Day of Doom

by David Baldacci

  Evan had one Vesper in a headlock when the shot rang out. At first Evan didn’t seem to have noticed that he’d been hit. Then he looked down at his chest and saw the blood flowing from the hole there. He fell to the floor. The others were so busy fighting they didn’t notice.

  Ian and Natalie were kicking and punching as they worked their way to the Doomsday device. Natalie finally broke through a column of Vespers and ran for it, after picking up a large metal bar one of the Vespers had dropped. She swung it back, ready to deliver a crushing blow to the huge machine.

  Ian watched in admiration until he noticed the blue sparks spewing from the base of the device.

  “Natalie, no!”

  She didn’t hear him.

  She swung the pole and hit her target squarely in the middle. It did no damage. To the device. Natalie stood there, momentarily frozen as the electrical current built up in the device swept through her.

  Ian watched, paralyzed by panic as his sister was hit by the current. He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t exactly fathom what was happening.

  Then the surge of power from the Doomsday device ceased, and the metal bar fell away. Natalie moaned once and fell to the floor.

  “No!” screamed Ian as he fought his way to his sister.

  He knelt next to her. Her eyes were open. He felt for a pulse. There was none.

  He started performing CPR. He pumped and pumped her chest, trying to restart her heart. He kept checking her pulse. Finally, he sat back, exhausted. He stared down at his sister. The truth was something that Ian could not comprehend, though it was crystal clear.

  Natalie Kabra was dead.

  As the fighting continued all around him, Ian sat there on his haunches overcome with anguish. He had just been reunited with his sister and now he had lost her. He couldn’t quite understand that she would not be coming back. How could she be dead? She was always so much alive. In everything she did. Ian had so looked forward to growing up with her. They were all each other had. All the family left of the Kabras.

  He reached down and touched her cheek. It was still warm. He touched her hand. It felt so limp, but instead of pulling away, Ian gripped it more tightly, as though his warmth could bring her back. But of course it couldn’t. The dead could not come back.

  The laughter reached Ian’s ears a moment later. He looked over and saw Vesper One in the far corner. He held up a device that looked like a remote.

  “A shocking experience for her, wouldn’t you say, Ian?” crowed Vesper One.

  Enraged, Ian slowly rose, smashed his way through two Vespers, and charged straight at Vesper One.

  “You die, right now,” yelled Ian. He had never truly imagined killing anyone until right this instant. Now he could not exist another second while this man lived.

  “So many have said, and yet here I am,” taunted Vesper One.

  In another moment he was gone.

  Ian couldn’t believe his eyes. He looked around everywhere.

  How had he disappeared?

  Amy came running over to him. “I’m so sorry, Ian.” The tears in her eyes matched the ones in his. She had obviously seen Natalie’s body.

  Ian panted. “I will get him. If it’s the last thing I do. I will get him.”

  “We’ll get him, Ian. All of us.”

  “All of us who are left,” he amended bitterly, staring over at his dead sister.

  They turned back to the fight.

  That’s when Amy saw him.

  Evan, on the floor, blood flowing out of his chest.

  “NO!” screamed Amy. She ran toward Evan, flooring a Vesper with a kick to the head as she zipped past.

  She reached Evan and knelt down next to him. His eyes were closed. She felt for a pulse. It was there, but just a trickle.

  “Evan, can you hear me?”

  He opened his eyes, managed a smile. “Boy, this sucks, right?”

  He laughed feebly.

  All Amy could do was let the tears slide down her face. She took off her sweater, balled it up, and placed it over his wound.

  “You’re going to be fine, Evan. I swear.”

  “Amy, look out!” screamed Dan.

  Amy ducked and the sword missed her by an inch. The Vesper holding it reared back to try again. But he had picked the wrong time to try to kill her.

  Amy lashed out with a tremendous kick and the man toppled to the floor.

  As she turned back to Evan, she heard a little gasp.

  She looked down at him. His eyes were open. But they were no longer seeing. His arms slid off his chest and lay limp next to him.

  Amy took one long, shuddering breath, and then closed Evan’s eyes.

  Then she rose, turned, and plunged back into the fight. But there was only one person she wanted to destroy.

  Vesper One.

  And she would. Or die trying.

  Whatever happened, one of them would not see the sun rise ever again.

  They beat back the Vespers, forcing them from the room where the Doomsday device was located. Hamilton and Jake had managed to wrench several guns from the Vespers. They each had one and had given one to Amy and the last weapon to Reagan.

  They had carried the bodies of Natalie and Evan to a far corner and found blankets to cover them. Amy and Sinead were cleaning and bandaging Fiske Cahill’s injured shoulder. Fortunately, the bullet had gone clean through. But he was in a lot of pain, though he tried not to show it. As they were working on him he kept staring over at the two bodies under the blankets.

  “That should be me under there,” he told Amy and Sinead. “Not Evan and Natalie. I’m old. They had their whole lives ahead of them.”

  Amy said nothing. She just kept winding gauze around Fiske’s shoulder and arm.

  Sinead said, “Before this is over, we might all be dead.”

  “Cheery thought,” said Dan as he joined them.

  They had posted sentries at all entry points to the room. Hamilton, Reagan, and Jake, being the most athletic and having guns, had taken the first watch and intently gazed at all possible attack points.

  There were thirteen of them left now, thought Amy.

  Maybe an unlucky thirteen.

  “You’re good to go,” said Amy as she applied the last bit of adhesive to Fiske’s dressings.

  “Thank you, Amy.” He looked over at the bodies. “Alistair, now Natalie and Evan.”

  “It would have been ridiculous to think that everyone could survive this,” said Sinead logically, if dispassionately.

  Amy wasn’t listening to her. She stared up at the Doomsday device. Ian had already told them about the electrical charge, so they knew not to touch it. She wondered what was going on outside this mountain. Had catastrophe already struck? What would happen if it were fully initiated?

  She turned to Sinead, Dan, and Atticus, who had come to sit next to them. “Talk to me about subduction zones. I’ve read about them, but I need to know more.”

  “What do you want to know?” asked Atticus.

  “If I have it right, we’re sitting on a big one.”

  Sinead said, “Yes, as I explained on the train before. It stretches a long way both east and west.”

  “So if the device taps into it, the destruction would follow that exact route, both ways?” asked Amy.

  Atticus looked unsure. So did Sinead.

  Dan said, “I guess I see what you’re getting at. Vesper One brought the hostages here. He’s here. If he starts this sucker up, then both the hostages and he would be the first to die.”

  “That’s what had Isabel confused, too,” added Atticus. “I guess she thought Vesper One was far too vain to take his own life.”

  “Reversing the polarity of the magnetic poles,” said Amy. “Results?”

  Fiske rubbed his injured shoulder and sat back against the rock wall. “So, that’s what we’re talking about here? Reversing magnetic polarity?”

  “Well, it’s about subduction zones, too,” amended Amy.

  “All rig
ht. I can give you a little insight into both, actually.”

  “You can?” said Amy.

  “I’ve traveled all over the world, particularly in my youth. Spent some time at a research facility in Amsterdam that specialized in collecting data on the Earth’s magnetic poles. When I was in Japan I learned about subduction zones from a scientist there studying tsunamis.”

  “Cool,” said Dan. “We know if you reverse the poles it’s catastrophic.”

  Fiske looked at him curiously. “Actually, the magnetic poles of the Earth have reversed many times over the eons.”

  “What?” exclaimed Dan and Atticus together.

  “Oh, yes. The last time was nearly eight hundred thousand years ago, so I don’t exactly recall the details. Even I’m not that old. And on a daily basis, the magnetic poles can wander up to fifty miles.”

  Amy looked confused. “But how is that possible? Our research showed it could be catastrophic, cause all sorts of natural disasters.”

  Fiske explained, “The Earth’s magnetic field protects us from cosmic radiation. The field itself is produced by interaction of the Earth’s solid inner iron core with its outer liquid one. When the poles reverse, the field never actually dips to zero. But even if it did, we would be protected by the sun’s magnetic field, which, by the way, reverses polarity every nine to twelve years.”

  Dan said, “So am I getting this right? Reversing the polarity of the Earth is not a big deal? Because apparently old Archimedes thought it was and he was, like, freaking brilliant.”

  Fiske rubbed his shoulder and grimaced. “I didn’t say that, Danny boy. Ordinarily, reversing the polarity takes place over thousands of years. People and other living things have time to adapt, and so does the Earth and its axial rotational spectrum.”

  Amy nodded in understanding. “But if it happened really quickly? Not over several thousand years, but maybe in a matter of minutes? I think that’s what Archimedes was afraid of.”

  “A trial run for the Vespers,” said Dan bitterly.

  Fiske nodded slowly. “Given that, all bets are off. Now, when you couple accelerated reverse polarity with proximity to a major subduction zone, it’s like a match and a river of fuel. The accelerated reverse polarity is the match and the subduction zone, is the river of fuel. The catastrophic results would stretch far and wide. Natural disaster piled on natural disaster. Not pretty.”

  They all looked up at the Doomsday device.

  “And that may be the key to it all,” said Amy.

  Ian came over and pointed to the empty niche in the center of the device. “So long as we keep the last component out of there, we can stop it. That’s the place for the gear to be inserted. I’m sure of it.”

  “I think you’re right, Ian,” said Amy.

  “But how long can we do that?” said Dan. “And we can’t destroy the thing. We can’t even touch it without being electrocuted.”

  Fiske nodded. “And at some point Vesper One will regroup his people and attack. And if we can’t beat them off, he’ll be able to execute his plan.”

  They all sat there looking glum.

  Dan said, “So we just sit here waiting for them to come? That seems stupid.”

  Amy looked up at the Doomsday device. For her it represented the culmination, perversely, of their traveling the globe involuntarily to do Vesper One’s bidding.

  She looked over at Dan, who was staring up at the monstrosity, too. He glanced at her.

  “We made this possible,” he said starkly.

  “What choice did we have?” she asked.

  “We sacrificed the world for a few friends and family,” said Dan, just as starkly.

  “We didn’t know that at the time,” she pointed out in a sharp tone.

  “We could have guessed. Vesper One was not exactly doing all this for the good of mankind. We had to know that it would turn out bad.”

  Amy looked over at the bodies of Natalie and Evan. Dan followed her gaze. They exchanged a silent look.

  “Maybe you’re right,” said Amy. “And maybe I screwed up big-time. Some leader I turned out to be.”

  “It’s not over yet, Amy,” said Fiske, studying her quietly. “And let’s look at the positives.”

  “Like what?” she asked grimly.

  “Well, let’s see. You figured out what the plan was. You got in this place. You helped rescue us. We are now in a position to stop Vesper One.”

  “And Natalie and Evan are dead. So is Alistair.”

  “And we could all die, too,” said Fiske. “But you have put us in a position where we have a chance. A shot to make this right. To make sure that Alistair and Evan and Natalie didn’t die in vain.”

  Amy thought about this for a few moments and finally nodded. “You’re right, Fiske. You’re a good uncle.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far. But I have my moments.”

  “So, what do we do?” asked Dan in exasperation. “To stop them?”

  Amy gazed up at the device. A sudden shift in the poles, as Fiske had pointed out, would be catastrophic. But how did they stop it from happening? At that instant something occurred to her.

  She looked at Fiske and Dan, who were nearby. “I don’t think Vesper One is the suicidal type.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Fiske.

  “He wants to rule the world, not leave it. And Sinead showed me the subduction zones on the computer while we were on the train. She said they worked like underground rivers, or maybe oceans. They create a tsunami, building pressure, which then races off to do damage at some other place. The zone under us runs both east and west, but I don’t think they’re connected. So if the device creates a tsunami effect here . . . ?”

  Dan said, “Then it’ll build, but do no damage, at its origins.”

  Fiske added, “But it’ll build over time, and when it hits its target —”

  Amy finished for him, “It’ll be obliterated.”

  “Wow, that’s a relief,” said Dan sarcastically. “So at least we won’t die in a tsunami. We’ll just be murdered by the Vespers.”

  Amy ignored him and looked over in a corner, where there were some wooden crates piled high. She opened a few. Inside were just some copper wires and other odds and ends that Vesper One must have used to construct the device. She closed the last crate.

  “There must be a series of electromagnets built in there,” she said, pointing at the device. “Powerful ones.”

  “I would imagine there are,” agreed Fiske.

  Amy continued, “But there are different ways to create electric and magnetic fields. A changing electrical field creates a magnetic field and vice versa. That’s what makes generators and motors possible. A weakening electrical signal creates a stronger magnetic field, and then the reverse is also true.”

  “So exactly how does that help us?” asked Dan in exasperation. “I feel like I’m in a physics class. And I’m not even in high school.”

  “Magnetic fields created by electrical currents cease to be when the electrical current stops,” replied Amy.

  “That’s right,” said Fiske. “No power, no electromagnetic field.”

  “Hello?” said Dan. “That sucker has plenty of power. It’s electrified.”

  “But I wonder what its source is,” mulled Amy, looking around the base. “There has to be a source of electrical power. If we can somehow find it and turn it off . . . ?”

  “Then the device will be rendered inoperable,” said Fiske.

  Atticus said, “But how do we turn it off?”

  Amy, Dan, and Fiske stared helplessly at one another.

  “Maybe if we had some water we could create a short circuit,” said Fiske.

  “We had a lot of water in another room,” replied Dan. “But I don’t see a faucet in here.”

  Amy said, “We could try throwing things at it.”

  She picked up the metal bar that Natalie had used. “Stand back,” she said. She threw the bar at the device. It struck against it, held there for a moment
, and then fell away.

  “Well, that didn’t work,” pointed out Dan unnecessarily.

  Fiske said quietly, “I think, Amy, that the only option we have is to keep the Vespers from reaching the device.”

  “Meaning this is our Waterloo,” said Dan. “Our Custer’s Last Stand,” he added grimly.

  Fiske nodded. “I think it might be, because I don’t see any other way out.”

  “Well, if that’s the way it’s going to be, so be it,” said Amy resignedly.

  She watched as Sinead joined her brother, who was sitting with his back to a wall. As Amy continued to look on, Sinead put her arms around Ted and quietly spoke to him. Amy looked over at Dan and saw him watching the Starlings as well.

  Dan and Amy exchanged an understanding glance.

  Dan moved next to Amy and said, “I guess, being triplets, the Starlings have a really close bond.”

  “I don’t think that’s limited to triplets, Dan. I think it goes for all brothers and sisters. Or it should, anyway.”

  “Do you think the serum might actually help Ted and Ned?” Dan asked.

  “It’s not worth it, Dan. It never was. The effects are so unknown, it could easily end up doing far more harm than good. I think Sinead realized that, too. She knows that Vesper One only used her because he knew she wanted to help her brothers so badly.” She broke off and looked at Sinead again. “And maybe there’s something a lot stronger and purer anyway that will help them get better.”

  “What’s that?” asked Dan.

  “Love. The most powerful thing in the universe.”

  As she said it Amy glanced once more over at Evan’s body. Her eyes began to tear up.

  Dan noticed this and put an arm around her, leading her off to the side and helping her to sit down as her body shook. The shaking gave way to shudders and sobbing and then gasping. And then Amy Cahill dried her eyes and sat up straight.

  “Fiske was right.”

  “About what?”

  “If we don’t finish this, if we don’t beat the Vespers, everyone will have died in vain.”

  “Well, we are going to beat them,” said Dan. “Guaranteed. Done deal!”

  Amy gazed proudly at him. “I can always count on you to lift my spirits.”