Day of Doom

by David Baldacci

  “Sounds like a plan we can execute,” said Reagan in her pumped-up, kick-butt Reagan way. “So let’s divvy up the assets and go nail some Vespers.”

  Fiske looked them all over. “Okay, there are ten of us, so we’ll go five and five. I’ll lead one group. Ian, you take the other.”

  Reagan looked incredulous. “You didn’t pick me as a leader?”

  Fiske smiled sweetly. “Dear Reagan, I know your propensity to fight, as well as your brother’s, and your desire to be at the forefront of the action. But the leader must stay back, not be captured or hurt. I didn’t want either of you to have to work against your own very natural instincts.”

  Reagan brightened at this explanation. “Okay, then. Good thinking.”

  “Yeah,” added Hamilton. He smacked his fist into his palm. “I am definitely ready to bust some Vesper heads.”

  Fiske split them into groups. He took Nellie, Reagan, Jonah, and Ted with him. That left Hamilton, Evan, Phoenix, and Natalie to go with Ian.

  Before they headed out in separate directions Fiske said, “Whatever happens, I want you to know how very proud I am of all of you. The bravery you’ve shown. No person could ever have any people better than you in a dangerous situation. It has been my honor to serve with you.”

  Some of them blinked back tears. Even Reagan and Hamilton looked misty-eyed.

  Fiske continued, “This will not be easy. It will be very difficult, in fact. Whatever the Vespers are planning, it will not be good for the world. We must do all we can to save it. Even if we have to die for it.”

  Fiske looked at them all. “Good luck.”

  The two groups set off in opposite directions to save the world.

  “Ready?” Jake asked the others.

  Amy stared resolutely back at him. “Ready.”

  Jake pushed the button to open the door of the train car they were in.

  The door hissed open and Jake looked out.

  “Pretty dark tunnel,” he said.

  Dan exclaimed, “What did you expect, big guy, bright, shiny lights pointing to exactly where we need to go?”

  “Shut up, Dan,” said Amy crossly.

  They climbed off the train and reached the track bed. Only a few feet separated the train car from the side of the tunnel.

  “Keep tight to the wall,” said Jake.

  “Which way do we go?” asked Amy.

  Before Jake could answer, they saw a pinpoint of light farther down to their right.

  “Get down,” hissed Jake, and they quickly knelt.

  “What is it?” whispered Sinead.

  Amy slapped on the night-vision goggles and focused them.

  “It’s Isabel and her people. And they have Atticus.”

  “At least he’s still alive,” said Jake grimly.

  “And at least we know which way to go,” said Amy. “We just follow them.”

  “And get Atticus back,” said Dan.

  “Safely,” added Jake.

  “Okay, we can start moving,” said Amy. “They’ve gone far enough ahead. Just keep quiet.”

  They moved forward and then stopped.

  Dan said anxiously, “Was that just me, or is the mountain shaking?”

  “The mountain is definitely shaking,” said Amy. “Let’s pick up the pace a little.”

  They hurried along faster. Amy was in the lead because she had on the goggles and could see the best.

  She hissed, “It looks like they’re stopping. No, wait a minute. I think they’re going through a door.”

  “A door!” exclaimed Sinead. “In the mountain?”

  “Well, there’s a tunnel in the mountain, so it makes sense that there might be rooms carved in here, too, like for train supplies and emergency equipment and stuff,” noted Dan.

  “Let’s hurry,” said Amy.

  They picked up their pace even more.

  Then another sound reached their ears.

  Jake said nervously, “Um, is the train starting to move?”

  They all glanced at the long double-decker train that was next to them. It was definitely starting to move. The big metal wheels were turning.

  “Hurry!” said Amy.

  They ran headlong toward the door that Isabel and the others had already gone through.

  The train started to move faster. They could feel the force of the airflow created by the moving train start to pull them toward it.

  “Once it starts going fast enough, it’ll create enormous suction,” cried out Dan. “Especially in a tunnel. It’ll be strong enough to throw us right under the wheels.”

  “Faster,” shouted Amy. “Run.”

  They sprinted as fast as they could. But they were also running in the same direction the train was going, so they would never be able to reach the end of the train where the air pressure created by the train’s speed would no longer exist.

  “It’s really moving now,” shouted Jake as he ran after Amy.

  Dan could feel the force of the airflow being pushed along by the train. He could almost feel his heels starting to be lifted off the ground.

  They reached the door, but the shallow doorway cut in the solid rock provided almost no relief from the building air pressure.

  Amy stared at the door in dismay.

  “It’s a combo lock,” she said. “We don’t have the code,” she added quite unnecessarily. The light on the alarm box glowed red. It might as well have said “KEEP OUT AND DIE!” in Amy’s mind, because if they couldn’t get through the door they were dead.

  “Let me see it,” snapped Sinead, and she pushed Amy out of the way.

  It was a pad with buttons and an LED screen.

  Sinead pulled a can of something from her bag.

  “What’s that?” asked Dan.

  “A chemical that causes material to fluoresce in the darkness,” she answered. “I carry it with me in case I need to get in somewhere.”

  “And how exactly does that help us?” asked Dan.

  The train was moving faster and faster. They now had to hold on to one another to keep from being sucked under the wheels. But soon, that would no longer be enough.

  “Just watch,” said Sinead.

  “We’re going to, like, die, guys, real soon,” yelled Jake.

  Sinead sprayed the pad. Four number keys glowed with Isabel’s fingerprints, where she had touched them.

  “Okay, it’s a four-digit code,” said Sinead. “Now we just need the correct order to make the door open. For that we need some number-crunching capability.”

  Jake, seeing where she was going with this, pulled out his laptop. He fired it up.

  “Do you have a USB cable?” shouted Sinead. “We can interface with the lock’s computer that way. There’s a port on the side.”

  He pulled one from his pocket and popped the USB cable into the side of the laptop and handed the other end to Sinead.

  Sinead plugged the cord into the port on the side of the locking mechanism.

  Jake brought up an app on his computer and hit the start button on the program.

  The train was reaching its top speed. Amy grabbed hold of Dan, who was the closest to the train tracks. He was literally being lifted off his feet. Amy held on to him with one hand and grabbed the door handle with the other.

  Jake leaned against the door and braced himself.

  Sinead sat on her butt, and put her back against one edge of the doorway and her feet against the other, wedging herself in.

  “Hurry, Jake,” screamed Amy. “I can’t hold on much longer.”

  Dan was now completely in the air and horizontal, his feet bare inches from the train whooshing by.

  “How long is this freaking train?” he yelled. But no one could hear him. The train was like a tornado going by.

  Amy could feel her grip slipping on her brother’s wrist. She thought quickly, did the splits with her legs, and pressed one foot against one edge of the doorway directly above Sinead’s head and the other foot against the other doorway edge. She leaned a
gainst Jake, who was directly in front of her. She reached back and grabbed Dan with both hands. But she felt herself being inexorably drawn toward the train.

  Dan could sense this and screamed, “Let me go or you’ll be sucked away, too.”

  Tears falling down her face, Amy shook her head stubbornly. “No!”

  “Let me go.”

  She shook her head again. “Never,” she said. “We both go or not at all.”

  Sinead reached up and snagged Amy’s belt and held on for dear life.

  Amy looked down and saw this. She smiled grimly at Sinead, who managed a weak smile back.

  Sinead mouthed the words, I won’t let you go, Amy.

  Amy looked at her, conflicting emotions running through her head. She would have to figure that out later. For now, she focused everything on holding on to her brother.

  Jake stared dead at the screen as the numbers continued to flash by.

  “Come on. Come on!” he yelled.

  He could feel himself being pulled backward. He pushed harder against Amy, who was holding on to Dan. Sinead was below them and holding on to Amy. Sinead reached her other hand out and grabbed Jake’s leg.

  “Got it!” he yelled.

  The correct order of numbers flashed across the LED screen. The red light turned to green and the door clicked open.

  But the sudden opening of the door caused a powerful tunnel of wind to bleed off and into the opening behind the door.

  As the massive train reached top speed, Amy, Dan, Sinead, and Jake were blown through the opening, like a mighty wave was washing them to shore.

  They tumbled down the hall and landed in a heap twenty feet farther down.

  “Whoa!” said Dan. He suddenly felt himself being pulled back toward the open doorway.

  “It’s a vacuum,” cried out Amy. “It’s sucking us back.”

  All four of them were being dragged toward the opening. The train was still flying past. They would be pulled right under it.

  Ordinarily the door should have been pulled shut by the vacuum, but there was a magnetic latch holding it to the wall. Dan was the closest to the doorway, and he was clawing and fighting to hold himself away.

  “This sucks like you would not believe,” he cried out. “It’s like a Dyson vacuum from Chernobyl.”

  Amy took in all that was happening. She saw that Dan was going to get pulled back out first. She also knew that once the train passed by, the vacuum action would mostly cease. But by then it would be too late for Dan. Thinking quickly, Amy stopped fighting against the vacuum, drew a long breath, and actually hurled herself toward the door opening. The vacuum grabbed her fully and she sailed over and past Dan.

  Jake screamed, “Amy, no!”

  As Dan watched his sister fly over, he reached up for her, but missed. “Amy, don’t!” he yelled.

  But Amy didn’t hear Jake or her brother. Her total focus was on that doorway. Or rather, on the door. Timing would be everything.

  She braced herself.

  Five . . . four . . . three . . . two . . .

  At the last possible instant she managed to twist her body sideways and her foot reached out and caught the edge of the door. She kicked with all her might, broke the magnetic lock, and the door closed and relocked itself.

  The next instant, Amy slammed headfirst into the closed door and fell to the floor.

  The vacuum had stopped as soon as the door had shut and sealed itself.

  The others stood up, checking for injury.

  Dan said, “Amy, that was so stupid. But you did save us.”

  Sinead was looking at where Amy still lay on the floor. “Amy?”

  Jake, no doubt sensing the panic in her voice, looked that way, too.

  “Amy!”

  She was not moving. She was lying completely still, facedown. And there was blood all over.

  They ran toward her as fast as they could.

  “This way,” called out Fiske.

  They had been moving down passageways for the last twenty minutes. Fiske had been searching for a way out at first, but realized that his best bet was to try to find some of the Vespers. If they could overpower them, they not only would have a decent shot at discovering what deadly plan the Vespers had, but also an exit. Otherwise, he was afraid they could wander in this maze for years.

  The five former hostages moved down the hall as quietly as possible.

  Fiske knew that if a fight took place he could count on Reagan to more than hold her own. The Tomas branch had its share of muscle, endurance, and athleticism. And Jonah, he supposed, could start singing. That might actually scare the Vespers off. Fiske knew that Jonah was an international superstar, but Fiske was not his core audience, meaning he was older than thirteen and not a girl.

  However, in a fight, Ted would be helpless. And the same was true for the injured Nellie.

  Fiske thought, Well, old boy, you’re just going to have to pick up the slack.

  They came to a pentagon-shaped room that had five tunnels, including the one they were in, bleeding off from it. Fiske stopped and the others halted behind him.

  “Which way?” asked Reagan.

  Nellie studied the different options. “They all look the same.”

  “But no doubt where they lead will not be the same,” noted Fiske.

  “Should we split up further?” asked Jonah. “There are four possibilities and five of us?”

  Fiske considered this for a moment but then shook his head after glancing at Nellie and Ted.

  “We’ve diluted our numbers enough. We stick together.”

  “So do we eenie-meenie-miney-mo it?” asked Nellie in frustration.

  “Might be as good as anything,” answered Fiske.

  He performed the exercise and ended with the tunnel to their immediate left.

  “Let’s go, troops,” he said with far more confidence than he actually was feeling.

  They headed down this passageway for what seemed like miles, although by Fiske’s calculation it was only about twenty-four feet.

  “I think I see a brighter light up there,” said Reagan.

  Fiske had seen it, too.

  “Okay,” he began in a low voice. “This may be the moment of truth. If there are Vespers in that room ahead, then we need to be prepared to fight. Reagan and I will lead the way. Jonah, your job is to protect Nellie and Ted.”

  Reagan said, “I thought you said leaders stayed back from the fight?”

  “A little white lie,” replied Fiske. “Sorry.”

  “And I don’t need song-boy to protect me,” Nellie said indignantly. “I can fight.”

  “Not with a wounded shoulder,” pointed out Reagan.

  “I’ve still got one good arm and two good legs,” she said stubbornly.

  “And I can fight, too,” said Ted.

  Fiske looked at him, but said nothing. However, he was thinking, Dear boy, you can barely see.

  “All right,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll all encounter some action. But let’s keep quiet so surprise will be on our side.”

  They moved forward slowly.

  Fiske was trying to visualize in his mind’s eye how a potential battle would play out. It was good to be prepared. He would use every tool at his disposal and fight as dirty as he possibly could in order to beat the Vespers.

  They reached the end of the passage. Fiske held up his hand and they all froze.

  He took a few more steps forward and peered around the corner.

  What he was looking at was a large room with a very high ceiling. So tall was it, in fact, that Fiske could not, in the poor light, actually see the ceiling. He looked all around the room — well, as much of it as he could see. It appeared to be empty. But then again, it could be a trap.

  He inched forward some more. He became dimly aware of a large object that was located in a darkened corner of the room at a point farthest away from him.

  He looked behind him and observed that the others were following closely.

 
“Well, I guess it’s now or never,” said Fiske to himself.

  He stepped fully out into the room and prepared to be attacked on all sides.

  Nothing happened.

  The others formed a ring around him.

  “What is that?” Reagan asked, pointing to the far corner.

  “I was thinking the same thing,” replied Fiske. “I say we find out, shall we?”

  They cautiously walked in that direction. As they drew closer the object came into sharper relief.

  Its scale was enormous. It must have been fifty feet high and built of metal, wood, and what looked to be sophisticated composites.

  To Fiske, it looked like an ancient weapon of mass destruction that a Roman army might have deployed in battle. But it also looked like a science experiment gone very weird, with long copper tubes weaving in and out of a large, wide, mostly metal body that was rectangular in shape. There were pieces of oddly shaped metal and wood sticking out here and there like appendages that had come as afterthoughts. There were power coils and generator lines and an assortment of objects that Fiske didn’t even recognize.

  “It looks like something I used to build with my Lego sets when I was a kid,” observed Jonah. “Only a lot bigger, no uniform parts, and with a lot less color.”

  “Meaning it doesn’t look anything like a Lego set,” snapped Nellie.

  As they stood there, they all suddenly heard the low hum emanating from the device. Fiske put out his hand and touched the core.

  “Warm,” he noted. “But not exceedingly so. Whatever it is, someone has turned it on. But it doesn’t seem at full power yet.”

  Nellie stared up at the huge creation. “It’s creeping me out. It looks like it might come alive at any moment and crush us.”

  “It does sort of look like that,” agreed Fiske. He stepped closer and peered at a spot about midway up the metal core.

  “But look there.”

  They all stared at where he was pointing.

  There was a small niche built into the machine. But there was nothing in it.

  Jonah looked more closely. “It looks like something is supposed to be inserted in there.”

  The others looked at him as Jonah’s eyes suddenly bulged.

  Nellie said, “Jonah, what is it?”

  He answered in a quavering voice, “This must be the Doomsday device!” He pointed to the niche. “There was a drawing of Amy’s ring in the plans we found in Syracuse. It looked like it would fit right in there.”