’m up to something.”
“Yes, that is a justified assumption,” the AI replied.
“So, I think we need some kind of cover story for why we’re ordering all of this stuff,” I said.
“What would you suggest?” it asked. “Some of these materials have limited uses, so I do not know what would justify their purchase besides the construction of at least an aircraft.”
“Well, I’ve got one idea,” I said. “Since an actual meteor landed on my land only a few days ago, it wouldn’t be crazy for me to want to build something that couldn’t be destroyed by anything falling out of the sky, would it?”
“It would sound reasonable,” Francine said. “Given the circumstances.”
“So, I was thinking that I could pretend like I’m going to build some indestructible modern barn,” I said. “We could even file for a construction permit, which I can’t imagine will be too difficult to get out in the middle of nowhere. If anybody asks, I’ll just say that the more I thought about it, the more I realized how lucky I’d been. That rock barely missed my house, and the next one might destroy it completely. And when they argue that the odds of another meteor hitting my house are pretty slim, I’ll tell them the odds of the first meteor hitting my property were pretty slim, too, and I won’t take that chance again.”
“I like your idea, Will,” Francine said.
“Thank you,” I chuckled.
“I will put together a plan for such a structure and apply for a permit in your name,” it said.
“Good,” I sighed. “Hopefully, that will keep Agent Miranda out of my hair for a little while longer.”
“Agreed,” the AI said.
“Ahh,” I sighed as I closed my eyes for a moment. “I could just fall asleep right here.”
“Before you do, there is one more thing we need to discuss,” the AI said.
“I’m not gonna get a break from now on, am I?” I chuckled. “Alright, what did you wanna talk about?”
“Do you remember how I told you that we need plutonium to increase my operating power and to create an unlimited power source?” it asked.
“Yeah, I remember something like that,” I said. “Although, I’m still a little hazy on the unlimited power thing.”
“The plutonium will be used to power a fission reaction that I can use to create a stable mini-singularity. When matter is added to the singularity, an enormous amount of energy is released.”
“Like a quasar?” I asked.
“Exactly,” Francine said. “But on a miniscule, stable scale. This will generate more than enough energy to power the ship, including the folding engines, as well as allowing me to operate at quantitative power.”
“Okay, so you want to make a nuclear chain reaction in my backyard and create a black hole on Earth,” I said. “That sounds really, really safe. But all that is assuming we can somehow find enriched plutonium.”
“I have been researching the use of plutonium on Earth, and I have determined that there are four possible methods for obtaining it,” the AI said.
“Okay,” I replied. “What ideas have you got?”
“As you know, plutonium is used for nuclear reactions--” it began.
“Oh, no, no, no,” I sighed. “I think I know where you might be going with this, and there’s no chance in hell we’re going to steal plutonium from a power plant.”
“Actually, our first option is to gain access to a military base and take the plutonium that we need,” the AI said. “The best option would be a facility located on this continent, for ease of transport, but there are other bases, namely in Russia and Iran, that I believe could also work for us.”
“Francine, I can’t just break into a nuclear weapons facility and ask for some of their plutonium,” I said.
“Who said anything about asking?” the AI asked.
“I like your enthusiasm,” I chuckled. “But the government is already watching me, and breaking into a nuclear plant isn’t exactly going to prove my innocence to them, is it?”
“I would have suggested that you go undercover, but I understand your point of view,” the AI said.
“So, what’s the other option?” I asked. “I’m assuming stealing plutonium in the US, Russia, and Iran were your first three options.”
“That is correct,” the AI said.
“Well?” I pressed when Francine paused for a long minute.
“I have been scanning all information that I could find about plutonium, and that included various forms of communication as well as what is available on your internet,” it replied.
“Okay,” I said.
“During my search, I came across some encrypted messages that attracted my attention,” it said.
“What sort of messages?” I asked.
“The messages were between what I believe to be an Estonian mercenary group and a neo-Nazi group based here in the US,” the AI replied. “The neo-Nazi group has purchased plutonium from the Estonians for the purpose of building a bomb that they intend to use to destroy a large government facility.”
“Jesus,” I gasped as I tried to process what Francine was so casually telling me. “How the hell did you find all that out?”
“The messages were encrypted, but the codes here on Earth are not difficult to decipher,” Francine said.
“Right,” I said. “Sooooo, you’re suggesting we steal the plutonium from the neo-Nazis before they can make a bomb with it?”
“Yes,” Francine replied.
I was silent for a long time, but I honestly couldn’t come up with a better idea. If we tried to steal the plutonium from a US facility, I had no doubt that good people would die. If we somehow managed to steal some from the Russians or the Iranians, we’d still have to smuggle the rods back into the country, and that was assuming that someone like Israel or China didn’t take us out beforehand.
I hated to admit it, but the neo-Nazis seemed like our best option. The group had already done all the hard work for us, and at least anybody we killed while stealing the plutonium would probably be a terrorist who was hell-bent on destroying the good ol’ US. of A anyway. His buddies might weep, but I certainly wouldn’t.
“Where are they?” I finally asked.
“Nebraska,” Francine said.
“Well, then,” I replied. “I think it’s time for another road trip.”