The Last Second (A Brit in the FBI #6)(26)
She said, “The last communication we had with them was yesterday, 0200 Zulu. Grant had done a sweep, the package—Jean-Pierre Broussard—was secure, they were about to have some sort of fancy dinner. Lots of excitement on board, Grant said Broussard claimed he’d found the Holy Grail and they were having a big celebration.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, who knows? I remember that huge tsunami heading for Washington, D.C., and then poof, it suddenly disappeared. In any case, Grant was supposed to check in again at 0400 Zulu, but he didn’t. And nothing since.”
She pointed to a screen that showed the last known position of The Griffon. “We flew him in from Jakarta on a chopper and this is where he went on board.” She was silent for a moment, and they could hear the chatter of the search and rescue pilots.
Poppy said, “They’re flying a grid pattern, but that’s a seriously big ocean and The Griffon isn’t showing up visually or on radar.” She paused. “There is a strong possibility they went down. We don’t know, just don’t know yet.”
Nicholas said, “Were they on the move or stationary when Grant last checked in?”
“We don’t know that, either. I have all the logs, if you want to look at everything the team has uploaded recently. It will be a couple of weeks of data.”
Nicholas said, “I’ll take it. Combing through minutiae is a specialty of mine. Maybe something will stand out.”
Poppy laughed, pointed to a computer terminal at the back of the room. “Everything is uploaded and ready to go right there.”
Nicholas handed over the headphones and a few moments later his eyes were glued to the terminal.
Mike asked, “So Grant said Broussard found the Holy Grail, and that’s why he hired Blue Mountain, to protect it once he found it. They had a celebration feast, and that’s all we have?”
Poppy said, “Grant said Broussard was certain he’d find the Grail aboard a shipwreck they located—the Flor de la Mar. Sank in 1511. Evidently, billions of pounds of treasure aboard. So they found her, and Broussard believes he did indeed find the Holy Grail.” Again, she rolled her eyes, then shrugged.
The Holy Grail? Mike, like every other sentient human being who’d seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, pictured a chalice in her mind’s eye. Broussard believed he really found it? No, that wasn’t possible, how could it be? The Grail was a legend, nothing more, a miraculous tale changed and embroidered on over the centuries.
Mike listened to the search and rescue helicopter pilots for a few moments. “You don’t have any sort of GPS trackers on your teams?”
“All of their comms are chipped, their sat phones are, too, obviously. As I said, Grant’s entire team went offline last night. The yacht has a transponder, a black box to be used in case of an accident, like an airliner, but that, too, is offline.”
“I thought those were built to withstand pretty much anything.”
“We can only hope Broussard would keep his up-to-date, he’s a seasoned sailor. They have a hundred-day battery life. They’re not foolproof, though, especially if they’re manually disabled.”
“It doesn’t make sense. With all the technology we have, they should be findable.”
“And now you understand why we’re so worried. And of course, there’s a nasty storm brewing out there. If they’re alive, they’re getting ready for rough weather.”
Nicholas sat back in his chair. He called out, “We have a problem.”
Poppy and Mike joined him at the computer station. Poppy asked, “What is it?”
“There’s a microburst transmission from Grant’s last location. It’s in Morse code.”
Mike asked, “What’s it say?”
Nicholas met her eyes. “ ‘They have a nuclear EMP.’ ”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
T-MINUS 68 HOURS
Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) is an island nation south of India in the Indian Ocean. Its diverse landscapes range from rainforest and arid plains to highlands and sandy beaches. It’s famed for its ancient Buddhist ruins, including the 5th-century citadel Sigiriya, with its palace and frescoes. The city of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka’s ancient capital, has many ruins dating back more than 2,000 years.
—Travelorphic
Aquarius Observatory
Sri Lanka
They stopped in Kuala Lumpur long enough to switch the Sikorsky for a chartered jet, hired, naturally, under an assumed name. The flight was only three hours, and they landed in Colombo at the private airport as the sun came up.
Nevaeh loved traveling to the mountains of Sri Lanka. It felt more like home than any place she’d ever lived, second only to her time in space. That was her real home. But the rain forests here were lovely. She’d asked the Numen once about their homelands, if they were arid or rainy, but they’d chimed, Wait and see, wait and see. Trust went a long way to cement the relationship between them, so she hadn’t asked again, knowing they’d show her everything as soon as they felt the time was right.
And it would be soon. She finally, finally had the Grail, or as the Numen called it, the Heaven Stone. Or had she first called it the Heaven Stone? She couldn’t remember, only that they had agreed she must have it to be immortal like they were. And that was why she knew everything Broussard knew about the Grail. And now she had it and spoke quietly to them, rejoicing in their pleasure. Their blended voices, all in one said, Soon you will be ready for us. You will join us, be immortal like us, and we will be with you when you return to lead the Earth.