“You’re gonna be all right, honey,” Hawk said as he took the gun from her.
More bullets whizzed past them, peppering the wall.
“Mia, you don’t have much time,” Hawk said. “We’re getting pinned down here.”
CHAPTER 24
FALCON SINCLAIR TEMPLED his fingers as he paced in front of the world’s most powerful presidents. He wore a satisfied grin as he prepared to give the speech he’d rehearsed so many times before. With one quick sideways glance at his captive audience, he took a deep breath and launched into his speech.
“Gentlemen,” he said, stopping and turning to face them, “now that I have your attention and the missiles are off, we need to talk about the real reason you’re here today.”
President Young scowled. “You told me you wanted to show me a weapon you’d invented.”
Sinclair laughed and shook his head. “So gullible, just like the American people. If they weren’t such fools, you’d never be in this position. But here you are, a career politician, standing tall after walking on the backs of everyday citizens.”
Young bristled at the characterization of his rise to power. “If you wanted this to be a referendum on my ability to govern, you could’ve just lodged a complaint on the White House website.”
Sinclair chuckled again, this time joined by President Karelin. “You think this is about you? I’m afraid you’ve misread my statement. No, the reason we’re here today is to discuss the new global era we’re about to enter into. You see, in the past, the world has been ruled by powerful nations. And people such as yourselves have been seated upon thrones, real or virtual, that have allowed you to operate wherever you please with complete autonomy and zero accountability. Well, that ends today. Moving forward, I will be the one ruling the world, and one of you will do my bidding.”
“One of us?” Karelin asked.
Sinclair grinned and rubbed his hands together. “That’s right. You’re both here because in order to have an auction, you need at least two people.”
Young scowled. “An auction? For what?”
“I’m glad you asked, Mr. President. For a long time, it’s been the dream of both your countries to develop a satellite weapons defense system that would prevent any airborne attack. Well, gentlemen, welcome to the future.”
Sinclair turned and gestured toward the bank of screens on the far wall. Placing his hands behind his back, he strode toward the wall and continued.
“The Castle-74 is the culmination of years of work by many of my dedicated staffers from various companies I oversee. We pride ourselves on developing solutions for the real world as well as inspiring imaginations. A long time ago, my imagination was inspired to become the most powerful man on the planet. And since I wasn’t interested in playing the political game, I forged a different path, one that has led me to a final destination with an audience of the two of you. What plays out over the next few minutes will determine the course of history as well as the conduit through which I shall govern the world.”
Karelin cocked his head to one side and furrowed his brow. “I’m not sure I understand.”
“Let me explain,” Sinclair said. “The two of you preside over massive budgets, compiled from money that you’ve extracted from hard-working citizens one way or another. But instead of building a better world, you’ve hoarded your wealth, investing it in all the wrong things. For example, there’s no excuse that either one of your two countries haven’t invented a cure for cancer or created a better health care system that doesn’t leave someone broke or either dead in the waiting room. Meanwhile, you both stoke the fires of war, banging the drums for political gain. That must end now.”
“Why?” Young asked. “So we yield our power to you? I don’t think so.”
Sinclair smirked. “It’s happening one way or another, Mr. Young, whether you like it or not. The only real question is if you’re going to be my partner in all this or my foe. And I can assure you that you don’t want to be my foe.”
“This is absurd,” Young said. “I’m leaving.”
“You might want to wait a minute or two before you storm out of here,” Sinclair said as he produced two small pads and a pair of pens from his jacket pocket. “We’re about to have a fun exercise, and if you don’t participate, I can promise you’ll have no home to go back to.”
Karelin snatched the materials from Sinclair, while Young turned back toward the billionaire and took the items begrudgingly.
“Now, I want you to make a short list,” Sinclair said. “Write down the name of three cities you’d like to see obliterated, preferably in the country of your enemy here.”
“I’m not doing this,” Young said.
But before he could finish his sentence, Karelin hurriedly jotted down a few things on his paper.
“It’s up to you,” Sinclair said, “but I can promise you’ll completely regret it if you don’t.”
Young sighed, unsure if he was playing right into Sinclair’s hands through this exercise. Then Young pondered if Sinclair genuinely had the type of weapon to wipe out an entire city—or if he’d really do it. Instead of balking at the request again, Young joined in, scribbling down the names of several Russian cities.
After a minute, Sinclair declared that time was up and snatched the pieces of paper from the presidents’ hands. “Are we ready to begin?”
Sinclair didn’t wait for an answer as he focused his attention on the screens behind him. A simulation of a rocket launch appeared on the screen, showing the missiles soaring over the earth.
“Now I’m going to put on a demonstration for you,” Sinclair said. “However, only one of you will have a city protected by Castle-74, while the other of you will have to scramble jets to the sky. And such efforts will be woefully late.”
“This is
