Sea of Fire

Chapter Seventy-Two

A Learjet looks a helluva lot bigger when you're rolling right up to it, Herbert thought.

That was not the only thought he had, but it was a powerful one. Waves of heat from the turbines were rising in the dawning sun. The machine was hot, volatile, dangerous. The pointed nose was like a lance aimed directly at him. The low hum of the engines was what Herbert imagined tigers would be like growling from behind brush. All it would take was a gentle nudge from someone inside to send the beast charging toward him. The helicopter had moved to an emergency access road beside the tarmac, leaving Herbert alone. Now that the Bell was out of the way, Herbert had no doubt that Jervis Darling would like to run him over. The intelligence chief hoped the pilot and copilot would be disinclined.

As Herbert rolled himself forward, the cabin door of the jet swung open. Someone charged down the steps. Herbert could not see the figure clearly, but it could only be Jervis Darling. He approached aggressively, with a shoulder-driven swagger. It gave Herbert a moment's hesitation. Darling was not that many generations removed from the people who first cut civilization into the rough terrain here. They were convicts and their keepers, for whom hardship was constant. As he had discovered before, it was going to take a lot to cow him. Hopefully, the extra ammunition Herbert had would give him the kill shot he needed.

"Get out of my way!" Darling said as he approached. "Leave, or I will call the chief constable and have you removed."

"Call him. Then I'll have to explain why I was here." Herbert stopped moving forward. He pressed down on the brake to lock his wheels. There was no wind. He could hear Darling breathing as he approached.

"Your delusions don't interest me," Darling said as he stopped in front of Herbert.

"My 'delusions' will interest the police," Herbert said.

"Let's see," Darling said. He took out his cell phone.

"Why don't you start talking, Mr. Darling? It'll save us a lot of time."

Darling speed-dialed a number.

"Even if I am removed, you're not going anywhere," Herbert said. "The helicopter will see to that. You're not leaving here, and if you're planning on going to your cove, the helicopter will get there before you do. And you can't afford to wait. That's why you were leaving now."

Darling turned his back on Herbert. He began walking away, the phone to his ear.

"The reason you didn't hear from John Hawke is because we rescued him from the yacht," Herbert went on. "He told us everything he knew about the operation. I'm sure I'll get more from your nephew. The Singaporean navy scooped him and several others from the Coral Sea. Probably an underachiever, right? I'm willing to bet he'll finger you to buy leniency for himself. That's what sycophants do."

Darling stopped. He closed the phone. He turned.

"What do you want, Mr. Herbert?" Darling asked. "I don't mean to leave the airfield but to go away. To leave me alone."

"You can start with the location of the nuclear materials you've been shuffling around."

"They're in your mind!" Darling said angrily. "We're not going to talk about your fantasies. Only about the reality of this moment. I'll ask one more time. What do you want?"

"I just told you."

Darling shook his head. "Mr. Herbert, I've tried to be reasonable with you. I've failed. Now I hope you'll get off the tarmac. Because I can fly that jet, and I intend to take off."

"You'd run over me?"

"Mr. Herbert, if everything you've intimated is true, one more criminal act would not make things worse," Darling pointed out.

The Australian turned and left. Herbert had one more round in the chamber. It was his silver bullet.

"I did not accuse you of murder," Herbert shouted. "But only a man who had already committed one would say that he has nothing to lose."

"I suggest you move!" Darling yelled over his shoulder.

"How will your daughter feel when she learns you had her mother murdered?" Herbert said.

Darling kept walking, but only for a moment. He turned and threw the cell phone at Herbert. It fell short, exploding on the tarmac. The Australian stalked back toward Herbert.

The kill shot had hit its target. Now Herbert needed one more very specific result.

"You shit!" Darling yelled. "You deformed shit!"

There was the verbal abuse. That was the start of the final phase, like Hitler shouting orders in the bunker as his world burned. If Herbert did this right, the rest was inevitable.

"Your ambition is as limited as your mobility!" Darling went on. "You have no eyes, no soul to dream, nothing!"

"You want to talk about a soul? I lost my legs in a terrorist attack," Herbert said. "I lost my wife then, too. I would give anything to have her back. But you had your wife killed out of vanity. Because it was convenient. Who's the deformed shit?"

"You don't know anything about my life!" Darling yelled.

"This may come as a shock, but the world is not Darling-centric," Herbert said. He was pushing. He needed one more thing.

He got it.

The Australian reached Herbert's side and threw a hard right backhand across his face. Herbert took the hit.

"You don't know anything about life itself!" Darling went on angrily. "Go back to your grim little cubbyhole and review reports and study the activities of individuals who make history! But don't be a spoiler. You have no idea what you're doing!"

"I do," Herbert said. "I just got a lunatic to slug me. The tower saw it. My people are calling your friend the constable right now from the helicopter. You're going to be arrested for assault. Then your government and mine are going to stop you from slipping radioactive material into subways and office buildings around the world."

Darling shook his head violently. "I was trying to help the world! Why should history be written by America or China? What happens to the rest of us? Where is our place in history?"

"Some of us would have been happy building an international empire and having a couple of jets to tool around in," Herbert said.

"Which is why you don't have those things!" Darling replied. "You settle. You dream small!"

"Really?" Herbert said. "I just sank you with a few words. That, Mr. Darling, is not small."

The sun cleared the horizon, and Jervis Darling seemed to shrink in it. In a moment, his shadow was taller than he was. The billionaire's arms went slack, and his chin fell.

"Where I come from, everything isn't about changing the world on an epic, historic scale," Herbert said. "Some of it is about improving ourselves, becoming better people. Better spouses. Better parents. That is not small either, Mr. Darling. It's a very big dream and an even bigger project. You ought to try it sometime."

The Australian looked at the yellow-orange sun. His face was lined, older in the stark light. Head cocked oddly to one side, he turned and began walking slowly toward the aircraft.

"Mr. Darling, where are you going? I need you to stick around," Herbert said.

"You need to leave."

"That isn't going to make the problem go away," Herbert said. "Too many people know."

He continued to walk toward the airplane.

"Mr. Darling!"

"One thing you still have to learn," Darling said, "is that people know what you tell them. I am not finished."

Herbert frowned. Something was up. Something unsettling.

And Herbert had an idea what it was.