Zero option, p.25
Zero Option, page 25
“So you’re saying we have to have our Zero platform? All our other weapons? If we want to survive?”
“Give me an instantly viable solution, Saul, and I’ll be the first one out on the road tomorrow selling it.”
Kaplan smiled, picking up his mug and draining his coffee.
“You make a simple, but effective argument, my friend. Too defined for me because I don’t have an alternative solution. Regrettably I accept that you are right. And in that spirit I had better go and join the fray. If we have to have our ultimate weapon, I’m damned well going to make certain it’s the best.
“Doug Buchanan deserves to be helped. I let him down before. I won’t again. The Air Force isn’t going to stop me. I’ll give them their weapon, and I’ll make life hell for them while I do it. I promise you that, Mike Belasko.”
Stony Man Farm, two days later
“THE PRESIDENT is a happy man,” Brognola said.
Bolan raised his eyes above the data sheet he was scanning.
“Is that my cue to stand up and cheer?”
“Not obligatory. You okay?”
Bolan shrugged. “This was a hell of a mess,” he said. “The whole damned thing shouldn’t have happened.”
“Hindsight is always a bummer, Mack.”
“The way Stahl and Stengard manipulated things is scary. It happened too easy. Hal, we don’t need external enemies with people like that pair around. You realize how close it came to happening?”
“I know exactly how close it came. But, Mack, we stopped it. You stopped it.”
“With the help of a few good people.”
“How is Agent Valens?”
“She’ll recover from the bullet wound. It might take longer for her to get over her partner being shot in front of her.”
“By the way, we had a call routed in from your Apache buddy. He said to say thanks for recovering his truck and shipping it home. He says he can’t recall it having a state-of-the-art CD and radio player in it. Or a digital car phone installed.”
Bolan shifted in his seat.
“Should I expect billing for that anytime?” Brognola asked.
“He was a good friend to us, Hal. Small price to pay.”
“The more I listen the more I’m convinced you’re going soft.”
Bolan held up the data sheet. “Aaron did a good job on the stuff I brought in. Traced a lot of Stengard’s ex-military contacts. We can expect some arrests from those. And those Glock pistols. It appears Stahl used his company contacts to import a job lot from some dealer in Amsterdam. They were part of a stolen consignment taken from the factory in Austria. No serial numbers, markings of any kind. I guess Stahl figured they would stay anonymous and help avoid him being fingered.”
“The files on Stahl’s computer implicate some top people. When I met with the President yesterday, he told me there are going to be some shake-ups both in government and the military. We can expect some resignations from both camps shortly. Discreet withdrawals from the public eye and embarrassed silences all around.”
Brognola leaned back in his seat, eyeing Bolan. “At the start of this, you were about to take some R&R.”
“I need to go see Jack. It’s time he learned about Jess.”
Brognola cleared his throat. “I don’t envy you that one, Mack. You want company? Say the word.”
“Thanks for the offer, Hal. This is one I have to do on my own.”
“Hey, take it easy, pal.”
“I wasn’t there when he needed me.”
“That’s crazy talk. How were you supposed to know? How does anyone know when things like that are going to happen? Striker, you saw to it they didn’t walk free. You did that for Jack. And for Jess. And you’ll be with Jack after he finds out. You couldn’t do more if you wanted to.”
Bolan stood. “I’ll see you later.”
“Hey, don’t forget our date tomorrow. I hear the President is having the grass cut in honor of your visit.”
“If I’m around, Hal. If I’m around.”
LATER THAT DAY Hal Brognola received a message that informed him of the death of one Hank Winston. The man who had been in business with Chosan Xiang was found dead on a lonely stretch of highway near Lake Charles, Louisiana. Winston had been shot twice in the back of the head. The killing had all the signs of a professional hit.
Chosan Xiang had made good his promise to settle his score with the Winston. The killer was never found.
GENERAL TUNG SHAN was quietly removed from office a week later. He was summoned to a meeting at the winter house of his immediate superior, ostensibly to discuss his future. He entered the house at 11:05 a.m. on a crisp morning, when a sprinkling of snow had settled over the countryside.
At 11:07 his black military limousine left. It returned to Tung’s HQ, where the driver was assigned to become chauffeur to Tung’s successor. The new general was already in residence in Tung’s former office. All of Tung’s belongings had gone.
General Tung Shan was never seen again. His name was never mentioned officially, and all records of his existence in military files were deleted.
His removal went partway to appeasing the members of the Pacific Rim consortium who had been depending on China to remove the threat they believed would be posed by the Zero Option.
SHAO YEUNG and the sole survivor of Chosan Xiang’s assault team were never seen again in China. Shao decided that it wouldn’t be wise for them to return to Seattle, either. The pair eventually reached San Francisco, where Yeung accessed the bank account that held the money he had arranged for the mission. The substantial amount, which they divided between them over a period of time, allowed both men to take up residence in the city while they debated their futures. After three months they went their separate ways. They had both made the decision not return to China. Shao knew it would be a fatal mistake.
He decided, with the large amount of money he had, to settle in America. He found the country less of an evil place than he had been led to believe. Not perfect and with its own problems, the U.S. had much to offer. As with China it had good and bad. On the whole, America had a larger percentage of good points.
Shao had no idea how long he might get away with his new life. Maybe one day he would turn around to find one of the quiet assassins from his homeland who had been assigned to find and settle accounts with the traitor. Shao accepted that as part of the risk. In the meantime he reasoned that he might as well enjoy his stolen life.
Zero Platform One, Earth orbit
TWO MONTHS AFTER the incident at the R&D facility, Major Doug Buchanan initiated the unlock sequence code and watched Zero come alive around him. He sat in his biocouch with the spread of his control-command array in front of him and felt the platform hum into full life.
Monitors and computers clicked online. Digital displays flashed with light. Buchanan activated his couch and it slid to the left, along the smooth rail it was mounted on, allowing him to check readout panels and scan the readiness of all the weapons systems. He spent the next thirty minutes assessing the whole gamut of screens and displays, altering where something needed altering, adjusting and resetting where necessary.
Only when he was satisfied with the platform’s initial performance did he open the audiovisual connection that put him through to Saul Kaplan on Earth.
“Good morning, Doug. You had us worried there for a moment. No problems?”
“No problems, Doc. We just wanted to be one hundred percent online before coming on air.”
“That’s good, Doug. Everything down here shows Zero is fully operational. We’ll be spending quite some time running system checks and passing back anything we feel needs adjusting.”
“We’ll be here, Doc.”
“Are you still feeling okay?”
“Yes. How else would we feel with a 24/7 health-monitoring system up and running?”
“You know how I worry, Doug.”
“Any signs, you’ll get the call.”
The large TV monitor showing Kaplan seated at his own control desk also showed the gathered Air Force personnel standing behind him.
“Looks like you have visitors this morning, Doc.”
Kaplan nodded. “Big day for us all. You’re generating a lot of interest.”
“Tell them not worry. We’re doing fine.”
On Buchanan’s array a light flashed and immediately the platform’s defense system powered to full alert. He scanned the array, checking readout screens and moved his couch to the far side of the main array.
“Doug?”
“We picked up a warning from one of the proximity scanners. Our first customer.”
“Have you identified it?”
“Yes. It was a small piece of debris. Probably from some old satellite that’s been floating around for years. I guess we’ll be getting those from time to time.”
“That’s good, Doug. It shows Zero is working fine. I’ll make a note about that debris. It’s something we’ll need to address.”
“Don’t worry, Doc. It’s what we’re here for. We’ll handle it.”
“Doug, I’ll break off for now and let you carry on with diagnostic checks. Give me a call when you’re ready and we’ll compare notes.”
“Will do. Zero Platform One signing off.”
SAUL KAPLAN PUSHED his chair back from the command point, swinging around to face the Air Force personnel standing there.
“If I had a set of keys, I would hand them over and say congratulations. But no keys. Now the questions.”
For the next few minutes Kaplan answered the questions thrown at him with ease. He knew how to play the game now, had enough knowledge to be able to give them what they wanted without ruffling their feathers.
“So we seem to have a success?” a senior captain said.
“Early days, Captain, but things are looking good. There’s still a lot to do before we can accept Zero as completely successful. But don’t worry. We’ll have your Zero platform for you soon.”
There was more to discuss. Kaplan dealt with it for another ten minutes before excusing himself for a break. He was tired. The past few days had been exhausting. Kaplan had only left the command point on rare occasions. He crossed the command room to the coffee station and poured himself a mug of coffee.
He only became aware of the uniformed figure after a minute or so. Looking up he recognized the lean, tanned Air Force major.
“Morning, Saul.”
“Major Grant. What can I do for you? More help with the new volunteers for the program?”
“Not today. I just wanted to come and see for myself.”
“And what do you think?”
“Very impressive. That platform is everything you said it would be.”
“Do I detect a note of reserve?”
Major Grant smiled as he helped himself to coffee.
“No. It was just something I picked up. I don’t think any of the others did. But I know you will have.”
“And you are wondering if I am concerned about it?”
“Should you be?”
Kaplan shook his head. “I honestly don’t think so. It proves to me that Doug Buchanan has completed his transition and is now fully integrated with Zero, which is exactly what I hoped would happen. But I understand your concern. I will be keeping an eye on Doug. You can be assured of that.”
Kaplan was pleased Major Grant had picked up the item in Buchanan’s speech.
Easily missed. Unless, like Grant, you were a trained psychologist. A man who spent his life analyzing what people said and did and why.
Just a small thing.
One word.
Doug Buchanan was referring to himself not as I, but as we. Not looking at himself as a man on an orbiting platform. Zero and Doug Buchanan were a single entity now. Not separate.
The process was complete, and Buchanan was truly home.
ISBN: 978-1-4603-7450-4
Special thanks and acknowledgment to Mike Linaker for his contribution to this work.
ZERO OPTION
Copyright © 2004 by Worldwide Library.
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Worldwide Library, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.
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Don Pendleton, Zero Option
