CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Dusk.

Corman eased the Seaport Fruit & Vegetables box truck into its parking space.

He snapped off the headlights, shut down the engine, and carefully double-checked the dashboard. It wouldn’t do to, say, leave the fog lights on and run down the battery. As he got out of the cab, wind cut through his jacket. The temperature was dropping.

Around back, he opened the metal cargo door, just enough to confirm the slide rails were still properly placed, and let it bang back into place. The crash of the door closing echoed from the buildings around him. No one appeared. Everyone in the zone seemed to have gone home, eager to start the night’s revelry.

He’d have to walk the half mile back, but Corman didn’t mind. He liked being alone in the winter weather, left to his own thoughts, undisturbed by the clamor of people around him.

Finn said they were on schedule, good to go. When he got back, Corman would take the big hauler out to its own designated spot—a mile farther, alongside the utility substation. That was far enough that Jake would follow along, then drive them both back to the warehouse.

They’d been rotating the different roles on the boring rig: in the pit, moving the pipe sections with the gantry, running the drill itself. That meant one of the four of them was always resting—or running errands such as this one. Nicola was off in her lair, hacking computers and phones and networks. Or whatever. Corman’s understanding of her abilities was hazy, but he appreciated the results, and she was fun to talk with.

He clanged the door latch shut and started walking. No rush. The bore was on schedule, moving straight through the earth, the vault closer by the minute.

So far, so good.

Eleven p.m.

They ate a kind of dinner—sandwiches Finn had bought that morning with fruit juice and coffee. He’d also replenished the stocks of barbecue chips and Snickers and energy bars. The drill kept grinding away, but it was so deep in the tunnel that they couldn’t hear it over the noise of the hydraulics, motors, and pumps.

After taking a look at the positioning system, Finn decided they were close enough to start getting ready. He called Nicola and handed around the radios they’d use from now on.

Some adjustments, and he put the phone away, pulling on the headset instead. Nicola’s voice came through the earpiece.

“Okay, everyone, time for a comms check. You should hear me, but you should also hear everyone else answer. If that doesn’t happen, speak up. Going down the list … Finn?”

“Loud and clear, Nicola.”

“Jake?”

“Five by five.”

“Corman?”

A rather bearlike grunt over the radio.

“Corman, is that you?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Asher?”

No response.

“Asher? Asher, are you there?”

Finn put his hand over his mic but shouted loud enough that it carried through anyway: “What are you doing? Put the damn headset on.” Muffled noises. “Yeah, I know, none of us like wearing them, but we need the ear protection. Anyway, something happens, I can’t go waving signal flags at you … That’s better.”

“Fine, fine, I’m on.”

“Thank you, Asher.” Nicola was brisk. “Your batteries ought to last five hours. You’ve each got two spare sets, right? In your pocket, nice and handy?” Pause. “Right?”

“Yes.”

Grunt.

“Yeah.”

“Five hours? My ears are gonna fucking fall off.”

“I’ll take that as affirmative. Finn, visual check, please.”

Finn would be first into the vault, and he had a camera mounted on his helmet. He reached up and flicked its switch.

“Excellent. You may turn it off now. The camera battery’s only good for about ninety minutes.”

“I’m sure you’ll remind me.”

“That’s my job.”

Asher: “None of this is any good inside the vault. Maybe you can punch radio through a little dirt, but that thing is wrapped in a meter of concrete and structural steel.”

“Finn has a repeater.”

They ran through a few more details. Nicola had assured them the radios were fully encrypted, and they didn’t have to worry about eavesdropping scanners. But it still made Finn uneasy to openly discuss their plans. He kept it short.

“What do you see at the yard?” Jake asked.

“Hang on.” They waited while she apparently moved to the spotting scope.

“Light snow for now. I can still see the tower and the entrance. Looks like protesters have begun arriving—some cars on the road, a crowd standing around.”

“Police?” Finn asked.

“Some cruisers and a tac van. Hard to tell from here, but there might be a dozen cops at the gate.”

“Official or yard security?”

“It’s dark, and snowing, and I’m a half mile away.”

“Okay.” Finn considered for a moment. “I think it’s time for a diversion.”

“Yo.”

“Kayo?”

“Who the fuck else be on this phone?”

“Where are you?”

“Down the road, where you said. Cold as shit out here.”

“See any protesters near you? Police?”

“They all at the gate. We took the long way around.”

“If it’s safe, you might as well go ahead now.”

“All right, then.”