The Abacus Equation
Page 21
Chapter 21
Pensively Pieter tapped with his fingers on the desk. His mail was sent. A gulf of fatigue battered his body that was about to switch off now that he ran out of adrenaline. Stiffly he stepped to the balcony just in time to see Alex crawling out of the pool, his butt crack showing in his hanging swimming trunks. He smiled when he saw Jane's shocked facial expression. Alex, obviously unaware of his unrequested performance, looked up to Pieter and swayed with his phone.
“Good news. I persuaded the manager of the resort that you can use the villa next door. You can rest there. It also might be a bit cleaner than my place here.”
Pieter straightened his painful shoulders. He felt shattered. The loud crack in his shoulder made Alex shrink: “wow, that does not promise a lot of good if I can hear it till here.”
“A hot shower will work miracles," apologized Pieter, “and then catching up some sleep.”
He went downstairs and followed Alex to take some quick bites from the breakfast that had been brought in. Actually he was too tired to eat and it just didn't taste. Jane gave him a questioning look.
“The message has been sent successfully, now we can only wait. So first I am going to take a hot shower and then nap a couple of hours. The old box I am living in is about to switch off. We'll see each other for lunch.”
Jane stood up from the table. “It sounds like a good idea. I'll go with you.”
But the plan had not worked out. Pieter had just nested himself under the starched clean sheets when his phone rang. Assuming it was one of the journalists he had contacted, he picked up the phone with a painful gesture: “Hello?”
“Hi Pieter. This is Ian Summerton. How are you doing?”
Immediately Pieter was wide awake.
It was rather seldom that Ian identified himself on the phone. He assumed automatically that if he called someone they knew it was him.
“Ian? What an, euh, pleasant surprise. Yes everything is fine. Depends how you define fine.”
“You are groaning as if you just have run a marathon.”
“It feels like someone ran a marathon over me.”
Ian, as usual, did not waste time.
“I have just seen your mail. You have been able to attract the right amount of attention.”
Pieter was surprised that his message was already in the hands of Ian, who was not even in the addressee list. Of course he knew that Ian would be, faster than anyone else, made aware of what was globally going on. But that his message would even get on Ian's radar screen was amazing.
“What do you think of it?” Pieter inquired cautiously.
“I think that we are at the edge of a serious worldwide escalation between the superpowers. The past hundred years have been relatively stable, yet the number of small local conflicts has risen exponentially over the past years. Compare it with the earth's crust under which the forces of nature are building up. When the pressure is too massive it all erupts in one big outburst. It is not a matter if but when. That is what will happen now with our society.”
“But it is the intention that such an outburst is avoided by bringing these documents and plans into the open,” defended Pieter, not quite understanding Ian's logic.
“Oh indeed,” continued Ian “that should be the purpose. I am sending a plane to pick you up. Together with the Hutton sisters. It will be there in about six hours. Make sure you are ready. The coming days the world will not be a safe place. And Pieter ... I am looking forward to see you again. It has been too long.”