'We demand that you tell us who you are and what you want here.'
Austin laughed unpleasantly, put his hand on the man's bony chest, and shoved him back with the others. 'Who is this clown?' he asked Francesca.
'He and his friends are a symbol of all that is wrong with the world.'
As an amateur philosopher Austin had long been intrigued by questions of good and evil, but metaphysical discussions would have to wait. He ignored the Englishman and took Francesca's arm, guiding her toward the exit that would take them down to the air lock and the submersible. Gamay followed, then Zavala, who covered their rear.
They had taken only a few steps when the freight elevator doors flew open and about twenty guards spilled out into the lab. They quickly surrounded the fugitives and relieved Zavala of his gun.
Brynhild strode from the elevator, and the guards stepped aside to let her through. Her blond hair was disheveled as a result of the encounter with Gamay's shield, and her pale face was smudged with soot. But her disarray didn't diminish her imposing physique and the malevolence in her pale blue eyes. Quivering with rage, she pointed to the NUMA crew as if she were about to unleash a bolt of lightning.
'Kill them,' she ordered.
The Gogstad directors murmured with pleasure at the turn of events, and their eyes glittered in anticipation of the slaughter of the upstarts. But as the guards raised their weapons and pre pared to unleash a lethal volley, Francesca stepped in front of her battered friends. In a voice whose strength and tenor evoked her reign as a white goddess, she shouted, 'Stop!'
'Get out of the way, or they'll kill you as well,' Brynhild ordered.
Francesca thrust her chin out. 'I don't think so.'
Brynhild seemed to grow another foot. 'Who are you to defy me?' she snarled.
In reply, Francesca walked over and stood before the controls. The panel was lighting up like a pinball machine. Numerical phalanxes marched across the computer screen. There was no mistaking the fact that something was dreadfully out of kilter.
Brynhild swooped down on Francesca like an avenging angel. 'What have you done?'
'See for yourself,' Francesca said, and stepped aside.
Brynhild stared at the colorful display. 'What's happening?'
'The instrumentation is having a nervous breakdown as it tries to deal with the equivalent of a chain reaction.'
'What do you mean? Tell me, or I'll-'
'You'll kill me? Go ahead. I'm the only one who can stop the reaction.' She smiled. 'There's something you never knew about anasazium. Left alone, it's no more dangerous than iron. But its atoms become highly unstable when the material is subjected to certain conditions.'
'What kind of conditions?'
'Exactly the combination of temperature, power, and sonic vibration that the core is being subjected to at this minute. Un less I alter the instructions the core will explode.'
'You're bluffing.'
See for yourself. The heat levels are going off the charts. Still not convinced?' she said. 'Think about the mysterious explosion at your Mexican facility. The moment you told me about the blast I knew exactly what had caused it. Only a few pounds of material destroyed your facility. Think of what will happen when hundreds of pounds reach critical mass.' Brynhild turned to the technicians who had gathered around and shouted for someone to stop the reaction. The head technician had been watching the insane pattern on the computer screen with fascination. He stepped forward, sweat beading on his forehead, and said, 'We don't know how. Anything we do might make it worse.'
Brynhild yanked a machine pistol out of the hands of the nearest guard and pointed it at Gamay.
'If you don't stop this I will kill your friends one by one. Her first.'
'Now who's bluffing?' Francesca replied. 'You plan to kill them anyhow. This way we'll all die together.'
Brynhild's white skin grew impossibly paler. She lowered the gun.
'Tell me what you want,' she demanded, her voice taut with anger.
'I want these people safely out of here.'
Brynhild had been trained as an engineer to assemble the facts before making a decision. If the reaction were not stopped the resulting explosion would destroy the plant. Francesca was the only one who knew how to defuse the situation. Brynhild would let the NUMA people go. As soon as the reaction was stabilized she would order her security forces to round them up. Then she would deal with Francesca. She wanted revenge for the destruction of her ship, but she could be patient. It had taken her years to get to this moment.
She handed the machine pistol back to the guard. 'Agreed,' she said. 'But you must stay.'
Francesca heaved a sigh of relief and turned to Austin. 'You said you came by water?'
'Yes. We have scuba gear and a submersible waiting for us directly under the lab.'
'You won't be able to go that way,' Francesca said. 'The heat levels have already built up too far. You'd be boiled before you got to your submarine.'
'We'll try to take the elevator up to the pier. There's a boat there.'
'That's your best course.'
'We can't leave you.'
'It's all right. They won't hurt me as long as I'm of use to them.' She smiled beguilingly. 'I'll look forward to being rescued by NUMA once again.' She turned to Brynhild. 'I'll see them to the elevator.'
'No tricks,' she snarled. She ordered two guards to escort the group.
Francesca pressed the button that opened the door on the egg-shaped lift. 'You're injured. I'll help you in.' When they were all seated she leaned in and whispered, 'Does anyone have a gun?'
The guards who relieved Zavala of his machine pistol assumed that because Austin didn't have a gun in his hand he wasn't carrying one. But he still had the revolver he had taken from one of the Kradzik brothers tucked under his shirt.
'I have one,' Austin said, 'but it would be suicide to try to shoot your way out of here.'
'I don't intend to. The gun, please.'
Austin reluctantly handed the gun over. In return she reached under her smock and handed him a manila envelope.
'It's all here, Kurt. Guard this with your life,' she said.
'What is it?'
'You'll see when you give it to the world.' She gave Austin a long and lingering kiss. 'I'm sorry, but we'll have to postpone our date,' she said with a smile. Then she turned to the others. 'Good-bye, my friends. Thank you for everything.'
The finality in her voice was unmistakable. Austin suddenly realized that she had no intention of being rescued.
'Get in!' Austin yelled, and made a grab for her arm.
She stepped easily out of reach and glanced at her watch. 'You have exactly five minutes. Use them well.'
Then she punched the Up button. The door slid shut, and the elevator quickly shot out of sight. The guards diverted their attention to watch the elevator. Francesca eased the gun from under her smock and shot out the elevator controls. Then she did the same with the freight elevator and tossed the gun aside. As Brynhild rushed over with the other guards, a loud klaxon began to sound from loudspeakers set around the dome. 'What have you done?' Brynhild shouted.
'That's the five-minute warning,' Francesca yelled back. 'The reaction has been locked into place. Nothing will stop it now.'
'You said you would stop the reaction if I let your friends go.'
Francesca laughed. 'I lied. You told me never to trust any one,' flinging Brynhild's words back at her.
The technicians had realized the danger before anyone, and while attention was diverted they silently slipped off to climb a narrow emergency staircase that spiraled in a separate water proof shaft that led to the surface. The directors saw them trying to flee and tried to follow. The discipline of the guards quickly dissolved under the influence of fear. They used their gun butts to drive the directors back, then opened up on those who wouldn't yield.
