“But if they’re coming from the sky…”
Echo said, “The defenses actually extend upward several thousand feet. They fire high-velocity projectiles straight up. Even if they stole a military helicopter and tried to land it on the lawn, the defenses would tear the rotors off. I mean, you wouldn’t want to be standing right under it when it happened, but…”
Will said, “Zoey, this place is a fortress.”
“But these people would know that, right? And they’re coming anyway?”
“Exactly,” said Echo. “The fact that nothing is turning up is … alarming.”
Zoey studied the paused video on the table and said, “I want to talk to them, the ringleaders here. Face-to-face, in real life. Where do we find them?”
“The biggest concentration of them lives in the Screw.”
“Let me guess, that’s a brothel?”
Andre said, “You think they all live in a brothel? Wouldn’t be a very profitable one.”
“It’s a sort of spiral-shaped building,” said Echo. “It’s not residential, it was built as storage lockers. The storage operation went belly-up and, like every conceivable structure in the city with a roof and walls, it quickly filled with squatters.”
Andre added, “You can imagine how it smells.”
“Well, I’m going out there,” said Zoey.
“To the Screw?” Echo clearly hated the idea. “Why? To let them know you’re not scared?”
“No. To let them see that I am scared. Let them and everyone on Blink see me as a person, not a monster they’ve constructed in their head. You want to go?”
“Better to be there than stay behind and worry myself to death.”
“So how do I get out there without my vehicle getting swarmed by angry mobs on the way?”
Andre perked up. “Ooh, you want an aircraft?”
“Do we still have a company helicopter?”
“Nah, I’ll get you somethin’ better.”
Will said, “I’m going to urge you not to do this, but I realize that will accomplish nothing so I’m going to proceed to the next part of the conversation where I compromise and say the rest of us will work out an extraction in case things go sour. Set up far enough away that—”
“No,” Zoey said. “You’re staying away from this one. Remember the goal is to not terrify them. It’ll just be me, Echo, and Wu. I’ve got something else for you to work on.”
Choosing his words carefully, Will said, “Zoey, you are underestimating your opponent. I don’t care what their equipment or training is like. This is a bunch of people who have turned hatred of you into their religion and they have nothing to lose. You are dealing with zealots and if they get their hands on you, we have no idea what they’ll do because they don’t know. Regardless of the mindset of any individual in that building, the twentysomething hive mind is a psychopath. I’m telling you—don’t go in there without backup standing by.”
“Here’s what I need you to do while the three of us are at the Screw. All of you. Budd, Andre, you, too. If we had to get to Titus Chobb, like personally get to him, I want you to find out how that could be done.”
Andre said, “The man commands a personal army, Zoey. Problem isn’t getting to Chobb, it’s what happens to you after.”
“That’s part of what you’re figuring out, how to avoid that. If it turns out there’s no way to do it, then come back and say so. Then I’ll hire somebody who can.”
Will fixed her with his gaze and said, “Like I said earlier, there’s always a way. Assuming this plan would allow us to incorporate whatever means are available.”
“Yep, whatever it takes. And then our goal from here on is to make sure we don’t have to actually do it. I know you like using ghost holograms to torment people, maybe have him visited in the night by three spirits to remind him about the true meaning of Christmas. Then tell him it also applies to Halloween, I guess.”
Will, apparently taking this suggestion seriously, said, “I don’t think he would fall for that. Remember how he got his start, this man knows almost as much about psychological warfare as anyone at this table. Still, everyone has a blind spot that they avoid so strongly that they don’t even feel the blade slipping into it. Just have to find it.”
“All right, let’s move before Will says anything else that makes him sound like a Bond villain. Unless there’s dessert.”
“You banned dessert from the menu,” said Carlton, who it turned out was standing behind her. “Out of concern for your weight, I believe.”
“Yes. Right. That was, uh, a test. You passed. Let’s move.”
17
Andre’s friend who had access to high-end, Special Forces–grade gear was apparently happy to do business at seven P.M. on a Saturday night. After a couple of calls, Zoey, Andre, and Wu watched as a surprisingly huge helicopter slowly descended toward the roof. It was quiet for a helicopter, the twin angled rotors making a low, pulsing noise that seemed weirdly ominous to Zoey, like a distant stampede felt through the ground. As it landed, she had to shield her eyes as they were buffeted by wind and debris.
“They use these for night raids,” said Andre, over the noise. “Engines are electric, everything built to minimize sound, even the heat signature is almost impossible to track. Now watch this!”
Andre swiped some things on his phone and the skin of the helicopter turned transparent. It wasn’t invisible, you weren’t going to accidentally bonk your head on it when walking past, but if it was airborne and you were trying to spot it from the ground at night, you’d have no chance. It settled on the roof and the rotors slowed to a stop.
Zoey asked, “So, who flies it?”
“Flies itself. I’ll show Wu and Echo the commands, it has all sorts of emergency evacuation protocols, can create a secure LZ all on its own. All automated.”
“Why are you showing them the controls and not me? You don’t think I could handle it?”
“Do you want me to show you?”
“No.”
Wu said, “If this goes awry, if it turns into a riot, my job is to get you back to the aircraft and to suppress pursuit. If that occurs, it is very important that you follow my instructions.”
“Sure, as always.”
“No, not as always. You seldom do as I say. If we have to evacuate, I will be working in conjunction with the helicopter’s countermeasures; there is a specific extraction protocol. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I do. I also think we’re going to go talk to a bunch of cowards who’ll be shocked that we’re even there. I doubt they’ll even come out to talk to us. But this isn’t for them, we’re not trying to charm their pants off, we’re trying to charm the pants off the audiences watching at home. All of the hangers-on who could maybe be swayed.”
Will had walked up at some point, clearly wanting to make one last argument to call the whole thing off.
“If they agree to meet,” he said, not even glancing at the giant helicopter on the roof, “don’t let them take you to another location.”