“If I told you, you’d never believe me. And that’s the truth. Just let the number float around the bottom of your purse. Throw it away in a few months. It can’t hurt anything.”
“How will I know if I’m hearing the right thing? I don’t scare very easily.”
She wasn’t taking him seriously, but he didn’t seem at all dangerous to her, and he was the most intriguing person she’d run into between Nebraska and South Carolina, where she’d been visiting her sister.
“Let me put it this way,” he said. “If you have even the slightest doubt about it… that’s not it.”
She put the slip of paper into her purse. “Thanks… I guess.”
“Drive careful,” he said, and headed back to the Humvee.
Finding that the pump had shut off again, he mumbled an obscenity as he grabbed the handle and squeezed the trigger mechanism. He was watching the digits add up when the woman came walking over.
“Elizabeth never really said that, you know… ‘Time. Time. My kingdom for some time.’”
He smiled at her, feeling butterflies. “Well then she should have.”
“I know I’ve played right into your hands on this, but I need you to tell me what it is… this scary thing.”
“Honestly, you won’t believe me.”
After considering the situation for a moment, she took the receipt from her purse and stuck it under the wiper blade of the Humvee. “I’m over it,” she said, and turned to walk away.
“It’s an asteroid,” he blurted.
She turned back around. “A what?”
“A rogue asteroid. It’s two miles wide and it’s on a collision course with North America.”
“You were right,” she said, her eyes wide. “I don’t believe you. Goodbye.”
“In eighty-seven days it’s going to slam into us somewhere between the Mexican border and the Yukon Territory at a hundred and ten thousand miles an hour.”
She paused and stood looking at him.
“I’m told the resultant explosion and ensuing firestorm will kill every living creature aboveground out to a radius of eight or nine hundred miles. After that the sun’s going to be obscured from the sky for an awfully long time.” He plucked the number from under the blade and offered it back to her.
“Not that I believe you,” she said, sticking the paper into her pocket, “but if this were true, why would I bother to call you about it?”
“My friends and I are preparing a shelter, a good one, and were hoping to save fifty people or so, mostly women and children.”
“And why would I be so lucky?”
He shrugged. “Look in the mirror.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Hey, I know how that sounds, but you asked.”
She studied him for the slightest hint of guile. “Well, you’re either a damn good liar, or you’re crazy enough to believe what you’re saying.”
“I’m going in to pay for my fuel,” he said. “If you’re still here when I get back, maybe we can talk some more.”
When Forrest returned, the woman was back across the lot leaning against her car. He drove over and parked beside her. Getting out, he sat on the hood, popping the top from a beer bottle with a pocketknife.
The woman climbed up onto the hood and sat looking at him. “I’m normally a level-headed, common-sensical person. So why the hell should I believe you?”
“Beer?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Maybe it’s because a good friend of mine at the Pentagon broke about twenty different federal laws telling me what I just told you. Or maybe I just have an honest face,” he added with a grin.
She couldn’t help returning it, trusting him half for real and half for the fun of it. “Aren’t they doing anything about it?”
“You’ve heard about those two high-tech satellites NASA’s planning to launch into space?”
“I don’t watch much television, but I’ll take your word for it.”
“The rockets are actually ICBMs, modified to look the part, but they’re carrying nuclear payloads, not satellites.”
“So they’re going to blow it up?”
“The first warhead will try to blow it off course as it goes by,” he said. “When that doesn’t work, they’ll park the second one in front of it and allow the asteroid to slam into it. Which isn’t going to work either because it’s coming too goddamn fast.”
“Won’t they ever tell us?”
“I expect it to leak, probably sooner than later.” He took a drink from the beer. “But so far they’ve managed to keep it secret.”
“And you’re not lying to me?” she said. “You’re not crazy?”
“Oh, well, I am a little crazy but I’m not lying.”
“How’d you get that scar on your chin?”
“Rifle butt.”
“Did it hurt?”
“I don’t know. I was out cold.”
She chuckled.
“If my buddy Wayne hadn’t shot the guy off of me, I’d be dead.”
“This really isn’t funny, is it?” she said. “Assuming you’re telling the truth, I mean.”
“It’s frightening as hell, if you ask me,” he said, “but what good’s pissing down our leg gonna do?”
“Not much. Where’s this supposed shelter of yours? How big is it?”
“That’s a secret. But it’s not too far away and it’s big enough.” He explained to her how long they would have to live underground and why, and then he told her about his friends and some of the people who would be joining them. “We’re not survival nuts. We’re just five guys trying to save some extra people while we’re busy saving our own asses.”
“Have you given any thought to the psychological effects of living underground for eighteen months?” she asked. “I hope you’ve added a psychiatrist to the mix.”
Forrest had never even considered it. “Damn, that’s probably a good idea.”
“Suppose you’re telling the truth and I decide to take you up on your offer. Can I bring my boyfriend? Or do I belong to you in this little fantasy of yours?”
He laughed, liking her. “You sound like someone else I know. Yeah, you can bring him. So long as he’s not prone to violence.”
“What about our parents?”
He shook his head.
“Just like that?”
“I’m sorry but there’s—”
“No,” she said, cutting him off. “I get it. What you’re saying makes perfect sense. I’m just seeing how deeply you’ve thought into this.”
He looked at her. “What do you do? Are you a psychiatrist?”
“No, that’s my boyfriend. I’m a sociologist,” she said. “What you’re proposing is really kind of fascinating. We discussed similar types of hypotheticals in school.” She hopped down from the hood and shook her hair out with her hands, instinctively aware of how that would affect him and not minding. “I sure hope you’re lying, but I’ll hold onto your number.”
“I’m Jack, by the way.”
“It’s been interesting, Jack.” She walked around to the other side of her car.
“No name?” he asked.
“I’ll tell you my name if we ever meet up again. How’s that? Until then you’re just some nut I ran into at the truck stop.”
“Safe journey, beautiful lady.”
“You too, Jack.” She paused before getting into the car. “It’s one of those old missile silos they’ve put up for sale out here, isn’t it?”
He smiled. “I made it all up.”
“Probably,” she said.
He caught a glimpse of her license plate as she drove off: VERNICA. “Veronica,” he said, jumping down from the hood. “That works.”
Four
Even in the dark Marty Chittenden could see the two agents in the gray sedan down the street from the home of Ester Thorn. He suspected they had probably tapped into her phone as well, so he was glad he hadn’t called ahead. He had never met Mrs. Thorn, but he knew she had once been a highly respected astronomer at the Gemini Observatory in Hawaii. And he suspected the Secret Service had found her textbook on heavenly bodies in his office.