Zero Hour

“Yes,” the man replied in a sinister, raspy voice. “She knows more than you think.”

He turned around and left. Janko stood still, looking stu

Slowly, he began to act, doing as ordered, moving to unlock Hayley’s cuffs and disco

As the steel door slammed and locked tight, Joe and Gregorovich were left in the room with the dead commandos.

Joe glanced over at Gregorovich. “You’re welcome,” he said.

Gregorovich turned back to Joe, his face mostly bruises and blood. “I didn’t need your help.”

“Really?”

“But thank you anyway.”

Joe figured that was the best he would get out of Gregorovich. “You take a punch pretty well for a Russian.”

“Sure,” Gregorovich said. “And you handled your pain fairly well for a decadent American. You didn’t even need any whisky to make you strong.”

Joe accepted the backhanded compliment. “I’d take some,” he admitted, “if you happened to have a bottle on you.”

The two men stared at each other for a moment, and finally Gregorovich began to laugh. Joe joined him. It hurt like crazy, but it was worth it.

“What happened to you out there?” Gregorovich asked. “I thought you were going to get the shot off.”

“Didn’t count on their wingman coming up behind me,” Joe replied. “What about you?”

“They sideswiped me and knocked me off the sled.”

“How’d they get so close?”

Gregorovich hesitated. “I may have doubled back to look for you. An obvious tactical mistake.”

So Gregorovich hadn’t been hit by the stun gun, but he’d been felled anyway, trying to help Joe.

“We all make them,” Joe said, looking at the bodies thrown in a heap on the floor. “You notice something about these men?”

Gregorovich nodded. “They’re one short,” he said. “The board hasn’t been totally cleared just yet.”

“Kurt won’t give up,” Joe insisted. “If he’s alive, he won’t leave us here to die. If there’s any way to get help or get us out, he’ll find it.”

Gregorovich shook his head, but it was disbelief in the situation, not disagreement. “One piece left,” he muttered dejectedly. “One knight trying to save all the pawns. Hard for me to fathom that I’m one of them now.”

Joe smiled through his busted lip. “Welcome to our side.”

FORTY

Hayley shuffled along through the half-lit tu

She moved slowly, filled with trepidation and half wishing she was back with Joe and Gregorovich in the dungeonlike interrogation room. Something about being all alone made this fate seem worse.

“Be strong,” she whispered to herself. “Whatever comes, face it bravely.”

Janko arrived at an open room filled with an eight-pack of electrical generators. The squat, cylindrical-shaped devices were the size of industrial washing machines. They were arranged in two rows, and Hayley was marched between them to a door on the far side.

Janko pressed an intercom button beside the door. “I have the woman,” he said into the microphone.

“Bring her in,” a harsh voice replied.

Janko typed a code into the lock, and an electronic click was heard. He opened the door and ushered Hayley inside. She steeled herself for whatever lay ahead and stepped over the threshold.

This room looked different than the rest of the cave. The walls were finished in a high-gloss white plastic. Computers, control panels, and monitors were placed in various locations. Recessed lighting gave it a warmer look.

“Welcome to Master Control,” the man in the mask said to her.

The voice was distorted by the man’s damaged vocal cords, but she was fairly certain who was speaking.

“Max?” she asked. “Is that really you?”

The man stared at her for a moment and then looked at Janko. “Leave us.”

“She could be dangerous,” Janko replied.

“Not to me,” Thero replied.

Janko exhaled sharply and then stepped out of the room.

As the door closed, Thero stepped closer to her. He held out a hand. She saw that it was burned and scarred.

“It’s been so long,” Thero said. “We’ve been so lonely.”

Despite the fear she felt, Hayley’s mind was racing. “We?” she said. “Is George alive? Is he here with you?”

Thero nodded.

“Is he okay?” she asked, hopeful that George could help her put a stop to this madness and yet fearful that he might be horribly burned and scarred like Thero.

“He’ll be along shortly,” Thero said. “He knows you’re here. In fact, it was he who suggested we talk to you alone. That perhaps you might understand.”

She smiled genuinely. George was the only hope. “I’m thankful to hear that. What about Tessa?”

“No,” Thero said. “They murdered her.”

Hayley cast her gaze down. George and Tessa had been like siblings. She’d hoped somehow both were alive, though she’d doubted it was possible. At least George had survived. Maybe there was a chance, she thought. Maybe reason could triumph at this last moment.

“My heart breaks for Tessa,” she said, “though I’m thankful that you and George are still alive. How did you survive the explosion?”

“I’d begun working on a new theory,” Thero said. “By using a spherical projector instead of a dome-shaped one, I thought the wave might be more stable. We’d only just begun the excavation when the shooting began. George and I escaped and sealed ourselves in while they shot the others.”

She stared.

“There was nothing we could do,” Thero insisted.

“I know,” she said softly. “I understand.”

He glared at her for a moment before continuing. “After the shooting ended and we heard nothing but silence, we unsealed the door. Seconds later, the explosions flashed. I was burned badly, though George was mostly spared. He cared for me until we made it to a hospital. We paid enough to keep it quiet. I didn’t want them finding us after escaping with our lives. But we couldn’t stay long. We had to find a place where we’d be safe.”

“And you came here?”

“Not at first,” he said, “but eventually. We needed a place where no one would ever find us. A place with advantages. Here, we have geothermal power. We have food from the seals and the birds and the fishing grounds. And my study of geography proved most valuable when we discovered diamonds. A series of kimberlite pipes rich enough to fund our operations after the money Tokada had given us ran out.”

“Why not just take the money and run?” she asked. “Live your life. You’ve given so much already.”

“What life?!” he shouted. “We’re hunted wherever we go. Banished here as much by their jealousy and hatred as by our own need to work without interference. You see, the world was not willing to let my light shine upon them. So now I will blind them and burn them instead.”

She considered her precarious position and Thero’s obvious madness. She decided she’d better pander to his ego.

“The world is full of jealous fools,” she said. “But wouldn’t it be glorious to prove them wrong and become rich rather than begin a war that will only bring more death?”

“What good is wealth to a man who can’t show his face or breathe the air?” he said. “My lungs will burn without the proper humidity. My skin crawls if it meets the sunlight. I am no longer part of the world. I am doomed to live here on Tartarus, to live forever in darkness. So what good does the light afford me? Revenge is all I have left.”

“Revenge against Australia?”

“Against all of them,” Thero bellowed. “Against an entire world set against us. Against any who challenge me!”

Hayley shrank back. It only seemed to anger Thero more.

“You have no reason to fear me,” he insisted.