The 4400- the Vesuvius Prophecy

by Greg Cox

  The helicopter had dropped them off on a snowy ledge a quarter mile below and they had sprinted up the trail following Simone’s directions. The cuffed legal assistant had been left aboard the copter and had guided them the rest of the way by radio from above. The pilot was under orders to fly to safety, leaving Alana and Diana behind, if it looked like the mountain was on the verge of erupting. Feeling the ground vibrating beneath her feet, Alana hoped that the pilot and Simone were already putting Rainier far behind.

  There’s no need to risk their lives any further, she thought. Now it’s up to Diana and me.

  “Stay out of this!” Gorinsky shouted back. He fired a warning shot, or maybe the earth tremors just threw his aim off. In any event, the shot went wild, missing both women by yards. He kept a tight grip on the other man, whom he seemed to be subjecting to some sort of torture. Alana recognized Cooper DeMeers from the mug shots Diana had shared with her. “It’s too late. You can’t stop me now!” He sneered at Diana. “We both know your gun can’t hurt me!”

  That’s why I’m here, Alana thought. She knew now what she was meant to do, if she could just get through to Gorinsky. Catching up with Diana, she gently placed her hand on the other woman’s arm. “Lower your weapon, Diana. Let me handle this.”

  A bone-jarring tremor threw her off balance and she grabbed on to a nearby outcropping to support herself. “Listen to me, William,” she called out. “We’re not here to hurt you. We just want to help you!”

  “Who the hell are you?” he challenged her. “Another NTAC storm trooper?”

  Alana shook her head. She lowered the hood of her parka so he could see her face better. “My name is Alana Mareva, and I believe I can give you what you want.”

  “It’s too late for that!” he barked, his breath misting before his face. “I’ve already lost everything that matters. All I have left is revenge!”

  “That’s not true,” she told him. “I have an ability. I can take you back to where you want to go, give you back what you lost.” Doing her best to ignore the cold steel gun in his hand, she cautiously approached him. Her gloved hands were open to show him she was unarmed. “You just have to trust me.”

  “No, this is some sort of trick,” he protested, but she heard a promising note of uncertainty in his voice. According to Tom and Diana, Gorinsky had returned repeatedly to Highland Beach in search of a way back to his own time. Now that she was offering him his heart’s desire, the naked yearning on his face tore at her heart. “That’s not possible!”

  Alana stumbled nearer to him. She was close enough now that, should he fire the gun at her again, he was unlikely to miss. Her bulletproof vest would not protect her from being shot through the head. “Everything is possible now, William. You should know that better than anyone.” Ankle-deep in the snow, she stripped off her gloves and held her bare hands out to him. A frigid wind nipped at her fingers. “Please, William. Give me a chance to make things right for you. Eleanor is waiting . . .”

  “Eleanor?” His voice cracked on the name of his long-lost sweetheart. His gun arm dipped toward the ground. He let go of DeMeers, who collapsed onto the snow beside him. “You know about Eleanor?”

  She closed the distance between them. “Trust me, William.” Reaching out, she cradled his face between her palms. A peculiar tingle, like static electricity, raised goosebumps on her skin. “I know what you need.”

  Closing her eyes, Alana experienced a moment of trepidation. Would her ability even work with the figure before her? According to Diana, Gorinsky wasn’t really here in the flesh; this was just some kind of projection composed of cerebral energy. Then again, so were the hallucinatory worlds she created. Their abilities actually seemed to complement each other. This was all about establishing a psychic connection between the two of them. A meeting of the minds, not flesh and blood.

  I can do this.

  Her mind reached out for his. For a heartbeat, she encountered resistance, as his wounded soul held on to the pain and anger that had been its only nourishment for so long. Then, with an almost palpable feeling of release, the barriers crumbled and his myriad hopes and dreams and fears poured into a safe place, a sanctuary she had brought into being on some other plane of reality. Her unconscious mind went to work, fashioning the life William Gorinsky should have had, if only the future had allowed it . . .

  Eleanor is waiting for him when he gets out of the hospital. At first, he’s afraid that the burns on his flesh, left over from that Nazi bomb, will repulse her, but her loving eyes and tender caresses soon assure him that nothing has changed between them. They marry soon after, in the same little Methodist church in Tacoma where he’d once attended Sunday School. Phil is his best man, of course. Eleanor jokes that she can barely tell them apart in their rented tuxes. Bill thinks she has never looked so beautiful.

  They honeymoon in Yellowstone National Park, then move into a cozy bungalow not far from the university. He studies engineering on the GI Bill, working weekends at the Midway Drive-In to make ends meet. Money’s tight, but Eleanor never complains. Phil finds a girl of his own and they double-date sometimes. They play bridge and charades and croquet and badminton, and hold barbecues and New Year’s parties for their friends and family. Among their acquaintances is an exotic foreign woman named Alana. Bill can never remember exactly where they’d met, but she’s usually somewhere in the background, with an enigmatic Mona Lisa smile on her face.

  After college, he gets a good job at Boeing as an aerospace engineer. Business is booming, especially after the Russkies put Sputnik into orbit and the space race heats up. Raises and promotions follow, always one step ahead of their growing family. Little Margie comes first, then Nicky and the twins. The latter are named William Junior and Philip Junior, of course. Eleanor likes to joke that she knew what she was getting into, maternity-wise, when she married Bill in the first place. Alana agrees to be the babies’ godmother.

  It isn’t all bliss, naturally. Succumbing to the seven-year-itch, he stupidly drifts into an affair with this sexy Japanese girl he meets at work. Things get pretty rocky for a while, but Eleanor eventually forgives him. They never mention Simone again.

  Years speed by, faster than he could have ever imagined. In 1961 Seattle hosts the World’s Fair and Bill feels a peculiar sense of déjà vu as he watches the Space Needle and the Monorail go up. Before he knows it, the kids grow up and move out on their own. Nick joins the Marines, just like his old man, while Margie goes into real estate. The twins go through a worrisome hippie phase, even running off to Woodstock at one point, but eventually settle down. Bill Junior becomes an architect. Phil Junior chooses geology and goes to work for the Forest Service in Alaska.

  Margie gets married first and makes Bill a grandfather in the summer of ’72. More grandchildren follow. Christmases and the Fourths of July become hectic affairs, especially when you add Uncle Phil’s multiplying brood into the mix. Phil has gone into education and eventually becomes principal of his own high school. It seems to suit him.

  Bill takes early retirement in ’77, rewarded for his long years of service with a comfortable pension. He and Eleanor relocate into a little cottage up on Lake Ohop, where he can hunt and fish to his heart’s content. Mount St. Helens gives them a scare in 1980, but all they get is a light dusting of volcanic ash. He keeps a jar of it on the mantel as a souvenir.

  Doctor Hoyt’s warnings about his heart finally catch up with him. Lying on his deathbed in Good Samaritan Hospital, Bill can’t complain. He survived Normandy and the war to live a good, full life. Eleanor and Phil and the kids are with him at the end, keeping vigil at his bedside. Alana is there, too. He feels her gentle palms against his cheeks. “Has it been everything you hoped for, William?”

  “Yes,” he whispers softly. “Thank you.”

  A glowing ball of light descends through the ceiling. It’s come for him, he realizes, but that’s all right. He’s ready now.

  Smiling, he lets the light carry him away.

&nbs
p; Philip Gorinsky awoke in the back of the ambulance. A single tear leaked from the corner of his eye. He looked about in confusion. “What . . .? Where am I?”

  An oxygen mask muffled his words, but they caught the attention of a paramedic nonetheless. A startled-looking EMT leaned over him, observing him carefully. Phil was surprised to see Agent Baldwin staring down at him as well. Phil realized that he was strapped into a stretcher inside an ambulance. How did I get here? The last thing he remembered was fixing himself a cup of tea after dinner.

  The paramedic checked him out and seemed pleased with the results. He removed the oxygen mask to allow Phil to breathe normally. “We should probably check him into the hospital for observation,” he informed Baldwin, “but I think he’s going to be okay.”

  “Glad to hear it,” the NTAC agent said. Leaning forward, he spoke gently to the old man. “Phil, I’m sorry to trouble you at a time like this, but I have to ask: do you know where your brother is right now?”

  Somehow it didn’t surprise Phil that Baldwin was inquiring about his dead brother. Hazy memories surfaced inside his mind, of a trembling mountain and a blazing ball of light. Somehow he knew the answer to the agent’s question.

  “Bill’s at peace now. Finally.”

  TWENTY

  DIANA WATCHED WITH amazement as Gorinsky faded away into the ether. One minute he was standing there on the ridge, looking just as solid and tangible as anybody else. The next, he evaporated into whatever dream world Alana had created for him. Remembering how close she herself had come to losing herself in that alternate reality with Maia, Diana knew exactly how enticing that prospect could be. She had left a comatose physical body behind during her immersion in the other realm, but Gorinsky was no longer encumbered with any corporeal baggage. His gun crashed down into the snow. Diana guessed that this time he was gone for good.

  So much for Gorinsky, she thought. Now I just have to deal with Cooper.

  The former hijacker was sprawled on the ridge beyond Alana. Fighting to keep her balance despite the trembling earth, Diana staggered past Alana toward the remaining fugitive. Was he still conscious? Diana couldn’t tell, although the quakes continued unabated. A violent earthshock knocked her off her feet, only a few feet away from Cooper. A melting snowbank cushioned her fall, but the shaking ground made it almost impossible to stand up again. Was it just her imagination or could she actually feel the heat rising up from somewhere deep inside the mountain? Solid rock cracked loudly. A geyser of hot steam burst from the newly formed vent, startling Diana, who threw herself backward to avoid being scalded. Ice water puddled beneath her. Loose scree went tumbling off the ridge, raining down on the slopes below. The muffled rumbling became a roar. Fresh steam vents hissed all around her. A sulfurous stench suffused the atmosphere. She heard Alana scrambling for safety. Maia’s nightmarish prophecy raced through Diana’s brain.

  It’s happening, she realized. Just like Maia saw.

  “Cooper!” she yelled at the prone figure. “You’ve got to stop this!”

  He lifted his head from the slush. Swollen veins throbbed across his scalp and forehead. Broken capillaries streaked his eyes with red. “I can’t!” he cried out in anguish. “It’s too late!” He trembled in sync with the ground beneath him. “I can’t control it!”

  I was afraid of that, Diana thought. This time she decided to take a more aggressive approach to the crisis. Climbing up onto her knees, she slammed a cartridge of tranquilizer darts, laced with a heavy dose of promicin inhibitor, into her sidearm. Winter gloves made loading the weapon trickier than usual. Fumbling with the gun, she struggled to draw a bead on Cooper even though the mountain ridge felt like a bucking bronco trying to throw her over the side. Steady, she told herself as her target jerked up and down in her sights. She tried to aim for his body, not wanting to shoot Cooper in the eye, but aiming for anything was almost a lost cause under the circumstances. Wait for the shot . . .

  Her finger tightened on the trigger.

  CRACK! Steam jetted up from the rock right in front of her, scalding her hand right through her glove. Diana screamed in pain as her pistol went flying from her fingers. The gun clattered onto the thrashing ground not far from a crumbling ledge. No! Ignoring her burning hand, she dove for the weapon, but it was too late. Her heart sank as it bounced over the edge, plunging down the side of the mountain. It was gone.

  “Damnit!” Diana cursed. She glanced behind her, hoping to spot Gorinsky’s stolen pistol, but God only knew where the earthquake had tossed it. Odds were that it was buried under debris by now. She spied Alana lying in the slush a few yards back, hanging on to the rocky spine of the saddle for dear life. The other woman’s face was pale; she seemed to be praying under her breath. Diana regretted dragging Tom’s girlfriend into this. She deserved better than to die upon an irate mountain. We all do.

  Heavy cables snapped and the swinging bridge broke free from its moorings. The bridge crashed down into the ravine below, stranding them upon the ridge. Diana looked in vain for the helicopter that had brought them to this remote location. She guessed that, per her instructions, Simone and the pilot were long gone.

  Good for them.

  She turned her gaze back toward Cooper. He was their only hope now, provided he could somehow reverse the powerful seismic forces he had set into motion. Sitting up amid the slush, he looked about in horror at his tectokinetic handiwork. Plumes of steam rose hundreds of feet in the air. Newborn waterfalls ran like tears from the mountain’s frozen mantle. Frenzied paroxysms caused the earth to crack and buckle beneath them. Rainier seemed on the verge of erupting.

  “Stop this, Cooper! You’ve got to try!” The reek of brimstone filled her nostrils. Her injured hand stung like the devil. “Do you want to be responsible for one of the biggest disasters in U.S. history? Thousands of homes and lives are depending on you!”

  He stared back at her with wild, bloodshot eyes. “You don’t understand! It’s too late.” He clutched his head in his hands. Pulsing veins writhed like worms beneath his scalp. “I can feel the magma rising, surging toward the surface.” His florid face was as red as molten lava. “There’s no turning back!”

  Diana refused to accept that. Maia had never actually seen Rainier erupt all the way; there was still a chance they could avert the worst of the disaster. Shoving off from the ground, she lurched to her feet. “No!” she shouted. “You have to stop this!” Avalanches and landslides echoed across the mountain, adding to the din. Practically all the nearby snow was melted now, exposing slippery gray rock. Ice water streamed off the ridge. Turbid puddles began to bubble and boil . . .

  “Think about it,” Diana implored him, recalling Cooper’s hidden stash of scrapbooks and memorabilia. “You don’t want to be remembered this way.” She clambered across the shuddering rocks until she was right up in his face. “D. B. Cooper never hurt anybody!”

  That struck a nerve.

  “No,” he whispered hoarsely. “I never did.”

  A new look of determination came over his face. Closing his eyes, he grimaced in concentration. His fists clenched at his sides and his entire body stiffened as he visibly wrestled with the cataclysmic forces unleashed by his mind. Sweat dripped from his face. The veins in his neck stood out like garden hoses. His knuckles went white. Blood trickled from his nostrils. His face turned purple. “I won’t let this happen,” he muttered through clenched teeth. “I won’t!”

  Diana looked on, holding her breath. Maia’s angelic face flashed across her memory as she mentally bid good-bye to her daughter. Look after her, Tom. She had already made arrangements for her partner to get custody of Maia should she be killed in the line of duty. Her throat tightened at the thought of never seeing either of them again. Keep her safe . . . and take care of yourself, too.

  “Aggggh!” An inarticulate gasp erupted from Cooper’s lips as one last titanic effort rocked him from head to toe. His back arched, his eyes snapped open, and he threw out his arms before toppling backward onto th
e slick black rocks. His body jerked spasmodically, his head thrashing from side to side, before going completely limp. He lay atop the quivering ridge like a discarded rag doll.

  The mountain stopped shaking. Not all at once, of course, but the tremors quickly subsided, with only a few mild aftershocks. Snow and ice continued to crash down in the distance, but the worst of the landslides appeared to be over. Within moments, the dripping ridge felt solid as a rock once more. Peeling off one glove, Diana laid her hand against the ground. She could feel the volcanic heat slipping away, retreating back into Rainier’s molten depths. The exposed earth was cooling noticeably.

  “Oh my God,” she realized. “He did it.” Elated, she turned and hollered back at Alana. “We did it! We stopped it in time!”

  There would be no catastrophic eruption today.

  They were going to live.

  “Cooper!” she called out jubilantly. She was so happy to be alive she could have kissed him. “Thank God! I knew you could do it.” The latter was a bald-faced lie, but why spoil the moment? Diana promised herself that she would do everything in her power to see that Cooper got a full pardon for whatever crimes he might have committed in the past. He had really come through for them in the end. “Cooper?”

  He didn’t answer her.

  “Cooper?” A sinking feeling dampened her spirits. She scrambled over to his side. Cooper lay flat on his back. All the blood had drained from his face. Foam flecked his lips. A blown pupil indicated serious trauma to his brain. She checked his pulse and was only mildly relieved to discover that he was still breathing. From the looks of things, that final seizure had fried his synapses. “Oh, Cooper . . . I’m so sorry.”

  Alana came up behind her. She appeared to have come through the earthquake with only a few minor scrapes and bumps. “Is he all right?”

  “No,” Diana said sadly. Spotting a lingering patch of wet snow, she pressed a handful of icy whiteness against her scalded hand. It helped . . . a little. “I don’t think so.”