The Sam Reilly Collection Volume 2

by Christopher Cartwright

  “Now, of course.”

  Chapter One Hundred and Four

  Sam was met at the front gate of the White House by someone who clearly didn’t need to see his credentials to let him through the gate. The man wore a full military dress uniform. It was covered in an array of medals.

  He was guided through the series of corridors and stairs that resided below the White House. The man then used his swipe card to unlock an elevator door. Sam stepped inside. The man leaned inside and pressed the lowest number – Five, and then stepped out, leaving Sam alone.

  The elevator began its long descent into the secure rooms located deep below the Whitehouse. Unlike a normal elevator that counted levels, this one appeared to count in hundreds of feet. He felt his ears pop as they equalized to the newer pressure as he descended.

  The door opened and the President Elect stood alone on the other side. “Hello President Elect Croft.”

  “Hello Mr. Reilly. Tell me you have some good news?”

  Sam looked around the room. There were several computers lined up along the back wall and a large rectangular desk in the middle, but the room appeared empty of people – with the exception of himself and President Elect Croft.

  “Are you certain this room is secure from listening devices?” he asked.

  “Absolutely certain. No one even knows we’re here. I told the Officer who escorted you in to make you wait at the fifth level. I’ve been in a briefing meeting on the fourth. He thinks that I’m going to let you wait on your own for an hour before I go to see you. Of course, we’ll be done long before then, and no one will ever know that you and I had this meeting. Why else do you think I ordered you down here? Now, tell me some good news.”

  Sam smiled and handed her copies of the files Luke had given him. “I’m afraid not all the news is good for you.”

  She picked up the manila envelope. The first image made her gasp. “Jesus Christ! Where did you get these?” She smiled beautifully in an attempt to cover up her concern.

  “Luke gave them to me.”

  She smiled like she was on show, but the tiniest of sweat on her forehead betrayed her anxiety. “I thought you said you hadn’t seen Luke since school?”

  Sam smiled. He was enjoying this. “I hadn’t. He gave me this when I saw him yesterday.”

  He watched her face turn red. “He’s still alive?”

  “Yes. Isn’t that good news. He said that Timothy Locke kindly gave them to him just before he hanged himself.”

  She swore. Then collected herself. “What are you doing here Mr. Reilly?”

  “I came because you asked for my help to catch the bad guy. Only, none of us realized that the bad guy was really a girl all along.”

  “Okay. What do you want?” she mistook Sam for someone who could be bought, or at least reasoned with.

  “You tried to steal the future of the human race, free from fossil fuels. Then you purchased a terrible weapon. Since then, you’ve lost control of it, and the damn thing’s seems intent on hunting you down.”

  “I’m a very busy woman, Mr. Reilly. We both know what I’ve done. Now tell me what you want to do about it?”

  Sam gritted his teeth in a rage of hatred. “I’d like you to go hang yourself so that I don’t have to kill you.”

  The pupils in her eyes widened with fear. “You wouldn’t dare!”

  “Why not? You said yourself that no one knows that you’re down here with me.”

  “But you’re beneath the White House. You’d never get away with it.”

  Sam smiled viciously. “My father’s put three of the last five Presidents in this Office. I’ve been granted access through this maze since I was a boy. I’m a familiar face as the Secretary of Defense’s poster child. She made me who I am, and there’s no way she would let anyone take me away from the task that she has set for me. I’m willing to take a bet that I could get away with it.”

  “She sanctioned this, didn’t she!” True horror now radiated in her dilated pupils.

  “No. I’m afraid even she was reluctant to assassinate a sitting President. Or even a President Elect. This I’ve decided to do on my own. ”

  “You’re Sam Reilly! I’ve seen your file – recruited while on your first tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2003, based on your profile, you were specifically targeted for scientific espionage. Since then, you’ve made several remarkable discoveries; proven the existence of the Master Builders, saved the world from a deadly virus. As recently as last year, you saved Manhattan and most of the east coast from certain destruction when you stopped Atlantis from erupting! No, you’re an all-rounded American hero! For someone like you, duty and integrity are paramount with life – without either you would cease to exist. Your word is like a binding contract, and you swore to serve your country.”

  Sam grinned. “Well Madam President Elect – you were right about one thing. I did swear to serve my country, but for the rest of it… I either had help, or just damn well made it up. My word’s not a binding contract – I do what’s right. Hell, your people have had me live so many lies, I often find it easier to tell another than to explain the truth. I serve my country by fixing things that can’t be fixed. Sometimes that means calling in experts to help rebuild something from a different angle, other times, I just get rid of something that plain old doesn’t work. And you, Madam President Elect, with your greedy desires, just don’t work for me.”

  “You wouldn’t dare! You can’t kill me!”

  “That’s exactly what the Secretary of Defense told me – I don’t see why not, you live and breathe like the rest of us, you may as well die too?”

  Sam pulled out a ceramic knife. It was small but it would kill her just as quick.

  “I’ll make you a deal, Mr. Reilly.”

  Sam laughed.

  It was a boisterous laugh at the simple fact that all politicians were the same – she had no idea that he wasn’t capable of being bought. She just couldn’t imagine that some people believe in a higher order. More importantly, he believed in the truth. And in this case, the truth told him that she had orchestrated one of the all-time worst crimes against humanity. By making a deal to bury the truth about Elixir Eight, she had traded the health and well-being of the planet and all persons on it for the sake of unlimited coffers to her campaign war chest. “I’m afraid you have very little I’m interested in.”

  “What if I told you that I know exactly how to find and kill the hive?”

  Chapter One Hundred and Five

  At 8 p.m. the Maria Helena cruised north, towards Bermuda. Sam Reilly flew the powerful Sea King down to meet her. They were only ten minutes out. President Elect Croft sat next to him. At a glance she still maintained her confidence, but she’d lost some of her carefree persona – her famous charisma.

  An hour earlier, using their secret email server, she’d emailed Timothy Locke informing him of her intention to review the Maria Helena, including the precise time and location. Timothy would never get to open it, but she was certain the nanobots would. It was the way they’d first discovered that she’d ordered Timothy to destroy them all. They saw her as the enemy. There was no doubt about it, they would come for her. Once she was aboard, the Maria Helena would become their next target.

  She looked tentatively across at Sam. “Are you sure this will work?”

  “The EMP has a twenty-mile radius. It will work.”

  She made no attempt to reply, and he didn’t check to see that she’d heard him. After a few minutes President Elect Croft turned to him and said, “You know I never intended half of these things to happen. I joined politics for the right reason. I wanted to make a difference. You and I have both fought on the same side our whole lives.”

  “No. You only fought with odds that you could win. To do that, you sold your soul to anyone who could give you the Presidency.”

  “It was the only way to make a real difference!” There were tears in her eyes – the best liars were the ones who believed their own. “I wanted
to save the world.”

  “If this works it will go a long way towards helping the world,” Sam reassured her.

  Her kind smile returned. “You know I will give my life to correct my mistake.”

  “Hopefully it won’t come to that.” Sam shook his head. “Tell me. Who was Peter Flaherty?”

  “Peter Flaherty is the reason I’m doing this!” She burst into tears. “Peter was my first son. I had an abortion at twenty-eight weeks, after doctors discovered that his brain was underdeveloped and thought he wouldn’t survive more than a few years. They agreed to mark it down as a miscarriage to save me the stigma associated with having an abortion – especially one so late in the pregnancy. Because of his age, we needed to give him a name.”

  “I’m sorry,” Sam said. His eyes were fixed on the nearly black horizon.

  “It wasn’t until six months later, when I got pregnant again, that we discovered that the problem was the result of lead poisoning. That’s why I loved my son until the day he died – because I was never given the chance with Peter. And that’s why I have spent my entire life trying to reach the Presidency, so that I can finally make a difference.”

  She lost all composure and Sam let her cry in silence.

  He landed on the back of the Maria Helena on the helipad and was immediately greeted by Veyron. “The EMP is ready to go Sam.”

  Sam grinned. “Good. Because they will be here soon.”

  Chapter One Hundred and Six

  Sam stood on the Maria Helena’s bridge. His eyes carefully switched between the screens which showed the satellite imaging of the water surrounding them, RADAR and SONAR. The EMP was fully charged, and capable of being fired in a 360-degree arc outwards from the Maria Helena at the push of a button.

  The strong hatches surrounding the Maria Helena were all fastened and the ship was ready for the most violent of seas. Sam felt confident. But he didn’t like waiting to see if that confidence was deserved.

  He didn’t have to wait long.

  At 8:32 p.m. the warning alarm went off.

  “Wave approaching from the bow,” Matthew said. His hands gripped both throttles as he was maintaining a slightly forward movement.

  “Are you ready, Veyron?” Sam asked.

  “Not yet. Let’s let it get a little closer. I want this thing to knock out the nanobots that are following the wave.”

  “Not too close, I hope.”

  Elise pointed at her screen which showed the satellite image of the water surrounding them. “There’s four waves!”

  Sam moved over to have a look. “They’re going to flood us together.”

  “Range?” Veyron asked.

  “Five hundred feet,” Matthew confirmed.

  Veyron hit the fire button. The pitch of the loud EMP changed to a higher amplitude. The sea outside their protected cabin appeared green. The bright glow creating a second daylight.

  “Prepare for the waves after they fall,” Matthew warned. “Confirm all hatches secured?”

  Sam looked to the portside door. He’d locked it himself – but now it was flung wide open. Vanessa had run out towards the bow. She was screaming hysterical obscenities at the approaching wave. Demanding God take her.

  The EMP discharged.

  Sam ran out the door. “Vanessa. Get back in here now!”

  All momentum seemed to fall from the four approaching rogue waves. The eerie green still glowed, but without the nanobots maintaining the direction of the flow, the waves were now free to dissipate in all directions.

  The largest remaining wave approached the bow.

  “Vanessa!” he ran towards her.

  She turned to face him. Her eyes were open and she stared at him – but they didn’t see him at all. “I’m so sorry Peter.”

  The wave struck and she was gone.

  Chapter One Hundred and Seven

  The next morning the Secretary of Defense sat in one of the dozen or more sitting rooms in the White House. Her legs were crossed while she ate toast for breakfast and drank strong coffee. She casually read the security briefings for the day.

  Less than an hour earlier, she’d been informed that the President Elect had been killed by a one in a trillion rogue wave, which struck a navy vessel while she was reviewing it. The ship had fortunately survived but she was washed off the deck and into the sea.

  An extensive search was under way, but so far they had not found her body. Interestingly, she also discovered the head of a certain oil corporation, had been executed in Saudi Arabia for crimes against his nation. She read the next line down. A previous Nobel Prize winner in the area of nanotechnology had hanged himself.

  She skimmed the rest of the notes. At the very end of the list, there was an article about a brilliant scientist. Apparently, a man named Luke Eldridge had discovered a new battery he’d named Elixer Eight which stabilized thorium so that it could be stored safely. His design was still in its infancy, but if proven correct, it would change the world’s entire reliance on fossil fuels, potentially within the next decade.

  She smiled.

  No, there was no way they could kill the President Elect. It was abhorrent just thinking about it. But somehow, Sam Reilly was a different sort of creature. She imagined many of the similar sorts of programs her organizations sponsored led people to irrational beliefs that they were above the law.

  Sam Reilly was different.

  In him, she’d seen his hard fact sense of duty – not just to America, but to the good of the entire world. He knew he wasn’t judge, jury and executioner. He’d come to her for permission. She’d refused, but Sam had gained what he wanted – her acknowledgement that it was the right thing to be done.

  And he had done it. She didn’t care how. Fact was, it had been done. If it was ever proven to be more than an accident, Sam in all likelihood, would serve the death penalty if he was ever caught. She doubted that would happen. Sam Reilly was much too smart for that.

  Good boy, Mr. Reilly.

  Epilogue

  The Maria Helena motored south following the celestial map of the golden eagle until it brought them to the Falkland Islands. Perched on the fifty-second latitude and approximately 400 miles east of the Patagonian Coastline, the Falkland Islands were barren in their idyllic landscapes and beauty.

  Sam studied the aerial footage of the island. Then he looked up at the night’s sky. It was crystal clear and full of stars. The seas were relatively calm for the latitude. The wind was minor by comparison – approximately 15 knots, it felt like ice. He pulled the collar of his large winter jacket over his neck.

  Tom looked at him. “You’re certain this is the place?”

  “Elise says she’s run the celestial markings through her database of night skies. This is the place. The Antiqui Nautae once lived here.”

  “Now we’re going to need to find it the old fashioned way.”

  Sam flicked through some aerial photographs of the area where the Antiqui Nautae supposedly hid their treasure. “The place is barren. If they hid anything, let alone all their worldly possessions, someone would have noticed by now.”

  “Unless they buried it?” Tom suggested. The glint of gold fever was in his eyes - again.

  “What do you want to do? Go digging for it?”

  Tom held the artifact up to the sky directly above him. Six of the seven stars aligned perfectly. The seventh was just slightly off. He pointed towards the island. “ We need to move in that direction, until the sky directly above matches with the holes in this artefact. We’ll never be able to get specific enough to find a place to dig. If anything, we’ll be looking at an area approximately twenty miles wide.”

  Sam stopped flicking through the satellite images. “Here it is. I bet you any money.”

  Tom looked at the image. It was the side of a barren mountain that met the sea. The photograph had been taken as a large wave erupted from inside the mountain. “What is that?”

  “A blowhole.”

  Tom smiled.

 
Blow holes were formed as sea caves are eroded landwards and upwards into vertical shafts, until they expose themselves to the surface. Given the right sea condition the pressure inside the cavern can build up with enough seawater to make it gush out the opening. In some circumstances, the blowhole can be miles inland, but is normally relatively close to the sea.

  “Now there’s a place to hide buried treasure for centuries. Not only is it one of the most remote islands on the planet, but inside a blow hole! No one would ever find that by accident. Even if someone wanted to they’d most likely die in the process.”

  Sam grinned. “Unless they had specialist equipment?”

  “You want to dive it?”

  Sam pulled his beanie further over his face to protect his face from the wind chill. “It’s going to be cold.”

  “I’ve dived colder.”

  Sam laughed. They both had.

  *

  An hour later Tom dropped into the icy cold water. Wearing a quarter inch laminate dry suit and a thick Polar Fleece underneath, he felt the cold rush over his body. So much for protecting against the elements.

  He checked his equipment at ten feet and settled into the water. “You coming Sam, or did the cold put you off?”

  Sam’s dive light approached. “I can’t believe you convinced me to dive this thing in winter.”

  “It’s payback for making me dive in the Alps a few years back.”

  Sam chuckled, “Come on. Let’s get this over and done with.”

  As they approached the island, they could see the rock ledge broke into a cave and became a natural crevice that ran deep into the island. They followed it for three hundred feet. Carefully judging the inward movement of waves to follow and then gripping the side of the rocks to prevent themselves being sucked back outwards on the backwards shift of water.

  At the end of the shaft moonlight shone on an opening to the surface. The crevice opened up to a large cave. As the pressure built up and filled the cavern, high pressured seawater would be forced up through the opening. “There it is Sam, but I don’t see any treasure.”