Part 11
Bill Gates stares at them both with no emotion and the eyes behind his glasses do not blink.
"Mr. James, you are quite the pain in our collective ass are you not?" he says and stands up from the desk, turning his back to them to stare out the huge round window.
"I'm not trying to be anything," PB protests. "I'm just trying to figure out what's going on."
"The future, Mr. James. The future is what's going on."
Gates turns around and PB is struck by how the man looks just as he does in photos and TV; the graying hair cut short, the little glasses, the sweater with the shirt collar sticking out. The only surprise is that the man is shorter than PB imagined. Gates can't be more than five feet tall and the cold stare he beams at Sam and PB is more chilling than anything PB has seen in TV or magazines.
"Abe, are you alright?" Sam asks and she crouches down in front of her brother with tears in her eyes. Abe's eyes don't move, he stares passed her, not seeing her, and she waves her hand in front of his face looking for a reaction.
"What the hell is gong on Bill Gates?" PB demands.
The little man's face relaxes slightly and he looks like he is on the brink of grinning.
"The future, like I said the first time."
Sam steps away from her brother and looks as if she may leap at Gates and rip him to pieces.
"What have you done to my brother you monster?"
Gates takes a deep breath and sighs, placing his hands lightly on the back of his desk chair.
"Your brother is a visionary Ms. Siegel. He had a vision and I have harnessed that vision, even against some of his own wishes. You have nothing to fear for him. He has cemented the future of this company and for that I will be for ever grateful. You see, only months ago my contemporary and in some ways most bitter enemy passed on from this life, and like me he is the vision and figure head of his company. He is gone and his company remains but for how long? In time, without Steve's vision and leadership, Apple will fall to the wayside, like any company that has lost it's visionary, from Ford motor company to Kodak. I will not let that happen to mine."
He pauses to let his words sink in but his audience is silent and hostile and he continues on.
"See I'm well aware that my own company will fall to the wayside over time without me as well. To deny that from happening I have to make sure I am here in the future to continue my vision. I will of course die, there is no getting around that. Trust me, I have tried."
Bill Gates stands very straight and loses sight of the others in the room. In his mind he is suddenly speaking to a hall full of thousands listening intently.
"The only way to save the company is to make sure there is another me to take over in the future. Mr. Siegel created a way to do that. To make sure there was another me to take the reigns. A me with the same thoughts and memories and vision."
"You don't mean-"
Sam covers her mouth with here hands. The eyes behind Gate's glasses shift towards her but he still does not see her.
"Yes, with a clone," he says. "Mr. Siegel has created a device that allows every element of a living creature to be recreated exactly as is and then be saved and replicated for eternity."
"You killed people!" PB cries but Gates doesn't see him. The little man peers off into his vision.
"After this morning's tests we are on-line for tomorrow morning's transfer. I will enter the pod and the device will scan all the molecules in my body and then send the information to a satellite in space which can not be erased, even by me. When my death comes trusted members of the company will access the information and create a copy of me to continue my vision without missing a beat."
An alarm is suddenly blaring loudly in the room and Gates is freed from his spell. Abe slightly stirs in his chair before falling back into a restful lull again. The door burst open and the Ranger enters the room with his pistol drawn. He takes in PB and Sam and levels his gun on them.
"Rick. What is the meaning of the alarm?" Gates demands.
"It's that bear!" the Ranger explains "The same bear that killed Boris Mr. Gates. He's torn through the warehouse door and is raising hell in the level one garage. He's already killed three of them men sir."
The eyeballs behind Bill Gates's glasses swell and dilate. He turns towards PB before asking: "Why would a bear attack the compound? What would drive the beast so mad?"
The walkie talkie hanging from the Ranger's belt screeches with a blast of terror as multiple voices speak in a garble of Ukrainian, Russian, and machine gun fire. He turns the volume down with one hand and keeps his gun leveled on his captives with the other.
"Mr. James, once again we have come to the point where we are no longer in need of your presence," Bill Gates turns his cold stare from PB and back to the Ranger "Please take Mr. James out the back corridor and finish the job you were supposed to carry out three days ago."
"No!" cries Sam and she takes a step forward before Gates pulls out his own small silver pistol.
"Please be calm Ms. Siegel. Your friend will not suffer. He will be gone and you and your brother will be safe and we can all move on from this. Rick!"
The ranger shoves his gun between PB's shoulder blades and forces him through the door. They make their way down the hall towards the elevator. There is the muffled sound of machine gun fire coming through the floor, maybe two levels down at most. It begins to dawn on PB that after escaping death so many time that week he could have now run out of luck. This could be it.
"Rick. Your name is Rick," he says aloud.
The Ranger pushes his gun deeper into his captive's back and says: "Yeah, what's your point?"
"You're Ranger Rick for God's sake!"
PB can't help but chuckle and they pause at the elevator doors as Ranger Rick hits the button.
"You're a real smart ass aren't you?" Rick mutters "You probably think your a real tough guy with how you been getting lucky out there in the woods. If that bear hadn't come out of no where and got Boris I would have smoked your ass then. I almost had you in the chopper too but you ran like a little bitch didn't cha?"
"I like to think I was more like a rabbit. It helps that you can't aim worth a shit," PB replies.
"I'll shoot a God damn mosquito off a daisy boy. It was that drunk Russian flying the chopper. Son'a bitch couldn't keep it steady."
The Ranger spits a blot of tobacco juice down at PB's feet and when the ding of the elevator's arrival sounds out he pushes his captive towards the doors. The doors open slow and steady and for a moment PB thinks the car is empty. It looks dark inside, like the light is out, until he realizes that the darkness is the black hulking body of the Bear the Hates Humans. Instinct pulls PB to the floor and he looks up as the Bear's massive arms reach out and grab Ranger Rick by both shoulders, pulling the man into the elevator like a tremendous child picking out the doll he wants to play with. The inside of the elevator is all blurry dismemberment and blood and the doors close on Ranger Rick's screams.
PB stays on the floor for a moment, letting the shock wash over him and distract him from his aching body. He slowly gains his footing and makes his way back to Bill Gate's office.
"This is quite ridiculous Mr. James. You really must learn your place."
Gates is looking over his glasses at him and holding the silver pistol loose in his hand while Sam and Abe are sitting in the chairs before him.
"We need to get out of here Gates. That bear is killing everybody," PB explains and he closes the door behind him when he hears the ding of the elevator from down the hallway.
"I have a small army of mercenaries guarding this compound Mr. James. There is no way a......wild animal has broken through a security team made up of some of the most-"
Gates is cut off by the long protracted sound of the Bear's claws scrapping down the length of the wooden door. PB helps Sam get Abe out of his chair and they prop him up with an arm thrown around his sister's shoulders.
"How do we get out of here Gates?" PB cries as the Bear begins to the throw his hefty bulk against the door.
"There is no way out. Just through the door," Gates explains and his face has gone ashen.
"You don't have some sort of secret escape passage or something? I thought all super villains had those."
Gate's eyeballs scrape around in their sockets in irritation and PB can tell he's gotten to the man.
"Super villain? I'm a philanthropist," Gates declares.
"Murder and kidnapping?" Sam's voice is choked with rage "You are a criminal who poses as a philanthropist. You're an asshole. And a nerd!"
Bill Gate's face goes from pale to red and then back to pale when the door creaks, stressed from the Bear's continued blows. PB goes behind the desk and grabs a chair with both hands. He hoists it up in the air and begins to bash on the glass window. His shoulder burns and his ribs cry out in pain but he bashes until cracks appear in the glass. He continues to wack at the window until it finally gives way and the air and floor around him become filled with glass. He uses the chair to climb through the hole he has created and he stands inside a shallow indent within the granite dome.
"Let's go!" he cries through the jagged edges.
Sam carries her brother over and they go through with Gates bring up the rear. All four of them scale down the dome along a steep narrow path in silence. The sun is starting to crest when they reach flat ground. PB stops in his tracks when he hears the cock of the gun behind him.
"That's far enough Mr. James."
PB turns around and faces the little man. Gate's glasses are foggy and his forehead is drenched in sweat.
"You're going to kill me now? I just saved your life."
"It is nothing personal Mr. James. You simply know too much."
"What's going to happen to them?" PB asks and motions towards the Siegels.
"They will be transported to another of my secret facilities and taken care of."
"Taken care of?"
"Yes. Ms. Siegel and her brother will live a life of luxury in the care of the company. Nothing will harm them and you can rest easy knowing they will be live long and prosperous lives."
"As your slaves." Sam mutters, her eyes red with anger.
"Describe it as you will. It is the only choice you have. Otherwise you can join this man in death now if you like."
Gates raises the gun and aims directly at PB's face and PB is too tired and frustrated to look away this time.
"The machine that copies all your molecules. What does it look like?" he asks.
Gates pauses with the gun raised and the wrinkles in his brow deepen.
"What do you mean?"
"Is it a little metal pod? About the size of a coffin?"
"This model is. How did you know that?"
"I got into it. Earlier today I had to hide and that was the only place I could. I almost suffocated because it locked up on me and before it did open some sort of light filled it. Was that it scanning me?"
Bill Gates' entire face tightens and the gun slowly begins to lower.
"So, did the scan go right up to that satellite automatically? If it did that means I'm up there, waiting to be cloned, and I think you even said no one can erase it, not even you."
PB chuckles to himself and shrugs his shoulders.
"So go ahead Bill. Shoot me. You say I know too much, well so will my clone won't it? What does it matter if you kill me? There will always be the means to recreate me and have the clone mess up your whole little plan. Go ahead, shoot."
Gates seems to be taking the suggestion and raises the gun again. He looks PB in the eyes and the little man tries to muster the will to pull the trigger before his shoulders sag and the gun drops to his side.
"Oh, what's the point? What you say is true. There is no way to erase the pattern created by the device. I can kill you now but it doesn't fix the problem. There has been enough death today."
Gates stuffs the gun into the pocket of his khakis and looks off into the sunset, defeated. Abe stirs and his head begins to swivel about.
"What's wrong with me? I can't stay awake," he mumbles.
"They've drugged you Abe," Sam explains. "Bill Gates and his men drugged you. It should wear off but right now you have to walk for a while. Do you hear me? You're going to have to walk for a good long while right now."
Abe blinks and tries to focus on his sister's face.
"Sam? You came for me? How?"
"Of course I did. You're my big brother," she turns towards PB. "We have to get going, I don't know how long he can hold up and we have to get away from here and that bear."
"Fine, let's find the trail and try to hike through the night," PB replies. "How far do you think we have to go?"
"It's got to be at least twenty five miles. We might make it back before morning."
Bill Gates shuffles his feet and pulls what looks to be a small thumb drive from his pocket.
"There is no need for that. I will give you a ride," he says and presses a button on the device.
Within a minute and a half a small chopper flies over head and lands in a nearby clearing. They all get aboard and twenty minutes later they are landing in a meadow not far from Curry Village. PB, Abe, and Sam shuffle out of the chopper and Gates follows them before tapping PB on his shoulder.
"You have interfered significantly with my business," he yells over the sounds of the helicopter. "For now we are at a draw and I am willing to leave it at that. But if I get word of any sort of investigation or anything in the media regarding this incident then I will have Samantha Siegel killed. Do we understand each other?"
PB nods and the little man traipses back to the waiting helicopter. It takes off and Gates stares down at the three figures below as the chopper get smaller and smaller and then disappears into the approaching winter sky.
PB and the Siegel's get rooms at a lodge in the village and after a long shower PB makes his way to the Ahwanee dining room to meet them for dinner. He finds only Sam alone at the table, her brother is back at the room still recovering from his ordeal, and PB feels an all encompassing feeling of contentment as he looks across the table at her and they give their orders to the waiter.
"I think I ordered way too much," he confesses.
"On a regular hiking trip this can be the best part; sitting down to a real meal after eating on the trail for days," she explains.
"We should do that some time. Go on a regular hiking trip."
Sam nods and sips her water and even after all the danger and encounters with death over the last few days PB is surprised to find that he is nervous.
"Now that this is over, would you want to hang out? On a regular basis I mean," he asks.
"On a regular basis?" she echos.
"Sure, you know what I mean. For fun."
"I don't see why not," Sam says and places her water glass down on the table before looking at PB very seriously. "Not a lot of people would have done what you did."
"Done what?"
"Come back for us. That took a lot of guts."
"What choice did I have?" PB asks.
"I want you to know that it means a lot. And that I think-"
Sam is cut off when the waiter pushes the cart up and begins to place the dishes around the table. PB wants to hear what she has to say but they are both immediately lost in the feast before them. They are intent on stuffing their face and neither of them speaks or notices that outside the window a steady blanket of snow has begun to fall.
THE END
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