Local time – 5.55pm, Sunday 17th June, 2011.
London, England.
Alex looked ghastly when her face appeared on the Skype screen. Gerome’s smiley, quick witted journalist looked dishevelled, exhausted and very frightened. He tried not to react to the shock he felt at seeing her like that. The Mossad agents hadn’t tasered him, or shot him. Instead, they put him on the phone to their boss, an Adam Edelstein, to whom Gerome had spoken for fifteen short minutes. At first he had been incredulous, but soon he could do nothing but listen, and try to keep up. When the email arrived from Alex, the Mossad technical team scrambled to use the connection to reach her. And now Gerome knew exactly what he needed to do. He had a lot to say, and a very short time to say it.
‘Gerome, is that you? How did you reach me?’ Her voice was high pitched, close to hysterical. The way her eyes kept darting around, Gerome could see she was terrified.
‘I’m here with Mossad agents. They’ve managed to break into the iPad, using the backward path from the email you just sent me. Why did you send a map of Mumbai? Is that where you are headed?’
‘No. That’s where Henry wants the missile to land. You’ve got to help me stop him.’ Gerome heard one of the agents behind him on a phone, relaying the information to his team.
‘There are Mossad agents close by, they’re tracing your location. You’ve got to listen to me Alex. I don’t know why you’re there with those people, but I think you’ve got caught up in something.’
‘I know I have! I didn’t know what they were going to do with the weapon. I promise.’
‘I know. But you can’t let them use it. Mossad told me the guy Henry is a security contractor, working for Maxwell.’
‘Maxwell who?’
‘Edmund Maxwell. Just hang on Alex. The agents will help you when they get there, but you can’t let them launch it in the meantime. There’s something unfolding in America that’s going to be destroyed if that weapon is used. You can’t know how incredibly important it is until you get all the information, but just trust me, it’s going to start World War III if that thing goes off.’ Gerome could see that Alex was already experiencing as much stress as she could handle, but he also knew she was their last hope in stopping a crime that could change the course of the human race. There was no way to sugar coat it. She had to take it as seriously as he did.
‘Henry’s in the other side of the truck. He’s going to work out the code any minute. I don’t know how to stop him! I’ve already tried... ’
‘Can you distract him somehow? Is there any way to lock it so he can’t launch it?’ Alex seemed to be looking past the screen now, desperately searching for something on the cockpit in front of her to stop the missile.
‘I don’t know how to work this thing. What should I press?’ Gerome grabbed the sleeve of the nearest agent, and pulled him over to the laptop screen.
‘What can she do to stop it?’ Alex held the iPad so the camera scanned the dashboard in front of her. It was full of buttons, switches and small screens. But the agent just looked at the laptop blankly, and Gerome could see he had no idea.
‘What should I press? Maybe I could enter the code wrong and it will lock? It will lock, wont it?’ Alex’s voice was shaking now. When her face came back on the screen, Gerome could see her focus was outside the cockpit. She seemed to be craning to look at something to her right and the panic in her face escalated.
‘He’s putting a code in Gerome. He’s worked out Bernie’s code!’
‘What code? What’s he putting in?’
‘He had Ahmed’s code, and now he has Bernie’s. He’s going to launch it. I’ve got to stop him.’ Gerome glanced at the two agents, who were also watching the screen over their shoulders, and their faces were white. Alex could only be half seen through the iPad camera now, having shifted towards the door of the cockpit. But she suddenly stopped.
‘I can hear the missile above me, it’s moving. He’s unlocked the code Gerome. It’s getting ready to fire.’
‘Can you go over there? Quick Alex’
‘No, he’s got out of the truck. He’s put the codes in and he’s coming over here.’ The shrill fear in her voice made Gerome’s heart race. Alex squirmed in her seat.
‘The GPS screen is flashing. Oh my god, he’s going to put the coordinates in.’ Gerome was about to ask why the man was leaving his cockpit to enter the coordinates, when Alex gave him the answer.
‘The phone with the coordinates. It’s in here with me.’
‘Get it Alex. He can’t enter them without it.’ Gerome’s encouragement wasn’t required, as Alex was obviously already rummaging around in the small space, frantically searching for the phone.
‘I can’t see it! It was here before. I can’t see... ’ Alex’s commentary stopped. Gerome and the agents froze as they realised why. A man’s voice could be heard.
‘Give me the phone Alex. Don’t even think about fighting me now... ’ The aggression in his voice reverberated through the laptop speakers, and echoed around the van. The man’s hand filled the iPad camera, and from the fast jerk of the vision, it was clear he had ripped the iPad from Alex’s hands and smashed it on the dashboard. Then the laptop went black. Gerome yelled out quickly in the hope of Alex catching his last words.
‘Be careful Alex, they killed Bernie…’ He got no reply.