‘Jeannie MacClain says there are no phones working,’ said Jake.
‘No, nor computer links. No internet, no email, either,’ growled Stewart. ‘I came here because Dr Patel has got a satellite phone and I thought that might work, but even that seems to be down.’
‘An EMP,’ said Lauren.
Stewart looked at her quizzically.
‘An electromagnetic pulse,’ explained Lauren. ‘It disrupts electronic communications systems.’
‘The Russians?’ queried Stewart bitterly.
‘That’s my guess.’ Lauren nodded. ‘What’s happened? Mrs MacClain told us they’d taken Alec and Rona.’
‘About an hour ago,’ said Stewart. ‘Almost immediately after this pulse thing hit and everything went down. Professor Lemski and some of his henchmen turned up at the guest house, armed with guns, and took Rona and Alec.’
‘Jeannie said he wants us to deliver the book to him,’ Jake told Lauren. ‘He’s given a deadline of eleven o’clock. Jeannie told me about it on the way here.’ He looked at his watch again. ‘The clock’s ticking. It’s a quarter to ten. We’ve got seventy-five minutes.’ He turned to Lauren and added: ‘He said if we don’t deliver it, they’ll die by fire.’
‘Human combustion,’ said Lauren, her face going pale.
‘Exactly,’ said Jake.
‘What do you mean “human combustion”?’ demanded Stewart.
Quickly, Jake and Lauren explained to Stewart what had happened the night before: how Jake had got into the Russians’ cottage and escaped with Lauren and Robbie, and how the Russian had burst into flames when the hypodermic injected the toxic mixture into him.
‘So this stuff is real?’ said Stewart.
‘Yes,’ said Lauren. ‘And Lemski will use it.’
‘Is there anyone else on this island who can give us some kind of back-up?’ asked Jake.
‘There’s the main station at Tobermory, in the north of the island,’ said Stewart. ‘But there’s only one officer there, and we can’t get hold of him by phone. If we drive to Tobermory, we won’t get back before this deadline of the professor’s. Which is why the first thing I did after Jeannie came to me this morning, was send a message by boat across to the mainland. But there’s no way of knowing how far this electromagnetic pulse will have an impact. For all we know, it could have knocked out communications in Oban.’
‘That depends on how big the disrupter is that’s generating it,’ said Lauren.
‘I’ve asked for trained marksmen, hostage negotiators, and for help from the Russian embassy,’ said Stewart. He looked at his watch. ‘But, again, I doubt if they’ll be able to get here before the deadline.’
‘They won’t,’ said Lauren. ‘An EMP will also knock out the guidance systems in a helicopter. They won’t be able to fly here.’
‘If that’s the case, how are Lemski and his people planning to get off the island?’ asked Jake.
‘Simple,’ said Lauren. ‘They’ll switch the disrupter off when they’re ready to leave. My guess is they’ve already arranged for a helicopter to come down just after eleven o’clock. By then they’ll either have the book, or they won’t. Whatever’s happened, they’ll make their getaway.’
‘Surely a helicopter won’t have enough fuel to take them all the way to Russia,’ pointed out Jake.
‘It’ll get them to the Finnish border,’ said Stewart. ‘Once they’re there, they’re safe.’ He let out a heartfelt sigh. ‘The trouble is, even if reinforcements do arrive, there’s the issue of diplomatic immunity. When all this started up I was warned to tread very carefully. Softly-softly. Frankly, I was told to keep hands off. The powers that be don’t want a difficult international incident.’
‘But they’ve killed people! Surely that overrides any kind of diplomatic immunity!’ protested Jake.
‘We think they’ve killed people,’ countered Stewart. ‘We can’t prove it.’
‘Yes we can,’ said Jake. ‘We heard Muir admit to killing Dougie MacClain.’
‘Ian Muir,’ grunted Stewart. ‘I had a hunch he was involved somewhere!’
‘And we’re your evidence against him!’ insisted Jake.
‘Muir is not a Russian,’ said Stewart.
‘He could be,’ suggested Jake. ‘Posing as an American.’
‘Whatever he is, he’s secure in that compound with the Russians, and we can’t touch them.’