The Breach

CHAPTER FORTY

Garner had been briefed on all events surrounding Tangent in recent days. Travis filled in the last half hour. When he'd finished, a silence drew out on the line.

The darkness blanketing the desert had begun to lift. Far away to the southwest, sunlight touched the tips of the Rockies.

"You say the defenses are currently down?" Garner said.

"Yes," Travis said, "but how much longer is a guess. No more than twenty minutes, I'd say."

"It's not enough time to get troops on-site. Not enough by half. That option's off the table…"

Something in his tone gave Travis a bad feeling about what was on the table. If it was what he expected, he understood why Paige had really sent him up here to make this call.

Garner told him the option. Travis had been right.

"Mr. President," he said, "there are survivors inside this building."

"I realize that. We have to think about the world's interests right now."

"What about the entities inside? The dangerous ones? Do we know how those will react? How the Breach itself will react?"

"No," Garner said. "We don't. But scenarios like this one have long been considered from every angle, by people who understand the factors in play better than your or I. This is the only choice we have. The missile will come from a silo about two hundred miles away, which means it'll reach Border Town in less than five minutes from the time I give the order. I'm sure your own safety is not on your mind right now, but if you have access to a vehicle, you could probably get outside the kill radius during that time."

Travis was silent. No, he hadn't been thinking of his own safety. Still wasn't.

Instead, another thought had come to him. Or almost come to him. He remembered grappling for it during the night, when he'd woken with Paige in his arms. Some connection he'd made, some insight at the edge of sleep. It was close to the surface again.

"Mr. Chase?" the President said.

Travis didn't answer. If he spoke now, if he did anything but feel for this idea, he would lose it.

"Mr. Chase?"

Another several seconds passed. Close. Right at the boundary of his awareness.

"Travis," Garner said.

It bloomed. Clear as a captioned image on a screen. He saw its meaning.

And its significance.

He saw hope, too. Hope that the Whisper could be beaten, after all. Right now it was tucked away in its little box. Right now, everyone in Border Town, good and bad, thought he was dead. And right now, there was a chance to find the one thing on Earth that the Whisper seemed to fear. Why else would it have killed all those people working to create it? That was a lot of smoke for no fire.

"There's another option," Travis said.

This next part would require a lie. A half lie, anyway. Or else it would never work.

"I'm listening," Garner said.

Travis explained about Lauren. About the quantum computer. Then he said, "We know where it is." That was the half lie. There was no we. Just he. He knew where it was. Thought he knew, at least.

"Where?" Garner said.

Travis told him what he believed. Then the president grew silent again.

"The Tangent detachment is still on Grand Cayman," Garner said at last. "They could probably reach the house in about ten minutes. It'll take another ten for them to do what you've described. If we make this gamble, and come up empty, we'll have lost the nuclear option as well. Border Town's defenses, once they're back up and running, can kill an ICBM a long way off."

Travis thought about it. Turned the possible outcomes over in his mind.

Garner said, "I need a zero-bullshit answer from you, Mr. Chase. How high is Tangent's confidence on this idea?"

Travis got as close to zero-bullshit as he dared. "There's no better move to make, sir."