by SJ Hailey
He called the New York field office of the Diplomatic Security Service at Fort Jay NJ, to speak to the officer in charge of Uncotto’s detail. The person informed him that agents were not directly contactable in the field, but she could pass on any information if he followed correct procedure.
‘Can you tell me where they are?’
‘No sir, that would be breach of protocol.’
‘Have they left for the heliport?’
‘Who is this?’
He could not follow correct procedure, he was complicit to an assassination attempt. He rang off, hoping to find another course of action, one he was reluctant to follow.
He dialled the number, entered his six digit pin, ‘General I need to call off your operative, now.’
‘I am sorry Jarrett, he went dark an hour ago.’
‘There has been a change in circumstances, he cannot complete his mission.’
‘I am sorry but he will carry it out, as requested.’
‘Well I am un-requesting it!’
‘Jarrett, you are not the client, he was supplied to you, at the request of The Consortium.’
Jarrett knew they would not contact him in time and would probably still kill Uncotto even if Enzi was disavowed.
‘Where is he shooting from General?’
The General was cautious, ‘I don’t know and even if I did, I would disclose it to you!’
‘Listen General, if you want future contracts, you will tell me how to stop this!’
‘You listen. By tomorrow I will be able to dictate terms to you, The Consortium and anyone else I choose. Barring death Alfred will carry out his task.’
The General ended the call, leaving Jarrett holding a silent phone. The assassination would happen.
Then the solution hit him, something The General had said unwittingly gave him a solution. He dialled the number, ‘Hello Police? I have some information regarding an attempted assassination of a foreign diplomat at Manhattan Heliport.’
The first explosions outside stopped Jarrett finishing his sentence.
THIRTY THREE
The Osprey came in low over the jungle, as a bird strike, could take out an engine, or destroy the aircraft. Katherine had been in a plane that had a bird strike, the engine shredded and caught fire in seconds. As her instructors had always said, speed is life, but altitude is insurance.
She saw the clearing that Osvaldo Roderigo had marked with a flare and swung in changing the angle of the wing nacelles to slow the craft and bring it into a hover. She had to get the balance just right, any variance in the thrust would throw the Osprey over. The downdraft from the massive rotors flattened the foliage on the ground, nature still recovering from a small fire last month. The tail hatch opened into a ramp, everyone departed for the complex. ‘Katherine you stay with the aircraft, use its systems to monitor any activity or anyone approaching the area.’
‘Roger that Jacob. I have to stay and change the oil in one of the engines, it has burnt off, and I need to let it cool before I can sort it out.’
Osvaldo Roderigo had gone ahead of the main group, taking Augusta Fabiola and Kevin with him, they had preparation work to complete. The three people moved quickly across the silver surface of the dome, to the hatch.
Osvaldo Roderigo did not place his hand on the hatch access point, but asked Kevin too.
‘You want me to put my hand on this? Will it hurt?’
‘You are Katherine’s brother, yes?’
‘Yes Why?’
‘Trust me, it will not hurt you.’
The blue line appeared as Kevin placed his hand on the metal, it was warm to the touch. The line finished moving around his palm and then the hatch opened.
‘See. Did that hurt?’
‘No, it tickled, tingled really.’
‘You must have more faith in your abilities.’
‘I suppose.’
The group moved into the open hatch the familiar black stone and blue glyphs mixed with the paintings and etchings of visitors from other centuries. Kevin’s necklace glowed beneath his shirt, not giving out heat, but a reassuring illumination.
Jacob was moving through the jungle with his son, not talking from necessity and not hostility. The background noise of the jungle was unusually absent and that put both men on edge, they had always trusted animal’s instincts, and the silence indicated danger. Archer crouched and checked the area, binoculars scanning for any tell-tale movement, nothing. They moved on and reached the complex wall, Archer was surprised at how little vegetation had encroached upon it, as if it was afraid to touch the surface. There were occasional shrubs and small creepers venturing up the mud brick walls, but nothing substantial. Jacob waved two fingers over to the right, and Archer moved to the expected position. Debra was almost invisible in the undergrowth, just her white eyes showing.
She whispered carefully to him, ‘No show yet, we are waiting.’
Osvaldo Roderigo and Kevin reached the main chamber, the black domed roof climbing up away from the entrance. The single obelisk that Katherine had activated on their last visit stood glowing and silent.
‘Kevin, you have an interest in astronomy?’
‘Yes, always, my mother got me a telescope when I was five. Katherine tell you?’
‘No, just a guess. Luis Alfredo was our astronomer, and he is dead, I want you to take his place.’
‘And do what? I have no knowledge of this place.’
‘You know more than you realise, so just trust me, and step into the obelisk.’
Kevin tentatively moved towards the alcove in the side of the obelisk, it was about two and a half metres high, and wide enough for him to stand without touching the sides of stone. As he stood, a field of blue light travelled from the floor to cover the opening, startling him.
‘What is this Osvaldo? Am I trapped?’
‘Far from it my young friend, this barrier protects you for later.‘
Kevin was unsure whether to be reassured or more concerned on what was coming later.
‘Kevin, you will see a display in front of you showing the Earth and moon orbiting the sun.’
‘Yes I see it’
‘Touch the Earth.’
Kevin reached out and touched the display of the Earth, realising it was not a screen, but a three dimensional display in the space in front of him. As he touched it the Earth zoomed up and began to show many small dots everywhere.
‘What is this?’
‘That is every orbiting object above the Earth.’
‘Wow, that’s busy?’
The display had filled with hundreds of objects, all orbiting at incredible speed. Kevin spotted the display had highlighted one object.
‘Why is that red?’
‘That’s our problem. When I had Katherine place the amulet in this obelisk, it was not by chance, this is the tracker.’
‘Tracker of what?’
‘What you see in front of you, every object orbiting the Earth, and if you change the display, every object that crosses near the Earth.’
‘Near Earth Asteroid’s that’s what you mean?’
‘Yes, we do not want to end up like the dinosaurs.’
‘So this whole place is here just to detect the threats.’
‘Yes, and no, it is here to identify the threat, and that is why our necklaces glow. The complex calls to us, to attend. It cannot function without people, one of the safety features.’
‘So when the threat is passed?’
‘The necklaces go dark, appearing inert, until the next time.’
‘And what is the range limit?’
‘Sorry I don’t understand Kevin.’
‘How far away can you be before they don’t work.’
‘Your mother told me hers glowed once, and she was in, Chicago?’
‘Wow. So this red dot is a threat.’
‘Yes, what do you think you should do?’
Instinctively Kevin touched the red dot, and it grew filling the screen. Statistics
adjacent to the image showed its position in space, but he could not read them, ‘These glyphs what do they mean?’
‘Just focus on them, and think what you wish to know.’
Kevin kept repeating in his head; show me real numbers, and a few seconds later all the glyphs changed to numbers and letters, ‘I can read this!’
‘Yes, I know. What does it say?’
Kevin studied the mass of information on the object, and determined its orbit, or lack of it, and time to impact.
‘It is going to hit in less than six hours, it will leave stable orbit within two hours.’
‘Well done Kevin. Now I want you to look to your right, and select the image stating tower release.’
‘Okay, pressing now.’
The complex hummed in acknowledgement of Kevin’s actions, but he did not see a reaction.
‘What’s happening?’
‘Nothing that you will see here, come out of the obelisk, we have work to do.’
Osvaldo Roderigo led Kevin over to the wall, and set about his next task.
Out in the jungle a few miles from the complex; four towers rose out of stone domes, pushing through the plant growth coating them. The black stone obelisks had four razor sharp edges, cutting all resistance, and pushing up fifty metres into the air. The tops of the towers were perfect pyramids, reminiscent of the obelisks in the complex, but on a much larger scale. The tops of the pyramids on all four towers slid away, four sections folding like petals back onto the sides of the towers. Then with a rush of wind, a large two-metre cube of ice flew out, and up into the atmosphere. The four towers repeated this event five times each, adjusting their angle slightly to fire the cubes into different areas of the sky. At eight miles up all the cubes exploded, releasing a combination of ice and blue crystals; seeding the atmosphere.
‘What are we trying to do here Osvaldo Roderigo?’
‘Kevin, this complex uses natural energy sources, and we have just fired off the seeding towers to create a thunderstorm.’
‘That is weather manipulation, I thought that was impossible?’
‘Oh it is, and we need lightning, positive lightning.’
‘Now that I have not heard of.’
‘It is rarer, and generates ten times the power of normal lightning, some strikes give so much energy they would light up a one hundred watt light bulb for a hundred years.’
‘And you want to start that kind of power?’
‘Oh yes, I have waited for this most of my life, and soon we will get plenty of it, right over our heads.’
Kevin stopped asking questions.
THIRTY FOUR
Spaceguard Research, location classified.
Ian Fisher had been head of the project for five years, and inherited a true mess of bureaucracy, secrecy and incompetence. He had attempted during the past six months to convince his superiors that his predictions of a threat to the security of the country were real. No one would listen. He had tried other avenues of persuasion, people not in his chain of command, but just as influential, and now had to call them to inform them of his worst fears. He had already called the project leader, who was notably absent and had placed Fisher in command of everything in his place. Fisher knew that the leader would not assume blame. Ian had sat in the glass walled office for an hour debating his choices, and could see none. He closed the vertical cream blinds, secluding himself from the frantic activity in the command centre below. He dialled the number he had been given.
‘Hello Sir, Its Ian Fisher.’
‘Good evening Mr Fisher, you have news for us?’
‘Yes sir, it’s not good.’
‘I thought as much. Your superiors did not heed your warnings?’
‘No sir they did not.’
‘Just for my colleagues who are new to the situation, walk me through it briefly.’
‘We have a large satellite in orbit, high orbit. It is quite old and we were maintaining it regularly as part of the space defence initiative. However, due to changes in priorities, reallocation of funds and just bad luck, this platform has become unstable.’
‘Define unstable Mr Fisher.’
‘It is in a decaying orbit, and unless we can get up there in the next twelve hours, it will re-enter the atmosphere.’
‘And what is the likelihood of us getting any spacecraft to it in time.’
‘None at present sir.’
‘Can the Russians not launch to assist us?’
‘That is the other problem sir. The Russians do not know officially it exists.’
‘How unusual, tell me Mr Fisher, what exactly is on this satellite? What’s its purpose?’
‘It appears on the outside to be a weather satellite or space telescope. The cover story is that it is scanning the Moon and Mars for water, but went inactive some years ago. That stops anyone asking to actually use it.’
‘And the real purpose?’
‘It is a space based nuclear weapons platform, in breach of most treaties.’
‘And does it have any weapons on board?’
‘A Small contingent of four weapons, armed and ready at all times. They each have a twelve megaton yield.’
‘Why did we leave them up there?’
‘The team that used to maintain and monitor it was caught in budget cuts, and they could not really state why they needed the money could they?’
‘Indeed, I understand the need for deniability. Should they impact the Earth when the satellite re-enters the atmosphere, will they detonate?’
‘Unlikely sir, they are designed to be shielded should that happen, the problem is the impact. It is possible that the casings may crack from such a severe impact on the ground, leaking radioactive material at the crash site.’
‘How did we lose control of this in the first place, can we not remotely control it?’
‘We lost that ability a month ago sir. The Chinese tested one of their anti-satellite missiles, and the debris from the test, some particles must have hit our platform, disabling its navigation unit.’
‘And we have not been able to replace it?’
‘Correct sir.’
‘So it is going to crash, we cannot stop it?’
‘That is correct sir, the predictions I made which you have, show that if the unit hit’s a populated area, devastation and loss of life will be substantial.’
‘Do you know where the crash site is?’
‘Preliminary calculations indicate a rough area, but nowhere exactly, it depends when and where….’
‘Just give me ball park Mr Fisher.’
‘Texas sir, south east Texas.’
‘How big is this object?’
‘One hundred fifty tons, it will leave a very large crater, and the fireball will be seen all the way through the atmosphere during re-entry.’
‘So they are going to see it coming?’
‘Yes sir.’
‘Well we will take your information under advisement, and take what action we can.’
‘Should we not inform the public so they can evacuate?’
‘No, absolutely not! That would cause panic and if your estimates are off, it may push people into the impact zone.’
‘But I have to do something.’
‘You already have Mr Fisher, everything you can.’
‘Is there anything else?’
‘No, just stay in the facility, we will deal it.’
The call ended, Fisher sat down at his desk, watched the computer screen predict the path of the waning satellite. In less than twelve hours parts of Texas would be uninhabitable for the next thousand years, and no one knew it was coming.
THIRTY FIVE
Alfred Perfidy was on Governors Island south of Manhattan, East of Liberty Island. The junction of the East and Hudson Rivers merging and flowing on down to the Upper New York Bay. The island had been the Governor of New Holland’s residence, a fort, a jail, naval base and originally a place to pick nuts, but for now a national park. It was the birthplace of New Yo
rk in 1625, but today would become the location of death for a President. The tourist season did not start until June so any person would stand out to the locals. Alfred had planned for that.
He had taken a Water taxi to Red Hook from Pier Eleven on Wall Street, passing by Governors Island. He walked up from Red Hook in Brooklyn, to the docks, down to the Pier Twelve development, no cruise ships at rest today. It was late afternoon around 4 p.m. he knew that President Uncotto would be leaving at 7 p.m. according to the schedule he had extracted from the careless personal assistant. It was not the young man’s fault, but his phone was set to allow access from anyone, so while Alfred was sitting listening to Uncotto, his phone hacked and downloaded all the information from any electronic device with Bluetooth or infrared capability in the room. It always stunned him that with all the paranoia regarding security that a simple set of instructions could protect these devices from casual snooping.
The president would take a motorcade from the hotel to JFK, but if the road was blocked, which Alfred ensured it was, there was an alternate route. Manhattan Heliport on the East River onto JFK International airport in Jamaica Bay, a short trip from the hotel, but an exposed exit route. First he had to get to his firing position on Governors Island. He donned his dry suit hidden below the pier, standing on a small ledge he had put in place the previous night along with his gear. The Port Authority made regular patrols, and he almost got caught by a wayward spotlight checking the piers and backwaters. With dry suit and helmet to keep out the brown river water slapping below his feet, he dropped into the cold beige liquid. With his flippers in place, and his sea scooter powered up, he took a compass bearing for the northeast side of the island, and submerged.
