“I see what you mean,” Baris said. “If Korolev suspected a black hole, he’d have a gravimeter put on board to measure the mass.”
“Seems obvious enough,” Isaacs agreed. “Gantt considered a shipboard experiment, but elected to put his apparatus on dry land to make it as stable as possible. We know now it wouldn’t have made much difference. They’d have to be a bit careful, but an inertially mounted device, isolated from the worst pitching of the ship, would do the job.
“Accurate timing would be easy,” Isaacs continued. “With sonar monitors and some regular data acquisition they would know how long the thing hovered above sea level and could figure out the altitude to which it rose, just as we did.”
“So they’d look along the trajectory at that altitude, just as we did,” said Baris following the logic.
“And they would find this lab,” Isaacs slapped his palm on the stack of folders in front of them, “just as we did. I think that must be what Korolev’s note means. He’s found Krone’s lab, and, having raised a ruckus, he has to report his findings to the boys at the top.”
The phone rang and Isaacs jerked it up.
“Yes? Right.”
He reached for a pad and scribbled some numbers.
“Yes. Yes. Got that.” He listened, then spoke again. “How far is that? Yes, damn it, no question. They’re onto it. Sure, when they come in, but this is just what we needed. Thanks for the quick work. Great. Right.”
He hung up and relayed the message from Martinelli to Baris.
“There are five small flotillas in the Pacific, three along thirty-two degrees forty-seven minutes north, two south. Each has a research vessel, a tender, and a destroyer. They’re spaced 1170 miles apart, sailing steadily westward, about 190 miles per day.”
“So they’re tracking it,” Baris summarized.
“They’re tracking it,” Isaacs confirmed.
“How long?” Baris inquired.
“Seven to ten days. Some got on station earlier.”
“That’s plenty of time to collect a good timing record,” said Baris.
“I think there’s no doubt now that Korolev has followed the same path that Runyan led us on,” Isaacs said. “We’ve got to get to that lab and find out what’s going on.”
“And damn quickly,” Baris said. “If you’ve got this right and Korolev reports to the top brass in the Kremlin that a black hole was made and released at a secret US government lab, oh, boy.” Baris leaned back in his chair. “Can you imagine what the chest-medal crowd will do with that? We’ll be right back to square one when they thought we’d zapped their carrier. Damned if they weren’t right!”
Isaacs stood up and moved to the window. He clasped his hands behind his back and stared out over the trees, rocking up on his toes. He could feel the mid-August heat, which smothered the tree tops.
“We’ve got a powder keg already up there in orbit,” Isaacs mused. “I don’t know whether we can possibly move quickly enough to neutralize this situation. We’ve got to hope we can find an explanation that will satisfy the Soviets that this wasn’t an intentional, government sanctioned plan.”
He spun suddenly.
“It wasn’t, was it?”
“Whoa,” said Baris thoughtfully. “There’s no clue in any of the files here.” He pointed at the material on Isaacs’ desk. “But that’s pretty clean stuff. I just pulled it out of our library. Our job’s to know everything the bad guys are up to, not everything our team does, so maybe there’s an outside chance. Still, if I read this guy Krone right, he’s the kind who would tackle something like this on his own. Remember these were Krone Industries resources being squandered. Unless there was some heavy-duty laundering, there wasn’t much government funding. I’ll check more deeply, but I think we’re clean.”
“We’ve got no choice but to get the whole story on Krone and that lab as fast as possible,” said Isaacs, regaining his seat. “Bill, I want you to keep digging here. Track down everything you can going in and out of that lab that could be related to the manufacture of a black hole.
“Someone’s got to go out to the site, though, and under the circumstances, I think I’d better take that one on myself.
“I’ll call Pat and get her there too. And I might as well bring Runyan along. He knows Krone and is on top of the scientific aspects. I want you to get a team busy working up a reaction estimate. As things stand, how will the Soviets react if they’re informed of Krone’s lab? What will it take to keep them under control? Okay?”
“Right.”
“Any questions?”
“A procedural one. Before you go, have you told the Director yet?”
“I spent three hours with him last night. Trying to explain about the black hole. Left him numb. I’ll have to see him now and report on Krone and the message from Korolev. I guess we’ll see what kind of stuff he’s really made of.”
“Is he going to want to go to the President? Or expect us to draw up a national intelligence estimate to circulate? The black hole is one thing, and perhaps an emergency in itself, but potential Russian reaction is a key issue now.”
“We’re in a bind. We’ve been waiting to get all our facts straight before dumping something like a black hole in the President’s lap. Of course, until this morning we didn’t know that it was made here, nor that the Russians were on to us.
“There’s no time now for a formality like an NIE,” Isaacs continued. “We’ve got a real crisis. We must get the story from that lab and then pass it to the President directly. I think the DCI will see it that way, but that’s why I want you to get on that reaction estimate. We’ll want that as part of the package.”
Isaacs looked at his watch. “It’s 10:45 now, 8:45 in New Mexico. I should be able to catch something at Andrews that will get us out there by mid-afternoon, local time. It’ll take a few hours to check out the lab. I might make it back here by midnight.
“I’ll suggest to the DCI that he lay the groundwork for an emergency meeting of the National Security Council about then. And just hope the Russians don’t push the button for twelve hours.”
“All right,” said Baris, rising to leave. “I’ll get on it.” He strode quickly across the room and out the door.
“Kate?” Isaacs called, and she appeared in the doorway, attuned to the emergency atmosphere.
“Tell the DCI I’m on my way to see him. Top priority. Order a helicopter to Andrews Air Force Base. Forty- five minutes from now, maximum. Half hour better. Arrange for a flight out of Andrews for me and two agents. Call Boswank and get him to assign me two of his people. Call Danielson and Runyan in Arizona and arrange for a flight for them. Destination for all of us is Holloman Air Force Base near White Sands, New Mexico. Arrange ground transportation there. We’re headed for a laboratory about forty miles away, up in the mountains. Better yet, see if you can get another chopper to take us from Holloman to the lab. Here’s the name of the lab and of the guy in charge.” He scribbled on a memo pad and handed it to her. “I’ll want to talk to him when I get back from seeing the DCI. And call Phillips in La Jolla and talk to Gantt while you’re on the line to Arizona. I want Phillips here this evening prepared for an NSC meeting. They may want to get together in Pasadena to assemble the relevant information.”
“Yes, sir.” Kathleen finished making notations on her pad and bustled back into her office.
Isaacs steeled himself and then headed off to hand his boss the second shocking revelation in less than twelve hours.
Danielson awoke in her tent in the waxing Arizona heat with the smell of Runyan about her. Over breakfast she felt as if she were two people. One of her talked business with Gantt as if nothing had happened. Her other self was full of Runyan and jolted every time he seemed to give her a special knowing glance. Gantt displayed no reaction, just smiled discretely to himself.
The call from headquarters came as they were finishing breakfast and galvanized them into action. They barely had time to throw their things together before the whupping of the Marine helicopter from Yuma broke the desert stillness. At the Yuma Air Station Danielson chatted casually with Runyan for the benefit of the strangers around them and continued to shout her secret messages until the transport was warmed up, ready to ferry them east to New Mexico.
