The Revelation Code

36

‘So Cross gave Anna the copy and took off with the real angel?’ said the disbelieving Dalton over the conference call. ‘Where’s he taken it?’

‘That’s kinda what I was hoping you could tell us,’ Nina said, exasperated. While paramedics tended to Rosetti, she had been taken to an office inside the Vatican to give the bad news to Seretse in New York and Eddie in Mecca, calling upon Dalton — now in transit to America in the company of a trio of US marshals — in the hope of learning the cult leader’s true plans.

‘I have no idea,’ the disgraced politician replied.

Her frustration grew. ‘Are you saying that because you don’t want to incriminate yourself in front of law enforcement officials, or do you genuinely not know?’

‘I genuinely don’t know!’ Dalton snapped. ‘Until that son of a bitch dumped me in the desert, I’d planned to go back to Tel Aviv and meet some Israeli friends. I don’t know where he meant to go!’

‘Wait, you have friends?’ Eddie said sarcastically.

‘Not helping,’ said his wife.

‘I’ve still got plenty of friends in Washington,’ Dalton growled. ‘I can assure you that I’ll be back in—’

‘Just one moment, Mr President,’ interrupted Seretse, breaking off to speak to someone. When he returned, despondency was clear even in the diplomat’s normally controlled voice. ‘I have had a message from the State Department.’

‘Doesn’t sound like the one you were hoping for,’ noted Eddie.

‘I am afraid not. They were able to reach out to the intelligence services and provide the flight plan of the jet Cross had been using, but after leaving Ovda airbase yesterday, it flew to Jordan — and is still there. Anna and Simeon travelled on to their targets by commercial flights under false passports. It would appear that Cross also left the country under an assumed identity, but so far we have not been able to track him.’

Nina put her head in her hands. ‘So he could be literally anywhere in the world by now? Great.’

‘How are we going to find him?’ asked Seretse. ‘What is his target?’

‘Babylon,’ she told him. ‘That’s what Anna said: Babylon will fall. All part of Revelation, but somehow I doubt that Cross plans to attack the ruins of an ancient city in Iraq.’

‘Maybe he really hates sci-fi and he’s going after the bloke who created Babylon 5,’ Eddie suggested.

‘Eddie! This is serious.’

‘What, a terrorist attack that could kill thousands of people? No!’

‘I don’t know what’s more terrifying,’ said Dalton. ‘That prospect, or the fact that you two are the best hope to stop it.’

‘At least we’re trying,’ snarled Nina. ‘Rather than coming up with the idea in the first place, only to have it all blow up in your face!’

‘I did not come up with—’

‘Oh, shut up, Mr President. Stop trying to cover your ass and help us! You know Cross, you know what motivates him and what he was trying to achieve. What’s his endgame? His target could be anywhere in the world — but where?’

There was no immediate reply. Eddie was the first to break the downcast silence. ‘So he’s not going to attack the original Babylon. What else could it be?’

‘One theory about Revelation was that Babylon was code for Rome,’ said Nina.

‘Rome was not the target today, though,’ said Seretse. ‘Not the real target.’

‘I know. But Babylon was the centre of an ancient empire, Rome was the same in John’s time, so now… Washington DC?’ she suggested.

‘I wouldn’t think so,’ Dalton replied. ‘Cross was many things, but he was definitely a patriot. His long-term goal was to bring about the creation of a unified Christian America—’

‘You mean your goal,’ Eddie cut in.

Dalton ignored him. ‘But that was by using the attacks on Rome and Mecca to build up threats from outside the country, not to attack the country itself and kill US citizens.’

‘Maybe that’s not his plan any more,’ said Nina. ‘Maybe it never was. Learning God’s secrets was always his ultimate goal. If people die, even Americans, it doesn’t matter because the end of the world is imminent — they’ll soon be judged by God no matter what.’

‘So there still is a possibility that he may attack Washington?’ asked Seretse.

‘Anything’s a possibility with that maniac,’ replied Dalton. ‘But right now, the balance of power in DC is with people who would tend to side with him. Wiping out Congress wouldn’t get him what he wants.’

‘It’d get a big cheer from everyone else in the country, though,’ said Eddie. Nina could tell he was grinning without needing to see him.

‘You’ll forgive me if I don’t find jokes about killing political leaders amusing,’ Dalton snapped.

Nina sat up as his words prompted a thought. ‘Anna said something else before she died,’ she said. ‘It wasn’t just that Babylon would fall. It was also that the kings of the world — the leaders — would witness it. But there’s only one world leader in DC…’

She jerked bolt upright as another possibility came to her. From the startled gasp over the speaker, the same thought had struck Seretse. ‘The General Assembly!’ the diplomat cried. ‘The world’s leaders are coming here, to New York.’

‘The UN is a tower where all the world’s languages are spoken — just like the description of Babel in Genesis,’ said Nina. ‘Your Fortress America, Dalton — you said it wouldn’t be subject to United Nations treaties. And Cross hates the UN even more than you do — he wants it removed from American soil. Gassing the place in the middle of a General Assembly would be one way to do that. And taking out most of the world’s leaders would stand a pretty good chance of bringing about the apocalypse!’

‘But he’ll still be an angel short,’ Eddie noted. ‘The one he meant for Mecca’s still in one piece.’

‘He doesn’t care. He already justified scrambling and skipping over the parts of Revelation that didn’t fit his timeline as a result of John the Apostle’s hallucinations, and I think he’s jumping right to its end on the principle that if he brings about the fall of Babylon, everything else will come to pass as well — and then he’ll learn all God’s secrets. Oswald, is there anything you can do to increase security?’

‘I am not sure if anything more can be done,’ Seretse told her. ‘I can warn the Secret Service and the police about Cross, but the streets around the United Nations complex are already cordoned off. The first of the world leaders have begun to arrive.’

‘What time does the Assembly actually start?’ Nina asked.

‘Most of the delegates will be arriving over the course of the morning — President Cole is expected at one thirty. The session opens at three p.m.’

‘That’ll be when Cross is most likely to do it,’ Eddie said. ‘When they’re all in the same place at the same time.’

Nina checked her watch, adding in the time difference between Rome and New York. ‘That’s only just over eight hours from now! It’s not even enough time to get us back to the States.’

‘You want to come back here?’ Seretse asked.

‘Absolutely I do! Eddie and I stopped the attacks in Mecca and Rome — well, okay, Eddie stopped one of the attacks, and the other one was a decoy,’ she admitted. ‘But we still might be able to help. At the very least, we’ve both seen Cross before. We spotted his Witnesses; we might be able to find him as well.’

‘But it’s all academic, isn’t it?’ said Dalton in a biting tone. ‘Italy to New York is at least a nine-hour flight. Even if you chartered a business jet, there’s no way you could make it before the session starts.’

‘There’s one way,’ Eddie cut in. ‘Be hard to arrange, but you might actually be able to help with that, Mr President. If you really do still have friends in Washington.’

The politician was surprised, both at the suggestion, and at the Englishman’s sudden politeness, or at least lack of open hostility. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Yeah, what do you mean, Eddie?’ said Nina, curious.

‘I mean, Mr President, that if you still had enough pull with the CIA to get rides on their black flights, then maybe you’ve also still got some pull with your old mates at the Pentagon — like you did when you got us access to Silent Peak.’

Dalton had once arranged security clearance for the couple to enter a top-secret government archive. But it had come with a price. ‘Uh, that didn’t work out too well,’ Nina reminded him. ‘For any of us.’

‘He’s not going to betray us this time, though, is he?’ said Eddie. ‘Not since he wants to keep his arse out of jail, and out of the hands of his cellmate Bubba Manlove.’

‘I promised I would do everything in my power to find Cross and stop whatever he’s planning,’ Dalton said stiffly. ‘What is it you want, Chase?’

‘A lift.’

‘A lift?’ said Nina, wondering what he meant.

She saw the answer for herself an hour later.

‘Have you ever been in a fighter jet before, ma’am?’ asked United States Air Force captain Tyler Fox as he escorted her across the concrete apron of Rome’s Ciampino airport.

‘Can’t say that I have,’ she replied with trepidation. Standing before her was a slate-grey aircraft, an F-15E Strike Eagle: her transport back to America. Whatever contacts Dalton had, they had come through in spectacular fashion.

‘I’ll go easy on you, then. Especially as you’re pregnant. I’ve never had a baby on board my aircraft before! It sure isn’t standard operating procedure, but I understand it’s real important you get to New York asap.’

‘Yeah, it is.’ She looked down at her olive-drab flight suit and the helmet in one hand. ‘I feel like I should call myself Maverick or something.’

‘Top Gun is navy, ma’am,’ said Fox, with a hint of disdain. ‘The air force shows ’em how it’s done.’

She smiled. ‘What is it with you military guys? The air force can’t stand the navy, and my husband’s ex-army special forces with very strong views on flyboys. Or “crabs”, as he calls them.’

Fox grinned back. ‘Friendly competition, ma’am. Well, usually friendly. But we all pull together when it comes to the crunch.’ They reached the idling aircraft, where two uniformed ground crew were waiting. ‘You were lucky to get me, I gotta say. We’re normally stationed in England, but we’ve been doing NATO exercises over Turkey and the Black Sea these past few days. I was kinda surprised to get called for taxi duty, but hey, if you need to get back home in a hurry, there ain’t a faster way than riding in an Eagle.’

The ground crew positioned ladders so Fox and Nina could climb into the cockpit. Her pilot took the front seat; she went to the weapon officer’s position behind him, waiting nervously as her harness and oxygen system were secured. ‘You had the safety briefing, right, ma’am?’ Fox called over his shoulder.

‘Yeah, the Cliffs Notes version.’

‘These things are very reliable, and tough — one of ’em once landed with an entire wing shot off! If anything does happen, just do what I tell you and you’ll be fine. But I doubt there’ll be any trouble.’

The ground crew finished strapping her in, then descended and removed the ladders. Fox closed the canopy, running through a truncated series of pre-flight checks and communicating with air traffic control before addressing her again, this time through her helmet’s earphones. ‘Okay, we have take-off clearance. We’ll be refuelling three times over the Atlantic, but since we’ll be going supersonic as much as possible, the total journey time should be under four hours.’

‘How fast will we be going?’ she asked.

‘Top speed of an F-15E is classified, I’m afraid,’ he said, humour in his voice, ‘so please try not to look at the air speed indicator during flight. But I can tell you we’ll be reaching speeds in excess of Mach 2. Well in excess.’ Another exchange with the control tower. ‘All right, here we go.’

The whine of the idling twin engines rose in pitch, and the Eagle started to move, bumping along the taxiway. Nina flexed her hands nervously, trying — and failing — to relax. The impending take-off was not her only worry. Four hours was less than half as long as a commercial flight would take, but it was still cutting things fine. By the time she arrived in New York, there would be under three hours before the General Assembly’s first session began, and it was entirely possible that Cross planned to attack before then.

The main runway swung into view ahead. ‘Okay, Dr Wilde,’ said Fox, ‘we’re good to go. You might want to brace yourself.’

She did not like the sound of that. ‘Is it going to be a fast take-off?’

‘You need to get to New York in a hurry! Are you ready?’

Nina gulped, crossing her arms protectively over her stomach. ‘Yeah,’ she said, dry-mouthed.

‘Then hang on to your butt… I mean, your hat, ma’am.’

The engines rose to a shriek, even through her helmet’s soundproofing — then a thunderous crackling roar joined the cacophony as both afterburners ignited, raw fuel pumping into the jet exhausts and blasting out of the twin nozzles in a spear of flame. The F-15 shot forward like a rocket. Nina gasped as she was thrust back into the seat. The acceleration of an airliner was nothing compared to the jet fighter’s, and the G-forces kept building as the plane hurtled along the runway. Almost before she could register it, the Eagle was airborne, Ciampino dropping sharply away, and the pressure on her body grew even stronger as Fox pulled the nose up to what felt like the vertical. ‘Oh my God!’ she squeaked.

‘Are you okay?’ Fox asked.

‘I don’t know! What are we doing, ten G?’

‘Only about two, ma’am.’

‘Two!’ she cried. ‘Is that all?’

‘I deliberately kept it low on account of your condition. But I can ease off if it’s too much.’

‘Please, be my guest. I’m not supposed to ride roller coasters while I’m pregnant, and this doesn’t seem much different!’

‘I guess I won’t be showing off any barrel rolls for you, then.’

Her glare bored through the rear of his seat into his skull. ‘No thanks.’

Fox chuckled, then had another exchange with air traffic control. The F-15 eased out of its climb, Nina looking out of the cockpit’s side to find with surprise that the fighter had not even gone steeper than forty-five degrees in its ascent, never mind vertical. Rome receded below, the Vatican clearly visible at its heart. ‘Okay,’ he told her, ‘we’re going to a cruising altitude of forty-five thousand feet. I can’t go supersonic until we clear the Italian coast, and I’ll have to drop back below the sound barrier while we fly over France, but once we reach the Atlantic, I’ll put the hammer down.’

‘How about that,’ she said quietly, putting her hands on her bump and speaking to its resident. ‘Most people don’t get to fly supersonic in a jet fighter in their entire lives, but you’ve done it before you’re even born.’ A smile, mixed with a sigh. ‘I really, really hope your life isn’t as interesting as mine.’

She leaned back as the F-15 banked and headed west.

Travelling at supersonic speed turned out to be surprisingly unexciting. The Strike Eagle’s breaching of the sound barrier was marked with a jolt and a split-second burst of vapour whisking past the cockpit, but the flight afterwards felt no different from that preceding it. Their traversal of the Mediterranean seemed to take only minutes, then the plane slowed to make a high-altitude pass over south-western France before the empty grey curve of the Atlantic appeared ahead. Fox accelerated again, continuing for twenty minutes at full speed before slowing once more to rendezvous with a hulking KC-135 tanker aircraft. The manoeuvres required to link the two planes for refuelling did nothing for Nina’s stress levels, but Fox made the connection with practised ease, and before long the F-15 was on its lonely way again.

With nothing but ocean far below, there was little sense of motion. The unchanging view and the constant rumble of the engines, added to Nina’s general exhaustion, soon became soporific. She drifted into sleep, waking as the plane juddered. ‘What was that?’ she said, blinking in alarm.

‘Nothing to worry about,’ Fox replied. ‘We just caught some turbulence from the Extender.’ She leaned to look past him, seeing another KC-135 growing larger ahead. ‘We’re about to gas up again. Once we’re done, it’s non-stop all the way to New York.’

‘How long will that take?’ she asked, shocked that she had managed to sleep through the second refuelling.

‘Just under an hour. Oh,’ he added, ‘and if you look back and to your left, there’s something I think you’ll want to see.’

She craned her neck to peer back over the F-15’s wing. ‘There’s another plane!’ A sleek grey shape was approaching, its twin tails suggesting that it was a second Eagle.

‘That’s right. It’s not one of ours; it’s a Saudi bird. It set off before we did, and from what I’ve been told, it’s hauled ass at the redline the whole way to catch up, on the direct orders of the Saudi king himself. I was actually ordered to slow down a bit, because you both need to land at the same time.’

‘And who’s aboard it?’ she asked, smiling because she already knew the answer.

‘I’ll switch radio channels so you can talk to them yourself.’

Brief electronic chatter in her headphones, then she heard a familiar voice. ‘Ay up, love.’

‘Ay up yourself,’ Nina replied with a huge grin. ‘So I guess Dalton came through for you too.’

‘Most of this came from the Saudis,’ Eddie told her. ‘Funny how they roll out the red carpet when you save their holy city from being gassed. Are you okay?’

‘Yeah. I just hope we can get to New York in time to do something — and that we actually can do something.’

‘Got to try, haven’t we? Won’t be setting much of an example for the kid if we don’t.’

‘Maybe, though when most parents worry about being a good role model it’s usually about whether they eat too much junk food, not how many terrorist attacks they’ve stopped!’ She watched as the other fighter drew closer. ‘Huh, I just realised something.’

‘What?’

‘What I’m doing — it actually fits with Revelation. The woman who took refuge high in the wilderness was pregnant, and according to the text she was given “two wings of a great eagle”. I’m pregnant, this wilderness is about as high as you can get, and this plane is an Eagle! Maybe there’s something to the prophecy after all.’

‘Hope not,’ Eddie said. ‘Wasn’t she called the Woman of the Apocalypse? That’s what we’re trying to avoid!’

‘Ah. Yeah. Good point. That’s what I get for trying to be smart.’ The other F-15 was now near enough for her to make out the figure in its rear seat; she waved at him, getting the same gesture in return. The sight made her smile, before her mood fell again. ‘Do you think we’ll be able to stop him?’

‘Course we will,’ said Eddie. Even over the radio, he had recognised the gloom in her voice and adopted a more upbeat tone to counter it. ‘We stopped Simeon and Anna; we can find Cross too.’

‘You stopped Simeon,’ she pointed out. ‘The only reason Anna didn’t kill everybody in St Peter’s Square is because Cross tricked her. Yes, I found her, but I didn’t reach her in time. If her statue hadn’t been a fake…’

‘Doesn’t matter,’ he insisted. ‘It’s the results that count. You know how you said you’d been seeing a shrink to figure out if everything you’d done was worth it? Well, this proves it is. We saved thousands of lives today — and Christ knows how many more in the past. We’ve stopped wars, Nina. You’ve stopped ’em. And yeah, I know we’ve both lost people we cared about because of it… but we might have lost a lot more if we hadn’t. Like you told me in the tunnel, this is what you do. And it is all worth it.’

Nina smiled, accepting his words as truth and feeling that a weight had been lifted from her. ‘Thanks, honey. I didn’t need to pay for a shrink after all, did I?’

‘Just call me Dr Frasier Chase.’ She could almost see his grin even across the gap between the two fighters.

The aircraft moved into position behind the KC-135, Nina’s the first to connect to the refuelling boom extending from beneath its tail. The procedure was completed quickly and cleanly. The Saudi F-15 then took its place before both Eagles, now fully fuelled, dropped away from the tanker. ‘You ready?’ Eddie asked.

‘Not entirely, but…’ Nina took a deep breath, then gave him a thumbs-up. ‘Let’s make everything worth it.’

The F-15s ignited their afterburners. Side by side, they raced into the empty sky.