by Sam Nash
Mary almost choked. The urge to flee gained momentum in her legs, but her muscles failed to respond to her will.
Tawnie pressed home her advantage. “She’s the reason all those Christians were at your gate, isn’t she?”
The swift change in direction left Luca unready for the fight. Any preparatory explanations he had worked out to explain her presence evaporated from his mind. He stood, mouth agape, hoping a common sense approach would rescue the moment.
“I didn’t think it warranted a mention. Mary is my guest. How Christians perceive her is their problem, not mine.”
“Really,” Tawnie emphasised her mastery over the situation, moving her weight from one hip to the other and throwing out a slender ankle to her side. “So, you have that many supporters that you can ignore the Christian voters entirely, or did you think that a few drinks and a couple of blinis would sway our opinions of your new Five-G proposals?”
He was backed into a corner. Revealing his imminent defeat in the House of Representatives was tantamount to signing his resignation. Mary shuffled backwards out of the firing line. Luca was stalling for time. He only needed to appease them for so long. If the Summerfield plan came to fruition, the entire government would topple overnight. The debate was no more than a moot point.
Ducking under and around the elbows of Luca’s guests, Mary crept towards the study. There had to be something that she had missed. If she could just spend more time digging around in there, while Luca was occupied, she might uncover dates, times and locations for the attacks. Keeping her eye on the verbal combatants, Mary stepped back another pace until her spine connected with something immovable. A quick peek over her shoulder triggered more shivers throughout her core. Viktor impeded her progress.
“Out. Of. Bounds.” He enunciated each word so close to her face that she could smell the remains of salty fish on his breath.
Luca’s wits returned. “Tell me this then. If I intended to antagonise all my Christian voters, why did I rush to their aid the moment they were under attack, eh?”
A single ping sounded on the terrace. A text message arriving via the temperamental network coverage. Tawnie opened her mouth to answer Luca. Her own mobile phone whooshed with an email notification. She closed her mouth, and squinted at her screen. As she did, it rang. More text alerts, beeped, pinged and buzzed, until the airwaves were saturated with alarmed warnings. Others on lesser networks waved their devices in the air, attempting to catch a signal. Luca took out his phone from a pocket in his trousers. The message, displayed in block capitals, said it all:
MASS TERROR AS LAS VEGAS SUFFERS TOTAL BLACKOUT
Chapter Twenty-Four
The party guests all began speaking at once. Murmurs of tempered panic underpinned a louder request from several people for Luca to switch on a giant flat screen television. Mary observed Viktor and Luca engaging in a silent, gesticulated argument. They knew what had happened. Their reaction was as anxious as the visitors. This event was not part of the plan.
Viktor aimed a remote control at the wall units and pressed a button. From a hidden compartment, a large screen descended and flickered into life. The dark pixels warmed and radiated until the primary colours coordinated, showing a news team high in the night sky above the Nevada plains. A female reporter shouted out her story above the rhythmic drone of the rotor blades, her cheeks were blotchy, her eyelids swollen and red.
“We were filming a world record tight-rope walk attempt at the Grand Canyon when the call came through. We scrambled into the air as soon as we could, and were utterly floored by what we saw. This footage was taken just forty-five minutes ago, from the camera units mounted beneath our aircraft.” The programme cut to recorded footage. It was shaky, and at times disorientating, with a perpetual muted engine whine, in the background. Punctuated with a running commentary from the cockpit, the video feed panned across the Colorado River, the valley floor flooded and funnelled towards the Hoover Dam. The smooth concrete arc, once a halo of blue, sometimes amber flood lights, was dark as pitch. Its eerie rush of white waters rumbled below, without a single lamp to indicate the hydroelectric facility was operational. The helicopter flew on, rising above the peaks of the gorge walls and towards Boulder City. Here the last of the ambient glow from the setting sun, showed the extent of the blackout. Every light source was extinguished for miles. Cars sat steaming in junction collisions in the heart of town, the traffic signals failing as the evening traffic was at its height.
There was one notable source of light just south of the city. You could hear the reporter directing the pilot towards the blaze that was visible for tens of miles. “Just below us, you can see the Mead sub-station burning out with the most ferocious heat. Our pilot won’t fly any closer for fear of erratic columns of smoke and secondary explosions throwing debris into our path, but if we switch over to the heat sensing cameras for a moment, you’ll get an idea of how hot this is burning.” She waited while her crew flicked a switch. The video altered to night vision. Dazzling white flames licked the copper coils at the centre of the fire.
Lucas guests were mesmerised. Some held their hands over their mouths, others made ineffectual comments, suggesting potential reasons for the blackouts, from solar storms to alien invasions. The governor harrumphed, and began punching out telephone numbers on his mobile as he wandered out to the terrace. Mary kept her eyes trained on Luca. His surprise was genuine, his annoyance growing, evidenced by an involuntary scratching at the scars on his neck as he viewed the scenes.
The Crew of the helicopter began choking from the soot laden clouds of smoke rising into the cabin, forcing them high into the sky in avoidance. An amateurish cut in the video tape, took away the flight time between catastrophes. They were now cruising in a north westerly direction over the suburbs of Paradise on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Swooping low between the lifeless streets and over Sunset park, the reporter stopped speaking. Her commentary drying up with scenes unfolding before them.
The enormous tracts of asphalt at the McCarran International Airport, was lit up with several large fires, each of them emanating from a plane wreckage. One had ploughed through the back of a Walmart situated at the end of a runway. As the helicopter drew nearer, the video picked up survivors rolling on the ground trying to dampen the flames from their burning bodies. Charred and blackened victims could be seen through the ripped metal of the fuselage, still strapped into their seats. Burning embers floated on the air currents, igniting the ruptured fuel tanks, lessening any chance of further survivors making it clear of the wreckage. The recording picked up the low sounds of sobbing, and an end to the reporter’s commentary.
Mary’s mind flitted between the images on the screen and the memories of the devastation witnessed on another giant screen at GCHQ Buckinghamshire, with similar results at Fairbanks Airport in Alaska. Alexi…how can he sleep at night? This is all his doing… again. He has no regard for life at all.
Moving to the main terminals, hordes of people could be seen fleeing the building, most were dragging cases and bags out to the taxi ranks. Some even joined the queues before realising that all transportation systems had failed along with the electricity supplies. The pilot turned the aircraft north, skirting the last of the airport buildings and following the route for the Las Vegas Boulevard. As they passed the famous unlit ‘Welcome to Las Vegas’ sign, the pilot flicked on the helicopter spotlight and trained it on the thousands of people, haemorrhaging from cars, coaches and buildings, out onto the streets. Harley Davidson showrooms, the Las Vegas Fire and Police Departments, the convention centre and aquarium attractions, all spilled confused occupants out into their parking lots.
Fights broke out in the forecourts of the casinos and hotels, looting shortly after, as residents and visitors all concluded the same thing. The emergency services, police and national guard were all stricken by the same electrical disaster.
The reporter sniffed and wiped away the saline build up at her tear ducts, and resumed her duties
to the live television feed. “Ladies and gentlemen, with such extensive electrical failure to services, to supply networks and autonomous vehicles, it can mean only one thing. This is the result of a heinous act of terrorism. A premeditated Electro-Magnetic Pulse attack, and I urge the President, if you are watching this, to declare a state of emergency and send help immediately.”
The governor returned to the lounge and called to his wife. “Get your things together, we are leaving now. Luca, action stations.”
People scattered, grabbing partners, belongings and taking last gulps of fortifying drink. Most made a run for their cars and limousines. Luca hooked an arm over Viktor’s shoulder and walked off into the study, leaving Mary to fend for herself. She stood in the deserted lounge for a moment, before deciding what to do next. The sensible course of action, would be to take this opportunity and run. Grab the keys to one of Luca’s cars and get as far away from the entire rats’ nest of liars and deviants as possible, but she did not. The most critical information was to be had right there, in the study, at this moment in time.
Plucking the brooch from her neckline, Mary ran to the guest apartment and wriggled out of her dress and into her jeans, T-shirt and trainers. She knew that any physical attempt to enter the study, would be met with Viktor's disapproving pout and a bad-tempered instruction to go away. With the brooch tucked into her pocket, she lay down on the guest bed, closed her eyes and tried to relax her muscles. Humming the Beatles tune, which had proven so successful in the past, Mary slowed her brain waves to fluctuate between seven and eight Hertz, harmonising with the Earth’s natural frequencies. Within moments, she detached her psyche from her body and flew.
Mary’s nebulous form passed the lounge and headed to the study at the rear of the ranch. Viktor was shouting at Luca. She pushed through the solid door, and hovered close above them.
“I swear I had no idea that he would do this. The plan was laid out in clear, time reactive steps.”
“Then he has gone rogue. He’s trying to isolate us from the end game. First, he targets the Hoover Dam, then he will go for something more central, perhaps Cisco itself. Get Judith online.” Luca paced, and fumed. His nose whistled from the pressure of his shortened breath.
Judith? She is working with Luca? I knew that there was something off about that girl.
Viktor sat at the desk, clicking the application buttons for encryption software to protect the video link. A pop jingle sounded, along with a few unrelated electronic noises and Judith appeared on the laptop at an oblique angle. Her breasts and nasal passages looked unnaturally large. She must have spotted her image on the feedback window, since she adjusted the lid to a more favourable angle.
“What the fuck, Judith? You were supposed to keep an eye on him.” Viktor’s more argumentative side spilled out before pleasantries could be observed.
“I tried! He must have mobilised during night hours. Don’t you think I would have told you if I had known?”
“Where is he now?”
“I have no idea. Honestly, he has not said one word to me in weeks.”
“Then what use are you, eh?”
Luca pushed Viktor’s shoulder, encouraging him to move out of the chair. Sitting down in front of the laptop, Luca employed his more disarming smile. “Hey you…”
“Looking good, senator.” Judith fingered the golden cross suspended on a chain around her neck. “When am I gonna see you again?”
“You’re seeing me now.”
“You know what I mean.” She attempted a coy demeanour, twisting her shoulders and rocking to accentuate her bust line for the web cam.
Luca said nothing, choosing to wait for her to volunteer useful information, but her objective did not match his. “You aren’t fucking that stuck up British skank, are you? Tell me you ain’t.”
“No…of course not.”
“You’d better not be. When can I fly out to the ranch? This place is boring as hell.”
“Soon, my love. Hang tight. Right now though, I need you to get Alexi online…can you do that for me?”
“But then he’ll know that I’ve been working for you all this time.” She moved backwards, suddenly vulnerable.
“I’m guessing he already knows. Go fetch him, Jude, there’s a good girl.”
Her face dropped from adoration to irritation, her pinched face receding from view as she left the laptop running and walked to the door of her bedroom.
“Oh, and Judith?”
The girl turned back and faced the camera.
“You didn’t divulge Mary’s presence here to anyone did you?”
There was that sliver of spite that Mary had detected the first time they met. A self-righteous sneer spread across her face. “I might have mentioned it on one or two forums and a couple of Christian Facebook groups.” And with that she flounced from the room. Mary listened to their discourse and seethed. She deserves thirty pieces of silver, bitch.
Her door slammed shut behind her. Viktor raised his hands to his head, squeezing his skull and massaging his fingertips into his scalp. “I told you we couldn’t trust her.”
Luca sighed. He had bigger problems to deal with. “Don’t start.”
Alexi blustered into Judith’s bedroom and sat down at her desk. Thin branches from a windblown tree screeched against the window pane behind him, yet still he wore his baseball cap and sunglasses. “Yes? I very busy.”
“Explain yourself.” Luca folded his arms across his chest and scowled.
“Ah, Las Vegas? Yes, little test, that is all. Height of detonation now more…um… accurate. Yes.”
“That was not authorised and for good reason. The entire plan is now in jeopardy thanks to your little test.”
“Not problem. Equipment and people almost in place already. Nothing for jeopardy for to stop. They wait now for final orders.”
Luca absorbed the former Soviet general’s muddled sentences and deconstructed their meaning. “You don’t understand. The moment this news goes global, every intelligence agency and military unit will be put on notice.” Luca paused and looked at Alexi’s expression. His slack mouth and wrinkled nose conveyed his confusion. “We have to move the schedule forward.”
“Da…I understand. Peoples look for us.” Alexi gave an exaggerated nod.
That’s weird. Alexi’s English is better than this. Why would he deliberately appear dumb to Luca? Unless he is planning to double-cross him…
Luca shook his head. “Just get the last of the electronics shielded or packed away. Use the land line until the final Go order, got it?”
“I got it.”
Mary had heard enough. She had to get her body out of there before Luca noticed her missing. Just as she was commanding her mass of consciousness back to the guest apartment, Viktor walked right into her frequency cluster. It was a frightening experience, and one which delayed her return. Viktor was charging down the corridor, closely followed by the senator.
Luca paused in the lounge, taking out his mobile phone from a pocket. “We need to deal with the governor. Can’t have him interfering again, especially now he has access to all those new military toys.”
“It’s already in hand. Cousin Gregori leads his security team. He won’t make it home in one piece tonight.”
“Providing he follows orders and doesn’t screw things up, like he did the heist.”
“Hey, he dealt with your head of security, didn’t he? Would you rather have a CIA agent still on the team?”
If there was any vestige of affection Mary had left for Luca, it now dissolved into hatred. Their complete contempt for human life is staggering. I have to get help, but who can I tell? She concentrated hard, pulling the discordant and scattered frequencies of her psyche back into one coordinated mass, and launching herself through to the apartment and into her physical form. With anxiety building in her gut, Mary took the remainder of Luca’s shopping money and slid it into her back pocket. She grabbed a light jacket and opened the door a fraction to check he
r path of escape. Viktor stood at the entrance to the lounge room. She was cut off.
Shit. That bloody man. Treading on the occasional chair in the bedroom, Mary threaded her leg through the open window and knelt on the sill. With great care, her other leg followed, until she could lower herself down the outside wall of the apartment to the steep hillside beyond. The ground was rough, and hard to traverse. Her trainers slid in the sandy soils, making tiny but noisy landslides as she skittered across the exterior of the ranch house towards the garages near the courtyard.
Keeping her head down, Mary scrambled around the edges of the terrace steps. She could hear Viktor shouting from the guest apartments.
“Mary has gone.”
“What? She has to be around here somewhere.” The volume of Luca’s voice lessened as he ran to the guest bedroom, and increased as he turned back towards the lounge. “She can’t have gotten far. She doesn’t have access to the garage codes. Search the grounds… bring her back.”
“You said that we don’t need her abilities anymore, now that the lightning strike boosted yours.” There was a loud ratcheting noise, as Viktor chambered a bullet in his handgun. “I’ll track her down alright, but I don’t plan on bringing her back.”
“Do as I ask, Viktor. Her bloodline is a critical bargaining chip.”
My bloodline? What was his plan, to keep me like a brood mare? At the base of the steps, her footsteps crunched on the gravel courtyard. She tried to tread lightly, but her slow pace put her at risk of Viktor catching up with her.