Velocity (37 page)

‘We going in?’

‘Gotta wait for Rhonda. And Severson said he might drop by —’

‘Here she is now.’ Corey nods at Rhonda as she approaches.

‘Hey Corey, hey Spike.’ She lays a kiss on Judd then shoots him a wide grin.

‘You look happy.’

‘I am.’ It’s taken a while but she’s back to feeling her old self. Her experience since the hijacking had been quite different to Judd’s, any post-traumatic stress he’d felt had been offset by having shared the journey with Corey, and as the Australian loved to talk, they had talked it out at length. But Rhonda had no one who directly understood what she’d been through and she found it hard to explain to Judd, even considering how supportive he’d been during her recuperation.

She’d thought about the Frenchman quite a bit. In spite of the circumstances she still had difficulty coming to terms with his fate and was surprised by how it weighed on her. She also wondered if the 9/11 conspiracy, which the Frenchman had been so sure of, was real or imagined. Of course the truth had died with the hijackers, and Edgar, who had a heart attack while gardening a day after the hijacking ended, but it would still cross her mind from time to time.

Judd takes her hand and they move towards the cinema. ‘So why are we happy?’

‘I just heard.’

He stops, looks at her, shocked. ‘It’s on?’

‘It’s on. Official announcement’s tomorrow.’

‘And?’

‘We’re in! First group.’

‘Oh, man.’ They embrace, euphoric.

Corey watches, confused. ‘What’s on?’

‘Mars!’ Judd turns to him. ‘We’re going to Mars.’

‘Well that’s bloody fantastic!’

It sure is. As a result of the hijacking the shuttle program had been cancelled, NASA reluctantly deciding to utilise Russia’s Soyuz launch vehicles to service the International Space Station for the rest of its operational life. The hijacking also prompted a swift review of the space program’s security measures and its long-term objectives. The rumour being that the White House would declare a new goal for NASA, capitalising on the renewed interest and goodwill generated by the ‘Atlantis Four’, which the President hailed as ‘an unexpected yet indisputably galvanising “Sputnik” moment’.

That goal, as Rhonda had just informed Judd, is the red planet. Best news of all is that being a member of the ‘Atlantis Four’ meant that Judd, along with Rhonda, had been included in the first group of astronauts to train for the mission, something that would not have happened before the hijacking. He may yet fly into space again and no longer be
that
guy, the one-hit wonder.

As awful as the hijacking had been, Judd now realises it changed everything for him. The Frenchman and Tango in Berlin had, unwittingly, helped repair his faulty life and for that he feels oddly grateful. The world even thinks he’s a steely-eyed missile man after he performed the impossible and landed a space shuttle on an aircraft carrier. Personally he’s not sure. He’d only found the confidence to make the landing because of a moment of reassurance from Rhonda and a mantra of self-belief from Corey. And once
Atlantis
was on deck it only stopped because of the barrier net, and even then it ended up in the drink, after which he would have drowned if not for Corey . . .

Behind Rhonda something catches Judd’s eye. She turns to where he’s looking. ‘What?’

The colour drains from Judd’s face and he glances at the Australian. ‘Corey?’

‘Hmm?’

‘Remember the black chopper, the one Severson blew up?’

‘Yes.’

‘And how you thought you might have seen —’

‘A parachute?’ Corey studies him cheerlessly. ‘Why are you asking me this?’

‘You saw a parachute.’

‘How do you know?’

Judd points down the footpath. Twenty metres away Corey focuses on a man with blond hair wearing a trench coat. ‘Oh, damn it!’

Rhonda’s confused. ‘What’s going on? Who’s that —?’

‘Tango in Berlin.’ Judd and Corey say it together.

Rhonda studies the blond man, astonished. ‘That’s - Dirk? The hijacker? I thought he was dead.’

The German sweeps back the right side of the trench coat and draws out a sawn-off shotgun.

‘So did I.’ Judd turns to the crowd gathered by the cinema’s entrance. ‘Everybody down!’ They look at him like he’s mad, then they see the blond man swing the large shotgun towards Judd and they scatter to the four winds.

Judd moves fast, drags Rhonda, pushes Corey and kick-sweeps Spike behind a white Toyota parked on the roadway nearby.

The shotgun fires and the Toyota’s back window explodes. Shards of glass spray as they crouch behind the car’s boot. Judd can’t believe he’d been feeling grateful to this guy a minute ago.

Spike barks.

Corey turns to him with a hard whisper: ‘Does it
look
like I have the lucky bucket with me?’

Judd takes a breath, rises and scans the sidewalk to locate the German. He doesn’t see him but another blast of shotgun pellets rattles into the car’s roof. He ducks, mind racing. The whole world thinks he’s a steely-eyed missile man so this would be the perfect time to devise an ingenious solution and prove it to himself.

His hands go Rubik and he turns to the others. ‘Okay. I’ve got a plan.’