The Airburst Effect
were burned into the recesses of Boston’s mind forever. He would not dwell on Edward, could not, or it would shatter his sharpness, and he needed it more than ever.
Ralph drove the white Dodge Durango they had rented the night before. Boston had to make him. With Ralph’s claims that it had been too long, Boston needed him confident to drive if it was an absolute necessity.
Krull snoozed in the back seat, having spent the whole morning working on a sliver of hope, something to change the initiative they lost, the utter black hole that swallowed them up. The rest of them had gotten some sleep while Krull toiled, and nothing any of them said would change his determination. He wouldn’t wait another day, and even though Boston preferred to go it alone, neither Krull nor Ralph would let him.
“I noticed you’re wearing your old gear again,” Ralph said. Boston had wondered if anyone would point it out. Wearing his frock coat and glen-gray Akubra Cattleman hat felt better, soothed him somehow. And there was no point trying to hide. If he was to confront those that would see others suffer, he’d do it on his terms, his way.
“Yep, and I already feel the difference.” Boston smiled.
“You weren’t fooling anyone with that other jacket and hat anyway. Might as well be comfortable facing the uncomfortable.”
“I’d toast to that if I had a drink,” Boston said.
“How do you deal with it?” Ralph asked.
“With what?”
“The ones you kill.”
Boston could only imagine where this was going: The man Ralph killed with a bat. “The first one bothered me—the person Eziel was possessing when we first met him. But then, I don’t know what happened. Maybe it’s the hatred I have for Eziel and any that support him, but it feeds me now. Hope that doesn’t make me sound abysmal. I want them all dead.”
“I get that,” Ralph said. “It’s just… I can’t stop thinking about it. K-keeps me up at night. Sometimes I can’t close my eyes. If I do, I see the bat coming down on Dakota’s head, over and over. It makes me nauseous. I’ve been popping Pepto-Bismol like candy.”
Thoughts of Senna, and now Edward, tore a hole in Boston if he let it in, but he would not dwell. And that was probably the only difference. Plenty of time for that later. He needed focus, and letting the rage flow freely did just that.
“Let me put it this way,” Boston said. “How would you feel if any one of Eziel’s minions, human or otherwise, caused the demise of the human race? Because that’s where we’re going if we don’t stop it.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m not there yet. I know I need to be. I guess I wasn’t built for this kind of thing; I-I’m tense all the time, can’t relax for a second. Just to get some sleep, I’ve started taking CBD oil.”
Ralph drove slower as they traveled through an older neighborhood with character houses of all sizes, shapes, and colors. The Victorian style stood out for Boston. They were near the university, a little early for Krull’s meetup with a friend.
“None of us are built for this,” Boston said. “Whatever gets you through, I say, without compromising your wits. I know you know this, Ralph, but had you not done what you did, you would be dead right now. Don’t question your instincts; they will always guide you. You’re a good man, and you’ve nothing to punish yourself for. Try not to think on it too much, if that’s possible.”
Ralph nodded. “Thanks. Talking about it helps.”
“Anytime,” Boston said.
Krull popped up, eyes groggy, yawning. “It may not seem like it now,” Krull said, “but all this, everything we’re going through, will make you wiser and stronger. Easy for me to say, but if you trust me on anything, trust me on this. But guilt, that’s another beast entirely. I love the quote, ‘No amount of guilt can change the past and no amount of worrying can change the future,’ but I’d be a liar if I said I don’t dwell, don’t dawdle on the devastation of my past actions. Is it pointless? Without question. Can I stop it? I cannot. You are not alone in your misery, Ralph. But distractions are a great method. For instance, Boston, I know you saw what I saw last night, in the sky, blocking the moon. What do you surmise of such an oddity?”
“The Observer,” Boston said, “observing.”
“Yes, exactly,” Krull said. “It is likely this Observer has been doing thus for quite some time. The purpose? I’ve no idea.”
Boston smirked at Krull’s use of thus.
“It has more abilities than Eziel or its kind have displayed,” Ralph said. “Boston, didn’t it relish the idea of keeping this going?”
Boston nodded. “That’s right. It seemed gleeful at the idea of the whole ordeal between us and Eziel. And though it wouldn’t admit it, the Observer did help us. We’d be dead if it didn’t.”
“Hmm, yes,” Krull said. “We need to speak with this creature again.”
They did, but would it help them? Boston thought not, and they couldn’t just call it up.
“Oh,” Krull said, “here we are.”
Ralph stopped in front of an old Victorian with a slanted front porch, chipped yellow paint, and curtains drawn on every window.
“Be back momentarily,” Krull said.
Domed, shaded security cameras were set under the soffits on the corners of the house and two midway across the front. When Krull got to the entrance, a panel above the door slid open, a mechanical arm slid out, and some sort of scanner beamed down over him. A moment later, Boston heard what sounded like multiple latches or bolts. The door eased open.
“Are you seeing this?” Boston asked.
“Yeah,” Ralph said. “That’s one paranoid friend.”
Not even a minute later, Krull walked out with a smile on his face, carrying a rectangular object in his hand that looked like a walkie-talkie.
When Krull hopped in the back, Boston and Ralph turned for his report.
“Got it” was all Krull said.
“Who was that guy?” Ralph asked.
“Best drive,” Krull said, “not sit here. It’ll freak him out.”
Ralph drove, slow and steady.
“Thanks,” Krull said. “That is my former roommate from my academic life. My on-campus friend, pretty much the only one I had. A brilliant cybersecurity analyst and an excellent ethical hacker, maybe some black-hat hacking for all I know, so maybe more of a gray-hat hacker.”
Krull leaned forward, through the middle, Ralph watching him in the rearview mirror, Boston tilting his head slightly.
Krull continued: “I haven’t seen him in years but had heard he became a recluse after his last contract. In the house, I entered a secure antechamber from the front door, with what I could only guess was bulletproof glass. I couldn’t see him, or his place, and he talked to me through a small panel where he passed me this detector. Don’t know what happened to him, but now I have to find out somehow or it’ll drive me crazy.”
“And what does this”—Boston pointed to the object in Krull’s hand—“thing detect?”
“It’s a handheld radio-wave motion detector. We’ll be able to detect any movement, even a person’s breath, up to seventy-five feet, through a solid wall.”
“That’s super awesome,” Ralph said.
“But,” Krull said, “it can’t penetrate metal. I’d have preferred my altered telescope but that got smashed.”
“Do you think it can detect Eziel or his kind?” Boston asked.
Ralph sped up as they entered a busier street.
“I don’t know,” Krull said. “Can’t even wager a guess at the moment. I don’t know that radio waves will bounce off Eziel’s kind or not.”
“And you have all the locations from Ash?” Ralph asked Boston.
“That I do. Let’s hit the one we know first. Maybe we’ll get lucky and no people will be there, no one to interfere.” If anything, he could use his compass as an Ezielite detector, though he still wasn’t a hundred percent on if it did what he hoped or if it had previously been manipulated.
When they got there, Ralph circled the building as far back as possible, revealing two white panel vans on the dock-loading side. They parked on the opposite side, the closest access to the sea of voids that had been present on their last visit.
“They’ll obviously know about the dead men at this point,” Boston said, “no doubt cleaned up by now.”
“Agreed,” Krull said. “Matters not. Eziel will know it was us, but I trust in its arrogance that we are not considered a threat. That’s about to change.”
“Can you run by me again,” Ralph said, “what I’m going to be tossing in the air.”
Krull smiled. “It’s an amped-up version of a photoflash bomb—lighter and more concentrated than the seventy-five or more pounds of flash powder they used to use. Back in World War Two, flash bombs were designed to detonate above ground, producing hundreds of millions of candlepower, so they could take photos at night high above. The flashes lasted a fraction of a second, which, in my opinion, will not be sufficient for our purposes. To ensure the best chance of success, I have constructed multiple flash bombs within the same capsule, each their own separate capsule. It will start outward and work its way in, one after the other, extending the duration of the flash for a second, possibly two, hopefully enough. Have either of you heard of the airburst effect?”
Boston and Ralph shook their heads.
“Pretty simple idea, and a very effective one. The concept is to detonate a shell, grenade, whatever, some form of ordnance, midair, causing more damage—light in our case—over a bigger spread… covering more ground, I should say. From the time the fuse is lit, you have five seconds before the first detonation. We need to time them for the best results, making sure it detonates midair over a large mass of voids.”
“Yeah, okay,” Ralph said, without a bit of conviction.
“Oh, and I should warn you”—Boston and Ralph glanced at one another with raised brows—“there is magnesium powder in these things, and it gets hot, really hot, as in we can absolutely not let it touch our skin. As soon as we toss them, get out of the building. We’ll need to be near an exit, literally beside one, when we throw them.”
“Great,” Ralph said. “Easy peasy.”