Black Sun

From the corner of his eye he saw a fireball in the east. It was one of the Skycranes. How or why, he didn’t know. But when he saw the drones spiraling out of control and crashing into a canyon wall, he didn’t waste time trying to find out.

He took off ru

As Stecker and the scientists left the trailer, Moore caught sight of the rocket sled, the vessel of destruction designed to send the stone into the deepest part of the mountain. It was ready and waiting.

The president shouted at him. “What the hell have you gotten us into, Arnold?!”

“What are you talking about?”

“You were late to a briefing about Armageddon, looking like you’ve been out drinking somewhere all night, and you offer some cockamamie theory about the earth’s core.”

Moore was acutely aware of his appearance. He was unshaven, looking haggard, in the same clothes he’d worn the day before.

“I’ve been working on this all night with no sleep—”

The president cut him off. “That’s one of the problems, from what I hear: You haven’t been getting much sleep.”

Moore was stu

“When you didn’t show on time, I asked your staff about your behavior,” Henderson said. “They answered honestly. The way you should have months ago. Instead of endangering the country like you have.”

“I would never purposefully—”

“You brought this damned thing here, you sent your people after the other stones, you even mounted an illegal operation to rescue Danielle, despite the fact that I told you not to. And I covered your ass for it. Yet you couldn’t be honest with me?”

“I tried—”

“Stop lying to yourself, Arnold! You’ve put us at risk, and maybe the whole world along with us! I want to know why.”

“Mr. President—”

“Why?!” he shouted. “What are you holding back? Some hidden part of this prophecy you haven’t shared, something else you found down there in Brazil, or some bit of data you don’t want to give up? What is it that makes you believe in this thing beyond all reason?”

Moore looked away. His old friend knew him, knew he wasn’t being completely truthful. He caught sight of the blue countdown clock: seven minutes to zero.

“Now, Arnold!” the president shouted.

“I touched it,” Moore said finally, the admission feeling like a fool’s last act and a weight off his shoulders all at the same time.

“I held the damned thing when Danielle brought it back from the Amazon. And since that moment, since that very moment, I’ve had an unshakable sense that this thing, this stone, was sent here to help us. Not to harm us or hurt us, but to save us from something. Maybe from ourselves. The stone affects everyone who touches it that way.”

For a moment Moore wished he’d let the president touch it. They wouldn’t even be having this conversation. But at the time it had seemed unwise.

“There are patterns in the signal that mirror brainwave activity,” Moore added. “We think it was done that way on purpose, to give us a message, to condition us and teach us.”

As Moore spoke, the anger on the president’s face resolved into despair and a look of utter disgust. It became so obvious, so deep-seated and evident, that Moore could not stand to gaze at his old friend. The president offered no challenge, no angry rebuke. He was just done with Moore.

“You’re relieved,” he said. “Get Stecker in here.”

CHAPTER 65

Danielle watched as the ca

“The third one is ru

“Let it go,” Danielle said. “There are men on the ground.”

“Can you see your friend?” Ivan asked.

The Hind-D had a camera system with a telescopic lens, designed to sight targets visually and help prevent friendly-fire incidents. She sca

“No!” she shouted.

“You’re sure he’s not with them?”

Kang’s people were still pursuing something, still making their way toward the top of the mesa. “I don’t think so,” she said. “Why?”

“Because once we pass, there will be nothing left down there.”

“So be it,” she said. “For your brother.”

And with that, Ivan banked the helicopter fifty degrees, finishing the turn and lining up the figures on the ground. He bore down on them relentlessly and Danielle flipped the toggle to arm the ca

As they thundered in, the men started turning and firing. Danielle pressed the trigger for the ca

The Hind raced past, pulling up to clear the smoke and flame. Only then did Danielle notice a second group of men.

“On the left,” she said. “Ten o’clock. Look out!”

The second group opened fire as they passed. But the Hind was built for low-level combat. Its armor shook off the rifle bullets as if they were BBs. Not so with the rocket-propelled grenade that exploded above their heads.

The windshield was instantly streaked with oil and fire. Smoke poured in and the helicopter shook like a speeding car that had lost a couple of wheels.

Ivan tried to control it, but the rotors were damaged. “Hang on!” he shouted.

Shuddering wildly, the helicopter lurched to the side, spi

Aboard his personal Skycrane, Kang saw the Russian craft go down. His men had done well. “Turn us around,” he ordered.

“To the men?”

“No, up on the ridge.”

He could see a figure near the far side of the mesa, sprinting across it.

“That’s the one,” he said. “Run him down.”

The pilot turned the helicopter toward the target and accelerated. “We have no weapons,” he warned.

Kang shouted above the noise. “Just get me close. I’ll kill him myself.”

In the darkness of Yucca Mountain, Byron Stecker watched Arnold Moore step out of the trailer carrying his suit jacket awkwardly over his shoulder. His gait was slow, as a beaten man’s should be.

“What’s the word?” Stecker asked, keenly aware that there were less than five minutes to go before the zero state.

“You win,” Moore said. He nodded toward the rocket sled. “Might want to get that thing ready.”

Moore shuffled away, moving toward the big wrecker tow truck that had been used to drag the trailer in.

Stecker gri

He stepped inside the trailer.

The screen inside was still glowing with the president’s image. “About damn time, Stecker.”

“Moore just informed me,” he said. “We’ll destroy the stone immediately.”

“Good. Contact me when it’s done.”

The president cut the line and Stecker switched the screen off. He walked to the lab section and opened the door. The room was dark except for the glow of computer screens.

He stepped toward the viewing platform and nearly slipped.

“What the hell?”

Looking down, he saw a puddle of grape soda. Nathanial Ahiga lay sprawled on the floor, semiconscious, with a large welt across his forehead.

“What the hell happened?” Stecker asked.

Moaning, Ahiga opened his eyes, but before he could even say a word Stecker realized the truth. He rushed to the observation stand and looked into the vault. The stone was gone.