Andrew Klavan - The Final Hour

“It wasn’t much of a fight,” I said. “As I recall, you kicked me around the room like a soccer ball.”

“And you told me you’d lost a year of memory. That you went to bed one night and woke up captured by terrorists, wanted by the police.. . I couldn’t make any sense out of it, at first, but when your friend Mr. Sherman turned up dead…”

“Yeah, my friend,” I said sarcastically.

“I started to put things together. I still got a lot of friends in the military, a lot of contacts in intelligence, special forces, all the secret places. I started asking around. I didn’t get the whole story, but I got enough of it to get to Rose.”

My jaw literally dropped. My mouth hung open as I stared at him.

“Close your mouth, chucklehead. You look like an idiot,” he said.

My teeth clopped together. “You talked to Rose?” I said. “How did you know he was part of it?”

Mike shrugged. “I just figured it out, you know. The way you escaped from his custody, the fact that he kept showing up out of his jurisdiction to hunt you down, taking charge of other police departments and things like that. That’s not the way things work. Also, the fact that you were supposed to be this mad killer, but he somehow managed to hunt you down without you getting hurt. Like I said, I just figured it out.”

“Wow. That’s amazing. I mean, I never even figured it out.”

“Well, you’re a chucklehead, that’s why.”

“Oh yeah. I forgot.”

“Anyway,” Mike went on. “I thought maybe if I went to Rose and played the whole military card, showed him my medals, bled on his floor, whatever, I could get him to let me in on what was happening.”

“And did he?”

“Nah, you kidding? Guy stonewalled me into the ground. It was like talking to Mount Rushmore. But…” He wagged his big head of black hair back and forth. “Let’s just say there was a lot of information in some of those silences of his.”

The wave of surprise started to draw back inside me. I took stock of what he was telling me. Mike had a pretty good idea of what it was all about. And he knew Detective Rose was in on it. “That’s great,” I said, excited. “That’s great. Is there any way you could get in touch with him? With Rose, I mean?”

Mike stroked his mustache as he thought about it. “Maybe. It wouldn’t be easy. He told me he’s gonna go invisible, but like I say: I still got a lot of contacts in secret places. I might be able to get word to him somehow.”

My heart started pounding harder. A chance, a hope. I couldn’t ask for more than that. I leaned in close to the glass, dropping my voice. I knew the prison authorities could listen in if they wanted. But as long as I didn’t talk about Blade’s escape plans, I didn’t see where it made much difference. I’d already gone to the warden, after all, so it was no secret I was worried about the Homelanders.

“All right,” I said. “Here’s the deal. Most of the Homelanders have been rounded up now, but not all of them. The leader, Prince, is still on the loose.”

Now it was Mike’s turn to look surprised. “Really? Rose gave me the impression it was all over…”

“I know. That’s what the government thinks and what they want everyone to think. They figure Prince has left the country so there’s no reason to start a panic. But they’re wrong. He’s still here.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do. Prince swore he wouldn’t leave, wouldn’t give up until he’d carried out a plan called the Great Death…”

“The Great Death, huh. I’m guessing that’s not good.”

“That’s my guess too. It involves something called a C.O. device that they’re acquiring from the Russians. Any idea what that is?”

“No. But it must be a weapon of some kind.”

“Right,” I said. “And whatever it is, they’re going to set it off on the devil’s New Year’s Eve.”

“And the devil…”

“Is us, America, right?”

Mike sighed. “Of course. Who else? Okay. Where is this supposed to happen?” Mike was leaning into the glass on his side now too. His eyes were flat and serious. He knew there was no time to waste.

“I don’t know,” I told him. “I don’t know if I ever knew. If I did, I don’t remember. Right now, that’s all I got.”

“Okay.”

“You have to get the word out to Rose. You have to. If not to Rose, then to some of your other friends.”

“Don’t worry. It’s as good as done.”

I leaned in even closer. Our faces were inches apart now, with the glass between us. “And Mike,” I said. “You gotta get the word to Samuel.”

I saw his black eyebrows draw down. “Samuel?”

“He’s coming to town after Christmas. He’ll be the first at number 1912 on the thirtieth of December. Samuel, I mean.”

The next moment seemed to last forever. I didn’t really think there was much of a chance that Mike would understand me then and there. Like I said, he did read that camo-covered Bible, but I doubted he knew it chapter and verse. I was never much good at memorizing stuff myself. I had my copy in my cell so I’d looked it up before coming. I just hoped Mike would figure out what I was trying to say and look it up himself when he got home.

“Samuel, the first at number 1912,” I heard him repeat softly. I saw his eyes move away from me and shift up to the right as if he were looking for something inside his own head. And then-yes!-I could see it on his face. He found it:

First Samuel 19:12: So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped.

Mike’s lips parted. He understood. He stared at me, dumbfounded.

“December 30,” I said again. “He’ll be there with all his friends.”

Mike’s face changed as I watched through the window. For a minute, I seriously thought he was going to come crashing through that Plexiglas and grab me by the shirtfront. His voice became a harsh whisper. “Are you out of your mind? I said I’d get the word out and I will.”

“There’s no time, Mike. You’re gonna need whatever information is in my head. It might be our only chance.”

“Forget it,” Mike said, his eyes burning into me. “We’ll handle it from here.”

“You’re going to need friends too. Rose is going to need them. He’s on the outs with his bosses. He’s an embarrassment to them and they don’t believe him. Even if he finds the answers he needs, he may be on his own.”

“No,” Mike told me, speaking full force. “It’s nuts. Nuts. Do not do it. You read me?”

“Mike…”

“Do you read me, chucklehead?”

I sat back. What could I say? Mike was smart. Not just smart. He was wise. He was a soldier, a hero, and if he said he was going to get to Rose, he would get to him, if anyone could.

But the truth was: I was breaking out of here anyway. I didn’t know what the Great Death meant-not exactly- but I knew Prince would not be satisfied with anything less than mass murder and destruction. I could not sit inside my cell and just hope he was stopped. If I could help, I had to try.

“Do you read me?” Mike said once again.

“ Time’s up! ”

I started as the guard made the announcement over the loudspeaker. Mike kept leaning in toward me, waiting for my answer. But now the two guards who stood on watch behind the visitors came forward off the wall.

“Wrap it up,” one of them said.

Mike stared in at me through the glass. “I will get the word out,” he told me. “There is no need to do anything stupid.”

“Mike,” I said, “if anything happens, if New Year’s Eve comes and Prince isn’t stopped and I thought I could’ve done something-”

“No,” he said again.

“Listen to me-”

A hand came down on my shoulder. It was the guard in back of me. “Say ‘Merry Christmas,’ kid, and wrap it up,” he said. “You’re done.”