New Earth: Project O.N.E.. R.D. Ph.D. Pittman

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СКАЧАТЬ he yelled.

      No response.

      He was led down a hallway, then through a door, and placed in a metal chair, black bag still over his head, hands handcuffed behind his back. Then silence.

      “Hey is anybody there?” he screamed.

      Minutes passed that seemed like hours...then he heard a click and felt a warm sensation on his face through the nylon bag over his head. He heard footsteps, big feet it sounded like. Then the bag was pulled off his head, and the lights were so bright he had to close his eyes. The lights were focused directly on his face.

      Then a booming voice. “Mr. Felson, how are you today?”

      “I am a United States citizen, I’ve done nothing wrong, you have no right to hold me against my will.” It was worth a try.

      “Ah, now that is where you are wrong,” the deep pitched voice explained. “You see Mr. Felson, there are circumstances that require us to override your personal rights in the interest of National Security. Do you understand Mr. Felson?”

      Just how deep did the security go? “Do you know what’s happening?”

      The man walked around behind him and unlocked the handcuffs but kept a hand on his shoulder. That hand was enough to hold him in his seat. “I do. And the people whom you will meet directly do as well. And no one else will. We intend to keep it that way.”

      “How long do we have?”

      “I don’t know. They don’t tell me everything.”

      “Listen, I’d like to help.”

      The deep voice nodded. “I’ll pass that along. But there may be nothing you can do.” The man turned to leave.

      Felson jumped up and grabbed his arm. “Wait! You can’t leave me in here alone; I’ve got to do something.”

      The man shook his head. “I’m sorry, Mr. Felson, but we have no choice at this point. But don’t worry, I suspect you won’t be alone for long. In fact I’m afraid it’s going to get crowded in here before we’re done.”

      Eldon Huart nervously scoured the figures before him hoping to find some evidence of error, but was having no luck. The earth would be hit by multiple asteroids. Nothing between them and earth was strong enough to stop them. His phone rang and he picked it up reflexively.

      “Eldon Huart.”

      “Eldon, it is Ivan Borosky calling from Russia.”

      Oh damn. He took a quick breath to force some calm into his voice. “Ivan, how are you, it is so good to hear from you, what time is it there?”

      “It’s 9:30 at night here in St. Petersburg. Eldon I have some disturbing news that I want to share with you before I take it to our people.”

      “Yes go on,” Huart knew what was coming. Well, at least he didn’t have to lie to an old friend.

      “The Ussuriysk Astrophysical Observatory has been tracking a mass of asteroids that apparently were accelerated by a massive solar flair. Eldon we have gone over the calculations many times, these asteroids—thirty or forty of them—are going to hit earth sometime in late summer of 2017. I fear it will be the end of life on earth as we know it, Eldon are you there?”

      “Yes. Can you send me your numbers so I can go over them first?”

      “My friend that is why I called, I knew you would offer your help in this matter. You knew didn’t you?”

      “We’re still double checking the simulations. You’ve got to be sure with something like this, which is why your numbers would be helpful.” Eldon thought of the tap on his phone, of the security officials who had read him the riot act. He hated what he was about to do, but he had no choice. “Who knows about this besides you Ivan?”

      “Just me and my assistant Anna.”

      “Okay, I’m going to give you the entry code and a password to our computer here at Cal Tech; I want you to send your data to it. Then let me run some simulations and get back to you before you report this to anyone.”

      “Thank you my friend, I have the codes now. You think maybe in a couple of days you can get back to me.”

      “I’ll run it until we get the answer, if I have to stay up all 48 hours.”

      “Ah, I know you will. Thank you my friend. Goodbye.”

      Borosky called Anna to let her know that Professor Huart of Cal-Tech would verify the data and get back to them within 48 hours. Then, exhausted from the previous days of running calculations repeatedly, he decided to retire early.

      Sometime toward dawn, the sound of a dog barking in the neighbor’s backyard woke him.

      “Damn dog,” he grumbled as he shuffled along into the kitchen to make some coffee, and then walked into the bathroom to wash his face. The dog had stopped barking. With the towel draped around his neck, he looked out the tiny bathroom window into the backyard of his neighbor. He heard a small tinkle of glass breaking.

      It was the last thing he ever heard.

      Something brushed Anna Kinova’s face as she turned over in bed. Then the pressure of a hand over her mouth brought her out of her light sleep. The man grabbed her forcefully, shoved a rag into her mouth, put a pillowcase over her head, and then tied her hands behind her. She tried to talk, tried to beg, but she couldn’t. Her mind raced with everything she’d ever learned about how to protect yourself in a situation like this—just give in, give them what they want, stay alive as long as possible.

      He shoved her into the trunk of a waiting car. Terrified, she couldn’t keep her mind off what she’d heard about the sex slave trade, she had heard about that from a few of her girlfriends. It was a growing problem in Russia, and more importantly it was run by the Russian Mob, and they were ruthless in their treatment of women.

      Then she overheard the two men talking, and they were speaking perfect English. What was going on here?

      The car pulled away. She shivered from more than fear. It was in the middle of winter and freezing cold outside, all she had on was her bedclothes, and the trunk of the car was not heated.

      Presently, the terrain became rough; she could tell by the bumps and gravel hitting the wheel wells. She hoped they would stop soon, so she could ask for some warm clothes. She got her wish; the car made a sharp left turn, and came to a stop. She could hear what sounded like rushing water. Nothing happened for a few minutes, then she heard a car door open, it was the passenger door. The trunk lid opened, and a man picked her up, slung her over his shoulder, and carried her to the edge of the dam walkway. And then—

      She was falling. The last thing she thought before her body crashed into the concrete wall of the dam was, they had never said a word to her.

      Sergeant Andrade Kolna arrived at the scene and took charge from the uniforms who had answered the call about a dog shot in the head. One of the uniforms had noticed a heat plume coming out of the window of the house next door and was able to see the occupant lying on the floor in a pool of blood.

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