Part 17 (2/2)
”I need to confer with Ryan alone,” explained Carl apologetically to Alyssa and Kelsey.
The man he had called, Lieutenant Chris Malcolm, arrived two minutes later and entered the office.
”Chris,” said Carl, ”can you escort these two young women upstairs to the decoy building and stay with them.”
Alyssa and Kelsey stood up and said goodbye. Ryan caught Alyssa's eye. ”I'll be up as soon as I can,” he said rea.s.suringly. This seemed to lift her spirits immediately. Seconds later they and the lieutenant were gone.
”You've fallen for Alyssa Cooper pretty hard in the past few hours, haven't you,” said Carl.
Ryan winced. ”I didn't realize it was that obvious,” he said. Then, with a sigh he added, ”Actually, I've liked her for a few months. She's pretty and smart, but there's a lot more to her than just that. I mean, she's really incredible.”
”And she likes you back,” said Carl. ”That's obvious to me too.” He frowned deeply. ”Which is only going to make this harder than it already is.”
Ryan was instantly on alert. ”What's going on, Carl?” he said guardedly.
”Thanks to you, we knew to look for Nathaniel.” Carl walked over and sat at the table across from Ryan. ”And I put several plans of action into place in case we found him.”
Carl seemed reluctant to continue.
”And?” prompted Ryan impatiently.
”Well, I just got the call. We found him. We fed the coordinates of his face into the computer grid and a traffic camera found a match. We tracked him from there with satellites. He ditched the original SUV and now he's in another one. Different make, model and color. He's in the pa.s.senger's seat. The driver is a well known mercenary. We couldn't identify anyone else in the car.”
”Okay,” said Ryan cautiously. ”That sounds like fantastic news. So what am I missing?”
”I just put one of our contingency plans in motion. I've decided I can't afford to wait until he's totally isolated to take him out.”
Ryan thought about this. ”So you're saying some innocent people might be caught in the way?”
”He's driving through fairly rural country,” said Carl, ”and we'll do everything we possibly can to avoid this. But there are no guarantees.” He locked his eyes onto Ryan's. ”Here's the problem. If Mich.e.l.le Cooper is still a hostage, she could well be in that car.” He pursed his lips and shook his head grimly. ”If she is ...”
Carl stopped, not really needing to finish the thought.
”So that's why you asked the girls to leave,” said Ryan in outrage. ”Because you're planning a strike that will probably kill their mom.”
Carl frowned deeply. ”Ryan, this is the toughest call I've ever had to make,” he said, and his eyes revealed such a depth of pain that Ryan had no doubt that it was true. ”But Nathaniel will be traveling through an unpopulated area in about ten minutes and this is the best time to strike.” He sighed. ”We just have to hope that Mich.e.l.le isn't with him.”
”You can't do this, Carl.”
”Believe me, I wish there were some other way. This decision will haunt me the rest of my life,” he added, and anguish and guilt were written all over his face-but only for a moment. All evidence of his internal ethical struggles soon vanished as his leaders.h.i.+p instincts took over. He didn't have the luxury of coming across as anything but strong and decisive during a crisis. ”But I don't have a choice,” he continued firmly. ”This guy is a psychopath. He now has the most dangerous weapon the world has ever seen, and has already used it. He boasted about ruling the world. If we wait to attack, and he somehow slips the noose, we might never get another chance. He could kill hundreds before this is through. Millions.”
”He hasn't yet,” argued Ryan. ”And he could have. Easily.”
”He shot Dr. Harris and left him for dead. He stranded all of you on Isis. You're the only one of us who heard his letter, so you tell me. Did he write that he just wanted to borrow the Enigma Cube and no one would get hurt? Or did he sound like a power mad psychopath who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals?”
Ryan said nothing, but his defeated expression was answer enough.
”We can't risk him getting away. Yes, there is a great risk Alyssa and Kelsey will lose their mother. It makes me sick to even think about. And I'm going to have to go upstairs afterwards and look them in the eye. But if we don't stop him now, he could orphan more kids than we could ever count.”
Ryan was horrified, but he knew Carl was right. What if you could kill an Adolph Hitler, but it would cost an innocent life? Should you do it? For Ryan at least, the answer had to be yes. Ryan also knew that Carl could have reminded him that Mich.e.l.le Cooper had very little hope of survival even if he didn't strike. But he hadn't. Probably because it would have sounded like he was trying to rationalize his decision; like he was trying to take the easy way out, which wasn't Carl's style. He took full responsibility for his actions.
”Does President Quinn know about this?” asked Ryan.
”Yes. He has authorized me to do whatever I believe is necessary to stop this threat.”
”If she is in that SUV, is there any chance she'll survive an attack on Nathaniel?”
Carl frowned and shook his head. ”None. This guy controls gravity. In a twenty mile radius according to what you told me. We've already seen the power of this weapon. With it, as you said earlier, there is no doubt he could destroy jets at the touch of a b.u.t.ton. He could ground tanks and entire armies. So we have no choice but to go for broke.”
”What does that mean, go for broke?”
”It means high explosive missiles. The most potent we have that aren't nuclear. We've scrambled a jet that will fly straight above him, but at a high enough alt.i.tude that he won't see or hear it. We're lucky, because he can't possibly have any idea we're on to him already. When I give the word we'll launch three missiles straight down. It's possible he won't be able to react before they hit, but if he does see them in time and increases their gravity, they'll just fall faster. Or implode. We're modifying them so that an implosion will also prove fatal to anyone beneath them.”
”What if he reduces the gravity on the missiles to zero?”
”It won't help him. Even at zero gravity they're being steered downward by rockets.” Carl shook his head miserably. ”If we thought anything short of this type of attack would work, we would try it.”
They sat in silence for several minutes, dreading a call that could come at any moment. A call informing Carl that the missiles had been prepared and the jet was in place.
”There may be another way,” said Ryan suddenly, breaking the long silence. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a red crystal. ”I just had an idea. I think this crystal might make you immune to the effects of the Enigma Cube. Counteract it.”
Carl knew better than to take Ryan's ideas lightly. ”I'm listening,” he said.
”We know that gravity is a change in the shape of s.p.a.ce-time.”
Carl stared at him blankly. ”I sure didn't,” he admitted. ”But I'll take your word for it.” He paused. ”What exactly is s.p.a.ce-time, anyway?”
”I'm not positive. I guess s.p.a.ce and time rolled into one. The important thing is that gravity indents s.p.a.ce.” Ryan paused. ”In higher dimensions, though, it might not have the same effect, and I think this crystal has something to do with higher dimensions.”
”You've totally lost me, Ryan.”
”It's complicated, and I don't understand much of it either. But I think there's a chance the crystal could make you immune to the gravity effect.”
Carl considered. ”Can I a.s.sume you've been carrying the crystal since you returned from Isis?”
Ryan nodded.
”Did you inspect anyone who was. .h.i.t with the Enigma Cube?”
”Yes. Several of them.”
<script>