THOMAS AWOKE on his back. The sheet was over his face. Odd. Although the desert night was cool at times, he wasn’t one to smother his breathing by burying his head under the covers like some. Covers also impaired hearing. At this moment he couldn’t hear his fellow prisoners breathing, though he knew they were sleeping to his right, chained at the ankles with him. He couldn’t even hear the sound of the horses near the camp. Nor the Scabs, talking over morning campfires. Nor the campfires themselves.
He yanked the sheet from his face. It was still night. Dark. He still couldn’t hear anything other than his own heart, thumping lightly. No stars in the sky, no campfire, no sand dunes. Only this thin rubber mattress under him, and this cold sheet in his fingers.
Thomas’s heart skipped a beat. He wasn’t in the desert! He was on a mattress in a dark room, and he’d awakened with a sheet over his face.
He moved his feet. No chains. He’d fallen asleep as a prisoner in the desert and woken in the histories. Alive.
He felt the edge of his bed. Cold steel tubes filled his hand. A gurney. Carlos had shot him, when? Three days ago, Kara had said. He hadn’t dreamed for thirteen months in the desert because there was no Thomas here to live the dream. They’d brought his body here, why? For examination? To keep the Americans guessing? And where was here?
France.
Thomas eased his legs from under the sheets and swung them to the cold concrete floor. A loud slap echoed in the room and he jumped. Nothing happened. Something had fallen on the floor.
His eyes adjusted to the darkness. A wedge of light shone through the gap at the bottom of the door. He saw the square shape by his foot. Picked it up. A book. He felt its cover and froze.
The blank Book of History, entitled The Story of History. His hands trembled. The Book had crossed over with him!
A chill swept over his body. This Book—its story, its words—had brought him back to life. Here he stood, dressed in a torn jumpsuit, barefooted on a concrete floor in France, holding a Book that could make history with a few strokes of the pen.
Justin had called it dangerous and powerful. Now he knew why.
His sole objective was immediately clear. He had to find a pen, a pencil, anything that could mark the Book, and write a new story. One that changed the outcome of the Raison Strain. And while he was at it, one that included his survival.
Thomas paused at the unexpected thought that the Book wasn’t unlike the artifacts from Judeo-Christian history. The ark of the covenant with the power to conquer armies. The serpent in the desert with the power to heal. Say to this mountain, be thou removed and it shall be removed. Jesus Christ, AD 30. Words becoming flesh, Ronin had said.
There were now officially four things that crossed between the realities. Knowledge, skills, blood, and this Book, these words becoming flesh.
He could just barely see the outline of a door ten feet away. Thomas walked for the door, tested the knob, found it unlocked, and cracked it ever so slightly. The room beyond was also dark, but not black like this one. He could see a table, a couch. Another door edged by light. A fireplace . . .
He knew this room! It was where he and Monique had met Armand Fortier! They’d brought him back to the farmhouse.
Thomas slipped out, still gripping the Book in his right hand. He covered the room quickly, found nothing of benefit, and moved to the opposite door. Unlocked as well. He’d twisted the knob and cracked the door when the sound of echoing footsteps in the hall reached him.
Thomas stood immobilized. Under no circumstances could he allow the Book to fall into their hands. His escape was no longer as important as the Book’s safety.
He eased the door shut and ran on his toes for the cell. He slipped into the dark, shut the door, stepped toward the gurney, and shoved the Book under the thin mattress. Then he lay back down and pulled the sheet over his head.
Relax. Breathe. Slow your heart.
The door opened thirty seconds later. Light flooded the room. The footsteps walked across the floor, paused for a few seconds, then retreated. A man coughed, and Thomas knew it was Carlos. He’d come for something. Surely not to check on a dead body.
The room went black.
Thomas waited a full minute before rising again. He walked to the door, flipped the light on, and surveyed the room. Concrete all around. Except for the gurney and one bookshelf, the room was empty. A root cellar at one time, perhaps. They’d probably put his body here because it was cold and they wanted to preserve it for tests.
He decided that the risk of being caught with the Book was too great. He would find something to write with and return.
Thomas checked the adjoining room, found it clear, and stepped out. This time the hall was clear. He hurried past the same window he and Monique had climbed through just a few nights earlier. Sunlight filled the window well. He was about to mount the stairs that climbed to the next floor when a door across the hall caught his attention. A reinforced steel door, out of place in this ancient house.
He stepped across the hall and opened it.
No sound.
He peered inside. Another long hall. Steel walls. They’d built a veritable fortress down here. This hall stretched far beyond the exterior wall and ended at yet another door.
Now he was torn. He could either climb the stairs, which could lead to a guard station for all he knew, or he could examine the door at the end of this hall. Just as likely to find a guard there.
Thomas eased into the hall and walked fast. Voices came to him while he was halfway down, and he paused. But they weren’t voices of alarm. He ran the last twenty paces and pulled up at the door. The voices were from the room beyond.
“They’ve killed half the fish off our coast with these two detonations, but they won’t target our cities!”
They were talking about nuclear detonations? Someone had launched nuclear weapons!
“Then you don’t know the Israelis. They know we have no intention of delivering the antivirus, and they have nothing to lose.”
“They’re still principled. They won’t take innocents down with them. Please, I beg you, the Negev desert was bad enough. We can’t target Tel Aviv. A power play to realign powers is one thing. Detonating nuclear weapons over densely populated targets is another. They’re bluffing. They know the world would turn against them if they targeted civilians. As it would turn against us if we did the same.”
“You think that world opinion is still an element in this equation? Then you’re more naive than I imagined, Henri.” So the man protesting was Paul Henri Gaetan, the French president. “The only language that the Israelis understand is brute force.”
A third voice spoke. “Give them the antivirus.”
Armand Fortier.
“Pardon me, sir, but I thought—”
“The plan must be flexible,” Fortier said. “We’ve shown the world our resolve to use whatever force is required to enforce our terms. We’ve blown two massive holes in their desert, and they’ve blown two holes in our ocean. So what? The Israelis are snakes. Utterly unpredictable except in the defense of their land. If we fire again, they will retaliate. Two-thirds of the world’s combined nuclear arsenal is presently loaded on ships, steaming to our shores. Now isn’t the time to accelerate the conflict.”
“You will leave Israel intact?”
“We will give them the antivirus,” Fortier repeated. “In exchange for their weapons.”
“What proof will you offer them?” President Gaetan again.
“A mutual exchange on the seas, five days from today.”
The room went silent for a few moments. The next voice that spoke was one that Thomas recognized at the first word.
“But you will destroy Israel,” Carlos Missirian said softly.
“Yes.”
“And the Americans?”
“The Americans don’t have the Israelis’ backbone. They have no choice but to deliver their weapons, regardless of all their noise. We’re listening to everything they say. They’re acting out of total confusion now, but our contact assures us they won’t have a choice but to comply in the end.”
“They might demand an open exchange as well,” the French president said.
“Then we will call their bluff. I can afford to make Israel wait until the time of our choosing. The United States will no longer play a role in world politics.”
Thomas felt his heart pound. He pulled his ear from the door. He’d heard enough.
“And if Israel does launch in ten minutes as they’ve promised?”
Thomas stopped. A long pause.
“Then we take out Tel Aviv,” Fortier said.
Thomas sprinted back down the hall toward the root cellar. The plan had changed. He had to get word to the United States before Israel had a chance to launch again. He needed a phone. But in searching for a phone, he might find a pen.
Dangerous, Justin had said. Everything was dangerous now.
Thomas ran for the cell door and twisted the knob. Locked.
Locked? He’d opened it just a few minutes ago from this side. He cranked down on the handle. Heat spread down his neck. He stepped back, panicked. Carlos must have engaged the lock when he left.
Thomas ran his hand through his hair and paced. This wasn’t good.
He needed a phone!
The meeting was still underway. Thomas sprinted up the stairs, took the steps two at a time, and burst through the door at the top. A single startled guard stared at him. He’d clearly never seen a dead man walking before.
Thomas took him with a foot to his temple, one swift roundhouse kick that landed with a sickening thud. Then a clatter as the man collapsed on the metal folding chair he’d been using.
Thomas didn’t bother covering his tracks. No time. He did, however, pluck the nine-millimeter from the man’s hand. Short of finding a key to the cell, he would blow the door off its hinges. Noisy but effective.
First the phone.
He passed a window and saw a least a dozen guards milling around the driveway, smoking. They were mostly ranking French military, he noted. Not thugs you’d find in the underground. That would be a concern in a few minutes. Phone—where was the phone?
On the wall, naturally. Black and outdated like most things in the French countryside. He dug in his pocket, relieved to find the card Grant had given him in Washington. On the back, scrawled in pencil, a direct line to the White House.
Thomas snatched up the phone and dialed the long number.
Silence.
For a moment he feared the lines were out. Naturally, the French would monitor all calls. Getting through would be impossible.
The line suddenly clicked. Then hissed for a while. He prayed the call would connect.
“You have reached the White House. Please listen closely, as our menu options have changed. You may press zero at any time to speak to an operator . . .”
Hand trembling. Zero.
A switchboard operator answered after four rings. “White House.”
“This is Thomas Hunter. I’m in France and I need to speak to the president immediately.”