King shook his head and gave a defeated sigh. “Chesler, you’re fired.”
35
Suvorov stared at the two men illuminated by the flashlights of his Spetsnaz teammates. One of them was the objective of the mission that had brought him to Paris. The other had killed Kharitonov.
What could be simpler? Take one, kill the other. That’s what he knew he should do. All of his military training could have been summed up in a single phrase: the mission comes first. No matter what else happened, accomplishing the mission should have been his first priority. Not fifteen minutes earlier, he would have carried out both tasks without hesitation…even with a sense of satisfaction.
But damn it, a lot had happened in the last fifteen minutes.
He didn’t know exactly what had happened. When the city had been plunged into darkness, he hadn’t really paid heed, but that thing he’d faced on the riverboat… what in God’s name was that?
It had been only inches from him when something had caused it to reverse course. A few seconds later, he’d met the SVR undercover operative-the man now going by the name Chesler-who, while providing a few answers, didn’t really know anything of use. One thing he’d said however, still echoed in Suvorov’s head.
It went after them.
He took a step forward, putting himself at arm’s length from both men. The one Chesler had called ‘King,’ evidently an American operative, had been relieved of his weapons, but Suvorov knew from experience that the man was still very dangerous.
“What is that thing?” he asked.
King gazed back impassively. “Honestly, I have no idea.”
“I don’t think you’re being truthful. I want to know what you know, even if it’s merely a supposition.” He glanced past King, toward the dark river. “We aren’t going anywhere until I get some answers. How long do you think you have before it gets here?”
King gave an odd smile, and then to Suvorov’s amazement, began talking. His account was succinct, like a military briefing. He talked about quantum phones and a crazed Indian who had believed he was unleashing a black hole upon the world.
“I don’t think it is a black hole,” King finished, “but it must be something like that. What it did to Pradesh…”
Suvorov nodded. He’d witnessed some of the fleeing passengers evaporating before his eyes and had found others evidently turned to stone. It seemed more like a demonic monster from a folktale. And didn’t those stories usually end with the hero slaying the monster?
“Bullets slowed it down,” Suvorov revealed. “There has to be a way to kill it.”
King seemed genuinely surprised by this news. “I’ve got some ideas about that myself, but I’ll need time. And a little breathing room. So, if you don’t have any more questions, it might be a good idea for us to get moving.”
“Where should we go?”
“Anywhere is better than here.” Despite the urgency of his previous statement, King studied Suvorov a moment. “You’re Russian special forces, aren’t you? Spetsnaz? I think I know why you’re here, and it’s got nothing to do with stopping that thing.”
Suvorov shrugged, confirming nothing King had said. “I think right now, the immediate problem takes precedence over other considerations.”
“And later? If we survive this?”
Suvorov didn’t answer. “You mentioned something before, something the Indian told you about where it came from.”
“He said it was hidden in a Buddhist statue. I’m not really sure what he meant by that.”
“I think I know,” Suvorov said. “I might not know what it is, but I think I know exactly where it came from.”
36
Alexander led them back into the ruins of the Louvre. Fiona stayed close to him, and Sara stayed close to her, with Julia a few steps behind. As they picked their way through the rubble and entered the darkened museum that had once been a kingly palace, the curator gave a little gasp.
“I can’t believe it. Hundreds of years’ worth of history…all ruined.”
Fiona couldn’t quite fathom the woman’s grief. In her life, she’d witnessed the total destruction of her home, her family, everything she had known, and if Alexander was correct, the entity that had been unleashed on this night had the potential to destroy so much more. And what about the radiation poisoning? Why did a few old paintings and statues matter anyway?
Alexander glanced back but said nothing.
The edifice creaked and groaned all around them, the air filled with a sound like boulders being crushed together. Fiona felt off balance, a sensation that increased with each step forward. Although the debris-strewn corridors were flat, she felt like she was walking downhill, and that at any moment, she might fall forward. She saw that the others were having similar difficulty moving and asked Alexander about this.
“It’s the gravity of the black hole,” Alexander explained. “Its mass is still relatively small right now, but as we draw closer, this effect will become more pronounced.”
“It’s still here? I thought that thing…the basilisk…was the black hole.”
He shook his head. “Merely an extension of its presence. A drone, if you will. The black hole itself cannot move, though as it consumes more and more matter, its mass will increase until it sinks to the center of the Earth. When that happens…” He didn’t finish the thought.
“How long will that take?” Sara asked.
“It is impossible to say. This is unexplored territory. The increase in its mass is not mathematically related to the amount of matter it consumes. But I fear that the time remaining might be measured in hours, not days or months.”
“Hours?”
“The strange matter at the core of the singularity can add mass to any particle. Right now, it has a relatively limited supply-pieces of masonry, wood and plaster that have broken loose and fallen into the event horizon. Seventeen hundred years ago, something similar happened. The black hole was in a cave. It had consumed all the loose material nearby, after which, it could only draw away subatomic particles from the solid rock surrounding it, which is a very slow process. Relatively speaking, of course.
“But there is another source of material that might accelerate the process, one that was not available then. The sun. Sunlight is made up of particles that have very little mass. Some of these particles, neutrinos for example, are so small that they can pass through solid matter without striking other particles, sometimes penetrating many miles into the Earth’s surface. When the black hole was in the cave, it was shielded from direct sunlight. Now, that is no longer the case. When the sun rises and light reaches the black hole, it will be showered by subatomic particles, all of which will be instantly converted into mass.”
Fiona didn’t understand the scientific principles he was trying to explain, but the bottom line was clear. When the sun rose, the world would end. “Can we really stop this thing?” she asked in a small voice.
Alexander clapped a firm hand on her shoulder. “I believe so. Those Buddhist monks found a way, centuries ago, and they didn’t even know what they were dealing with.”
“Maybe it’s different this time,” Sara suggested. “You were playing that recording of the chant they used, but it didn’t seem to make any difference.”
“That is true,” Alexander conceded. “But I think that Fiona’s experience may hold the key to that mystery. Recall how she was able to discern the mother tongue’s influence in the original works of art, and even in the fragments of the Buddha statues, but not in reproductions.”
“Copies don’t work,” Fiona said. “Has to be the real thing.”
He nodded. “There is some deeper mystery at work. I was mistaken in believing that it was simply a matter of finding the right harmonic frequency. That was only part of it. Intention also plays a role. It was the intention of those monks, seventeen hundred years ago, to render the black hole dormant. And I believe that you can do the same, Fiona.”