Sunset: Pact Arcanum: Book One (52 page)

Nick stopping struggling against the containment spells and glared at his enemy. “Who the hell
are
you?”

“Sorry,” Kensington said with a smile, “I didn’t mean to be rude.” His smile was replaced by with a look of distaste. “My name is Andrew Kensington. I am an officer of the United States Central Intelligence Agency, and I have been coordinating our efforts against you since Los Angeles. It is fitting symmetry that you should be here at the end, Ambassador; after all, you set this in motion.”

He regarded Nick soberly. “I must admit to a certain curiosity about meeting you in person, after having studied you for so long from a distance. I think we should spend the endgame together. I would be most interested in watching your reaction to my final victory. So, once again, I ask you, would you care to surrender?” He drew an automatic pistol from the holster on his belt and chambered a round. Then he knelt and placed the muzzle of the weapon snugly against the head of the nearest comatose Sentinel. “If not, we can certainly start disposing of the bodies.”

Nick’s fangs and claws retracted as his eyes fixed on the gun pressed to Scott’s unconscious head. “I surrender.”

“Excellent,” Kensington said in a business-like tone. He turned to one of his own Sentinels. “Put them under heavy guard in one of the offices on level two and vent those areas with the gas. Make sure you suppress their powers, just in case, so they’re not a threat.” He strode deeper into the partitioned area of the third level. “Bring the Ambassador.”

Nick felt the containment spells drag him forward as the three unconscious Sentinels were carried away in the opposite direction. His limbs shackled by magic, he turned to watch them over his shoulder until he could no longer see. Then he shuffled silently after Kensington. He was led into the center of the basement, to an open space surrounded by computer workstations and a large screen displaying a digital map of the United States.

“Move him over there and lock him down.” Kensington pointed at an empty space to one side.

Nick was forced to stand in place as a Sentinel came forward, drew a short blade, and casually sliced it across his own wrist. A smooth stream of blood flowed from the Sentinel’s slashed forearm as he walked a circle around Nick, forming the symbols of a containment circle on the floor. When the circle was complete and began to glow, the spell holding Nick in place dissipated. He could move again, but only within the confines of the circle. The Sentinel healed his wrist and stepped back, and two more stepped forward, repeating the process one at a time. Nick glared out at Andrew over the three glowing blood circles. “I surrendered, Kensington. I gave you my word.”

“Forgive me, Ambassador, if I don’t trust your word.” Kensington turned to look at the display screen in front of him. “As I said, I prefer pragmatism.”

Nick’s gaze searched the room for vulnerabilities, finally coming to rest on a familiar pair of blue-green eyes that watched him with amusement.

“You! What the hell are you doing here?”

Medusa laughed. “I am bringing your world to an end, Ambassador.” She smirked. “Just as you brought mine to an end.”

Nick’s eyes snapped back to Kensington. “This is how you’re defending your people? By making deals with psychopaths?”

Andrew shrugged. “Pragmatism, Ambassador. Elizabeth has been one of our most effective resources on this project, even from prison. It took quite a bit of work to arrange her release into my custody.”

Nick ground his teeth in frustration. “So where is this first-strike weapon you’ve developed?”

Medusa snorted in contempt. “Is that why you attacked us here? We wondered. You’re a little behind the curve, Ambassador. The weapon was completed almost a week ago. We were just waiting to acquire an appropriate launch vehicle for deployment.”

“All of my preparations have been complete for hours,” Kensington said. “I’m just waiting for the green light from the President and I’ll send the codes to fire.”

“To fire what?” Nick folded his arms defiantly. “What do you think you can do to us?”

“I suppose it does no harm to tell you, since there’s nothing you can do to stop it.” Kensington smiled smugly. “Even if your people destroy this entire base, the launch codes will be sent automatically from a remote transmitter unless I enter an abort sequence periodically. The weapon is a specially modified, submarine-launched ballistic missile armed with eight nuclear warheads. Totally illegal under our nuclear non-proliferation treaties, but we decided to make an exception—just to be sure. The total yield will be approximately four megatons.”

“You’re wasting your time, Kensington. All of our major facilities have perimeter shielding specifically designed to withstand nuclear attack. Besides, most are located in the middle of major cities. Are you really prepared to kill millions of your own people for nothing?”

“I have no intention of killing any of my fellow Americans, Ambassador. The missile is targeted at a relatively remote, unpopulated region.” Walking up to the map, Kensington tapped his fingers on a spot in the lower left. He smiled as recognition flashed over Nick’s face. “The center of the Grand Mesa in Colorado.”

“Anchorpoint,” whispered Nick.

Medusa gave him a vicious smile. “You have no idea how long it took us to get a precise location for the Armistice Capital. Now we are finally ready to wipe it off the map.”

“A submarine-launched missile won’t even make it past the coastal defense barriers,” Nick said coldly. “And even if you manage to get it past the perimeter shields before the barriers go up, it won’t get anywhere near Anchorpoint. The Colorado Defense Grid is the most heavily fortified location on the planet. Nothing can get through unless we allow it. Nothing at all.”

Kensington stepped closer, standing just outside the blood circles that ringed Nick. “That remains to be seen, Ambassador.”

“Nicholas,” Rapier spoke into the silence, “I am receiving a priority video link request from Jeremy Harkness.”

“Interesting. I thought we’d managed to block your communications channels.” Medusa sighed. “Live and learn, I suppose.”

Kensington waved dismissively. “If your lover wants to chat in the middle of a military operation, by all means, talk to him. It makes no difference.”

“Let’s see it, Rapier.”

“Nicholas,” said Rapier, “the request is addressed to Andrew Kensington.”

Kensington turned to stare at him in surprise. “Full-size display, Rapier,” Nick said. “Put him through.”

A black virtual screen, six feet wide and six feet tall, appeared before them and revealed Jeremy standing next to Director Mitchell. They were in the office of the Director of the CIA and behind them, a security monitor showed a view of the basement room containing Kensington and Nick.

“Mr. Kensington,” said Director Mitchell, “do you know who I am?”

The agent straightened. “Yes, sir. May I ask why you would stoop to using an Armistice intermediate to contact me?”

Director Mitchell crossed his arms. “Because I had no other method to reach you, Mr. Kensington. I didn’t know of your existence until Sentinel Harkness pulled your name out of the mind of the DCIA.”

Andrew blinked. “Sir, I don’t understand. Director Cochrane has been sending you my intelligence reports for more than a year.”

Director Mitchell slowly shook his head. “No, Andrew. Your operation has been purely orchestrated by Derek Cochrane, cooperating with rogue elements of the military. Neither I nor the President have had any knowledge of your activities at any point—ever. Your actions have been completely black and off the books. Cochrane has been supporting you by diverting resources from other projects, civilian and military, as well as from my own intelligence taskforce.

“Sentinels Harkness and Jameson have been teleporting me to the headquarters of each of the intelligence services for the last twenty minutes. I supervised as they telepathically interrogated each of the directors to determine who was involved with setting your program in motion. When confronted, Cochrane confessed. Seemed particularly proud of the way he had manipulated you into acting as a proxy for his treason, in fact.” He sighed. “We have all been used, Andrew. What you are about to do is completely illegal and directly contrary to the policies of the United States government. I am ordering you to stand down immediately.”

Kensington swallowed. “No. This is some kind of trick,” he said desperately, glaring at Jeremy. “The telepath is influencing you somehow, sir. I don’t believe your words for a moment.”

Director Mitchell looked to the side, at someone Nick couldn’t see, and nodded. Then he took a few steps backward, away from the screen.

The President of the United States stepped into view, facing Andrew squarely. “Do you know who
I
am, Mr. Kensington?”

“Yes, Mr. President,” Kensington whispered.

“You have been lied to, Andrew. There is nothing noble in what you are doing, no higher purpose for which you have been called to serve. You are about to commit an atrocity—one that will stain our nation’s conscience for generations, just as it did the last time we used these weapons against civilians. Nothing is to be gained by this. You will only put our own people at the mercy of enemies we have no chance of defeating.” President Daniels drew himself to his full height and focused his attention on Kensington. “I am giving you a direct order to terminate this operation. Turn aside from this path, Andrew. Now, while there’s still time. Prove yourself an honorable man.”

Kensington stared at him for a moment and then at Medusa, with whom he had worked for the last twenty-one months. She watched him silently and then shrugged. Kensington reached up under his shirt. With a tug, he snapped a chain that had been hanging around his neck, leaving a small key loose in his hand as he stepped forward to one of the computer consoles. He inserted the key into a small hole and, turning it, unlocked a metal panel, which he lifted aside. Beneath the panel were two buttons—one red, one green. Kensington stared at them momentarily. Then he reached out and pressed the green button.

A recorded voice spoke from the console. “Launch codes activated.”

Andrew turned back to the screen. “Mr. President,” he said sternly, “I prefer pragmatism.”

T
HE
C
ONSPIRATORS

C
HAPTER 43

“Mr. Kensington—” began the President, his voice choked with anger.

“You chose to side with the monsters, sir.” Andrew cut him off. “I choose humanity. I have nothing left to say to you. Turn it off,” he instructed Nick.

“Nicholas, I am receiving a tactical update from Armistice Security being broadcast system-wide over the planetary communications grid,” said Rapier. “A ship-to-shore thermonuclear missile has been launched at the continental United States from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. Tactical analysis indicates the missile has been modified to project shield wards in an interlocked and overlapping configuration, as well as a quantum dispersion field, preventing it from being shot down. The coastal defense barrier has been activated. Impact in thirty seconds.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Nick said to Jeremy, who stared at him in horror from the screen. “It will never get through the defense grid.”

Jeremy’s voice was quiet—strangled. “They found a way to neutralize the shield matrices.”

Nick went still. “That’s impossible,” he whispered.

“I saw the report in Cochrane’s mind!” yelled Jeremy. “Nick, you have to stop them!”

“Turn it off, Ambassador,” Medusa said coldly. “Now. Or we will start executing prisoners.”

Nick turned to Kensington, who glared at him with unconcealed loathing. “Turn it off, Rapier,” Nick said, and the virtual screen winked out. “There are more than one-point-five million people living in Anchorpoint. Are you ready for that much blood on your hands?”

“Your people, Ambassador,” Andrew said contemptuously. “Not mine.”

“Kensington, if you do this, you’ll condemn millions of your own people to death,” Nick warned. “The Court will attack as soon as we are eliminated.”

Andrew frowned and then glanced at Medusa.

She shrugged again. “Perhaps they will,” she said. “We will deal with them when the time comes. First things first.” She turned to the map display, focusing on the indicator that revealed the missile’s position.

Nick watched as the indicator reached the coast, then Rapier spoke again. “New tactical update received. The missile has penetrated the coastal defense grid. Sensor scans show that the missile is projecting a forward neutrino burst that has disrupted the shield matrix of the coastal defense barrier. Course projection indicates the missile is targeted at Anchorpoint City.

“Tactical analysis predicts the weapon will penetrate the Colorado Defense Grid and impact the city center in eleven minutes forty seconds. A four-megaton ground burst detonation is predicted, which will result in the complete destruction of the city, including Armistice Security Headquarters. Teleport evacuation is now in progress. All Armistice facilities in North America are ordered to shut down non-essential systems and divert available power to the Anchorpoint Transit Hub in order to maintain and enhance teleport infrastructure, now operating at two hundred percent capacity and increasing.”