Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [84]
“Impressive,” Annja said.
“Thank you,” Henderson replied. “I’m quite proud of the accomplishments my people have made.” He winked at Annja. “But then again, money is truly such a motivating factor. It amazes me what people are capable of when they suddenly have almost unlimited funds in front of them.”
“I guess so.” Annja pointed at the screen. “So, what’s this thing here?” She was pointing at a line that ran jaggedly down one part of the monitor.
Henderson nodded. “I’m so glad you noticed that. That is a previously undiscovered fault line.”
“A fault line?”
“Tectonic plates, my dear. You know, the earth’s crust jutting up and against other parts? Rather like the human skull on a newborn infant. Not all of the plates have fused together yet. Surely you have some basic grasp of earthquakes?”
“I get it,” Annja said. “But what’s the big deal about it?”
“The best way to access the huge reserve of oil hidden under that immense bedrock is to induce a rather neat opening in the bedrock.”
“How are you planning to do that?”
Henderson smiled. “We’ll be introducing a seismic event of grand proportions. That should do the trick nicely.”
“You’re going to create an earthquake.”
“Exactly.”
“How?”
Henderson clicked away from the undersea chart and over to a new screen. Annja watched as a series of graphics displayed and immediately saw where Henderson was headed with his plans.
And she didn’t like the look of any part of it.
“Rather creative, wouldn’t you agree?” he asked.
“You’ll kill hundreds of thousands of people if this goes wrong,” Annja said. “I don’t think that’s a very good plan.”
Henderson took a breath. “Given the nature of human society these days, I think that a little apocalypse isn’t such a bad thing.”
“I disagree.”
“You’re not in a position to argue that point,” Henderson said.
“Not currently.”
“Not ever,” Henderson replied. He jabbed at the screen. “Once we implant the small nuclear device into the hole we’re drilling at the top of the fault line, the resulting explosion will enable us to get a pipeline straight into the oil reserves and begin siphoning it to the underwater processing facility that we’re building.”
“Radioactive oil?” Annja frowned. “You can’t be serious.”
Henderson shook his head. “There will be no radiation in the oil. Due to the exact nature of the controlled nuclear detonation, we can contain the radiation and keep it from contaminating the supply.” He frowned. “Sadly, the marine life in this area will be sacrificed, but that’s how it goes.”
“And the resulting tidal wave? That will kill thousands of people.”
Henderson shrugged. “They might have some warning.”
“Probably not.”
He smirked. “Yes, probably not. But I can’t be bothered with it. And neither can you. Your destiny lies elsewhere.”
“And where would that be?”
Henderson pointed over his shoulder. “With your friend Cole there. You two will have seats at ground zero. Imagine that.”
33
Annja couldn’t believe what she’d heard. “And what about the rest of your workers? Are you going to kill them, too, now that they’ve served their purpose?”
Henderson shrugged. “There’s plenty of time to finish evacuating them. We’ve already started, in fact.” He looked at his watch. “In the meantime, I believe the moment has come for you and your friend Cole to get situated.”
“Where are you putting us?”
“Outside by the hole we drilled that leads right into the mass of bedrock.” He smiled. “I’ll tell you what, I’ll even leave the cavern pressurized and full of oxygen for you and Cole to talk about your final time together while we count down to the explosion from a very safe distance away.”
“Just how big is this nuke?”
Henderson held up his hand. “Not that big, actually. You wouldn’t believe the trouble it is to get any weapons-grade plutonium these days. Even for a man of my wealth. We might have had an easier time just hijacking some old Soviet-era surplus submarines, but they were always so unreliable. Bloody thing might have gone off on us, and that wouldn’t be any good, now would it?”
“Yeah, that would have