Nomad (25 page)

In the stress of the moment when they escaped Darmstadt, Ben hadn’t given it much thought. Now, when all he could think about were his own loved ones, Ben realized how little he knew about Roger. About his personal life.

Looking down, Roger exhaled through pursed lips. “My mom, she died a long time ago, and my dad…well, we haven’t talked in years. Maybe I’ll give him a call.”

Ben let the moment linger for a few seconds. “But you didn’t want to go back? Isn’t there someone else?”

Roger’s face twitched. He laughed nervously. “I guess this isn’t the time for secrets, huh?”

Ben put the car into gear and pulled forward another few feet before stepping on the brakes again. “What do you mean?” He turned to study Roger’s face, watched him wrestle with something inside.

“Remember two years ago when I started at your lab?” Roger said after a pause. “We had lunch with Jess at the Mexican place around the corner?”

Advancing the car another ten feet, Ben grunted, “Uh huh.”

“Well…” Roger rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “Ah, we sort of hit it off.”

Ben frowned. “Who hit it off?”

“Me and Jess.”

Ben jammed on the brakes and turned to look at Roger, creases furrowing his brow. “What? You never told me that.”

“You were my boss, and Jess didn’t want to say anything. She’s kind of private, you know?”

Shaking his head, Ben looked back at the road. “Oh, I know.” The revelation surprised him, but now that it was out, it also didn’t surprise him. It was just like Jess.

“She was practically living at my place, last year,” Roger added. “Things were great, and then suddenly, she took off to Europe.”

The truck in front of them accelerated, and Ben pulled forward, the traffic finally moving. “She can be like that.”

“So, well, if the world’s ending…the only person I really want to see is Jess.”

Ben gritted his teeth, but not in anger. He held back tears. His little girl. Roger loved his little girl. “Well, let’s get us there, then.” He’d had enough of this. Pulling onto the shoulder, Ben passed the truck.

“One thing…”

Ben glanced at Roger. “What?”

“What happened to her? I mean, not her leg, I know that story, but when she was a kid?”

Ben pushed his foot down on the accelerator, and in the rear view saw other cars pulling into the shoulder lane behind him. He wasn’t the only one who’d lost his patience. He glanced at Roger. “You know, I’m not sure I really know…”

25

C
HIANTI,
I
TALY

JESS STARED AT an ancient suit of armor set against the stone wall. She inspected the intricate detail of its hinges and interlocking plates. A hard shell to protect a fragile interior, designed to fight off an unforgiving world. She understood. “So Dad is on his way here?”

She’d just returned from the drive with Giovanni. Bursting through the doors into the entrance hallway of the
castello
, she announced that she’d spoken to people at Darmstadt. Her father wasn’t there.

To which her mother replied, yes, she knew.

“I saw the email on your account just after you left,” Celeste added. Standing beside Jess, she tried to put a hand on her shoulder. “Ben said he was driving here. He’s already in Switzerland. He’ll be here tonight.”

Giovanni sat on the edge of a copper-studded red leather chair near the entrance, the keys to the Maserati still in his hand. Nico had just told him about a ransom note he found an hour before.

“And you didn’t call me?” Jess turned from inspecting the suit of armor and paced the length of the hallway.

She tested her new leg. It felt looser than her old one, but it wasn’t bad. Better than some she’d had. At the far end, away from the entrance, was a massive stone fireplace, big enough to stand inside. She stopped in front of it, looked up at the collection of stuffed wild boar heads on the mantle, at the pointed arches of windows above that, the midday sun streaming in. The ceiling was a geometric patchwork of interlocking beams in dark wood.

“I tried, but the mobile networks are still jammed,” Nico answered. He stood to one side, leaning against a long mahogany table littered with family photographs in frames. “Sometimes it works, sometimes not.”

“I need to tell you something,” Celeste said. “Maybe you should sit down.”

Jess turned on her new foot. She hated that expression. Why would people want to be sitting down when bad news came? She preferred to be mobile. She needed movement. Sitting still made her feel trapped. Just the same, her heart rate kicked up a notch. “What happened to Dad?” she blurted out.

“Nothing like that.” Celeste’s lip’s trembled, her hands mashing a cream silk scarf. She wore some of Giovanni’s mother’s clothes as well. “Ben, he knows what Nomad is…”

“And?” Jess took four quick steps to Celeste, who looked on the verge of tears. A rock, that was how Jess imagined her mother—she’d never seen her like this. She put her hands on her mother’s shoulders. “What is it?”

Everyone stared at Celeste.

“Nomad will be inside Earth’s orbit in three days. It’s a black hole, or two of them. A binary pair, he said.”

Nobody said anything. The seconds ticked by.

“
Merda Madonna!
” Giovanni picked up a porcelain lamp and heaved it against the stone wall next to him. It exploded, scattering fragments that clattered across the floor. “
Merda! Merda! Merda!
”

His face apoplectic red, he turned away, hanging his head low. Turning back to Nico, he rubbed his face with one hand, his jaw muscles rippling. “And this ransom note, what does it say?”

“Monday, we are to deliver five million Euros in gold bars. Leave them in a truck in front of this address in Saline.” Nico held the hand-written note up. He found it nailed to the front door of the exterior entrance just after Giovanni left. “If we want Hector alive, it says.”

“This is not the time for this.” Giovanni pulled at his hair, snarled with gritted teeth.

Not the time for this? Jess frowned. When was there
ever
a time for this? Something didn’t make sense. It was like he expected the ransom, as if it was some kind of game.

“And how do we contact, these”—the tendons in Giovanni’s neck flared, both hands balled into white-knuckled fists—“kidnappers?”

Nico read the note again, but shook his head. “No instructions, no way to contact them.”

“Monday will be too
late
!” Giovanni screamed the last word. He put one fist to his mouth and bit on it. “Today is Friday. We can try calling Florence, see about getting money, but gold? And by Monday it will be too late, if what you’re saying is true.” He turned away, put both hands against the wall and hung his head between them.

“
Signor
, if I may?” Nico almost whispered.

Giovanni let out a guttural roar. “What?”

“As I said before, I did a background search on Enzo…”

“And…?”

“And I found his family home, his relatives all live in Vaca.”

Giovanni spun around. “Vaca?” His brows came together in a scowl.

“Yes, and I’m sure he doesn’t know that I know. He’s not very—” Nico paused to choose his word. “Smart.”

“Vaca,” Giovanni muttered, pacing back and forth in tight circles.

“What’s going on?” Jess asked. Something was happening between the lines.

“And you have an address?” Giovanni asked Nico.

“Yes,” Nico replied. “We can be there in an hour and see if I’m right.” He added something in rushed Italian.

Giovanni continued to pace. “No, I will go alone.”

“Where’s Vaca?” Jess prickled in annoyance. “Giovanni, what’s happening?”

“It’s a village on the coast, not far.” He stopped pacing and faced Jess, bringing his hands together. “Nico thinks this is where Enzo may have taken Hector. It will only take a few hours to check.” He turned to Nico again. “You stay here, close all the gates, call our bankers in Florence and start loading gold and silver from the museum into the Land Rovers. We will give them what we can. We need to get Hector back.”

“At least take the two guards with you.” Nico held his hands wide. “For protection.”

He meant the security guards Jess had seen earlier. They stood on the entrance walls, watching for anyone else that might approach the
castello
.

Giovanni nodded, the crimson red in his face washing away. “Good.”

Jess glanced at her mother, then looked Giovanni square in the eyes. “I’m coming.”

“This is too dangerous.” He turned on his heel and walked through a doorway leading out of the hall.

“Dangerous?” Jess followed. “The whole world is about to be incinerated, and you’re worried about
dangerous
?”

“Stay with your mother. It is a gift that you have her, that you are together at this moment.” Giovanni didn’t turn as he stalked down the hallway. He stopped at a metal door and fumbled with his keys. “Your father will be here soon. Do you know what I’d give to have my father here now?” He opened the door and flicked on the light switch inside. A brick-lined staircase wound down.

“This is my fault.” Jess followed him down the stairs, limping, not used to the new prosthetic. “If I’d been more careful, not opened my mouth in public like that.”

And it
was
her fault. She hadn’t realized the enormity of the words coming out of her mouth when she spoke to Giovanni at the observatory. A death sentence to the world. And she hid it, purposely, from people nearby. Jess thought she understood Enzo’s anger, if not the bizarre way he seemed to be acting it out.

But then, Jess had anger of her own. Steal
her
leg?

She wanted to help Giovanni, that was true. But she also wanted to satisfy her own anger, right the wrong done to her, the burning humiliation of being turned into a cripple and stranded in the street. She wanted to look Enzo in the eye. After that, she wasn’t sure. But she wanted to be there.

Reaching the bottom of the stairwell, Giovanni fumbled with the keys again before opening a reinforced metal door. It swung inward heavily. He clicked the inside light switch. “Those security men, they’re professionals. Ex-military, Interpol, they’ll be able to find Enzo if he’s in Vaca. This is no place for…” He stopped and winced, sensing his misstep.

“What?” Jess pushed her way into the room behind him. “No place for a woman?”

She looked around. It had to be the castle armory. Two pairs of assault rifles, which she recognized as AK-47s, hung on one wall, with a row of handguns on shelves on the other.

Jess whistled, impressed. “Is this legal?”

Giovanni snorted. “As if
legal
matters to you.” He leaned over to pull out a cardboard box, ripped open the cover and pulled out an ammunition magazine, then grabbed one of the AKs from the wall. He looked at the magazine, turned it around. “And no, Jessica, this is not going to be any place for a woman.”

It was Jess’s turn to snort. He obviously had no idea how to load an AK-47. Shoving her way in front of him, she grabbed the rifle and magazine, and in one quick motion snapped them together. She stood in front of him defiantly. “Let me ask you a question.”

Taking a step back, Giovanni frowned at this woman, in front of him, holding a loaded assault rifle. “What?”

“How do you think I lost this leg?” She swung the rifle’s barrel down and tapped her new prosthetic.

“I don’t know. A climbing accident?”

“Relax, Giovanni. The safety is still on.” Jess flipped down the safety lever and pulled back and released the charging handle. She smiled. “
Now
it’s loaded. And now answer the question.”

Giovanni’s face reddened. “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”

“Afghanistan. An IED explosion hit our Humvee on a reconnaissance mission. I was in the Marines for two years.” She clipped the safety back into place. “I’m coming with you.”

NOMAD

Survivor testimony #GR3;

Event +52hrs;

Survivor name: Heidi Hilfker;

Reported location: Zermatt, Switzerland;

Please stay on this frequency. We haven’t been able to contact anyone else yet. You need to send help. The road’s out, there is no way…

We knew it was coming, so we hid in the mountains. We knew it was coming, but nothing prepared us for the earth opening up. When the lights came in the sky, I watched, terrified, and the tremors started so I ran outside into the flat ground. All the buildings collapsed, so many dead…the roads torn apart. I watched the Matterhorn crumble like chalk. Send help. Please. The ash and snow, waist deep…not many of us left.