The Rock (16 page)

"My wife's been in a coma for the past four years. She's essentially brain dead."

"I'm sorry," Fran said quickly. "I didn't mean to ... well, I just wondered if ..." She trailed off into silence, surprised to see what she could have sworn was a tear merge with the lines of sweat on Hawkins's face as he turned back toward her.

"No. You have a right to ask anything. We're all in this together." He sighed. "We were in a car crash. Hit the back of a semi that was stopped on the road."

"You weren't hurt?"

"No. I had my seat belt on. Mary didn't." There was a pause. "The next question most people ask is, who was driving?"

"You can't blame yourself, can you? It was an accident, right?"

Hawkins closed his eyes briefly. "Yes, it was an accident." He opened his eyes and looked directly into hers. "But do you think that makes any difference in how I feel?"

"You said she didn't need you," Fran remembered. "Is that true?"

"I don't know."

"Do you see her?"

"I visit every evening when I'm not deployed. She's in a government hospital. They keep her body alive." Hawkins eyes lost their focus. "Sometimes I wonder if there isn't some part of her still alive in there--something of who she was. The doctors say the damage was too extensive, but if you're alive, then who's to say? Who's to say she isn't trapped in there by a body that won't respond and by a brain that's been damaged and not killed?"

A long silence ensued, broken only by the whine of generators and the distant thump of the guardian helicopters. Finally, Fran spoke. "You looked surprised when I said that I had had a breakdown."

Hawkins blinked, his mind returning to the present. "I was."

"Why?"

"You seem like someone who, pardon the expression, has her shit together."

"So do you," she noted. "I would have never imagined that I would see you get emotional like you just did."

Hawkins had no response to that. "I lost it--completely lost it," Fran said quietly. "I calculated so many different ways the world could get screwed up. No one was very interested in projecting ways we could get our act together. That would have required action and upsetting the status quo. It just overwhelmed me-something I couldn't control, but was there present in front of me every day."

"Yeah," Hawkins said. "I understand the feeling."

"But my problem," Fran continued, "was that I started taking responsibility for it all. As if I alone should somehow change things. Yet I also knew I couldn't. I drank so I didn't have to think, and when that didn't work, I flipped out. Just withdrew from the entire world. Locked myself in my room for three days before my husband broke down the door and had me committed. The one thing those people at the institute taught me, and the only thing that helps me get out of bed every morning, is that I am responsible for me and for doing all I can do, and that's it. That's all that can be expected of us as human beings. To do our best."

"If only more people thought that way, we might have a better world," Hawkins noted.

"If you thought that way, perhaps your life would be a bit happier," Fran said.

Hawkins stared at her for a long moment, and then the trace of a smile crossed his lips. "All right, Doctor Volkers. I'll keep that under advisement. Now, I’d advise you to get some sleep. You're going to need it."

Fran turned for her tent. "You get some sleep yourself," she called over her shoulder.

Hawkins waved at her and then turned back to stare out over the red sand. When Fran looked out the flap of her tent ten minutes later before lying down on her cot, he was still there, a lonely figure etched against the brilliant blue sky.

22 DECEMBER 1995, 1145 LOCAL

22 DECEMBER 1995, 0215 ZULU

"What kind of fallout are we going to get over those three men from Orion?" the President demanded.

"Should be minimal," Lamb replied. "They were completely sterile, so nothing can be gleaned from their equipment. The Russians will suspect we were behind it but they won't really have anything to show. I don't think we need to worry about them trying to expose the mission. I think our main problem now will be that they'll try to infiltrate our site here. We've upped the stakes and they could answer quite readily."

"You have no idea what it was that those men saw before they were compromised?"

"No, sir."

"No idea if the Russians know what they have uncovered or even if the Russians are behind it?"

"No, sir."

The President shook his head. "I need some answers, Steve. You've got a mess there and I've got one here." The President frowned as he looked down at some papers spread on the desk in front of him. "Things are not looking good. Volkers's projections are running true to form. Congress is battling me to a standstill on my aid plan to those countries hardest hit economically because of the loss of the mine."

Lamb could understand Congress's reluctance. Why spend desperately needed dollars overseas? He also knew that the few Congressional leaders briefed on Volkers's statistical projections had not been impressed. Long-range planning was not a strength of the American political system.

"What about the other bomb?" the President asked.

"I haven't heard anything. Still searching, sir."

"How long until you're into whatever you have there?"

"Six or seven hours."

"All right. Let me know what you come up with." Lamb watched the television screen go blank and then called for Colonel Tolliver. Perimeter security needed to be tightened. He hadn't told the President about the last two broadcasts from the Rock. Lamb figured that this was his own problem right now-not something he should burden the President with.

Done with Tolliver, Lamb had one of the marines track Hawkins down. "What more did you pick up on Levy?" Hawkins asked, slumping into a chair.

Lamb snapped open one of the ever-present file folders. "I have a copy of the transcript of her last meeting with her psychologist a week ago in New York." Hawkins didn't bother asking how Lamb had gotten hold of that privileged information--in fact, it didn't occur to him to ask. He took it for granted that Lamb would get such information.

"What are the highlights."

Lamb studied the fax paper for a few seconds. "Her doctor is Michael Preston. Ten sixty-five Fifth Avenue. Does quite a bit of work with people like Levy--they call them intellectually accelerated personalities. She's been seeing him for eight months, ever since she was released from the hospital. All previous work focused on her trying to adapt socially to a world she did not emotionally feel a part of. This last session, however, took a different turn, with Levy terminating the relationship."

"Was she on any sort of drugs? Antidepressants or any of that?" Hawkins asked.

"No. Just therapy."

"Why'd she terminate?"

"It would be easiest if I read you the transcript," Lamb said. "It's not very long."

Hawkins leaned back and closed his eyes. "Go ahead."

"She started the session: quote, Levy: 'I'm afraid this simply isn't going to work'

"Doctor: 'What isn't going to work?'

"Levy: 'My seeing you. I don't think you can help me.'

"Doctor: 'Why not?'

"Levy: 'Because you can't understand me. It's not your fault. No one has ever really understood me. And you can't even understand that, can you?'

"Doctor: 'You can help me understand, Debra.'

"Levy: 'No, I can't. I've tried that before and it didn't work. My head is my enemy. And I can't get rid of it without getting rid of me.'

"Doctor: 'Is that why you tried to kill yourself!'

"Levy: 'I tried to kill myself because I'm dangerous and I will become more dangerous as I learn more.'

"Doctor: 'Learn more about what?'

"Levy: 'You wouldn't understand. My work.'

"Doctor: 'Dangerous to whom? Yourself!'

"Levy: 'No. To the world.'

"Doctor: 'Oh, come now. Why do you say that? How can you be dangerous to the world.'

"Levy: 'Wouldn't you say the men who worked on the Manhattan Project were some of the most dangerous men the world has ever seen?'

"Doctor: 'But they also gave us nuclear power.'

"Levy: 'And that's not very safe either. No, Doctor, I don't think you can help me. If you can't think like me, then how can you hope to help? Don't worry. I'll be all right.' "

Lamb closed the folder. "And that was the end. She walked out of his office and never went back."

"What was she working on?" Hawkins asked. "She consulted for a few of the teams working on some SDI projects, but nothing particularly earth shattering," Lamb replied. "She was mainly working theoretical stuff at MIT."

Hawkins rubbed his chin. Not earth shattering now, but Levy was only twenty-three. In another decade who was to say what she would be working on and whether her theories might turn into reality? Hell, Lamb had told him that they had her on the list to be added to Hermes during the next selection-at only twenty-three!

Hawkins looked across the desk. "I'm starting to think we've got this thing by the tail and it's going to turn around and bite our head off." He thought of the deaths of the members of his team in Tunguska. He had grown used to death a long time before-at least he thought he had. But there was a feeling in his stomach and chest that didn't agree with that cold logic. He remembered Fran's recent advice and stood. "I'm going to try and get some sleep."

THE RUSSIAN II Vicinity Rokltno, 

200 Kilometers Northwest of Kiev, Ukraine

22 DECEMBER 1995, 0700 LOCAL

22 DECEMBER 1995, 0400 ZULU

The truck's engine whined in protest as the Russian negotiated the steep logging trail. The wheels spun in the virgin snow, spewing it out to the rear in long plumes. Easing off the gas, the Russian downshifted and continued on, the multi-wheel drive finally finding purchase.

The Russian's limbs felt the weariness of the past thirty-two hours of driving, but his mind fueled his muscles with the elixir of revenge. Once he made it over the mountains, he'd rest for a few hours--only enough to gather strength for the last leg of the journey.

Reaching a relatively flat area before the next upgrade, the man rolled to a stop and put the parking brake on. He pulled out a map case and checked his location. The winter weather was slowing him down and he'd already had to revise his estimate of time on target, adding perhaps half a day. He had enough fuel loaded in the rear to get to the target and beyond not that there would be any beyond.

Putting the maps away, he picked up an AK-74 and checked to make sure a round was in the chamber and it was functioning properly. He did not believe he would run into anyone this soon, but as he got closer there might be guards out. He had no doubts about his ability to deal with that. In thirty-two years of military service he had done more than his share of killing. It didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered except the final revenge. The world was not a place worth living in. Concepts such as duty and loyalty were carrots and sticks to be used by less scrupulous men to control men of honor. But no more.

He put the weapon down and released the parking brake.

THE CHAMBER 

Ayers Rock, Australia

22 DECEMBER 1995, 1830 LOCAL

22 DECEMBER 1995, 0900 ZULU

Hawkins rolled to his right. Off the cot, into a kneeling position on the floor. The muzzle of the pistol he'd retrieved from under the pillow was centered on the figure standing in the darkened tent. The intruder froze, eyes fixed on the large black hole pointing between his eyes.

"Sir, Mr. Lamb sent me to inform you that we've broken through in the Rock."

Hawkins forced himself to relax, sliding his finger off the trigger. The marine hurriedly left, glad to be out of sight. Throwing a shirt over his sweat-soaked chest, Hawkins made his way to the shaft building, trying to clear his mind of a jumble of sleep-induced dark thoughts. He vaguely remembered cloudy visions of Richman, screaming for help, and running toward his executive officer, firing a weapon from his hip, but never able to get any closer and the cries growing weaker and fading, then reemerging from another direction in a never-ending cycle.

Hawkins squinted at the horizon as he walked on the sandstone top of the Rock. The sun was sinking in the western sky, giving slight relief from the blistering heat of daytime. The view from the top of the Rock was magnificent-the Olgas on the far eastern horizon and the Gibson Desert stretching out in all other directions-but Hawkins's eyes didn't see the beauty.

He met Fran, Debra, and Pencak as they went into the metal building. No words were exchanged as they entered the steam bath inside. Batson was already up on the platform, along with Lamb. The silence was unsettling--even though they'd been at the Rock less than twenty-four hours, they'd all grown used to the sound of the drills and explosions. Now only the rhythmic mutter of the generators filled the air. The President's aide turned as they clambered up the stairs.

"We're running a fiber-optic cable down there." He pointed at a small TV screen perched on the platform. "We should get our first view shortly."

"Another thirty feet," Tomkins advised as the twin cable ran over his gloved hand and disappeared into the hole. "One's the fiber-optic line, the other is the light." He gestured down with his free hand. "We punched through into something open. The drill suddenly dropped a good five feet. I ran it down from there and we hit something solid ten more feet down. It's at the depth the EMR sounding told us there was an open area."

The winch stopped and Tomkins let go of the cables. He moved over to a control panel and glanced at Lamb. "Ready, sir?"

"Go ahead."

Tomkins threw a switch. The TV screen went from dark to a hazy black-and-white picture. Tomkins fiddled with the controls and a smoothly cut rock wall came into focus, approximately ten feet from the cable end.

"That's not natural," Batson murmured.

"I'm rotating," Tomkins announced.

The view shifted, the rock wall coming slightly closer and then moving out again, suggesting an elliptical shape. It grew farther away and then suddenly ended.

"The black Wall," Fran whispered to Hawkins. He peered at the screen as the scene continued to shift. The black Wall extended directly across the chamber, looking as if cut in half, although there was no guessing what was on the other side--or if there was another side. Hawkins could tell why Richman had been vague in his description. Even in the two-dimensional screen of the black-and-white TV it was obvious there was something very strange about the texture of the Wall.

"It's empty except for the Wall," Tomkins noted.

"Let's go," Batson said.

Lamb looked at Hawkins, who nodded. "How do I get down?"

Tomkins pointed at a small, waist-high cage that was suspended by cable on a winch. Hawkins stepped into the cage. Lamb handed him a small radio that was hooked into the cable and Hawkins put the headset on, then grabbed the cable for support.

Tomkins maneuvered the levers on his control panel and the cage swung out over the narrow hole. Hawkins glanced down once, then looked at Tomkins and gave him the thumbs-up. With a slight start the cage slowly settled into the hole. Hawkins watched the lip rise up and then he was completely surrounded by rock pressing in on all sides. He looked up and watched the opening grow smaller and smaller. Down below, the faint light from the fiber-optic cable made a small pinprick of brightness at the end of a long, dark tunnel.

The cage was surprisingly stable, so Hawkins released his grip on the cable and relaxed. It was a tight fit-if he'd wanted to, he could have touched either side of the tunnel by just moving his arms a couple of inches or so out of the cage. Because of that he knew they were going to be limited on the equipment they could bring down here. After what he estimated to be about a minute the light below appeared to be closer than the one above. The temperature dropped rapidly as he went down. The descent slowed and Hawkins watched the end come up. He slid into the chamber and the basket touched the floor with a slight jar.

"I'm down," he announced into the boom mike.

"Is it clear to send the others?" Lamb wanted to know.

Hawkins looked around. This part of the chamber looked as if someone had taken a football and sliced it first horizontally with the rock floor and then vertically with the black Wall. The rock walls were smoothly cut, almost polished. There was nothing to indicate how they'd been made--no blast marks, no sign of drilling. The small pile of rubble from where the drill had bit through was the only thing that marred the antiseptic atmosphere of the chamber. The air was clear and the coolness was a welcome relief from the heat above.

Hawkins peered at the black Wall. It seemed to shimmer in the glow of the optic-cable light. His skin felt tight, the hairs standing up, as if he were close to a powerful electrical field. This close, he could very much understand Richman's lack of clarity about the Wall. It certainly did not look like anything Hawkins had ever seen.

"Looks all right. I'm clearing the cage."

Hawkins took off the headset and put it on the floor of the cage and watched as it rose from the floor and disappeared above. He took the opportunity to walk up to the black Wall. Standing right in front he felt very uneasy. He had no desire to touch the glistening black material. Hawkins had a feeling there was something on the other side-maybe even someone. Hawkins wondered if it was a sophisticated version of those one-way mirrors that police used in interrogation rooms. He didn't like the idea that he might be under observation. Beyond that, though, he sensed a tremendous power and energy inherent in that wavering black surface. The air had a charged feel to it, as if a powerful electric current was running close by.

Hawkins started as he caught movement behind him. The cage settled in and Lamb stepped off and the cage started back up immediately. Lamb stepped up next to Hawkins and stared at the Wall, wordlessly. Batson was the next to arrive and he checked out not only the black Wall but the stone too.

"I don't know what cut this chamber out of the rock, but these walls are smoother than anything I've ever seen done in a mine. Maybe a laser with a hell of a lot of power, but I haven't heard of anything yet made that's powerful enough to do this." He looked about. "And there doesn't seem to be any access to even get machinery in here." His voice dropped almost to whisper. "It's like it just appeared here."

"What do you make of this?" Lamb gestured at the black Wall.

Batson shook his head as he stepped up to it. "It's not rock. At least not any rock that I've ever seen. It might be some sort of metal," he said dubiously. He started to reach out his hand.

"I wouldn't do that!" Hawkins snapped.

Reluctantly, Batson pulled his hand back. "It almost looks like it's permeable."

"Yeah, but if it is, we don't know what it's permeable to, nor do we know what's on the other side."

Fran had arrived by now, holding a portable video camera. She started to film the entire chamber. Levy was next down, followed by Pencak and then Captain Tomkins.

The basket went back up and Hawkins turned to Lamb. "What now? We know we've got what appears to be the same thing that the Russians have at Tunguska, but that doesn't do us much good."

Tomkins was tying in a power line that he'd brought down with him and hooking in some small portable lights. Lamb didn't answer Hawkins right away as he continued to stare at the black Wall. Finally he turned to the members of the team. "Anyone have any ideas what this is?"

There was a brief silence, then Pencak spoke. "I'd say it was a door."

Lamb frowned. "A door? To what? The other side?"

"Of course the other side," Pencak replied. "The question is, what's on the other side? Or more appropriately, where is the other side?"

"What do you mean, where?" Lamb asked, but Pencak ignored him.

Hawkins rubbed a hand through his hair. "Maybe it's some sort of force field to protect the equipment that made the transmission."

"Maybe it is the equipment that made the transmission," Fran threw in.

Lamb turned to Tomkins. "Can we rig some sort of device to touch this Wall?"

Hawkins noted that there now seemed to be an unspoken agreement among all in the chamber that no person was going to make contact with the Wall.

"Yes, sir. I've got some remote arms that we ought to be able to break down and get through the shaft."

"All right." Lamb turned to Hawkins. "We're going to--"

Fran's yell cut him off and Hawkins stared in amazement as the black Wall flickered. Patterns of searingly bright light flowed across the surface for almost five seconds, then suddenly stopped. It went back to black for two seconds, then glowed bright white for a split second and Richman tumbled out, sprawling to the floor, blood pumping from his right shoulder, his MP5 gripped tightly in his right hand. Just as quickly, the Wall turned black again.

Hawkins sprinted to his executive officer and knelt beside him. Richman was conscious, looking up at Hawkins with disbelieving eyes. The muzzle of his submachine gun wavered uncertainly about the chamber, his finger pulling fruitlessly on the trigger with the bolt closed on an empty chamber.

"Are you all right?" Hawkins asked as he carefully extracted the weapon from Richman's hands and then put pressure on the wound.

Richman looked about in confusion as the others in the chamber gathered around. "Where am I?"

"Australia," Hawkins replied. "Ayers Rock."

Richman lifted his head and looked at the black Wall and then back at Hawkins. "I don't understand."

"What happened, Lou?" Hawkins pulled a dressing out of the case on Richman's combat vest and tore it open. "The last transmission we heard from you was that you were moving. You went off the air in the middle of it. We thought you were dead."

Richman shook his head. "I don't know what happened. They were closing in on me. I didn't have any choice. If I'd stayed, I'd have been dead." He lifted himself up on his good elbow and nodded his head toward the black Wall. "That was the only place I could go. I ran into the Wall-I didn't even know if I could go through or if I'd bounce off. But that was in Russia!"

The chamber went silent as everyone's eyes shifted from Richman to the black Wall and then back. Pencak was the first to break the silence. "You went into the black Wall in Tunguska and you came out here?"

Richman shrugged, the move bringing a grimace of pain to his face. "Yes."

"But you went off the radio over eight hours ago!" Hawkins said. "Where were you in between?"

"Eight hours! But I just went through!"

"Tell us what you do know," Lamb snapped.

Richman glared up at the presidential advisor. Hawkins wrapped the bandage around his XO's shoulder and whispered in his ear, "It's all right. Go ahead, Rich."

"But I can't tell you anything more than I have. I ran into the Wall-it was like suddenly stepping into molasses--everything slowed down. Once I touched it, there was no way to pull back. It sucked me in. It was all bright for a second and then dark. Then it was bright again and I was falling out here. I don't know where the eight hours went. For me it was--"

"Hey!" Tomkins's yell startled everyone. Hawkins looked up and was surprised to see Levy standing next to the Wall, reaching out with her hands.

Fran stepped forward. "Debra! What are you doing? I don't think you should--"

She stopped in mid-sentence as Levy stepped into the Wall. Her body started to melt into the black. Hawkins was on his feet and moving. Levy was halfway gone when he grabbed her right shoulder and pulled. To his amazement the effort seemed to have the opposite effect. He was drawn in, feeling the black surround him like a warm, wet blanket. He was blinded by a flash of white and then was gone.