The entire Solar System hurried to get ready for the planet-killer as the Lord High Admiral gave his orders. More space marines and Intelligence sweep-teams rocketed for orbital Cestus Haulers and those heading for various Laumer-Points.
Had Kane returned to Earth that way? Had New Men come this time?
A beep sounded from Maddox’s air-car. He lowered the binoculars and saw a red light on the dash. The light meant the space marines were going in.
Leaving the door open, Maddox sat in the driver’s seat. He tapped the screen, seeing through a recording camera on a space marine lieutenant’s helmet. The woman was charged with finding Octavian Nerva. According to the latest data, he was in the tower. No one had seen Strand.
Maddox watched the scene. The lieutenant made huge leaps as her team charged the glass tower. Combat-cars would be zooming like wasps for the higher floors. This was a smash-and-grab assault. Octavian was the richest, most powerful man on Earth. Nerva Tower was like a fortress.
Gunfire hammered the space marines. The team was inside the tower, in a lobby. One of the armored troopers went down, smashing a glass table.
“The Nerva personnel have exo-piercing bullets,” the lieutenant radioed.
Maddox checked his watch. Where was Riker? Couldn’t they bring the sergeant down any faster? Maddox wanted to be there when they grabbed Strand, if the man was there.
On the air-car’s screen, the lieutenant’s marines downed three Nerva Conglomerate guards. The company personnel wore body armor, but it wasn’t as good as the marines had.
Maddox stared at the screen. The lieutenant’s team moved in over-watch bounds through a large corridor. The Nerva combat team had pulled back.
A noise alerted Maddox. He looked up. A combat-car descended. Finally. He called up with his comm-unit to check if it brought Riker.
The combat-car pilot said, “I’m bringing your man down, sir.”
Maddox acknowledged that, stepping outside, watching the combat-car thud onto the grass twenty meters away. A portal opened. Sergeant Riker hurried down a ramp and jogged toward the air-car.
Seconds later, the combat vehicle lifted.
Riker breathed deeply of the air of Earth. Some of the tension he’d had aboard the starship had already eased from his features. He gave a sloppy salute. “It’s good to be home, sir. Thanks for asking for me.”
“It is good to be on Terra Firma once again,” Maddox agreed.
The combat vehicle above headed for Monte Carlo.
“Get in,” Maddox said. “We’re going to follow them.”
Riker headed for his side of the car, opening the door, climbing into the bubble dome.
Maddox slammed his door shut, tapped the ignition and listened to the engine purr. “Strapped in?” he asked.
Riker grunted acknowledgement.
The flash on the tiny screen alerted Maddox. He stared at it. The screen turned blinding white. That shocked him. A second later, blankness showed on the dash screen.
What had happened over there? Before he could worry about it too long, the entire horizon exploded into a giant ball of light. A vast mushroom cloud billowed into existence.
Maddox reacted without thinking. He engaged the engine, turned the air-car and accelerated away from the devastation. He wasn’t going to try to outrun the thermonuclear blast that must be killing nearly everyone in Monte Carlo. Instead, he raced down the hill for the bottom of the ravine, hoping to reach it before the blast wave and heat rolled against them.
“Hang on,” Maddox shouted. He dropped the air-car. They bounced in their seats as dry gravel rolled underneath them. The car slewed one way and another. Finally, as dust billowed, the car screeched to a stop. Maddox and Riker curled as tightly as possible.
Soon, thermonuclear-powered winds howled over the hill. Trees on the highest part of the slope bent low. Then, heat struck, igniting grass at the top of the hill and some leaves. Fortunately, the air-car was far enough away from ground zero and tucked down out of direct line-of-sight. The two Intelligence officers endured the worst in the car.
Finally, the winds died down and the heat passed, although the grass fire grew.
Maddox tried the ignition. The engine purred once more. He lifted the car and zoomed away. Devastation and raging fires radiated back to Monte Carlo. The captain didn’t bother with communications. He was sure they wouldn’t work.
“Who set the bomb?” Riker asked gruffly.
The answer blossomed in the captain’s thoughts. The enemy must have known they were coming. If the enemy had attacked the shuttle on its way down, had unleashed a gunman against the android Ludendorff, they would have known about the snatch-teams sent to grab Octavian and Strand.
“What do you think the bomb means, sir?” Riker asked.
“That’s the question,” Maddox agreed. He flew for Geneva, thinking hard.
Riker stared silently out the window.
“I wonder if the bomb is meant to paralyze Star Watch from reacting properly,” Maddox said.
Riker nodded.
“We don’t know enough at this point, but I’m thinking we can guess. What is the enemy’s greatest power against us?”
Riker looked thoughtful.
“Knowledge,” Maddox said. “Our enemy knows more than we do. The New Men also have access to greater technology. Did Ludendorff have a long-distance communicator or not?”
“We never found one, sir.”
“No, we didn’t. Ludendorff must have broken it down into its component parts and hidden them.” Maddox raised an eyebrow. “The New Men appear to have the power of faster communication. Either they have a long-distance receiver on Earth, or they used the silver pyramid to send someone back here before we arrived.”
“Who did they send?” Riker asked.
“I doubt that matters as much as whether they did send someone. That person knows the doomsday machine is coming. Yes, of course. The enemy has been burning up his espionage assets at a prodigious rate. If the Earth is going to end, none of that matters. So, the fact our enemy is using up his espionage assets—maybe ones gathered over thirty years—means he’s after something.”
“That makes sense, sir.”
Maddox tapped his thumbs against the controls. What would the enemy want? Why had the enemy gone to such lengths to stop him personally? The secret foe had used every trick to dump false data, and to gain access to impossible places, to—
Maddox tried the comm, getting harsh static. Had the thermonuclear blast fused the radio or just played havoc with the radio waves? He tried the comm again. The static sputtered, and then the comm quite altogether.
“Right,” Maddox said. “Hang on, Sergeant.” With a quick manipulation, the captain aimed the air-car upward.
“Where are we going, sir?”
“Upstairs, Sergeant, back to Victory.”
“Why there, sir?” Riker asked.
“I know what the enemy is trying to do.”
“Do you care to let me in on that, sir?”
“Yes,” Maddox said. “Here’s their plan…”
-35-
Meta pushed a portable-floater to the main hatch of Victory’s hangar bay. At the closed entrance, she grounded the floater as worry seethed through her.
Taking out her comm-unit, Meta called the bridge. “What’s happening now?” she asked.
“Nothing new other than confirming the worst,” Valerie said in a quiet voice. “A nuclear device definitely went off in Monte Carlo. I haven’t had word about Maddox or Riker yet.”
Meta bit her lower lip. Riker had left Victory on Maddox’s orders. The sergeant was going to Nerva Tower, which was in Monte Carlo. Could the nuclear explosion be a coincidence? She didn’t believe that for a minute. Maddox’s life was in terrible danger. In fact, he could be dead.
Squeezing her eyes closed, Meta shook her head. She couldn’t accept Maddox’s death. It wouldn’t happen like that.