24. The Situation Room #2
“Talk to us,” Greystone said.
Remaining silent, Teddy remained focused on the laptop.
“We’re getting there,” Halston said before she continued translating the information on the screen.
“That doesn’t make sense,” Teddy shouted over the ear-piercing beeping.
“Okay.” Halston stared at the laptop. “Roll the cursor over the red button that just popped up and click it twice.”
When he did, the alarms silenced, the lights in the room brightened.
Teddy breathed, raked his hands through his long hair.
“Nice work, Halston,” Teddy said.
“Same,” Halston said as she continued eyeing the screen. “I was right about Bulgrov. He was with them until the end.”
“Well?” Greystone asked.
“Do you want the good news first or the bad news?” Teddy asked.
Gabriel and Greystone regarded each other. This was always how Teddy approached urgent situations. Good news or bad news? Some things never changed.
“Theodore, just tell us,” Greystone said.
“I was able to reinstate the power in the DMV,” Teddy said. “Just the DMV.”
“And the bad?” Gabriel asked.
“Bulgrov activated a launch sequence code for EMPs.”
Mind-numbing silence while everyone stared at Teddy for several long seconds.
“This is bad,” Greystone growled. “Very, very bad.”
“What. The. Hell,” Gabriel bit out. “This makes ‘bad’ look like an effin’ party.”
“Does everyone know what that is?” Dustin asked.
Without waiting, he continued. “An EMP—electromagnetic pulse—is a burst of electromagnetic energy that’s meant to disrupt, damage, or destroy electrical power lines, telecom, even electronic equipment.
One of the goals of an EMP is to burn out electronic components, computer systems, even critical infrastructure. ”
“So, they were practicing with the power outages across the country?” Gabriel confirmed.
“Exactly,” Dustin acknowledged.
“Bulgrov launched a series of EMPs to detonate when?" Greystone asked, his voice so low, Gabriel had barely heard him.
Halston shifted from the computer screen to the people sitting around the table. “In one-hundred and twenty minutes.”
“What?” Sydney blurted. “Is this for real?”
“Can we stop it?” Sonya Devereux asked.
“Let me see it,” Dustin replied.
Caroline entered the room, eyed Bulgrov. “What happened? I just walked the nurse out. Should I call him back?”
“Poison,” Gabriel explained.
Teddy stood so Dustin could take his chair. Father and daughter spoke as Halston translated the information from Russian to English.
“Look!” Halston said. “At the bottom of the screen, there’s a button that says, Аварийный выключатель. It translates to Emergency Stop Switch.”
“Do it,” Greystone commanded.
Halston placed the cursor over the button and tapped the mouse. The silence was so thick, it felt like the oxygen was being sucked from the room.
“The countdown timer stopped,” Halston said as she flicked her gaze to Gabriel.
“That’s good,” Sydney said.
Dustin continued staring at the screen for several seconds. “Oh, no,” he blurted.
“Talk to us,” Teddy said.
Dustin’s shoulders fell. “The timer started up again.”
“Another window popped up,” Halston said. “The kill switch was overridden. Activation sequence has resumed.”
“This is catastrophic,” Dustin said. “Five satellites have been programmed to deploy the EMPs into the highest parts of the earth’s atmosphere over the US.”
“In less than two hours,” Gabriel said.
“Oh, no,” Caroline bleated. “This can’t be happening.”
Z rushed into the conference room, his hair disheveled, his eyes darting around the room. Instead of wearing a suit, he stood there in a rumpled coat, sweatshirt and sweatpants. “The hangar door was wide open.”
Greystone jumped up.
“I closed it,” Z said. “What’s with the corpse in the wheelchair? He looks like he’s in time out.”
Slash stifled a snicker.
“We’re in crisis mode,” Greystone said.
“That’s why I’m here,” Z replied. “Kathrine Austin finally got a reliable source to give her something relevant. The Russians are looking to plunge the entire country into permanent blackout, except that the lights in the DMV just came back on.”
“We’re way past that,” Gabriel said.
“Wait,” Halston said. “There’s a single word at the bottom of the screen. It translates to Abort.”
“Hit it,” Greystone said.
Halston did, then her brows furrowed. “It’s asking for a passcode.”
“We don’t have a passcode,” Greystone said.
“What’s going on?” Z asked as he folded into a chair.
Silence.
“I need to hear something good,” Z said, his voice rising to a crescendo. After Greystone updated him, Z said, “This is worse than I thought. Much worse.”
“We need to bring the President up to speed,” Greystone said. “We’ve got less than two hours. We gotta move… now.”
Z shifted to Gabriel. “Weeks ago, you were sent to Italy to do a job for us.”
“Dr. Misha Laskin.” Gabriel swallowed down the bitter taste as he thought back to his failed mission.
“Laskin had a thumb drive for you,” Z said.
Gabriel raked his hands through his hair. “Z, we’ve been through this. There was no thumb drive.”
“Bulgrov tasked me with breaking into Gabriel’s villa in Milan, in search of a thumb drive,” Halston interjected.
“And?” Z asked.
“There wasn’t one,” Halston replied.
“How can we be sure you didn’t hand it over to the Russians,” Z snapped.
“Z do not go there,” Gabriel hissed.
Z shifted from Halston to him. “How do I know you’re both not in on it? Maybe there’s a big Russian payout coming your way.”
A growl shot out of Gabriel. “Not. One. More. Word. Philip.”
Gabriel glared at Z, the anger flowing through him like a raging river.
“Are you accusing my daughter of being a spy against her own country?” Sonya Devereux asked, the frustration in her voice front and center.
“Enough, Z,” Greystone said. “Both G and Halston didn’t find a thumb drive, so there’s gotta be something else—”
“The thumb drive had the code to deactivate the EMPs,” Z said. “That’s why we—and the Russians—were desperate to find it. Laskin was delivering it to us in exchange—”
“He gave me a vintage pocket watch,” Gabriel interrupted.
Z sat ramrod straight. “Tell me you didn’t throw it out.”
“It’s in the safe in my suite at Hotel Dillinger,” Gabriel replied.
“Maybe the code is in the watch,” Halston said.
Z’s phone rang.
“It’s the President.” Z answered on speaker. “Sir, I’m at ALPHA’s Black site—”
“Where’s that damn thumb drive?” the President yelled. “I thought you sent Santini to get it from the Russian defector.”
“There wasn’t one,” Z said. “We might have another option.”
“Might?” The President boomed. “White House Situation Room. Now! Give me names so I can clear the team.”
“Last name Santini. First names Gabriel, Greystone, and Theodore,” Z said. “Hold, Mr. President.” He tapped the mute button. “Who’s translating?”
“I will,” Halston replied. “My mom too, and we’ll need my dad.”
“Mr. President, add last name Devereux, first names Halston, Dustin and Sonya,” Z said.
“President Garrison, it’s Greystone Santini. Add last name Austin. First names Caroline and Sydney.”
“Someone leaked the EMP activation to our enemies,” the President said. “They are all over this. Develin is trying to contain the press. If he can’t, we’ll have pandemonium. We have got to shut this down. When can I expect you?”
Gabriel glanced at the time. It was 3:05 AM.
“Mr. President, Gabriel Santini. 4:00 AM, latest.”
“Mr. Santini why wasn’t that thumb drive turned over to me weeks ago?” the President asked.
“There is no thumb drive,” Gabriel said.
“Then, we have nothing?”
“Laskin gave me a pocket watch.”
“Ah, hell, we are so fucked,” President Garrison said. “Where is it?”
“Hotel Dillinger,” Gabriel said.
“I’ll send Secret Service to escort you to the White House.” The President hung up.
Everyone stood.
“Sydney and I will handle Bulgrov’s body,” Caroline said.
“What happened to him?” Z asked.
“He activated the EMPs, then killed himself with a suicide pill,” Halston replied.
“The State Department needs to address this,” Z said. “Do not take him to the crematorium.”
Gabriel made a call, put it on speaker.
“Hey,” Sin answered. “You at the Black Site?”
“Yeah,” Gabriel replied. “We need a body taken to the morgue.”
“Who?”
“Yuri Bulgrov, Russian Ambassador,” Gabriel said.
“Leave him in the hangar,” Sin instructed. “The media has gotten clued in. Evangeline and I are too busy trying to kill the stories before they go out. Damage control is impossible. Is Slash with you?”
“I’m here, Sin,” Slash said.
“Find a secure morgue to hold Bulgrov before we turn him over to State,” Sin said.
“You got it,” Slash replied.
“Where’s everyone headed?” Sin asked.
“The Situation Room,” Gabriel said and killed the call.
The group hurried out, made their way as a pod toward the hangar door. Once there, Caroline and Sydney climbed into one SUV, Greystone and Teddy escorted Dustin and Sonya into another, while Gabriel and Halston jumped into a third.
As Gabriel sped through the sleepy Great Falls neighborhood toward Route 7, Halston asked, “What do you think?”
“I think there’s little chance this pocket watch has a code.” Gabriel glanced over in the darkened car. “I almost threw it out.”
“What stopped you?”
“There was a photo of his family inside. Family mattered to him. Same for me.”
“So, you do have a heart,” she said as she curled her hand around his thigh.
The second she touched him, he came alive. “If I love you, I’ll do anything for you. If you’re my enemy, you’re already dead.”
In the dark vehicle, he flicked his gaze in her direction. She was waiting.
“This is it, isn’t it?” she asked.
“For the rest of our lives,” he replied. “Which—based on the situation—is ninety minutes.”
“Then, we’ll make the most of every second.”
He veered onto the parkway and hit the gas. Time was running out and he wasn’t willing to settle. Ninety minutes with Halston wasn’t enough.
“We’re just getting started, baby,” he said. “We’ll have decades more than an hour and a half.”
She shuddered out a breath. “I wish I had your confidence.”
“I’ve never lost before. I won’t lose now, not when everything is on the line.”
HALSTON