by Liz Wolfe
“We’ll be over the facility in two minutes,” the pilot informed them. The plane continued to lose altitude, then evened out.
Zoe could see the building clearly now. Nestled into the side of the mountain, it was almost invisible. But the razor wire on the fence surrounding it glinted in the sunlight. She was surprised at the amount of land enclosed in the fence. The building sat squarely in the middle. There were no towns, villages, or even random houses anywhere close to it. A single lane snaked from the main road up to the building. The surrounding land was heavily forested.
“Did Ethan have any information when you called him?” Zoe asked as Drake focused his binoculars.
“The building appears to be owned by a private corporation. It’s called the Institute for Research.”
“That’s ambiguous enough to be anything.” She put the binoculars to her eyes and adjusted the focus. Drake put his binoculars down and hefted the camera with the huge lens, clicking off shots as the plane approached.
“What if they see us?” she asked.
“Not a problem,” the pilot informed her. “The call letters on the plane are registered to a tour company. They’ll assume we’re touring the Swiss countryside. And that’s if they even notice us. If you want to go in really close, I can cut the engines and we can coast in.”
“Maybe in a while,” Drake said.
Maybe never, Zoe thought. She scanned the building with her binoculars, trying to steady them against the movement of the plane. The building was rectangular, looking to be from one to three stories high. Parts of the roof were slanted, and a skylight sat close to one edge.
“There.” Zoe pointed. “A skylight.”
“Yeah, I see it.”
“I’ll bet that’s their Achilles’ heel.”
“A skylight?” he asked.
“People will invest a fortune in perimeter security. Fences, electronic alarms on the doors and windows. They forget about skylights.”
“They forget about skylights?”
“Weird, but true.” Zoe focused on the skylight as the pilot made another pass over the building. “I did a job about eight years ago. Place had the security of Fort Knox. Everywhere but on the skylight over the kitchen.”
“Yeah? What’d you get?
“Two mil in gems, eight hundred K in bearer bonds, and an original Botticelli.” Zoe grinned at Drake. “In the original frame.”
18
January 17, The Order Facility outside Bern, Switzerland
LOGAN WAS SURPRISED THAT WEISBAUM had brought him to the facility. He’d finished decoding the last of the documents several days earlier and had assumed that he’d be left behind once he served no further purpose. The drive from Florence to Switzerland had been uneventful and uninformative. Weisbaum had sat in the front with the driver while Logan and his uncle took the backseat. Giovanni seemed more energetic than he’d seen him in years. Almost like he’d turned back the clock. Maybe that was due to him having the opportunity to do work that he felt was important. Logan was having more and more difficulty arguing against what the Order was doing.
The trip had only taken a few hours, and it had felt good to sit and chat with his uncle for a while. Giovanni had even brought out the faceted crystalglobe as they reminisced about Logan’s childhood. Somehow that sparkling globe always made him feel better. Probably because he associated it with memories of growing up. Whenever his uncle would bring it out they would start talking about the past and before he knew it hours would have gone by.
Logan pulled a sweater over his shirt and opened the door to his room. He was almost surprised that it wasn’t locked. Outside the door stood a wheeled cart that held several covered plates, flatware, cups, and a thermal pot.
“Logan,” Giovanni called from down the hallway. “I asked to have some breakfast delivered to your room.”
“I hope that’s coffee in that pot.” Logan grinned at his uncle.
“Oh, yes. I remember how you love your coffee. Come, we will talk over breakfast.” He held the door open for Logan to wheel the cart inside. Giovanni moved the plates to the small table under the window and poured two cups of coffee. “Here.” He handed a steaming cup to Logan. “How do you like your accommodations?”
“They’re fine, Uncle Giovanni. A lot more spacious than I’d have thought.” His room was almost a studio apartment with its own bathroom and a nook that held a sink, microwave, and mini-refrigerator. “Actually, I’m surprised Weisbaum wanted me to come along since I’ve finished the decoding.”
“You have been an important part of what we’re doing. We want you here.”
Logan took the cover off his plate and dug into the scrambled eggs. “I’m glad they were pleased with my work. Still, I’d like to know more about what the Order is doing.”
“You will. Soon enough.” Giovanni pulled the crystal globe from his pocket and held it up. “Look at the light, Logan.”
Logan took another sip of his coffee and looked at the prismatic light. He set his coffee cup on the table and moved his hands to his lap.
“We love to look at the light. The light reminds us of everything that is good.”
“Yes, it does.” Logan’s voice was soft. His eyelids fluttered.
“The light tells us everything we need to know. And soon you will know without the light.”
“I will know.”
“You’ll know that together we will lead the Order to where it needs to be. Together we will change the world. Even as I am the Capo of the Order, you will be the next one called Capo.”
“The next Capo,” Logan repeated.
“You understand how right this is. How we are changing the world for good.”
“I understand.”
Giovanni continued speaking to Logan in a low murmur. He moved to stand behind Logan and ran his hand through the hair at the nape of his neck. It was still there. The tattoo he’d put there years ago. He smoothed Logan’s hair back down and sat in the chair across from him. After a few more minutes of instruction, Giovanni put the crystal globe back in his pocket and picked up his coffee.
“I want you to see what the Order is doing. What you’ve been a part of. We never could have completed the new energy source without your help.”
“It’s finished? That’s great. Although I have no idea what you actually did. Most of those papers were like reading a foreign language to me.” Logan put a forkful of scrambled eggs into his mouth. “Is it a secret or can you tell me how it works?”
“Both.” Giovanni chuckled. “It has to be a secret, of course. For now. But you will see it today. In fact, you’ll be working in the lab. After breakfast I’ll show it to you.”
“It’s just amazing that the Order has done this. It’s going to change the world. No more reliance on petroleum. Although I don’t imagine that’s making some people really happy.”
“The oil was running out anyway. Another twenty years, maybe thirty, and we’d have been riding horsesagain.” Giovanni leaned back in his chair. “I am pleased that you see the rightness of what we’re doing. There are some who won’t. Not immediately. But eventually, they will all see a better world.”
“Is that what the Order is really about, then? Making a better world?”
“Absolutely,” Giovanni assured him. “Making the best world. For everyone.”
“Then, I’m all for it.”
“Good, good.” Giovanni picked up his coffee. “Finish your breakfast and I’ll give you a tour of the place.”
Logan lifted a forkful of eggs. “You keep saying we. So, you feel like a part of the Order?”
His uncle smiled. “Absolutely. You’ll see. Soon, you’ll feel like a part of it, as well.”
“Let’s go, then. I’m anxious to see the place.”
Giovanni led him down the hallway to an elevator. They descended from the third floor to the second sublevel. The elevator opened onto a spacious room with sliding doors on three walls. Logan noticed an electronic keypad and small, flat pa
nel next to each door. Giovanni crossed to the opposite wall and motioned Logan over. “Place your palm on the panel.”
Logan pressed his palm against the panel and the screen flashed with a bluish light and the doors slid open.
“See? You have access to everything here.” Giovannistepped into the lab and waved his hand. “This is where you’ll be working. With me.”
“But I don’t know anything about physics. What will I do?”
“You’re smart. You know a lot about computers. There will be much for you to do. But for now, just make yourself familiar with the place.”
Logan was surprised at the expanse of the brightly lit space. There were counter-height stainless-steel tables that held a variety of instruments that Logan couldn’t identify. One wall was banked in computer screens displaying a variety of graphs with red and yellow bars that moved up and down, and lines of indecipherable numbers and letters. Four individuals in lab coats stood at keyboards, watching the displays and typing in commands. At the far end of the room stood an enormous device behind a glass wall. A purple laser beam shot out from a silver cone into another part of the device contained in a large silver cylinder.
“What’s that?” Logan squinted at the device.
“Ah. That is the energy source I’ve told you about. Come, take a look at what you have helped to create.” Giovanni guided Logan across the room to stand before the glass wall.
“How’s it work?”
Giovanni laughed. “It’s complicated, but basically, the laser beam is aimed at water that has been treated.
Much like cold fusion. But we’ve applied some quantum physics theories. When you get down to an atomic level, matter interacts with matter differently.” Giovanni waved at the glass wall. “That’s what all those other scientists were missing. It was necessary to blend the basics of Newtonian physics with what we’ve learned about quantum physics.” He shook his head. “Unfortunately, too many scientists are just not able to cross that line.”
“So, what are you doing differently?”
“It sounds simple, but scientists worked on it for years, decades. When we brought all the information together, we found a way to make the laser fuse two extra neutrons to a hydrogen atom.”
“Two neutrons? Heavy hydrogen only has one extra neutron.”
“Exactly!” Giovanni said. “The two neutrons make all the difference.”
“And that’s the source of the energy?”
“That’s part of it. But the really exciting part is what we can do with the energy. With cold fusion, you get inexpensive, nonpolluting energy. That, in itself, is wonderful.”
“And something people have been after for a long time. Since Pons and Fleishmann in eighty-nine.”
“Exactly. But we’ve gone further. Much, much further. Look at that.” Giovanni waved his arm atthe energy device. “Ten of those will power all of New York City.”
“That’s incredible, Uncle Giovanni.” Logan felt an immense relief. The Order really was doing something good for the entire world. He was amazed that he’d ever thought otherwise. They were secretive, but they had good reason for that. His own government would do the same if they were developing something like this.
January 17, Outside Bern, Switzerland
“YES, ETHAN, IT’S REALLY NECESSARY.” Drake paced to the window of the hotel room, cell phone tucked between his ear and shoulder.
Zoe watched him turn and pace back across the room. Talking to Ethan about checking out the Order’s building on foot was probably a waste of breath. Drake closed his cell phone and sat down on the foot of the bed. Zoe smiled at him in sympathy. “He said no, huh?”
Drake looked up and grinned. “We’re good to go. And we’re getting some satellite help.”
“You’re kidding? You have got to tell me how you do that with Ethan. I can never talk him into anything.”
“Oh, he has some rules for us to follow.”
Zoe snorted. “Rules? Has Ethan ever been in the field?”
“Actually, he was for years. And, from what I hear, he was excellent. Although he also did everything by the book.”
“Figures. So what’s with the satellite?” she asked.
“He’s going to have a tech track us on satellite. They’ll also be able to tell us if there’s anyone close to us.”
“I thought that was just something that happened in movies.”
“Oh, no. It’s real enough. Although it has its limitations.” Drake walked to the window and pulled the drape aside. “Almost dark. You ready?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Zoe pulled a dark turtle-neck sweater over her T-shirt and fastened her fanny pack around her waist. He picked up the duffle bag and held the door for her.
Half an hour later, Drake pulled the BMW off the road and parked a few yards from the chain-link fence that surrounded the Research Institute. He placed an earpiece in his ear and punched a number into his cell phone, then pulled the duffle bag from the backseat and opened it. He handed a pair of heavy-duty wire cutters to Zoe.
“Hey, Ethan. Is the tech ready?” Drake gave Zoe a thumbs-up sign.
Zoe nodded and walked to the fence. She’d already checked the fence and was a little surprised that it wasn’t electrified. Of course, that could mean the place was so well defended that an electric fence wasn’t necessary. While Drake talked to the tech ops person, she cut through the chain link and pulled back a section big enough for them to enter.
“Ethan says they aren’t detecting anyone outside the building. We’re to recon the exterior security and try to find a place where the team can enter.”
Zoe looked up at the sky. “And they can see where we are?”
“They use infrared to see our heat signatures. They can’t see much inside the building, but anyone outside the building will show up.”
Drake carried the duffle bag over his shoulder as they loped across the half mile of ground to the building. They stopped next to a tree about a hundred feet from the building. It was bathed in a soft glow from the footlights that surrounded it. Zoe hoped that meant there were no motion-sensitive lights. The remaining distance to the building was smooth lawn and that made her nervous. Even though there didn’t appear to be any guards, she didn’t like the idea of just walking out in the open. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be another option.
“Ethan says there’s a large heat source at the rear of the building.”
“Large? Bigger than a person?”
“That’s what he says.”
“Bigger than a group of people?”
Drake grinned. “I guess we’ll find out.”
“I’m getting the impression that you really like living on the edge, Drake.”
“And you don’t? Let’s go.” Drake trotted down the line of trees until he reached a point that lined up with the corner of the building, then cut across the expanse of lawn.
Zoe swallowed her aversion to the open space and loped after him. She stopped just behind him in the deep shadow between the footlights. She peered around the corner and breathed a sigh of relief that there were no people. Instead, she saw a metal rectangle with two vents on top. In the cold air, she could see the waves of heat emanating from the structure. Must be an incinerator of some kind. She turned to Drake, who was speaking softly into the microphone of his cell phone headset.
“Yeah, it looks like an incinerator, Ethan.” He pulled her back into the shadow. “Right. I’ll let you know what we find.”
“Where to now?” Zoe asked.
“Now we check out the security of this place. You see anything that grabs your attention?”
“From what I can see, they have the windows wired. No motion-activated devices. The keypad on the front door is a Saf-T-Max. It’s a good system, but not impossible to circumvent. The only cameras I saw were at the front entrance.” She paused and looked at Drake. “Do you want me to speculate on the interior security? Considering what’s out here, I’d expect more security on the inside. Camera
s, some motion-activated alarms, although they’re probably only turned on after normal working hours.”
“You picked up all that just from running around the side of the building?”
Zoe shrugged. “It’s what I do.”
Drake snapped a few photos, then tucked the camera into his pocket. “Let’s check out the other side of the building.”
Zoe followed him, stopping when he paused to snap more photos. This side appeared pretty much like the other. She looked at the building with a critical eye. There was no easy egress into the building from the ground. The windows and doors were alarmed. She looked up at the second floor. Probably alarmed, as well. The only other entrance she saw was a door set a couple of feet into the ground with three steps leading down to it. Probably led to a basement. If she were going in, she’d still bet on the skylight.
They rounded the corner and Drake halted, holding out an arm to stop Zoe. “Look at that.” He pointed to an area a couple hundred yards from the building. “Let’s check it out.”
“I don’t remember seeing this from the plane.”
“The trees blocked the view.” Drake loped across the ground and stopped at a structure made of tall poles with cargo netting draped between them. Farther out were other structures that looked vaguely familiar to Zoe.
“Ethan, we’ve found an area a couple hundred yards from the building that looks like a training setup.”
“What is this?” Zoe asked.
“Exactly, Ethan. This looks a lot like boot camp. There’s an obstacle course, firing range, workout area.”
“They’re training soldiers?” Zoe looked at Drake.
He nodded. “Let’s get back to the building. There’s a patio with some floor-to-ceiling windows on this side.”
They trotted back to the building and across the large patio. Zoe peered into a window and was surprised to see a classroom. Moving to the next window, she saw another classroom. From the low tables and small chairs, this one appeared to be geared for small children.
“This is just strange. Classrooms for small children and a training area for soldiers just a few yards away? It makes no sense.”