Part 50 (1/2)
A ring of coldness on the back of his neck. Gun barrel.
”Lower your hands. Keep them behind you.”
He did, and plastic bindings locked home.
”Now stand”
And that was when the change occurred.
”They're trying to force a cut-in,” came from his earbead. ”All-channel webcast.”
”Stop them.”
”I'm sorry, mate. Not this time.”
The screens blossomed with new pictures.
Plumes of smoke.
A ruined cityscape.
And a voiceover relating destruction.
”of the San Andreas Fault at dawn this morning, eruptions taking place across California, spreading north. Los Angeles is destroyed, repeat, LA is gone. In Was.h.i.+ngton State, Angeles is destroyed, repeat, LA is gone. In Was.h.i.+ngton State, Mount Rainier's eruption is orders of magnitude greater than Mount Rainier's eruption is orders of magnitude greater than predicted by” predicted by”
Great clouds were covering California: a whole string of locations along the Western Seaboard. Grainy footage that might have come from someone's phone showed the moment of Mt Rainier's eruption in a single ma.s.sive fireball.
A blaze of energy that curled down as it grew.
No. They... couldn't have.
Rose and curled to create an iconic image that had not been seen for so long.
A mushroom cloud.”from President Brand, who is quoted as saying 'The Sodom and Gomorrah that infested our sacred land are now Sodom and Gomorrah that infested our sacred land are now burned from the Earth. For the moment, we have no more to burned from the Earth. For the moment, we have no more to say.' The whole world will be wondering the exact meaning say.' The whole world will be wondering the exact meaning of those” of those”
Pandemonium encircled the tables. Atop the fighting platforms, the compet.i.tors had put down their knives. Everyone stared at the screens.
Behind Josh, several men and women in suits were gathered, firearms trained on him. One held out ID to the PM's close-protection team.
”Special Branch,” she said. ”We've got this b.a.s.t.a.r.d.”
The CP men glanced up at the unreeling disaster on screen.
”Take him.”
”bigger than a hundred Hiros.h.i.+mas combined, or a hundred Tunguska meteorite strikes. While the immediate hundred Tunguska meteorite strikes. While the immediate death toll must be in the millions, no one knows if further” death toll must be in the millions, no one knows if further”
Rough hands tipped Josh off balance, dragging him away.
It's all gone wrong.
Not just his plan, but the world.
[ THIRTY-ONE ].
The ”Special Branch” team had a large, nondescript van parked in the loading bay. They bundled Josh inside, then climbed in themselves: Suzanne first, then Raj and Hannah, while Vikram went up front with Tony and Big Tel, who was driving. Raj undid his tie.
”I hate wearing suits,” he said.
”Really? I think you look handsome, all dressed up,” said Hannah.
”Well...”
The van swung into motion.
”Did you all see?” Vikram held up a phone, showing aerial views of cloud cover over California, ash falling from the sky. ”You saw the mushroom clouds?”
”Not even Brand is that f.u.c.king insane,” said Tony.
”Are you sure?”
”Well, no.”
Josh opened his mouth, found himself with nothing to say, and just sat there, letting the motion of the van take him where it would. Everything had changed, and whatever would happen, would happen, que sera, sera, que sera, sera, while he no longer had the energy to do anything but watch. while he no longer had the energy to do anything but watch.
His arms, he noticed from a distance, were trembling all by themselves.
”Oh, Josh.” Suzanne was holding him. ”Oh, my G.o.d.”
”You did good,” said Hannah. ”Amazing.”
Josh blinked.
I feel nothing. It's all over.
Both tiredness and energy were gone, leaving him in a state of nothingness, of neither-nor. His brain seemed to be floating.
How very strange.
”The only amazing thing,” he said, ”was that I didn't get cut.”