The Dark Remains - Mark Anthony [175]
They had parted from Farr and Deirdre with few words. But then, they had already picked over the scant bones of their plan a dozen times. And what did you really tell someone who, if all worked as intended, would soon be a world away? See you around? Let’s keep in touch? He had settled for shaking Farr’s hand, and for kissing Deirdre’s cheek as he whispered, Thank you.
Be safe, my gentle warrior, she had told him.
It was only as he and Grace made their way through a maze of parking lots, junk heaps, and storage tanks, following behind Vani in a poor imitation of her sleek stealth, that the absurdness of what they were trying to do really struck him.
This is impossible, Travis. Even if by some miracle we get Beltan away from Duratek, how are we going to use the artifact to open the gateway? This is one case where even Vani doesn’t have all the answers.
Another truck. More cement snow.
Grace shook the stuff from her hair. “If he’s not conscious, how are we going to transport him?”
Travis huddled inside his black trench coat. “What?”
“We didn’t think of that. We can’t carry him and fight at the same time. And even if he’s conscious, he’s experienced severe muscle atrophy. He’s not going to be able to walk. Maybe we should let them keep him, at least until he’s stronger.” She leaned back against a clump of rusted rebar. “But what will they do to him in the meantime? No, it has to be now.”
Travis shuffled toward her, avoiding one oily puddle only to step in another. He stared at his wet, rapidly cooling foot. Maybe it didn’t matter what you did; maybe the result was bound to be the same no matter what action you took. Maybe, like Vani had said, all this was just fate.
“You’re babbling, Grace.”
She reached out, gripped his hand. He squeezed.
Gravel crunched, then Vani was there.
“I believe I can glimpse their fortress. Do you see? Past that empty space, beyond the wall.”
Travis did not follow her gesture. He gazed at her instead. “What was it like?” he said. “Coming through the gate, knowing you might never get back to your home?”
She fixed her gold eyes on him. “I will return home. The cards have told me.”
Her words were confident, but he caught the slight wavering in them, and she looked away. So, even Vani didn’t believe completely in fate. Maybe it wasn’t too late, maybe he could stop this before—
A piercing trill emanated from the cellular phone Farr had handed to Grace as she stepped from the limousine.
Grace pushed a button. “Hello?”
She listened a few moments, then lowered the phone. “It’s time.”
Vani moved from the cover of the junk beneath the viaduct, down a gap between two fences choked with dead weeds. Travis and Grace exchanged looks. He stuck the phone in a small backpack, shouldered it, and they followed Vani.
There was no need for Grace to discuss the call. It meant that Farr and Deirdre were in position, at an address somewhere north of here. It meant that, by means of Farr’s digital recording device, Grace had just had a conversation with the police. The nature of the device had allowed Farr to record twenty separate snippets of her voice, some complex and rambling, others as simple as Yes or Could you repeat that?
Any of the snippets could be accessed at the touch of a button. That meant Farr could hold the recorder to the phone while he listened and choose the sampled bit of Grace’s voice that worked best as a reply to whatever was said.
And it had worked. That’s what Farr’s call had meant. He had stayed on the phone long enough for the call to the police to be traced, then had called Grace. At that moment, he and Deirdre were speeding away from the location before the police arrived. Along with Duratek.
It took another fifteen minutes for them to reach the fence surrounding the complex. That had been by design.