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Giordino stared down at the headquarters building as the helicopter passed over the facility The ere shattered and s from the tenth floor "How many did you take down?"

"We counted at least nine bodies" Nash looked mystified "Most of the women were knockouts, really beautiful My ical problems when they return to home They weren't trained to fire on civilian women"

"One of theold jumpsuit?" Pitt asked

Nash thought a mo that description" There was a pause "Did she have red hair?"

"Yes, her hair was red"

"So were all those who died, the saht like crazy fanatics It was unreal"

The helicopter remained on station over the island Nash received word that the evacuation was successfully completed almost to the minute of his estimate Without a second's hesitation, he issued the clearance for the B-52 to drop the bomb

The boh in the sky, they could not see it or detect the bomb as it fell from sixty thousand feet Nor did they see the bomb strike the volcano's slope above the Odyssey facility and penetrate deep below the surface Seconds later, a great rumble came from the slope of Mount Concepcion The detonation seee thud than the sharp booround This was quickly followed by a new sound like rolling thunder, as the slope of the volcano let loose its grip on the cone and began collapsing, picking up speed as it shot doard until it reached an incredible eighty miles an hour

From the air it looked as if the entire research and develops, docks and aircraft ter under the lake's surface like a iant hand Clouds of debris and dust burst into the sky as an enorh Then the crest curled and swept across the lake at astonishing speed, eventually crashing against the shorelines and inundating everything that stood in its path, before finally dying at its highest penetration and receding almost reluctantly back into the lake bed

In the tireat research center created by Specter, his fe with the tunnels that were crushed flat

The South Equatorial Current would not be diverted into the Atlantic Ocean The Gulf Stream would flow as it had for a million years, and there would be no deep freeze across Europe and North Ae

45

The layer of black haze began to low The stars that had soared inside his head faded to a scant few as Dirk slowly returned to consciousness He felt cold from the damp Stunned by a sea of pain inside his head, he rose up on his elbows and looked around him

He found hiular roo, floor and three walls were solid concrete The fourth as filled by a rusty iron door There was no handle on the inside A ser than a pie plate was eh it and diray world There was no bunk or blanket, only a hole in the floor for sanitation

He never experienced a hangover to match the throb inside his head There was a knot above the left ear that felt as big as a co to his feet was aelse but to satisfy his curiosity, he pushed on the door He ht as well have tried to knock over an oak tree All he hen he went to sleep on the boat were a pair of shorts and a T-shirt Looking down, he saw that his shirt and shorts were gone and he earing a white silk bathrobe It sees that he could not begin to inificance