Apocalypse

14

Warner stared in awe out of the window as the Gulfstream C-20D settled onto the runway of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s skid strip. As the aircraft slowed he could see rows of immense launch pads dominating the horizon, epic constructions of welded steel forged into history at the dawn of the space race. The names of missions that carried the weight of legend flashed through his mind, memories of what he’d witnessed in his childhood, as America’s most valiant heroes soared into the final frontier: Voyager; Mercury; Gemini; Pioneer; Apollo. Eagle.

Launch Complex 39 stood out from the rest, the home of the entire history of the space shuttle, and where the Apollo program’s moon-shots had thundered into the Florida skies aboard the mighty Saturn-V rockets, still the largest and most powerful launch vehicles in history.

‘We’ll disembark and drive to the operations center,’ Jarvis informed them as they unbuckled from their seats. ‘I’ve called ahead and gathered a couple of Charles Purcell’s former colleagues to see what they can tell us.’

Ethan, Lopez and Jarvis were picked up by an Air Force crew transport and driven across a causeway that linked the base to Merritt Island and the Kennedy Space Center. Ethan watched as the headquarters building came into view, a long white three-story affair lined with palm trees, which shone in the bright sunlight as the truck pulled in. Jarvis led them out and a young Air Force ensign guided them into the building, hurrying through the administrative areas and into a large briefing room guarded by a pair of security personnel.

The guards recognized Jarvis on sight and opened the doors to the briefing room.

‘Judging by the guards they’ve got everybody in on this,’ Lopez whispered to him as they walked through the doors. ‘At least we’re not on our own this time.’

Ethan frowned.

‘That’s what makes me nervous,’ he replied. ‘I’m wondering what’s gotten them so worked up.’

Two men were waiting for them within the room as Jarvis closed the door behind Ethan.

‘This is astrophysicist Thomas Ryker,’ Jarvis introduced the younger of the two men, a scrawny guy with a narrow beard, big round glasses and a T-shirt bearing a picture of Star Trek’s Seven of Nine, ‘and this is astronaut Mitch Hannah. They both worked with Charles Purcell on the Hubble Space Telescope program.’

Mitch Hannah was a grizzled-looking older guy who wore a jacket emblazoned with the legend ‘VF-84’ and a skull-and-crossbones motif. Ethan recognized it immediately.

‘Fighting 84th,’ he said, identifying the legend. ‘You’re Navy, right?’

Hannah nodded with a proud grin.

‘Twenty-two years,’ he replied, ‘Phantoms and Tomcats, Nimitz and Enterprise. With the astronaut program now. You a Navy pilot?’

‘Fifteenth Marines,’ Ethan replied by way of an explanation. ‘You been up in the shuttle?’

‘STS-117,’ Hannah nodded.

‘Goddamn,’ Ethan smiled in awe, ‘I’d have given my right arm for a ride on that thing and—’

‘Good to see you two are on the same page,’ Jarvis cut him off. ‘You can catch up on old times later. Right now, we need to talk about Charles Purcell. Thomas Ryker worked with him for years.’

Ethan and Lopez looked at Ryker. The astrophysicist, for his part, stared wide-eyed at Lopez, as though captivated by a work of art.

‘You can put your tongue back in,’ Ethan said. ‘We’re here on business.’

Ryker shifted his gaze away from Lopez with some considerable effort and blushed.

‘What’s up with Charles?’ he asked, in an effort to distract the visitors from his flushing cheeks.

‘When was the last time you saw him?’ Lopez asked.

‘Couple of weeks ago, I guess,’ Ryker replied. ‘Visited his family down Coral Gables way — his wife’s a great cook. But since he started working freelance we haven’t met up as often as we’d like. Are they all okay?’

Ethan decided not to hold back any further. ‘He’s on the run and his family have been shot and killed. We’re trying to figure out if he’s responsible for the murders.’

All of the emotion dropped out of Ryker’s features. ‘Michelle and Amy are dead?’

‘Yesterday evening,’ Lopez confirmed gently. ‘Both were shot in the head. Purcell was seen fleeing the scene.’

Ethan watched the kid closely. He was staring at Lopez again but this time the adolescent lust was replaced by cold disbelief.

‘He wouldn’t have, he couldn’t,’ Ryker uttered. ‘There’s just no way.’

‘That’s not how it looks right now,’ Ethan pointed out. ‘And if Purcell is innocent we’ve only got a few hours to prove it.’

‘How come?’ Mitch Hannah asked.

Ethan glanced at Jarvis, who nodded, and Ethan explained what he and Lopez had seen in Purcell’s rented apartment in Miami: the code and the scrawled warning. Ryker and Hannah exchanged a glance with each other and the older man looked at Jarvis.

‘I’ve got less time with Purcell than Tom here, but I’d vouch for him as being a straight up kind of guy. If he’d had marital problems he’d have shared them, not gone home and shot his family.’

‘Right on,’ Ryker chimed in. ‘Charlie loved his family, never stopped going on about them. Whatever happened, he didn’t kill them.’

Ethan sat down on the edge of a desk.

‘Point is, Purcell appears to have been able to predict things happening before they actually did.’

Ryker leaned forward. ‘How far in advance?’

The direct question left Ethan momentarily stumped, and he realized that he’d expected Ryker to say that what he’d suggested was impossible, like most everybody else.

‘At least twenty-four hours,’ Ethan replied. ‘You think that he could actually do that?’

Ryker sat back again and pushed his spectacles up on his nose as he considered the question.

‘It’s not impossible, let’s put it that way.’

‘Yes it is,’ Mitch Hannah scoffed. ‘Time travel is the stuff of science fiction. It just can’t be done.’

Ryker nodded.

‘That’s absolutely right,’ the kid agreed. ‘Time travel is indeed impossible as far as we know. But I didn’t say anything about travelling through time, did I?’

‘Then what did you mean?’ Lopez asked, confused.

Mitch Hannah rolled his eyes.

‘Tom, these guys are investigating a homicide. We don’t have time for Star Trek fantasies. They need answers, and if there’s one thing I’m damned sure of it’s that Charles Purcell can’t see into the future.’

Ryker blinked, suddenly unsure of himself. Ethan was about to interject when the door to the room opened and a member of the center’s staff poked their head inside.

‘There an Ethan Warner in here?’

Ethan turned to face him. ‘Sure, that’s me.’

The staffer walked in with a package and handed it to Ethan. He took it in surprise, seeing his name on the parcel and the address of the Kennedy Space Center.

‘What’s this?’ he asked.

‘Arrived a moment ago,’ the staffer said.

Ethan looked at the postmark on the parcel and felt a shiver run down his spine.

‘It was posted yesterday,’ he uttered in disbelief.

Mitch Hannah stood up from the desk and stared at the parcel as though it were a ticking bomb.

‘Tell me that somebody knew you were going to be here.’

Ethan shook his head.

‘I’ve never been in this building in my life and didn’t know I was coming here until an hour ago.’

Lopez looked at Ethan. ‘Who sent the parcel?’

Ethan looked at the bar-coded UPS sticker on the parcel.

‘It’s from Hallandale, Florida,’ he murmured. ‘Where Purcell was hiding out.’

The parcel contained something slim and hard, like a CD case but larger. Gambling that there was nothing sinister within, Ethan tore off the edge of the parcel and slid the contents out.

‘It’s a diary,’ Lopez said, looking at the black book in Ethan’s hand.

Ethan set the packaging down on the table beside him and opened the diary’s first page.

The words that he read there chilled him to the core. ‘Oh my God.’