The Rising Sea (NUMA Files 15)

The facsimile froze in an awkward position and toppled forward. Kurt held the machine down, pulled the spike out and plunged it in once more just to be sure.

By now, police and paramilitary units were rushing into the room. They surrounded Kurt and pulled him off the robot. Turning the machine over, they froze at the odd discovery. Their collective gaze going from the attacker to the Good Samaritan who’d stopped it and back again.

Kurt didn’t have time to explain. He used the sharpened spike to cut into the skin on the replica’s neck. Peeling it back, he revealed the automated mask of the machine’s face.

The hydraulics twitched as spare signals came and went. The glass eyes stared blankly into the distance.

It was the last Kurt saw of the machine. With an abundance of caution, the police dragged him away.

“Leave him,” a voice ordered.

Kurt looked up. To his surprise, he saw Nagano limping into the room. The superintendent looked like death warmed over, but he wore an official police jacket.

“If you didn’t look so beaten up, I might think you were a machine,” Kurt said.

“I’d be in a lot less pain if I was,” Nagano said.

Kurt laughed. “When did you get here?”

“A moment too late, it seems.”

Nagano helped Kurt up and they climbed onto the stage. The Prime Minister was being ushered out of the room while paramedics tended to his security team and the civilian who’d intervened on his behalf.

“Akiko,” Kurt said, crouching beside her. She’d taken a bullet in the back, diving in front of the Prime Minister.

“I told you I’m good in a fight,” she whispered.

“She has a punctured lung,” the paramedic explained. “She should be okay. But we need to get her to the hospital.”

“Go,” Nagano said.

Kurt squeezed Akiko’s hand as she was lifted onto a stretcher and whisked away.

“I’m guessing you didn’t swim,” Kurt said.

“We flagged down a fishing boat shortly after dawn,” Nagano explained. “We got here as soon as we could. But as you can imagine, without ID, and looking like we did, it was hard to explain who we really were. By the time I found someone to listen, the shooting had already begun. So we ran up here. Akiko ran faster than any of us.”

“She’s a hero.” Kurt said. “She pledged to defend Kenzo. Promised to do the same for me and wound up saving the Prime Minister.”

“Sounds like a promotion.”

“My thoughts exactly,” Kurt said.

Nagano smiled. “I’m afraid we still have Han to deal with. He seems to have gotten away. If he gets back to China, we’ll never extradite him.”

“Don’t worry,” Kurt said. “He won’t make it that far.”

59

HAN RAN when the shooting started, just like everyone else. But he ran for other reasons. And he ran in a different direction. He charged through the back of the pavilion and raced down the access stairs. Several policemen passed him, rushing in the opposite direction and not giving him a second glance.

He reached the bottom floor and the door that Nagano’s facsimile was supposed to be guarding. The machine was nowhere in sight and Han didn’t bother looking for it. He pushed the door open and raced outside.

His limousine was parked in the VIP lot, around the side. He marched toward it and then stopped cold. The police had the limo surrounded. As Han watched, they pulled the door open, dragged his chauffeur out and forced him to lie on the ground.

Han turned and walked the other way. He was caught. Trapped. With no way out. Then it came to him. The Nagano and Zavala robots would be waiting for Austin’s facsimile.

Han could override their orders with a voice command. He looked for the getaway car. It was there, waiting near the exit. It even sported a temporary blue police light, blinking on top. A brilliant touch.