land first. Not that it was true; it was in fact Antoine’s daughter, Amy, who was aboard a Noble jet and who had given up her landing slot to save the President having to wait.
Whatever the case, there was one reason the UN was about to welcome more heads of states than in its entire history . Antoine Noble was addressing the UN and he had asked them to come and listen. One hundred and eighty-eight of the one hundred and ninety-three member states had sent their heads of state. Only five had not, and each of those was excusable due to age or illness, and had sent a significant deputy in their place.
Antoine studied the wall of TV monitors in his dressing room while he waited for the UN Secretary General to announce his entrance. The news stations were having a field-day. The entrance to the UN was more like the entrance to an awards ceremony with a red carpet style analysis of the attendees. Instead of comments regarding what they were wearing, viewers were hearing who they represented. A news banner at the bottom of the screen made reference to the tragic loss of the Hubble 2 telescope and an ongoing development in Santa Cruz but there was only one news story that day that was going to grab the headlines and it wasn’t how many heads of state were visiting the UN.
Antoine checked through his speech one more time. He was literally going to blow his audience away.
Chapter 1 1
Cash felt as though the world had fallen in on him. He opened his eyes. Nothing had changed, the darkness remained. He tried to move. His arms and legs tried but failed to follow his instructions. He listened. Nothing, not even blood pumping through his veins. His last memory was of jumping into the tunnel. The Surenos gang members had spotted them in the treeline and unleashed a torrent of fire towards him and Rigs.
A scrabbling sound caught his attention . Something was rubbing against his leg. His immediate thought was rats. He hated rats. The scrabbling grew wilder. His leg was being tugged.
“ Cash.” It was muffled, but it reached his ears; it was definitely Rigs.
“I wouldn’t give up the day job,” said Rigs, clearing the earth around Cash. “You build shitty tunnels.”
“Thanks,” said Cash , still dazed.
“The tunnel collapsed in front of me and swallowed you up,” explained Rigs, catching his breath after his manic burrowing efforts.
“But why?”
“I’d think it was something to do with the explosion,” Rigs remarked.
“Explosion?”
“Best guess, a two thousand pounder, direct hit on the house,” said Rigs.
Cash pushed past Rigs and made for the exit hatch . The steel hatch and vertical tube that led up to the surface had protected Rigs from the collapse. A few seconds more and both of them would have been buried alive, deep in the tunnel, never to be found. A sobering thought that Cash had no time for.
He pushed the hatch hard . It moved slightly. He pushed harder and as it slowly gave way, a body of a Surenos gang member slid off the lid, no doubt trying to follow them into the tunnel when the explosion struck. Daylight lit the surreal stage. The tree line that had once camouflaged their spot was all but gone. Only the trunks survived, the branches and leaves had been blown away in the blast. Cash turned to face the house. A smoldering pile of rubble remained, leaving only a short chimney stub still intact.
“Oh my God!” His son, a son he hadn’t even known he’d had, a son he had barely spoken to, lay beneath the rubble.
Rigs joined him on the surface and exhaled expletives .
Cash ran towards the rubble, dropping his M4 to dig through the rubble in search of the basement.
A cacophony of sirens suggested help was on the way. Rigs didn’t wait for the help, he tore into the rubble alongside his partner Cash. Neither spoke a word as they systematically moved through the rubble, clearing it urgently. Within minutes, they were where the doorway to the basement would have stood. A solid pile
Whatever the case, there was one reason the UN was about to welcome more heads of states than in its entire history . Antoine Noble was addressing the UN and he had asked them to come and listen. One hundred and eighty-eight of the one hundred and ninety-three member states had sent their heads of state. Only five had not, and each of those was excusable due to age or illness, and had sent a significant deputy in their place.
Antoine studied the wall of TV monitors in his dressing room while he waited for the UN Secretary General to announce his entrance. The news stations were having a field-day. The entrance to the UN was more like the entrance to an awards ceremony with a red carpet style analysis of the attendees. Instead of comments regarding what they were wearing, viewers were hearing who they represented. A news banner at the bottom of the screen made reference to the tragic loss of the Hubble 2 telescope and an ongoing development in Santa Cruz but there was only one news story that day that was going to grab the headlines and it wasn’t how many heads of state were visiting the UN.
Antoine checked through his speech one more time. He was literally going to blow his audience away.
Chapter 1 1
Cash felt as though the world had fallen in on him. He opened his eyes. Nothing had changed, the darkness remained. He tried to move. His arms and legs tried but failed to follow his instructions. He listened. Nothing, not even blood pumping through his veins. His last memory was of jumping into the tunnel. The Surenos gang members had spotted them in the treeline and unleashed a torrent of fire towards him and Rigs.
A scrabbling sound caught his attention . Something was rubbing against his leg. His immediate thought was rats. He hated rats. The scrabbling grew wilder. His leg was being tugged.
“ Cash.” It was muffled, but it reached his ears; it was definitely Rigs.
“I wouldn’t give up the day job,” said Rigs, clearing the earth around Cash. “You build shitty tunnels.”
“Thanks,” said Cash , still dazed.
“The tunnel collapsed in front of me and swallowed you up,” explained Rigs, catching his breath after his manic burrowing efforts.
“But why?”
“I’d think it was something to do with the explosion,” Rigs remarked.
“Explosion?”
“Best guess, a two thousand pounder, direct hit on the house,” said Rigs.
Cash pushed past Rigs and made for the exit hatch . The steel hatch and vertical tube that led up to the surface had protected Rigs from the collapse. A few seconds more and both of them would have been buried alive, deep in the tunnel, never to be found. A sobering thought that Cash had no time for.
He pushed the hatch hard . It moved slightly. He pushed harder and as it slowly gave way, a body of a Surenos gang member slid off the lid, no doubt trying to follow them into the tunnel when the explosion struck. Daylight lit the surreal stage. The tree line that had once camouflaged their spot was all but gone. Only the trunks survived, the branches and leaves had been blown away in the blast. Cash turned to face the house. A smoldering pile of rubble remained, leaving only a short chimney stub still intact.
“Oh my God!” His son, a son he hadn’t even known he’d had, a son he had barely spoken to, lay beneath the rubble.
Rigs joined him on the surface and exhaled expletives .
Cash ran towards the rubble, dropping his M4 to dig through the rubble in search of the basement.
A cacophony of sirens suggested help was on the way. Rigs didn’t wait for the help, he tore into the rubble alongside his partner Cash. Neither spoke a word as they systematically moved through the rubble, clearing it urgently. Within minutes, they were where the doorway to the basement would have stood. A solid pile
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