Apocalypse Island (53 page)

The rumble beneath the ground grew louder as if in acknowledgment of its offering.

Siri floated toward Wolf and settled on the floor in front of him. She looked at him with eyes Wolf could not believe belonged to a dead woman.

“I’m sorry I lost you,” he said.

“It’s all right,” Siri replied. “I’m in an okay place. Not perfect, but okay.” She pointed at the ever widening fissure in the floor. “You need to move, Danny. Not much time left.” She reached down and caressed his cheek. In that moment of contact Wolf felt something enter his body, and the pain was gone. He touched his ribcage where just moments ago he’d been certain his ribs were broken, and felt nothing. “Remember, I will always love you,” Siri said and vanished. Wolf somehow knew that it would be the last time he’d ever see her. He rose, still amazed that he was painless, leapt over the fissure and picked Laura up in his arms. As he did so she stirred.

“What are you doing?” she asked crossly.

“Shut the hell up. I’m saving your life for the second time tonight.”

Chapter 136

By the time they reached the stairs that would take them up and into the orphanage Laura was able to motivate on her own. When they passed Dr. Hardwick’s plastic-shrouded body Wolf said, “Don’t ask. I have no idea who killed him or why.”

Evidently that was good enough for Laura because she didn’t say a word.

There was activity outside. Several helicopters flew in the night sky above the island but as far as Wolf could see they weren’t shooting at anything. The rain had stopped, a warm breeze was blowing, and the sky was rapidly clearing.

Skip Johnson stood outside the orphanage gate with a small group of people, one of them a priest.

“I see you got her,” Skip Johnson said with a smile as he vigorously shook Wolf’s hand. “Was our little friend helpful?”

“Yes,” Wolf said looking curiously at Johnson. “Very helpful indeed. Listen, Skip, these people need to get back. There’s going to be an explosion below ground any second and I don’t know how bad it will be.”

“We already know about it,” Johnson said. “We were just waiting for you. If you hadn’t come out when you did we were coming in after you.”

“What? Thank you,” Wolf said confused.

“Just follow me,” Johnson said. He turned to the group of islanders. “Time to go.” They all made their way down the hill toward the docks and the general store where there was a bustle of activity.

Jennings, Eli, the two techs, and both news people from Channel 12 were there waiting. Jennings explained that after getting out they’d gone back around and released the two captives from the closet.

Standing with the group was a hunched old man who appeared barely able to motivate.

“Nice to see you again, Mr. Richey,” Laura said taking his hand.

“I warned you to leave it alone,” the old man said sternly, then smiled. “Guess it’s a good thing you didn’t listen to me.”

“This is my father,” Eli said, introducing Wolf. “After you got us out I went home to live. From there I learned how to get in and out of the facility. I owe him a lot. I owe you both a lot.”

“Ten minutes left,” Tall Tech said, looking at his watch.

Men and women in uniform were helping people board boats, and dozens of water craft of every stripe, filled to the gunwales with people and pets were already in the water heading away from the island.

“I made a call when we got out,” Jennings said, “but emergency management people were already here. They got an anonymous call before we even entered the facility. All the islanders—at least all they could find—are either here boarding boats or have already left.”

“Can they stop it?” Laura asked as they were boarding Skip Johnson’s boat.

“I’m afraid not,” Jennings said. “The best we can do is get as far away as possible.”

Lines were untied and they cast off. Johnson hit the throttle and the lobster boat leapt out into open water. The choppers were now moving away from the island’s summit and the sea seemed way too calm.

“What about Spencer and Robeson?” Laura asked.

“As far as I know they’re gone,” Jennings said.

“Will they ever have to pay for this?”

Jennings grunted out a short laugh. “What do you think?”

“Jesus, Rick.”

“Men like that never have to answer for their crimes. Whatever that thing down there is, well, they didn’t invent it. They didn’t put it there. They were just following orders, operating under the direction of a much higher power. Everything they did was most likely sanctioned by the United States Government. There’s nothing I can do about that. There is something though. Something Wilder told me. Some sort of expose. I don’t know how it was designed or in what form it will be aired, but she assured me.”

“You believed her?”

“Yes. I understand that Seph was psychotic, but she was highly intelligent and in a strange way she was compassionate. Those bastards made her the way she was and she vowed to make them pay for it.” Jennings looked over at Wolf and Eli. “You’re lucky,” he said. “You’re the last two survivors and neither of you is psychotic.”

“I don’t know,” Laura said, narrowing her eyes at Wolf. “That remains to be seen.”

“Remember what I told you on the way to the lake,” Wolf said sternly, “about you needing a good solid spanking.”

“I’m waiting, Wolf.”

Laura moved up close to Wolf and took his arm, a worried frown on her damaged face. “Do you think they’ll be safe, Rick?”

“You mean, these guys?” Jennings said, pointing at Danny and Eli. “Yeah, I think they will. I hope so anyway. That thing down there is no longer a secret and I for one am going to spread the word until I’m blue in the face. What are they going to do, kill everybody in the world?”

“Do you think it’s alive?” Laura asked.

“I don’t know,” Jennings replied.

“It’s alive.” Wolf said. “It knows who we are as a species and I sense its disappointment in us. It doesn’t want to hurt anybody. I don’t think it’s capable of that.”

“He’s right,” Eli said, “it’s alive and it’s here for a reason.”

“Jesus Christ,” Laura breathed. “And we’re going to destroy it.”

Nobody replied to Laura’s comment. Other than the sound of the engines there was only silence.

“I have to call my mother,” Laura said.

Jennings took Laura’s hand, gave it a squeeze. “Not yet, Laura. Please, let me talk to her first. Let me explain.”

Laura searched his eyes. “Okay,” she said.

“Almost time,” said Tall Tech, looking at his watch.

All eyes were on the island as he began the ten second countdown. 10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1.

Chapter 137

They were three nautical miles from Apocalypse Island when the nuke detonated. At first there was nothing but a flash, not blinding, but momentarily intense, and it seemed to ripple out across the water like a lace net.

“Shock wave!” Short Tech warned. “Brace yourselves.”

But it wasn’t too bad. Though the passengers were expecting a tsunami, they only got a series of medium-strength swells. When those had passed and the sound reached them, well, that was another story. It began as a low rumble intensifying to a roar that was the equivalent of a passing locomotive. Then, from the top of the island, a column of blue light erupted like a water spout and climbed up into the atmosphere, to perhaps a mile, maybe more, it was hard to judge. Toward its upper section the column grew a horizontal cross and suddenly the night sky was ablaze with the largest and most beautiful phenomenon any of the witnesses had ever seen.

The priest crossed himself and began reciting the holy rosary.

“I guess that answers the question about its intelligence,” one of the techs said.

Nobody replied to his comment. It was as if the world was locked in a sudden vacuum. The cross burned for perhaps sixty seconds before winking out. And then it was over. All was quiet as darkness settled over Apocalypse Island.

EPILOGUE

Later, they found out that the cross was visible not only in Portland but as far south as Boston and as far north as Bangor. And it wasn’t the only place in the world where it was seen. The residents of Beijing, China and its surrounding villages saw a similar phenomenon, as well as the residents of Fiji Island. Tourists on safari on the Serengeti Plain in Kenya were also witness to a large, blazing blue cross that blossomed suddenly in the atmosphere, burned for a few moments and then winked out. Scientists stationed at the South Pole also reported seeing a similar phenomenon.

A multitude of cell phone cameras captured the event, and within hours sites like YouTube were filled with some of the most viewed videos of all time. The internet was humming with speculation as to the cause of the phenomenon. There were no clear answers. Speculation ran a wide gamut: some said it was a sign of an alien invasion; the Christian faithful were convinced of an imminent second coming. Environmental fanatics blamed global warming. Scientists believed it to be the result of solar flares bouncing off the earth’s magnetic field.

But these were just straws to be grasped at. There were no clear answers.

Governments of the world were quick to try and squelch the rumors, of course. But they could not change what so many had seen and they could not stop the tide of speculation. The proverbial cat was out of the bag and within twenty-four hours most of the civilized world was keenly aware that something extraordinary had occurred.

Authorities decked out in hazmat suits did eventually reenter the facility on Apocalypse Island. Although the explosion destroyed the underground facility, including the man-made containment dome, no discernable radiation from the explosion was detected. The whole thing was uncannily eerie; it was as if something had swallowed it. However, the bodies of James “Red” Robeson and Frank Cavanaugh were both found in the rubble. These men were hailed as heroes and given full burial honors. Jennings knew the truth, but sometimes truth wasn’t what people wanted to hear. As far as he knew, Spencer still worked for the U.S. Government.

The facility remained classified, and it was never officially revealed whether anything else of significance had been found in the rubble. Jennings had a friend who’d been part of the initial inspection team in the aftermath of the explosion, however, and his friend told him, in the strictest of confidence, that the shaft had been located but there was no throbbing blue light or low frequency hum. Just an empty hole in the ground that seemed to lead nowhere.

It was widely believed that Persephone Wilder and Ruben Van Horne were the architects of the
Cross My Heart
murders, and the case was subsequently closed.

The citizens of Apocalypse Island were finally allowed to go home, while things in and around Portland pretty much returned to normal.

Danny Wolf resumed his duties as singer/songwriter of
Bad Medicine.
Laura Higgins quit her job in Hartford and moved back to Portland where she took a job as a detective on the force there. Rick Jennings became her supervisor.

And so it went. Lives were lived. Babies continued to be born. People went to work and did their jobs. Children skipped off to school and learned their lessons. The faithful attended church and prayed for deliverance. The elderly died and were laid to rest. Life continued as usual on planet earth. Nothing had changed.

Or so it seemed.

On a beautiful spring morning following a particularly brutal winter, a public wedding ceremony was held at Deering Oaks Park in downtown Portland. The parish priest from Apocalypse Island presided over the ceremony.

There were many people in attendance; members of the force, band members and more than its share of weeping groupies, citizens of Apocalypse Island including Skip Johnson, Tanis Richey and his son, Eli. And of course Laura’s mother was there, accompanied by Rick Jennings. She’d since dropped the Van Horne from her name and had taken back the name of her late husband and Laura’s father.

“I wish Sam could have been here,” Wolf told Laura.

“Me too,” Laura replied. “Without him neither of us would be alive. He did an amazing thing.”

Wolf nodded, his eyes glinting with unshed tears. He was thinking about the ghost of Siri Donavon, how she had distracted Van Horne long enough to allow Sam to finish it. Wolf had never mentioned that part to Laura, or the part where Siri had touched him, healing him of injuries Laura had never known he had, therefore giving him the strength to carry her to safety. It was a secret he would keep and cherish for as long as he lived.

“I want to ask you something, Danny,” Laura said. “And I want you to be honest with me.”

“Haven’t I always been honest with you?”

She looked in his eyes and it was a heartfelt and trusting look. “Yes, I believe you have always been honest with me. First, I can only imagine the fear, the loneliness, the confusion you must have felt in those early years before the fire...before you escaped the orphanage and began your new life in foster care. What I don’t understand is how you managed to get out and save all those other kids. I totally understand how the trauma could have caused you to forget, but when you finally did remember...” Laura’s voice trailed off.

“You want to know if I had help, if there was someone else there that night that might have helped guide us to safety.”

“Yeah, I guess I do. I want to understand what that blue light thing was and how you’re connected to it. I want to know how it has affected your life. In the facility that night you said it talked to you. How did it talk to you?”

Wolf put his hand over Laura’s heart. “It talked to me here,” he said. “That’s the only way I can describe it.”

Laura nodded. “Does it still talk to you?”

Wolf smiled. “You want to know if those assholes killed it. You want to know if it’s still...around.”

Again Laura nodded.

“Sometimes in the night I hear a low-frequency hum in my head and I imagine it’s talking to me, but I can’t be sure that what I’m experiencing is anything other than dreams. I do know deep in my heart that it was something extraordinary, and that man’s influence over it was a bad thing. Maybe it’s still here and it’s hiding somewhere waiting and watching. Or just maybe it gave up on us and it’s gone for good.”