Tom Brand Escapes

18-Escapes the City of Magnificent Intentions

"Yes, it appears to be very similar," Petras said, "It covered the car entirely?" he asked.

Brand nodded, "Two orbs flew past us and then I heard the impact with the car. When I looked just a moment later, the car was completely surrounded by the material and began to glow."

"There was no explosion?" Petras looked at the ceiling and walls.

"No," Jenn said, "But there was something, a sound...like wasps or flies...then a pulsation. It was nauseating...my blood was pounding in my ears."

Petras bent and dug with a pen at what was left of the car and Russom, "Total incineration. It collapsed inwards."

"An implosion device," Brand said.

"It would seem so," Petras stood slowly back up.

"But what about the boat and the building?" Brand asked.

Petras shrugged, "The bomb may be able to only envelope objects of a certain size – so size matters, for now. Amazing – almost no noise. You've been here about fifteen minutes, and no one has come to investigate."

Brand looked at his watch. It had stopped shortly after the orbs arrived, 12 minutes ago, to be exact.

"But we were pinned down by gunfire for at least ninety seconds. That was plenty loud."

"And there are cameras all over the lot," Jenn said, "How is it possible no one saw what happened?"

"The cameras were disabled, Ms. Slater. Remember, Brand? It happened on the boat."

"Yes. The only equipment that functioned were the flashlights and the EPIRB, which had been off when the orb attached itself to the deck."

"So that could explain why the lower hallway light is back on but how is it that your phone works, Brand? You used it to call Petras," Jenn said.

Brand was impressed by her observation, "I keep my phone off until I need to use it. It makes it more difficult to be tracked."

Jenn took her phone from her pocket and held it up, "I thought it was damaged during the gunfire. But it's strange. If the cameras malfunctioned, it would still trigger a security response."

"Russom's detail was supposedly on its way, and late. They may have been responding to the video malfunction and were intercepted," Brand said.

"So they're dead," Jenn said.

"Yes," Petras walked around the irregular shaped perimeter of the debris. It was only four feet wide at its widest point. As it continued to spread outward, it began to look like not much more than a bump in the pavement, "Fast, self-propelling, state-changing, electrical interference, and can debilitate or weaken people. It measures the object to determine how to act. That the weapon can implode and leave virtually nothing behind makes it exceedingly dangerous, more so than what we originally thought. It can blow up any relatively small object and leave barely a trace – a truck, a car,"

"A person," Jenn said, "Why, if it attached itself to a person, there would be nothing left but a smudge."

"That's true," Brand said, "But so far we have no evidence of that. Of course, as Petras said, its capability is broader than we first thought."

"And it may only be able to attach to inanimate objects – again, for now."

"So what now?" Jenn asked, "Russom is due at a dinner meeting. No one knows," she choked on the words, "that he's been assassinated."

"What does your training tell you?" Petras asked.

"That the three of us are main suspects, and main targets."

"And?"

"And since no one knows who the two of you are, that leaves me blowing in the wind. I'm the last person to see my boss alive, there is no corpse, no video, the rest of the evidence will be virtually gone in a few minutes as this ooze spreads out, there is a missing security detail and all I have is a fantastic story about a bomb that doesn't explode."

"The door is riddled with bullets," Brand suggested.

"Which is my fault and my fingerprints are on the handle," Jenn said, "I can't believe how stupidly I acted by opening that door."

"Don't beat yourself up," Petras said, "It is your first field mission."

A look of shock registered on her face and then Jenn shook her head vehemently, "Uh-uh. No way. I am not a field agent."

"You are now," Brand said. "And until we solve this BANTER problem, there's no turning back. You see that, don't you?"

Jenn swallowed hard, "No, I don't. I'll go to headquarters and tell them what happened. I'll be debriefed, put under investigation, ultimately cleared. It will work out – I've done nothing wrong."

"You will tell them about us," Petras said.

Jenn blinked rapidly, "No, of course not. I can't do that either, I....Are you going to kill me?"

Petras said nothing. Brand answered her, "No."

Then he turned to Petras, "No."

Brand checked his gun and put in a fresh clip that Petras tossed to him. "It's not safe for us to stay here. Russom was negotiating with BANTER,"

"What?" Jenn gasped.

"To acquire this weapons technology."

"I guess it wasn't going as well as he thought," Petras said.

"I don't understand. He didn't tell me about this. We had started work on the next operation."

"The Canadian-US weapons diversion?" Brand asked.

Jenn nodded, "Yes. I thought that's why you were here."

"It was," Brand wondered how much she knew about Leah, "but obviously the last mission has been re-opened."

"Brand, there is something you should know about that drive-by shooting," Petras said.

"The one this morning in Maryland?" Jenn asked.

"What is it?" Brand asked

"It is being reported that the eyewitnesses have differing accounts of the shooters. Most are describing two or three dark-skinned or Hispanic males, except for one witness. He insists he saw something quite different."

"What?" Jenn asked.

"Only one male, the driver, and a woman with long, dark hair."

"Radkova" Brand said.

"The Czech agent," Jenn said, "We thought you neutralized her in the bar."

"No," Brand answered.

"That's just great," Jenn ran her fingers through her hair and massaged the back of her neck, "Russom said something had come to light to restore his faith in you and keep you in commission. What else don't I know?"

"All in good time," Brand said.