The Planck Factor

Chapter 34

Jessica Evans

For a moment, this revelation stunned me to the point where I simply sat and stared through the picture window fronting the store. People walked by, moving in and out of view, at random intervals. They barely registered on my mental radar. People going about their business, unconcerned, unthinking. No one imagining the horror I envisioned.

Could that really be it? Or am I just letting my imagination run away from me?

Someone touched my shoulder and I started with a grunt. My heart was beating its way out of my rib cage. I gulped air as if I'd been drowning.

"Are you all right, Miss?"

I gazed up into the milk chocolate face of a motherly looking woman with honey golden eyes beneath a furrowed brow.

"Are you feeling okay?" she asked.

I realized I was staring and stuttered, "I'm . . . I'm fine, really. Just have a lot on my mind today."

"Uh huh." The woman neither looked nor sounded convinced. Her brow relaxed, but her eyes held doubts.

"I'm okay. Honest." I even managed a smile. Hopefully, a convincing one.

"Well, girl, you turned pale as a ghost. I thought you were going to pass out there."

Well, that's only because I know that a bunch of extremists are going to kill millions and millions of people. And I need to figure out how to stop them before they do it. No biggie, right?

The look of concern returned to the woman's face. I realized I'd been staring again.

"I'm okay now," I blurted. "I . . . I didn't get much sleep last night. I'm really tired." This last sentence was spoken with the conviction of one who's weary to the bone of everything, as I certainly was.

The woman looked a bit more—if not completely—reassured by these words. "All right, honey. You shouldn't push yourself too hard. Bad for your health."

This seemed to open the door to any number of rejoinders. But I simply said, "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks."

I tried to push the horrible thought aside. I had no proof of the group's plans, but what other part would a geologist play? I reviewed more of the story—a scene about the morning after, Mel briefing Alexis about what she needed to do (having just been through the drill, it was almost like writing a diary). Not a thing here about geology, but there was the matter of Swede and Daniel debunking Joao Magueijo's theory that even a powerful particle accelerator would produce Planck mass particles capable of creating a bomb only half as destructive as a conventional nuclear weapon. That, in fact, the nightmare scenario Magueiijo mentioned in his paper and his book's footnote of creating an atomic weapon twice as powerful as normal could actually be true.

"Jeez!" I said, exhausted from lack of sleep and agonizing over the story (not to mention my impending "kidnapping"). "Enough." I saved my files again and shut down the laptop.

As I packed my equipment into my carrier, I noticed a car slow as it moved past the store. I thought it might be looking for a parking spot, but it passed a perfectly good one.

The car was bland and indistinguishable. A late model compact, grayish-blue.

I watched it turn the corner, out of sight.

Hmm. I wonder if that's my ride.

I slung my purse over my shoulder, grabbed the carrying case and tossed my trash on the way out.

I headed back to Liz's place. It was mid-afternoon, almost 2:00 according to my cell phone. Even so, the streets were full of people. Purposeful men and women in suits, talking up a storm into their phones. Many of them with Bluetooth phones discreetly plugged in their ears, seemed to be babbling to the air.

"Man," I muttered. "I used to be able to tell who was crazy." I smiled and shook my head at how this sentence so aptly summed up my life now.

My stroll back to Liz's took me past a narrow alley. As I stepped onto the corner and prepared to cross, I saw the grayish-blue compact parked beside the building. I heard the door open, but kept walking. I felt her presence before she pressed a gun into my back.

"Hi. Great to see you," Cynthia said. She hooked her arm through mine and steered me toward the car.

I breathed a sigh. Well, it was better than getting bashed over the head.