Tom watched as Van Ness spun his wheelchair toward the glass dome. The hybrid maintained its unbreakable grip on Cafferty, shoving him down the hallway to the operations center.
Every step gave him a deeper sinking feeling. Van Ness wanted Cafferty to watch the next few hours unfold. What was in store for Ellen—or had already been done—sent a chill down Cafferty’s spine. Van Ness had proven himself a showman, on top of a callous dictator and cold-blooded murderer.
Whatever he has planned next . . .
Van Ness approached Edwards in the middle of the operations center, Cafferty close behind, held in the powerful clutches of the hybrid. It seemed almost unbelievable to be here, in Van Ness’ lair.
“Not so unlike your Visitors’ Pavilion in New York City,” Van Ness said proudly. “The difference is your Pavilion sits in ruins at the bottom of the Hudson River. This headquarters, this vision, will go down for centuries as the beating heart of humanity’s victory.”
Cafferty looked up at the various monitors that showed the Foundation’s destruction of his country. Headlines scrolled across the CNN news feed of nuclear strikes in South Dakota and Nebraska and the panic ensuing in London. He struggled to believe it had actually happened. The lives lost. The potential nuclear fallout across the United States.
Van Ness is winning . . .
Bowcut and Munoz rested on their knees in front of him with pistols jammed against the back of their heads. At least Diego had regained consciousness. Sarah attempted to look around. A guard twisted her head back toward the screens.
Cafferty glowered at Van Ness. “You’re destroying the world.”
“No, Thomas. I’m preserving it in the best way I know how—by creating the world as it should be.”
“Nests fully destroyed in South Dakota and Nebraska, sir,” Edwards chimed in. “The other bombs are coming online now.”
“Other bombs?” Cafferty interjected.
Edwards motioned to a map with red dots under all major U.S. and UK cities. “Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston, Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Dublin—”
“Enough!” Cafferty shouted. “Stop this madness, Van Ness!”
“But it must be done,” Van Ness replied without emotion. “The nests under those cities must be destroyed. Or the creatures will rise, I assure you.”
It became clear to Cafferty that Van Ness’ personal vendetta was not Foundation policy. He just wasn’t sure if that mattered—if there were nests under those cities, these fanatics would surely be okay with destroying them regardless.
Still, Cafferty scanned the operations center for an empathetic face, anyone who would realize the madness of this situation and help him. All he needed was one person to come to their senses and flip. Yet he found only grim expressions. With the London device due to go off in a few hours and devices already detonated in the United States, those expressions were soon to be reflected by billions of people around the world, as they saw their friends and family murdered and their own lives descend into chaos from a never-ending nuclear winter.
The world was going to be covered in literal darkness, even as the Foundation claimed it was eliminating exactly that.
Rapid laser fire from outside the thick glass dome caught Cafferty’s attention. In the cavern, the creatures seemed to be stirring themselves into a frenzy, as if they could sense the coming apocalypse for their brethren.
Inside, he felt a similar frenzy and despaired at the fact that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it now.
He was going to witness the end of the world.
Van Ness observed how Tom seemed to collapse, the hybrid’s grip the only thing holding him up. He detested the creature standing there, even as he appreciated its power and purpose. This, he thought, was the only use for these things: as powerful tools to be utilized by those who knew what they were capable of.
Namely, himself.
The thought was a satisfying one, knowing he was one step closer to victory. To seeing his father’s dream realized. To seeing those who had broken something in Otto Van Ness broken themselves. To seeing his family’s legacy—even as he sat here in a wheelchair—made whole.
“If there is an organizational structure to these nests,” he mused, “if these creatures do communicate with each other . . .”
He stared out the glass.
“. . . they will remember this day for a long time.”
“Kill the asshole if you get the chance,” Munoz blurted out.
A guard slapped Diego on the side of the head with his gun, and he winced in pain.
Van Ness bristled at the language. His patience had almost expired with Munoz and Bowcut. They weren’t necessary anymore. They were just Cafferty’s foot soldiers, after all. It was one thing for the generals to still talk, but the cannon fodder? He caressed the laser pistol, tucked into the side of his chair, and considered whether to kill them before or after the main event.
No, I want them all to see this. They chose their side and would surely have shown me no mercy. Cafferty’s humiliation needs to be witnessed by his entire team. They need to realize how much of a fool the man they were following is.
They would live to see the world and the creatures die.
And then he would kill them personally.
Smiling tightly, Van Ness turned back to Tom.
“Shall we all check on your wife, Mr. Cafferty?”