Deception Point Page 54

The technician sitting at the oscillator top in the echo grievouser room was integrity of the best in the world. His mind was a dictionary of sounds and waveforms. He could distinguish amidst the sounds of several dozen Russian pigboat propellers, hundreds of marine animals, and even pinpoint submersed volcanoes as far away as Japan.At the moment, however, he was listen to a dull, repetitive echo. The sound, although easily distinguishable, was most unexpected.You arent passing to believe whats plan of attack through my listening cans, he verbalise to his catalog assistant, handing everywhere the crackph angiotensin-converting enzymes.His assistant donned the headphones, an incredulous look pass his face. My God. Its clear as day. What do we do?The sonar man was already on the phone to the captain.When the submarines captain arrived in the sonar room, the technician piped a live sonar aliment all over a small come of speakers.The captain listened, ex call d induceion less. scrunch. THUD. THUD.THUD THUD THUDTHUD. THUD. THUD.Slower. Slower. The pattern was becoming looser. More and more than rickety.What are the coordinates? the captain demanded.The technician cleared his throat. Actually, sir, its coming from the surface, about three miles to our starboard.62In the change hallway out perspective Senator Sextons hideaway, Gabrielle Ashes legs were trembling. non so much out of enfeeblement from standing motionless, but from disillusionment over what she was listening to. The meeting in the contiguous room was still going, but Gabrielle didnt adjudge to hear a nonher word. The truth seemed sorely obvious.Senator Sexton is taking bribes from private set agencies. Marjorie Tench had been telling the truth.The revulsion Gabrielle entangle spreading through her instantaneously was one of betrayal. She had believed in Sexton. Shed fought for him. How can he do this? Gabrielle had seen the senator lie publicly from season to time to protect his private life, but that was politics. This was breaking the law.Hes non even elected yet, and hes already grassing out the White familyGabrielle knew she could no longer support the senator. assure to deliver the NASA privatization bill could be through with(p) only with a contemptuous abridge for twain the law and the democratic system. tear down if the senator believed it would be in everyones best interest, to sell that decision flat out, in advance, slammed the accession on the checks and balances of government, ignoring potentially persuasive arguments from Congress, advisers, voters, and lobbyists. to the highest degree important, guaranteeing the privatization of NASA, Sexton had paved the way for imperishable abuses of that advanced knowledge- at heartr trading the most common-blatantly favoring the wealthy, inside cadre at the expense of full public investors.Feeling sick to her stomach, Gabrielle wondered what she should do.A telephone rang sharply behind h er, bust the silence of the hallway. Startled, Gabrielle turned. The sound was coming from the mechanical press in the foyer-a cellphone in the scoopful of one of the visitors coats.Scuse me, fri shuttings, a Texas drawl said in the den. Thats me.Gabrielle could hear the man motor up. Hes coming this way Wheeling, she dashed covering up the carpet the way shed come. halfway up the hall, she cut left, ducking into the darkened kitchen just as the Texan exited the den and turned up the hall. Gabrielle froze, motionless in the shadows.The Texan strode by without noticing.Over the sound of her pounding heart, Gabrielle could hear him rustling in the closet. Finally, he answered the ringing phone.Yeah? When? in truth? Well switch it on. Thanks. The man hung up and headed backwards toward the den, calling out as he went. Hey Turn on the tele raft. Sounds like Zach Herneys natural endowment an pressing press league tonight. eightsome oclock. All channels. Either were declaring w ar on China, or the International Space aim just fell into the ocean.Now wouldnt that be something to toast someone called out.Everyone laughed.Gabrielle felt the kitchen spin around her now. An eight P.M. press conference? Tench, it seemed, had not been bluffing after all. She had given Gabrielle until 800 P.M. to give her an affidavit admitting the affair. Distance yourself from the senator in the lead its too late, Tench had told her. Gabrielle had assumed the deadline was so the White contribute could leak the reading to tomorrows papers, but now it seemed the White ingleside intended to go public with the allegations themselves.An urgent press conference? The more Gabrielle considered it, though, the rum it seemed. Herney is going live with this mess? personally?The television came on in the den. Blaring. The countersign announcers voice was bursting with excitement. The White House has offered no clues as to the topic of tonights surprise presidential address, and spe culation abounds. Some political analysts now think that following the Presidents recent absence on the campaign trail, Zach Herney may be preparing to announce he will not be running for a s term.A hopeful cheer arose in the den.Absurd, Gabrielle thought. With all the dirt the White House had on Sexton right now, in that location was no way in nut house the President was throwing in the towel tonight. This press conference is about something else. Gabrielle had a change posture feeling shed already been warned what it was.With rising urgency, she analyze her watch. Less than an hour. She had a decision to make, and she knew exactly to whom she needed to talk. Clutching the envelope of photos under her arm, she quiet exited the apartment.In the hallway, the bodyguard looked relieved. I comprehend some cheering inside. Sounds like you were a hit.She smiled curtly and headed for the elevator.Outside in the street, the remittal night felt unusually bitter. flagging a cab, she climbed in and tried to control herself she knew exactly what she was doing.ABC television studios, she told the driver. And hurry.63As Michael Tolland lay on his side on the ice, he rested his head on an outstretched arm, which he could no longer feel. Although his eyelids felt heavy, he fought to bind them open. From this odd vantage point, Tolland took in the last images of his world-now just sea and ice-in a opposed sideways tilt. It seemed a fitting end to a day in which zilch had been what it seemed.An eerie calm had begun to settle over the floating raft of ice. Rachel and Corky had both fallen silent, and the pounding had stopped. The farther from the glacier they floated, the calmer the air current became. Tolland heard his own body acquire quieter too. With the tight skullcap over his ears, he could hear his own breathing amplified in his head. It was getting slower shallower. His body was no longer able to fight off the compressing sensation that accompanied his o wn blood racing from his extremities like a crew abandoning ship, flowing instinctively to his racy organs in a ultimate effort to keep him conscious.A losing battle, he knew.Strangely, there was no pain anymore. He had passed through that stage. The sensation now was that of having been inflated. Numbness. Floating. As the first of his reflexive operations-blinking-began to shut down, Tollands vision blurred. The aqueous humor that circulated between his cornea and lens system was freezing repeatedly. Tolland gazed back toward the blur of the Milne tripe Shelf, now only a faint white form in the blurry moonlight.He felt his soul admitting defeat. Teetering on the brink between presence and absence, he stared out at the ocean waves in the distance. The wind howled all around him.It was thusly that Tolland began hallucinating. Strangely, in the last seconds before unconsciousness, he did not hallucinate rescue. He did not hallucinate warm and comforting thoughts. His final del usion was a terrifying one.