The Edge of Armageddon

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

Drake waited inside the cop station, feeling entirely helpless as they hung on every tip, every sighting, every barest nugget in regards to Ramses, Hayden or the nuke. The truth was, New York was too big to scour in a matter of hours and the phones rang off the hook. Its people were too numerous and its visitors too plentiful. It might take ten minutes for the Army to reach the White House but, despite all its guards and security measures, how long would it take to search that relatively small place? Now, Drake thought, put that scenario in New York and where do you stand? It was a rare event when the security forces captured terrorists actually committing their act of atrocity. In the real world, the terrorists were chased and tracked down after the outrage.

Dahl arrived at last, looking disheveled and world-weary, the rest of the SPEAR team at his back. Kenzie inexplicably started looking around and asked where the evidence room was. Dahl just rolled his eyes at her and said, “Let her go or she’ll never be satisfied.” The rest of the team crowded around and heard what Drake had to say which, apart from worrying about Hayden, wasn’t an awful lot.

Moore simplified matters. “People are aware of a terrorist threat to the city. We can’t evacuate though we aren’t stopping those trying to leave. What will happen if the bomb does go off? I don’t know, but it’s not for us to think about recriminations right now. Our systems are shot, but other agencies and precincts have access to other feeds. We’re collating them as we speak. Most of the systems are up and running. The streets are quiet for New York, but still busy when compared to most towns. The roads too.”

“But nothing so far?” Smyth asked with surprise.

Moore sighed. “My friend, we are responding to a hundred of calls per minute. We’re dealing with every whacko, every prankster, and every plain scared good citizen in the city. Airspace is closed except to us. We were going to close down the Wi-Fi, the Internet, and even the phone lines, but understand we are just as likely to get a break from that avenue as we are from a street cop or an FBI agent or, more likely, a member of the public.”

“Undercovers?” Dahl asked.

“No cells remain that we know of. We can only assume that the cell now protecting Ramses was recruited nationally and by a local. We don’t believe our undercovers can help but they’re working every angle.”

“So where does that leave us?” Lauren asked. “We can’t find the cell, Ramses, Price or Hayden. We haven’t detected the nuke,” She studied every face, still at heart a civilian brought up with syndicated shows where the puzzle pieces all lined up for the final act.

“A tip is what usually does it,” Moore said. “Someone sees something and calls it in. Do y’know what they call a series of hot tips down here? Two tickets to paradise, after the old Eddie Money song.”

“So we’re waiting for a call?”

Drake led Lauren over to the balcony. The scene below was frantic, the few cops and agents remaining fighting off the shell shock, tracking amidst the rubble and the broken glass, answering calls and pecking away at keyboards, some with bloodied bandages wrapped around arms and heads and other with legs elevated, grimacing in pain.

“We should get down there,” Lauren said. “Help them.”

Drake nodded. “They’re fighting a losing battle and this isn’t even the hub anymore. Those guys just refused to leave. This means more to them than a trip to hospital. This is what good cops do, and the public rarely see it. Only the bad ones are dragged out by the press again and again, coloring the general opinion. I say we go help them too.”

They made their way to the elevator, and then Drake turned, surprised to see the entire team at his back. “What?” he said. “I have no money.”

Alicia grinned tiredly. Even Beau cracked a smile. The SPEAR team had been through so much themselves today, but still stood strong, ready for more. Drake saw bruises aplenty and other wounds that were well-hidden.

“Why don’t you guys reload? And pack extra ammo. When we do finally go in to end this, we’re going in hard.”

“I’ll handle all that,” Kinimaka said. “It’ll provide a distraction.”

“And I will help,” Yorgi said. “I find it hard to follow even Drake’s accent, so will be lost with the American ones.”

Dahl laughed as he joined Drake at the elevator. “My Russian friend, you have that completely back to front.”

Drake punched the Swede, adding to the bruise count, and took the elevator to the ground floor. The SPEAR team then jumped in where they could, answering fresh calls and jotting down information, talking to residents and asking questions, directing calls that had nothing to do with the emergency to other designated stations. And although they knew they were needed, and helping, it sat well with none of them simply because Hayden was still unaccounted for and Ramses remained at large. So far, he had bested them.

What other tricks did he have up his sleeve?

Drake diverted a call about a missing relative and fielded another regarding uneven paving. The switchboard remained active and Moore still held out for his tip, his ticket to paradise. But it soon became clear to Drake that time was ticking away faster than milk spilling from a split container. The one thing that kept him going was that he expected Ramses to call at least once. The man had showboated so far. Drake doubted he would press the button without at least attempting a bit more theatre.

Cops ran the station, but the team helped, seated at desks and passing messages. Dahl went off to make coffees. Drake joined him before the kettle, feeling intensely helpless and out of place as they waited for information.

“Talk about a first,” Drake said. “This ever happen to you before?”

“Nope. I see how Ramses managed to stay hidden all these years though. And I guess the device is giving no radiation signature, since they haven’t located it yet. The man who repackaged that bomb sure knew what he was doing. My guess — ex US military.”

“Well… why? There are many people capable of shielding radiation.”

“It’s the other things too. The local knowledge. The secret team he’s assembled. Mark my words, Drake old boy, they are ex-SEALS. Special Ops.”

Drake poured the water as Dahl spooned in the granules. “Make it strong. Actually, do you even know what this is? Did instant make it to the North Pole yet?”

Dahl sighed. “Instant coffee is the work of the Devil. And I have never been to the North Pole.”

Alicia slipped through the room’s open door. “What was that? Heard something about a pole and just knew it had my name on it.”

Drake couldn’t hide a smile. “How you doing, Alicia?”

“Feet hurt. Head hurts. Heart hurts. Other than that I’m just fine.”

“I meant—”

The call of X-Ambassadors drowned out his next words, thumping through the speaker of his cellphone. Still holding the kettle, he tucked the device under his chin.

“Hello?”

“Do you remember me?”

Drake slammed down the kettle so hard recently boiled water splashed out and across his hand. He never noticed.

“Where are you, motherfucker?”

“Now, now. Shouldn’t your first question be—‘where is the nuclear weapon’ or ‘how long until I explode’?” Deeply amused bellows blasted down the line.

“Ramses,” Drake said as he remembered to switch on the speakerphone. “Why not come straight to the point?”

“Oh, where is the fun in that? And you don’t tell me what to do. I am a prince, an owner of kingdoms. I have ruled for many years and will do so for many more. Long after you are crispy. Think on that.”

“So you have more hoops for us to jump through?”

“That wasn’t me. That was Julian Marsh. The man’s freaky, to say the least, so I tied him to your Agent Jaye.”

Drake winced, snapping a glance at Dahl. “She’s okay?”

“For now. Though looking a little bound and achy. She’s trying oh so hard to remain perfectly still.”

Foreboding crawled through Drake’s stomach. “And why’s that?”

“So she doesn’t upset the motion sensor of course.”

My God, Drake thought. “You bastard. You tied her to the bomb?”

“She is the bomb, my friend.”

“Where is it?”

“We’ll get to that. But since you and your friends enjoy a good run, and since you’re already warmed up, I decided why not give you a chance? I hope you like riddles.”

“This is crazy. You are crazy, toying with so many lives. Riddles? Riddle me this, asshole. Who’s gonna piss on your body when I set it on fire?”

Ramses was silent for a moment, reflecting it seemed. “So the gloves are well and truly off. That is good. I do have places to go, meetings to attend, nations to sway. So listen—”

“I really hope you’re there waiting,” Drake interrupted, fishing quickly “When we get there.”

“Sadly, no. This is where we say goodbye. As you probably know I am using you to make my escape. So, as you people say — thanks for that.”

“Fu—”

“Yes, yes. Fuck me, my parents and all of my brothers. But it is you and this city that will end up fucked. And I who will continue. So time is now becoming an issue. Are you ready to beg for your chance, little Englishman?”

Drake found his professionalism, knowing this was their single option. “Tell me.”

“My antiseptic will cleanse the world of the infection in the West. From rainforest to rainforest, it is part of the floor under the canopy. That is all.”

Drake made a face. “That’s it?”

“Yes, and since everything you do in the so-called civilized world is measured by the minute, the hour, I will set the timer at sixty minutes. A good, famous round number for you.”

“How do we disarm it?” Drake hoped Marsh hadn’t mentioned the deactivation codes.

“Oh shit, you don’t know? Just remember this then — a nuclear bomb, particularly a suitcase nuke, is a precise, accurate and perfectly balanced mechanism. Everything is miniaturized and more accurate, as I am sure you appreciate. It will take… finesse.”

“Finesse?”

“Finesse. Look it up.”

With that Ramses killed the call, leaving the line dead. Drake bolted back to the office and shouted for the entire station to stop. His words, his tone of voice, sent heads and eyes and bodies swiveling towards him. Phones were replaced in cradles, calls ignored and conversations stopped.

Moore gauged Drakes’ face, then said, “Turn off the phones.”

“I have it,” Drake shouted. “But we have to make some sense…” He reeled off the riddle word for word. “Be quick,” he said. “Ramses gave us sixty minutes.”

Moore leaned over the unsteady balcony, joined by Kinimaka and Yorgi. Everyone else faced him. As his words began to sink in people started to yell.

“Well, the antiseptic is the bomb. That’s obvious.”

“And he intends to detonate it,” someone whispered. “This is no bluff.”

“Rainforest to rainforest?” Mai said. “I do not understand.”

Drake wound it around his head. “It’s a message to us,” he said. “All this began in the Amazon rainforest. We first saw him at the bazaar. But I don’t see how it works for New York.”

“And the rest?” Smyth said. “Part of the floor under the canopy? I don’t—”

“It’s another rainforest reference,” Moore shouted down. “Isn’t the canopy what they call the unbroken tree cover? The floor is undergrowth.”

Drake was already there. “It is. But if you accept that then he’s telling us that the bomb is hidden inside a rainforest. In New York,” He grimaced. “Doesn’t make sense.”

Silence fell over the station, the kind of silence that can petrify a person to helplessness or electrify them to brilliance.

Drake had never been more aware of the passing time, each second a doom-filled toll of the Judgment Day bell.

“But New York does have a rainforest,” Moore finally said. “At the Central Park Zoo. It’s small, called the Tropical Zone, but it’s a mini version of the real thing.”

“Under the canopy?” Dahl pushed.

“Yeah, there’re trees in there.”

Drake hesitated one more second, painfully aware that even that might cost them many lives. “Anything else? Any other suggestions?”

Only silence and blank looks greeted his question.

“Then we’re all in,” he said. “No compromise. No larking about. Time to take this mythical motherfucker down. Just like we did the last one.”

Kinimaka and Yorgi sprinted for the stairs.

Drake led the entire team into the fear-filled streets of New York.