The Poseidon Project, page 17
“I’ll be right back. You’ve stopped bleeding, so please rest and continue to drink.”
Taylor tried to stand but winced in pain. “Shit,” he whispered and sat back down. He smiled at Lukas and mouthed Be careful. Taylor’s skin color had returned somewhat; his wounds stopped bleeding so the blood could do its job.
As Lukas started to exit the van, he turned back and smiled at Taylor. He marveled at how handsome he was, even after being shot and injured. He walked back to Taylor. “Oh, fuck it,” Lukas said, quickly darting his head left and right, looking for police or security cameras in the park, and gave Taylor a big, long kiss. “That’s to hold you over until I get back.” Taylor smiled back and nodded his head.
Patrick witnessed the moment, and Lukas saw he had a look of puzzlement on his face. “I’ve never seen two men kiss before. Why does everyone make such a big deal about it? It looked perfectly normal to me.”
Lukas ran over to the box truck and watched as Zip-Tie and Malik made their final preparations for the Demeter test. Malik paused and barked out an order to Zip-Tie, which nobody else could understand due to language barriers, but they watched as the large man ran toward the truck and climbed into the back. Within seconds, he wheeled out the original Poseidon machine, strapped to a dolly. Zip-Tie lowered himself and the dolly on the truck’s automatic loading gate and, once on the ground, wheeled it over to the Sprinter van. Molly and Lukas heard arguing in what sounded like Arabic coming from the van before Zip-Tie opened its back doors and lifted the Poseidon unit into the back. “Insurance in case we have a failure of Demeter,” Malik answered before Molly or Lukas could ask the question.
Linda and Donna glanced at each other, communicating something between them. “Well, Malik. You’re here; now what?” Donna asked.
“Now we see if it works. In reverse.”
“Why are you doing this, Malik?” Molly asked. “What can you possibly achieve by destroying water and turning it back into its base elements? I really don’t understand.”
Malik pointed to the Burj Khalifa and to the impressive skyline. “All this was built because man exploited a scarce resource. Think of the number of conflicts that have occurred over it, major wars and millions of lives lost either fighting to acquire it or defend it.”
“You’ve made that point already,” Molly snapped.
“Mrs. Halloran, I play the long game. I’m not looking for a gimmick to get rich quickly. This small machine has the power to change the game for the human race.”
A light bulb went off in Donna’s head. “You’re going to build more of these machines, aren’t you?”
Malik nodded. “We already have. At least ten thousand units now sit hidden in lakes, rivers, aquifers, ready to slowly destroy the water on the planet. We have the capability to build hundreds of thousands more. It will be decades before scientists figure out how much of the world’s water has disappeared, much quicker than they even predicted.”
“But wait, Poseidon is here to save the day…for one dollar per gallon,” Molly stated.
“Something like that, but I was planning to charge more.”
“You tricked me, Malik!” Molly shouted. “This was never part of the deal.”
“Sorry, it’s too late,” Malik explained. “As we speak, thousands of Demeter units are being activated innocuously in the world’s fresh water supplies—armed with your brand-new software transmitted globally by the Demeter queen in the back of the truck.”
Lukas was slightly relieved to hear what Malik just proclaimed. If all went as planned, the software would also transmit the cyber-viruses and other malware he and Betty encoded into it. He feigned outrage and argued, “You and whatever government you’re working with can’t possibly have enough resources to do that.”
Malik laughed. “Government? You think a government could ever devise a plan like this? Russia, China, the United States…they spend so much time building up militaries and arms, attempting to look invincible, but no man, and they’re all men, will pull the trigger because they’re scared of what will happen. Waning support at home, losing votes, and angering their constituencies—not to mention destroying the world.”
Malik keyed in something on his smartphone, and they heard the Demeter unit start to hum. “All controlled by my phone. Modern technology makes this so much more practical,” Malik sneered sarcastically.
“So what's the big plan, Malik? Are you going to show Demeter’s power, threaten to kill us, and cackle like a madman no one can stop?” Lukas asked dryly. “It’s almost dawn, and people will start visiting the park, so you better make their pond disappear fast while no one’s watching.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to understand,” Malik responded. “You’ve grown up in wealth. Never wanted for anything. You have no idea what it feels like to be hungry.”
“Okay, you’ve got me there,” Lukas said. Malik had no answer to Lukas’ comment.
“So tell me, Malik, who is your investor client and where did you get the money to pay for this little box?” John asked.
“John, you wouldn’t believe me if I named names. I had you kidnapped because one of my investors is on your board and was slated to take over the company and appoint me to the board. With you out of the way, our new company would consume Phoenix Equities, become the owners of Poseidon, and all live happily ever after. Then your wife named herself CEO and castrated the board, so that plan went to hell.”
“It was actually a great plan,” Lukas commented. “I can’t wait to find out who the board member is.”
Zip-Tie placed the end of the hose into the man-made lake while the other end remained fastened to the humming Demeter unit, a green light indicating the machine was on and engaged.
Malik saw someone out of the corner of his eye. He grabbed his pistol and engaged it. He turned sideways and saw the person approaching him. It was Taylor, slowly making his way down the terraced steps. Lukas immediately ran to him. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to rest.”
“Here to see the show. I flew halfway around the world, so may as well watch how this thing works,” Taylor commented. He smiled at Lukas.
Betty and Patrick remained with the van.
Molly, John, Donna, and Linda sat in the amphitheater, three rows back. Lukas and Taylor sat in the first row. “Okay, let’s do this!” Taylor shouted.
Malik flipped on the Demeter machine. “Prepare to be amazed.”
The group stood and watched as Demeter came to life, a blue light indicating the power was engaged. The unit hummed. Lukas heard a sucking sound coming from the man-made lake and could see water entering the intake hose.
All of them were there to witness a terrifying new chapter in human history unfold. Molly, Donna, and Linda looked at each other with sullen, deflated expressions. “I never expected our invention to be used like this,” Donna said.
“We did it to help the world, ladies. We had no idea that this could ever be an outcome,” Linda followed.
Molly said, “Nothing has been proven, yet. I hope Betty knows what she was doing.”
“Engage!” Malik commanded as Zip-Tie opened the intake valve on Demeter. A pulsating sound, deep and resonant, thumped while the probes did their work. Malik had spray-painted a line at the water level of the man-made pond to track whether the process was working. The surface of the water swirled, forming a small whirlpool near the intake hose in the water. Within the first two minutes, the water level dropped by four inches. Malik strutted proudly. “Everything’s working as planned.”
“Holy shit,” John commented. “This thing is fast. How can the machine keep up with splitting the water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen?”
“Oh crap,” Molly yelled. “Back up away from the truck, guys,” she said softly. “You might want to slow Demeter down,” Molly suggested to Malik. “Are you sure you’re venting the oxygen and hydrogen fast enough?”
Malik yelled something to Zip-Tie, who lumbered up the terraced steps to check on the machine, still humming in the back of the truck. He tried to slow the machine down by pushing some buttons, while Malik tried the same from his smartphone. Demeter continued to hum, oblivious to what commands were being entered to slow it down.
Malik lifted the hose out of the water, hoping to slow the intake that way, to no avail.
“Why won’t it stop? Malik demanded.
“You built it! I don’t know. There’s a kill-switch in the original machine!” Donna yelled.
Zip-Tie remained in the back of the truck, frantically trying to get the Demeter machine to slow down or turn off. By now, the artificial lake’s surface had dropped over six inches. Demeter whirred loudly as it worked faster than it was designed to operate.
“Reboot your phone!” Molly yelled to Malik, hoping that might do the trick. Malik quickly complied and shut off his phone. After thirty seconds, the Demeter slowed down and finally stopped.
“That’s something we will need to fix,” Malik commented, relieved the Demeter was now quiet.
Zip-Tie stood on the deck of the truck, looking for direction from Malik on what to do next. Malik walked to the water’s edge and threw the intake end of the hose back into the artificial lake.
Lukas looked over at his mother. “What are you doing?” Molly shouted at Malik as she saw him power up his phone. Simultaneously, as if on cue, a panicked Molly and Lukas focused their attention on the box truck as Zip-Tie calmly pulled out a lighter to ignite his cigarette.
Chapter 25
The explosion was deafening. A huge fireball engulfed the Iveco box truck with a force that knocked Molly, Donna, Linda, and John off their feet. Having been already seated, Lukas instinctively shielded Taylor from the force of the blast that was over one hundred feet away. The explanation of the Hindenburg explosion his mom had referenced two days ago flashed through his mind. The hydrogen collection tank must have had a leak or breached from being overfilled. But unlike the Hindenburg, there was not a zeppelin-sized supply of hydrogen on the Demeter unit, or what was left of it. The explosion was sudden, strong, and brief. The flames quickly burned through the truck’s cargo area, then slowly burned the embers of what little was left. The truck was destroyed, as was Demeter. Zip-Tie’s blackened remains smoldered on the ground, about ten feet from the blast.
Betty and Patrick stood at the top of the terrace waving their arms and appeared to be yelling something. Lukas could not hear much other than the ringing in his ears, and he assumed the rest of the group was partially deaf as they struggled to get to their feet. Lukas had shielded Taylor’s body, and his hearing appeared to be unaffected. Taylor kissed Lukas on the cheek and mouthed Thank you. Or at least Lukas thought he said it silently.
Betty held the fourth Glock in her hand and ran toward the group to help them ascend the terrace. “We’ve gotta get out of here!” she yelled, hoping their damaged ears could hear her. She knew it was only a few minutes before the Dubai police came to investigate the source of the explosion in the city center.
“Where is Malik?” Betty asked as John, Donna, and Molly rubbed their ears, hoping to regain their hearing.
“He ran that way.” Taylor pointed in the direction of the Burj Khalifa. “I saw him for an instant right after the blast.”
Patrick raced toward the group. “Police are on their way. I hear the sirens. Let’s go, everybody!” Patrick and Taylor, both injured, were able to shepherd the group up to the Sprinter van, get in, and buckle up for what was going to be a quick getaway.
Betty slammed on the accelerator, and the van lurched forward. She could see the flashing police lights about a quarter of a mile to her right. She turned left, hoping to avoid them. “Patrick, I need you to navigate! I don’t know where I am!” Betty yelled with a tinge of panic in her voice. Patrick stood up and sat in the passenger seat to help navigate.
Taylor quickly dialed his daughter. She answered on the first ring tone. “Dad, where are you?”
“Get the Goose ready. We’ll be there in—” He looked at Patrick, who held up his hands with fingers extended. “—ten to fifteen minutes. Please clear a take-off slot for us in twenty-five minutes from now.”
“Got it, Dad. Drive safely.”
Tory hung up as Betty slalomed quickly through cars approaching the motorway onramp. “Wheels up in twenty-five minutes,” Taylor told the group, whose hearing had partially returned. They confirmed their understanding with a thumbs up.
Taylor addressed the occupants of the van. “We have already loaded the luggage and documents onto the plane. All we need to do is get to it, pull the door shut, and get the hell out of here.”
Donna raised her hand. “What about that?” She pointed to the original Poseidon unit that Malik had transferred to the back of the van.
“We take it with us,” Molly and Linda said in unison, almost ready to make a joke but deciding it wasn’t the right time.
“Tory ran our documents through the private jet concierge who stamped everything, so we’re good to go,” Taylor confirmed. “Let’s just get on that plane.”
“I don’t understand why the Demeter unit exploded,” John said.
Betty responded, “Me neither. Probably something with the pressure relief valves. Lukas and I wrote some bad code into the new software. Let’s hope mama Demeter was able to transmit it to the network of machines around the world so she could neutralize her Demeter babies before she went up in flames.”
John nodded. “What if it wasn’t able to transmit the new software?”
“The viruses in the software were basically designed to act as a kill switch, relatively simple commands to euthanize each unit. It should have transmitted instantaneously through the cloud network.”
A car nearly cut her off, and she slammed the brakes to slow down. “Motherfucker!”
“The explosion was due to Malik’s avarice to push Demeter as far as possible. He was more concerned with the speed and quantity and didn’t think about venting the hydrogen gas fast enough. He should have thought about the pressure in the tanks—but for some reason, Demeter could not power down, so it kept producing hydrogen and oxygen gas until Ma had the brilliant idea to have Malik shut off his phone and reboot,” Lukas explained. “Ninety percent of computer issues can be solved by a reboot. Good thinking, Ma. Now you know my secret to being a tech wizard.”
“Your secret is safe with us, Lukas,” Linda teased him.
“Yeah, but by the time it rebooted, the gas was already starting to leak out of the tanks. Bad timing for our friend and his smoke break.”
Betty continued speeding the Sprinter down the E11 motorway that took them south past Al Quoz and directly to Al Maktoum International Airport. Lukas pointed at the airport’s control tower in the distance.
“Five minutes, everybody!” Taylor prepared everyone. He called Tory again to let her know they would be coming through the airport gates soon. After a few rings, Tory’s phone went to voicemail, so Taylor hung up. She’s probably doing the pre-flight check, he thought.
Lukas saw his mom’s orange Prada bag filled with firearms. “Don’t forget the bag!”
“Wouldn’t think of it. This was an expensive bag, Lukas.”
The van made it to Al Maktoum. The rising sun sat low in the morning sky, and Betty searched for the entrance to where the planes were. There was a security guard checking credentials. “Shit,” Betty exclaimed. “We are going to need our passports to get through. My stuff is already on the plane. Patrick, I need you to drive,” Betty pleaded with him.
“I don’t think I can.”
“Just to the guard check and then to the plane,” Betty commanded. “Patrick, I need you to ask the guard for access. I don’t think Taylor can walk that far.”
“Give them our names,” Taylor interrupted. “They should already be in the system logged for departure. And for the record, I can walk that far if we need to.”
“Taylor.” Molly rubbed his good shoulder. “We need you to sit in the passenger seat and show your pilot’s identification.”
“Good idea!” Betty jumped out of the car and ran to the passenger side to help Patrick out and over to the driver’s seat. John and Lukas helped get Taylor to his feet so that he could walk three feet from the back of the van to the passenger seat.
“I’m really sorry to do this,” Molly said to Taylor. “I don’t know how else we can get to the plane.”
“It’s okay.” Taylor winced, his wounds still raw. “I’ll do an award-winning performance.” He threw a blanket over his wounded shoulder and side to mask any blood and to not attract the guard’s curiosity.
“It kind of looks like a toga. Can you arrange it differently?” John commented.
Linda wrapped the towel differently and looked at her work. “You’ve gone from Nero to Grandma Moses, but it’ll work.”
Betty did a quick check. “Everybody in position!”
Patrick couldn’t move the transmission out of park and into reverse due to his injuries, making even small movements excruciating. “I got it.” Donna jumped up and moved the van into reverse. Once Patrick had backed out, she moved the van into drive. Patrick smiled for her assistance and drove forward. There were two cars in front of him at the guard hut. When Patrick pulled up to the guard, he rolled his window down and showed his chauffeur’s license to the guard. Taylor held up his pilot badge and handed it to the guard. Everyone in the back remained quiet.
The guard looked over the identification and said something in Arabic. Patrick laughed and then the guard joined him laughing and opened the barrier. Patrick smiled and waved as he drove into the jet parking area.
“Well, that was easy,” Lukas commented.
“What were you guys laughing about?” Molly asked.
