The Wall, page 30
Harry stood against the door, the second agent in front of him. Blood trickled down his cheek from a line of scratches. Pity she hadn’t clawed his eyes out.
As she watched, he raised a hand to his face, then stared at the blood staining his fingers. Something flared in his eyes. Disbelief—she doubted anyone had raised a hand to him before—followed by fury.
He stared at her for a moment, eyes narrowed, then turned to Boyd and gave a small nod. “Just don’t mark her face. We want her all pretty for the execution.”
She didn’t see the first punch coming. A fist slammed into her stomach and pain blossomed through her, the air leaving her lungs in a whoosh. She didn’t have time to process the pain as she was hit again. Agony shot through her, and she was sure she heard the crack of her ribs. She tried to fold in on herself, but hard hands held her upright. The next hit forced a scream from her throat.
The hands gripping her released their hold, and she collapsed to the floor, curled into a ball. Pain exploded in her back as someone kicked her. Then the pain was a continuous thing, and she lost the ability to even scream, her throat raw as the kicks kept coming. She could feel consciousness slipping away, the pain almost distant.
“Stop. We need her walking to her execution, not being carried.”
She recognized Boyd’s voice.
The attack stopped, but the pain was a constant burning through her whole body. She was unaware of them leaving, but she heard Harry’s voice as if from a distance.
“It was a pleasure talking with you again, Ms. Buchanan. I’ll see you this evening.”
She was alone. She tried to push herself up but collapsed. Darkness enveloped her.
Chapter Forty-Two
“For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.” J. F. Kennedy
They’d brought him from Secret Service headquarters an hour ago. Driven him to the White House. A large crowd was gathered outside, but they appeared subdued, only a few lethargically waving Party flags. They moved almost reluctantly as the car nudged its way through them, then drove through the gates and into the grounds.
He’d been left alone all day. They hadn’t questioned him again. Maybe they really believed he didn’t know anything and had gotten bored with torturing him.
He hadn’t told them anything.
It was strange; the worse the pain got, the harder he resolved not to break. He hadn’t realized he was so stubborn.
The last thing they’d told him was that they’d arrested Kate.
That had been worse than any pain they could administer.
He’d wanted to scream, shout, fight. He’d done none of those things because it would have made no difference. He just had to get through whatever time he had left. And Kate had to do the same. He had zero hope of any good outcome to this.
The car door opened. “Sir.”
He glanced up. He recognized the agent. His name was Pete and he’d been the one who had invited Gideon for a drink that night when he’d first met Kate. When she’d picked him up, taken him home, and then drugged him.
It seemed a lifetime ago.
He should have gone with Pete. Things might have turned out differently.
But he knew that wasn’t true. He would have come to this in the end. He never would have fallen in line with Harry and his circle of crazy sociopaths.
His hands were cuffed in front of him, and he climbed awkwardly out of the car, the same agent grabbing his shoulder and pulling him out. A stage had been erected on the lawn of the White House, rows of chairs in front filled with America’s elite. A huge screen had been set up behind the stage so that no one would miss a moment of the entertainment.
His gaze fixed on the stage. Two gallows had been built of dull black metal, a noose hanging from each.
He couldn’t drag his eyes from the sight. Two.
Finally, he managed to look away. He searched the surrounding area but could see no sign of Kate. Maybe the other gallows wasn’t for her? He’d watched his mother die. He’d watched Aaron die. He didn’t want to have to watch Kate die as well.
The screen lit up, magnifying the gallows, and the constant murmur of the crowd dropped to nothing.
“I’m sorry, sir. We have to move.”
Pete sounded reluctant. That didn’t mean he would do anything to stop this. As Gideon stepped forward, he caught sight of Kate’s parents in the front row. Her mother looked vacant, probably drugged, her father sat staring straight ahead. Gideon presumed they were not here by choice. They must have been picked up by the Secret Service. He doubted they would outlive their daughter by very long.
He crossed the lawns and halted at the foot of the steps leading up to the stage. The door to the White House opened. Two agents appeared, with Kate between them. She paused, glancing around. Her gaze went unerringly to the gallows, and she bit her lip.
The guard on her left urged her forward. Her movements were awkward, her hands cuffed in front of her, but she managed to wrap one arm around her waist as if to hold herself up.
The bastards had hurt her, and he wanted to kill them. The fact that he could do nothing to save her drove him crazy.
He forced himself to breathe slowly. It wouldn’t help her to see him lose it. He needed to be strong. See her through this. She finally managed to tear her gaze away from the gallows and home in on him. Their gazes locked, and a smile curved her lips. He smiled back, and for a few seconds their surroundings faded and it was just the two of them. Together.
Then his guard nudged him from the back and the moment was broken. As he climbed the steps, he was aware of her behind him. He came to a halt in the center of the stage, then passed a podium, a red button in the center. A shiver ran through him—that would presumably control the gallows.
He climbed the last steps, stepping onto the square trapdoor directly below the noose. His guard placed the steel loop around his neck, then stepped away. He swallowed, his mouth dry. It wasn’t a way he would have chosen to die. If he turned his head slightly, he could see the other gallows only two feet away.
He watched as Kate climbed the steps. She stood up straight—though he could see that hurt her—as they placed the noose around her slender throat. Her flame-red hair was pulled back in a ponytail, her face unmarked.
As her guard stepped away, she turned her head and looked into his face. Hers was free of expression, then he caught the flicker of fear behind her eyes. It would be over soon.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what?”
“That you never managed to kill the bastard.”
A smile flashed across her face and then was gone. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that, too.”
“They hurt you?”
“I pissed Harry off.” She clamped her teeth on her lower lip. “I wish they’d get on with it.”
The door to the White House opened again. Harry appeared surrounded by his usual cohort of guards, Boyd bringing up the rear. There was a feeble cheer from the crowd; it sounded sullen and half-hearted. He crossed the lawn and climbed the stage. This close, Gideon could see the scratch marks down his cheek. They’d been covered, but he could make them out beneath the thin layer of makeup. Had Kate done that? He hoped so.
“I’m scared,” she murmured, and his heart cracked.
“Just look up at the sky,” he said. “Imagine we’re about to take a trip to the moon.”
“I always wanted to go into space.”
“I know. And now you’re going to.”
Harry was talking, but Gideon didn’t listen to the words. He held Kate’s gaze and tried to imbue her with a strength he didn’t have.
Finally, Harry moved to stand in front of the red button. He stared straight at Gideon, a small smile curling his lips.
“So it is with great sadness that I take the lives of these people. But I do it in the cause of keeping America safe for Americans.”
Asshole.
This was it.
“Hey,” he said, because he didn’t want the last thing she heard to be Harry’s gloating voice. “I think I’m ready for that relationship now.”
“Yeah? Me, too.”
Harry seemed to move in slow motion, his hand coming down on the red button.
Every muscle in Gideon locked solid.
The end.
And… Nothing happened.
Harry’s eyes narrowed, his nostrils flaring. He slammed his hand down on the red button.
Still nothing.
“What the hell is—”
Behind them, the screen crackled. A voice boomed out over the speakers. “Americans, meet your president.”
Whatever was showing caused the crowd to go silent and then come to their feet. Harry was staring at the screen, his face a mask of shock. Gideon twisted around as well as he could with the noose around his neck. Beside him, Kate did the same.
For a moment, the images on the screen made no sense. A hospital room, a man in a wheelchair staring into the camera. “You’re evil. You have to be stopped.”
Gideon recognized the voice, if not the man. Harry Senior had always been big, a larger-than-life figure. This was a shriveled shadow of his former self, but his voice was still strong and recognizable.
“And who’s going to do that, father?”
“Me. If I have to.”
The old man made to push himself out of the chair, but he was clearly too weak. His son appeared on the screen. He chuckled. He walked toward him slowly. Then, almost lovingly, he wrapped his hands around the scrawny throat and squeezed. The old man struggled, but he was no match. The life drained from his face, leaving it slack, the eyes staring open.
“Oh my God,” Kate murmured. “He killed him. His own father.”
Gideon tore his gaze from the screen to where Harry stood, jaw clenched, fists balled at his sides.
“Get rid of it.”
One of his bodyguards pulled out his gun, shot at the screen. The bullets bounced off it and the image remained. Harry Junior, arms outstretched. His dead father.
“Pull the fucking plug!” Harry growled.
Someone scrambled to disconnect the power, but again, nothing happened. The image remained, glaring down at them.
Below the stage, Secret Service agents were running around, clearly with no clue what to do, their weapons drawn but no obvious target to shoot at. The crowd was still, staring at the screen.
Then the image changed. It showed a mass of people huddled together as bullets tore into them. Gideon recognized the massacre he and Kate had witnessed days earlier. Then an image of a town, armed guards surrounding it. Finally, Kate being held by a Secret Service agent while Boyd punched her in the stomach and Harry looked on, a smile on his face. The same smile he’d worn while he’d strangled his father.
He heard Kate gasp beside him.
“Shoot them,” Harry ordered, waving a hand toward him and Kate.
The guns turned in their direction. Shit. Not yet. He wanted to know what had happened. What would happen next.
His body tensed, but at the last moment, all four of the bodyguards collapsed to their knees, weapons dropping from their hands as they clasped their heads, Boyd at their center. Blood trickled from his ears.
All around them, the other Secret Service agents were doing the same, crashing to the floor, clearly in agony.
“What…?”
“It’s the comm units,” Kate said.
The only person still standing on the stage was Harry. He looked around him, face pale. Then he reached down and grabbed a pistol from the floor, swung around, and aimed the gun at Gideon.
Above him, Gideon heard a click as the nooses released from where they attached to the gallows. At the last moment, he dived to the side, taking Kate down with him as shots whizzed past. He covered her body with his, waiting for the bite of the bullets.
Everything went silent. He slowly raised his head. Harry was off the stage and running. But the audience was moving at last, standing, unsure where to go, but blocking his escape. He turned to face the stage.
Like a cornered animal, he growled at the people surrounding him.
Gideon scrambled to his feet, hands still cuffed in front of him. Reaching out, he helped Kate up, then crossed to one of the downed guards. The man was clearly dead, his eyes open and staring. Gideon found keys for the cuffs on his belt and unlocked Kate’s, then she did the same for him. He stood rubbing his wrists.
He had no clue what had just happened, but he was alive, and so was Kate. Not an outcome he’d anticipated.
“It’s Auspex,” Kate said softly. “He saved us.”
The image of Kate on the screen behind them flickered and vanished. Words flashed up.
It is not over.
Jesus, a computer program had done that? Taken down a whole cohort of Secret Service agents? Later, he knew that would scare the crap out of him. Right now, he was just happy to be alive.
Harry raised his gun and shot into the crowd. People were screaming and running. Acting on instinct, Gideon leaped off the stage and tore after him.
A woman dived at Harry, and they fell to the ground. Kate’s mother. She was no match for an enraged Harry, and he came up holding her as a shield.
Gideon stared down the barrel of the pistol.
Then a shot rang out. It missed, but Harry ducked to the side, releasing his grasp on Kate’s mother and crashing to the ground.
“Damn,” Kate said. “Don’t shoot him. He’s mine.”
Gideon turned as Kate stalked toward where Harry lay in the grass, a gun she must have taken from a Secret Service agent pointed at the president. Harry tried to scramble backwards. “No. I’ll give you a pardon… Anything…”
Kate came to a halt in front of him. Stood over him, her arm outstretched, pistol aimed straight at his head. Gideon had thought her incapable of killing, but there was no expression on her face, certainly no hesitation as she pulled the trigger at point-blank range.
The bullet took him between the eyes, and Harry’s head exploded. His body collapsed to the grass and Gideon released his breath.
“Is he dead?” Kate asked.
Gideon stared down at the bloody mess that had been Harry’s face. His lips twitched. “Yeah, he’s dead.”
Her arm lowered, and she dropped the gun to the grass. Then she heaved a huge sob and looked around wildly. Her gaze settled on her mother, who still stood where Harry had released her. Kate took a step forward, hugged her, and then searched her mother’s face.
“Mom, are you all right?”
Her mother’s gaze shifted to where Harry lay on the grass, and she gave a weak smile. “I will be. Now. Thank you. For Stella. For all of us.”
Kate nodded, then turned to Gideon. Suddenly she was in his arms. He stroked her back, her hair, anything he could reach. His eyes closed as he came to terms with the idea that they were going to live.
As he pulled her harder against him, he felt her wince and pull away. “Ouch,” she said, looking around. The lawns in front of the White House were littered with bodies, most in the dark suits of the Secret Service. “So is it over?”
“It’s over… I think. Or rather, it’s just beginning. Whichever way you want to look at it.”
Kate turned to face the screen. “Auspex, what is the chance of a nuclear detonation on American soil in the next year?”
The probability is negligible.
Epilogue
“Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all.” John F. Kennedy
A week had passed since the night of their “execution”. Kate still couldn’t quite believe that they were alive and Harry was dead. It had turned out that the inner circle had consisted of only Harry and Boyd. All the other former members had met with mysterious accidents in the last few years, presumably coinciding with some sort of policy disagreement. With Boyd Winters gone, Gideon had been left as head of the Secret Service. He’d decided to disband the group—no more secrets.
Auspex had given them a list of things that needed to be done. So far, both she and Gideon had agreed with the list. Kate had spent a lot of time thinking about what would happen if they didn’t. Having the exact probabilities of success and failure gave her a sense of security. She trusted the data. She trusted Auspex.
She’d turned off the surveillance systems, and for the first time in decades, the chatter was silent. Let people talk for a while without fear that their words would be overheard and held against them.
The firewall had also been taken down. Technology was supposed to expand their horizons, not fence them in and cut them off. They were already reaching out to the outside world.
So, the nightmare was over. Time to see what the American people would do with their newfound freedom.
“What happens now?” Gideon asked.
“I suppose we’ll have the elections, but Auspex thinks it’s best to wait a while. Let things settle.”
“I can’t believe we owe our lives to a computer program.”
“Does that scare you?”
“The idea of anything with that much knowledge, that much power, makes me a little uneasy.” He shrugged. “Hell, there’s no ‘little’ about it. I’m terrified.” He scanned the room as though he might catch a glimpse of some physical manifestation. “Is he everywhere?”
“Not everywhere.” They were working from Kate’s office at Homeland Security. The White House was, for now, shut down. She waved a hand toward the screen on her desk in front of them. “But if there’s a computer, he can enter.”
“And is it safe? Will he do us any harm?”
That was something Kate asked herself constantly. “Truth?” she said to Gideon. “I don’t know. He says he’s still learning about who, and what, he is. And about us, as well.”
