Zero Hour nf-11 Read online

  Kurt paused before responding. For the second time in as many days, he found it hard to believe what he was being told.

  “How is such a thing possible?”

  “The same way it’s possible to run a nuclear submarine on a small chunk of uranium for years. Or to obliterate a large city with only twenty pounds of plutonium. There are vast amounts of energy hidden in places the normal human eye can’t see.”

  “But splitting a continent in half?” Kurt asked. “I’ve seen big earthquakes in California. They knock down highways and buildings, but, contrary to popular belief, half the state doesn’t float off into the Pacific.”

  “No,” she agreed. “No one is suggesting you’re going to see a divided continent with the ocean in the middle. But Thero is no fool. His first earthquake was a test, probably triggered from the station in the Tasman Mine. We have every reason to believe that that was just a small prototype. He’ll hit us harder next time, much harder, and he’ll hit us where Mother Nature has already done half the work.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Australia has the beginnings of a rift valley,” she explained. “Like the Great Rift Valley in Africa. Ours runs from Adelaide northeast toward the Great Barrier Reef. It began to form a hundred and fifty million years ago and then stopped for reasons unknown. The crust is thin and fractured in this section, and the pressure built up by a hundred million years without movement is waiting to be released.

  “If Thero can direct his weapon toward this point and create a gravitational distortion that wedges the plate apart even fractions of an inch, the pressure that’s been built up over the millennia might be released all at once. We’re talking about a series of earthquakes, hundreds even, all in quick succession along the rift. What normally takes ten thousand years might happen in a day, or a week, or even hours. The devastation from that kind of tremor will not be measurable on the Richter scale, or any other scale ever devised. Every city, every town, every village in Australia will be reduced to rubble. Not a single building will remain standing.”

  Kurt considered her point quietly. It was a grim scenario.

  “I know,” she said, taking his silence for disbelief. “I’m a silly academic pointing out the worst-case scenario. The sky is falling — once again. The thing is, when these scenarios actually happen, there’s always someone running around, wondering why no one told them it could be this bad. I’m telling you, right here and now, it’s going to be horrific.”

  Kurt’s face was dark. A new thought occurred to him. “I have to ask why you?”

  “I’m not sure what you mean,” she said.

  “The informant sent the papers to you,” Kurt clarified. “Why not send them straight to the authorities?”

  Hayley shrugged. “I can only guess it’s because of my background. The claims and calculations would seem like gibberish to someone else. Had the package been sent directly to the ASIO, I can only assume it would have ended up in the wastebin.”

  “Okay,” Kurt said, “but why not some other scientist?”

  “It’s a very obscure field,” she explained. “We’re a tiny group.”

  “Tiny but not infinitesimal,” Kurt said.

  “No,” she agreed, “not infinitesimal.”

  “So I have to ask you one more time: if there were other options, why do you think they picked you?”

  She paused for a long moment. “I don’t know,” she said finally. The sadness had returned to her voice. There was a tinge of weariness to it, and a stronger hint of guilt. “I don’t know.”

  She looked away, averting her eyes and staring out into the night. And, in that instant, Kurt knew that she was lying.

  He considered pressing her for the truth but held back as he felt a subtle change in the train’s motion, like the engineer had taken his hand off the throttle.

  Hayley looked up. “Something wrong?”

  “Not sure,” Kurt said. He stood just as the brakes went on at full pressure.

  The car lurched. Kurt braced himself and caught Hayley’s arm, keeping her from falling as the dinner plates and wineglasses flew off the table. The screech of the steel wheels sliding on the rails overrode all other noise as the quarter-mile-long train began skidding to a halt.

  Still holding Hayley, Kurt glanced out the window. The train itself was in a turn, on a slight uphill grade. Looking forward, Kurt saw two other passenger cars and the twin diesel engines. Sparks were flying from the wheels as they dug into the track. But something else caught his eye: tiny points of crimson burning in the night, flares along the track bed and, a little farther on, the outline of a tractor trailer stalled across the rail line at a crossing. Two men stood in front of it, waving their arms frantically.

  The breaking continued until the Ghan lurched awkwardly to a stop a few hundred feet from the crossing.

  At this point, Hayley could see the truck as well. “Lucky we were able to stop,” she said.

  Kurt glanced around. “Somehow, I don’t think luck’s got anything to do with it.”

  Before Hayley could reply, he spotted just what he expected to see: men in ski masks, coming out of the night and headed straight for the motionless train.

  NINETEEN

  The masked men came aboard the train at several different points, climbing onto the couplers between cars and forcing the doors.

  “What’s happening?” Hayley asked in a panicked voice.

  “I’ll give you one guess.”

  Hayley’s mind quickly grasped the truth. “They’re after us.”

  “Either that or this is a Butch Cassidy reenactment no one told me about.”

  Hayley grabbed her cell phone and dialed out in an attempt to call for help. “I have a signal, but I can’t seem to get through.”

  “Waste of time,” Kurt said. “They’re probably jamming the tower.”

  He glanced outside. Two car lengths down, another man stood out away from the train, scanning back and forth.

  “They’ve got a guy outside,” Kurt said. “Probably watching for anyone who might make a break for open ground.”

  A voice came over the public-address system. It had a bit of an accent, one that Kurt couldn’t place immediately. It certainly wasn’t the conductor.

  “Please remain calm,” it said. “We have hijacked the train, but we’re not interested in harming anyone. We’re looking for two people. A man with silver-gray hair, about six feet tall, and a woman about six inches shorter than him, with blond hair. Her name is Anderson. Cooperate with us, and no one will get hurt. Interfere or argue, and you will be beaten or killed.”

  As the announcement ended, Kurt cracked the cabin door a fraction and glanced down the narrow corridor.

  He saw two men down the hall, pushing their way into one of the compartments. They were wide-bodied brutes, with thick arms and legs and faces hidden by ski masks. They moved without a hint of elegance or remorse. Kurt pegged them as street thugs hired for money.

  A third man trailed behind them. He was thinner and taller. Even with the man’s ski mask, Kurt could tell he had a narrow face and sunken eyes. Though not as imposing physically, there was a more menacing air about him. Kurt guessed he was the headman.

  A wave of shouting erupted. The sound of a scuffle and someone being thrown around reverberated throughout the railcar. A moment later, a man about Kurt’s height was dragged out of the room. Beside him was a young woman. They looked like newlyweds.

  The leader examined them. “No,” he said without emotion, “not them.” Then he hauled off and punched the defenseless man. “That’s for resisting.”

  The man sagged, held up only by the two bandits. Their leader wasn’t done. He wound up and kicked the man in the chest, sending him tumbling back into his compartment.

  Every instinct in Kurt’s body told him to intervene, but the headman was clearly armed, and his two henchmen might have been. Besides, he had one job right now: keep Hayley Anderson safe.

  He went to the win
dow again, preparing to smash it. Charging out into the dark and battling one opponent seemed like a better play than a close-quarters fight against three.

  He grabbed a chair and raised it over his head. Before he could use it, the door flew open.

  “Drop it!” a voice shouted.

  Kurt let the chair go, and it clattered to the ground.

  He turned around slowly as the intruders measured him up and gave Hayley the once-over.

  “I assume you guys are here for the dishes,” Kurt said, pointing to the pile of flatware, cups, and glasses on the floor.

  The two men looked down, their eyes instinctively drawn in the direction Kurt had pointed. It was an amateur response, but they were amateurs, local muscle hired to do someone else’s dirty work. In the fraction of a second before they corrected their mistake, Kurt moved. He pivoted on his left foot and fired his right leg toward the closest man’s gut.

  The heel of his boot hit like a pile driver and knocked the man backward. He crumpled like a folding chair, sucking wind and grabbing his stomach as he hit the ground. The second thug lunged at Kurt, his huge pawlike hands going for Kurt’s neck.

  Kurt blocked the effort, grabbing the man’s wrist and twisting it. Using the attacker’s considerable momentum against him, Kurt spun him off balance and body-slammed him to the ground. The man hit the floor with a thud, and Kurt dropped down and hammered him with a forearm smash to the face.

  He would have slugged the guy again, but he knew the boss would be coming. He spun to his feet and turned.

  It was too late.

  The gaunt leader of the crew was already there with a black pistol in hand, holding it sideways, gangster style. He studied Hayley, nodded approvingly, and then turned back to Kurt.

  “I don’t need you,” he said.

  Kurt dove to the right as the man fired mercilessly. The first shell missed, the second grazed Kurt’s arm. The third bullet shattered the window behind him. Before the would-be killer could trigger a fourth shot, a different sound rang out. It was a sickly thud, like the sound of a broken-bat single being hit in a baseball game.

  The gunman’s head snapped forward, and the pistol flew from his hand. He fell into the cabin, hitting the table and splaying on the ground like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

  Behind him, Joe Zavala stood in the doorway with a piece of cabinetry in his hands.

  Kurt snatched up the black pistol. “Way to make an entrance.”

  Joe grinned. “What I do, I like to do in style.”

  The leader was out cold, the other two assailants were moving but not interested in any more combat. They hadn’t expected to take a beating, and now that they were outnumbered and outgunned, they seemed more interested in surrender.

  Kurt pulled the mask off the leader. “Anyone recognize this face?”

  Joe shook his head, Hayley did likewise. “Never seen him before,” she said.

  “I figure they’re not our friends from the flooded mine,” Kurt replied.

  “What makes you say that?”

  “The fact that we’re still conscious,” he said.

  A radio began to squawk in the downed leader’s pocket. “What’s the delay? We heard shooting. Do you need assistance?”

  This time, Kurt thought he recognized the accent. “Russians?”

  “That’s what it sounded like to me,” Joe said.

  “What are they doing mixed up in this?”

  “No idea,” Joe said. “But I saw another group of them heading to the back, where the caboose would be if this train had one.”

  “And at least two more outside,” Kurt said.

  Kurt aimed the pistol at the man with the busted face. “How many friends did you bring to this party?”

  The man answered slowly. “Eight or nine in the truck. I didn’t count ’em.”

  Kurt pointed to the Russian. “How many like him, the guys who did the hiring?”

  “There were four of them.”

  Kurt looked up. “That means at least three more with guns.”

  “And plenty of muscle to do the heavy lifting,” Joe added.

  “We have to get out of here,” Hayley said.

  Joe nodded. “The lady is a rocket scientist. We should probably listen to her.”

  Kurt couldn’t have agreed more, but how and to where? Going on foot into the outback wasn’t going to get them very far.

  The radio squawked again. “Victor, respond. What’s happening?”

  Kurt grabbed the radio and pressed the talk switch. “Victor’s not available right now, mostly because he’s taking an unintended nap. But please stand by, your call is important to us.”

  “What are you doing?” Hayley asked, her eyes all but bugging out of her head. “Now they know we’re here.”

  “They already know we’re here,” Kurt said. “Thanks to Joe, we took the first round. Time to go on the offensive, at least enough to throw a little doubt into their minds.”

  The radio crackled. “Screw with us, and you’re going to regret it,” the voice growled.

  “We’ll see about that,” Kurt replied. “Just so you know, I have your friend Victor’s gun, and, unlike him, I don’t miss what I shoot at.”

  Kurt figured that would give them something to worry about. He stepped outside and checked the corridor. Seeing it was clear, he motioned for Joe and Hayley to follow.

  He figured the group that went to the back of the train was now headed forward at double speed. He had a plan to slow them down. Making a few threats was the first step, finding the breaker panel at the front of the car was the second. He flipped it open just as the radio came to life again.

  “Leave the woman, and you get to live.”

  Kurt put his hand to the car’s master switch and spoke into the radio once more. “You want her,” he said, “then come and get her.”

  With that, he flipped the switch, cutting power and plunging the fifty-foot car into darkness. A wave of muffled shouts came from the passengers.

  Kurt ignored them and continued to the forward door, not hesitating for even a second. He pulled the door open and stepped through. Joe and Hayley followed. And all three stood in the gap between the cars out on the coupler.

  “I hope you have a plan,” Joe said.

  “Don’t I always?”

  “I’m not sure you want me to answer that right now.”

  Kurt studied the metal plating that covered the knuckle-shaped coupler below them. Next, he looked up, glancing through the dusty window into the railcar ahead of them.

  It was an observation car. Warmly lit, half full. The passengers inside were hunkered down in various places, hands on their heads, too scared to move. At the far end, he saw two more of the hijackers.

  “Check the sides.”

  Joe and Hayley peaked around the edges of the car, looking backward.

  “Our friend is still out there,” Hayley said. “He’s got a partner now. They seem to be ambling this way.”

  “There’s a guy on this side too,” Joe said, “also coming forward. Probably moving in lockstep with the men inside.”

  “Which means my plan is mostly working.”

  Joe’s eyebrows went up. “Mostly working? We’re almost surrounded.”

  “Exactly,” Kurt said.

  Joe looked confused. “I’m not sure I want to know what total success looks like.”

  “Complete encirclement,” Kurt explained. He glanced forward into the lighted Pullman car once again. “Finally,” he whispered, “a couple of heavies, coming this way.”

  The approaching thugs moved slowly, checking each row of seats to make sure Kurt and Hayley weren’t among the passengers in the car.

  “Congratulations,” Joe whispered. “You’ve now graduated from the General Custer School of Tactical Brilliance.”

  Kurt smiled, reached over, and gently opened a trapdoor in the floor plating. The gravel and railroad ties of the railbed could be seen through the opening. “If Custer knew what I did,
he’d have tunneled under Sitting Bull and popped up behind him. Crawl forward, quick and quiet.”

  “And then what?”

  “And then we hijack the train. Or rehijack it, I should say.”

  “Hijack the hijackers?” Joe said. “Now you’re talking my language.”

  Joe went down first, Hayley followed. Kurt squeezed his way through behind them, gently lowering the metal plate once he’d climbed down. He’d only crawled a foot or two when the door opened above him.

  He held still as heavy footfalls scuffed and clunked on the decking.

  The thugs were hesitating, either waiting for directions or a signal to make a coordinated attack.

  “We’re in position,” a voice said.

  Kurt’s hand went to the radio to cover it, but no sound came forth. The hijackers had switched channels to keep him from hearing their plans.

  “Move in,” a tinny voice replied. “And make it fast. We’re running out of time.”

  Through a narrow gap in the plating Kurt saw the door to the darkened railcar open and watched as the men entered. As soon as they did, Kurt began to move, scrambling forward on his forearms and knees, moving like a lizard on its belly. There were twenty-four inches of clearance between the axles of the cars and the track bed. It wasn’t much headroom, but enough to make the escape work.

  Enveloped by the smell of oil, dust, and creosote, as the sharp edges of the gravel stones dug into his knees and elbows, Kurt moved with all possible haste.

  He worried mostly that the men on the ground would spot him, but he needn’t have been concerned. The light spilling from the other railcars was bright enough to affect their night vision. From their vantage point, looking into the dark space beneath the train was like gazing into a black hole.

  Kurt made it past the two bogies on which the Pullman-type car’s wheels rested, continued forward under the next car, and caught up to Joe and Hayley. She was struggling.

  “Not exactly enjoying this part of the trip,” she said.

  “At least you fit under here,” Kurt said. “This is a little tight for me. And considering the size of Joe’s head, I’m not sure how he’s avoided knocking himself out yet.”