Three weeks and three days later, Nadia was working on a new project for the Orel Group at 10:30 p.m. at home when she heard a sound from Bobby’s bedroom. It was more masculine than a shriek, but louder than a gasp. It propelled Nadia to her feet and sent her running to Bobby’s door. He opened it before she got there. He looked either amazed or terrified, she couldn’t tell which. He moved out of the way like a barefoot zombie to let her in.
“Computer,” he said.
Nadia marched to his desk and looked at the picture on the screen. It was a photo of the necklace and the locket in the palm of Bobby’s hand.
“Why did you take a picture of yourself holding the locket?”
“I didn’t,” he said.
“What?”
“I didn’t.”
“Then who did?”
“No one.”
“I’m confused.”
“That’s not my hand. And it’s not my locket. The necklace has smaller loops. The locket is more circular.”
Nadia lost her breath. Bobby edged past her and slipped into his chair.
“There’s another locket,” Bobby said.
Nadia let the words sink in. “There’s another boy,” she said, as much to herself as to Bobby. “Is this an e-mail?”
“Just got it.”
“Who sent it?”
Bobby scrolled to the message details. The sender’s name was ‘GenesisII26486.’
“Does that mean anything to you?” Nadia said.
Bobby shook his head. “No.”
“Can you get any more information about where it was sent from?”
Bobby summoned the source information. Half a page of gibberish came up. Nadia couldn’t make any sense of it. Bobby pointed at the screen with his pen.
Sender> Okuma-asahi.net.
“Asahi,” Nadia said. “That sounds Japanese.”
“Must be the local Internet provider.”
Bobby searched. Asahi Net was, in fact, one of Japan’s top broadband providers.
“What about Okuma?” Nadia said.
Bobby searched again. A Wikipedia page offered five subjects named Okuma. Nadia and Bobby scanned the list. Nadia stopped when she reached the fourth subject. She knew Bobby was transfixed by the same entry without even asking.
Okuma was the name of a Japanese town in the Futaba District. It was a city whose name was known in infamy around the world. It was the only place besides Chornobyl to experience a level seven nuclear disaster, according to the International Nuclear Event Scale. The message from the second boy had been sent from this location.
Fukushima.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to the many articles and books I sourced for historical context and setting. Among them were Mark Hollingworth’s and Steward Lansley’s Londongrad, and Peter Lane Taylor’s The Secret of Priest’s Grotto.
My sincere thanks to the following people for their invaluable assistance:
Professor Roman Voronka and Mykola Haliv helped with various matters Ukrainian, including editorial input and book reviews. They are the smartest and kindest men in any room. Kim Palmer, Pam Marra, Jeff Palmer, Mary Jane Cronin, Jim Cronin, John Jarosz, Eudokia Stelmach, Dan Simeone, and Bob Simeone spread the word. Thanks to Bob for also sharing his intricate knowledge of firearms. How lucky I am to call you family and friends. Olga Konuich, Lydia Gulawsky, and the other members of the Soyuz Ukrainok of Warren, Michigan, turned a conference call into a motivating experience. The Ukrainian Museum in New York City, Paul Stankus, Jud Ashman, and the entire Gaithersburg Book Festival provided generous hospitality. Kathy Ryan and Chernobyl Children International make wonderful partners and create an effective means for every reader to help save children’s lives with the purchase of a book. My intrepid editors, Alison Dasho and Charlotte Herscher, shepherd a book to creation and kill the darlings within like nobody’s business. The rest of the team at Thomas & Mercer including Alan Turkus, Terry Goodman, Jacque Ben-Zekry, Gracie Doyle and Paul Morrissey have supported and promoted this author beyond all reasonable expectations. For this I will always remain indebted to Daphne Durham, the high priestess of the Boy cult, and Andy Bartlett. My fierce and fabulous literary agent, Erica Silverman, remains my formidable and trusted partner and friend.
And, of course, I must thank my wife, Robin for her continued support and encouragement. Her husband will forever be the boy who got lucky.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
OREST STELMACH WAS born in Connecticut to Ukrainian immigrants and didn’t speak English when he was a child. He’s earned a living washing dishes, stocking department store shelves, teaching English in Japan, and managing international investments. In addition to English, he speaks Japanese, Spanish, and Ukrainian.
ALSO BY OREST STELMACH
The Boy from Reactor 4
Copyright
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Text copyright © 2014 Orest Stelmach
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Published by Thomas & Mercer, Seattle
ISBN-13: 9781477809488
ISBN-10: 1477809481
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013908438