25. Every Second Counts
EVERY SECOND COUNTS
GAbrIEL
Gabriel wasn’t afraid of drying, but he was concerned the country was mere minutes from total electrical annihilation.
As he understood the power of the electromagnetic pulses, it could completely disable all electrical devices.
Not only would there be historic devastation, there would be no mass communication…
and little that the government or any commercial entity could do about it.
President Garrison was in the process of getting in touch with the Russian President.
Things moved too damn slowly for Gabriel. The President had been right about one thing. Gabriel was a man of action. Sitting around a table, plugging in numbers wasn’t working for him.
Grit burned through him as he stared at the pocket watch. He turned it over. There was an inscription engraved in Russian on the back.
Сын мой, жизнь отводит нам ограниченное время. Используйте имеющееся у вас время с пользой.
С любовью, папа.
“Halston, translate this,” Gabriel said.
Halston, huddled close to her dad, was busy interpreting everything on the laptop screen.
“Halston,” Gabriel repeated. “Help me.”
She looked over, then flicked her gaze to the timepiece.
“Read this,” he said.
She refocused her attention on the inscription. “My Son, life gives us limited time,” Halston read. “Do good with the time you have. Love, Father.”
“Nothing,” Gabriel bit out as he opened the watch and stared at its face of Roman numerals. The small diamonds below the I, III, and VII glittered beneath the bright lights of The Situation Room.
“No, get me the President,” Garrison’s annoyance hijacked everyone’s attention. “I’m not talking to someone in his cabinet! We’re seven minutes from a national disaster that’s going to have global repercussions!”
The President hung up, pushed out of his chair. “What do we need to do to kill the electricity in every major Russian city?”
An eerie silence fell over the group.
“When no one responded, the President directed his attention to Dustin Devereux. “Dr. Devereux, can you do it?”
“I… um… yes, but I would need a team of hackers,” Dustin replied, “and days to pull this off.”
Teddy dragged his chair over. “You got the best. Let’s do this.”
“What about just one city?” asked the President. “Moscow.”
“Easier,” Dustin replied as everyone seated around the table made room for Teddy.
Gabriel went back to studying the pocket watch. Why would Dr. Laskin give it to him if the code was a bust? The answer was in that watch, or the scientist’s death had been in vain.
“Think, Gabriel,” he muttered.
Halston took the watch from him, studied the inscription. “Do you think the code is in this note?”
Together, they stared at the Russian inscription. The note looked like it had been engraved decades earlier.
“No,” Gabriel replied. “That’s a worn inscription.”
“Do you think the code is even here?” she asked.
“Two minutes,” Greystone announced.
Gabriel opened the watch. “Those diamonds were added later. Everything on the watch looks old, but the gems are new.” He looked up. “I need a magnifying glass or a loop and a pair of tweezers.”
“We aren’t going to make it,” someone blurted.
“I’ll find something for you.” Evelyn hurried out, shutting the door behind her.
One of three console phones on the conference table rang.
The President let it ring twice before answering.
“President Garrison.” He listened. “We have one minute forty seconds before five EMPs are launched into the atmosphere. When that happens, it’s hell for us.
Let’s not get into the ‘are you aware of the situation conversation?’ Just put a stop to this.
” Silence. “What do you mean you can’t stop the launch sequence because you’re not aware of its existence?
” More silence while the President listened.
“I find it hard to believe you weren’t involved in this assault. Expect a strong retaliation.”
The President hung up. “That did not go well.”
“We have one minute—” Greystone announced.
The tension in the room grew tenfold.
“No pressure here,” Teddy said as he and Dustin continued working.
Evelyn rushed back in, set a magnifying glass and a pair of tweezers next to Gabriel.
As he peered through the magnifying glass at the diamonds, the lights in the conference room intensified the brilliance of the stones. He wasn’t examining their authenticity, he was searching for numbers, letters, anything.
There was nothing. Absolutely nothing.
“Can you pluck out a diamond?” he asked Halston.
“Forty seconds,” Greystone announced.
Halston placed the tweezers on either side of the stone in the I position and gently tugged. It released from the face of the watch. She turned it over, holding her hand steady. Gabriel peered through the magnifying glass.
“Nothing,” Gabriel said. “There’s nothing.”
“Thirty seconds,” Greystone said.
“Figure it out,” Gabriel murmured as he stared at the watch.
“Laskin was a physicist. He was all about equations. Why are the diamonds in these spots? Why the 1, the 3, and the 7?” He flicked his gaze from the timepiece to Halston.
“The answer is right in front of us. Think Gabriel.” He stared at the watch face.
And then, he remembered. “I read about this… Dr. Devereux, isn’t the Physical Constant Code 1, 3, 7? ”
Dustin looked up, took him a few seconds to answer, then, “Yes, it is!”
Everyone shifted from Gabriel to Dustin.
“The numbers 1, 3, and 7 are known as the Physical Constant or Fine-Structure Constant,” Dustin said.
“Those numbers, in that order, are considered to be fundamental to the structure of the universe, linking electromagnetism, relativity, and quantum mechanics. It’s considered the ‘magic number’ in quantum physics. ”
“G, we’re down to fifteen,” Greystone warned, the urgency in his voice snapping Gabriel back to the moment.
Everyone shifted their attention back to Gabriel, the air thick with anticipation… and urgency.
“Dustin, thoughts?” Gabriel asked.
“For physicists, 1-3-7 is the magic number,” Dustin said.
“It’s 1-3-7,” Gabriel said. “I’m sure of it. That’s why he gave me the watch.”
“Five seconds,” Greystone announced.
“Do it, Teddy,” Gabriel commanded.
“Entering 1-3-7,” Teddy said as he tapped the computer keyboard.
The countdown timer stopped with one second remaining.
A different screen opened.
On the screen projected on the wall were the words: Последовательность запуска деактивирована.
All eyes shifted to Halston.
“Launch sequence deactivated,” she said. “Translated exactly—the startup sequence is disabled.”
A loud, collective sigh filled the room.
Gabriel shifted from Dustin to Teddy, then Halston, and a smile filled his face. “Nice work.”
“Brilliant thinking,” said Dustin. “Definitely outside the box.”
“That’s my brother,” Teddy said with a grin. “A man of action and one step ahead.”
The room exploded in robust applause.
As the people in the room started congratulating them, the President held up his hand. “Not so fast. This isn’t over, not for us. We’re moving forward with Project Retaliation Darkness.”
Gabriel had gotten in the middle of something that was well outside his wheelhouse. His efforts and knowledge had been put to the ultimate test. As with everything he did, he gave one hundred percent. And his efforts had paid off.
That was intense.
“Mr. President, I’d like to offer a comment,” Gabriel said.
“Go ahead, Mr. Santini,” said the President.
“I’m all about revenge and retaliation,” Gabriel began.
“It’s built into my DNA. It’s what I know, what I do best. My job here is finished, but I’d like to suggest you consider letting this one go.
Throwing them in darkness isn’t going to mend the political divide.
We were almost thrust into a nuclear war that would have had cataclysmic consequences.
” He glanced around. “I loved the opportunity to work with my brothers and future sisters-in-law, and with the Devereuxes—especially the privilege of working with Halston. I’m all about power and winning, but this situation makes me reconsider even my own agenda. ”
“You don’t mean that,” Teddy said. “You’re just sleep deprived, brother. If those Bratva were to place one toe in your territory—”
“You’d cut off their entire foot,” Greystone replied.
The folks around the table laughed. Perhaps nervous laughter, perhaps a release of energy from the impending catastrophe.
Gabriel stood. “I’m leaving the political agenda to the pros.” He glanced around the room. “It was an honor working with you.”
“G,” Greystone said, “How’d you know about those codes?”
“Teddy’s not the only one who reads.” One wink, before he regarded Halston. “You sticking around?”
“Not up to me,” she replied.
“Let’s take a fifteen-minute recess,” said the President.
“We’ll have breakfast brought in, then review what just happened, and develop a plan to destroy those EMP satellites, still in orbit.
The code is still under Russian control.
There can be no chance anyone—from any country—starts the launch sequence again at any point in the future. ”
“Teddy, you got this?” Gabriel asked.
Teddy’s fingers were flying over the keyboard. “Already on it, Mr. President.”
“You really do have the best of the best,” Gabriel said to the President.
As Teddy continued working, he smiled. “I’m writing code to hack into the satellite system, steal the codes, then erase them. Once I’m finished writing it—but before I activate—your team can review and verify my work.”
“Thank you, Teddy,” said the President as he made his way over to Gabriel, extended his hand “Gabriel, we are both men of action. Both addicted to power. I can appreciate where you’re coming from.”
“I’m heir to a tradition of power and blood,” Gabriel said shaking his hand. “After witnessing what went down today, I need a fifteen-minute recess myself.”
The group collected their cell phones, filtered out of The Situation Room. The BLACK OPS team congregated in the outer office as Gabriel pulled Halston aside.
“You did it,” she murmured.