The Hunt For Atlantis

The A380 leveled off, the autopilot now on course for Ravnsfjord.

Kari gasped for breath. “Damn you, Eddie,” she choked out. The smoking gun came up, pointing at his face…

And held there.

A second passed, two, Kari’s finger tight on the trigger-

“Kari!”

Nina stood in the door to the hold, Chase’s Wildey held in both hands. Aimed at Kari.

“Drop it,” Nina said.

“Nina?” Kari looked at her in surprise, but didn’t move the gun away from Chase.

“Kari, put the gun down. Put it down!”

“Nina, there’s still time for you to change your mind.” Kari’s tone became almost pleading. “You can still come with me!”

Nina set her jaw. “I’m not going to let you kill Eddie.”

“I can’t let him threaten the plan.” Kari looked back down at Chase. Eyes narrowed in pain, he clutched his wounded leg, unable to respond. He turned his head towards Nina, willing her to shoot. Only amateurs talk, he wanted to tell her, but the words refused to emerge.

“The plan’s insane!” Nina snapped. “Your father’s insane!”

Kari’s face twisted with a flash of anger. “Don’t say that!”

“You know he is, Kari! You know what he’s doing is wrong! For God’s sake, you’ve been working for years to save lives all over the world! Think of all the people you’ve helped! Doesn’t any of that mean anything to you?”

“I have to do it,” said Kari, though her expression was conflicted. “I can’t disobey my father.”

“You already did!” Nina reminded her. “When you wouldn’t let him kill me! And I saw you in here just now: you could have killed Eddie, but you didn’t. Because you care about him too! He saved your life!”

“But he’s not one of us…”

“Kari, there’s no ‘us’ and ‘them,’” insisted Nina. “We’re all still people, human beings. So the world’s got some problems-big deal, it always has!”

Kari looked back at her, uncertain. “But we can solve them…”

“By killing billions of people? That’s your idea of solving problems?” Still keeping the heavy gun pointed at Kari, Nina stepped closer. “Kari, I know you. You’re not Hitler, or Stalin or anybody like that. And you can stop your father from becoming one of them. Just put the gun down.”

Kari’s gun didn’t move. “I… I can’t.”

“I won’t let you kill him. Or anyone else.”

Now the gun moved, Kari aiming it at Nina. “I don’t want to kill you,” said Kari. “Please don’t make me.”

“Nina, shoot her,” Chase managed to groan.

“I don’t want to kill you either, but I will if I have to,” Nina said. The huge gun wavered in her shaking hands.

“I’ll count to three, Nina. Please drop it.” Kari was almost pleading. “One…”

“Shoot her!” rasped Chase.

“Two…”

“Kari, put it down!”

“Three!”

Kari fired.

At such short range, it should have been impossible to miss, but she did, twisting her wrist at the last instant to fire wide. The bullet flew past Nina to smack harmlessly into the rear wall of the cabin.

Nina instinctively flinched.

And fired.

The Wildey kicked in her hands with such force that the recoil almost tore the weapon from her grip.

Kari slammed against the door. A bright rose of blood burst over the metal behind her as the.45-caliber bullet tore through her body. She slid down the door and slumped onto the deck next to Chase.

Nina stared at her in horror. The Wildey dropped to the floor. “Oh my God…” she breathed, unable to accept what she’d just done.

“Nina…” whispered Kari, a tear trickling down one cheek. Then her eyes closed.

“Oh my God!” Nina repeated. “I didn’t mean to…”

“She just tried to kill us,” Chase growled, clutching his injured leg again and trying to sit up. “Come on, I need your help.” After a moment of hesitation, unable to take her eyes off Kari, Nina raised him into a sitting position. “Thanks.”

She examined his leg, seeing his trousers were soaked with blood. “Jesus! We’ve got to find some bandages-”

“No time. Get me to the cockpit, I’ve got to switch off the autopilot.”

Nina hauled him upright. A groan escaped Chase’s lips as new pain shot through his leg. “And then what?” she demanded.

“We’ve got to stop the virus from being released, then contact the authorities, warn them what Frost’s doing.”

“But what about the virus at the biolab?” she asked as she helped him limp towards the cockpit. “By the time you convince anyone that he’s trying to kill billions of people, he could already have another plane in the air!”

Chase paused midstep. “The biolab…”

“What about it?”

“I blew up the buildings, but the containment area’s still intact. We’ve got to destroy it.”

“How?” Chase looked away from her, at the aircraft around them. “Oh no…” She remembered the horrors of 9/11 all too vividly. Ground Zero was less than two miles from her apartment.

“Five hundred tons of plane and a full load of jet fuel’ll blow that place right open and incinerate everything inside,” Chase said grimly.

“But we’ll die! Except if-Are there any parachutes aboard?”

He shook his head. “There’s no way off. Unless…” His expression changed, and he twisted around to look behind him. “Forget the cockpit-help me into the hold, quick!”

Frost stood at his office window, surveying the still-smoking ruins of the biolab below. Beyond it lay the fjord, and the broken stubs of the bridge. Chase and his companions had caused a massive amount of damage to his property. He had already had calls from the local authorities demanding to know what was going on.

But none of that mattered. The containment area was intact, and despite somehow managing to board the A380 as it took off, Chase had failed to destroy it.

“Sir, the control tower just informed us that the plane is on its way back to Ravnsfjord on automatic,” said a man through his speakerphone.

“Any word from my daughter?”

“Not yet. Sir, air traffic control wants to know what’s going on.”

“Just tell them there’s been a minor malfunction and the Airbus is returning as a precaution.” Frost looked across the fjord at the airport. “When will it land?”

“About six minutes.”

“Keep me informed.” He closed the line, gazing into the distance for the first sign of the massive freighter. The lack of communication was a concern, as was the aircraft’s use of its emergency automatic systems-but the fact that the A380 was returning home told him his people were still in control. Chase would have tried to fly it elsewhere and alert the Norwegian authorities.

Once it landed, the situation could be contained.

The plan was still viable.