Death Minus Zero Read online

  “Detective,” she said, offering her hand, which Zeigler took.

  Zeigler glanced at Brandon. “You brought your backup, I see.”

  Valens smiled. “Agent Brandon is my partner. And, yes, he has my back.”

  A thin smile curled Zeigler’s lips. “I’ll refrain from making any inappropriate comments on that,” he said.

  “What can you tell us?” Valens said. “Seeing as you’ve been here a while.”

  “Only because the original call was made to us. But there’s not much more than you can see. One of your vehicles. Uniformed Air Force man shot dead. I was informed by your people there was a passenger. He’s missing. A preliminary search hasn’t turned up anything, so I guess the passenger has been removed from the area.”

  Valens checked out the place. A spot off the road where trees and foliage helped to mask the site. A smooth operation could have been mounted and completed quickly on the quiet stretch before anyone was aware.

  “They chose a good spot. Away from the main highway. Pretty quiet. Whoever it was, they were well prepared. All nicely worked out. Must have worked fast.”

  Brandon had gone to talk to the investigative team near the Crown Victoria. Valens saw him check inside the car before he returned to where she was standing.

  “It’s Steve Kessler,” he said. “Bullet to the back of his head. No sign of any struggle in the back.”

  “Passenger some kind of VIP?” Zeigler asked.

  “Yes,” Valens answered.

  “That it?”

  “I’m not at liberty to give out that information. Sorry.”

  “Oh, I know,” Zeigler said. “Classified, huh?”

  “If I was able, I’d tell you, Detective Zeigler...”

  “It’s Jerry.”

  “If I was able, I’d tell you, Jerry...”

  Zeigler glanced at Brandon. “Is she always this hard-nosed?”

  “Actually, you’ve caught her on a good day,” Brandon said. “No fingers missing, are there?”

  “I can believe she bites if provoked.”

  Valens’s cell rang. She moved away to answer it, knowing it was Zero Command by the caller ID on the screen.

  * * *

  “FROM ALL THE bodies here,” Zeigler said, “I figure you people have a lot to deal with.”

  “Nothing gets by you, Detective Zeigler,” Brandon said.

  Zeigler grinned. “So smart, so young, so full of bullshit. Nothing you can tell me. Yeah, I know.”

  Valens rejoined them.

  “If anything comes up that I can tell you,” she said, “I will pass it on, Jerry. Right now I have a missing VIP and it’s my job to get him back. You have problems with that, you can talk to Colonel Corrigan at the base. Best I can do.”

  Zeigler felt the frustration rising as he eyed Valens. She didn’t lose a beat and the cop knew she wouldn’t give anything away even if they stood there all day.

  Goddamn it, he thought, all this need-to-know crap is killing me.

  He let out the breath he’d been holding and managed a strained smile.

  “Okay, Agent Valens, you win. Just remember I’m not one of the bad guys. Just doing—trying to do my job.” He turned and made his way to where his police cruiser sat waiting.

  * * *

  “I DON’T ENJOY freezing the local cops out,” Valens said. “Zeigler has it right. He just wants to do what he’s paid for. And all we do is put up a solid wall and stall him.”

  “Your call? Anything important I should know about?”

  “That was Colonel Corrigan on the phone. It appears we have a specialist team joining us back at base,” Valens said.

  She noted Brandon’s frown. “What specialists?”

  “An undercover group—and that’s all you need to know—from the covert agency involved when the original Zero problem occurred. Larry, we need all the help we can get on this. I don’t have any problem accepting that.”

  “If you say so. You are the boss.”

  “Yes, I am,” Valens said. “So no sulking over this.”

  “Moi? Sulk? And here I thought you knew me better than that, Agent Valens.”

  “I know you hate bullshit as much as I do. I prefer having stuff out in the open but we have to follow the ground rules. So let’s wind it up and get back to base. I don’t think we’ll be any use here any longer. Let the investigative team do their thing. Something tells me they’re not going to find anything.”

  “Yeah. Hey, these covert operators don’t all wear tights and masks and fly around in invisible planes, by any chance?”

  “Sometimes I wish we had some of those guys,” Valens said. “Might make our job a damn sight easier.”

  “I wouldn’t look good in tights,” Brandon retorted. “You, on the other hand...”

  “Do not go there, Larry.”

  Walking ahead, Brandon grinned like a schoolboy.

  * * *

  BACK IN THE CAR, Brandon took the wheel while Valens made a call to their department chief. Brandon was not deliberately listening but couldn’t help picking up the reference she made to a Jui Kai. All Brandon knew about the young Chinese woman was that she was on a long-term undercover assignment in China. Valens took occasional messages from their chief but said little to him about it. Brandon, understanding she was not prepared to discuss the matter, didn’t question her.

  Claire Valens was a determined woman with strong opinions about her work, and she held unshakable feelings, most notably the one that resurfaced every so often; Valens was convinced, as she had been for a long time, that the Chinese had not forgotten about Zero. It was as close to a conspiracy theory as any belief Valens held. It seemed to be there in the background, a vaporous image that Valens could not—perhaps would not— shake off. And the fact Jui Kai was working the China beat backed up Valens’s suspicions. Her assignment at Zero Command occupied her day-to-day business and this out-of-left-field move and the disappearance of Saul Kaplan would have been a blow to her pride. It would only strengthen her resolve to stay with her theory.

  Familiarity with the situation may have been partly to blame, even though Valens would take it badly. The protocols in place had been working well. Kaplan was delivered to the AF base and returned home each evening— unless some urgent matter arose with Zero. It had become the norm. Perhaps too much so. The delivery of Kaplan to the base, a routine that had been smooth and undisturbed, had become an accepted ritual. The route changed daily, allowing for some flexibility, and operated with clockwork efficiency. Valens was charged with on-base security, the Air Force with the actual fetching and carrying of the man who was responsible for the oversight of the Zero Platform’s daily routines.

  Over the preceding months, the ongoing routine never varied. Kaplan in. Work done. Kaplan home. A hard routine. It was as set as the ticking of a clock. Checks were made on timing and routes. The Air Force maintained a tight schedule for the daily trip—which was the reason Kaplan’s absence was picked up so soon after the event.

  Even so, Kaplan was gone.

  Where, no one knew.

  The why was a little easier to work out.

  The man carried knowledge of the operation and the know-how about Zero.

  The platform was up and running, monitored day and night.

  Kaplan’s imaginative dream had become a working reality, giving America a unique piece of hardware.

  Everyone at Zero Command would know with all certainty why Kaplan had been taken.

  A deliberate attempt at gaining a hold over Zero’s creator and possibly an outright and hostile try for the platform itself.

  That seemed to have been the easy part.

  The hard part—getting him back alive and well—was something else.

  * * *

&nbs
p; WHOEVER WAS BEHIND the kidnapping had upfront knowledge. The AF vehicle had been fitted with a tracking device that had gone off-line. And Kaplan himself had an implanted signal tracker that was supposed to show his whereabouts. It was not transmitting, either. The snatch had been well planned. The disabling of the trackers only highlighted how well organized the kidnappers had been.

  Claire Valens took note of these items. It concerned her that somewhere, someone had gained such knowledge and used it against Zero.

  She was unable to stop wondering what came next.

  Valens felt her thoughts turning toward Major Doug Buchanan, the man who controlled Zero’s 24/7 functions through his command position. Buchanan would not be happy when he learned about Kaplan’s kidnapping. Buchanan had an abiding faith in the man. There was more than the simple dependency that Buchanan had with Kaplan. He had become so tied in with Zero’s creator the bond was as strong as Buchanan’s with his biocouch. Maybe even stronger.

  Buchanan, for all his characteristic strength, depended on Saul Kaplan as a son with a father. It had become far more than their working relationship. Buchanan owed his continuing existence to Kaplan’s genius, to the superior intellect that had devised and overseen the electronic wonder of the Zero Platform. It had been Buchanan’s salvation, drawing him back from a certain, painful death and allowing him the opportunity to carry on doing what he loved—working for his country. Offering back something for the debt he would never be able to pay completely.

  Doug Buchanan knew and accepted that he was as much a part of Zero now as one of the circuit boards. An integral part of the complex machine Kaplan had envisaged and seen through to completion, Buchanan knew his life was with Zero. The ravaging cancer that had started him on the countdown to the end of his life was held at bay by the bioimplants that fed his body on a continuous basis, holding the cancerous cells at bay and maintaining his existence.

  Buchanan had only asked Kaplan once how it worked. Kaplan’s explanation had lost him within the first couple of minutes and Buchanan had asked him to stop. Buchanan decided the only thing he needed to know was that the process worked. As long as he remained on his biocouch, linked to the system via the implants in his body, he would survive. The question as to how long never came up. To have been given even a short extension to his life was enough. The fact that it allowed him to function in his capacity as an Air Force officer, defending his country, was reward enough.

  The multiple functions of Zero, as a defensive as well as an offensive weapon, presented Buchanan with day-to-day operational involvement. His routines were mapped out for him by the electronic machine that surrounded and sustained him. Buchanan monitored and collated information, passed it back to Zero Command and took his orders from the base.

  Learning that his mentor had been spirited away would not be welcome news to Buchanan. He would utilize Zero’s functions to search for him, and Doug Buchanan’s unflagging spirit would not back away from that task.

  If there was a chance to locate Kaplan, Valens thought, Buchanan would do his best to find it.

  CHAPTER TWO

  China

  Colonel Xia Chan had the ghost of a smile of satisfaction on his face as he replaced the telephone receiver on its cradle. Such shows of pleasure were unexpected. He was a solemn man, entirely dedicated to his position and responsibilities, so the officials gathered in his presence were surprised at the emotion. Chan sat back in his seat, facing the group of men around the conference table. His hands were placed on the smooth surface, fingers tapping gently. He studied the group until he was satisfied he had their full attention.

  “It has begun,” he announced. “The successful apprehension of the American Saul Kaplan has taken place. Even as I speak, he is being moved on the first stage of the journey that will remove him from the country.”

  A thin-faced, balding major asked, “Are congratulations in order, Colonel?”

  “A little premature, Ling. Let us wait until the man has been removed from American soil. It’s not wise to presume too much.”

  Ling nodded. “Perhaps you are right, Colonel.”

  “Even so, we should be allowed a degree of satisfaction. As operations go, this first phase appears to have been executed with precision and timing.”

  “That was thought when the first strike against the Zero operation was mounted.”

  The speaker was seated halfway along the table. A thick-set figure with a shaved head set on a squat neck, Yang Zhou was wearing civilian clothing. As always, he looked as though he had just stepped out of a tailor’s store; Zhou made no concessions to the austere dress code of the Chinese system. No one ever thought about challenging him over that. The man was head of a security section and had complete autonomy over what he said and did. He was on this occasion assigned to be Colonel Chan’s personal bodyguard, ordered to accompany him wherever he went and to protect him. The order had come from the highest authority, and even Zhou was required to accept.

  “Zhou, we are talking about something that happened a number of years ago,” Chan said. “I have read the reports that were written about the affair. General Tung Shan paid the price because his operation was ill-conceived and he failed to anticipate the opposition. He made his strike on American soil and was in unknown territory. There was no backing for him. No means to call in assistance when things began to go wrong.”

  “He was reckless,” Zhou argued. “He placed his people in jeopardy and they were abandoned.”

  “If I remember correctly, didn’t a couple of Shan’s team desert and stay in America?” Major Ling returned.

  Chan nodded. “It has not been forgotten. Shao Yeng and Yin Tang. To date we have not been able to locate them. But the search continues. When they defected, they were in possession of a great deal of money that had been allocated to the mission. That will have enabled them to move around and stay concealed.” He raised his hands. “As we are all aware, if you have money in America it is possible to buy anything. Including anonymity.”

  “We are still active in searching for those traitors. We will find them,” Zhou declared.

  “I do not doubt that,” Chan said. “Would it were in my own lifetime.”

  Zhou stiffened, face taut with anger, but there was little he could say. His operatives had failed and were still failing to locate the two men.

  The door at the far end of the room opened and a wheeled trolley was pushed inside. It held pots of tea and coffee. Cups were filled on request before the group around the table was left alone again.

  There were seven other uniformed attendees sitting around the table. Each had an open folder in front of him.

  Placing his cup on the table, Chan said, “I understand there are questions to be asked. Shall we begin?”

  “As I have only recently been assigned to your group, Colonel Chan, my knowledge of this project is not complete. May I ask for clarification?”

  The speaker was a young military officer. His uniform was in pristine condition, hair neat and precise. Eagerness shone in his eyes. His name was Kung Lang. Chan had heard good things about the man’s progress through the ranks.

  “For the benefit of Major Lang, and any others not fully aware of this operation, I will take you through it this one time,” Chan said. “Make notes, because if you miss anything it will not be repeated. I have no time to keep going over the facts.”

  Chan spent the next twenty minutes cataloging the Zero operation from its inception to the less-than-satisfactory conclusion of the original Chinese strike against it. He held nothing back, giving all the names and locations.

  “We became entangled with a separate operation mounted by disaffected Americans who were attempting a coup d’état. That and our presence became known and, as you all are aware, our operation was defeated. We were forced to abandon, but we did not forget.

  “The
Zero prize is still something we covet. It is still, as then, something we would like to get our hands on. In your files you will have read and realized the potential threat it poses. Our Pacific Rim friends, who were anxious for us to gain control of the platform at the time, have not backed down from their desires. Apart from the weapons technology, the ability for Zero to see and hear so much could prove embarrassing. If that ability fell into our control, everything would be reversed.”

  “Surely the Americans would resist any attempt to take control from their hands,” one of the listeners said.

  “Of course they would. Which is why we need help from this man Kaplan. He understands Zero like no one else. In reality he is Zero. The man carries everything there is to know about his creation. He has refused from day one to reveal certain details about Zero’s human-machine interface. He cleverly kept the details of his creation in his head, allowing only as much as was necessary to make the process possible. Saul Kaplan is an extremely clever man. Holding back on certain aspects of the design and interface technology has placed him in a unique position.”

  “If he dies?” someone asked. “Surely he must have considered that possibility.”

  “Even I do not have insight into that. It will be something we will attempt to find out once Kaplan is safely in our hands.”

  Kung Lang leaned forward. “There must exist a contingency plan for the sudden death of this man,” he said. “I find it difficult to conceive there is nothing held in reserve.”

  “You may be correct, Lang, and it will be one of the matters under consideration when Kaplan is being questioned. I must myself admit to having reservations over that very aspect of this affair. Rest assured that I will be pursuing that extremely thoroughly.”

  The session went on for another hour and by the end of it Chan was convinced his team was up to date on every aspect of Zero known to them.