Adam had just finished toweling off in the Covington locker room when his phone buzzed. He pulled it out of the locker.
“Yes, Eric,” he said cheerfully.
“Adam, I just got personally served with an amended exhibit and witness list for trial by Emily Hart.”
The case held no anxiety for Adam anymore. Especially after looking Ryan Hart in the eye on the extra-long run he’d just completed. “What’s it say?”
“The new exhibit list claims they’ll be introducing ‘debris from the October sixteenth explosion, including nuclear trigger casings and related detonation evidence.’ You have any idea what they’re talking about?”
Adam sat down, a wave of nausea rolling over him.
King went on. “It also says they will be producing a rifle. It’s got a serial number here if you want it.”
No. No.
“And the witness added to their list,” King said carefully, “Adam, it’s you. The Hart lawyer also served me with a subpoena to have you at the trial on Monday morning.”
How could they have gotten into the white train? How could they possibly have found it—let alone gotten through the magnetic lock to collect the debris? The chamber had to be thirty feet underground, through stone and concrete.
“I’ll call you back,” Adam said, ending the call.
He had to know what they’d found. However they’d accessed the pit, they couldn’t have transported much material away: that would require multiple vehicles. And they couldn’t possibly have gotten so many vehicles onto the reservation without being detected. Adam had to find out what they’d recovered and whether it was enough to really prove the existence of a nuclear trigger.
And now he had to empty the pit. Demolish it if possible.
Oh no. Had they seen the bodies, too? If they got into the pit? Of course they had, how could they miss them?
Adam glanced around. The locker room was empty. He pressed the speed dial to reach the Chief.
“Yeah,” Mel Emerson answered.
“We’ve got to get out there tonight,” Adam said. “You’ve got to get your whole team together, and we’ve got to empty the white train tonight.”
A heavy sigh came over the line. “We hadn’t planned for this for another month, sir,” Emerson began. “We just got the testing equipment from LB5 on railcars for New Mexico two nights ago. We’d have to drum up more hazard railcars for the debris—not to mention figuring out where to dispose of the bodies. Plus, it’ll take some doing to be sure our people are covering the monitors at Hanford Security tonight. And if we start at the usual time, it’s going to take every minute of dark to do this in one night. I don’t know, Mr. Worth—it’s going to take a lot of work.”
“Just do it!” Adam shouted over the phone, his voice echoing in the showers and lockers around him. He struggled for a moment to calm his voice. “We’ll just have to start earlier. And get as many people as you need to do it quickly. Tonight, Chief.”
“All right,” Emerson grunted in frustration. Then the line went dead.
Adam hesitated a moment before reaching into his locker. The coin purse was there. He’d planned to stop taking the blue tabs now, as matters were winding down. But this wasn’t over yet.
Adam unzipped it and pulled two, then a third pill, out. It was going to be a long and difficult night.