Ken Follett - Code to Zero (2000)

He stood up to go, and the phone rang.

He wondered whether to answer. It might be Hobart But Hobart did not know he was hi Colonel Hickam's office. Only Pete knew that... he thought He picked up.

It was Pete. 'Dr Josephson's here!' he said.

'Shit' Anthony had felt sure she was out of the picture. 'She just got off a plane?'

'Yeah, it must have been a fester flight than the one Lucas is on. She's sitting in the terminal building, like she's waiting.'

'For him,' Anthony said decisively. 'Damn her. She's come to warn him that we're here. You have to get her out of there.'

'How?'

'I don't care -just get rid of her!'

.

12 NOON

The Explorer's orbit will be at thirty-four degrees to the equator. Relative to the Earth's surface, it will head south-east-across the Atlantic Ocean to the southern tip of Africa, then northeast across the Indian Ocean and Indonesia to the Pacific.

Huntsville Airport was small but busy. The single terminal building had a Hertz desk, some vending machines and a row of phone booths. As soon as she arrived, Billie checked on Luke's flight and learned it was running almost an hour late, and would land in Huntsville-at three fifteen. She had three hours to kill.

She got a candy bar and a Dr Pepper from a machine. She put down the attache case that contained her Colt and stood leaning against a wall, thinking. How was she going to handle this? As soon as she saw Luke, she would warn him that Anthony was here. Luke would be on his guard, and could take precautions - but he could not go into hiding. He had to find out what he had done here on Monday, and for that he would need to move around. He had to take risks. Could she do anything to help protect him?

As she was racking her brains, a girl in Capital Airlines uniform approached her. 'Are you Dr Josephson?'

Yes.'

'I have a phone message for you.' She handed over an envelope.

Billie frowned. Who knew she was here? 'Thanks,' she muttered, tearing it open.

'You're very welcome. Please let us know if there's any way we can be of further service.'

Billie looked up and smiled. She had forgotten how polite people were in the South. 'I sure will,' she said. 'I appreciate that'

The girl walked away, and Billie read her message: 'Please call Dr Lucas on Huntsville JE 6-423L'

She was bewildered. Could Luke be here already? And how had he known she would be here?

There was only one way to find out. She dropped her pop bottle in a trash can and found a payphone.

The number she dialed answered immediately, and a man's voice said: 'Components test lab/

It sounded as if Luke was already at Redstone Arsenal. How had he done that trick? She said: 'Dr Claude Lucas, please.'

'Just one moment' After a pause the man came back. 'Dr Lucas stepped out for a minute. Who is this, please?'

'Dr Bilhah Josephson, I have a message to call him on this number.'

The man's tone changed immediately. 'Oh, Dr Josephson, I'm so glad we found you! Dr Lucas is very concerned to contact you.'

'What's he doing here? I thought he was still in the air.'

'Army security pulled him off the plane at Norfolk, Virginia, and laid on a special flight He's been here more than an hour.'

She felt relieved he was safe, but at the same time she was puzzled. 'What's he doing there?'

'I think you know.'

'Okay, I guess I do. How is it going?'

'Fine - but I can't give you details, especially over the phone. Can you get yourself down to us?'

'Where are you?'

'The lab is about an hour out of town on the Chattanooga road. I could send an army driver to pick you up, but it would be quicker for you to get a cab, or rent a car.'

Billie took a notebook out of her bag. 'Give me directions.' Then, remembering her Southern manners, she added: 'If you would, please.'

.

1 P. M.

The first-stage engine must be switched off sharply, and separated immediately, otherwise gradual thrust decay could cause the first stage to catch up with the second and misalign it. As soon as pressure drops in the fuel lines, the valves are closed, and the first stage is separated five seconds later by detonation of spring-loaded explosive bolts. The springs increase the speed of the second stage by 2.6 feet per second, ensuring that it separates cleanly.

Anthony knew the way to Luke's house. He had spent a weekend there1, a couple of years back, soon after Luke and Elspeth had moved from Pasadena. He reached the place in fifteen minutes. It was on Echols Hill, a street of large older homes a couple of blocks from downtown. Anthony parked around the corner, so that Luke would not be forewarned that he had a visitor.

He walked back to the house. He should have felt quietly confident. He held all the cards: surprise, time, and a gun. But instead he was nauseated with apprehension. Twice already he had felt he had Luke in his hands, and Luke had eluded him.

He still did not know why Luke had chosen to fly to Huntsville rather than Cape Canaveral. This inexplicable decision suggested there was something Anthony did not know about, an unpleasant surprise that might leap out at him at any moment The house was a white turn-of-the century Colonial with a pillared verandah. It was too grand for an army boffin, but Luke had never pretended to live on what he made as a scientist. Anthony opened a gate in a low wall and entered the yard. The place would have been easy to break into, but that would not be necessary. He circled around to the back. By the kitchen door was a terra cotta planter with bougainvillea spilling out of it, and under the pot was a big iron key.

Anthony let himself in.

The outside was pleasantly old-fashioned, but the interior was right up to the minute. Elspeth had every kind of gadget in the kitchen. There was a big hall decorated in bright pastel colours, a living room with a console TV and a record player, and a dining room with modern splayed-leg chairs and sideboards. Anthony preferred traditional furniture, but he had to admit this was stylish.

As he stood in the living room, staring at a curved couch upholstered in pink vinyl, he recalled vividly the weekend he had spent here. He had known within an hour that the marriage was in trouble. Elspeth had been flirtatious, always a sign of tension with her, and Luke had adopted a forced air of cheery hospitality that was quite uncharacteristic.

They had given a cocktail party on the Saturday night and invited the young crowd from Redstone Arsenal. This room had been full of badly dressed scientists talking about rockets, junior officers discussing their prospects for promotion, and pretty women gossiping about the intrigues of life on a military base. The gramophone had been stacked with long-playing jazz records, but that night the music had sounded plaintive, not joyous. Luke and Elspeth had got drunk - a rare thing for both of them - and Elspeth had grown more flirty while Luke became quieter and quieter. Anthony had found it painful to see two people he liked and admired so unhappy, and the whole weekend had depressed him.

And now the long drama of their interwoven lives was playing out its inevitable conclusion.

Anthony decided to search the house. He did not know what he was looking for. But he might turn up something that would give him a clue to why Luke was coming here, and warn him of unforeseen danger. He put on a pair of rubber gloves that he found in the kitchen. There would be . a murder investigation eventually, and he did not want to leave fingerprints.

He started in the study, a small room lined with shelves full of scientific books. He sat at Luke's desk, which looked out on to the back yard, and opened the drawers.

Over the next two hours, he searched the house from top to bottom. He found nothing.

He looked in every pocket of every suit in Luke's well-filled closet. He opened every book in the study to check for papers concealed between the pages. He took the lids off every piece of Tupperware in the enormous double-door refrigerator. He went into the garage and searched the handsome black Chrysler 300C - the fastest stock sedan in the world, according to the newspapers - from its streamlined headlamps to its rocket-ship tail fins.