by Nancy Madore
“Nadia, do you remember our promise when we started this whole thing?” asked Gordon. “We said we would wait to act until all of us were in agreement. We’re in this together.”
“Unless we get caught,” added Clive. “Then you’re on your own.”
Gordon gave him a look.
“Okay, if we get caught then you and Gordon were in on it together,” he amended.
Gordon just continued to stare at him.
“I don’t come from no rich family like you two,” cried Clive. “I gotta work for a living!”
Nadia took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said. “Here’s what I’m thinking.” She sat down on the couch. “I think T.D.M.R. has been acting independently,” she began. “I don’t believe that the Department of Defense has any idea what they’re up to. It was just Wessler, using his authority as head of that department to create his own little self-serving military operation.”
“I’m with you so far,” said Gordon.
“Me too,” said Clive.
“He might have been their only connection to the DOD,” continued Nadia. “By destroying T.D.M.R., we might be able to put an end to his diabolical plot. At the very least, we’ll be taking this power to create earthquakes away from nine very bad men.”
There was a pause as Gordon and Clive considered this.
“This technology will still be out there, Nadia,” said Clive.
“We can only fight one battle at a time,” she said. “With this one act, we could be preserving an alternative energy solution that will finally put an end to our dependence on oil. And we could be saving millions of lives in Japan in the process.”
“What about the American lives you’ll be destroying over at T.D.M.R.?” asked Clive.
“There will only be one casualty in my plan,” said Nadia. “Jeremy Nasterson.”
“Okay, now you’ve got my attention,” said Clive.
“I’ll need Poseidon,” said Nadia.
“Poseidon can’t go back to T.D.M.R.,” said Gordon. “They’ll be expecting that.”
“And don’t forget,” added Clive, “that they captured that other djinn that was working with Lilith. What was his name? Wayne Timmons? They probably put him inside Finbury. He’s probably standing guard over the building in case Poseidon returns.”
“All that’s irrelevant to what I have in mind,” said Nadia. “I’m not thinking about infiltrating the staff and orchestrating another earthquake. My plan is much simpler.”
“You’re going to blow it up,” guessed Gordon.
“Nasterson is going to blow it up,” she amended. “After he sets off all the evacuation alarms.”
“You’re going to turn Nasterson into a suicide bomber,” said Gordon, but despite his incriminating words, his eyes shone with admiration.
“No, Poseidon is going to turn Nasterson into a suicide bomber,” corrected Nadia.
“I don’t get you,” said Clive. “A month ago you would’ve had a real problem with this. Always bitching about two wrongs not making a right. You know this is terrorism, right? That’s what you’re talking about. Not to mention the destruction of government property. Blowing up a friggin’ military operation belonging to the United States Air Force.”
“Is it terrorism?” asked Nadia. “Or self-defense?”
“Self-defense?” asked Clive. “Against who? Your own government?”
“No,” said Nadia. “Against imposters, who have infiltrated my government and are using it to bring about an event that could destroy the entire world. This could be what my father was talking about when he warned Ornias about Armageddon.”
“Oh, so now we’re back on Armageddon!” said Clive. “Can you explain to me again how we got from an oil spike to Armageddon?”
Nadia couldn’t. “Maybe it’s not the oil spike that causes it,” she said. “Maybe it’s the methods they’re using to get there. I was reading Revelations and it mentions earthquakes.”
“Come on, Nadia!” said Clive. “Earthquakes have been around since the beginning of time.”
“Not man-made earthquakes,” she said. “Earthquakes are supposed to be naturally occurring phenomenon, when the pressure of these opposing faults gets to be too much. Who knows what could happen when people start intentionally creating earthquakes wherever they want in the world!”
“I still think that if we can come up with a good enough case, we might be able to get someone at the Department to help us,” said Clive.
“No one is going to believe us,” said Nadia. “You know how this works. It’s the same everywhere. Any unified group that feels like it’s under attack is going to protect itself first. It doesn’t matter if it’s a church, a political party—or a division of the government. Its first reaction will always be to protect itself from whoever or whatever is attacking it. That means a counter-attack. The DOD is no different. We attack one of their divisions, it’s only a matter of time before something gets pinned on us. We’ll disappear, and our claims will disappear with us. How do you not know this when I learned it from you?”
Clive sighed. “Okay, putting aside the obvious risks in letting Poseidon back out into the world, how do you propose we get him and Nasterson together?” he asked. “After what happened to Wessler, Nasterson probably has metal plates everywhere. Like I said before, I wouldn’t put it past him to have one installed in his head!”
“That would make my plan a little trickier,” admitted Nadia.
“Only a little trickier?” asked Clive. “What would you do, perform surgery on him to cut it out?”
“Maybe,” she said. “But I doubt it will come to that. It’s not that easy to get a metal plate put in your head, and even if it was, they would use surgical metal, not that antiquated metal combination that protects us from djinn.”
“I knew that,” said Clive.
“But you’re right,” she continued. “We can’t send Poseidon to him. We have to get Nasterson to come to us.”
“How do you plan to do that?” asked Clive.
“Isn’t it obvious?” asked Gordon, smiling now. “She’s going to use the masquerade ball.”
In spite of his reservations, Clive seemed genuinely impressed. He stared at Nadia in wonder.
“Don’t act like you haven’t already thought of it,” she said. “You were talking about using BEACON while we were still in Antigua.”
“That’s right!” exclaimed Clive. “This is my idea!”
“Are you sure you can get Nasterson to go?” asked Gordon.
“I think he’ll be delighted to go,” said Nadia. “He’s a bit of a recluse, as the most powerful people often are, but that shouldn’t be a problem because I’ve worked with him before. I think he’ll be very supportive.”
“It’s brilliant,” said Gordon. “This gives him the opportunity to appease his guilt.”
“That evil bastard isn’t feeling any guilt,” said Clive.
“That’s not necessarily true,” said Gordon. “People like Nasterson don’t see themselves as evil. They think they’re superior, certainly, and entitled, but not evil. He meant for that earthquake to hit Japan, not California. He probably feels bad about what happened to California and wants to help. It wouldn’t surprise me to find all nine of Wessler’s men contributing to this cause.”
Nadia nodded. “But I’m not going to leave anything to chance,” she said. “I’ll visit him in person.”
“Not so fast,” said Clive. “There’s still the issue of Poseidon.”
“It’ll be a one-time thing,” said Nadia. “It’ll be no more dangerous than what Gordon did with Ornias.”
“If you’ll recall, Ornias was supposed to be a one-time thing too,” said Clive. “And Ornias was no Poseidon.”
“We’ll take all the necessary precautions,” insisted Nadia.
“‘We’ll take all the necessary precautions,’” mimicked Clive in a high pitched voice that didn’t sound anything at all like Nadia’s voice. “Like she even knows what precaut
ions to take.”
“Well…you can tell me,” she said.
“It’s not that easy,” said Gordon. “None of us really knows what the djinn are capable of. The dangers develop over time. They are assessing us with every encounter. They are answering our questions but, whenever possible, they are choosing for themselves what to tell us. They are manipulating us into seeing things from their point of view. Every freedom is used to act in their own interests. It’s almost like the three wishes in Clive’s joke, or the proverbial ‘deal with the Devil.’ They don’t always fulfill their end of the bargain exactly how their captor intends. Wessler knew this. That’s why he awarded Poseidon so few freedoms and rarely dealt with Poseidon directly—and even then, you can see how Poseidon got the better of him.”
“What he’s saying is that each time you take them out there’s a risk,” said Clive. “You can lower that risk by taking precautions, but the risk is still there.”
“They get under your skin,” said Gordon, giving Nadia a knowing look. “Before you know it you find yourself liking them.”
“And we still don’t know what we’re actually up against here,” said Clive. “We all agree that it seems unlikely that Zeus would’ve brought Poseidon back for something like this. So who does that leave? Hades knew how the whole Tartarus thing worked too, but he was one of the siblings that Zeus freed from Cronus—which means that he was under Zeus’ control. In that case he would’ve been trapped in Tartarus with the others. That only leaves Uranus. We might be taking on an angel here. And not just any angel, but one of the Supreme Ones.”
Nadia raised her head stubbornly. “By their own admission, this earth was intended for us,” she said. “I don’t believe they will oppose our right to protect it—even if it does go against their ambitions to rule it one day.”
“Just to play Devil’s advocate here,” interjected Gordon, “what if these Supreme Ones are right? What if there really is some higher power that wants them to rule? What if Armageddon has to happen for a clean start?”
“I think this idea that we need someone else to rule us originated with the Supreme Ones,” said Nadia. “Something is making them wait until we destroy ourselves. This implies that there is something else out there—something even more powerful than the Supreme Ones. It could be our creator. Whatever it is, it would appear that it believes that we have the capacity to rule ourselves.” Nadia paused here for effect. “We might have God—or something like him—on our side.”
“Or the devil,” countered Clive. “Most religions would say that Armageddon is God’s will.”
“But why would God want the destruction of the earth that he had created?” asked Nadia. “And why would he use the most evil among us to accomplish it, literally causing millions of innocent people to suffer while a few of the most corrupt individuals live like kings? It defies all reason.”
“I agree,” said Clive. “But it doesn’t really matter, does it? I mean, what human being would just go along with the end of the world? I have to think that most of us would try to prevent it.”
Nadia nodded. “Does that mean you’re in?” she asked.
Clive and Gordon looked at each. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” Clive told him.
Gordon turned to Nadia. “Yeah,” he said fatalistically. “We’re in.”
“On one condition,” said Clive. “We all have to agree, right now, that, immediately afterwards, Poseidon goes back in that ring and stays there forever.”
“Agreed,” said Nadia and Gordon in unison.
They were suddenly quiet. Nadia found a chair and sat down. The mood had changed. All of the earlier excitement was gone. The air was now heavy with suspense.
“Why so glum?” asked Gordon in the seemingly forgotten Indian accent. “Is this not what you wanted?”
The accent caused the memories of their very first encounter to come rushing back. They filled Nadia with a strange anxiety that she couldn’t quite identify. She stared at Gordon in astonishment.
“The accent!” she said. “What made you use it just then?”
Gordon shrugged. “It is just something I do when I am on a new mission. Especially if I am nervous.”
“Does it help?” asked Nadia.
“Oh yes,” he said, again using the accent. “It helps me veddy much.”
“We do it to blow off steam,” explained Clive.
“You speak in the accent too?” she asked.
“No!” said Clive. “I…have other ways of blowing off steam.”
“He sings,” said Gordon, still using the accent. Nadia could see how talking with an accent might be calming. It was, at the very least, distracting. Even to hear it second hand was strangely comforting. “Or sometimes he harasses me…both seem to work equally well.”
“So I sing,” said Clive. “So what?”
Nadia smiled as another memory returned. “That’s right!” she said. “I remember you delivered quite the rendition of Lady Gaga’s Poker Face the morning after you kidnapped me.”
“At that recent hearing at our headquarters, he sang like a bird,” Gordon added sarcastically.
“Now why you gonna do me like that?” asked Clive.
Nadia laughed. “What about Will?” she asked. “What did he do to blow off steam?”
“I seem to recall that he got bossier,” said Gordon.
“Naw,” said Clive. “Will’s different. He’s cool as a cucumber without doing a thing.”
“Don’t you have something you do to help you relax?” asked Gordon.
“Let me guess,” said Clive. “You go shopping?”
“No!” said Nadia, insulted. She thought about it. “Actually, I don’t think I have any way of…blowing off steam.”
“Well there’s your problem,” said Clive. “Everybody needs something.”
Nadia smiled. “Pa, pa, pa poker face, pa, pa, poker face,” she sang tentatively. It did feel kind of nice, but she stopped when she saw Gordon’s face. “I don’t have a very good singing voice,” she admitted.
“You can’t sing,” said Clive. “Anyway, that’s my thing. Find your own.”
“But what?” she asked.
Clive shrugged. “Try shopping.”
“That’s so sexist!” she complained.
“Yeah, but have you tried it?” asked Clive. “Because most women like you find it very satisfying.”
“Well, I don’t,” she said. She was a little irritated that she didn’t have a method for ‘blowing off steam.’ She would have to come up with something. She had the feeling that she was going to need it in the upcoming weeks.
“Are you positive you’ll be able to get Nasterson at that masquerade ball?” asked Gordon.
“Yes,” she said. “I’m going to fly out to DC and invite him in person.”
There was another pause.
“When will you go?” asked Gordon.
“Right away,” she said. “Tomorrow. I should be able to catch a last minute flight. Come to think of it, I should ask Will to go with me…kill two birds with one stone.” She winced at her choice of words and glanced guiltily at Clive. “I just meant that I’ve been neglecting him lately,” she added.
“Are you sure you’re going to be able to do this?” asked Gordon.
“Yes,” she replied without hesitation.
“You need to watch yourself with Will,” warned Clive.
“Why?” asked Nadia. “Has he said something?”
“No,” he replied. “But he’s no dummy.”
This was hitting a little too close to home, so Nadia pretended to look for her phone. Once her hands stopped shaking, she “found” it in her purse, right where she left it. She flipped through her contacts and dialed a number. She stared defiantly at Clive while she waited for the party to answer. She was at her most confident by the time they came on the line.
“I’d like to book a flight from Kennedy to DC,” she said.
Chapter 43
Salcha, Alaska
/> The convenience store in Salcha was about an hour north of Delta Junction on the Richardson Highway. It was a scenic drive, with mountain views on either side of the mostly two lane highway. Though the air was brisk, there was, thankfully, no snow on the ground.
Beth felt a strange thrill of excitement as she approached Salcha. She felt hopeful. Anything seemed possible. Life was full of surprises.
She smiled. There was life after death. The enormity of this finally hit her. People really did have souls—terrifying, though they might be to behold. She couldn’t help wondering what hers looked like. Wayne used to say that she was as stubborn as a mule but as lovable as a kitten. She tried to imagine what this combination might look like. Of course, hers wasn’t one of the souls that kept returning after death (or not that she was aware of, anyway), but even so, it made her feel good to know that she would continue to exist in some capacity, even if her memories were lost forever.
But the best part about it was that she might actually get to see Wayne again! This prospect filled her with joy. To talk to him—really talk to him this time, about everything—seemed the most wonderful thing in the world. If it actually happened, it would make it all worthwhile.
There was so much Beth didn’t know about the man who had spent the last six years as her husband, and it hurt her, a little, to think that he hadn’t trusted her enough to confide in her. Would she have believed him? She wasn’t sure. Maybe all of this had to happen in order for her to believe.
The convenience store was a small, white building on an otherwise abandoned road, with two gas pumps out front. From the outside it appeared to be completely abandoned. Beth went inside.
A young man with long, greasy hair was sitting behind the counter reading a magazine. He looked up when he heard the bell.
Beth smiled optimistically. “Hi.”
He eyed her suspiciously rather than smiling back.
“This is going to sound a little strange,” she said. “But I’m looking for someone who stopped by here a few weeks ago.”
The clerk perked up a little when he heard this. “Are you a cop?”
“No, I’m a nurse,” said Beth, and she was relieved to see that his eyes still held a degree of interest. She handed him the picture of Greg.