Diamond Rain: Adventure Science Fiction Mossad Thriller (The Spy Stories and Tales of Intrigue Series Book 2) (8 page)

Chapter Four

Disappearing Nano Weapon

“There it is again.  Did you see it this
time?  The pattern is quite unmistakeable.  She’s alive.”  Relief flooded the
demeanor of Ekaterina, Kefira’s birth mother and a highly placed administrator
in the Mossad command structure.

Yochana looked at her, uncomfortable
at her colleague’s conviction.

“Someone’s using the
signal.  That’s certain, but you know it doesn't mean Kefira is alive,” Yochana
said in what she hoped was a gentle tone.  She didn’t use such tones often;
she’d previously been second-in-command at Mossad and she wasn’t thrilled to
have recently been recalled from a forced retirement.

A third person sat in
front of a thin laptop at the same table as the two women.  His concentration
matched the speed of his typing, interspersed with whispered commands, both of
which changed the large wall display in front of them.  His name was Yatsick
Cheboloski, youngest son of a Polish holocaust survivor recently laid to rest
in the soil of his adopted country, Israel.  Yatsick’s Ashkenazi genius and unquestionable
dedication to the work of protecting Israel’s cyber integrity might have
slotted him for political success had he not steered clear of any
attention-getting posts.  His lifeblood was Israel’s security.  Ekaterina loved
that fact about the apparently sloppy whiz kid.  Despite his appearance, his
work was anything but sloppy.  He exemplified ‘old-school’, dyed-in-the-wool
commitment.

“Yatsick, tell me she’s
alive,” said Ekaterina with controlled desperation in her voice.

“I wouldn’t normally
get your hopes up in a case like this, but Kefira and I established a
cryptogram when I injected the mind-controllable molecule into her spinal
cord.”

“Speak in terms I can
understand, please.”

“Alright.  This is how
it works.  Kefira and I devised a three-part code based on the timing between
communications if she was captured.  We came up with a second series of
messages should she find herself forced to act under duress.”  Yatsick paused,
to ensure that his words were being absorbed.

“Spit it out, son,”
said Yochana.

“Ladies, please.  Look
at the display.  She must expose the signal for our satellites in this specific
thought pattern,” replied Yatsick as he displayed a mind map of Israel on the
wall-mounted screen.

“A picture of the state
of Israel?”

“Yes, but more
specifically, exactly Kefira’s photographic memory of the image of the state of
Israel.  Now compare these two images.”

The two women looked at
the pair of images on the screen as Yatsick moved them on top of each other.  A
well-deserved look of contentment passed briefly across his face.

“They’re exactly the
same,” said Ekaterina, “but what does that tell us?”

“When I injected the
tracing molecule into Kefira, we established this exact image, taken from a
projection inside Kefira’s mind, as the key to knowing if she was under duress.
She is no doubt alive, trapped at the GPS coordinates you see below the image,
and able to communicate in this limited way.”

“Amazing.  You really are
the future,” said Ekaterina enthusiastically as she hugged the young man. 
“This is fantastic technology.”

“Where are those
coordinates?” asked Yochana.

“Mainland China.”

“China?” Ekaterina
queried.

“Forget that.  Look at
this screen now,” said Yatsick.

“That’s the cameraman’s
suit engaging and drawing on our Quantum Power Source while he thinks he’s
invisible to us.  Wait.”  Yatsick suddenly looked less confident.  “That’s not
possible,” he said.  He pushed some buttons and scrolled through text in a
small monochrome window.  “I don’t know how to explain this, but his heat signature
has disappeared.”

“Where did it go to?” 
It was Ekaterina who spoke.

“Good question, Ma’am. 
Hate to say it, but I don’t know.  He just vanished.  There are only two
possibilities.  One, he’s dead.  Or two, he managed to reprogram the molecules
of his suit,” Yatsick said slowly.  He typed a command and reviewed the
response on his screen.

“Nothing else I can
deduce - at this point,” he said, shaking his head.

“What does that mean?”
asked Ekaterina.

“I noticed a
diminishing of his suit’s drain on our power source over the last couple of
days.  At first, I assumed he was using the suit less, but when the signal
disappeared completely, I had to start extrapolating possibilities.”

“It’s not the first
time then?  And what do you mean by possibilities?” demanded the two women
almost simultaneously.

“I hadn’t seen it
actually occurring before my eyes until today,” Yatsick intoned.  His attention
was partially distracted by a scrolling list of numbers.  He turned to face the
two women.  “To say Thomas is a quick study is an understatement.  There’s
something more about this guy.  He may have managed to create a
self-replicating system that no longer needs our power source.”

“He’s AWOL,” Yochana
said flatly.

“Not really, because
he’s not one of ours, but that also highlights our predicament.  I thought we
could control him by turning off or limiting the power.  Now it’s clear that we
can’t.  I can hardly believe it but I underestimated him, unless he's dead,”
said Yatsick.

Ekaterina nodded.  She
turned to Yochana questioningly, then she directed her next words at Yatsick.

“Can we make use of him
at all?” she asked.  “Assuming he isn’t dead?”

“At this stage, your
guess is as good as mine,” he replied.  “I don’t know if it’s a case of us
making use of him, or him making use of us.”

“Just how powerful is
the nanosuit technology?”  Yochana knew the answer but she needed to hear it
confirmed.   Yatsick shuffled slightly.

“If Thomas masters it,
he will be much more in control of us than we are of him.  Already he can see
things we’d rather he didn’t.  Our computers ... our files ... our names ...”

“That’s what I was
afraid of,” Yochana said slowly.

****

In a room rented for cash in the old city of
Jerusalem near the Jaffa Gate, Thomas realized he needed serious help to learn
how to use this nanosuit.
The only person I can think of who could help me
is Jean Pierre.
 
I’ll test my holographic use of the Internet on him and
get him on side with me.  I can do the intuitive side of the suit but Jean
Pierre’ll see potential that I could only dream of.

At that moment, Thomas
dialed Jean Pierre’s home number.  By good fortune his friend answered
immediately.

“Lanky, it’s me.”

“Thomas.  Good to hear
your voice.  Where’re you calling from?”

“Actually I’m using
Skype.  Sort of.  Hold on, here I come, big boy.”

In the air in front of
Jean Pierre a holograph appeared in strips of the same kind that used to appear
when there wasn’t enough bandwidth on computer screens in the 90s.  Jean Pierre’s
jaw dropped when he saw Thomas’ head appearing with lips moving but no sound
coming out.

“How in the name of
God’re you doing this, Thomas?  This is the stuff of dreams, even in my lab.”

As the
three-dimensional image clarified, it also started talking. Thomas looked his
friend in the eyes and pleaded.

“Can’t explain this
over the air.  You gotta come to me.  As you can see, I possess some pretty
intriguing technology.”

“I’ll say you do.  This’s
some kind of technology.”

“I’m partly guessing
about this, but I’d say it’s the only diamond-based nanosuit in the world.  If
you want to play with it you’ll get in touch with these people in Jerusalem and
they’ll get us together.  I just dumped a number on your phone’s list.  Call it
now.”

“You mean a suit like
these Chinese guys appear to be wearing?”

“Oh, a much better one
than that.  Diamond molecule.  And that’s all I’m saying for now.  Just come.
Tomorrow, and no hanging about,” said Thomas as his holograph started to
disappear, leaving Jean Pierre in a quandary.

****

The air in the open concept glass-walled
office became heavy.  Ekaterina looked back and forth from Yatsick to Yochana. 
Outside, in the general area, a number of young technicians in Yatsick’s newly
formed department were working at the task of securing Israel’s defence worldwide
through the auspices of Mossad.  They looked up from their screens in surprise
when a holograph, one which shed an unusual amount of light, appeared in the
middle of Yatsick’s glass-enclosed, inner sanctum.  Yochana and Ekaterina did
not react immediately because they assumed the source of the holographic
message was Yatsick.  The color vanishing from Yatsick’s face convinced them
otherwise.

Thomas appeared in
shimmering light amongst them.  At first, his lips moved without uttering any
sound, but as the seconds passed, his voice accompanied his three dimensional
image.  Yatsick pressed a series of keys on his laptop initiating a recording
of sound and video.  Thomas’ lips repeated the first word of the meeting, ten
times to give his holograph’s voice and image time to sync.

“Greetings,” he said
repeatedly.

Yatsick raised his
eyebrows, frowned and turned his palms upward in resignation.  Ekaterina and
Yochana watched and listened while all of Yatsick’s employees, though they
couldn’t hear, looked on through the glass walls of his office.

“This recorded
holograph establishes contact between us. Since Yatsick is no doubt tracking
the source of this burst of communication, I will be brief.  Tonight after
dinner, I wish you to meet an interactive version of this holograph at
Yochana’s rooftop condo on Melchette Street. Yatsick may be present, but no one
else.  I will know.”  There was a pause while the holograph seemed to
assimilate whether they’d understood.   After a moment it flickered and uttered
the final word: “Goodbye.” The holograph of Thomas disappeared, leaving the
atmosphere tense.

“Where is he?” demanded
Ekaterina.

Yatsick shrugged.

“Looking for him now is
like looking for a mafia money trail.  I underrated him,” he said, wearing an
uncharacteristic expression of defeat.  “But I’ll find out before the meeting
tonight, guaranteed.  He must’ve left some trace.”  Now the technical genius
sounded more sure of himself as his typing speed surpassed watchable.

****

The few hours until the rooftop meeting
dragged for Ekaterina and Yochana.  The women permitted Yatsick to set up
remote recording devices by himself but they decided to tell no one at Mossad
about the planned rendezvous or the loss of Israel’s most secret nano weapon.  
Meanwhile Thomas started his own end of the plan.   He had spoken to Ekaterina
and Yochana with respect but knew he was holding all the cards.  He had obliged
them to listen to him by virtue of being off the grid.   They needed him more
than he required them, and he knew that they knew that.  It was a good position
to be in, but it also came with an element of danger.

A refreshing ocean
breeze wafted over Kefira’s secluded rooftop hideaway on Melchette Street in
Tel Aviv.  The luxury condo had belonged to Yochana before her forced early
retirement which had resulted from an operation gone bad.  This had relegated
her to a training facility at a pleasant but distant Kibbutz.  Despite the
kidnapping of her adoptive daughter, Kefira, her recall to active duty this
week had turned from an irritation to a welcome surprise.  Ekaterina sat in the
air-conditioned sunroom that abutted the large rooftop balcony.  She was
watching Yochana lighting a strong cigarette from the butt of her previous
one.  She observed the action but it didn’t immediately register.  When it did,
anger got the better of her and she stormed across the threshold of the sunroom
into the hot evening air.

“Don’t say it,” said
Yochana.

“Put that foul thing
out,” said Ekaterina.

Kefira’s Kea parrot,
Bo, fluttered down to the cool marble floor from the back of Yochana’s chair. 
Although this New Zealand native species wasn’t known for taking well to
captivity, Bo thrived in Tel Aviv.  Yochana watched the parrot for a moment
then turned to Ekaterina.

“It’s amazing the way
you and Kefira are so alike, especially considering your history,” Yochana
said.  “Do you know that Kefira perches in the sunroom like a vulture waiting
for me to croak too.  The two of you have the same tone of voice exactly when
you ask me to put my cigarettes out.”

“You’ll have to lay off
them while I’m here.  I can’t stand the stench.

“Alright, he’s due to
appear any minute now.  Yatsick just waved,” said Yochana.

They sat expectantly.  Each
tried to ready themselves for what they were about to see.  They did not have
to wait long.  A three dimensional image shimmered and then manifested itself,
sitting on the couch opposite the two women.  Even for people accustomed to
high technology, the apparition took them by surprise.  Ekaterina had to tell
herself to close her mouth.  The image of Thomas leaned over the coffee table
and looked at the ashtray and the package of Noblesse cigarettes.