“How are you going to do that?”
She glanced contemptuously at the panel, shook her head. “I don't know what these fools have done, Connor. But I guarantee you they can't outthink me. I’m not going to let them put my child in this kind of danger! I'll smash this security code to pieces!” She studied it. “But it might take time. Maybe more time than we have. We've got to have another plan, Connor. You've got to reach Thor's tower and use his shortwave. It's not linked to this system and it might connect with Iceland.”
Connor frowned. “Beth, Thor's tower is on the north coast of the island. That's almost forty miles away. Even if I take a Jeep down the dry glacier road and don't wipe out in Funstaf Ravine, it's still a two-hour drive. A lot could happen before I get back to—”
“That doesn't matter, Connor!”
Connor grimaced, staring. “All right, Beth. I'll go for the tower. But I don't want you going head to head with these military maniacs while I'm gone. Do you understand? I want you to do everything low-key!”
Beth glanced at the communications terminal, and her voice almost cracked with rage. “Yeah, Connor, I'll be discreet. I'm downloading incoming keystrokes during the last twenty-four hours to see what happened.” She paused. “If these people are monitoring the system they could still get wise to what I’m doing. But that's just a risk we've got to take.” She looked up at him. “Both of us.”
Connor leaned forward. “Just be careful, Beth. Stay calm and very, very careful. Don't lose your temper. And don't let anyone else know what you're doing.”
Her face was steady against his chest. “I won't,” she whispered.
Connor kissed her on the forehead.
“I'll be back in four hours. Two hours over and two hours back. Send someone in your crew to take Jordan from the day care center and keep him at the house. Make up some excuse to cover it.”
Beth nodded, raising her face to reveal an essence that was intuitive and intimate and frightening. Her voice was a low whisper that Connor had learned long ago to deeply respect.
“Something horrible is happening, Connor. I can feel it.”
Connor nodded, grim.
“I'll be back as soon as I can.”
Connor left the Communications Building in a thinly veiled rush. He wanted to warn the crew, but he wasn't sure what kind of panic it would cause or what kind of military retaliation would be executed so he said nothing, playing for discretion.
Without speaking to anyone at all, Connor climbed into a Jeep and he immediately gunned the engine. But as he put the vehicle in gear he was somehow touched, touched by something close, deep, and familiar, and he looked carefully across the Housing Complex to see...
Jordan.
His small son was standing alone in the crimson light, a lonely, solitary shape poised on the steps of the small day care center. He stared at Connor and smiled, raising his hand into the air, fingers spread wide. “I always want to be with you.”
Pain twisting his face, Connor raised his hand to the air to hold it high and strong, and he saw Jordan laugh, smiling in joy. Then Connor looked down, ignited by a silent rage that blazed white-hot in his heart into a single dominating thought: If you do anything to harm my boy, I'll kill you. I'll kill every one of you.
The Jeep's engine was wild and hoarse and roaring as Connor went through the open gate.
But the rage came from Connor's soul.
* * *
Chapter 11
Connor's Jeep slid to a stop at the base of Thor's tower. Connor took the steps three at a time to enter the cylindrical chamber at the top without announcement
Dressed in a coarse woolen white shirt, Thor sat behind a crude oak desk with a fire roaring in the hearth. The giant Norseman held a long, feathered ink pen in his hand, parchment spread on the table before him. He regarded Connor's entrance without surprise.
“We're in serious trouble,” Connor said.
Thor nodded. “I know.”
Connor didn't know how to receive that answer so he moved on. “When they put you here on the island, didn't they leave you a shortwave radio so that you could call for help?”
“Yes.” Thor replied quickly. “A radio. It is not much. But it is strong enough to access the North Atlantic Sea Patrol maritime frequencies.”
“Good. We've got to get off this island as fast as possible. All of us. We don't have any time to waste.”
Thor was immediately on his feet and Connor saw that he was wearing his customary leather pants and sealskin boots. Without hesitation the giant moved to a large chest, opening the top. He lifted a dusty, very primitive-looking radio from within. He set it on the desk and ran a wire to the single electrical outlet bracketed to the stone wall, plugging it in.