A horn blared, and a compact car went flying past, the driver shaking a fist in fury. “You made a friend there.”
“Hush.” Ben had traffic to contend with. He turned up the radio, hoping for a traffic report. Instead, there was a bulletin; Israel had unleashed more nukes on her enemies.
“Just like in the Bible,” Space said.
“Read it, have you?”
“Ouch. Is your middle name Sarcastic? That reminds me. What is your name?” Ben told her.
“Well, you got it right. I hardly ever read, period. But I had grandparents. And Grandmom never went anywhere without her Good Book. She read parts to me every night when she tucked me in. And one of the books, I think that’s what they call them, is about the stuff that’s going down right now. About the end of the world.”
“Not going to happen,” Ben said, checking his rearview mirrors.
“What isn’t?”
“What are we talking about? The end of the world, dope. It’ll be bad, but the world will go on.”
“Oh. I didn’t know you were an expert.”
“Two words, smartass. Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”
“Who?”
“Don’t you know anything? World War Two? The cities we bombed. With atom bombs?”
“Oh.” Space nodded. “I’ve heard of them. I just didn’t remember what they were called.”
“I guess you didn’t hear that fifty years after the bombs were dropped, both cities were fine. The people were healthy, the parks had flowers and trees, the water was safe to drink.”
“So what are you saying? That we can bomb the hell out of the planet and fifty years from now things will be peachy?”
“Fifty. A hundred. I can’t say how long it’ll take.” Ben shrugged. “Look at the past. Look at all the volcanoes, all the earthquakes, all the wars. You name it. The world will recover. The world always recovers.”
“I wish I had your confidence.”
Ben concentrated on driving. He wanted to get on the Greenway as close to where it crossed to Mercer Island as possible, on the theory that he’d have less congestion to deal with. To the best of his memory, that meant taking 167 and merging. He worried that he would find one or the other impassable, but for once things went smoothly.
Space pressed her nose to her window. “Is that Lake Washington down there?”
“What else would it be? The Pacific Ocean?”
“I only asked, smartass, because water makes me nervous. I can’t swim.” Space tore her gaze from the scenic splendor and shuddered. “I’ve always had this secret fear that one day I’ll drown.” She held up a hand. “I know. I know. But I can’t help how I feel.”
“You can breathe easy. I’m not about to drive through the guardrail. My truck can’t swim, either.”
“Funny.”
Ben didn’t let himself relax until they were past Lake Sammamish. By then they were rolling along at the speed limit. The traffic was heavy but not as bad as in the city.
“Don’t we have mountains to go over?”
“There are a lot of mountains between here and Minnesota,” Ben answered. They had seventeen hundred miles to cover, give or take, across some of the most rugged terrain on the continent. World War Three was raging across the globe and all sorts of lunacy and mayhem were breaking out from one end of the United States to the other.
“You have a strange look on your face,” Space said. “What are you thinking about?”
“How much fun this is going to be.”
7. Chaos Wind
The logjam of vehicles was worse at the exit. Two electric cars were wedged fast and had plugged the ramp for everyone else. Vehicles were stopped three across and ten deep. Many of the drivers were standing around talking or arguing.
“Not even this thing can get through that,” Alf said.
Patrick Slayne didn’t seem to hear him. He flicked a silver toggle switch and there was another loud thunk, this time from under the front end of the Hunster. The hood tilted upward a few degrees.
“What now?” Deepak wondered.
Slayne flicked another toggle switch and said quietly, “Vacate your vehicles. I repeat, vacate your vehicles.”
To Deepak’s surprise, the command was amplified fifty-fold. Everyone looked at the Hunster in puzzlement or wonder. Only a half dozen or so did as Slayne had instructed.
“Those who haven’t done so, get out of your vehicles. In sixty seconds I am clearing the ramp.”
“How will you do that without hurting them all?” Deepak inquired. Slayne flicked off the toggle switch and said with the patient air of an adult explaining to a ten-year-old,
“As you may have gathered by now, this vehicle is modified for special use. It’s the gem in Tekco’s fleet, the only one of its kind. But then, being the chief exec has its perks.”
“Wait a minute. You’re the head of Tekco Security? You run the whole company?”
“Run it. Founded it. Made it the premier global security firm,” Slayne said with no small pride. Alf exclaimed, “That’s where I’ve seen you before! Your picture has been in magazines and on the news.” Slayne frowned. “It wasn’t notoriety I sought. To be effective in my line of work I need to keep a low profile.” His frown changed to a wry smile. “Listen to me. Talking as if the world will go on as usual.” He shook his head, then flicked the same toggle switch and addressed the hidden microphone. “I’ll give you ten extra seconds. This is your last warning.”
Only a few drivers had complied. Several laughed or smirked as if it were some kind of joke. One man flipped his middle finger.
“There’s our problem, right there,” Patrick Slayne said to Deepak and Alf.
“What is?”
“Stupidity. It’s been the downfall of the human race. Once the stupid ones outnumber the ones who give a damn, society disintegrates.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Hold on tight,” Slayne said, and placed the tip of his finger on a red button low on the dash. “There’s quite a recoil.”
“Quite a what?” Deepak wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly.
Slayne turned the wheel so the Hunster was pointed at a wall to one side of the jam. He pressed the red button. The Hunster thundered and bucked and an explosion rocked the wall. Bits and chunks of concrete flew every which way, some as big as a basketball, most considerably smaller. People screamed. Those not in cars dived for cover.
A swirling cloud of dust enveloped everything.
Deepak peered into it, afraid of what he would see. Gradually the dust began to clear. He saw a few people bleeding but no bodies. Most of the vehicles caught in the hail of concrete had broken windshields and busted windows. “What have you done?”
“I’m getting you out of here.” Slayne accelerated toward a huge hole in the wall. Or, rather, what was left of the wall next to the hole. “Brace yourselves. The battering ram can punch through concrete like it’s paper, but there will still be a jolt.”
There was. The sound was like the blast of a cannon. More of the wall shattered to bits, and through the gaping hole roared the Hunster.
Deepak looked back at the people who had been hurt by flying debris. “What’s the matter with you?
Don’t you have a conscience? Do you realize what you’ve done?”
“I didn’t kill anyone.” Slayne turned up a ramp and the Hunster shoved a dust-caked hybrid out of the way with casual mechanical ease.