There were enough foreign observers and journalists to distract everyone’s attention, so most people gave them only a few curious glances. Still, from around the periphery and up on the platform itself, the secret service, FBI, and Blanchard’s security people continually scanned the hordes, alert to any intrusion.
Jon and Randi shifted locations frequently. They kept their heads down and quiet, friendly smiles on their faces. They made certain their muscles appeared relaxed.
Once the band struck up “Hail to the Chief” and everyone was riveted as President Castilla and Victor Tremont strode toward the platform, Randi moved closer to Jon to whisper, “The woman with the short silver hair wearing the knit business suit is Nancy Petrelli, and the general in the second row behind Admiral Brose is Nelson Caspar.”
“I expect Ben Sloat and old General Salonen are here somewhere, too.”
Their plan was simple: Work their way far enough forward to get the president’s personal attention, and they would try to shout out their story. To wave their documents. To accuse Tremont and his cohorts to their faces with everyone as witnesses, and maybe to make one or more of them panic and reveal themselves. At least, to convince the president to hear. After all, this was a public gathering.
That was at the best.
At the worst, they wanted to give Marty a chance to break into the closed-circuit broadcast so Mercer Haldane could confirm everything they claimed.
But first, they had to slip through the crowd without attracting the sharp eyes of the hundreds of public and private security who were watching for interlopers, troublemakers, terrorists… and them.
__________
5:09 P.M.
Lake Magua
Muttering wildly to himself in the small TV studio, Marty worked feverishly at the computer in the state-of-the-art control room.
“Where are you, you beast! I know you’re in there somewhere. Give me the code name and the password, damn you! Once more, the telephone company is…”
Mercer Haldane waited out in the studio with the four technicians and a series of blowups of the computer records. Behind them was a photographic backdrop of an Adirondack woodland scene, the high peaks of Whiteface and Marcy in the distance. Haldane’s cheeks were sweating. He continually mopped them as he watched Marty through the control room window. He glanced often and nervously at his watch.
“…All right, yes! I have you. I’m into the telephone company. Now the line into the local TV cable station. Come on… come on… I know you want me to find you… yes, that’s it… damnation! …”
At the studio door, Peter kept guard on the corridor, listening for any sounds of warning from Samson. He also glanced from time to time at his watch while he observed Marty’s frantic efforts.
“. . . Ah-ha! Got you. Now, the control room. Here we go… here we… Zounds and putridity! You won’t stop me… you can’t…” Sweat dripped from Marty’s face, and his fingers pounded the keyboard as he frantically searched for the key into the system.
__________
5:12 P.M.
Long Lake Village
As the surgeon general continued to talk, extolling the virtues of Victor Tremont and the wisdom of the president, Jon and Randi edged forward in parallel paths, slowly converging again as they advanced. Jon saw Victor Tremont’s pockmarked killer, Nadal al-Hassan, in deep conversation with a man who looked as if he were the chief FBI agent present. Al-Hassan’s arm swept over the crowd as he held a sheaf of photos in his lean hand. Jon did not have to guess whom the photos pictured. He repressed a worried groan.
The surgeon general’s introduction ended, and the president stepped to the podium. His face was solemn as his gaze slowly traversed the faces in the audience and turned to do the same to all the dignitaries seated behind him. He continued on in a full circle across the vigilant backs of the secret service and Tremont’s security team until he again faced the rapt crowd.
“These are terrible times,” he began. “The world suffers. Millions die. And yet we are here to celebrate. And it is entirely fitting that we should do so. The man we come to honor will go down in history not only as visionary but as a great humanitarian. He…”
As the president continued in rousing, cadenced tones, Jon and Randi moved inexorably forward, sometimes only a few steps, other times several feet at a time. They were careful to make no one angry. To attract no undue attention. And to appear to be enthralled with the president’s speech as it came quickly to its peroration: “…It is my eternally grateful pleasure to present the nation’s highest civilian award to Dr. Victor Tremont, a giant sun that will soon shed light on this great darkness into which we have all been plunged.”
Attempting to appear solemn but honored, humble but strong, while suppressing his real response of a loud, triumphal laugh, Victor Tremont moved toward the podium with what came out as a grotesque grimace. The medal was presented and accepted with a modest embarrassment, and the giant TV screen sprang to life with the image of the British prime minister towering over them all.
__________
5:16 P.M.
Nadal al-Hassan’s mirrored black eyes slowly traversed the surging crowd. His face was expressionless, and his dark, narrow head moved like a praying mantis as his cold gaze paused on a face that resembled one or the other of his quarries, on a shoulder that looked familiar, on a military posture among the packed throng.
They would be here, he was sure. Smith had proved to be a far more resourceful and dangerous adversary than he had ever expected. He had little faith in the state or local police of this rustic town, in McGraw’s private security force of old soldiers and retired policemen, or in the FBI, and he was well aware that the secret service agents would confine their vigilance to the immediate safety of the president. The protection of Victor Tremont and the Hades Project rested on his shoulders.
His eyes were hooded as they continued to work the crowd. In the cold twilight, the pocks in the tall man’s skin seemed deeper in the hollows of his face. He inhaled the pungent odor of wood smoke carried in the cold evening air. The scent reminded him of his nomadic youth around the campfires of northern Iraq. Those were not memories he cared to dwell on. He had come far from those poor beginnings, and the Hades Project would be the culmination of his long escape. No one was going to stop his success.
As he thought that, he saw them.
Smith had disguised himself in bulky hunting pants, a plaid hunting coat, and a ragged black mustache. The CIA woman wore a gray dress, hair darkened with shoe polish, and a straw hat. But they could not hide from him.
He whispered to McGraw and started forward, fighting the crowd. Excitement spread through him.
__________
5:16 P.M.
Lake Magua
His eyes haggard, his back bent, his face so close to the keyboard his sweat dripped onto the keys, Marty battled to overcome the last barrier and assume control of the cable transmission. He had long since ceased to mutter and cry out. He had lapsed into a deep and determined silence as he struggled.
Mercer Haldane stood with the technicians in front of the single camera. It was switched on, focused, and waiting. He continued to mop the sweat that poured down his face under the hot lights. No one made small talk. The room seemed to bristle with tension.
At the studio door, Peter no longer watched the corridor outside or listened to anything but the silence that seemed to stretch endlessly. He did not know what was happening in Long Lake village, but he knew the speeches must have begun at least ten minutes ago, and he hoped that by now Jon and Randi were approaching the platform to shout out their accusations in front of the president, the crowd, the secret service, Tremont, and the worldwide TV audience.
Accusations they would have no chance to prove… unless Marty broke into the transmission in the next few seconds.
__________
5:17 P.M.
Long Lake Village
Jon and Randi had reached the second row of packed spectators. Just ahead was the raised stage with its colorful patriotic bunting. The entire throng—- all the dignitaries, Victor Tremont, and the president— were staring up at the giant image of the prime minister heaping praise and gratitude on Victor Tremont.
Jon took a breath, nodded to Randi, and they abruptly pushed through the last people and shouted up to the president’s turned back.
Smith bellowed: “Tremont is a fraud and a mass murderer!” He waved the printouts of the secret records. “He caused this pandemic himself! For money. To extort billions from the world!”
The president turned in shock at Jon’s first shout.
Victor Tremont spun to face them, shouting back: “They’ve got guns! That man is a fugitive from the military, a rogue scientist, and a killer. Shoot him!”