She nodded.
He looked back toward the center of the fireball. It wasn’t just the creature that had died. A good man had gone with it. Jenkins sat with his back against the wall, facing away from the blast. Knight leaned over and placed a hand on the last remaining SAS officer’s shoulder. He squeezed and said, “He did you and your mates proud.”
Jenkins nodded and said, “I know. Now let’s go find the bastard responsible for this.”
32.
Salvatori thought that he had lost track of time or miscalculated as the flash of light filled his vision. But somehow he was still alive. A tremor of pain lanced through his wounded side as he swiveled toward the explosion and wondered what had just happened.
As he watched the giant mushroom cloud billow skyward, he realized that the soldiers being used as a field test must have found a way to kill Cho’s beast. He laughed, sending more tendrils of pain through his abdomen.
He checked his watch. Forty minutes until everything was set right again.
He looked back toward the mushroom cloud. He felt a stabbing of sadness that those soldiers had come so far and fought so hard. But now, despite all that, they would share his fate and be destroyed when the nuclear warhead contained somewhere deep below his feet detonated. He wished there was a way to warn them, but unfortunately, it was in God’s hands now.
33.
After hot-wiring an abandoned Toyota min-van and picking up the kids, Knight drove toward a section of the city that, according to Jenkins, thermal scans from a British spy satellite had identified as giving off an unusual amount of energy. The area stood out like a flashing neon sign within a city that contained virtually no activity. Now that the beast was out of their way, they needed to track down its handlers, uncover their plans, and put them out of commission.
Unfortunately, the satellite photos could only narrow the search grid down to a radius of five city blocks, which meant they had a lot of distance to cover, and Knight feared that their prey would soon go to ground now that their little pet had been destroyed.
“This is it,” Beck said from the passenger seat.
He slowed the van and began searching for anything out of the ordinary. The research headquarters could be housed within one of the surrounding buildings, but it could also be located beneath the city streets. He planned to make a couple of passes through the search zone and hopefully find some clue. If not, they would have to start a methodical search of every building, which could prove to be a dangerous and time-consuming prospect.
Up ahead, he caught sight of an old man sitting on the curb staring off into the distance. He brought the van to a halt and scanned the surrounding area for a trap. The interior lights of the van suddenly came on and the door ajar light flashed to life on the dashboard as Beck threw open the passenger door and ran toward the old man.
“Beck! Wait!” he screamed after her. He jerked open his own door and scanned the nearby windows with the FS2000. There were a million places to hide a shooter.
“Salvatori!” Beck called out as she ran.
The old man turned toward the sound of her voice and struggled to his feet. He stumbled back and nearly fell. Beck reached him just in time and steadied him. “Knight,” she called over her shoulder.
He swore under his breath. He looked into the vehicle at Jenkins and said, “Keep an eye on the kids.”
When he reached them, Beck said, “Knight, this is Dr. Giuseppe Salvatori.”
He immediately noticed the man’s gaunt features, shabby appearance and what appeared to be a bullet wound in his side. Those things spoke volumes to Knight and gave instant credence to the fact that Salvatori had been an unwilling participant in the events surrounding the creature’s development. The old man extended his hand, and Knight took it. “Pleasure to meet you, doc. Pardon for me being blunt, but it’s been a long day, so do you want to tell us what the hell is going on around here?”
Salvatori smiled. “At my age, Mr. Knight, you learn to appreciate the effectiveness of being direct. The creature that you’ve undoubtedly become quite familiar with, was the product of experiments conducted by a man named Phillip Cho.”