Transporter (an Ell Donsaii story #16), page 19
“Hey Jim,” said a voice Jim had thought he’d never hear again.
“Rob?!”
“Uh-huh. I don’t suppose you thought you were going to hear from me again, did you?”
“Um, honestly, no.” Though Rob didn’t sound like it, he asked, “Are you under coercion?”
Rob gave a rueful chuckle. “No, though to be honest I’d been thinking that’d be the only way I’d ever get to call home.” He paused a moment, then spoke in a voice choked with emotion, “Actually, I’m in a plane over southern Europe. On my way home.”
“That’s…!” Jim hesitated, not sure how to react, but realizing that saying it was impossible—that Rob was imagining it—probably wasn’t the optimum response. “Did someone um, negotiate a prisoner exchange or something?”
“No… believe it or not, someone broke me out of prison.”
“What?!” Jim resisted his impulse to cry “you’re crazy,” and—thinking Rob might have had a psychotic break—instead strove for a calm tone, “Um, how’d all this happen?”
“Well, the first thing she did, and this is something you guys should take note of, she adapted the port in my ear so she could listen through it. She didn’t try to hold a conversation. That probably would have worked as well, but she didn’t want me talking loud enough for her to hear me through the port in my ear. So she just had me scratch my ear, once for ‘yes’ and twice for ‘no.’ Using those yes, no, responses for basic communication, she got my permission to numb the skin in my ear and slide another port out through the one I already had. Once I fished that one out of my ear, she passed me a bigger one yet—”
“Wait,” Jim interrupted. “You can’t pass a bigger port through a smaller one!”
“You can if the big one’s a collapsed but inflatable graphene hula hoop.”
“Oh… Holy shit! Where do you get those?”
“Just have to ask the nice people at Portal Tech. It’s not something they advertise, but it is something they sell.”
“But… a bigger port didn’t get you out of there.”
“No, next she passed an antenna through the port and grabbed a GPS signal so she’d know—”
“You weren’t in a building?”
“Yeah, but there was a barred window, and it was a long, high-tech looking antenna. However it worked, she did get my location.”
“When was this? And who are we talking about?”
“Night before…” Rob trailed off.
In the background, Jim heard a woman say, “Who’re you talking to?”
“Um,” Rob said uncertainly, “my handler at the CIA.”
“Oh…” the voice said sounding unhappy. “We should talk about what you can tell them.”
“Oh,” Rob said, sounding embarrassed. “Abe,” he said, speaking to his AI, “disconnect this call.”
Jim’s AI said, “Your call has been disconnected.”
Jim thought, He didn’t even say goodbye. The woman’s voice sounded familiar. Who in the hell was she? Thoughtfully he turned and reentered the conference room.
When Jim entered, Art Schuller rolled eyes at him. Irritatedly, he said, “I hope that call was important?”
Irked, Jim gave a curt nod and said, “That was Rob Shannon, calling in.”
The people in the room perked up at that. Pretty much everybody liked Rob.
Even the choleric Art smiled, “That’s great!” He frowned, “Wait, I thought his microphones were out?”
“They were. Someone got him a new one.”
“What?! How?!”
Jim told them what he’d learned about inflatable ports. Several people in the room looked at one another in surprise. He thought a few looked embarrassed, as if they’d known about the inflatable ports but hadn’t thought of using them in this situation.
Art said, “Who did this?”
“I was asking when she interrupted him. Apparently, there’re some things she won’t let him tell—”
Art interrupted, “Wait, can Rob talk to us without the Iranians hearing him? We need to find out if he knows anything about what’s going on at the Darab building.”
“He’s escaped so I assume—”
Schuller interrupted again, “Escaped! How’d he do that?!”
With some difficulty, Jim didn’t roll his own eyes. “I don’t know. I assume with some assistance. I haven’t been able to tell you that Rob cut me off while I was talking to him before. Do you want me to see if I can get through to him again?”
“Yeah, have your AI route it to the speakers here so we can all hear.”
Jim asked his AI to reconnect them, wondering if Rob would agree to the call.
“Hey Jim,” Rob said. “Sorry about cutting you off before. I had to learn what I can and can’t tell you.”
Jim didn’t think the people in the room would take kindly to the idea that their own spy might not answer every question they asked. When he looked at Art, the man looked distinctly unhappy. Jim decided he owed his old friend an understanding of what was going on. “I’m here in a room full of people who’re all wondering whether you know anything about what happened at the Darab building last night.”
“Oh…” Rob said, sounding surprised. “I don’t know anything myself. What’s going on there?”
“The Iranians are running around like chickens with their heads cut off.”
“I don’t know what would’ve caused that,” Rob responded slowly. “Let me ask. Abe…” he said to his AI, “Put this call on hold.” The line audibly went dead.
Jim turned to Art, expecting him to be pissed an underling had cut them out of his conversation about the Darab building.
Art look pissed all right. “Why the hell isn’t he letting us listen to whatever they’re saying?!”
Jim shrugged. Why do you think I’d know? he wondered.
Rob’s voice came back on the speaker, “Um… my source says they’re probably excited because five radioactive cylinders, most likely nuclear weapons, were removed from the Darab facility last night.”
“By who?!” Art Schuller exploded.
“Hi Mr. Schuller,” Rob said, obviously recognizing Schuller’s voice.
Schuller didn’t return a greeting. Instead, looking like great restraint was required for him to keep from shouting, he said, “Who is your source?!”
“Um, the person who rescued me tells me she first stopped at the Darab building to remove the threat of—”
Interrupting again, this time Schuller did shout, “And who the hell is this person?!”
Rob said, “Abe… Put this call on hold.” the line went dead.
Schuller looked apoplectic. Jim saw the people on either side of him lean a bit away, obviously expecting him to detonate.
Before Schuller could start screaming, Rob’s voice came back on. “She’ll explain some things if you clear the room. That means everyone out but Art Schuller and Jim Stott.”
“No damned way’s that going to happen!” Schuller bellowed.
During the brief silence when Art took a breath to continue, Rob said, “Okay, call me back if you decide you do want more info.” The line went dead again.
Schuller looked at Jim again, “Has he gone rogue?”
“I don’t think so. I think he’s following the instructions of the person that saved his life.”
“But…” Schuller closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then seemed to relax. He opened his eyes and swept them around the room. “Obviously, this is ridiculous. You guys all keep your pie-holes shut and we’ll just tell him you left the room. Jim, have your AI reconnect us.”
Jim had his AI make the call. Rob answered, “You change your mind, Mr. Schuller?”
“Yeah,” Schuller said, a resigned tone in his voice. “What can you tell us about how you escaped and who helped you?”
“Jim, has the room been cleared? Just you and Mr. Schuller in there?”
Without answering, Jim turned to look at Schuller.
Rob said, “Jim?”
Schuller whispered, “Answer his question!”
“No,” Jim said. “Everyone’s still here.”
The line went dead again.
From the look on Schuller’s face, if the man had been armed Jim would’ve been in serious danger. Red in the face, he said, “You disobeyed a direct order to keep the presence of the others a secret.”
“No,” Jim responded. “I obeyed your order to ‘keep my pie-hole shut.’ Then I obeyed your order to ‘answer his question.’ I do not lie to the people I handle. They’re on our side. And, if I break their trust, they’ll never trust me again.”
Schuller rolled his eyes. In a disgusted tone, he said, “We’ve got ourselves a hair-splitter.” He exhaled loudly, as if put upon, then said, “Go ahead. Clear the room. I’ll tell you what you need to know after we’re done with this.”
The rest of the people got up and shuffled out of the room, leaving Jim uncomfortably sitting alone with Schuller.
Schuller had Jim place the call again. This time, when Rob asked, Jim confirmed that he and Schuller were the only two people there.
There was a muffled conversation, then Rob said, “Okay, she says she’ll answer a few questions if you’ll agree to keep her identity confidential at a top-secret level.”
Schuller said, “I can’t promise that!”
After another muffled conversation Rob came back on, “Then all she’ll say is that all five nuclear weapons in the Darab building have been destroyed and are no longer a threat.”
“Wait just a damned minute! We need answers to a lot more questions! How were they destroyed? Where’s the plutonium? Who… did whatever was done to them?”
“She may answer some of those questions if you promise top-secret confidentiality, otherwise…”
Looking like he had a mouthful of vinegar, Schuller said, “Okay, okay! You have my word her name’ll be kept top-secret.”
This time it was the woman Jim had heard earlier in the background who spoke. She could be heard clearly when she said, “Hello Mr. Schuller.” Jim immediately recognized the famous voice, Ell Donsaii?!
“Who’re you?” Schuller asked, suspiciously.
“I’m Ell Donsaii. When you look into it, you’ll realize the news recently reported that I’m married to Rob Shannon’s nephew, Shannon Kinrais.”
Jim looked at Schuller and thought the man looked thunderstruck. Or, perhaps star struck. His expression quickly firmed. “And you claim the Iranian nuclear weapons were destroyed?”
“The five of them in the Darab building, yes. And in answer to the how, where, and who questions you posed a little while ago, I ported the weapons into deep space. They no longer pose a threat as they were broken up and cannot be recovered.”
Schuller looked stunned. After a moment, he swallowed and said, “Can you prove this?”
“I doubt it can be proven to your satisfaction. I’m sending two photos, one before and one after the removal of the weapons. They’re not faked, but of course you can’t be sure of that.”
As the images popped up on Jim’s HUD he wondered whether that was true. The Agency had photo analysts who could find signatures of most if not all types of fakery. He had his AI put the images up on the big screens at the front of the room. They showed a small, surprisingly-nondescript room that looked like it had concrete walls. The only visible door appeared to be heavy-duty steel, but it certainly wasn’t a vault. A set of shelves was the main feature. The first photo showed five metal cylinders sitting on heavy wooden cradles.
The cylinders were gone in the second photo. Jim thought it looked like… something had happened to the cradles too. As if some of the wood had been removed, but smoothly, not raggedly like you might expect if some of it had been broken during the removal of the cylinders.
Schuller studied the photos for a minute, then said, “We’ll have them analyzed... How’d you manage to get into the building? They arrested Rob just for stopping near the Darab facility.”
“I’m afraid I won’t answer that question. Do you have any others?”
“Ms. Donsaii,” Schuller said condescendingly, “your country needs to know how you did these things. There could be repercussions that’ll have to be dealt with.”
“As long as you keep this conversation secret, no one in Iran’s ever going to figure out what happened to their weapons. Ergo, no repercussions. Do you have any other questions?”
“Er, they’re going to suspect the US had something to do with it since Rob escaped the same night!”
“Have you admitted that Rob’s an American agent?”
“Um, no.”
“And, if they were to complain, they’d have to admit they lost the atomic weapons they’ve been crowing about, right?”
“What if they find proof that Mr. Shannon’s one of our agents? Or pick up some of your DNA? We need to be ready to deal with such issues.”
“For your first case, if it turns into a real problem, talk to me and I’ll see if I can help. That second case isn’t going to happen. Please just accept that I’m not going to tell you how I did it. I’m also not going to tell you how I extracted my uncle from their prison… If there’s nothing else?”
“Wait! You’ve got to—”
“No, I don’t have to. If you think of a reasonable question that has actual national security implications, let me know.” The line went dead.
Schuller turned furiously on Jim, “Who the hell does she think she is?!”
Jim studied him calmly for a moment, then said, “She probably thinks she’s Ell Donsaii.”
~~~
Rob leaned back in his seat, covered his eyes with his hand and let out a little moan. “I am in such deep shit!”
“I don’t see why,” Ell said beside him. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I’m the one who refused to answer their questions.”
Without uncovering his eyes, he said, “Yes I did. I didn’t answer their questions either. I let you come on the line and refuse to answer them.”
“Au contraire. They wanted to know what happened at Darab, how you escaped, and who rescued you. You arranged for them to learn all three of those things.”
“Not in the detail they wanted!”
“In all the detail you knew though, right?”
Surprised, Rob cocked his head to think. “Who you were, yes. More than I knew about Darab, yes. But I definitely know more about my escape from the jail than you gave them.”
“Ah. You’re right.” She shrugged, “Feel free to tell them anything you know about your escape. You already told them how we got extra ports to you, right?”
Rob shrugged, “Partly. I hope that was okay?”
“Yeah, no problem. You can also tell them how I put a GPS antenna through the second port to find you. You can tell them the wall of your jail was broken open, though you don’t know how. That you were lifted out of there by a lightweight flyer using a harness that pulled you up with graphene cables. And that the flyer took you to a Gulfstream jet in Turkey that brought you back to the US.”
Rob blinked, “Um, they’re gonna want to know how the wall was taken down!”
Ell shrugged, “Not a problem. Tell them you don’t know. Say they’re welcome to ask me, but I told you I wouldn’t answer that question.”
Rob stared into space, “They are not going to be happy.”
“Your AI’ll be recording everything. It’s been recording everything since I hooked up your ear port so it’d transmit. You’ll be able to prove you don’t know anything you haven’t told them.”
He gave her a wide-eyed look, “This is the CIA. They’ll want to know. And they’ll think I should get the answers from you.”
She shrugged. “You can’t. Really. You cannot. No one can. This is a problem they have with me, not with you. Remind them that the previous President of the United States had the CIA and the FBI expend massive effort but couldn’t get information from me. They really shouldn’t waste the government’s resources trying to do essentially the same thing.”
“They’re gonna fire me.”
“Oh,” Ell said cheerfully, as if she’d just been presented with a great opportunity. “D5R’ll be happy to hire you if they do. We could really use someone with your skills.”
“I couldn’t tell you anything. I’m sworn to secrecy.”
“Not a problem. We don’t want any secrets. We do want people with your kind of language skills and extensive knowledge of the middle east.”
Rob had a hard time sleeping on the long flight home. However, it wasn’t—as he’d expected—because he was afraid of losing his job. Instead, he found he was excited about the prospect of working at the famed D5R.
Maybe I’ll even learn how Donsaii rescued me…
***
“Detective, like you asked, I sorted through the AV records we were allowed to collect from the kids’ AIs at the Nature Learning school incident.”
John Watts leaned back in his chair, and looked up at Randy, their tech weenie. “What’d you figure out?”
“Like the kids said, Mitch Hewson came out of the woods when Jonas reached up to steady Bakewell while she crossed the log. Hewson had a gun and told Jonas to get away from her. Looked like some kind of jealous triangle thing like you guys have been thinking.”
“Then what happened?”
“The video gets chaotic as the frightened kids started moving their heads around all frantic. I’ve sorted out most of the story as seen from a lot of brief vids as they crossed the action. Let me throw it up on your screen.”
Watts turned to look at his big desk display and saw an image of the three adults, Hewson with gun in hand.
Randy continued, “Hewson repeats his demand that Jonas get away from her,” the video advanced a little and Watts heard the words. “Then he shoots.” Smoke blossomed from the end of Hewson’s gun. The viewpoint jumped to come from another kid. “Jonas falls onto his buttocks and Bakewell gets pulled off the log, going headfirst into the shallow water. She stays facedown in the water, not breathing until the kids pull her out. Jonas slumps from a sitting position—”
