“Okay, Siggy baby,” he said. “To coin a phrase—this is it!”
“Thirty-second warning!” Even the tinny voice over the PA speaker sounded tense. “Thirty-second warning!”
The silence along the ridge grew more intense. Dirk was aware of his heartbeat speeding up. He gripped the piece of smoked glass tightly in his hand. Easy. He loosened his grip. No need to break the damned thing.
“Ten seconds!” The taut voice on the PA rang out over the campsite. “Nine — eight — seven—”
Dirk stopped breathing.
“—three — two — one — NOW!”
At the instant of the final shout, a flash swept the entire countryside with a light brighter than a dozen midday suns. Even though Dirk's hands were clasped tightly across his eyes, the tremendous light burned through. He was shocked to the core. Ten miles! It was just not possible….
Dazed, he got to his feet. He placed the glass before his eyes.
On the horizon an immense ball of fire was still expanding, orange and red, purple and blue flame swirling, soaring thousands of feet into the air. The earth had opened up. The sky split asunder….
A monstrous dark cloud was growing rapidly, billowing upward, reaching for infinity itself. It dwarfed the world.
A shock wave of unimaginable pressure slammed into him. Instantly a sharp blast tore the desert silence, followed by a thunderous Doomsday roar….
For the briefest instant his eyes were blinded in a bombed-out factory building in Holland…. He was hugging the ground of a vineyard on the bank of the Rhine… Hearing the blast from a dank cave at Haigerloch… Staring down into a fiery pit in a gutted theater…
He turned to look at Sig standing next to him. He saw his own terrified awe mirrored on the face of his friend.
Together they had seen the flash, heard the thunder, felt the shock wave, and watched the towering mushroom cloud that would change the world….
Bibliography
The following books and publications in English are among those which, together with the author's own experiences, investigations and documentation, as well as foreign publications, have furnished authentication and facts for The Haigerloch Project.
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