Thero looked down at her and stepped closer. “Of course they will,” he said. “But I’ll be gone. And I’ll take what they threatened me with to use against them.”
He pointed to an object resting by the wall. The Russian suitcase bomb. He could either use it to obliterate some enemy or sell it for millions.
Thero saw the fear in her eyes as she stared. He relished it and went back to his console, reaching over to the intercom and switching it on.
“Janko!” he shouted. “What’s happening?”
“We’re under attack,” Janko said. “Must have been…”
The staccato sound of gunfire blocked out the rest of Janko’s statement.
“Janko?”
“They’ve released the workers,” Janko shouted. “There’s a riot down here. We’re being overwhelmed.”
“Bring your men up here,” Thero ordered. “We can hold them off from the control room.”
“I’ll send them now,” Janko said, his words punctuated by another blast of gunfire.
Thero turned his attention back to the power grid. The levels were coming up. As soon as they reached the green margin, he began the initiation sequence, and the first ghosts of effervescent light began flittering through the cave on the other side of the window.
The sight mesmerized him, as it had always done before. So much so, he never saw Hayley Anderson sneak up on him.
She tackled him and threw a punch into his face, but Thero had few nerve endings left there. He felt the impact and little more. Enraged further, he flung her off and slammed her head against the console, knocking her cold.
He felt a short spasm of remorse, but it passed. She deserved it. Another traitor.
He stood and went to the window. The orb had locked itself into place. Target: Australia. The system was beginning to draw energy from the zero-point field.
It wouldn’t be long now.
FORTY-SIX
With the gale rising in strength, Paul and the other NUMA commandos had a difficult time boarding the MV Rama, but once they were aboard, things calmed down. They marched to the bridge and took over command of the ship.
The Vietnamese captain then led them to the sick bay, where Captain Winslow and four members of the Orion’s crew were being held. They also found several of the Russian commandos laid up and dehydrated.
“Grab their weapons,” Paul said to the Gemini’s chief. As his men traded in their wooden rifles for real ones, Paul felt a sense of control building.
He made his way to Captain Winslow, who eyed him strangely.
“Paul?” the captain said, glancing at the Australian flag armband. “You make a career change recently?”
“Sort of,” Paul said. “Gemini is standing by to help. What’s the story here?”
Winslow explained about the sinking of the Orion and the rescue/abduction of the survivors at the hands of the Russians.
“How’d you get control of the ship?” Paul asked.
“Obviously, we didn’t.”
“But this ship’s been tracing out the path of the constellation of Orion for the past thirty hours,” Paul said. “That can’t be a coincidence.”
Winslow smiled. “Kurt,” he explained. “He had those Russians chasing their tails. Zigzagging all over the place. He said it was to keep the final destination secret. Who’d have thought he was sending up a message at the same time.”
“Where is he?” Paul said. “We haven’t found him.”
“The Russians took him, Joe, and the Australian woman with them. They’re staging some kind of raid on Heard Island. That’s where Thero’s base is. That’s where he’s hiding.”