Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [89]
“I’m serious.”
Cole nodded. “Yeah, I know you are. But what good will it do me if I run? Even if I get out of the cavern, there’s no guarantee I’ll make it out and back to the Seeker. And if this thing is below the ship, then the Seeker and my brother might be in mortal danger, too. That’s not cool.”
“Agreed.”
“I’ll stay.”
Annja continued climbing down, using the holds until she at last made it to the small ledge sitting next to the yellow container. She looked at the top of the container and saw the variety of symbols, all of which were clearly designed to scare the bejeezus out of anyone who got too close.
Annja took a few deep breaths and looked at the four claps securing the lid to the main body of the bomb. “I screw this up and we’re going to glow in the dark,” she said.
“You screw that up and we won’t have to worry about glowing,” Cole said. “There won’t be enough pieces of us left to glow.”
Annja nodded and released one of the metal clasps. It popped back and Annja heard a vague hiss of escaping air. Cripes, she thought, have I already released radioactivity into the air? Was she already breathing contaminated air? I have no clue what I’m doing here, she thought.
“How’s it going?” Cole asked.
Annja shrugged. “Here goes another clasp.” She undid the clasp and heard another hiss of escaping air.
“That sound freaks me out,” Cole said.
“You and me both,” Annja replied. She released the third clasp. She took a breath and sighed, trying to stay focused. A line of sweat broke out along her hairline and she wiped some of it away before turning back to the device.
“Fourth time’s the charm?” she called out.
Cole laughed. “Let’s hope so.”
Annja bent back and looked closely at the device. All right, she thought, just one more to go and then maybe I’ll get a better look at what this thing is all about.
She undid the fourth and final clasp.
Another hiss of air escaped.
“I’m ready to lift the lid off,” Annja said.
“Go slow,” Cole said.
Annja looked up at him. “What makes you say that?”
He shrugged. “Every movie I’ve ever seen they always say that. Maybe bombs don’t like being rushed. Damned if I know.”
Annja tuned back to the bomb and lifted the yellow lid off. She stood and threw it up at Cole. “Hang on to this, will you?”
He caught it and set it down next to him on the lip of the shaft.
Annja peered down at the wiring and the digital display on top of the bomb. To the right of the display, a small remote receiver with a wire sticking out was situated next to a bunch of wires.
“It’s rigged with a remote,” she said.
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” Annja examined the rest of the area. “There must be a hundred different colored wires twisting this way and that all over the place.” Annja peered closer and saw a metal cylinder in the center of the device. She tried to remember any facts she might have come across relating to nuclear bombs.
She couldn’t think of a single one.
She took another calming breath and started touching the various wires, trying to see if there was a single one that looked as if it might initiate the reaction that would trigger the bomb.
“What do you see, Annja?”
“I don’t know what I’m looking at. It could be any number of things here. There are so many wires. It’s confusing as hell. It probably takes an atomic scientist to make sense out of this thing.”
“Well, you’d better hurry up or it won’t matter anymore.”
“I need a knife to cut these wires.”
Cole frowned. “Annja, don’t you have, like, the biggest knife in the world, in that sword?”
Annja laughed. “That’s a bit like using a hatchet for surgery.”
“Sometimes a hatchet does this job,” Cole said. “And I don’t think anyone’s going to complain about your bedside manner as long as you get results. Like, soon.”
Annja nodded. “Good point.”
She drew the sword again.
“I’m going to cut the wires,” she said. “First for the remote and then for what I think is the timer.”
“Go for it,” Cole said.
Annja eased the tip of the blade through the mass of wires closest to the remote receiver. “If this is the receiver and initiator, then I’m hoping