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squirting between the fingers.
Training the pistol on Sindri, Grant growled, "What was that about an ace?"
Seemingly not the slightest bit perturbed by the shooting of Oakshott, or the
gun inches from his forehead, Sindri held up two gloved fingers. "Two aces
actually. The first is the tried and true tactic of holding a hostage."
"And who might that be?" Kane asked.
"Everyone in New Edo."
Shizuka's shoulders jerked in reaction.
"Explain," Brigid snapped.
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"Gladly. During the late 1990s, there was an epidemic of disappearing nuclear
warheads from ar-
senals all over the world, in particular the small, 'squeeze yields' ones."
Brigid frowned, sifting through her memory. "Yes, I remember reading about it.
They called them backpack nukes. Evidently they were stolen and sold to small
nations without nuclear weapons capabilities or to terrorist groups."
"That was one theory," Sindri agreed. "And I'm sure that happened to a few of
them. But not all." He widened his eyes in mock fear. "I wonder, oh, I wonder
what happened to the others."
"Bullshit," Grant spit contemptuously. "You're bluffing."
Sindri crooked challenging eyebrows at him. "Oh, really? If I can snatch a
human being literally from the jaws of death, don't you think it would be
easier to snatch up stationary objects from the past? Like missiles in silos?"
He paused to let his words sink in, men continued. "I confess I managed to
make only one functional, but it's more than sufficient to obliterate this
island and New Edo. The warhead is fairly small, around
200 kilotons, but it's exceptionally duty a mixture of cobalt and iodine. If I
detonate it, the yield effect is roughly three miles. Within one mile of the
hy-pocenter of the explosion, this entire island would be vaporized instantly.
Within two and a half miles, ninety percent of the population of New Edo would
be killed, and all the buildings leveled."
Shizuka's face paled, but she only compressed her lips.
"How do you control it?" Kane asked casually.
"That will be my secret."
"And the other ace you mentioned?"
Sindri gestured toward the fallen Oakshott. "The empirical evidence of reverse
entropic immortality." He raised his voice. "Oakshott! You may get up now."
Grant made a noise of disgust deep in his throat. "He's not going to get up,
you little "
A deep, gargling groan rose from the black-clad body. Kane felt his skin
prickle and clammy sweat form on his face. The body of Oakshott stirred, his
hands came up, the bloody fingers twitching fitfully.
Grasping the railing, he pulled himself to a sitting position. Grant, Kane,
Brigid and Shizuka stared in incredulous horror as the giant reeled upright.
His small eyes were glassy. Blood glistened wetly on his shirtfront, and his
face was screwed up in pain.
"Hurts," he said hoarsely. A coughing fit overcame him, and he bent at the
waist, his body shaking violently. A jet of scarlet spewed from his lips, and
a little metal cylinder clattered on the grillwork.
Kane, his heart turning to ice, realized it was the flattened bullet Grant had
fired into the giant's chest.
Gasping for air, Oakshott straightened. He dragged a sleeve across his
blood-flecked lips. Sindri said reassuringly, "You'll be as right as the mail
soon enough, Oakshott. That's a stout fellow."
Smirking into the astonished faces of the four people standing around him,
Sindri declared, "I can only speculate on the extent of entropic reversal on
organic matter, but as you have witnessed, Oakshott's cellular structure
renews itself from moment to moment. It rejects all foreign bodies from
bacteria to bullets."
His hand trembling perceptibly, Grant raised his Sin Eater and aimed it
Oakshott1 s head, who merely blinked at him. "And what happens if I blow his
brains out? Will that be reversed?"
"I really couldn't say," Sindri answered. "I was saving that experiment for
one of you three. However, if you do that to Mr. Oakshott, I'll have no choice
but to retaliate with a nuclear detonation. A bit of overkill, I can't deny,
but you would leave me no option."
Very slowly, Grant lowered his arm. In a quiet, even tone Sindri said, "Very
good, Mr. Grant Now you and Mr. Kane will disarm."
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Kane didn't move. "Why should we?" he demanded. "We refused to do it earlier."
"Then you didn't have an inkling of die kind of power I control. Even if
you're ninety percent certain I'm running a bluff about the warhead, surely
you don't want to gamble the lives on New Edo."
"I'm sure this has occurred to you at some point," Brigid pointed out
sardonically, "but you'd die along with them."
"I'm not afraid to die, Miss Brigid," he retorted sharply. "Not in the least.
That's one thing about me you should be certain of." He gazed up at her
unblinkingly. "Don't force me to prove it."
Sindri's voice had acquired a raspy undertone of conviction. Kane understood
that somewhere inside of the man's diminutive frame was a soul that had lived
with pain since the day he was born and whose focus in life was to find a way
to end it.
"So much for your promise you meant us no harm," Brigid said darkly.
"I mean to keep my promise. I'm offering you immortality. How is that harming
you? I may hurt you, but
I won't permanently harm you. Not if you cooperate."
Grant cast a questioning glance toward Shizuka. "It's your home at stake here,
so it's your call. Yes or no?"
Shizuka hesitated and nodded in resignation.
"Hai.
Yes. We cannot take the chance."
Kane and Grant pushed their pistols back into their holsters and stripped them
off. They pushed them
into Sindri's arms. He inclined his head in a parody of a gracious nod. '
'Thank you, gentlemen. I always knew you could be reasonable...at least when
you're forced to be."
He turned, marching back toward the control room. "Come with me now."
The four people slowly followed him along the catwalk. As they did so, Kane
bent his head close to
Brigid and whispered, "I'm betting you remember how to activate the dilator."
Her lips barely moved as she breathed, "You'd win."
Kane said no more. He lengthened his stride to step in front of her. When they
entered the control room, he positioned himself in such a way that Brigid was
blocked from Sindri's view. As it was, the little man was pushing the
still-dazed Oakshott ahead of him. Imperiously, he ordered, "Step lively,
now."
As the giant obeyed, Brigid slid to one side, standing at the edge of the
console. She ran her eyes over the buttons and toggle switches. Her fingers
flew over them like a concert pianist's. The throbbing vibration of the
generator suddenly climbed in scale and pitch, becoming almost painful. Sparks
flashed through the facets of the prisms on the arms of the pylons.
Sindri spun, arms full of pistols and holsters. His face twisted in shock.
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