Ultimate Power (25 page)

He stood up and walked to a chart against the wall, the camera following him. "You are emitting an astonishing amount of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere on a daily basis."

Pictures of cities around the world, the air filled with smog, covered the screen. "You're killing this planet and its inhabitants."

He laughed. "And unfortunately, there is one big rotten apple amongst you bunch of naughty children. A rotten apple that consumes more than eighty percent of the natural resources on the planet. Can you guess who I'm referring to?"

He smiled again, pointing his finger straight at the camera. "That's right, it's you America."

A chart appeared on the screen. "Food consumption, oil and gas usage, waste products produced. You're up there at the top by a huge margin, America. And you're only, what, five-hundred-and-thirty million people?"

He resumed his pacing, the camera following him. "Think about that, America. Combined, you consume more than eighty percent of the earth's resources, but you're less than five percent of the world's population."

He turned to face the camera, pointing an accusing finger. "You know what that means, don't you? You're a scourge. And you need to be eliminated from the food chain."

He smiled, folding his hands in front of him. "So this is what we're going to do. If I don't see a move to greener technologies within, wait for it, twenty-four hours, I'm going to--," he held up a hand and paused. "Well, I guess you will just have to wait and see, won't you?"

The screen went dark.

Neil looked at Alexa with a baffled expression. She pushed herself up and swung her legs off the bed. "You can't, Alexa, you're injured," Neil said, grabbing her arm.

"Leave me," she said, pulling her arm free. "I need to do something."

She scampered down the hall, Neil following close behind. She burst into Laiveaux's ward. A nurse looked up as she pulled a thermometer from Laiveaux's mouth. "Hey, you can't be in--"

She shoved the woman aside. "General, I think you need to see this."

Interpol Headquarters,

Lyon, France

8:45 AM

T Minus 22 hours

Alexa, using a crutch for support, hobbled beside Laiveaux's wheelchair as Neil pushed the General into the boardroom. Bruce, Madam President and Henrie Dumas were seated at the table.

"We need to go back to the island," Alexa said as she balanced her crutch against the table and pulled out a chair.

"We've sent a search party, there's nothing there," President Rue said.

"Nothing?" Alexa asked.

President Rue nodded. "First we sent a drone - there was no movement anywhere on the island. We sent in a dozen troops to make sure, see if we missed something." She sighed, drumming the table with her fingers. "The place was hardwired with booby traps. I lost three men. We went over the facility with a fine-toothed comb, but it was empty."

"You found nothing at all? No armory or computers or printouts? Nothing?"

Madam President shook her head. "They were efficient. We found an assortment of weapons and two dead guards, but otherwise, nothing."

"And Rowley?"

Henrie Dumas shook his head. "Not a sign of him."

"I want to go see," Alexa said.

"But we've already--"

Alexa stood up and grabbed her crutch, hobbling out of the room without waiting for an answer, Neil following close behind.

CHAPTER SIX

10:47 AM

T minus 20 hours

Laiveaux chartered them a Eurocopter EC135 and they arrived at Knifepoint Island two hours later. Alexa pointed to where the pilot could land and the helicopter descended towards a large clearing on the terraced lawn in front of the sprawling complex.
 

She looked down at the waves crashing against the sharp rocks and the memories of what had happened that night came flooding back to her like a nightmare. She had given up all hope of survival - the first time she had ever felt that way. She had never felt as alone as she had that night, so utterly...
desolate
, in her entire life. She shivered and rubbed her arms.

Neil took her hand and squeezed it, smiling at her. She returned the favor with an embarrassed smile; lately he read her mind like a book.

They touched down on the grass, Alexa and Neil jumping out, their heads held low. The whopping of the rotor blades slowed down as they crunched over the shards of glass, entering the gym area.
 

Neil removed a tablet from his backpack. "Madam President found a blueprint which she mailed to me," he said, passing the tablet to Alexa.

They followed the diagram, passageway for passageway, each door they entered leading to an empty room. The hallways and passages in the complex must have spanned at least two kilometers.

After thirty minutes of fruitless searching, she called Neil, then crouched and leaned back against a wall. Her back was throbbing, like someone was using it as a drum kit.

"You're bleeding," Neil said.

She waved a hand and pulled the sticky shirt from her back.

"Let me have a look."

She lifted up her shirt and Neil examined her back. He removed the gauze from her back and grimaced. "Shit, I can see your bone."

Alexa nodded. "It hurts."

He removed a can from his backpack and sprayed a layer of second skin onto the oozing wound before putting a length of sanitary gauze along the wound, keeping it in place with stretch of plaster. "That will have to do for now," he said and helped her tuck her shirt back into her pants.

He removed a box of tablets and handed it to her. "Ketamine, drink one every two hours."

She nodded a silent thank you and popped two in her mouth, chewing them.

"You hear that?" Neil asked, his head cocked to the side.

"What?"

He walked, listening. "I though I heard a dog bark."

Alexa held her breath. She heard it too.

They followed the sound to the front of a locked door. There was a keypad next to it. Neil tried the doorknob, but it was locked. He stood back and smashed a size twelve army boot into the door, below the knob. It flew open and crashed against the wall inside.
 

Alexa sauntered inside, scanning the room. It was dark and the place stank, it hadn't been cleaned recently. She fumbled for a light switch beside the entrance, flipping it on. Inside were four wire cages. An Alsatian jumped up when he saw Alexa, barking and yelping and wagging his tail.
 

"Be careful, Alexa," Neil said as she strode toward the cage.

"He's starving, Neil. There's no food or water." She stuck her fingers through the wire and the dog licked it excitedly. "How could anyone be so cruel?"

She unlocked the cages, pushing the dog down as he jumped around her excitedly, then sat on her bum, pulling the dog toward her, patting him and allowing him to kiss her in her face.

She turned to Neil. "See if you can find him something to eat."

He briefly examined the map on the tablet. "There's a mess hall a couple of doors down," he said, looking up.

"Go see."

He rushed out of the door, but the dog stayed with Alexa, yelping and barking excitedly, pushing his snout into her face. She hugged and patted him, studying the brass name tag dangling on his collar . "Hush, Nero. Calm down, we're going to feed you soon, boy."

Neil returned with a large thermos and a metal bowl. He filled the bowl with water and the dog eagerly lapped at the water, spilling some of it on the ground. Neil refilled it for a second time. "There's some steaks, I'm going to fetch them," he told Alexa.

She smiled as he drank thirstily, brushing his thick coat with her fingers.

Neil returned a minute later with two large steaks. The dog's ears perked up and he stood looking at him expectantly, his tails wagging. He tossed one to the dog and Nero devoured it without chewing, before looking up again.
 

"Come on Neil, don't be stingy," Alexa laughed, scratching the Alsatian behind his ear. The dog started whimpering, his tail wagging expectantly.

Neil grinned and tossed another steak to him. He refilled the water bowl and sat down next to Alexa, accepting the grateful slobbering licks from the animal. He turned to Alexa. "Alexa, we need to get going."

She nodded and stood up. "Okay, but were taking him back with us."

Neil nodded.

They walked down a passageway, the dog following close behind. A minute later, he bound past Alexa and Neil and stopped and sat down in front of a doorway, his tail wagging.

"Hello, what's this then?" Alexa asked.

Neil studied the map. "It looks like another office."

"We've been in here before, why is he stopping here?"

Neil opened the door and the animal sped inside. It was a large area that looked like a recreation room. The dog ran to the side of a wooden bookcase to the side of the room, scratching at it with a paw.
 

Alexa ambled closer and examined the cabinet. It was filled with girlie mags and books about cars. She pulled them out and tossed them aside. On the top shelf stood a television set. She picked it up and handed it to Neil who put it in a corner.
 

Neil tapped the back of the cabinet. It sounded hollow. He glanced at Alexa over his shoulder. "Think it's a hidden doorway?"

The dog frantically scratched the side of the bookcase with both paws.
 

Alexa glanced around the room, there were several light switches on the wall. She flipped them all and the dog stood back expectantly, tail wagging. The cabinet slid smoothly to the side, revealing a staircase. The dog rushed downstairs, his nails clicking on the concrete stairwell, and Alexa and Neil could hear the sound of waves crashing outside. The staircase led down to the terraced lawn outside.
 

When they emerged from the room, Alexa pointed to the crouching dog. "You want to know what relief looks like?" Alexa said and laughed.
 

Neil chuckled, shaking his head.

They stood with their backs to the ocean, hands on hips, looking up at the drab building. It looked like a sanitarium for the mentally deranged, Alexa expecting Jack Nicholas and his crazy crew to come skipping down the stairs at any time, shouting, "I want my cigarettes, I want my cigarettes."
 

"Here's another stairway," Alexa said, walking to the side of the building. "These are the only two stairways on this side." Neil followed her into the stairwell, but it was blocked at the top. There were no switches on the wall.

She jogged outside and bounded back up the first set of stairs. Neil followed her into the passageway and he helped her open the door to the adjoining room with his trusty boot. She went to the wall and flipped all the switches. There was a soft scraping sound as two cupboards folded out; one opening up to the stairwell that led down to the beach.
 

"Check this out," Neil said, slipping into the second hidden doorway. It led into a plush office with wall-to-wall carpets, a white leather sofa in the corner.
 

Neil walked to a heavy-looking wooden desk, rummaging through the drawers, pulling them out and tossing them to the ground. He shook his head. "Empty."
 

Alexa sauntered to the corner of the office where a TV set and DVD player stood on a corner unit. She pushed a button on the remote and the TV switched on, displaying a frozen picture of huts somewhere in a jungle. She pressed the play button on the remote.

Scenes from Vietnam filled the screen, Alexa recognizing the picture of the naked Vietnamese girl running down the road after having survived a napalm bomb attack during the Vietnam war.
 

A narrator with a deep voice said, "a country born from conflict, the forlorn citizens surviving as best they can. This is Vietnam, today."
 

The credits started rolling, and Paint it Black from the Rolling Stones started playing. Photos of hungry looking kids and people wearing tattered clothes flashed in-between the credits. The music stopped and the screen went black, and then Grenard's face appeared.

"Isn't that the guy that was shooting the documentary about President Rue?" Neil asked.

Alexa nodded.

"Hi, Mr. Sonti, Grenard here," the man said. "I hope this is to your liking. Please let me know once you've done watching."

She opened the DVD player and removed the disc.
Gateway Studios
was printed in front.
Mr. Sonti's eyes only, Not to be distributed
had been scribbled on it with a felt tip pen.

Alexa turned to Neil. "I think we've found our lead."

11:50 AM

T Minus 19 Hours

Jimmy Eccles jumped out of the truck and checked the position of the MGM-140 surface missile. He double-checked the coordinates on the launchpad in the truck before inserting the SIM card into the remote detonation device.

He carefully pulled the camouflage netting over the truck and rocket launcher and made sure it wasn't visible from the road. It was a full moon, the rocket launcher stood behind a shed on an adjacent open plot of land. No way anyone was going to see it from the road.