Phantom Prospect - Alex Archer [90]
“And if not?”
“Then we’re screwed.”
“Well,” Cole said. “Good luck. Here’s to choosing right.”
Annja nodded and carefully started slicing into the mass of wires. The sword divided them one after the other until she’d cut through a dozen of them. Annja removed the sword and leaned back.
“Did it work?”
The display suddenly flashed and a digital readout lit up showing a rapidly dwindling clock.
“Damn.”
Cole’s voice floated down to her. “What’s that mean?”
Annja looked up at him. “I think it means that I made the wrong decision when I cut the wires.”
35
“Are you sure?”
Annja nodded. “As soon as I cut the wires leading from the receiver into the center of the bomb, the clock sped up.”
“How much time is left?” Cole asked.
Annja looked at the clock. “Two minutes.”
“Two minutes?”
“Yeah.”
Cole said nothing for a moment. Then he cleared his throat. “Well, that’s not much time to do anything except hope that there is an afterlife, huh?”
Annja smiled. “Pretty much.”
“Nice knowing you, Annja.”
“Likewise,” Annja said. But she kept peering at the clock. What if she cut the wires leading from the clock? Were they booby-trapped? Would that simply initiate the detonation? She frowned. They had so little time left that if she chose to cut the wires it wouldn’t make much difference if she was wrong.
“I’m going to cut some more wires,” she said.
“You always face death this calmly?”
Annja shrugged. “Maybe I’m just used to it.”
“That’s really sad.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Annja bent over the timer with her sword and saw where the wires came away and led into the metal cylinder. If I can just get those cut before the clock runs out, she thought, then there might be a chance to stop this.
She eased the blade below the wires and watched as it sliced through them cleanly. Then she leaned back and checked the clock.
The display still showed the clock running down. She frowned. There must have been a secondary power supply for the clock. But would it still initiate the detonation if it wasn’t connected? She didn’t know.
“What’s going on?” Cole called.
“I cut the clock’s wires, but the timer’s still counting down.”
“So, what’s that mean?”
“I have no idea. A nuclear scientist I am not,” Annja said. “I think this is going to be one of those times when we have to do a wait-and-see.”
“Well, climb the hell back up here and hold me until we either die or live,” Cole said. “I’m feeling very vulnerable just now.”
Annja smiled and scrambled back up to the top of the lip. Cole held out his arms. “I know this flies right in the face of the extremely macho persona you’re used to with me, but dammit, I need a hug.”
Annja wrapped him in her arms and felt him squeeze her back. “You’re adorable when you act like a little kid.”
“Oh, great, thanks,” Cole said. “That’s a fair thing to go off to the afterlife with, huh?”
“I could have said worse things.”
“Forget about it. How much time is left?”
Annja looked down and checked. “Ten seconds.”
Cole looked at her. “It’s been fun. Seriously.”
Annja looked into his eyes. “Likewise. Thanks for the good times.” Then she bent forward and kissed him on the lips, feeling him press back into her with whatever emotion he had running through his heart at that moment.
They stayed that way for far longer than ten seconds. Annja finally broke away from Cole and took a breath. “Wow.”
Cole frowned. “Shouldn’t we be dead?”
Annja nodded. “The clock should have finished running down by now.” She peered over the lip of the shaft and saw that the clock read nothing but zeroes. She glanced back at Cole. “Clock’s finished.”
“And no boom.”
“No.”
Annja came back up and sat beside Cole. “Well, that’s interesting.”
Cole took a deep breath. “I don’t know if I want to ever come that close to being blown up again.”
Annja looked at the lid of the bomb. “What the hell is that?”
“What?”
Annja pointed. “On the underside of the lid. Looks like an envelope.”
Cole scrambled over and pulled the small envelope off the inside of the lid. It had been taped down securely. Cole held