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But it was no place Max wanted to be a part of In his ht to decide as best for humanity than Larry, Moe, and Curly

He wanted to rush froht he unned him down By force of will alone, Max made his body relax There would be another opportunity He would just need to be patient

After the three men had left, Max slunk out of the suite and holed up in the closet of one of the unused hotel-style roo As much as his brain wanted to focus on the hell Severance and his band were about to unleash, Max concentrated on how they were going to pull it off

They hadto coordinate the release of the virus by trans some sort of activation code Max saw the flaw immediately An aerial broadcast, even on shortwave, couldn’t encompass the entire world with any measure of reliability There were too many variables, from atmospheric conditions to sunspot activity, that could cause a signal failure

Not shortwave, he thought

He recalled the tunnel at the subbasement level and the coils of thick copper wire, as well as the excess power-generating capacity, the Responsivists had installed

“It’s a bloody ELF antenna,” he whispered, and knew exactly hoas going to warn Juan

He waited until after Kovac had run their test before sneaking into what he had first thought was the co ure out how to operate the ELF transe: OREGON ITS MAX BUG ATTACK 50 CRUISE SHIPS NOT KILL WORSE ELF IS KEY NUKE IT >72 HRS

He would have loved to add the location of the transmitter, but he had no idea where he was He would just have to trust that Hali would be able to trace back the source of the signal He had also used the word nuke deliberately because he felt this was an iure out a way to destroy it

He returned to his hidey-hole in the closet, after helping himself to a couple of protein bars and a beer from the minibar He was certain that with the day of their attack fast approaching, Severance would have Kovac station guards near the exit, so Max kneouldn’t be leaving that way Wth no intention of sacrificing himself, he had less than three days to find another way out

THOM SEVERANCE WAS in his office, chatting with Lydell Cooper, when someone knocked He looked up frolasses he had been recently forced to use Zelimir Kovac stood just inside his door The norht ood

“What’s the matter?” he asked

“It was just on the news, a death on a cruise ship in Istanbul It was one of our people on the Golden Sky, Zach Raymond”

“He was heading the cell we put aboard her, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, sir”