Alex Lukeman - The Cup

In Virginia, Nick and the others were glued to the monitor as the drama unfolded. The cutter and Athena were hove to and bobbing up and down in the choppy swell, separated by thirty or forty yards. On the deck of the freighter, crewmen had gathered by the rail to watch. Two Zodiacs went into the water.

"There go the SEALS," Lamont said.

The image from the satellite was clear and crisp. Odin was the latest in satellite surveillance technology, sent up without public fanfare only eight months before. Now it was earning its keep.

Stephanie zoomed in on one of the men on Athena's deck, watching the zodiacs approach. He wore a woolen watch cap. He had a full beard. He looked up suddenly, as though he could sense the eye in the sky watching him. Stephanie drew in a breath.

"I recognize him," she said. "His name is Rashid Jaffari. He's a physicist, one of Saddam's scientists. He was working on building a nuclear bomb."

Nick picked up his phone and called Hood.

"Director, you see that guy on the deck of the Athena with the cap and the beard?"

"Yes."

"His name is Jaffari. He's a bomb maker. That nuke has got to be on board. Better give the captain of that cutter a heads up."

"On it," Hood said. Nick left the connection open.

On the monitor screen, the Zodiacs had reached the side of Athena. Someone had lowered boarding stairs on the side. The first of the SEALS started up the steps.

"In the name of Allah, the Magnificent…"

Jaffari triggered the detonator in his pocket.

The screen blanked out in a sudden blast of white that overwhelmed the camera.

"Oh my God," Stephanie said.

"Jesus," Lamont said.

The satellite image reappeared on the screen. Streaks and spots distorted the picture but there was no mistaking the mushroom cloud rising from the surface of the ocean. Of the Athena , the Coast Guard ship and the Zodiacs, there was no sign. A huge plume of seawater rose into the air and collapsed back onto the surface of the ocean.

A towering, foaming, wave rolled out in a perfect circle from the point of the blast.

They stared in silence as the wave moved toward land.

Nick gripped the phone in his hand. His knuckles had turned white.

"Director, are you still there?"

Hood's voice was grim. "Yes, I'm here."

"That wave is headed toward Savannah," Nick said. "We have to warn them."

"I'll take care of it." Hood disconnected.

"He was almost to Savannah," Selena said. "If he'd gotten into port…"

She left the rest unspoken.

The man-made tsunami from Jaffari's bomb had been forty feet high when it reached shore. The port of Savannah was heavily damaged, most of the city's facilities destroyed. Thousands were homeless, hundreds were dead, thousands more were injured.

Then came what many were calling the Miracle of the Wind. The cloud of radioactive fallout was blown out to sea by a storm front that suddenly appeared out of nowhere and moved in from the west. No one knew what the long-term effects on the ocean would be.

Savannah was deeply injured, but she would survive.

The days after the bomb were filled with half-truths, rumors and rage. Everyone wanted an explanation. With few facts to work with, the media turned to speculation and accusation.

Blame was assigned to any convenient enemy. Russia and Iran topped the list. The White House fended off questions with standard responses that did nothing to ease the tension. If Rice admitted it had been an ISIS plot, the country would be forced into all out war against the Islamic State. That was guaranteed to lead to a broader conflict.

The story was put out that the explosion was an accident, caused by a failed attempt to defuse a nuclear mine that had drifted from its mooring. Where the mine had come from or who it belonged to was never quite clear. The media turned its attention to questions about why there were nuclear mines in the first place. Protesters appeared on Pennsylvania Avenue by the thousands.

Two days after the bomb Nick and the others were in a lab at Langley with Clarence Hood. The lab had a scanner and a CIA technician named Edwards to run it. Nick gave the box to the tech to put in the device. Everyone wanted to know what was inside. No one had been able to open it.

"All set, Director," the tech said

"Turn it on."

Edwards turned on the machine. The interior of the box appeared in blacks and grays and shadows on a wall monitor. The shape inside the box was distinctive, darker than the rest of the image, about nine or ten inches long.

"It's a cup," Selena said, "like a big egg cup. I really didn't believe it until now."

"You can see the locking mechanism for the box," Nick said, "all those sliding pieces and gears. I was hoping we'd be able to figure it out when we saw how it worked, but that looks hopeless."

"We could cut into it with a laser," the tech said. "I can set one up if you like."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Nick said.

"Why not?" Hood asked.

"I can't explain it, but I have a strong feeling that's the wrong thing to do. We should wait before we do anything else."

"You think it's booby-trapped? Rice wants to know if it's the Grail."

"He's waited this long, he can wait a little longer. Tell him it's a cup. Tell him we're concerned it might be destroyed if we force the box open."

"I don't see anything that looks like a trap," Edwards said.

Hood held up his hand. "Actually, you haven't seen anything. Not the box, not anything that might be in it. Remember the papers you signed when you began working here?"

"Yes, sir."

"Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good." He turned to Nick. "What do you want to do?"

"I want to take it with me and think about it."

"I can stall Rice for another day or two, but after that he's going to want that box on his desk, not yours."

"I understand. Just give me a little time. There's something about this, I can feel it."

"Intuition? Elizabeth has always relied on her intuition and it usually works out. I suppose I can cut you the same leeway."

"If I can't come up with something in the next two days, I'll hand it over to you and you can take it from there."

"Fair enough."

Outside Langley, the team stood together in the parking lot. Nick took a deep breath. It was the first day of November. His birthday was coming soon. He wasn't looking forward to being another year older.

"There aren't any fires to put out at the moment," he said. "We all need a break. It's Thursday today. Come in Monday and we'll talk about how things will work with Harker out of the picture."

"Sure thing, Kemo Sabe," Ronnie said.

"How about we get together for pizza on Saturday night?" Lamont said.

Ronnie shook his head and sighed.

"Do you ever think about anything except food?"

"Man's got to eat," Lamont said.

Nick drove back with Selena to their loft. A black Cadillac limousine idled on the street in front of the building.

"That figures," Nick said.

Selena looked at the car waiting there. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Yup. Looks like it."

"Do I get to meet him?"

"Nobody meets him. I haven't met him. He's a voice behind a piece of black glass."

Nick drove into the underground parking garage. They got out.

"I'm going with you," Selena said.

Nick picked up the box with the cup. They walked up to the first floor and out the main entrance to where Adam's car waited. The chauffeur stood by the rear door.

"I'm very sorry, Doctor. Only Nick, please."

"She gets in with me or we're going upstairs."

"It's all right, Nick. Don't worry about it. It's just the way it is. I'll be upstairs"