“Many don’t want the world to return to the way it was. The Immari alternative, their worldview, appeals to many.”
David scanned the base again. “You’re not planning for the base’s defense. You’re planning for an attack.”
Sonja nodded. “The Immari have been moving into the mountainous regions, trying to take the high ground where they can prolong the fight. The Spanish plan to drive them to the sea, to within range of our rail guns. We can finish them, force a surrender—assuming we can hold our ground here.”
David nodded. “Good plan.”
“It’s part of a larger plan. The Orchid Alliance is contemplating a final offensive to finish the Immari once and for all.” She pointed to a plane waiting on the runway. “I’m traveling to America at first light. I’ll be the representative for Northern Africa.”
“Representative to what?”
“A global war council.”
David had a feeling about what she was working up to. “Congratulations,” he said, turning away.
“I was hoping…”
“That I would run Ceuta in your absence.”
“You could save lives—again.”
David’s eyes lingered on the dark corridor that led to the ship and Kate. “I can’t.”
“The woman you came here to save.”
“Yes. She’s sick. She needs me.”
“Watching a loved one suffer is the worst torture on Earth. If you stay here, you should take the supplies below. I don’t know how long the offensive will last.”
“We’ve considered spending her final days in America.” David glanced back at the runway, at the plane he had flown to Ceuta from Malta. “But if you’re taking the plane…”
Sonja smiled. “I’ll drop you off. It’s the least I can do for what you’ve done for my people.”
“That’s much appreciated.”
It began raining, and they both gazed into the distance. The downpour seemed to gather strength by the second.
“Looks like a big one,” David said.
Sonja turned her head sharply, as if she had heard something.
David moved closer to her, his posture defensive.
She pressed a finger to her ear piece. “There’s an incoming flight. American military transport requesting clearance to land. The person on board identifies himself as Dr. Paul Brenner. He wishes to speak with Dr. Warner. He says she can verify him.”
David considered the request. He had never met Paul Brenner, and he wondered how he might verify his identity. With the looming war, David considered the possibility that the caller was an Immari impostor hoping his flight could slip past the rail guns to hit the base. “Ask him how Dr. Warner cured the plague.”
A few seconds later, Sonja related Brenner’s response: “He says it’s a trick question. He doesn’t know. Only that she found something in Malta and transmitted it to him at Continuity. He would like to ask her the same question.”
“Ask him if that’s why he’s here.”
“No,” Sonja said. “He says it’s about a code on a radio satellite, that it could be related to what was found in Gibraltar and Antarctica.”
David frowned, the rain falling in sheets on him now.
“You want us to divert him?”
“No,” David said. “Let him land. But guard him. Have several men bring him up here. Don’t let him inside.” For some reason, David thought it best to keep everyone out of the ship. “I’ll bring Kate up.”
CHAPTER 12
Alpha Lander
1,200 Feet Below Sea Level
Off the Northern Coast of Morocco
David had tip-toed back into the bedroom, but it didn’t matter.
He sat in the chair before the small table and faced the bed. “I can tell you’re awake.”
Kate sat up. “How do you always know?”
“You smile a little, like you’re hiding something. You’d make a terrible spy.”
Kate held that cute smile he liked so much for a few more seconds. Then it was gone, and it felt as though every last breath of air had been sucked out of the room.
“I’ve decided.”
David eyed the floor.
“North Carolina sounds nice.”
“It will be. And we’ll be happy there.”
“I know we will. Knowing I don’t have much time left has given me some perspective, reminded me of what’s important. That’s you. I do have two requests.”
David felt a little pit form in his stomach. “Go ahead.”
“First, the two boys who were taken from my lab. I left them with a couple in Spain when the Immari invaded the Orchid District in Marbella. After… When I’m gone, I want you to find them and make sure they’re safe and provided for.”
“I will. The other request?”
When Kate finished telling him, David simply stared at her. “That’s a tall order.”
“I’ll understand if you say no.”
“I’m saying yes. I’ll do it, even if it kills me.”
“I hope it won’t.”
After the plane ride and landing, the Jeep ride through the Moroccan mountains felt like a picnic to Paul. He sat beside Mary in the backseat, two Moroccan guards in the front. They had made Paul’s military escorts wait with the plane. The man staring back at them, holding a rifle that looked like it was from World War II, made Paul even more nervous than the torrential downpour and reckless driving.
In the distance, he heard a roll of thunder that nearly deafened him.
He looked back, but the rain almost blotted out the view. What little bit he saw horrified him. A wave of water twenty feet tall rose from the ocean and slammed into the sprawling army base. Another wave. It carried something. Paul tried to focus. It looked… like a cruise ship. It spun on top of the wave, like a plastic toy being washed ashore by the tide. It slammed into the base, flattening everything it rolled over.
Paul’s mouth went dry.
Water rushed across the unpaved road, and he felt the Jeep skidding, losing traction as it climbed the mountain.
“Slower!” Paul shouted.
The soldier raised his rifle to Paul and yelled at him.
The driver accelerated even faster, and Paul motioned to Mary to buckle up. A wave caught the Jeep and tossed it off the muddy road a few seconds later.
“What convinced you?” David asked.
“Let’s see…” Kate pulled her shirt off. “I think it could have been the part about enjoying the time we have left.”
David kissed her, and she reached for his shirt.
“You’re very convincing, you know.”
“Right…” David was about to slip his shirt off, but he stopped. “Wait. Almost forgot. Paul Brenner is here.”
“What?”
“Yeah, I have no idea. We need to go up top to talk—”
The ship shuddered, throwing David across the room into the bulkhead, Kate landing on top of him.
Her hands were instantly around his head, feeling for blood.
He opened his eyes wide and shook his head once. Sounds and feeling converged, and he could focus again. “I’m okay.”
“The ship’s been hit with explosives,” Kate said.
“What? How do you—”
“My neural implant.”
Another shudder came, but David was ready. He held the desk attached to the wall with one hand, Kate with the other.
“Earthquake?” David yelled, over the din.
“No. I think it was the mines the British laid in the straits. Something pulled them down.”
The ship shook again, this time more violently.
“They’re destroying the ship,” Kate said. “Alpha is unresponsive.”
“Come on.” David pulled her up, and they began staggering through the dark corridors, trying to make their way out.
Paul brushed Mary’s hair out of her face, trying to get a look at the cut the blood was coming from. She opened her eyes, and he drew back instinctively.
“I’m okay,” she said, peering into the empty front seat. “The guards.”
“Gone. Thrown out.”
Water washed into the floor board as Paul unbuckled first his, then Mary’s seatbelt.
“What is it, Paul?”
“No idea.”
“Hurricane?”
“Maybe,” he said, hoping his lie would comfort her.
Mary’s reaction told him she hadn’t bought it. So she did remember something from being married to him.
“Let’s go, we’ve gotta get to higher ground.”
Mary grabbed her laptop bag.
“Leave it, Mary.”
“I can’t—”
“It’ll be soaked and only slow us down. We have to go.”
He pulled her out of the Jeep and i