How long before they realized that no one else had power either? No one in the entire USA, or Canada? No more bank accounts, no more computers. The US would be blasted back into a lawless age of unpunished violence and bartering for survival. As all forms of communication broke down, the production and distribution of food and medicine would cease and water supplies would come only from rivers and wells.
Decker knew that there was no way such a world could sustain the current population. Organized society would break down in days… maybe hours. People in the emergency services — police officers, firefghters, paramedics — would scatter to be with their families.
With all the electronics fried inside the power stations, nuclear power sites would start to melt down and release radiation into the atmosphere — hundreds of them all over the northern hemisphere. Not even coal stations could work with their circuitry toasted. How long before people woke up to the fact that it was never coming back on… ever — at least not the way they understood it?
His family would have to go through this, along with the loved ones of Selena Moore, the mysterious Atticus she talked about, Charlie’s family in London and Diana’s in Portugal. Riley’s might be shielded in Australia for a while — until the transporter ships bringing oil stopped turning up. Then things would collapse there too… unless Madan put another Yama into orbit and decided to waste the southern hemisphere as well.
And who could stop him then?
No — this had to stop now, and it was more than his life to make it stop. He made an instant calculation to hit the self-destruct button. He knew they would shoot him, but it was the only way to abort this insane mission and bring Madan’s birds of death back to Earth.
With Madan entranced by the Svarga, and the two security officers also staring at the screen as the rocket screeched up into the sky at the head of a plume of smoke, Decker knew it was now or never. He also knew Madan and the others almost certainly didn’t know that thanks to several trips to NASA launch centers over the years he recognized what a self-destruct panel looked like. While most of the hardware in here looked Indian and former Soviet, the self-destruct panel looked American.
Now or never, Mitch.
He made a break for the self-destruct button.
The guards reacted immediately, fumbling with the safety covers on their leather holsters for a second as the unsuspected act of sabotage unfolded right before their eyes.
Madan spun around, eyes wide with horror and screamed at the guards to kill the American as he closed in on the panel.
Only a yard away now Decker reached out his arms and prepared to do the last thing he would ever do in this world. The set-up was simple enough — turn a key and hit the button, engaging the Svarga’s self-destruct protocol — but now he was aware in his periphery of the guards raising their guns into the aim and preparing to mow him down.
“No!” Madan screamed. “Don’t stop the Svarga!”
“Mitch!” Selena cried out.
“It’s done you son of a bitch!” Decker said.
He turned the key and heard the first gunshot, and then he hit the button as two more shots rang out. He waited for the pain and realized he was unharmed. He spun around to see Charlie Valentine slumping to the floor right behind him with gunshot wounds in his legs and torso. The English grifter had thrown himself in front of Decker and taken three bullets as he used his body as a human shield.
The guards hesitated and looked to Madan for their orders, but the Indian billionaire was staring desperately at the screen, waiting to see if the American really had destroyed his life’s work.
Decker and the others also stared up at the giant screen. For a few seconds nothing seemed to happen, and then everything changed. An enormous explosion ripped out the bottom of the Svarga and they shielded their eyes from the white-hot glare of the inferno. For half a second the Svarga seemed to hover in the air over the launch pad — neither going up nor down, and then the massive rocket began to descend directly back down its lift-off trajectory.
“What have you done?” Madan said.
“Stopped you sending billions of people back to the Stone Age!” Selena said.
The Svarga crashed down into the launch pad and exploded in a ferocious fireball as the remaining propellant ignited all at once. The explosion sprayed jets of liquid fuel out into the hot Indian night and lit up the landscape for miles in every direction.
Chaos erupted in the control room, with men and women shrieking and running for their lives, and when Decker and Selena gathered their wits, they both realized Madan and Kaleka were long gone.
Johar ran to Charlie and began tending the wound, while Selena scanned the control room. “Where’s Madan?” she said.
Decker sprinted to a window that looked out over the airfield.
“He’s trying to escape on a trike,” said Decker. “And Kaleka is right behind him.”
“Really?” Selena said, confused. “One of those little things kids play on?”
Decker looked at her. “Are you trying to be funny?”
“Well, that’s what a trike is, isn’t it, Mr Decker?”
“A trike is a microlight aircraft,” Decker said. “But thanks for the image of Rakesh Madan trying to pedal a child’s three-wheeled bike out of here.”
“I thought that was an odd way to escape.”
“Get after them!” Johar yelled. “I’ll make sure Charlie is ok.”
“You heard him, Mr Decker!”
“And will you stop calling me Mr Decker. It makes me sound like I’m old enough to be your father.”
“But you are.”
“I most certainly am not! There can’t be more than three years between us.”
“Well, you look older.”
“I had a tough life.”
“You can say that again,” she said peering at the deep lines on his face.
“Can we get on with stopping Madan?”
“You’re the one talking about kids’ bikes,” she muttered under her breath as they sprinted out to the airfield. “I had no idea air-trikes even existed.”
“They’re used for recreation mostly, but also for tugging banners, mustering… you name it. They can even be used for towing hang gliders into the air.”
“But this one’s being used as an escape pod,” she said.
“Not for long,” Decker said with a scowl.
38
Diana regained consciousness to find someone was carrying her at speed. She opened her eyes and realized Riley Carr was rushing her away from the carnage of the market place. He had blood and soot on his face and he was breathing hard as he jogged.
She breathed a sigh of relief and tried to thank the Australian for saving her life but then she realized someone was still shooting at them. Bullets pinged off the concrete around his boots as he powered toward the cover of the temple. It was then that Diana heard Vedika Jha and her men returning fire from behind a low wall to provide cover for them as Riley raced for both their lives.
Her entire life had been spent between the covers of a thousand books and never taking risks. She had hidden from danger whenever it came her way, but now she felt oddly alive for the first time and she couldn’t understand it. It was a stupid thing to think, and she shook it from her mind as the Australian lowered her down and sat her in the cover of a wall at the front of the enormous temple.
“Are you okay?” he said.
She nodded. “I think so…”