The Last Second (A Brit in the FBI #6)(33)
“Good. Hey, take me off speaker for a moment, will you?”
Nicholas raised a brow but complied. “You’re solo. What is it?”
“This possible nuclear EMP situation is starting to get some legs. Word leaked out, and the press has it. There’s a lid on it for now, no bets on when they start reporting it. The Idaho Research Facility has already released a private statement, so it won’t be too long. The dark web is lit up right now, everyone’s talking about it.” He was silent for a moment, then came back, sounding unusually grave and formal. “If a nuclear EMP goes off, what are my orders? What’s our procedure?”
Nicholas felt a wave of fear, like a punch to his gut. Any sort of nuclear explosion would be terrifying, but to have a nuclear EMP go off would create chaos the levels of which he couldn’t imagine or predict. And they had no idea where it might be, nor where it might go off. Still, he tried to reassure Adam. “If such a thing were to happen, you’d get yourself to the New York Field Office. It would be the safest place. They have preventative measures to keep us up and running, and alive. The building is hardened against all sorts of attacks, EMP included.”
“Okay. Let’s say it’s not an if but a yes it could very well happen. What about you and Mike?”
Nicholas said, “We’ll be fine. We just might not be in ready communication, but we’ll be fine.”
“Nicholas, this is what I’m worried about. You’re on the other side of the world. If it goes off, depending where it does, there’s a good chance we won’t be able to communicate at all. In that case, you’ve got to find an old ham radio rig with tubes around. Do you know how to use a ham?”
“Actually, I do. My grandfather was an enthusiast, and my father as well. The odds of our stumbling across one in an emergency, though, given where we are, are slim. But if—and it’s a big if, Adam—but if something happens, don’t panic. We’ll be in touch as soon as we can. If I can find an old-school radio, I’d broadcast in our approved frequencies. If I can’t, know I will find a way to check in. We’re prepared for this scenario, Adam. Don’t worry.”
“I should have known you’d have squared away for all eventualities. It’s a little freaky, to think a nuke might be imminent. I’ll be moving to Federal Plaza. I’ll call you back from there.”
“Good plan. Before you go, what is the chatter?”
“In the dark web? The usual nihilist crap. But there are a few accounts saying it’s for real, one in particular, a guy who used to work for OSTP—Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House—saying he overheard on a private signal network that Strategic Defense found a nuclear signature off the coast of South America two weeks ago. And do you believe this? The signature is from a spaceport launch site in French Guiana.”
“Hold on.” Nicholas pulled up the website for the spaceport. “Oh, bollocks.”
“What?”
“French Guiana spaceport is Galactus’s home base. It’s where they launch all their rockets.”
“And now Broussard’s boat has gone down—wait, do you think he’s responsible? Could he be behind putting a nuke into space?”
Nicholas blew out a breath. “I don’t know. But we better find out. Drop everything, Adam. Once you’re at Federal Plaza, reestablish contact with me when you’re set up with Gray. Get the team informed. And do it quickly.”
“I’m gone.”
Nicholas punched off, realized Mike was staring at him.
She asked, “What was Adam freaked out about?”
“The nuclear EMP may be more than a rumor. Supposedly, a nuclear signature was reported from the spaceport in French Guiana. All back channels, nothing official. It’s where Galactus launches their satellites. I need to do a deep dive into the Galactus systems, see what I can find. If they launched a rocket with a nuke on it, Broussard himself may be responsible. And if so, he could have made his boat go offline in order to run. Or the ship could be down. We just don’t know yet.”
Mike could only stare at him. One day they were happily chowing down grilled lobster with Kitsune and Grant, and the next—“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
His smile was grim. “I wish I were.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Aquarius Observatory
Sri Lanka
Nevaeh heaved the box holding the Holy Grail into her safe and slammed the door. It made no sense, it seemed like it was now even heavier than it had been just a short time before. Even stranger, once they’d arrived at Aquarius, the stone had stopped buzzing. She would swear it felt cold, distant from her. Even the Numen had held silent.
Perhaps she was only tired from the flight and the excitement of having the Grail in her possession, and worried about the too-early discovery of Broussard’s boat going down, and she wasn’t feeling what she should. It was her fault, not the stone’s. Yes, she would call it the Heaven Stone, not the Holy Grail, it was more fitting because she was coming to believe it had come from the Numen a long time ago, and had somehow become lost to them. When she’d mentioned this to them, she remembered their agreeing.
As she showered, she realized that in only two days’ time, she would be in ready, constant contact with the Numen. When the nuke went off, the satellites surrounding it would be destroyed, and all would be clear and silent, what she knew they wanted, and their conduit to her would be open. She would be there, on her mountaintop in Sri Lanka, waiting for them.