Now they were stopped, and each person’s heart beat hard in their ears, it became obvious just how many people were surrounding them. Every inch of every sidewalk was a sea of people, packed so tight together that it would seem impossible for their chests to expand enough for them to breathe. But they very much alive and watched in deafly silence.

  “There’s… kids out there…” said one of the soldiers.

  “They’re not kids. Just keep your kind on your job private,” said Wright.

  Mike clicked on his radio. “We’re outside. Are you ready? Over.”

  “I’m coming out,” said Alexis.

  Mike pushed his door open just as the doors to the other humvee opened as well, and the soldier manning the turret of the third spun around to face the crowds. Mike got out almost forgetting his rifle, then slung it over his shoulder. He looked towards the smoked glass doors of the bank. One opened slowly and Alexis emerged. Despite the grime and her hair seemingly longer than it should have been across her face, her smile confirmed it was her. A wave of relief ran through him, and he walked forward, Denise bringing Constance and Kevin as well.

  Alexis looked anxiously at the thousands of eyes looking at her and walked out of the entrance area towards the humvees, towards Mike and salvation.

  “Is… is she infected,” said Mike to the young woman next to him, the words not wanting to leave his lips. Constance went to walk forward when he flicked out his arm barring her movement. “Look from here. You have to be sure.”

  Please be sure.

  Constance leaned forward squinting, then turned to Kevin and whispers passed between them. Alexis had slowed her approach on seeing the two young people studying her, then looked desperately to Mike. Constance looked up at him and nodded, and Alexis ran forward but only made it a few feet before two soldiers sprang in front of Mike and her. He went to protest when Wright pulled him back.

  “What’s going on!” shouted Mike, not caring for the reaction from the watching masses.

  One of the soldiers had some form of flashlight, with a larger than usual lens and a LCD screen attached to it. He waved it in front of Alexis who scrunched her face on the bright light hitting her pupils.

  “Ain’t letting your girlfriend onboard with us until we double check,” said Wright, still holding Mike’s arm.

  Mike shrugged him off but let the soldier do his task.

  The young man looked back to Wright. “She’s clear.”

  Alexis pushed past the soldier and into the arms of the man she had been dreaming about embracing since Dyer took her from him.

  “Maybe do the greets after we’re out of this city,” said Wright.

  They pulled back. “Are you okay?” said Mike, the words falling breathlessly from him.

  She nodded. “I… I am, yes.”

  He brushed her hair from her face, and they quickly moved back to the humvee. With each step Mike was waiting for the mob of people to descend upon them, a storm they wouldn’t be able to hold back, but instead they just stood and watched, and with Alexis, he clambered into the back of the humvee, with the others doing the same in their vehicles.

  Engines roared amongst the silence and the convoy surged out of the parking lot and back onto the road.

  *****

  Mike looked at the top of the head of the woman, who was sleeping on his shoulder. Before she slept she told him of where she had been and the strange experience of talking to Folsom, and the message she was told to relay. She also told him that she didn’t know what to believe, but the AI had kept its distance from her, and had even told her where to get water and a landline phone to make her call. She had made her way through the streets, the city’s inhabitants watching her every step, and sometimes corralling her to take a particular turn. She shook as she relaid the story, and tears flowed down her cheeks.

  ‘Could it be over?’ she had said to him, and his response was to try to be positive before fatigue got the better of her. But he was just telling her what he felt she needed to hear. She was a tough woman, but he had been involved with a number of hostage cases, and sometimes the incident would hit home to the abducted long after they were home and free. So for now he was going to keep his doubts about the AI’s intentions from her. She had survived, that’s all that mattered. There was also the ‘small’ matter of tens of thousands of people being enslaved by the Spirit Mind in Tucson. Was it the same throughout the country? The thought of the same being mirrored across nearby cities made him feel physically sick.

  Has to be a way to stop it…

  He sighed then let her presence and the sound of her breathing calm his mind. Tiredness soon took him…

  He opened his eyes. It was dark outside, but the humvee was slowing. He realized there was no longer any weight on him and looked at Alexis who was sitting up, sipping on some water. He instinctively reached out and held her hand. Slowly she turned with a smile and eyes that were molten blue fire. Horror flooded his mind and he recoiled in panic…

  He awoke for a second time and felt the sweat against the fabric of his clothes. It was dark outside, and Alexis was still asleep on his arm, which was partially numb but he didn’t want to move in case he woke her. “How far out from the base?” he said keeping his voice to a hush.

  Wright sleepily turned his head. “Not far. Maybe an hour.”

  “I take it there’s not been any problems.”

  “Nope. Only stopped to fuel up, then been plain sailing. We’ve just come within radio range. They know we’re almost there and want us in the air back to Colorado as soon as we arrive.”

  “Right…”

  “She… seem right to you?”

  “She’s not an AI. You did the tests. You saw what Constance said.”

  “Yeah, just… you know, want to know what you think?”

  “Why you asking?”

  “She was saying some weird shit in her sleep.”

  “She’s obviously dreaming. You’d be saying weird shit too if you had been what she’s been through.”

  “Yeah, no doubt.” Silence returned to the cabin.

  The following sixty minutes went without conversation. As they pulled into the small Colorado town, Alexis woke and started kicking and flailing about. Mike quickly grabbed her arms. “Hey it’s okay, you’re safe.”

  She looked at him, her eyes wide and wild, until recognition returned to them. She nodded. “Water?”

  He handed her the flask, which she sipped on. His dream returned to him but he pushed it away.

  The convoy moved through the abandoned town. The repeating thud and whir of helicopter blades were audible as they neared the school, and the aircraft sat at the far end of the parking lot, its side door open and waiting.

  The journey north was quicker than the one by air in the opposite direction and Alexis had spent it detailing as much of her experience as she could. Mike figured she needed to get the thoughts and experiences out of her, try and recover some form of normality… sanity even. He and the others listened intently. Especially Denise who couldn’t believe Folsom was alive, even if he had become one with the Spirit Mind. She was sure he had died at the compound.

  The pilot told them over the comms system they were descending to the valley just in front of Cheyenne mountain and he felt Alexis squeeze his hand, a smile on her face. He thought he saw her lips mouth that she loved him, but then she turned and looked out of the window and he wasn’t sure what she had said. The aircraft touched down with a subtle jolt, and after a short pause the door was pulled open.

  They climbed down onto the concrete and jogged forward. A group of soldiers were waiting near a few humvees and for a moment Mike thought she was going to be arrested, but after a short exchange of words between a captain and Wright, the senior officer waved Mike, Alexis and the others forward and into the vehicles.

  They drove through a series of security gates and into the mountain’s large entrance, where they were taken to the elevator and quickly descended until they came out to a floor Mike and the others recognized.

  Doctor Caldez was waiting in the hallway, with two nurses. “Good to see you are unharmed agent Adams,” he said. She meekly smiled. “If you don’t mind we would like to examine you, give you some fluids and antibiotics. Would that be okay?”

  She nodded and looked back at Mike who did the same. She walked away and their hands which had been clasped together for most of the journey were pulled apart. Constance, Kevin and the others returned to their quarters, and Mike despite having had some rest, did the same collapsing onto his single bunker and passing out.

  Samples of blood and saliva were taken from Alexis, and they gave her some pills. Some she took straight away others she was told to take the next day with a meal. Otherwise though she was pleased to learn she had gotten through the ordeal without more than a few bruises and scratches. A soldier took her to the living quarters and then to a small but clean room with a single bed. She sat heavily on it and went to lean back, when she felt something stick into her side from her jacket pocket. She immediately knew what it was. It was the piece of metal which she unsuccessfully used to free herself. She pulled it out and looked at its blunt edge and smiled.

  “You know what. I think I’m going to keep you. For good—”

  The metal broke apart in her fingers, becoming a liquid which flowed over her skin. She knew what was happening. Knew what it was and opened her mouth to shout a warning to anyone who could hear, when her world turned white. She was in a room. A white room, larger than the one she was in a moment before. She looked down at her legs and arms, which were completely clothed in white as well. She stood and ran forward, slamming her fists on the smooth white walls and screamed and screamed.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  A knock came on Mike’s room’s door. He opened his eyes to darkness, then scrambled to find the switch to the small lamp, which he successfully did. “Yes!” he shouted.

  “Debriefing is in ten minutes, sir,” said a soldier on the other side of his door.

  “Yeah, yeah I’ll be there.”

  The events of just five hours before flooded back into his brain.

  Alexis.

  He threw the sheet off and sat up, then quickly dressed and left the room, running along the corridor until he found the elevator. He had no idea where she was, but he knew Denise or one of the generals would, so they were his destination. He quickly moved inside the metal cage, which rattled after he pressed the floor for the research and development level. The door slid back and he ran out, brushing past a soldier and along a corridor until reaching the end and the two guards stationed there. “I need to see doctor Reed.”

  “She’s gone to the debriefing on floor—”

  He had already spun around and was running to the elevator before the soldier finished what he was saying. Less than a minute later Mike had emerged into the large CIC room, then ran along one of the aisles making his way best he could remember back to Corolla’s office.

  “Hey Mike!”

  He turned around to Cary walking towards him. “Congratulations on agent Adam’s return. You heading to the debriefing?”

  “Err… yeah, but I—”

  “Great, me too.” They both started walking to the back of the room. “I heard that there were thousands of AI’s in the city?”

  “Yeah…”

  Cary shook his head. “And this thing, expects us to just go along with that for the sake of a truce.”

  They climbed some steps until they were outside Corolla’s office.

  “You got any reports from other nearby cities?” said Mike. “Are they the same?”

  Cary hesitated for a second, then pulled the handle down and pushed the door open. “Most of the towns within a two hundred—” He walked inside with Mike following, who then stopped just inside the doorway. Denise was busily chatting to Alexis who was seated next to her. “— mile radius have been in communication blackout with the rest of country for days. So who knows.” Alexis looked up and smiled at Mike who did the same in return.

  “Good. You’re a minute early,” said Corolla at the head of the table. He nodded towards a pot and some mugs. “There’s coffee.”

  Mike sat next to Cary and opposite Alexis. He was surprised but glad for how relaxed she looked.

  “Agent Adams has been filling us in on the last few days. If I hadn’t heard it from her I might not have believed it. It appears that the AI really does want to settle this without anymore violence. Which is a win for us.”

  “What about all the people in Tucson? And other cities?” said Mike.

  A look of unease passed around Corolla and the other generals and admiral. Corolla looked at Denise who then realized he expected her to take Mike’s question.

  “Oh, well the AI has said it will give people a choice, perhaps it did that to those people and that is what they chose…”

  Mike looked at the doctor, then at the others left and right of him. “And we’re okay with that? Thousands of people now controlled by a machine? Even if it were true, and I don’t think it is, we’re just going to give up on those people?” He looked for support. “We’re being fed a line of bullshit!”

  “Folsom, seemed sincere Mike,” said Alexis. He looked at her, surprised by her interjection, especially that she would voice it in front of the others. He was caught off guard and hesitated in responding, so she continued, looking at Corolla. “The AI didn’t choose to be born. Don’t forget it was the government that put these wheels in motion years back. We all take some responsibility in what has happened.” Confusion started to creep across Mike’s face. “It did what it felt it needed to do, to survive. Now it’s had time to think about things, it’s pulled back. It wants peace.”

  Corolla went to reply but Mike beat him to it. “You really believe that? After everything you have seen?”

  She nodded. “I do… I’ve spent years studying human behavior, not machine behavior it’s true, but when I looked into the eyes of Folsom… I saw… I don’t know… empathy?”

  Mike scrunched his face not understanding why she was in support of making peace with what had devastated a large chunk of the country… and had kidnaped her. He looked at Corolla. “I don’t trust it, how—”

  She interrupted again. “You don’t trust your son?” Mike wasn’t the only one surprised by her remark but certainly the most hurt. He went to speak but she continued. “What’s inside Elias’s head is the same as what’s asking to be given a chance now.”

  “You know it’s not the same,” he said.

  “No, I don’t know that Mike…”

  “Yeah well,” said Corolla. “The president is on his way. He wants to speak with you personally agent Adams. And then on what you tell him, will make his recommendation to the other members of the security council.” The general looked around his counterparts. “If… this is bullshit—” She went to speak, but Corolla held up his hand. “— If it is a ploy to get us to delay force deployment or stop us from building new weapons. Where are we with all of that?”

  “We had a successful field test of the EMP gun,” said general Brooks. “We are producing dozens more as I speak at various facilities in five different states. We are also moving a number of field artillery regiments nearer the AI’s zone, and most will be within range within the next few hours. If we need to destroy that wall from distance, we’ll have the means to do so.”

  “What about ground troops?”

  “Obviously transport has proved an issue as most of our latest hardware relied upon a lot of computing power, which had to be removed, with everything now being manually operated. But we train for this, and battalions from Hood, Riley and Stewart are being reassigned and sent towards New Mexico, but it will be at least twenty-four ours before they breach the AI zone.”

  Corolla looked at the airforce general.

  “We have several B-52’s being retrofitted,” said Cary. “And now up to twenty-two subsonic squadrons ready for flight, although some of those planes have been eating dust in the desert for over forty years.”

  Mike could see Alexis was biting her lip in frustration.

  Corolla nodded. “If they can fly—”

  “Why antagonize the AI?” The words burst from Alexis taking everyone including Mike aback.

  Corolla tightened his brow. “Because we have to ready agent, if all of this goes sideways and we don’t end up completely FUBAR’d.”

  She sighed and nodded.

  One of the officers at the desks at the edge of the room turned around. “Sir, POTUS is ten minutes out.”

  Corolla nodded. “Tell them I’ll meet them at the main entrance.” He looked at Denise and Alexis. “You two be back here in twenty, and bring doctor Meyer. Everyone else is dismissed.”

  As Cary went to get up he started to talk to Mike, but Mike was already out of his seat and walking around the long table to Alexis. She and Denise were on their way to the door, where he caught up with them. “Hey hold up,” he said.

  Alexis turned around with a smile, while Denise stood near the doorway as others filed past. Mike went to hold Alexis’s arm, but she leaned back slightly. “Are you okay?” he said. “How are feeling?”

  Her smile persisted. “I’m fine. Why would I not be fine?”

  “Umm…”

  “I had a good sleep—” she looked at Denise. “— and Denise is going to show me where she works.” She went to walk away but Mike grabbed her hand. “Hey, wait. Can we talk?”

  She pulled from his grasp. “After I meet with the president. Then we can talk for as long as you want.”

  I want?

  He went to respond but she had already moved through the doorway and out of sight with Denise. A hand landed on his shoulder but he was still looking at the empty space of the open doorway.

  “She’s been through a lot, give her time,” said Cary.

  “Yeah…”

  The airforce general smiled and followed everyone else outside.

  “There a problem, agent?” said Corolla behind Mike.