After Brooks had contacted the Chinese authorities, they had descended on Kammler’s lair in force. They’d flown the wounded out to the nearest hospital, which had been equipped with the most advanced medical facilities. That had been critical to Jaeger and Miles’s recoveries.
It was in hospital that Jaeger had learnt all that had been discovered about his errant wife. The remains of Ruth’s laptop had been retrieved from the scorched wreckage of Kammler’s lair. That, plus her emails, had revealed the full extent to which she had been seduced by Kammler’s crazed schemes.
In his own gentle way Miles had explained to Jaeger that Ruth’s warped allegiances had been more anchored in trauma than in any coherent beliefs or philosophy. She’d demonstrated all the classic symptoms of Stockholm syndrome.
Stockholm syndrome was something studied during the kidnap and ransom phase of SAS counter-terrorism training. Jaeger remembered it well. It was named after a Stockholm bank heist in which the hostages had ended up siding with the robbers. It referred to the propensity of a hostage to bond with his or her captor, especially if they shared similar values and views.
Jaeger had forced himself to contemplate this with regard to his wife. It would explain an awful lot of her behaviour over the past few months, though forgiving her would still take time. Serious amounts of time. As for the love, it was there, but warped forever by grief and anger.
Several bodies had been discovered in the getaway vehicle, one of which was that of a woman. The Chinese authorities had promised DNA samples to confirm that Ruth Jaeger and Steve Jones were amongst the dead, but they were taking their time.
It was hardly surprising. Brooks and the CIA had hardly rushed to alert them when Kammler was plotting world devastation from Chinese soil. Why would they hurry now to share their findings?
Even so, Jaeger had few doubts that his wife had perished in that vehicle. Still, until he had absolute confirmation, he wasn’t going to say anything to the boys. They had more than enough to deal with.
‘Any news?’ Luke pressed. ‘Anything?’
Jaeger shook his head. ‘Nothing concrete. But let’s not lose hope. Let’s not give up.’
He felt like a Judas saying it, even though he was just trying to shield them from the worst. He glanced at Narov. She looked just like she had when he’d first met her. Cold. Detached. Unemotional.
Only of course deep down she wasn’t. Jaeger knew that. In a way, that was what he loved about her. Her impenetrable calm. Her blunt honesty. Her straight-talking no-bullshit ways.
Her quiet, unassailable strength.
He figured it was time to lighten the mood a little. He’d try some corny jokes. Another long-lived Jaeger family tradition: on long drives, Dad cracks the worst ever jokes.
He turned to the boys. ‘So… why don’t they play poker in the jungle?’
Luke rolled his eyes and groaned. ‘Don’t tell us – too many cheetahs.’
Jaeger grinned. ‘Very good. How about this. What’s a Hindu?’
Luke groaned again. ‘Lay eggs. Ha ha. Very funny.’ He nudged Simon in the ribs. ‘I guess everything’s gotta be okay if Dad’s started on the crappy jokes.’
Simon grinned. ‘Talking of Hindus, we’re learning all about it at school. It’s kinda cool.’ He put on a deep, gruff, God-like voice. ‘Now I am become death, destroyer of worlds! Lord Krishna, the blue-faced dude.’
The colour drained from Narov’s face and she snapped her head around. ‘What did you say? Now I have become what?’
Simon shrugged. ‘Death, destroyer of worlds. That’s how the quote goes. Like I said, Lord Krishna.’
‘Yeah, but some guy called Oppenheimer also used it,’ Luke added. ‘When the Americans detonated the first atom bomb. We learnt about it in history. Kind of summed up the moment pretty well, too.’
Narov flicked her eyes across to Jaeger. There was a hint of panic in them that he was at a total loss to comprehend. ‘There’s a services just ahead. I’m pulling over.’
She turned in and brought the Range Rover to a halt. As she did so, Jaeger could sense the fear that had crept into the vehicle.
‘What’s going on?’ he queried.
Narov eyed him nervously. Worriedly. It was hugely unsettling. If she was so perturbed, then whatever was happening had to be some seriously heavy shit.
‘I… terminated Kammler. That much you must have realised.’ She was trying to choose her words carefully, mindful of the boys sitting in the rear. ‘But you know what the weirdest thing was? He died almost triumphantly.’
She locked eyes with Jaeger. ‘His last words were choked off mid sentence. But you know what they were: Now I am become death… I didn’t get the significance of it at the time.’ A beat. ‘I do now.’
Jaeger felt his blood run cold. The pieces were falling together in his mind, and it was utterly chilling. ‘Are you saying what I think you’re saying?’ he ventured.
‘We’ve been fooled.’ Narov answered, as if confirming his worst thoughts. ‘Kammler tricked us all, even those supposedly closest to him.’ She shook her head, horrified. ‘There weren’t just eight devices. There’s another out there somewhere.’
‘Jesus,’ Jaeger muttered. ‘Nine. And the last one presumably primed to blow.’
Narov nodded darkly. ‘Plus there’s this: Kammler’s final message, it was personal. He said: Tell Jaeger.’
93
Jaeger’s eyes widened. He was gripped by an unshakeable fear. A phrase had come unbidden into his head, from the time of his bloody fight with Steve Jones in Kammler’s lair. It had slipped from his mind during the long hours of unconsciousness that had followed. But it was back now with a vengeance, triggered by Narov’s recollections.
He turned to the boys, doing his best to hide his consternation. He thrust his debit card in their direction. ‘Here, you know the code. You guys must be starving. We’ll see you in McDonald’s in five.’
The only answer was a pair of doors slamming and the boys were gone.
Jaeger turned back to Narov. ‘Before I shot him, Steve Jones said something. Something like: I’m gonna keep you alive so you can watch your family fry. It’s only just come back to me.’
Narov’s gaze hardened. ‘So it is personal. For both of them. Against you and your loved ones. If there is a device still out there, it is being targeted at you and them.’
‘But how? And where?’
Narov pointed towards the pair of golden arches that rose above the service area. ‘The boys. Has to be. Kammler tortured you with Ruth and Luke before, remember. This time, Ruth ran to Kammler. To his side. That leaves only the boys.’
Jaeger glanced towards the darkening horizon, in the direction of the coast. The school rugby match had ended late. It was dusk. Darkness descending. In the distance, a pair of floodlit towers rose above the clifftop, surrounded by a weird, ghostly halo of alien blue light.
It hit him suddenly, in a blinding flash of realisation. ‘The reactor at Hinkley Point,’ he whispered. ‘Has to be.’
A forty-kilo IND detonated at Hinkley – it would cause meltdown at the plant. Cataclysmic devastation. It would fit Kammler’s bill perfectly… and the boys’ school just nearby would be one of the first places to be hit. Might even be close enough to be flattened by the blast.
He turned to Narov. ‘Hinkley’s smack-bang beside their school. Plus it’s coastal, so perfect for his fleet of yachts. The prevailing wind spreading radioactive fallout all across the country. Bristol, Reading, Oxford, London… all those cities in its path. And from there on into western Europe, like so many Chernobyls…’