Waking Gods (Themis Files #2)(84)

—I’m sorry, what’d you say?

—IT WON’T WORK!

—What are you talking about, Eva?

—Rose! Her plan. It won’t work!

—How do you know?

—I … I just know.

—You saw something, didn’t you?

—Yes.

—What did you see?

—She’ll get stepped on. She’ll die.

—Why do they step on her?

—I don’t know! Maybe it’s an accident. Maybe they just don’t see her. All I know is she’ll die. She gets crushed into the ground. Her body— —OK, that’s enough! Rose said that your visions are … possible futures, that what you see might not happen at all.

—She’ll die! Don’t try to make me feel better. I’m telling you, she’ll die.

— …

—Vincent, please!

—We’ll die if we go, Eva. You’ll die!

—We’ll all die if we don’t. Please trust me.

— …

—Say something!

—Crap.

—What does that mean?

—That means … That means crap! Grab your gear! We can’t just let her die, now can we? Hell, I’ve lived a good life. You got to see the pyramids, and Kansas, eat MREs three times a day. What else is there, really?

—Thank you.

—Ha! This might be the greatest mistake anyone has ever made in the history of the human race. You’re just lucky there aren’t any adults left around to make responsible decisions.

—Should we tell the General?

—Not if you don’t want to be locked up in this room with half a dozen guards at the door.

—You think so?

—They’ve been planning this all day with just about everyone from the Army to the Coast Guard. I don’t think they’ll be really impressed when we tell them we wanna crash the party because the ten-year-old with a chip on her shoulder had a vision, while watching the Walking Dead, I might add.

—I was just asking. There’s no need to be mean.

—I’m sorry.

—It’s OK.

—I mean, I’m sorry that this is your life. You should be playing with dolls or something.

—I hate dolls.





FILE NO. 1631

MISSION LOG—BRIGADIER GENERAL EUGENE GOVENDER, COMMANDER, EARTH DEFENSE CORPS

Location: Shadow Government Bunker, Lenexa, KS

—We’re missing someone. Where’s Jamie?

[He went to the bathroom, General. Here he is.]

Nice of you to join us. Anything else you need to do, or can we get started?

[Sorry, sir. Won’t happen again.]

Damn right it won’t. All right, folks. Let’s get this show on the road. We have a full room today. As you know, we have no satellite capabilities. These boys in the white shirts over here are on loan from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, UAS division. They are our eyes and ears. Fellows, welcome to the EDC. How many drones do we have?

[Four, sir. One tracking your vehicle. Three standing by at Riverside Park.]

Get them in the air now. I want drones at the northern corners of the park, the other one on the 102nd Street crossing. I want the robot on every screen in this room before Dr. Franklin gets within two miles of that thing. How are we doing on the ground?

[Special Forces are in position at Bellevue Hospital. We also have an STS team standing by in case we need air evac.]

That was Lieutenant General Alan A. Simms, visiting us from Fort Bragg. He is in command of our extraction team. Thank you for joining us.

[Happy to serve, General.]

We couldn’t find anyone from special ops with the genetic makeup to survive a gas attack so these men will keep their distance. We did find one NYPD officer with the right DNA. I forget his name. Jamie?

[Officer … something.]

Thank you … Jamie. Thank you so much … Officer … something … is standing …

[Langdon!]

Dammit, Jamie! Officer Langdon is standing by at … Park and 110th. He can get Dr. Franklin out of there if this turns into a smoke fest.

Speaking of … Dr. Franklin flew to Davison Army Airfield in Virginia earlier today. She left for New York on a UH-72 and landed at Bellevue Hospital about twenty minutes ago. She is driving the rest of the way, alone. Plan is: She’ll approach the robot on foot. We want them to see her. She’ll spray bacteria on whatever section of the robot she can reach. If she’s right, that should disable it within a few minutes. If she’s not … Let’s just hope she’s right. Is that her on number four?

[Yes, sir.]

Put her on the big screen. She’ll get off the FDR at 96th … there … she’ll enter Central Park at 97th. Put her on audio. Dr. Franklin, you’re with us?

{Yes, sir. Had to go around a few abandoned cars, but I’ll make it. Two minutes.}

Good. We have you onscreen. Let us know when you get there.

All right people! You heard the lady. Two minutes! Remember, this is her show. If she asks for something, don’t look at me, just do it. You see anything, you let her know.

{General, I’m entering Central Park.}

Roger that. We’re ready when you are.

Everyone. Stay sharp. I wanna know if that robot so much as farts in her general direction.