“What are they?” she asked uneasily.
“That,” Frost told her, “is what I call Trident. Poseidon’s most powerful weapon. Each of those cylinders holds in suspension a genetically engineered virus.”
Nina jumped back from the glass. “What?”
“It’s perfectly safe,” Kari assured her. “At least to us.”
“What do you mean, to us?”
“We are immune,” said Frost, “or rather, the virus is harmless to us. It’s been engineered so that it cannot attack the unique genetic sequence contained in Atlantean DNA, even if the sequence has been mutated. But to anyone who does not possess that DNA sequence… it is one hundred percent lethal.”
Nina felt as though the air was being drawn out of the room. “Oh my God,” she gasped. “Are you insane? No, don’t answer that-you are insane!”
“No, Nina, please listen,” implored Kari. “I know this is hard for you to accept, but deep down, if you look past all your social programming, you know we’re right. The world is a mess, and it’s getting worse-the only way to stop it from passing the point of no return is for us to restore the rule of the Atlantean elite.”
“Thinking that mass murder is a bad thing is not social programming!” Nina spat. “Are you seriously telling me you’re planning to wipe out eighty-four percent of the human race? That’s almost five and a half billion people!”
“It’s necessary,” said Frost. “If we don’t do it, then humanity will be choked by its own waste. The worthless will outnumber us by hundreds to one, and consume every available resource until they are all gone. This way, those fit to rule will be able to rebuild the world as it should always have been. The Frost Foundation will unite the survivors worldwide.”
Nina slowly backed away. “With you in charge, huh? You are out of your fucking mind. You’re talking about people, not waste! When were you planning to start your little apocalypse?”
Frost gave her a grim smile. “I’m not planning anything, Dr. Wilde. I am already doing it.”
The airless sensation returned. “What?”
“There’s a plane on the runway across the fjord, an Airbus A380 freighter. It will take off within fifteen minutes, flying first to Paris, then on to Washington. While it is in flight, it will disperse the Trident virus into the air over Europe, then into the North Atlantic jetstream, and finally over the eastern seaboard of the United States. Our projections show that within a month, the virus will have been carried to every populated part of the planet. Everybody who does not carry the Atlantean genome will be infected.”
“And then what?” Nina whispered.
“And then…” Frost went over to the chamber, operating a control panel. The black windows depolarized, turning transparent. “This happens.”
Barely daring to look, Nina slowly stepped forward. The interior of the chamber came into view. An antiseptic white cell, bare except for a stainless-steel toilet bowl and a low bunk, on which lay…
She clapped her hands over her mouth in horror. “Jonathan…”
Philby stared sightlessly up at the ceiling, the whites of his eyes stained a bloody red by ruptured blood vessels. His skin was clammy, a deathly gray, chest barely moving with each labored breath.
“He was infected yesterday,” Frost said in a chillingly matter-of-fact tone. “The Trident virus attacks the autonomic nervous system, shutting down the organs. If it runs its course as the simulations predicted, he’ll be dead within six hours.”
“Oh my God…” Nina turned away, sickened. “You can’t let him die like that. Please, you made your point-give him the antidote, the vaccine, whatever he needs.”
“There is no vaccine,” Frost said. “That would defeat its purpose. Once the virus is released, it will do what it was created to do. The only cure is death.”
“Nina,” said Kari softly, “he got exactly what he deserved. He betrayed us-he betrayed you. He sold out your parents to Qobras. And he was going to do the same thing to you. He wasn’t your friend-the only reason he looked out for you was out of guilt.”
“Nobody deserves that,” Nina replied. Kari reached up to put a hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged it off angrily. “Don’t touch me.”
“Nina…”
She whirled to face them, filled with a sudden rage. “Did you think I’d go along with this… this genocide? My God! This is insane! This would be the biggest act of… of evil in human history! What kind of person do you think I am?”
“You’re one of us,” Kari insisted.
“No! I’m nothing like you! I’m not going to be a part of this!”
“That’s unfortunate,” Frost stated coldly. “Because this is a situation where either you are with us… or you are opposed to us.”
“You’re goddamn right I’m opposed to you!”
“Then you’ll die.” Frost reached into his jacket.
Time dropped into slow motion as Nina watched him pull out a sleek silver gun. The glinting barrel came around, the black hole of its muzzle pointing at her chest. She wanted to turn and run, but shock and disbelief conspired to stop her, paralyzing her legs. She saw the tendons in the back of his hand tighten, finger about to pull the trigger-
“Far! No!”
Kari shoved Frost’s arm just as he fired. The bullet whipped past Nina, hitting the wall behind her. She tried to scream, but only a choked gasp emerged.
Frost’s expression was one of barely contained fury as Kari desperately pleaded with him in Norwegian. Then his anger subsided. Slightly. “My daughter just saved your life, Dr. Wilde,” he said. “For now.”
“Nina, please,” Kari said, talking quickly, “I know you’re overwhelmed by all this, but please listen to me. I know you, I know that you’re one of us, that you think like we do. Don’t you see? You can have anything, everything if you join us. Please, just think about it rationally.”
“Rationally?” Nina gasped. “You’re planning to exterminate most of the human race, and you’re asking me to be rational about it?”
“This is useless,” said Frost. “I knew she would respond this way when she refused to kill Qobras. She’s been too indoctrinated by her society. She’ll never come around.”
“She will,” Kari insisted, a hint of desperation entering her voice. “I know she will!”
“Very well,” he said at last. “She has until the first release of the virus. If she still refuses to change her mind… then you will kill her.”
Kari gasped. “No, Far, I can’t…”
“Yes.” Frost’s face was stern. “You will. Do you understand me, Kari?”
She bowed her head. “Yes, Far.”
“Good. Then take her to the plane.”
Kari looked up in confusion. “The plane?”
“The pilot can give you a countdown to the first release of the virus. I assume you want to allow her every possible second to make the right choice?” Kari nodded. “Then you’ll both know exactly how long she has. If she refuses to change her mind, kill her and dispose of the body over the sea.”
Still keeping his gun trained on Nina, he went to a telephone and punched in a number. “Security, this is Frost. Have two men come to the Trident lab and accompany my daughter and Dr. Wilde to the airfield. Dr. Wilde is under arrest-I want her handcuffed. If she attempts to escape, kill her.” He glanced over at Kari. “Even if my daughter tells you not to. You have your orders.” He replaced the receiver.