He stepped out onto the dry groundcover, crunching under his feet, and listened carefully. Clay continued slowly and had made it less than ten feet when he froze, causing Li Na to bump into him.
“What is it?”
Clay didn’t answer. Instead, he turned carefully around and stopped, staring over Li Na’s head.
Lining the tiny hill above them were over a dozen soldiers, all with their rifles raised and aimed directly at Clay. Off to the side stood Li Qin, with a bandaged right hand, and before him, the terrified teenage boy who had shown them the tunnel.
Clay didn’t move. Instead, he stared up as Qin smiled and laid his good hand reassuringly over the young boy’s shoulder.
“Drop your gun.”
Clay felt Li Na press in behind him as he studied the other soldiers. Very slowly, he lowered his HK to the ground.
Qin motioned to one of the men next to him, who then lowered his own rifle. It was at that moment that Clay removed the phone from his pocket and held it up.
The approaching soldier stopped and studied the phone curiously. He glanced back to Qin, who was doing the same. Together they watched as Clay turned the unit in his hand and began typing a message with his thumb.
Qin’s eyes opened wide. He screamed at the soldier who was now within twenty feet. “STOP HIM!”
The man exploded into a run, quickly reaching the end of the incline and launching himself forward.
Clay took the full impact and was thrown to the ground while the phone tumbled out of his reach. The soldier reached it first and brought down the full weight of his boot, smashing the device into several pieces.
73
In Washington, D.C., Wil Borger’s heart nearly stopped when he read the single word message from Clay on his own phone. He stared, disbelieving, at each of the nine letters displayed on the tiny screen.
“Oh no.”
He suddenly jumped when his desk phone rang. He leaned over his desk and looked at the incoming number.
“You have got to be kidding.”
Upstairs, Admiral Langford turned away from his window when his office door opened and Wil Borger was shown in by his secretary. She closed it behind him, leaving him standing awkwardly and facing Langford.
“You wanted to see me, Admiral.”
“I did.”
Langford walked back to his desk and sat on the edge, studying Borger. He motioned to a chair. “Have a seat.”
Borger nervously stepped forward and eased himself down.
Langford folded his arms. “Anything you’d like to tell me, Wil?”
“Um… what do you mean?”
Langford scratched his temple, thinking. “I just had a very interesting conversation. Care to guess with who?”
Borger tried to smile. “Not my mother, I hope.”
“Very funny.”
Borger’s smile disappeared. “Sorry.”
“As insightful as a call with your mother might actually be, the person I just hung up with was Alison Shaw.”
Borger stared back with genuine surprise. “Alison?”
“Yes. Do you know why?”
“Uh… no, sir.”
Langford continued studying Borger. “Do you know where she is?”
“Puerto Rico?”
“She’s aboard the Pathfinder. Anchored not far from Trinidad.”
“I didn’t know that.”
Langford nodded. “What’s surprising to me, however, is why Ms. Shaw called me… asking about you.”
“Me?”
“That’s right.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Well, that makes two of us. You see, not only is Ms. Shaw in the Caribbean on a very important mission, but now she’s calling me… and asking that I put you on a flight to Trinidad.”
“Trinidad? What for?”
Langford stared down at Borger with steely eyes. “I thought you might tell me.”
“I don’t know why, sir.”
“I see.” Langford sighed and stood up. He rounded his desk and sat down heavily in his chair. After some consideration, he pressed his hands together in front of his face. “Ms. Shaw is with Commander Lawton on the Pathfinder investigating what they believe could be a second location for our mysterious plants. Like those found by Clay and Caesare in Guyana.”
“What?!” Borger leaned forward in his seat.
“That’s right. Another possible location, but this one is underwater.” Langford watched as Borger remained frozen, thinking.
There were three things going through Borger’s head, each as earth-shattering as the next. And if it weren't automatic, he probably would have forgotten to breathe.
The possibility of a second location was stunning in and of itself. Another source producing what could only be described as an evolutionary miracle. A mutation capable of changing the genetic structure of a living organism, resulting in something mankind had never seen before. But there was a reason. A reason that was both logical, and at the same time, utterly jaw-dropping. The secret which both Alison and Borger already knew.
The Chinese had made the find of the century. A find that had culminated in the attack on a U.S. naval ship by the Chinese in an attempt to flee with every piece of plant they had managed to gather. The rest they’d burned.
But that was only the tip of the iceberg. The Chinese had fled with what they thought was the entire find. But what they didn’t know was that the source wasn’t the plants at all — the source was in the water. Water, highly enriched by something hidden at the top of the mountain. Something extraordinary.
A vault. A vault hidden within the mountain, housing thousands, maybe millions, of perfectly preserved samples from an alien biosphere. And what appeared to be the total sum of another planet’s genetic and cellular history encoded in countless protected seeds… and embryos.
It was an amazing discovery that was nearly beyond words. But now the idea of Alison discovering a second site left Wil Borger completely speechless. Because a second site could answer a pressing question that Borger had been losing sleep over ever since they discovered the vault.
With the sheer amount of materials needed to construct what was hidden in that cliff, Borger was convinced a ship had been used to transport it. From very far away. But the distance involved, along with the speed needed to reach Earth, would have required a level of energy that was formidable on any scale. To Borger, it meant only one thing: a one-way trip. And if he was right, it presented the big question that Wil Borger couldn’t answer. Where was the ship?
But maybe Alison’s discovery was the answer to his question… maybe she had found the ship! By matter of simple deduction, the ship would have had to be destroyed or hidden. Perhaps dumped somewhere that no one would find.
How Alison had managed to find it, he couldn’t begin to imagine. But the ramifications of what she may have discovered was far more important in Borger’s opinion than how.
“Mr. Borger,” Langford said, breaking the silence. “You look like you have something on your mind.”
He slowly nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Well?” Langford said, his hands still pressed together in front of him.
Borger wanted to tell him. He’d wanted to since they’d first found it. But together, he, Clay, Caesare, and Alison were afraid to. They knew what unleashing such a discovery could do. To the world.
The power contained in whatever liquid those embryos were floating in was almost beyond comprehension. Especially in a world that fought wars over far less, and in many cases, on lies alone.
They had kept the secret from Langford and everyone else out of the fear of what would be unleashed onto the world.
And that was the third thing which had caused Borger to freeze in his chair. It was the realization that only the threat of someone else finding out would make John Clay send Borger the message that he did.
Nine characters. A single message before his satellite phone lost signal permanently.
TELLNGFRD.