The President muted his microphone again and looked directly at Stevas. It all became clear. “Clay knew what was going to happen, and he was trying to stop your attack.” The President raised his voice. “Your nuclear explosion just triggered a global tsunami!”
Stevas’ face went white. He shook his head utterly speechless.
The President looked like he was going to come over the desk at him. Instinctively the other men stepped back. “You did what you had to do! That’s what you said, and now tens of millions of people are going to die because of YOU!”
“I-I was just doing what-” Stevas stammered, looking at Mason for help. “I didn’t know. It was the ring we were worried about…I didn’t know it would trigger anything.“
“Look at me Hank.” The President growled as he leaned forward. “Where is John Clay?”
Stevas did not answer. His mind was struggling to understand exactly how everything had just turned so horribly wrong.
“I said,” the President repeated, “where is John Clay?!”
Stevas looked down at the floor. “I-I sent a Delta team.” He looked up sheepishly. “They killed him.”
Langford’s eyes suddenly filled with rage, and he leapt at Stevas. “You son of a bitch!” He grabbed Stevas by the collar and hit him with a right punch knocking him over a small table and onto the floor. Without missing a beat, Langford jumped over the table and reached for Stevas again before Miller and Bullman grabbed his arms and pulled him back.
“Mr. President?” Kathryn called out. “Are you there?”
“Yes Ms. Lokke, I’m still here. Please hold on a minute.” He looked at Stevas who was trying to stand up. “We’re working through something here.” The President watched Stevas regain his balance and back away from everyone in the room. The President was about to walk around his desk when his phone beeped again three times. He slowly reached down and hit the second line. “Yes?”
“Mr. President,” a man’s voice said, “this is Agent Rubke downstairs. There’s uh…someone here to see you.”
“Someone to see me?” Carr asked. “Who the hell is it?”
“He says his name is John Clay.”
43
The Secret Service agent walked into the room and held the door open, waiting for Clay to enter. Everyone in the room was surprised to see Palin follow Clay in. Clay stopped and scanned the room. When he got to Stevas, his eyes locked on him. “That’s him,” he said to Palin.
Palin stood still, staring at Stevas. For the first time, Clay saw genuine fear in Stevas’ eyes and watched as he backed up still further into the wall. If he could have become the wall, he would have.
“I’m sorry sir,” the agent said to the President. “We don’t know how they got past the gate.”
“It’s alright,” Carr said. “You can leave us.”
The agent hesitated until Carr looked at him again. He finally stepped past them and joined the other two agents waiting outside. The door closed quietly behind Clay and Palin.
“Well, well Mr. Clay, we’ve been looking for you.” The President said stepping forward. He glanced at Stevas. “In fact, we thought something had happened to you.”
“Something did.” Clay followed Carr’s look back to Stevas and then looked over at Langford. “They killed Caesare.”
Langford’s jaw tightened in anger, but he remained silent, glaring at Stevas.
“I’m sorry Clay. It seems some of us thought you may have been on the wrong side. Something that just got corrected a few minutes ago. I think I can speak for everyone here when I say we are relieved that you are alright. Both you and Mr. Palin.” He gestured toward the phone. “Ms. Lokke has informed us that you were evidently trying to stop the nuclear blast.”
“That’s right.” Clay stated simply.
“Well, now we have a serious problem on our hands. That nuclear explosion apparently triggered the collapse in the Ronne Ice Shelf just a few minutes ago. We now have a tsunami headed north that we cannot stop.”
Clay pointed to the phone. “Is she still on the line?”
The President reached down and pushed the button for the first line. “Ms. Lokke, are you still there?”
After a moment, her voice came out of the speaker. The engines sounded lower. “Yes sir. We have to head back to McMurdo though as we won’t have enough fuel. I have lost sight of the tsunami.”
Carr quickly motioned to Mason his Chief of Staff. “Get us a video feed! However you have to do it.”
Mason nodded, walked to the far side of the room, and pulled his cell phone from his jacket.