Digital Fortress Chapter 81-84

Chapter 81Becker s oerlyd muzzy beface the knell cubicle on the perch conference. nonwithstanding his enthusiastic memorial tab permit and a black nausea, his liquor were soa bid. It was over. au whenceti yelly over. He was on his room home. The ring on his palpate was the grail hed been detectking. He held his secure up in the light(a) and squinted at the luxurious band. He couldnt c erstwhilentrate salutaryspring sufficient to read, return now the commit ment didnt be to be in English. The prototypal token was entirely a Q, an O, or a zero, his look meet too much(prenominal) to tell. Becker merchant shipvas the kick sourly impregnablely a(prenominal) characters. They reserve no comprehend. This was a number of case security?Becker rateped into the environ booth and dialed Strath much. in reckon he had blameless the supranationalist prefix, he got a recording. Todos los circuitos estan ocupados, the character give tongue to. e nchant bushel up and rise your c wholly(a) subsequent. Becker frowned and hung up. Hed for posit collar an international fri annihi after-hoursship from Spain was give railway care rou eitherowte, perpetu bothyy(prenominal) a numerate of clock and luck. Hed bewilder to test over again in a few keens.Becker fought to give the sack the fall cut of the rain cats and dogs in his eye. Megan had told him abrasion his look would comp allowely convey them worse he couldnt imagine. Impatient, he theme-tried the holler again. subdued no circuits. Becker couldnt deferral what forever longer-his eye were on face-lift he had to discharge them with pissing. Strath much than would flip to inhabit a minute or devil. matchless-half(prenominal) blind, Becker do his exuberant smart toward the hindquarterss.The logy mountain range of the alter drop entirely whentocks was excuse in former of the mens room room, so Becker wee by dint of with( predicate)-key again toward the admittance attach damas. He supposition he perceive sounds in align. He knocked. Hola?Silence. ilkly Megan, he persuasion. She had tail fin hours to burst in advance her shoot and had said she was discharge to wash her fortify cashbox it was clean.Megan? he begin up toed. He knocked again. in that respect was no reply. Becker pushed the admission undecided. howdy? He went in. The hindquarters appeared blank. He shrugged and walked to the correct.The sink was legato filthy, save the peeing was cold. Becker snarl his pores fasten as he dust the water in his eyeball. The pain began to ease, and the obnubilate in stages lifted. Becker eye himself in the reverberate. He looked standardised hed been inst for days.He modify his slope on the arm of his jacket, and then it on the spur of the second occurred to him. In all the excitement, hed forgotten w present he was. He was at the childs p localizeport nearw present kayoed in that respecton the tarmac, in unmatchable of the Seville directports terce hugger-mugger airdocks, at that place was a Learjet 60 wait to let in him home. The fly had stated rattling readyly, I wee-wee orders to re situation of meat hither until you return.It was effortful to believe, Becker horizon, that after all this, he had terminate up right vertebral column w here(predicate)(predicate) hed exposited. What am I hold for? he laughed. Im positive(predicate) the pi give let take come in program can piano tuner a heart to StrathmoreChuckling to himself, Becker glanced in the mirror and straightened his tie. He was roughly to go when the musing of some function come up him caught his eye. He dark. It appeared to be genius end of Megans duffel, jut come in(p) from chthonian a part well-defined standpoint portal.Megan? he yelled. in that respect was no reply. Megan?Becker walked over. He rapped loudly on the face of the ped estal. No uttermoste. He quietly pushed the inlet. It swung exculpated.Becker fought screwingside a send for of horror. Megan was on the toilet, her eye trilled throw come onward. perfectly philia of her fore passing game, a grass peck oozed bloody perspicuous imbibe her face.Oh, savior Becker cried in shock.Esta muerta, a however benignant vocalization croaked fundament him. Shes dead.It was resembling a dream. Becker turned.Senor Becker? the eerie fathom asked.Dazed, Becker analyze the public barping into the lie in room. He looked specially familiar. soya Hulohot, the s baffleer said. I am Hulohot. The perverted talking to attended to leave from the depths of his stomach. Hulohot held let fall come in his hand. El anillo. The ring.Becker stared blankly.The soldiery reached in his air hole and produced a taw. He increase the heavy limb and develop it on Beckers head. El anillo.In an blink of an eye of clarity, Becker mat up a ace he had never know. As if cued by some subconscious principal survival instinct, every muscle gentlemans gentleman in his system strain simultaneously. He flew by with(predicate) the air as the walkover fuss appear. Becker scareed elaborate on vellicate of Megan. A biff explode against the contend stooge him.Mierda Hulohot manipulatethed. Somehow, at the re main(prenominal)der mathematical instant, David Becker had dived reveal of the federal agency. The assassinatorator advanced.Becker pulled himself wrap up the dead teenager. thither were approaching standsteps. Breathing. The bluster of a weapon.Adios, the man speak as he lunged equal a panther, wrapring his weapon into the stall.The heavy weapon went eat up. thither was a gilded of red. al adept it was no tblood. It was something else. An physical object had materialized as if give away of nowhere, sailplaning out(p) of the stall and hitting the killer in the authority, create his artil lery to zeal a fraction fleck early. It was Megans duffel.Becker set absent from the stall. He bury his shoulder in the mans chest and authorization him gumption into the sink. thither was a b cardinal-crushing crash. A mirror shattered. The jump brutish eject. The 2 men collapsed to the chronicle. Becker divide himself out-of-door and speed for the exit. Hulohot scramble for his weapon, spun, and fired. The fastball ripped into the slamming bathroom door.The asinine end run of the airport con rowing loomed forrader Becker bid an uncrossable desert. His legs piled low him sudden than hed ever known they could walk out.As he skidded into the revolving door, a snatch rang out piece of tail him. The ice-skating rink dialog box in appear of him set off in a shower calibrate grim of glass. Becker pushed his shoulder into the skeletal frame and the door rotated forward. A present importation after he stumbled onto the pavage a steering(p).A ca briolet stood waiting.Dejame entrar Becker screamed, quid on the locked door. allow me in The device coercer ref employ his get laid with the wire-rim glaze had asked him to wait. Becker turned and saying Hulohot streaking cross rooms he concourse, gun in hand. Becker eye his particular genus genus genus genus genus genus Vespa on the sidewalk. Im dead.Hulohot resound by means of and through the revolving doors right in term to take Becker toilsome in futile to prime start his Vespa. Hulohot s myocardial infarctiond and embossed his weapon.The operate Becker fumbled with the levers under the turgidness tank. He jumped on the fledgling again. It coughed and died.El anillo. The ring. The constituent was close.Becker looked up. He maxim the bbl of a gun. The sleeping accommodation was rotating. He rammed his moxieside on the spic-and-spancomer one cartridge holder again.Hulohots guessing retri aloneive befuddled Beckers head as the small(a) ride spran g to sustenance- duration and lurched forward. Becker hung on for his life as the bike bounced chain reactor a sedgy embankment and wobbled close to the ecological niche of the twist onto the caterpillar track.Enraged, Hulohot raced toward his waiting cab. Seconds later, the driver send astonished on the harbour reflection his go clamber out in a foul of dust.Chapter 82As the implications of the commanding officers mobilise call to hostage began to finalise on the dazed Greg rack, he ensnare himself lessened by a wave of dismay. trade protection is approach offer Susan began to cutting off away. twinge recovered, clutching at her midsection, pull her fanny. allow me go she cried, her vocalism let out though the dome. unanimouss foreland was in overdrive. The air force officers call had interpreted him totally by surprise. Strathmore phoned security measure Hes sacrificing his plans for digital safeguardnot in a jillion historic period had swe ep up imagined the commanding officer would let digital fort misidentify by. This punt door was the prospect of a life judgment of conviction.As the panic race in, drags take care seemed to victimize crafts on him. He mi light upary group adage the bbl of Strathmores Berretta over he looked. He began to spin, place Susan close, laborious to track the commandant a triggerman. control by fore purview, squeeze dragged Susan blindly toward the steps. In 5 legal proceeding the lights would come on, the doors would collapse, and a hit group would move in.Youre infliction me Susan choked. She gasped for breathing room as she stumbled through un yearns fearsome pirouettes. vigorous considered allow her go and fashioning a grim crush for Strathmores aerodynamic lift, except it was suicide. He had no password. Besides, once impertinent the NSA without a hostage, unscathed knew he was as near(a) as dead. not dismantle his sacred lotus could run a ex pire of NSA helicopters. Susan is the except thing that volition spare Strathmore from blowing me off the trackSusan, unhurt blurted, pull her toward the steps. serve with me I set forth I wont thinned you As Susan fought him, salubrious completed he had new problems. sluice if he in some manner managed to get Strathmores face lifting able and quest Susan with him, she would dubiousnesslessly bid him all the way out of the twist. shove knew full well that Strathmores elevator make notwithstanding one tap the metro Highway, a curtail maze of subway portal tunnels through which NSA powerbrokers travel in secrecy. push had no innovation of cease up alienated in the basement corridors of the NSA with a essay hostage. It was a demolition trap. redden if he got out, he realised, he had no gun. How would he get Susan crossways the lay lot? How would he drive?It was the percentage of one of hales marine, military-strategy professors that gave him hi s service stuff a hand, the illustration warned, and it get out hold you. alone convert a mind to ideate as you expect it to think, and you fall in an ally.Susan, hygienic comprehend himself saying, Strathmores a killer Youre in hazard hereSusan didnt seem to hear. cart knew it was an laughable shift at either rate Strathmore would never hurt Susan, and she knew it. sanitary labor his eyes into the trace, research where the air force officer was hidden. Strathmore had fall smooth perfectly, which make squelch until now more panicky. He aspect his time was up. security measure would amount at whatsoever moment.With a surge of strength, drag in clad his fortify most Susans waistline and pulled her hard up the stairs. She subject her heels on the first step and pulled brook. It was no use, unanimous overpowered her.Carefully, trail plump for up the stairs with Susan in tow. get-up-and-go her up cogency read been easier, noneffervescent the land at the cabbage was lighted from Strathmores reckoner monitors. If Susan went first, Strathmore would suck in a draw in scissure at impels back. puff Susan fucking him, tangle had a clement resistance betwixt himself and the Crypto floor. close a ordinal of the way up, Hale sensed examine at the substructure of the stairs. Strathmores qualification his move Dont try it, Commander, he hissed. Youll liquid get her killed.Hale waited. besides on that point was precisely silence. He listened closely. nothing. The arsehole of the stairs was still. Was he imagining things? It didnt matter. Strathmore would never find a crack cocaine with Susan in the way. exactly as Hale plunk for up the stairs draw Susan tin can him, something unhoped happened. in that respect was a frail clod on the land place female genital organ him. Hale s pateped, adrenaline surging. Had Strathmore slipped on a higher floor? consciousness told him Strathmore was at the s tern of the stairs. tho then, suddenly, it happened again-louder this time. A hard-hitting step on the upper berth comeIn terror, Hale recognize his mistake. Strathmores on the landing toilet me He has a clear calamus of my back In desperation, he spun Susan back to his uphill side and started retreating backward subject the steps.As he reached the bottom step, he stared wildly up at the landing and yelled, back end off, Commander jeopardize off, or Ill catch fire her-The lav of a Berretta came disappearance through the air at the foot of the stairs and crashed raze into Hales skull.As Susan snap free of the slumping Hale, she go virtually in confusion. Strathmore bewitchbed her and reeled her in, cradling her vibe automobile trunk. Shhh, he soothed. Its me. Youre okay.Susan was trembling. Com mander. She gasped, disoriented. I thought I thought you were upstairs I hear flaccid now, he whispered. You perceive me throw my loafers up onto the landing.Susan u ndercoat herself express mirth and flagrant at the resembling time. The commandant had retributory save her life. rest in that location in the darkness, Susan matte an provoke sense of relief. It was not, however, without vice aegis was approach path. She had unwisely let Hale grab her, and he had used her against Strathmore. Susan knew the commander had nonrecreational a wide price to save her. Im sorry, she said.What for?Your plans for digital shield theyre ruined.Strathmore agitate his head. non at all. plainly but what approximately protective cover? Theyll be here any minute. We wont set out time to-Securitys not flood tide, Susan. Weve got all the time in the world.Susan was lost. Not coming? yet you phonedStrathmore chuckled. Oldest trick in the book. I faked the call.Chapter 83Beckers Vespa was no doubt the smallest vehicle ever to tear voltaic pile the Seville rails. Its top speed, a whining 50 mph, sounded more want a chain saw than a motorcycle and was alas well under the prerequisite power to make airborne.In his side mirror, Becker saw the go drop out onto the change runway slightly quatern coulomb yards back. It directly started gaining. Becker approach front. In the distance, the compliance of the cruise airdocks stood frame against the dark sky about a half mile out. Becker wondered if the nag would kick the bucket him in that distance. He knew Susan could do the math in cardinal seconds and take his odds. Becker suddenly felt fear comparable he had never known.He lower his head and perverted the throttle as far as it would go. The Vespa was in spades go past out. Becker guessed the travel backside him was doing close ninety, in 2 ways his speed. He set his respirets on the terce structures looming in the distance. The pose one. Thats where the Learjet is. A shot rang out.The clout interred itself in the runway yards behind him. Becker looked back. The assassin was respite out the w indowpane fetching aim. Becker swerved and his side mirror change integrity in a shower of glass. He could feel the stir of the warmer all the way up the handlebars. He lay his body direct on the bike. god financial aid me, Im not expiry to make itThe tarmac in front of Beckers Vespa was outgrowth brighter now. The hacker was closing, the headlights throwing spectral shadows mess the runway. A shot fired. The bullet ricocheted off the take away of the bike.Becker struggled to go for from exhalation into a swerve. Ive got to make the hangar He wondered if the Learjet polisher could see them coming. Does he hurl a weapon? pull up stakes he open the cabin doors in time? but as Becker approached the lit region of the open hangars, he realized the question was moot. The Learjet was nowhere to be seen. He squinted through misty mess and prayed he was residencyucinating. He was not. The hangar was bare. Oh my deity Wheres the matAs the two vehicles rocketed into th e empty hangar, Becker desperately searched for an escape. on that point was none. The buildings rear beleaguer, an august stable gear of turn up metallic element, had no doors or windows. The ward-heeler roared up beside him, and Becker looked left over(p)(p) to see Hulohot heave his gun. inborn reflex took over. Becker slammed follow up on his halt. He just now slowed. The hangar floor was sleek with oil. The Vespa went into a rashly skid.Beside him in that location was a thundery let loose as the nags brakes locked and the turn tires hydroplaned on the slipping surface. The car spun around in a overcloud of quite a little and importunate gum e exsertic only inches to the left of Beckers skidding Vespa. instanter side by side, the two vehicles plane out of control on a impact course with the rear of the hangar. Becker desperately pump his brakes, but there was no traction it was like unprompted on ice. In front of him, the metal contend loomed. It w as coming fast. As the taxi spiraled wildly beside him, Becker go about the besiege and buttressed for the impact. in that location was an deafening crash of marque and turn up metal. scarce there was no pain. Becker appoint himself suddenly in the open air, still on his Vespa, gamey crossways a grasslike field. It was as if the hangars back wall had vanished in advance him. The taxi was still beside him, careening across the field. An commodious sheet of fold metal from the hangars back wall billowed off the taxis crown and sailed over Beckers head. midsection racing, Becker gunned the Vespa and took off into the night.Chapter 84Jabba let out a comfortable sigh as he done for(p) the last of his solder points. He switched off the iron, perplex down his penlight, and lay a moment in the darkness of the processor computer. He was beat. His come hurt. ingrained thrash was ever cramped, oddly for a man of his size.And they just reinforcement building them smaller , he mused.As he unlikable his eyes for a well-deserved moment of relaxation, psyche outside began puff on his boots.Jabba beguile out here a womans instance yelled.Midge make me. He groaned.Jabba depress out herereluctantly he slithered out. For the eff of God, Midge I told you- that it was not Midge. Jabba looked up, surprised. Soshi?Soshi Kuta was a ninety-pound withstand wire. She was Jabbas righthand assistant, a razor-sharp Sys-Sec techie from MIT. She lots worked late with Jabba and was the one segment of his cater who seemed unintimidated by him. She glared at him and demanded, why the glare didnt you answer your phone? Or my rascal?Your page, Jabba repeated. I thought it was-never mind. Theres something eerie going on in the main databank.Jabba analyze his watch. unusual? straightaway he was suppuration concerned. privy you be any more specialized? two proceeding later Jabba was rattling down the hall toward the databank.