K-10 SUBMARINE BASE
MORTIMER ISLAND
BRISTOL CHANNEL, ENGLAND
DECEMBER 10, 2007, 2200 HOURS
AT THE K-10 BASE on Mortimer Island, six SAS troopers stood guard outside a small building at the edge of the complex, grim sentries standing in the pouring rain.
Inside the outbuilding, the Terrible Twins, Lachlan and Julius Adamson, were working away at adjoining computers.
Lachlan talked as he typed. “You know that 5:12:13 right-angle triangle that connects Stonehenge to the Great Pyramid at Giza? Its right-angle corner actually touches an island not far from here, Lundy Island—”
Suddenly Julius leaped back from his computer and punched the air. “I’ve got it! I’ve got the Second Vertex!”
He kicked back his chair to allow his brother and Tank Tanaka to see his monitor. On the screen was a digital photo of one of the trilithons at Stonehenge, taken during the light show:
Surrounding this image was a collage of satellite images of southern Africa, maps of the Cape of Good Hope, and even one window opened onto Google Earth.
Julius smiled, pointing at the number “2” at the bottom of the trilithon. “It’s near Table Mountain.”
“In Cape Town?” Lachlan said.
“Are you sure?” Tank said.
“Positive. It’s about three miles to the south of Table Mountain,” Julius said. “In the hills and mountains there. The whole area is densely forested, uninhabited, and very difficult to get to. I am the master!”
He grinned triumphantly just as Tank’s cell phone rang. He stepped aside to answer it, saying a muffled, “Hello? Ah, konichiwa …”
Lachlan said to Julius, “You do realize this doesn’t mean you’re in any way superior to me. No. 2 was an easy one. The outline of Africa was obvious. I’m still just trying to figure out where the coastline for No. 3 actually is. It doesn’t match any known coastline on the Earth today.”
In the corner, Tank frowned at his phone. “Oh?”
Julius clasped his hands behind his head mock-smugly. “Maybe I can give you some tutoring in topographical analysis sometime, dear brother. Hey, you know, that could be my call sign:Analyzer.”
“Sure. And we can shorten it to Anal. You better send that location to Jack and Wizard, Anal. They’ll be pleased. Oh, and while you’re at it, tell Lily that I found her backpack in the observation room. She must’ve left it behind in the rush to leave.”
“Righteo.” Julius tapped some keys, then cheerily hit SEND.
As he did so, Tank ended his call with a curt,“Yoroshii, ima hairinasai,” and hung up.
He walked back over to the twins.
“Hey, Tank,” Julius said. “What do you think about the call sign Analyzer for me?”
Tank smiled sadly. “That would seem most appropriate, young Julius.”
“So who’s coming in?” Lachlan asked Tank.
“What?”
“You said it on the phone just now,‘Yoroshii, ima hairinasai.’ It means, ‘OK, you may come in now.’”
Tank frowned. “You speak Japanese, Lachlan?”
“A little. I once dated a Japanese science major—”
Julius scowled. “You didn’t date her! You corresponded with her in a chat room!”
Lachlan blushed. “There was a connection there, Anal. Which means it qualifies as dating—”
Abruptly, the door to their study slammed open and one of their British SAS guards was hurled into the room by a wave of silenced gunfire: phwat-phwat-phwat-phwat-phwat-phwat!
Blood sprayed the walls and all over Lachlan’s glasses. The corpse of the SAS guard hit the floor with a loud thud.
Then the study was stormed by six black-clad men, all moving low, with perfect balance and posture, and all holding MP-5SN silenced submachine guns pressed to their shoulders in the special forces way, their goggle-covered eyes looking straight down the barrels.
As five of the intruders covered the twins, the leader of the team went straight over to Tank and removed his goggles, to reveal a young Japanese face.
“Professor Tanaka, we have a chopper outside. What about these two?”
Two guns cocked next to the twins’ heads.
Lachlan and Julius froze, holding their breath.
For a long moment Tank eyed the two brilliant young men, as if he was deciding their fate: whether they lived or died.
At last he said, “They can still be of much use. We take them with us.”
And with that, Tank swept out of the study, walking with purpose, leading the way. The twins were shoved from the building after him at gunpoint and as they stepped out into the pouring rain, they passed the bodies of
