by Paul Byers
“The entire structure of the iceberg is permeated with the methane hydrate. The center of the berg was purposely hollowed out to allow tens of thousands of cubic feet of the gas to accumulate until the time of detonation. As you guessed earlier, with a few simple additives, the juice will become extremely volatile, acting as an accelerant. The force of the explosion will level nearly everything within a one mile radius of ground zero while hundreds of secondary fires will be started by the falling debris and still burning chunks of ice.”
Cain walked over and sat down in a leather recliner. “That’s the how, the why is equally simple. This country is sick Gabriel, and has been for quite some time. I’m tired of seeing this great nation tear itself apart with self-serving, mindless bickering; we have lost our focus. I’m also tired of seeing two-bit thugs who rose to power in third rate nations through murder and intimidation threaten us with blatant terrorism, all in the guise of religious intolerance.
“Even with all my money, there’s only so much weight I can throw around outside the political arena. In order to do any good, any real good, I have to cut the cancer out from the inside.”
“So you’re a rich terrorist who wants to be elected so you can be a rich and crooked terrorist.”
“Nigel is not a terrorist,” Mallory spat out, “he’s a patriot.”
“I haven’t looked it up in the dictionary lately, but I’m pretty sure that killing thousands of your own countrymen isn’t considered being a patriot,” Pike replied.
Mallory started to get up and Pike had the distinct feeling she was going to slap him, or worse, but a raised hand from Cain stopped her. Cain got up and walked back over to the bar, taking his time to defuse the situation a little. He reached for a bottle and a small brandy snifter and filled it halfway. He swished the amber liquid around in the glass then inhaled it deeply, a smile beginning on his face that blossomed into a full smile after he took a sip.
“Louis Royer Preference VSOP Cognac. Delicious. I’d offer you some but then again you don’t drink. Pity really. Did you know the word Brandy is a Dutch word meaning burnt wine because they boiled it to distill it?” He took another whiff, another sip and another smile. “Even though the finest brandies in the world come from the Cognac region in France, I bet you didn’t know that it has its origins in the Middle East starting sometime in the 7th or 8th centuries?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I was wrong before,” Pike said snidely, “I should have said you are a rich, crooked, and well educated terrorist.” He looked over at Mallory and he could see that she was seething with anger but Cain calmly kept her at bay. “Okay,” Pike continued, reeling in his anger for the moment, “I understand you want political power, but how is destroying New York going to accomplish that? It’s been tried once before and it didn’t work then. Can’t you just run for office like everybody else?”
“What happened in 2001 was the work of madmen; their only goal was senseless destruction.”
“And you don’t call this senseless destruction? Pike nearly shouted out.
Gain shook his head. “You lack vision Gabriel,” Cain continued. “The perfect example of what I’m trying to accomplish can be found in your own home town of Seattle. The Seahawks play in Qwest Field, a beautiful new stadium, but in order for it to have been built; the old Kingdome had to come down first. A lot of people didn’t want to see the Kingdome go, but in the end, I think everyone would agree that the new Qwest field is a much better facility all the way around. Being an engineer you understand the need to raze the past in order to build the future.
“Great adversity or challenge brings this country together like nothing else can. You’re a student of history. The attack on Pearl Harbor galvanized this nation like nothing else in history ever has. The modern equivalent to Pearl Harbor was the Twin Towers. In times of catastrophe, people look for heroes. Case in point: The name of Rudy W. Giuliani, the mayor of New York City at the time, skyrocketed to the forefront of national attention for his handling of the crisis both during and after the bombing. If you remember, he became so popular that he ran for president of the United States.”
“So you want to become the president of the United States?”
“Eventually, yes. But like any complex plan, it will take time.”
Pike shook his head. “But why would the people support you when it was your iceberg that caused all the misery and damage in the first place?”
“It will be my iceberg, but not my fault. What day is it?”
“It’s the 10th.”
“And tomorrow is…”
“September 11th.”
“Exactly! That’s why I needed to stay on such a tight time schedule. When the iceberg blows up in New York harbor on September 11th, everyone is automatically going to assume it was a terrorist attack. In this country, New York has become the symbol for terrorist attacks with the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and with the Twin Tower attack in 2001. But more importantly, it has become the symbol of defiance and freedom and the resolve of the American people against such attacks.
“I will use that justifiable pride when I convey my sorrows to the people of New York, ashamed that my vessel, which was meant to bringing hope, instead brought death and destruction, I will then publicly commit my personal fortune to rebuilding the city.
“Contrary to what you may believe, this is not some quick-fix plan hatched by a madman in a moment of outrage or indignation. I have been laying the ground work for this event for years. I have established an elaborate and extensive infrastructure all designed not only to consolidate my grip on power but to quickly bring the resources together to rebuild the city bigger and better than ever. In gratitude, the people will elect me to continue to lead them as governor, and from there I’ll parlay my good will and experience and take the presidency. Once I’m in the Oval Office, with my new political clout and financial resources, I’ll be able to weed out the corruption and rebuild and focus this country on issues that really matter, establishing the U.S. once again as the world leader. First New York… then the country… and then I’ll rule the world!” He shouted, building to a crescendo, then bursting out in loud, deep laughter. Then he abruptly stopped and smiled as he looked at Pike.
“Sorry Gabriel, I just couldn’t resist.”
Pike just shook his head. “But what does K.D., the Senator or even I have to do with all this? Why kill them? How could they possibly be involved with your grand, twisted scheme to be president?”
“Their deaths are actually your fault.” Mallory said, taking pleasure in her words.
“My fault?” The words stung as they came out of his mouth.
“You can actually blame all this on Nigel’s damn butterfly theory,” Mallory continued, “which he has done nothing but gloat about nonstop since it happened.”
Pike just shook his head, not understanding but suddenly feeling guilty to think that he might somehow really be responsible for K.D.’s death.
“You were right on the edge of signing off on the safety inspection, then your stupid girlfriend tipped over that glass of water and that random act set the whole thing in motion. Once you knew there might be a fire danger, we knew your moral compass would be set and there would be no changing your course. For the public legitimacy of the project, we still needed the safety inspection signed off, so we had to discredit you so we could get a replacement signature with no questions asked. Marilyn and your little intern friend were more than willing to help.
“So as you can see Mr. High and Mighty, it really was your fault that she died because of your self-rightness and unwillingness to bend from your principals.” Mallory calmly got up and walked over and slapped Pike hard in the face. “That’s for calling Nigel a terrorist,” she said. She stared at him intently for a moment, then quickly turned around and poured herself a brandy.
She took a drink, then held it in her hand and thought for a moment. “You know, it’s kind of funny.” She said. “You have high moral standards and convictio
ns and yet here you are, all but convicted of a heinous crime and on the other hand Marilyn, who has the morals of…well you know Marilyn, is walking around free as a bird with tons of cash. Pretty screwed up world, huh Gabe?”
“Marilyn helped you?” Pike asked in disbelief.
Mallory laughed. “She was more than willing to sell you out. In fact, she not only signed the inspection document allowing us to enter the harbor, but for a little extra cash, she was also willing to kill K.D. and the Senator for us.”
“Marilyn killed K.D.?” Pike said quietly.
“As I said earlier, since we knew you wouldn’t sign we had to find a way to discredit you. Senator Williams was also becoming a liability and suddenly the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone presented itself, so we took it. Pug is a known womanizer so it was easy to set up the fake date-rape scenario and to have you stumble across it. Pictures are worth a thousand words so the icing on the cake was having the news cameras there to catch you red handed. By the way, thank you for picking up the knife when you did. I couldn’t have scripted it better myself.”
“The film crews were in on it too? Tabatha?”
“Makes for a great conspiracy theory huh? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, or a man with his toupee torn off.” Mallory shook her head. “They weren’t in on the original set up but being reporters, they were more than willing to help spread the news story once they saw what had happened.”
Mallory sat back down in her chair, still nursing her brandy. “You should be proud Gabe, your love-triangle story preempted the President and his economic summit. ‘The Blast from the Past just crashed!’ Kind of catchy don’t you think? The newspapers love it.”
“You’ll never get away with it.” Pike said.
Mallory and Cain looked at each other and burst out laughing.
“That’s so cliché.” Cain roared, “I expected much better from you.”
“Sorry.” Pike shrugged his shoulders. “You’ll understand if I’m not at the top of my game right now.”
Just then the phone rang and Cain answered. He talked for a few moments then hung up. “That was Captain Gregory. He informs me that we should make landfall by the early morning hours and be anchored in the harbor by mid-morning. Allowing for all the fanfare, speeches, and what not, everyone should be disembarked by 1:00, leaving the berg empty so the meltdown sequence can begin. It will take approximately three hours for enough vapors to build, filling the hold and all the tunnels. Detonation is set for 4:00, right before the afternoon commute, insuring maximum effect.”
“You mean maximum carnage.” Pike said flatly. “When are you going to kill me?”
“Again, straight to the point,” Cain said smiling, “I really will miss you, Gabriel. I truly wish things would have worked out differently for you and me. To answer your question, you are a clever man and I can’t take the chance of you escaping and causing any more trouble. I’d have you killed now, which is what I should do but I can’t, you are still The Blast from the Past so it must be done in the proper time and the proper way without raising any suspicions. For now, you’ll be led from here to a holding area where later tonight, after things have settled down a bit, you will be shot while ‘trying to escape.’ Don’t worry, I promise it will be quick and painless.”
“Gee thanks,” he replied sarcastically, “but don’t you think that my being shot will raise a few questions?”
Cain shrugged his shoulders.” Possibly, but after the explosion, who’s really going to care what happened to a murderer?”
“Can I go now?” Pike said standing up rather quickly. “I’m getting a headache.” He noticed that when he stood, Mallory jumped a little. “What’s the matter Beth, a little nervous are we?” He leered.
“Good bye, Gabe,” was her simple reply.
Chapter Forty Five
A moment later, a man dressed as a deckhand appeared in the doorway. Though he was dressed in overalls, Pike could tell by the way he carried himself that he was security through and through. Pike was a little miffed that Cain didn’t think him enough of a physical threat to bring more than one guard. As they passed Cain’s desk, he simply nodded to him as he left.
Once outside in the hallway Pike thought about jumping the guy and trying to escape. He had never been in a fight before in his entire life but desperate times called for desperate measures. He quickly decided however, that that was a bad idea. This man was professionally trained and knew how to handle himself in situations like this. But looking into his eyes Pike could see more than a trained professional; he saw cruelty and malice that went beyond his training. So in the end, he would still be a prisoner, only he would be beaten and battered.
They left the main corridor and came to a small service elevator that he didn’t remember seeing on the schematics. They descended two floors then got off and followed several more small passageways. They passed several rat ladders and came to a small ice room next to an escape hatch.
During his tour, Miles had shown him the ladders and hatches. The ladders were used to travel between decks and were supposed to be used by the men who worked deep within the bowels of the ship as escape routes in case there was trouble. That’s why they were called rat ladders, because it was for the rats leaving the sinking ship.
The escape hatches were large, trashcan-lid size holes in the ice high above the waterline and were less than a foot thick. Beside each hatch were a sledgehammer and several lifejackets. In an emergency, the escaping crewmember would take the sledgehammer, smash a hole through the ice and escape.
The guard opened the door and without even saying a word, shoved him into the dark room. Pike landed hard on the floor, hitting his shoulder and left knee. He lay there for a second, not letting his keeper provoke him. After a few moments, the guard just grunted and closed the door, disappointed that Pike didn’t get up and fight.
Pike stood up and felt his way to the door and found the light switch. He turned it on and surveyed his new and probably last home. It appeared to be some sort of storage room that was hastily converted into a brig. Fortunately the entire room was lined with the same, one-inch thick corkboard panels used in all the ice rooms, so he knew he wouldn’t freeze to death, not that he would be around that long to get the chance. There was a pile of canvas and plastic work tarps in the corner along with a bucket and mop, a stepladder and an emergency flashlight plugged into the wall. In the center of the room was a single, bent metal chair that had his parka on it; how nice, Pike thought, Cain didn’t want him to catch his death of cold before he shot him.
He quickly pulled on the jacket and sat down in the chair to appraise his situation. His first thought was to have a well-deserved pity-party. After all, just a week ago his biggest concern was whether or not he would lose his pilot’s license. Now, he was in a life and death struggle with a madman who wanted to take over the world. Yeah, he deserved a pity-party all right. He wondered if you served tea and crumpets with a party like that. He smiled to himself, and shook his head no, he didn’t have time for self-indulgence.
Looking around he began to think if he could use anything in the storage room to help him escape. Sitting in the middle of a giant ice ship, he wondered if Geffory Pyke, Cain’s inspiration, would be proud to see his dream had come true in Cain’s monstrosity.
Suddenly Pike had an idea and he shot out of the chair as if it were electrified. He started pacing, talking quietly to himself as he brainstormed. Normally when he had a problem to solve, he would write out all the pros and cons of the idea. It helped him make more sense of the situation if he could actually see what his options were. But with no pen and paper at hand, pacing back and forth like an expectant father in a waiting room would have to do. Cain’s inspiration had come from a man involved in WWII and so did his, the famous Jasper Maskelyne.
Maskelyne was a renowned magician used by the British during World War II to help them defeat the Germans. Maskelyne took the art of sleight of hand and transformed it to a who
le new level. In Africa, he used paint, canvas and plywood to make tanks look like trucks, trucks look like tanks and he even created an entire army that didn’t exist. His largest and perhaps most famous illusions were concealing the City of Alexandria and the Suez Canal from German bombers.
Pike mulled his idea over and over and knew that to escape he would have to create his own illusion. He had to make the guard see what he wanted him to see, and not to see. Being tossed into the room while it was still dark was big plus; he was betting that his captor wasn’t familiar with the room nor did he really care, which meant he could paint the scene with a blank canvas so to speak.
Pike headed straight for the pile of tarps to see what props he had to pull off his own vanishing act. Much to his delight, he found an old toolbox buried underneath the pile. It contained a hammer, a couple of screw drivers, some nails and a pair of pliers. He unrolled the canvas tarps, and all three of them looked clean and unused. He spread them out, took the hammer and a few nails out of the toolbox, then grabbed the ladder.
He took the first tarp and hung it on the far wall, being careful to cover the head of the nail with his sleeve to keep the pounding as quiet as possible. It fit the wall perfectly except for a small overlap at the bottom that he just folded under. He did the same thing on the other two walls and when he was finished, he stepped back and admired his handy work. The room looked empty and nondescript. Phase one was now complete.
He put the chair back in the middle of the room where it had been then he laid the ladder on the floor in the right corner and tucked the toolbox under it. He took out the hammer and the screw drivers and hid them in the hem at the base of the canvas on the left and right walls in case the guard saw the box and decided to take it.
Now for the first test. Pike took a deep breath, then pounded on the door and shouted. He quickly stepped back and stood in front and just to the left of the chair. He heard the door unlock, then the door swung open and the guard came in. Pike studied him carefully as he walked in. His cold, dark eyes darted about the room, too fast to really take in any detail, all his attention was being focused on him. Perfect.