Chapter 10 A Horse And Carriage

"I'm getting a reading on the sensors we dropped on the road to the dam, looks like we will have company in five minutes or so," Amanda reported to the team. "As soon as anyone has a visual confirmation, sing out."

Inside his Suburban, Efraim smiled at Geiger's grunted answer; short and to the point. Efraim leaned back in the seat, running through possible scenarios in his mind. He closed his eyes and focused on the task ahead. Lee's voice filled the car.

"We're going live, visual confirmation on Dr. Harry Quigley coming through the pass. Remember everyone, we need to find out where he has stashed his research and that the powers that be want him alive. Beaman, you go in five."

"10-4," Efraim responded. He started the vehicle, holding his hands over the heat blowing out of the vents. He cleared the windows with the wipers and put the Suburban in gear and headed back to the dam. He made the bend in the road, barely making out the large panel van that was parked off the road by the maintenance roof. There was a large array on the roof of the van, most likely the laser, he thought. He parked clear of the van, put on his driving sunglasses, pulled on his gloves and climbed out of the Suburban.

Both Lee and Geiger were telling him they had him in sight, but not Quigley. Efraim keyed the mic twice in quick succession in response, not wanting to talk this close to Quigley's van. Efraim took a deep breath, adjusted the collar of his jacket to provide some protection to his neck from the biting wind and walked up to the van.

He looked inside, noting the vast array of equipment, much of which he recognized as laser support. The power unit itself was sitting in the center of the van, smaller than he had expected, but quite ingenious in it's design. He noted that the array on the top of the van was actually the laser targeting system. The DOD would have a field day with this vehicle.

He climbed into the van to get a better look at the system. Efraim was amazed at the compact design of the laser chamber, he marveled at the coil, watching as energy pulsed through the system. What he saw in front of him was an electric, free electron laser; the vaunted Dark Horse. "Son of a bitch, he actually did it," he said out loud. He shook his head in disbelief and saw a short ladder leading to the roof array. He climbed the ladder, popped the roof and climbed out on top of the van.

"Have you in sight, Beaman," Geiger said in Efraim's earpiece.

He nodded and keyed the mic as he looked over the targeting array. He looked over the optics and nearly laughed out loud; Quigley was using mirrors and prisms to pass the beam through. Ingenious but hardly the answer to the optics problem inherent in laser technology.

"I see you're admiring my work, Dr. Beaman. Any suggestions?" Efraim nearly slipped off the roof of the van as he turned to see Harry Quigley Ph.D. holding a gun on him from the steps in the van. He keyed his microphone on so he could transmit.

"Jeez Harry, do you have to sneak up on a man? I could have fallen off the roof and broken my neck!"

"Do be careful, as having you break your damn fool neck would take the pleasure of killing you away from me. Now, I'd like you to come back down the ladder and we can have our discussion--something about your doubting the existence of the laser I believe you said," he waved the gun at Efraim who cautiously made his way back to the ladder.

He watched as Quigley climb down into the van. He stopped transmitting and heard Geiger swearing up a storm about a lack of a clear shot. He keyed the mic again so they could hear what was going on in the van. He stepped through the roof, his foot on the ladder when he saw Francine coming down the hill at a run, Lee a good distance behind her. He furiously shook his head and saw her slow. Lee was able to catch up with her just as he lowered himself into the van.

Efraim slowly descended the ladder, careful not to hit anything with his feet. He keyed the mic once again so he could transmit. Quigley held his hand out to Efraim, shaking the gun at him again. Efraim sighed, and pulled the Beretta out of his jacket, handing it to Quigley. Efraim adjusted his jacket, in doing so he let the SIG slip down into place at his side. He watched Quigley closely, noting the look in his eyes. He's not running on all turbines.

"And where is your lovely partner, John? I know she's here. Why don't you give her a shout and invite her to come in from the cold." Quigley laughed. "In from the cold, such a delightful term for spies, isn't it?"

Efraim walked slowly towards the open back doors of the van. He pulled off his glove, stuck his two fingers in his mouth and gave a piercingly sharp whistle. He watched as Francine appeared out of the mist and swirling snow. She walked up to the van, looked at Quigley who was holding his gun to Efraim's head, his other hand outstretched. She pulled out the 9mm Beretta she had gotten from Amanda and handed it over, butt first.

Quigley stepped back, motioning for Francine to get in the van by waving the gun. Efraim put his hands down for her, she took them and let Efraim give her a lift up while she watched Quigley. Efraim wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her arms and back, trying to warm her.

"Is anyone else out there willing to come to your aid, Dr. Beaman?"

Efraim shook his head. "The others went home with our empty caskets, Ballard and Williams were picked up in Germany after we arrested Tucker and Miller. I'm afraid I'm all you've got to work with."

"And don't forget your lovely bride," Quigley added.

Efraim clenched his jaw, knowing he had to hold on to his temper, but he didn't like hearing Quigley talk about Francine. "So, Harry. What's the deal here? You have your gun trained on both my partner and myself. We're standing in a van that houses a military laser weapon of mind boggling proportions that you stole I might add, from the United States Government. Why?"

"The President cut the funding in his budget for my program. All of it was to go to Lawrence Livermore Labs, all of my work just taken away from me."

"Why didn't you request a transfer? Why didn't you take it up with the Defense Department? This is an extreme way to make a point. And why am I involved?"

Quigley quickly worked himself into a rage, waving his gun around and hitting the equipment. Efraim and Francine moved closer to the door of the van, but Quigley saw them and leveled the gun on them, bringing them up short. "Ever since Georgetown, my name has been tinged with scandal because of you. Harry Quigley, brilliant researcher, superior physicist, but that Georgetown fiasco, such a shame! My teaching position taken away because of you. You have followed me and haunted me and my work for the past ten years! You took my nephews fiance. Porter doesn't know what she sees in you. And now my research is taken from me as well!"

"Your nephew? Porter? Porter is your nephew? And are you talking about me in reference as your nephew's fiancé? Why that little weasel, I'll ..." Francine stopped in mid rant at the squeeze of her hand by Efraim.

"Harry, Porter is a low level agent; he does basic surveillance and milk runs. I don't know what he has told you, but there has never been a relationship between him and Francine. As to Georgetown, that was a situation of your own creation. And I am sorry about the budget cuts to your program, but all of us in government service face budget cuts. There are far more effective ways to voice your displeasure than to fake your kidnapping, steal government property, threaten to kill the President and hold two federal agents at gunpoint," Beaman reasoned.

"My work, my life, all taken away from me--but I'll show them! I'll show you! Out! Get out of the van! Do you want to see if I'm capable of designing a working laser? Over to the side of the van," Quigley's eyes were wild with rage as he shoved Efraim and Francine out of the van.

Francine slipped and fell in the snow and Quigley bellowed in anger, raising his gun in her direction. Efraim stepped in front of Quigley and helped Francine up, keeping himself between her and Quigley.

"Dr. Quigley," Efraim said in a quiet voice. "Why don't you demonstrate the laser for us? We'd like to see its operational capacities." Francine nodded her agreement, schooling her features to show rapt attention.

"Yes, yes, demonstrate the laser's operational capacities. What you see before you is an all electric, free-electron laser with high quality optics. It uses electricity and water to reduce the logistical tail . . ." he continued to explain the capabilities of the laser.

"Dr. Quigley, if I might ask, could you explain your development process for us?" Efraim asked the man, knowing that Amanda was recording their conversation. If he couldn't find the research itself, he'd do his best to get a run down of it, if not the mathematical equations themselves.

"Quite an interesting story, the developmental process . . ." Quigley walked back and forth in the back of the van, as if he was in the classroom giving a lecture, with one minor difference: he held a gun on his captive students. Both Efraim and Francine watched for an opportunity to take him down. Francine started once, but Efraim knew if they took him before he finished, they might never get the information they needed from him.

Quigley continued to talk, giving up the information that Beaman needed. He pushed several buttons, and the turbines in the power plant begin to whine. Efraim looked under the vehicle quickly and saw a connection from the bottom of the van to a connector in the ground. He jumped up as he heard the gears of the targeting array begin to move.

He hurriedly mumbled to Amanda. "I hope you have the time on that Amanda." He looked at Francine who gave him a small nod.

Francine mouthed "No joy" and he knew that neither Lee nor Geiger had a clear shot on Quigley. They were going to have to move quickly when the time came. Efraim looked at Francine, questioning with his eyes if she was ready. She blinked at him, a small smile on her lips. He winked and took her hand.

He watched as the targeting array pointed in their direction. He looked at the line-up of the turret, and saw that it was pointing at his Suburban. He edged towards the van, pushing Francine behind him. They both watched as Quigley hit several switches and suddenly, the Suburban' gas tank exploded.

The shock wave threw Efraim and Francine quite a few feet off the ground. Both landed on their backs, sliding through the snow and slush. Efraim scrambled over the ground, now wet from the snow that had melted in the blast to where Francine landed. She was blinking the water droplets from her lashes, her face reddened like sunburn from the blast.

"Are you alright?" He asked her as he checked her arms and legs for breaks. He watched as she yawned, trying to clear the ringing in her ears as he had done a moment earlier. Efraim pulled the broken remains of the remote control he had modified from his back pocket tossing it to the ground beside the twisted rim of his driving sunglasses.

"That was a little close for comfort. Efraim . . ."

He watched as her gaze focused over his shoulder and he knew that Quigley was there. He pushed himself up, helping Francine off of the ground. They stood watching the remains of the Suburban burn, the exploding tires causing them to shield their eyes and turn away.

"That was impressive, Dr. Quigley. Rash, but impressive," Efraim said as Quigley ushered them back to the van. Quigley climbed in and motioned for Efraim to get in as well.

"Let Miss Desmond come in as well, Dr. Quigley."

"No."

"She is wet and cold, the wind is blowing. She could freeze to death. Please let her in the van."

"Such concern for a woman of such fickle morals; surely you could have done better."

Efraim reached down and pulled Francine into the van. The heat from the laser felt good to their wet and frigid bodies. Efraim pushed Francine into a small nook between the electronic panels out of the line of fire from Quigley. He knew he had to get control of the situation again. "Dr. Quigley, how do you reload the chamber?"

"The chamber? Reload the chamber? Oh yes, yes. The chamber is reloaded with a one use, disposable . . ." Quigley went on to show the reloading process, mumbling and incoherent at times, lucid at others. Efraim knew if he could keep him talking, both he and Francine would have a chance to warm themselves and recover from the blast they had sustained. He wiped his face, surprised to see blood on his hand from cuts there and on his face. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that Francine looked better than she had when he pushed her into the corner. He winked at her and was rewarded with her smile. She had several scrapes and a minor cut above her eyebrow from the blast, and her face was red. He was thankful there wasn't a mirror close by, remembering the tirade she threw when she saw her red hair; he could only image what this would bring about. He gave a light shake of his head as he turned his full attention back to Quigley.

"As you have seen the effects of this unit up close, I shall now demonstrate the advanced distance capabilities of this laser," Quigley hit a few buttons and Efraim could hear the gears on the roof turret turning. Quigley climbed into the drivers' seat, started the van and pulled closer to the maintenance building. Efraim grabbed onto a rail along the roof so he wouldn't fall.

Francine was holding her earpiece in and reached out a steadying hand to Efraim's side. "B, Geiger and Lee both say no joy; the snow is really picking up and reducing their visibility," she whispered. "We're on our own."

Efraim nodded and quickly leaned down to kiss Francine's cheek and whisper to her. "Don't worry, hon, we'll pull this one off yet," He quickly turned back to Quigley, who was lining the van up with the maintenance building. He checked the line that had been under the van earlier, but that had been retracted. He felt Francine lean into his back, her hand reaching up to hold the rail next to his. He linked his finger over hers, taking comfort and strength from her closeness.

"We've got another demonstration in store; I'll try to keep him talking," Efraim whispered. "But I think our time is getting short. Be ready to take off."

"I'm not leaving you here; you're crazy if you think I would!" Francine fiercely whispered back at him, punctuating her point with a nudge of her hip.

"Crazy we have plenty of here. What I need is time and a distraction. I need to get him to tell us where he stashed his research, without that, I'm looking at brig time for my honeymoon."

Francine indicated with her eyes that Quigley was behind Efraim.

"Now if you and Miss Desmond would exit the rear of the van, I will show you the capabilities of this laser system at distance. Quite remarkable actually. I have logged the distance on the beam at 5 and 8/10ths of a mile. Certainly capable of taking down an airplane landing or one taking off for that matter. The strategic implications are mind boggling." Quigley waved the gun at them and they slowly backed out of the van. Francine jumped down; Efraim leapt out next, putting himself between Quigley and Francine. Quigley was next and grabbed Efraim's arm as he pulled him along to the maintenance building.

"Dr. Beaman, the formula that I devised to deliver distance is sheer genius. With your mathematical background, you will doubtless find this intriguing. After many frustrating months of calculations that did not bear fruit, I was about to declare defeat when I experienced a profound epiphany! The angular momentum of light, if refracted correctly could extend beam coherency to a new benchmark in light and matter technology!"

"Isn't that technology used in conjunctive study of the entanglement of photons?"

"True, but the manipulation of matter and light and its momentum certainly fall into this category for study."

"Thus the prisms in your optics," Efraim stated.

"Exactly!"

"But you are still experiencing a corona effect at distance."

"I am able to deliver a nearly non-degraded beam of energy at distances undreamed of ten years ago."

"The corona of the beam renders it unstable in certain conditions. What about feedback within the system itself?"

"I must admit that I have been perplexed by that problem. I have not been able to overcome the residual kickback within the unit. I have lost many a circuit to system feedback."

Francine held up her hands in defeat. "Excuse me, but I'm having trouble understanding what the two of you are talking about. I'm a linguist, not a mathematician or physicist."

"My dear Miss Desmond, mathematics is language," Quigley informed her, his tone condescending.

"Francine, think of a mathematical equation as a sentence. There is a correct form for grammar, right?" At her nod of understanding, he continued. "It's the same for mathematics. For the sentence to be constructed correctly, all the parts of the sentence must be in their correct placement. While a poorly constructed sentence can still be understood, an incorrectly constructed mathematical equation will not bear fruit that is. . . ."

They finished his sentence together. ". . . stable." Francine took a deep breath and looked up at Efraim who raised his eyebrows at her.

"I think I understand," Francine shivered, partly from the cold and partly from the implications of energy manipulation. Quigley connected the van to an opening in the building, linking the laser once again to the turbines of the power plant. The three of them climbed to the roof of the maintenance building. The wind cut harshly across Vidraru Lake, blowing in their faces and making it difficult to keep their heads up in the onslaught of snow and ice particles.

Quigley pointed to a ridge barely visible through the storm. "That is the Fargaras Ridge. The distance to that ridge is six and two-tenths of a mile. I will demonstrate the capabilities of this laser at distance through untoward conditions."

"You can't fire at that ridge! It's inhabited," Francine cried out. "There is a guest house and a traveler's hut just below Fargaras Ridge! Any disturbance could cause an avalanche. The snow is quite heavy on the ridge this year. You can't! Think of all of those people!"

Before Efraim could stop him, Quigley hit Francine across the face with the back of his hand with the viciousness and strength of a madman. Francine slammed into the rusted rebar that served as a barrier to the sheer drop into the abyss below. Efraim grabbed her jacket with both hands, pulling her up against his chest as the rebar gave way. He reached for his firearm and turned into the muzzle of Quigley's gun.

"I will not stand for interference. The capabilities of this laser must be proven. You must understand the implications for military adaptation; to be able to fire a weapon upon one's enemy from distance beyond retaliatory battlefield strikes. Think of lives this laser will save."

"This is not a battlefield, Harry. These are innocent people whose lives are tied to the geography which you have chosen to use as a demonstration site. Harry, you are not a murderer. To fire this weapon into that ridge will be murder."

Quigley shook his head, his expression mournful. "I had hoped you would understand, John. You have let your vision become tainted. I'm sorry, but you have left me no choice."

Efraim watched as Quigley pulled a switch from his pocket and pushed the key. The turbines began to whine below them, they could actually feel the steady thrum of machinery through the concrete roof. Efraim looked at Quigley, seeing the madness in his eyes. He steadied Francine, preparing to lunge at Quigley when Francine threw herself at the mad man. Quigley fired the gun at Efraim's head at the same time.

The bullet grazed across his forehead and he felt himself falling. The cold of the concrete and snow on the roof kept him from losing consciousness. He could hear Francine struggling for the gun, and finally several gunshots. Then he heard nothing except the wind and the turbines wailing.

"Efraim? B? Are you alright? Please, please be alright!" Francine carefully lifted Efraim into a sitting position, letting him lean against her for support.

Efraim blinked, trying to clear his vision. He saw Francine's face swimming before him, tears running down her cheeks. "Damn, Franny, did I get shot again?" He lifted a handful of snow to wipe the blood from his eyes and to cool the burning on his head.

Francine laughed; the sound mixing with sobs as she hugged him tightly. She heard a sound and turned to see both Lee and Geiger climbing the roof. Geiger stopped to check Quigley, feeling for a pulse. He nodded at Lee; Quigley was alive.

Lee knelt beside Efraim and Francine, concern etching his features. "Are you alright? Damn, the two of you took several years off of my life just now," he looked at the two agents, his two friends sitting before him. Francine's face was red from the first blast, her cheek and eye swelling and turning purple from Quigley vicious attack. Efraim has several cuts and scrapes, blood running down his face from the bullet graze across his forehead, his face red from the blast as well. Lee felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Amanda standing beside him, fear for all of them evident in her face.

Lee took her hand, patting it to reassure his wife. "They'll be okay Amanda, but it was pretty close."

Amanda nodded, relieved.

"I hate to ruin on this reunion, but would someone tell me why that targeting turbine is glowing?" Geiger was pointing to the van; the firing array was white hot from an overload of energy. Efraim climbed to his feet while Lee helped Francine up.

"Can you shut it down, Efraim?" Francine asked.

"I sure as hell hope so. Show Lee where the connection to the plant is, disconnect it and then get out of here." Efraim made for the van as fast as he could. His head was on fire and feeling like it had been opened with a jackhammer. He was unsteady on his feet, but he managed to get off the roof and climb into the back of the van.

He could see the laser itself had gone into overload; the circuitry was literally melting before his eyes. Efraim tried to reverse the process, but he knew that once the laser reached critical overload there was no going back. He looked out the rear of the van where he could see Lee and Amanda helping Francine to Amanda's Suburban. Geiger had Quigley over his shoulder and after he deposited him in the rear of the Suburban before running back to the van to offer assistance.

"What can I do, Beaman?"

"Get them out of here, there isn't much time left before this thing blows."

"Francine will skin me alive if I leave you here, buddy, I'm not going anywhere."

"I don't have time for this!" Efraim jumped into the driver's seat and started the van. He threw it into reverse, slammed on the brakes, jammed it into neutral, with one foot on the brake the other on the gas he revved the engine to get the RPM's up.

"Get out Dave! I'm sending it to the bottom of the reservoir. He watched Geiger jump out of the back of the van. He opened the driver's door, put the vehicle into DRIVE, took his foot off of the brake as the van hurtled toward the utilitarian concrete barrier on the dam.

Efraim jumped from the speeding vehicle just as it hit the barrier. As he slammed into the road, he rolled away and lifted his head just as the van flipped over the crumbling concrete and into the black depths of Vidraru Lake. His vision narrowed as he struggled to stay conscious. The last thing he heard was someone screaming his name.