[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.He was sure.But.” Her chest contracted, and she fought back a sob.She bowed her head, her heart aching.She had failed, and Jon was dead.She cried softly.Peter said gruffly, “He knew what he was doing.We all know the risk.Someone has to do it so the businessmen and housewives and shop girls and bloody playboys and millionaires can sleep in peace in their own beds.”Randi heard the bitterness in the old MI6 agent's voice.It was his way of expressing his loss.Where he stood he was alone, as in reality he always was, the wounds on his cheek, left arm, and left hand half-healed and unbandaged, livid in his repressed rage at the death of his friend.“I wanted to help this time, too,” Marty said in that slow, halting voice that resulted from his medication.“He knew, lad,” Peter told him.A sad silence filled the room.The traffic noises rose in volume again.Somewhere far off, an ambulance siren screamed.Finally Peter said in gross understatement, “Things don't always work out the way we want.”The telephone beside Marty's bed rang, and all three stared at it.Peter picked it up.“Howell here.I told you never tohellip;what? Yes.When? You're sure? All right.Yes, I'm on it.”He set the receiver into its cradle and turned to his friends, his face a grim mask as if he had seen a vision of horror.“Top secret.Straight from Downing Street.Someone has taken control of all the U.S.military satellites in space and locked the Pentagon and NASA out.Can you think of any way they could've done that without a DNA computer?”Randi blinked.She grabbed tissues from the box beside Marty's bed and blew her nose.“They got the computer out of the villa? No, they couldn't have.What the hell does it mean?”“Damned if I know, except that the danger isn't over.We have to start finding them all over again.”Randi shook her head.“They couldn't have gotten the prototype out.There was nowhere near enough time for that.But.” She stared at Peter.“Maybe Chambord somehow survived? That's the only thing that makes sense.And if Chambordhellip;”Marty sat straight up in the bed, his distraught face quivering with hope.“Jon may be alive, too!”“Hold on, both of you.That doesn't necessarily follow.The Crescent Shield would've done everything to get Chambord away safely.But they wouldn't have given a ragman's damn about Jon or Ms.Chambord.In fact, you heard automatic fire, Randi.Who else could it have been aimed at? You said in your report that Jon had to have died either in a firefight or when the missile hit.The bloody bastards were cheering.Victorious.Nothing changes that.”“You're right.It doesn't, dammit.” Randi grimaced.“Still, it opens a possibility we can't just ignore.If he's alive”Marty threw back his covers and jumped out of bed, swaying and holding to the frame, suddenly weak.“I don't care what either of you says.Jon's alive!” His pronouncement was firm.He had made up his mind, dismissing the news that was too painful to believe.“We must listen to Randi.He could desperately need us.Why, when I think of what he might be suffering, lying wounded and alone somewhere in the hot Algerian deserthellip;or perhaps as we speak those ghastly terrorists are preparing to kill him! We must find him!” His medication was wearing off, and life was looking more possible.A superman armed with a computer and the power of genius.“Calm down, my boy.You know how you tend to take flight beyond the logical universe.”Marty drew his portly body up to its full height, which brought his indignant eyes on a level with Peter's breastbone.He announced with great restraint, “My universe is not only logical, but far beyond your insignificant powers of comprehension, you ignorant Brit!”“Quite possibly,” Peter said dryly.“Still, remember we're working now in my universe.Say Jon is alive.From what Randi's reported, he's a prisoner.Or at the very least wounded, pursued, and in hiding.The question becomes where is he, and can we get in touch with him? Except possibly for short distances and brief contact, our electronic communications were locked out when the satellites were taken over
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]