Breakthrough(31)
Clay looked at Emerson while he listened. “What is it?”
“We don’t know. It looks like a giant ring. Borger puts it at about twenty-five kilometers across.”
Clay’s eyes widened. “Did you say two five?”
“Yes, two five kilometers across,” Caesare confirmed.
“Good god!”
“And you’re sitting right on top of it. You need to get out of there!”
“We’re working on that.” Clay tossed the handset back to the communication officer and turned to Emerson. “We need to leave right now!”
Two decks down the sailors stumbled back and forth trying to keep the torch focused on the chain. The bow rose up again and both grasped at the giant windlass wheel to keep their footing. Tiny pieces of steel fell to the floor as the white hot torch slowly ate its way through the giant section of metal. Suddenly the ship rolled to port and both the crewmen fell and tumbled into the giant metal wall, smashing the head of the torch and extinguishing the flame.
Officer Harris turned to Emerson again. “Sir, we lost the torch.”
Emerson stared at him thinking. “How far are we through that chain?”
Harris was not sure what the captain meant but then realized. “Far enough!”
“Do it!”
Harris turned to the other men on the bridge. “Engines up gentlemen!”
“They’re here!” Lee interrupted. “Dirk and Sally are back!”
Alison lunged to his table and checked the screen. She immediately turned back to Emerson. “Wait! Wait!”
Emerson gave her a hard look and held up his index finger. “One minute!”
Alison typed as quickly as she could. “Sally are you and Dirk okay?”
Yes, answered Sally.
We have trouble. We have to leave. Follow us! Alison clicked the Translate button and looked around the bridge. Everyone was holding on to a piece of the room and watching her.
An error message appeared on the screen. “Unable to Translate.”
“Oh god,” she groaned.
Lee looked over her shoulder. “Take out the exclamation mark.”
Alison typed it again.
After a long wait both dolphins finally responded with Okay.
“Go!” shouted Alison to the crew.
The Pathfinder’s giant engines roared to life and the ship pushed forward. The chain became taut as the Pathfinder pulled hard against it. A shudder ran through the entire hull. Both crew and passengers held tight as the ship strained under the pull of the chain and anchor.
“Full power!” barked Emerson.
The engines roared louder. The chain scraped loudly on the side of the ship. Very slowly and below deck, the half-cut link near the windlass began to twist under the stress. Inch by inch it continued to stretch and pull until the chain finally exploded sending the broken end smashing through the hull as the ship lurched forward.
Nearly everyone on the bridge lost their hold and fell to the floor. The Pathfinder sailed across the giant swell and smashed bow first into the next wave. In the lounge, passengers bounced off the bulkhead and over tables grasping for each other as they fell.
17
The President’s VH-3 helicopter, Marine One, slowly approached the back lawn of the White House and stopped in a hover just a few feet above the grass. It gently touched down with little more than a bump as the giant shocks absorbed the weight of the heavy craft. The marine on board waited for the rotors to begin winding down before opening the door and deploying the step ladder. He held Kathryn Lokke’s hand and helped her down the first steps and into the hand of a second marine waiting at the bottom.
She instinctively clutched her satchel tight as she reached the ground and was quickly escorted away from the helicopter. An older man with gray hair approached with a quick short stride that almost made it look as though he were stumbling. Bill Mason was the White House Chief of Staff and known for his no-nonsense approach to all things security. Kathryn had only met him a few times before and noted he always seemed impatient and in a hurry, though relatively polite.
“Nice to see you again Ms. Lokke,” he said, motioning up a small manicured path that headed toward the back entrance of the White House. “Please follow me.”
They reached a set of thick double doors and stepped inside where Kathryn was asked to put her things on a conveyor belt to be scanned. She was then patted down by a female Secret Service agent and escorted forward. Kathryn quickly grabbed her bag from the far end of the belt and continued following Mason.
“Your flight was a few minutes late, so the President should be waiting.” Mason turned a corner and led her down a flight of stairs into the basement. Two additional turns left them at the doors to the infamous Situation Room. “Is there anything you need?”