The room was quiet.
“We have pictures from the Ozzie One satellite that have given us a good idea of the damage to the ice. So far the eggheads don’t see a big problem.”
A few conversations began to grow among the officers, but the general continued to speak. “Then there is the matter of the volcano.”
The conversation in the audience ended.
“Mount Erebus — the volcano near McMurdo, at the edge of the ice shelf — has increased its activity. It began with the explosion of the bomb.”
Suddenly several hands raised, and the general found himself answering a score of questions on subjects ranging from volcanic hotspots to whether the Great Lakes would be affected by a rise in the oceans.
“Gentlemen,” he said final y, “we all have personal concerns. But, right now, we’re the cops and the world is calling 9-1-1. So when we talk here let’s keep it general.”
The room soon filled with a blue-grey haze. It seemed all the recent quitters were bumming smokes from those who hadn’t.
“The good news,” said Hayes at one point, “is that everybody from MI5 to INTERPOL to the FBI is on this. We will get those bastards.”
A young lieutenant in the second row raised his hand.
“May I ask something, sir?” he said courteously.
Hayes nodded.
“What do our families…? What does the world know of this?”
“Right,” said Hayes. “I didn’t get to that. Good question.”
He crushed out his cigar, removed his glasses and began cleaning them with his handkerchief. He was obviously considering his reply.
“Before I answer that,” he said at last, “I think you should also know that Grimes and I were assigned the duty of overseeing the military response to this situation. Not that we’re the guys with all the answers. It’s simply we’ve become specialists at counter-terrorism. That’s why it’s not the admiral here talking to you. Nothing’s changed in the command structure,” he assured his audience. “But Grimes and I were flown in to McMurdo to look things over and” — he finished cleaning his glasses and put them back on — “I was therefore the lucky S.O.B. whose radio transmission set off the nuke.”
A murmur of commentary rippled through the room. The general briefly told of his own misadventure on the ice. He concluded, “I have to take responsibility for the triggering of the atomic device, but I must add that our experts tell me it may have been a good thing I did so.
The early detonation of the bomb was probably not the terrorists’ plan. Our experts think the bomb was intended to detonate when we tried to dig it out of the ice. That would have meant the deaths of many people.”
As nervous as Henry was when speaking before an audience, he felt obliged to stand up and make a comment. Sarah looked surprised as he rose from his seat.
“I was there with you, General, and everyone should know you were very careful at the site.” He paused nervously for a moment, then continued. “As soon as he found the wire, he got us out of there. One more second’s delay and we’d have been toast.”
The officers in the room seemed to appreciate the remarks. But the general interrupted before too much conversation could begin.
“Thanks, Gibbs, but the truth is I shouldn’t have used my radio so close to the antenna. I didn’t think of that, and I should have. In my business that’s one big boo- boo.”
The general’s gaze roamed the room, then fell back on the sailor who’d asked about the public’s awareness of the situation.
“I was about to tell this gentleman what I know about any… public knowledge of this crisis. It was announced at the UN in a communication to the Secretary General’s office. Just a single sentence. Most of you know it by heart: ‘TWO NUKES IN DEEP ICE. DETONATION ONE OCTOBER UNLESS FOUR BILLION DOLLARS US IS PAID’. Since then there has been only one more communication, and I’m not at liberty to say what that was at the moment. What I can say is that somehow the internet got hold of the story, and it has forced its way onto page two or three of most of the major newspapers; however, it’s currently being reported like just more end-of-the-world bullshit. Even so, the word on the street isn’t so sceptical. I won’t lie to you. My guess is that nobody living anywhere near the ocean is getting much sleep right now. Shit, our intelligence has been working for two days just trying to come up with a ballpark estimate of the possible damage in property and lives.”
Hayes regarded his audience sadly. “It isn’t exactly fun telling you this shit.”
“I’m lovin’ it, sir,” yelled Grimes.
The room exploded with laughter.
“Glad to hear that, Kai.” The general eased back on his stool. “That doesn’t surprise me, somehow.”
As the laughter quickly died down the general pulled another cigar from his pocket, then changed his mind and put it away.
“Don’t know how many more of these I’ll be able to get,” he said softly.
The audience grew hushed again as the true gravity of the situation reasserted itself in people’s minds.
Hayes sighed. “I guess that about sums up my part of this little gathering. Time to open it up to you folk.”
“What’s the plan, sir?” asked a flight officer.
“On hold,” said Hayes.
“Did that second communication give you any clues, sir?” asked a bridge officer in dress whites.
“You can stow the ‘sirs’ until this meeting’s over, Lieutenant. I don’t know if the second message has been officially validated. It might be meaningless, or a hoax. It said something about a radio broadcast detonating the bomb. Which, I guess, is validation enough for me. I don’t see how whoever sent the second message could know the first bomb went off or that a transmission did it if they weren’t the boys responsible. But the Pentagon isn’t taking it at face value, for some reason. My guess is they’re sitting tight for instructions about the money.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know where we go from here, frankly. I think what I’ll do is reconvene this meeting in a few hours, so we all have time to think things over. Meanwhile, I can only add that we suspect that one of the men involved, possibly identified by Gibbs here, may be presently located in the mountains of Chile. That’s a lot of turf to cover. The Pentagon thinks our best play is to send our biggest gun to the area and wait for a target. That means we may need all of you to jump when we say ‘frog’. And that’s why we’ve had you all on Defcon Four readiness for the past twenty-four hours.
“Dismissed.”
The general and his aide left the room.
Henry looked at Sarah. “What do you think?”
“That I’d rather be on this ship than in Washington when the other bomb goes,” she said.
Suddenly Henry was reminded of his home outside Boston. He and Tess had been so lucky to have found the waterfront cottage. It had been practical y given to them by a spinster who’d found Henry fascinating and Tess even more so. It had been a perfect winter retreat, whichever pole Henry’s work took him to during the rest of the year. Here he could unwind to the sound of seabirds and waves. He could col ect himself and finish the paperwork he’d let slide all year. He even had a darkroom and computers installed to process and analyse his footage of the aurora. His specialty was documenting the upper-level atmospheric dynamics. The cottage represented the place where his heart rested — the core of his life with Tess and the kids.