The Project 05 - The Tesla Secret

up the rungs. Korov stood to the side and fired down the corridor.
    "Go on," he said.
    Nick began climbing. He felt like he had the strength of lions. When those charges blew, he wanted to be as far from the pyramid if possible. He climbed as if demons were behind him.
    It was a long way back to the surface. Going down had been hard. Going up was worse. He focused on a steady rhythm. Reach, step, reach, step, over and over. One rung at a time, one after the other. In his mind, eight minutes was counting down. Then he was at the top. Ronnie grabbed his hand and boosted him up and out into the night. Korov tumbled out of the shaft after him. It had started to snow. They ran for the river, where their escape boat waited.
    In Virginia, Elizabeth and Selena and Stephanie watched the scene unfold.
    "Don't talk to them," Elizabeth said to Selena. "They're a little busy at the moment."
    In the control room on top of the pyramid, Yuri watched his readouts. The words TARGET ACQUIRED appeared in red on his screen. Then, LOCKED.
    "One minute," he said.
    Ogorov and Kaminsky watched the video feed from the peak, waiting for the moment the proton beam would rip into space and vaporize the American satellite. The crystal glowed with blue light.
    The floor vibrated. The power meters for the device jumped into the red. Malenkov's face turned white. He had just enough time to think about reaching for his switches.
    Nick and the others were almost to the river when the charges detonated. The air rushed away and for an instant there was total silence. Then the top of the pyramid vanished in a burst of blue light. An enormous ball of electric blue energy blossomed and turned the night into day.
    The shock wave lifted Nick from his feet and hurled him through the air. He struck hard and felt something give in his shoulder. The sound was unlike anything he'd ever heard, like thunder and lightning and high explosive all combined.
    Debris hurtled past. Afterimages of light danced behind his eyelids. A dense cloud of purple, red and white columned into the air and hung like a leprous rose in the air.
    Nick raised his head. Where the pyramid had been was nothing. Nothing at all. Only a glowing, cavernous opening in the ground.
    "Maybe you used a little too much Semtex," Ronnie said.

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

    The blast had knocked all of them down. They got to their feet. Nick felt like he'd been hit by a truck. His earpiece was filled with static. He pulled it out.
    "There's a pier on the river," Korov said. "The boat should be there."
    The ground was flat for another hundred yards before it sloped down to the river. There was a gate in the fence and a guard house. A soldier stood outside, staring openmouthed at the glowing cloud behind them. He called out and brought his rifle up. Korov shouted something.
    The guard was young, little more than a boy. He hesitated. Korov came up to him, shouting at him in Russian. The youth snapped to attention. When he was close enough, Korov swung his AK and slammed the guard in the side of his head. The boy went down.
    "You kill him?" Lamont asked.
    "No. He's just a soldier doing his duty. But he will have a very bad headache later."
    They went through the gate and hurried down a set of steps to the pier. A boat waited there, a gray shape in the darkness, diesels idling. The snow fell faster. The wooden pier was slippery under their feet.
    The boat was a Svetljak class, a hundred and fifty feet of serious business. A forest of antennas and masts rose from the superstructure. 30mm guns were mounted fore and aft. A gangway extended from the deck to the pier.
    An officer watched them approach. They went up the gangway and Korov began talking with him. There were crewmen on deck. Nick hoped no one asked him any questions.
    The crew took in the gangway. The deck throbbed and the boat pulled away from the pier.
    Ronnie said, "That doesn't look good."
    He pointed through the falling snow at a second boat coming from the south. Water foamed around the bow as the vessel sped toward them. It was another Svetljak class, with a single 30mm gun aft and a heavier 76mm forward. The boat was still some distance away. A squad of soldiers on deck wore the same black uniforms and red patches as the men AEON had sent against them at the pyramid.
    "I thought this was too easy," Lamont said. Now what?"
    "It's up to Korov now," Nick said.
    Korov saw the boat and said something to the officer. They ran to a door. Nick heard their feet