Part 19 (2/2)
That was it! Of course Mich.e.l.le had pounced when she had.
She must have been listening to her bugs from this very cabin. She had learned she had been discovered but also that she had a window of opportunity. So she had almost immediately sent a gravity pulse from the cabin outward-to Proact and beyond. Then all she had to do was drive calmly to Proact to capture them.
Mich.e.l.le Cooper could see the understanding in Ryan's eyes. ”That's right,” she said coldly. ”However you figured things out, I got to you before you told anyone. So everything will continue to go forward exactly as I planned. The gravity effect will wear off on everyone shortly. The rest of the Isis team will be rescued and tell everyone the tragic tale of the crazed physicist and his poor, helpless hostage. Then I'll appear with a heroic tale of escape and lead security right to Nathaniel, just as you guessed.” She raised her eyebrows. ”And they'll bomb him into oblivion. After that, everything will return to normal.” A cruel smile came over her face. ”At least they'll think it has. Until I'm ready to make my real move.”
”What about me and Carl?”
”Are you really that stupid?” she said in disdain. ”You can't possibly think I'm just going to let you go. No, I'll be using the Enigma Cube on such a high setting that you and Carl will be turned into paste. Later, I'm going to tell everyone how Nathaniel Smith tortured and killed you, probably becoming teary-eyed when I do. People will wonder why he went to the trouble of capturing you and Carl from the decoy building, but this will remain a mystery. After all,” she said with a sneer, ”who can possibly guess the motives of a psychopath like Nathaniel?”
Ryan knew she wasn't bluffing. Once she was finished interrogating him he was dead. He had a vision of a large c.o.c.kroach being crushed by a hard shoe-of the insect's repulsive guts exploding through its sh.e.l.l accompanied by a sharp crunching sound. He shuddered, knowing this exact fate was in his immediate future. He forced himself not to think about it. When he did he couldn't breathe and his mind became paralyzed with fear.
While he was alive there was always a chance, always hope, as Carl had said. But he had mere minutes to come up with a plan and nothing was coming to mind.
”Look,” said Ryan. ”You're not yourself. Let me explain what-”
”Don't try to change the subject!” thundered Mich.e.l.le. Then, calmly, as if her outburst had never happened, she added, ”I think you were about to tell me how you knew Nathaniel was a decoy.”
Ryan took a deep breath. ”I figured it out because I realized you weren't yourself. Not since you returned from your visit to Isis three months ago.”
”What are you talking about?” she spat. ”How am I not myself?”
”Would the old Mich.e.l.le Cooper shoot Dr. Harris? Strand innocent people on another planet?” He leaned forward intently. ”You bound and gagged your own daughters!”
”There is nothing wrong with me!” she yelled. ”There is something wrong with the pathetic species called h.o.m.o sapiens. I've grown. I realized now how much I loathe humanity. And my daughters are no different. I despise them just as much!”
”Think about it. This wasn't true before three months ago. Something terrible happened to you on Isis.”
”Enough!” shouted Mich.e.l.le Cooper, picking up the Enigma Cube and pointing it at Ryan. ”Answer my question! How did you know Nathaniel was a decoy? Tell me now or I'll use a gravity setting that will make the one I used before seem like a picnic.”
”I'm trying to tell you. The Isis animals give off some kind of emotional energy that-”
”Time's up!” hissed Mich.e.l.le hatefully, touching an indentation on the Cube.
Ryan felt as if he was. .h.i.t by a falling wall of two-foot thick concrete.
With a sickening crunch he crashed through the chair, which splintered around him, driving a dagger-sized piece of wood two-inches into his thigh. The moment he landed his increased weight flattened him against his back on the floor. Gravity was so strong that blood refused to pour from his wound. Ryan's heart couldn't beat and one of his ribs fractured. He didn't scream or even grunt because he couldn't draw a breath to do so.
He was an instant away from blacking out when his gravity returned to normal.
”That was five seconds,” said Mich.e.l.le calmly. ”I'll bet it seemed like a lot longer.”
Ryan remained on his back and said nothing. Blood began pouring from his leg and onto the floor. And he couldn't think! Not through the agonizing pain that flooded his brain from his broken rib and gashed leg. His entire body felt as if it had been through a blender. Maybe it was finally time to give up: to face the fact that he would die here in this isolated cabin. He had finally come to a situation he couldn't trick or bluff his way out of. If only the pain would go away. But that wouldn't happen. If anything, it would get worse.
”I'm going to ask you one last time,” said Mich.e.l.le. ”How did you know Nathaniel was a decoy? And I don't want to hear a single word about Isis.”
Ryan's eyes were dead and defeated. But as he stared into the depths of Mich.e.l.le Cooper's pitiless blue eyes, they suddenly sparked back to life.
Ryan laughed. He laughed as if he had heard a very funny joke.
”What are you laughing about?” she demanded.
”I'm laughing at you. I'm laughing because you're just as dead as I am. You just don't know it yet.”
”How do you figure?”
”Carl rigged a b.o.o.bie trap. In case he was captured. After I convinced him to call off the air strike on Nathaniel, he told me all about it-luckily in his office where you couldn't listen in. It's a high powered spray hidden in a s.h.i.+rt b.u.t.ton. As powerful as a sneeze. While I had you distracted he was able to move just enough to activate it.”
Mich.e.l.le sneered at him. ”Don't try one of your famous bluffs on me,” she said scornfully. ”I'm not a fool. And your bluff is insultingly poor. Maybe the great Ryan Resnick has lost his touch.”
”It's not a bluff,” said Ryan. ”He got the spray from the bioweapons people at Fort Dix. It's the most deadly virus ever designed, and the virus particles are so light they'll stay afloat even if their gravity is increased. Some of them have already reached us. We have about ten minutes to live.”
She shook her head. ”The U.S. doesn't do bioweapons research anymore. We've signed several treaties that prevent it.”
”If you say so. Just do me a favor, kill me now before the virus starts eating away all my skin.”
”You're making this up. You're acting too bravely for it to be true. You would never act like your own death meant so little to you. Why?” she demanded. ”This bluff gains you nothing.”
”I'm not making it up. You'll see.”
Ryan was. .h.i.t once again by a gravity wave. Just as intense as the last one. While it lasted the same five seconds, this time Ryan blacked out just before the effect ended, and at least one more of his ribs cracked under the strain.
Mich.e.l.le Cooper waited patiently for Ryan to regain consciousness. When he did, thirty seconds later, she rose from the chair and held the Enigma Cube over him menacingly. ”I'm only going to try this one more time,” she said through clenched teeth. ”Why are you bluffing?”
Ryan fought through pain that threatened to completely overwhelm him. ”Do what you want to me,” he croaked weakly. ”It doesn't matter. We're both already dead.”
”Yeah,” hissed Mich.e.l.le, touching another indentation on the Cube. ”Well you first!”
Ryan felt bone crus.h.i.+ng weight return. It wasn't as high a setting as the last time, but it was higher than she had used when she had captured them in the decoy building. He fought to stay conscious. If he blacked out he would be unable to fight for breath and he would die within a minute or two.
”You're helping me conduct a little experiment right now, Ryan,” said Mich.e.l.le calmly. ”Once a scientist, always a scientist, I guess.” She glanced at her watch. ”You see I've never used this exact setting before. As a biologist, I'm making an educated guess that you can survive for about fifteen minutes.” She sneered at him. ”But do try to hold out for as long as you can. I want my data to be accurate.”
Ryan fought through the enormous pain for what seemed like an eternity.
Finally, he could struggle no longer, and he collapsed into unconsciousness.
CHAPTER 32.
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