The Tesla Legacy by Robert G. Barrett Page B

world.’
    ‘Exactly,’ said Jesse. ‘And we’ve already had one earthquake in Newcastle. It’s inevitable we’re going to have another one up this way. And even though I don’t know where Tesla left his doomsday machine, it has to be somewhere near Muswellbrook.’
    Mick shook his head. ‘Christ! I’m starting to wish I’d never found that bloody old car.’
    ‘Yes,’ smiled Jesse. ‘What you don’t know won’t hurt you, hey?’ she said. ‘I noticed your computer’s on. You mind if I use it for a minute?’
    ‘No, mate. Go for your life.’
    Jesse stood up and finished her drink. ‘Although Tesla calls the doomsday machine his legacy, he also refers to it as Project Piggie. I might Google Tesla up in cyberspace again. And see if there’s any reference to a Project Piggie. I meant to do it at my place, but it slipped my mind.’
    Mick finished his drink also, then stood up and took Jesse’s glass. ‘I might go and have a quick snakes,’ he said.
    Mick took the empty glasses out to the kitchen and left them in the sink. By the time he finished in the bathroom, he was yawning his head off. He was also spun out at what Jesse had told him. He walked into his office and Jessewas seated in his big, comfortable, black office chair and had the search engine up and ready to go. Mick stood behind her and rested his hands lightly on her shoulders while he peered at the screen.
    ‘Okay. Here we go,’ said Jesse.
    Jesse moved the cursor and typed in NIKOLA TESLA PROJECT PIGGIE . Nothing happened at first. Then there was an audible ‘click’ and the screen went dead as if there was a sudden power surge. A few seconds later the screen came back on. But what she’d typed in had disappeared.
    ‘That’s funny,’ said Jesse. ‘I’ll try again.’
    Jesse typed NIKOLA TESLA PROJECT PIGGIE in one more time and the same thing happened again. Only when the screen came back on, it flickered for a few moments then settled down.
    ‘Must have been a quick surge,’ suggested Mick.
    ‘Yeah,’ agreed Jesse. ‘Anyway, there’s nothing. I may as well shut your computer down. You’re finished with it, aren’t you?’
    ‘Yeah,’ yawned Mick. ‘I’m ready for bed.’
    ‘Me too,’ Jesse yawned contagiously. ‘I’ve had a long, hard day.’ Jesse shut down Mick’s computer then stood up, put her arms around Mick’s waist and rested her head on his chest. ‘Mick,’ she said,tiredly. ‘Let’s go to bed. Put this behind us. And make soft, slow love.’
    Mick kissed the top of Jesse’s head and gently hugged her. ‘Ossie, my dear,’ he said quietly. ‘Not even Nikola Tesla could come up with a better idea than that.’
    Jesse went to the bathroom while Mick turned all the lights off and went to his bedroom. It ran off the loungeroom with another sliding glass door facing the sundeck and there was enough moonlight coming in so he didn’t bother about putting the bedlamp on. He got undressed and waited for Jesse under the green check sheets on his extremely comfortable queen-size bed. Jesse came in, took her clothes off and borrowed a dark blue T-shirt from Mick’s wardrobe; Mick liked to sleep au naturel . Jesse climbed in next to Mick and they kissed and cuddled for a while, whispering silly things to each other, then, just as Jesse asked, they made soft, slow love.
    In Newcastle it was ten-thirty on a mild spring night when Jesse used Mick’s computer. The sky was full of stars and it promised to be another warm, sunny day tomorrow. In Washington, it was seven-thirty on a bitterly cold morning in late autumn. Snow was falling and parts of thePotomac River were already starting to ice over. Three floors down in the National Security Agency at Fort Meade Military Installation, Agent Floyd Moharic, in his crumpled grey suit and matching tie, had almost finished an eight-hour shift staring at a monitor in a softly lit room crammed with the latest technology for listening in on email conversations or hacking