Severson sounds sceptical. ‘The tar pits? How do you know this?’
‘I’m staring at it. There’s a walkway that leads to a park beside the museum. You’ll have to be super-accurate and bring it in slow to make it work. It’s short.’
‘Okay.’
‘But — and I know this is going to sound strange — there’s a guy with a bomb on the way there now.’
‘There’s a what now?’
‘It’s not confirmed, but I think he’s heading there.’
‘Is that a joke?’
‘I wish. It’s a really big bomb. We’re on our way to stop it now.’
‘We?’
‘Corey and me. So, because of that, La Brea should be your last option.’
‘Understood.’
‘Can you put Rhonda on?’
‘Of course.’
Judd hears a rustling sound, then Rhonda’s voice: ‘Hey, babe.’
Hearing her makes his heart hurt. Instantly he wants to get all lovey-dovey but he knows she doesn’t respond to that kind of thing so he sticks with the tried and tested: humour. ‘Well, I’m just loving this trip to LA. It’s so relaxing.’
He’s sure he can hear her smile on the other end of the line. ‘Yeah, I’m really enjoying the flight too. Such great service.’
He laughs, then she surprises him. ‘I love you, sweetheart, always know that.’
What?
‘I lov-’
The line cuts out. ‘Oh, come on!’ Judd immediately calls her back but no joy, it goes straight to voicemail.
Man!
She told him she loved him on the phone, the first time she has ever done that, which makes him think she is either heavily medicated or her situation is much worse than he thought, and he’s pretty sure it’s the latter.
He should have said it straight away. As soon as he heard her voice.
Christalmighty
He hopes that isn’t the last chance he gets to say it.
Severson redials Judd’s number but the call goes straight to voice-mail. As he does it he realises, for the first time in his forty-five years, that he has no one to love in his life, no one to have a heartfelt conversation with in a moment of crisis. He decides that if he gets out of this alive he must remedy that.
But that’s something for the future. Right now he knows that La Brea is not only their best option, but their only option. He makes an executive decision not to tell Rhonda about the ‘guy with the bomb’. As far as he’s concerned there’s no reason to even bring it up until they actually get there. ‘Okay, Judd said there’s space to land at La Brea.’
Rhonda continues to wrestle the jet’s controls, confused. ‘What’s a Labrea?’
‘The tar pits. The La Brea Tar Pits. You know, with the tar.’
‘Don’t say it like I should know what it is. I need directions.’
Severson swipes open the pilot’s iPad, works the screen, pinches and zooms his way across the map app. ‘It’s somewhere on — Wilshire Boulevard, I think. Near the Miracle Mile. Christ, I haven’t been there since I was a kid — come on, where are you, you bastard?’
‘Quickly.’
‘I’m doing it — okay, I think — I got something.’ He shows her the iPad’s screen and points. ‘We’re here, we need to go here.’
Rhonda studies the map for a long moment.
‘Can we make it?’
She looks anything but one hundred per cent confident. ‘It’s a way.’
Severson leans close. ‘Hey, if you want to sit up here at the big kid’s table you’re going to have to stay positive.’
Rhonda stares at him for a moment — then cracks a grim smile. ‘Okay, let’s do it.’ She works the controls and the jet tips into a steep turn.
Severson holds on tight.
Next stop La Brea.
44
The Tyrannosaur slows as it descends, now just fifty metres above the ground as it slashes towards the sprawling oil lake that dominates the La Brea Tar Pits complex. The giant chopper’s shadow slides across a family of mammoths that stand next to the wide walkway beside the lake.
With the SAM again lying across his knees, Bunsen studies the three life-sized models, a long-time favourite of visitors to the tar pits, then speaks into his headset’s microphone: ‘Park it over the middle of the lake.’
‘Will do.’ Enrico directs the Tyrannosaur into position.
Bunsen turns to Kilroy. The old guy looks terrible now, his eyes shut, his face drained of colour. ‘I’ll get you to a doc really soon.’
Kilroy’s voice is little more than a low croak. ‘Have you released the video?’
Bunsen scans the horizon, searches for a threat. ‘Not yet.’
‘You said it would be done before Phase Three. Before we ignite the oil lake. Before the earthquake.’
‘I know.’
Kilroy opens his eyes and looks at Bunsen. ‘People must know before it happens. You must warn them.’
Bunsen looks at him and shakes his head. ‘I’m sorry. That’s not going to happen.’
‘But — you promised me.’
‘I’m sorry.’
Kilroy exhales noisily. Bunsen knows that sound well. It’s the sound of disapproval. It hurt to hear it when he was a child and it has exactly the same effect on him now. He looks at Kilroy, expects to see that emotion on the old man’s face, but it’s not there. Instead of disapproval he finds disappointment, which, in many ways, is worse. ‘You lied to me.’
Bunsen nods. ‘I did.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I knew you wouldn’t understand.’
‘Understand what? I thought the purpose of the earthquake was to make sure the oil lake burned for two weeks so the virus went global.’
‘It is but it’s more than that. We need to make an example of this city. Los Angeles is the single most important place on the planet for the motor industry. We need to get rid of the old infrastructure and the old ideas and start again.’
Kilroy looks at him, horrified. ‘You’re talking about destroying a city, our city, killing thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of innocent people.’
Bunsen nods. ‘It’s the only way to be sure.’
‘Didn’t you learn anything from me?’
‘Of course. That’s why we’re here.’
‘No.’ Kilroy shifts painfully in his seat, looks Bunsen in the eye. ‘We don’t want to destroy the world, we want to save it. We don’t want to hurt innocent people, we want to make their lives better.’
‘Yes, but to do that we have to change everything. It must be a revolution, otherwise we’re just playing at the edges and everything stays the same.’
Kilroy stares at him for a long moment, speechless, then turns and looks out at the sun as it sets on the horizon.
Bunsen opens his mouth to speak, then realises there is nothing more to say.
The little yellow Loach stays low as powerlines zip past a metre below.
A gap in the haze opens up and Corey sees the giant tar pit for the first time. He’s impressed. ‘It’s so big.’