Breakthrough (26 page)

36

Alison suddenly awoke to someone pounding on her front door.  Trying to get her bearings, she sat up and grabbed her robe off the back of the door.  She shuffled quickly down the dark hallway and flipped on the kitchen light before reaching the door and looking through the peep hole.  In one motion she unlocked the deadbolt and stepped back, swinging the door open.  Chris Ramirez was on the other side covered in sweat and out of breath.

“Chris what are you-”

“It’s gone!” he broke in.  “It’s all gone Alison!”

She looked confused.  “What are you talking about?”

“Everything!  Everything is gone!  The servers, IMIS, and the
dolphins
Alison!  Dirk and Sally are gone too!”

Alison was in shock.  Her mouth opened, but nothing came out.  She tried to form words, but could only shake her head in disbelief.

The lab was empty.  Cleared out.  Alison could not believe it.  Wiring and parts of the computers were strewn all over the floor.  One of the desks was overturned and dozens of books scattered around it.  The racks of servers and all of their data, the heart of IMIS, were gone.  The entire wall where they had stood looked eerily blank.  And the worst part was the tank; filled with nothing but water.  Dirk and Sally were gone.

Alison felt nauseous and grabbed the corner of a table for support.  She felt like she was going to be sick.  Across the room, Lee Kenwood picked through what was left on the floor, kicking over books or pieces of metal left from the server racks. 
Chris stood next to Alison silently.

Alison simply could not speak.  She could not find any words.  Her chest felt tight as if on the verge of a heart attack.  Her face was flush, and she was doing all she could to keep from bursting into tears.

Behind her Frank Dubois burst into the room.  “What in the hell-”  He said shaking his head.  “What…what happened?” he asked to no one in particular.

Alison’s nausea suddenly turned to anger.  It welled up inside her uncontrollably.  She turned and almost screamed at him.

“Are you happy Frank?!  Are you happy now?!  Everything we worked for,
everything
is gone!” 
She looked at him with disdain.  “You just had to do it didn’t you?!  You just took their money!  You just sold out to anyone who would give it to you!  You make me sick!”

Dubois was stunned.  He looked around confused.  “What are you talking about?  What…what happened?  Who did this?”

“Who did this?” she screamed.  “Who the hell do you think?!  The government!  I told you they wanted this from the beginning.  Did you think they were just going to let us tinker the whole time?!”

“Government?” he said shaking his head.  “The government as in who?”

“The Navy!” she replied disgustingly.  “They knew what we were doing from the very beginning!”

“The Navy?”  Dubois said. 

“Yes the Navy!” she said.  “And I’ll tell you exactly who…John Clay!”  She could not believe she ever liked that bastard.  She felt so angry and hurt at the same time.  “He’s such a liar!” she growled.  Everybody stood looking at her.

“Well then, I say we hang him!” someone said behind her.

She whirled around to see Clay standing behind them along with Caesare and Palin.  They all looked exhausted, and Clay looked like he had been in a bar room brawl and lost.

Alison’s eyes opened wide with rage.  She ran at him and slapped at his face.  “You did this!”

Clay caught her hand a few inches from his cheek.  “Easy Alison.”

“Don’t call me Alison!” she barked.  “You-”

“I didn’t do this.” he said calmly.

Alison was taken back.  She just stared at him, frozen.  She suddenly was not sure what to say.  She shook her head disbelievingly.

Clay looked at her calmly.  “If I had done this, why would I be here now?”  He turned and looked at Caesare and Palin.  “Why would we be here?”

Alison stumbled for words.  Why indeed.  “If it wasn’t you, then who was it?”

He gave a slight shake of his head.  “I’m not sure.”

Everyone stood looking each other over.  Finally Caesare dropped a giant duffle bag on the floor.  “Well, that was a hell of a greeting.”

Alison put her hands on her hips.  “Well if you didn’t do this, why
are
you here?”

“I need something.  Something I
accidentally left when I was here last.”  Clay said.  “It’s that small silver object about the size of a deck of cards.”  He made an approximation with his hands.

“What’s it for?” she asked.

“It’s a long story, but it’s important.”

She folded her arms.  “I’ll give it to you when you tell me what the hell is going on.”

Clay sighed and looked at Caesare and Palin.  They both shrugged.  “It’s complicated.” He began.  “When I was here last…Dirk talked about a city under the water.”

“I remember.” She said.

“Well this is Palin,” he said, motioning backward.  “He’s from that city.  Our government wants to destroy it, and their power plant, which could have some really nasty side effects.”

“Why?”

Clay exhaled. “Basically, because they’re idiots.”

Alison’s eyes narrowed.  “Okay, I’m inclined to agree with that.”

Will Borger reached for his cup and took another sip of coffee.  He watched his monitor carefully and noticed a call originate from Stevas’ cell phone.  He leaned in closer and started typing on his keyboard to reveal the number it was placed to.  He traced the second number through the system.  It belonged to the cell phone of Bruce Bishop, the Navy Chairman.  Borger continued watching as another call was then placed from Bishop’s phone.  With a bit more work, Borger found that Bishop’s call was to a Naval Operations Center.

Borger brought up another window and watched the screen of data scroll by.  He stopped it midway through, zeroing in on multiple outbound messages beginning with the word “Alert”.  It was an encrypted message which meant that Borger could not read it.  He stared at it for a long time, then had an idea.  The message was encrypted but perhaps the log file that generated and sent it was not.  It took him about fifteen minutes to locate the correct server and then log in and find the log file itself.  Matching the time of the Alert messages and the log file entries, he found the generating code.  It was not encrypted.  Borger quickly reassembled the bits and the message reappeared.

Oh no
.  He thought to himself.   The message was a command to the subs.  He suddenly thought about the ring and realized what had been eluding him all this time.  “The Alabama!”  He quickly turned to a second monitor and brought up another window.  He found the data logs that Clay had given him from the Alabama and frantically searched through pages of diagnostic information.  Finding the first piece he needed, he printed it out and kept searching.  A few moments later, he found the second and printed again.  He grabbed both pieces of paper and placed them next to each other.  He started scribbling calculations in the margins. After a few minutes, he had it.  He grabbed the cell phone and dialed as fast as he could.

Clay was in the middle of a sentence when the cell phone rang in his pocket.  He held up a hand apologetically and flipped it open.  “Go ahead, Will.”

“Clay!” Borger nearly shouted.  “We’ve got a problem!  Actually a couple of ‘em.”

“What is it?” he said, calmly looking at Alison and her team.

“The subs have just been ordered to fire on the ring!  But that’s not the worst part.”  Borger said in a rush.  “I think this is going to end badly, for us.  Remember the Alabama?”

“Of course I do.”

“Well their mission was cancelled, because they had a computer malfunction when identifying their location.  Clay, there
was no
malfunction!”  Borger exclaimed.

Clay’s eyebrows rose.  “What do you mean, no malfunction?”

“Remember that the Alabama’s systems suddenly put it fifteen miles off course, which was thought to be a computer glitch.  But the computers were right!  They were always right.  The Alabama got too close to the ring Clay.  It got too close to the ring and was instantly transported to the other side.  Granted their angle was a little off but that’s why the computers said they were suddenly somewhere else. 
Because they were
.”

Clay rolled his eyes.  Of course!  Now it all made sense, the sudden GPS change, the clocks that were still in sync, even the sound that the sonar operator heard just before it happened.  But then he looked puzzled.  “So why is that a problem?” he asked.

“Clay those subs are about to fire a bunch of armed torpedoes at the ring.  I think the same thing is going to happen.  What if those torpedoes come out the other side?”

“Jesus.”  Clay said.  “Is there time to warn them?”

Borger’s voice became grim.  “I don’t think so.”

Clay gave Caesare and Palin a look that matched Borger’s tone. 

“Clay, there’s something else.”  Borger said softly.

“Of course there is.”  He replied sarcastically.

“When this fails I’m sure they are going to try sending in the nuke, using the dolphins.  But there is something we haven’t considered.”  Borger looked down at his calculations.  “Remember we asked Ms. Lokke about a nuclear blast under water and its shock waves reaching the South Pole?  Well what we didn’t ask her, is what happens when billions of tons of water get vaporized in that blast.”

Clay thought about it.  “It’s going to create a vacuum.”

“Of course.  That water is going to disappear instantly and create a giant surge which rushes in to fill it, a surge that will include water flowing away from the ice shelf at a rapid pace.”

Clay closed his eyes and shook his head.  “Will, I’m really beginning to hate talking to you on the phone.”

“Clay,” Borger said, “we
have
to stop that nuke.”

Clay looked at Alison and her team.  “I’m working on that.”

Caesare looked at Clay as he hung up.  “What now?”

“The Tridents are engaging,” he said.  “And that nuke is going to cause a whole hell of a lot of
damage.”

Lee Kenwood spoke up.  “Is this about the city?”

Clay nodded.  “And about your dolphins.”  He turned back to Alison.  “Alison your dolphins were taken because they know where the city is, they’ve been there.  They were taken because our government is going to use them to nuke Palin and his people, by strapping an atomic warhead to their backs and sending them in.  And they’re going to do it soon.”

Alison gasped.  “No!”

“Those sons of bitches!” growled Chris.

“Where is this city?” she asked.

“Not far.  Off the coast of Bimini.”

Alison nodded silently and then walked over to one of the tables.  She bent down and picked up her backpack.  Reaching inside, she retrieved Palin’s cube.  “I assume this is yours,” she said, handing it directly to Palin.  She was certainly not going to admit to anyone that she kept it as a reason to call Clay.

Palin smiled and took it gently from her hand.  At the same time, Caesare dropped down and unzipped his bag.  He pulled out more rifles and magazines of ammo and started handing some to Clay.

Clay looked at Alison.  “We need to get your team somewhere safe.  After that
, we need to borrow your boat.”

They looked at each other suddenly concerned.  “Why?” Alison asked.

“Because now that you’ve talked to us, you are no longer safe.”  Clay shrugged.  “We also kinda busted out of jail.”

“You did?!” she said with surprise.

They all looked at Caesare.

Caesare looked aggravated.  “Why the hell does everyone always think I’m the one that’s been in jail?!”

Clay checked the magazine in his gun and slapped it back in.  “Anyone here have a safe place to hide?  A vacation home, friend’s cabin, anything like that?”

Alison frowned.  “Apparently you’re not familiar with how grant funding works.”

“You’ve got me there.” he said.  “Are there any other ways out of here other than the service hallway and the main entrance?”

“Yes,” answered Dubois.  “There is a maintenance corridor back there.”  He pointed to a dark corner near the end of the tank.  “It’s not used often, but it will get us outside.”

“Good,” said Clay.  “What I want you to do-” he suddenly stopped.  Alison started to say something but he cut her off with a raised hand.  He listened carefully.

Caesare was also listening.  They both looked up and then back to the dark hallway.  “We’ve got company.”

Just then a bullet zipped past Clay and hit Dubois in the chest, ripping a hole through him.  He was dead by the time he hit the ground.

“Get down!” shouted Clay.  He instantly jumped on top of Alison and reached out to pull
Chris down with them.