Impossible (Fuzed Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  If no one sees it, does it exist?

  Josh pauses. “Once again, quantum physics implies outcomes aren’t defined without observers. If there are no observers at all, probability might never coalesce into reality.” He shrugs. “A universe without life might not be stable or even possible.”

  Yes?

  “So if the universe’s existence hinges on sentient life and we can avoid death by impacts and artificial intelligence, we’re good to go?”

  No.

  “What else could destroy sentient life in the universe?”

  Look around you.

  “Look around? Do you mean that sentient—” He stops and actually looks around. Behind him, he sees two shadowy figures a hundred yards back. He casually turns onto another path. They stay with him, but far enough back that they’re barely visible. He turns again. Same. With his poor counter-surveillance skills, they’ve probably been following him since he left Elizabeth’s apartment.

  He’s actually excited at the possibility of putting a face on the conspiracy. With his photographic memory, he pulls up a map of the park in his mind. He chooses a path through the heavily forested area called the Ramble.

  Casually glancing back, he confirms that he’s still being followed. The trail curves, so when he’s briefly out of their sight, he sprints ahead. Finding an outcrop of rocks and trees in a shadowed area near the path, he ducks down.

  After a few seconds, he peers over the top of the rock and sees two men approaching. They’re both wearing dark slacks and black leather jackets. As they get closer, he sees that they’re in their early thirties, average size and appear to be fit. They both wear Bluetooth headsets and have closely cropped hair, but one is dark haired and the other is blond. It’s clear they’re looking for him and have picked up their pace.

  Josh waits until they’re just past his position and then steps out of the shadows directly behind them. “Why are you following me?”

  They’re startled and turn quickly.

  Josh sees the dark-haired man reach into his jacket. The world appears to slow down as Josh’s body goes into hyper-drive.

  The man pulls a pistol from his shoulder holster.

  Josh instinctively uses a blindingly fast forward round kick to punt it from his hand. With his peripheral vision, he sees the blond man reaching for his gun. Without pausing or setting his foot down, Josh rotates his body and duplicates the round kick, but into the man’s head. He follows with a hard right cross.

  The blond man is unconscious before he hits the ground.

  The dark haired man takes off running.

  Josh scoops up the gun he kicked loose and pursues.

  The man runs off the trail and deftly dodges trees, rocks and plants. He’s fast and agile, but Josh is faster.

  Jumping over a railing, the man crosses another path and sprints across an open field.

  As Josh closes on him, he hears the man talking into his headset, “Mne nuzhen perekhvat.”

  Josh launches himself into a perfect professional football tackle. Catching him just above the waist, he slams the man into the ground and they slide across the grass.

  Despite having the wind knocked out of him, the man spins out from under Josh and reaches for his ankle.

  Josh jumps up and puts his foot down on top of the man’s ankle holster, knocking the backup weapon loose. Kicking it away, Josh points the pistol at the man’s head.

  The man stops moving.

  “Who are you and why are you following me?”

  The man says nothing.

  Josh says, “Never seen a pistol quite like this.” He racks the slide. It ejects a round but ensures the gun’s ready to fire. Josh shrugs. “But I’m guessing it makes pretty good holes at this range.”

  The man remains silent.

  Josh keeps the gun pointed at the man’s head. Never taking his eyes off him, he pats him down and extracts a knife and wallet. Stepping back, he’s about to open the wallet when he sees the man glance behind Josh. Josh quickly looks over his shoulder.

  One hundred yards away, two men are running toward them. With his phenomenal vision, he can tell they’re not police and are dressed similarly to his captive. He can also see they’re carrying pistols. Time to go!

  Josh takes the wallet and pistol, and sprints away.

  Glancing back, he sees the men ignore his former captive and run toward him. Josh is now the prey. He has a lead and knows he can outrun them, but suspects there are additional players and he can’t outrun a cell phone.

  Josh crosses one of the park’s paths, cuts through the woods and leaps over a fence, popping out on Fifth Avenue. He realizes that running through New York City with a pistol in one hand and someone’s wallet in the other, might not be the best move. He pockets both. Dodging traffic, he sprints across the street and jogs several blocks away from the park. Finally, slowing to a walk, he merges with the pedestrian traffic.

  After a few more blocks, he steps into a pizza shop and examines the wallet. It contains nothing but an international driver’s license, credit card and $100 in cash. The name on the license and credit card is Alex Smith. “Yeah, right.”

  He pulls out his phone and says, “Hey Jen, can you check on someone who’s been following me?”

  “Sure. Are you ok?”

  “I’m fine.” He gives her the driver’s license and credit card numbers.

  She says, “The license is bogus and the credit card is registered to an international import export company that doesn’t appear to exist.”

  Concentrating, he replays in his mind what he heard the man say in his headset before he tackled him. “Mne nuzhen perekhvat. Jen, can you translate that please?”

  “It means, ‘I need an intercept.’”

  “And what language is it?”

  “Russian.”

  Josh nods. “That’s what I thought. Thank you.”

  He keeps the license, card and money, and throws the wallet in the trash.

  Why are Russians following him? He shakes his head. There’s no way he can stay in Elizabeth’s penthouse doing nothing. He’ll start his own investigation. Pulling his phone out, he books a flight to D.C., and on the way to find a taxi, gives the money to a homeless woman.

  6

  SUPPORT

  Elizabeth stares out the window of her office near the top of the new U.N. building. They gave her a large office with an expansive view of the East River. The beautiful view is lost on her. Josh didn’t return to the apartment before she left that morning, and he isn’t answering his phone. She’s about to try calling him again when a deep booming voice startles her. “Quite a view, isn’t it?”

  Looking up at her open door, she sees a large, muscular black man in his fifties. He wears a conservative suit and sports a cleanly shaven head and large smile.

  She jumps up and comes around the desk. “Joe! I haven’t seen you in forever!”

  They hug. “Yeah, been too long. Spend most of my time in Houston herding astronauts, but while I was here, wanted to come by and congratulate you on your new position.”

  “Thank you and congratulations on your fourth star!” She points at a comfortable chair. “Can I get you a cup of coffee?”

  “No thanks. I’m afraid I can’t stay. So, how are they treating you here?”

  With a lopsided grin, she says, “This is all very new to me and quite a stretch for someone with my background, but Dr. Turan has been incredible.”

  “Glad to hear that. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.” He gives her a little frown. “Heard Josh was heavily involved with The Great Tech Out and helped prevent WWIII.” He shakes his head with a smile. “Why does that not surprise me?”

  “It’s never boring being with him.”

  Meadows laughs. “Oh, don’t I know.” He pauses. “Haven’t seen him in almost a year. How’s my favorite Commander doing?”

  “Uh … he’s doing well.”

  He looks at her closely. “Hmm, that didn’t sound convin
cing. You guys ok?”

  She sighs. “Yeah, we’re fine.”

  Meadows sits down in the chair. “Fine? Would you like to talk about it?”

  She shakes her head. “Oh, my goodness, no! You’re trying to build a space station. I’m not going to waste your time with silly relationship stuff.”

  “Silly relationship stuff is what keeps the world running, and I’ve found that none of us are effective when we’re struggling there. Elizabeth, you’re part of the team and we all owe you and Josh so much.” He raises his eyebrows. “In our positions, there are very few people we can share with. I don’t want to pry, but sometimes it helps to talk, and I know and love Josh too. So, what did he do?”

  She gives him a small smile. “Is it that obvious?”

  He just looks at her with a half-smile.

  She closes her office door and sits across from him. “I’m crazy about him. He’s truly an amazing man, but right now, he’s not doing anything. After Davidson and Tim’s death, he’s withdrawn and depressed. I get that. I was sad too.” She sighs.

  Meadows nods for her to continue.

  “Joe, he’s becoming moody and paranoid, and he seems resentful of my success.”

  Meadows nods again and slowly says, “Elizabeth, men are a lot simpler than women. We tend to define ourselves by what we do. Josh’s job has been saving the world. Bit awkward when the world doesn’t need saving.” He pauses. “And I’m sure the fact that you’re part of an important mission and you’re successful reminds him of what he’s not doing.”

  She frowns. “It’s like he’s trying to create a new threat where there isn’t one. I want to help him but I don’t know what to do. He’s never going to be happy being a beach bum but it’s impossible for him to find anything challenging enough to keep him occupied.”

  “What does he like to do? I mean, aside from jumping off cliffs and crashing F-18s. What’s he passionate about?”

  “I … I don’t really know. He’s definitely a thrill seeker. He loves flying.” She shrugs. “I got him a huge telescope but he doesn’t use it much.” She pauses and then says slowly, “I think when he was younger he wanted to be an astronaut, but I don’t know what he wants now.”

  Meadows nods slowly. “Let me think about it.” He looks at his watch. “I’m sorry, but I have to go. Probably won’t be back here until the U.N. Ball in a couple weeks. See you there?”

  She shakes her head. “I’m going to be very busy….” Her voice trails off. “Unless something changes, I don’t think I’ll have a date.” She stands up and he stands up with her.

  As they hug, her eyes are a little glassy. “Joe, thank you for letting me whine.”

  “It’s not whining.” He frowns slightly. “I’ve got an idea that might help, but let me check on some things first.”

  As soon as he lands at Washington National, Josh calls Carl Casey.

  Carl says, “Wow, you’re a blast from the past. How long’s it been?”

  “Almost two years. How’re you doing?”

  “Great, how about you?”

  “Doing well. Hey, Carl, just happen to be in D.C. and thought I’d see if I could drop in and say hi?”

  “Last time you dropped in I almost ended up in prison.” Laughing, he adds, “That’d be great. Is Elizabeth with you?”

  “No, she’s working in New York City.”

  “I’ll be finishing up here in a couple hours. Why don’t you come over for dinner? I know Kelly would love to see you.”

  Thinking of Kelly, he sucks in a lungful of air and then replies, “Umm, may want to run it by her first. I know how wives can be about unexpected guests.”

  “I’ll check, but I promise she’ll be thrilled. I’ll text you the time and address. Look forward to catching up.”

  With the deaths of Davidson and Tim, Josh suspects that Carl knows this isn’t just a social call, but as a professional spy, Carl also knows calls can be monitored.

  Josh is both excited and nervous as he pulls the rental car into their driveway. Although he’s nervous about seeing his widow again, most of his excitement and anxiety are due to a three-year-old. He is about to meet his biological daughter for the first time. Frowning, he realizes “biological daughter” isn’t even accurate. She’s the daughter of his former body, whatever that means. He closes his eyes for a second, opens them, takes a deep breath and gets out of the car.

  Carl meets him at the door with Kelly right behind, but all Josh sees is the little girl in her arms. Caitlin, the most beautiful child in the world, has strawberry-blonde ringlets and laser green eyes. Although biased, he knows she’s extremely cute by any standard. After shaking hands with Carl and a side hug of Kelly, Kelly says, “Caitlin, this is your Uncle Josh.”

  Carl and Josh both look surprised.

  Kelly smiles. “I don’t know. It just seems appropriate.”

  Josh knows Kelly has a sixth sense about things. He’s sure she doesn’t know who he really is, but somehow, she feels the bond that connects him to their lives.

  She says, “Come on in, but don’t expect a clean house or gourmet food on such short notice.”

  Carl shrugs. “Guess you’re family now, so you get leftovers.”

  The meal is anything but leftovers. Kelly was always a great cook, and he‘s pleasantly surprised when she serves his favorite dish. He knows it’s a coincidence, but it makes him both happy and sad.

  Over dinner, they reminisce about building the first laser in Antarctica.

  Kelly inserts, “It’s so awesome to be able to actually talk about a secret project Carl worked on.”

  Carl smiles. “Yeah, after it became a made-for-TV miniseries, I think it’s safe to discuss.”

  Josh adds, “If it hadn’t been for Carl sharing the comet’s coordinates with the observatories, odds are good none of us would be here right now.”

  Kelly grins. “He’s a keeper. Oh, and he won’t tell you this, but Carl was promoted and is now a department director. I’d tell you which department, but,” she giggles, “then I’d have to kill you.”

  Carl rolls his eyes. “It’s a good position and keeps me challenged. How’s Elizabeth?”

  Josh shares her meteoric rise in the U.N. as well as Meadows’ and Jessica Lee’s success.

  Kelly asks, “So what crazy project have you been working on or are they super-secret?”

  “Nothing right now.”

  After they leave the table, Josh makes a point to play with Caitlin. She has her mother’s looks and his shy personality, but she quickly warms up to him when he gives her his undivided attention. Soon, she’s introducing him to her stuffed animals.

  Kelly, watching him, says, “You’re great with kids. You can baby sit any time.” She pops her eyebrows. “Speaking of kids, any news along those lines with Elizabeth?”

  “Not yet.” He often wonders if it’s even possible. GMO with only half his DNA, he might be like a mule and genetically sterile.

  Kelly finally peels an unhappy Caitlin out of his lap. “She doesn’t like to go to bed at night and likes getting up in the morning even less.”

  Smiling, Josh knows that’s another personality trait she gets from him.

  As Kelly leaves the room, Josh says, “Is it ok to talk a little shop?” He isn’t sure if Carl wants to discuss Davidson’s death around Kelly.

  Carl shrugs. “I suspect I know what you’re going to ask. How could a long distance runner like Davidson just keel over from a heart attack?”

  Josh nods.

  “When the head of the world’s most powerful intelligence agencies dies unexpectedly, you can imagine everyone in the community is suspicious. He was barely declared dead before an extensive autopsy was ordered.”

  “And?”

  “I didn’t see the autopsy report but they said he had a fatal arrhythmia.”

  “Yeah, that’s what Elizabeth suggested. I guess I could accept it if Davidson and Tim hadn’t died the same week.”

  “I understand, but let’s
think about this. It’s hard to imagine any nation would assassinate the DNI. Not only does it violate professional courtesy and open up their leaders to assassination, but if discovered, could easily be considered an act of war and—”

  Josh interrupts, “But a terrorist group would be more than happy to assassinate him, particularly, since that office is responsible for many of their losses.”

  “Yes, but what’s the first thing they’d do after killing him?”

  Josh nods reluctantly. “Claim responsibility.”

  “Yeah, and as for Tim, that was a dangerous road. He shouldn’t have been driving at all knowing there was a major storm coming. Accidents happen.” He hesitates and looks at Josh intently. “We’re all risk takers. Josh, if you remember our conversation at the Phantom Works. I was almost court marshalled.”

  Josh is about to share his encounter with the Russian agents, when he remembers Carl’s phrase “almost court marshalled.” Is it coincidence, or is Carl trying to warn him?

  He looks carefully at Carl and then slowly says, “Uh, yeah, you may be right. When we face tragedies, we tend to look for someone or something to blame. Probably just been some serious bad luck. Well, it’s late and I better get going and let you guys get to bed.”

  Kelly comes back and gives Josh a big hug. “We need to schedule a time to get together with you and Elizabeth.”

  Josh smiles. “Yes, we’ll do that. Thank you for the awesome dinner.”

  Josh crosses his index and second finger as he shakes Carl’s hand

  Carl briefly glances down. As he looks back at Josh, he gives the slightest of head nods.

  7

  ADMIRAL

  Josh flies to Houston the next day. He suspects Carl believes the opposite of what he told Josh. Carl may have been afraid to say anything if their house was bugged. If true, even Josh’s presence puts not just Carl, but Kelly and Caitlin in danger. He can’t have any further communication with them until he figures out the identity of the enemy.