Yet what choice have I? Despite my best efforts, pieces of the doomsday puzzle remain missing, and our salvation as a species lies in the balance. Failing health has forced me to pass the baton to my son sooner than I had hoped, placing the burden squarely on him to complete the marathon.

I am told that Pierre Borgia will be introducing me to the crowd. The butterflies flutter in my stomach at the anticipation of seeing him again. Perhaps the years have softened his anger toward me. Perhaps he realizes what is at stake.

I hope so, because I’ll need his support if I am to convince the scientists in the auditorium to act. If they listen with open minds, the facts alone may be enough to persuade them. If not, then I fear our species is doomed to perish, as surely as the dinosaurs perished before us.

A final entry has been placed within a Cambridge safe with specific dates as to when its seal may be broken. Should we survive the coming holocaust, then one last challenge awaits—for two little ones not yet born.

As the ushers beckon me to take center stage, I look at Michael. He nods his approval, his ebony eyes blazing back at me, exuding his mother’s intelligence. Robbed of his innocence so many years ago, he has become introverted and distant, and I fear he harbors a hidden rage that my own heinous act surely fostered. And yet, I also detect a deep sense of purpose within my son, one that I pray will sustain him as he journeys down destiny’s path, toward his ultimate salvation—and our own.

—Final Excerpt from the Journal of Professor Julius Gabriel August 24, 2001.

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

DECEMBER 14, 2012
NORTH AMERICAN AEROSPACE DEFENSE COMMAND (NORAD)
COLORADO

Major Joseph Unsinn’s heart leaps from his chest as NORAD’s missile alarms sound. Dozens of technicians watch in horror as their large-screen computer terminals erupt with an influx of data.

QUICK ALERT! QUICK ALERT! MULTIPLE BALLISTIC MISSILE LAUNCHES DETECTED.

LAUNCH SITE: BAKHTARAN—IRAN.

TARGET: ISRAEL.

Data is instantaneous transmitted from NORAD’s high-speed processing center directly to the U.S. field commanders in Israel and the Persian Gulf. Moments later, Major Unsinn is on the video-comm, speaking to the Secretary of Defense.

Raven Rock Situation Room
Maryland

The top-secret complex, known only as Raven Rock, functions as a subterranean Pentagon. Within this nerve center is the “situation room,” a circular chamber containing a maze of state-of-the-art integrated voice-communication and data-management systems. From there, the president and his advisors can transmit directives to the United States Strategic Command Center (STRATCOM), another subterranean nerve center in direct contact with all strategic spacecraft, aircraft, submarines, and missile forces around the world. Like NORAD, both Raven Rock and STRATCOM’s bunkers have been insulated to shield their sensitive high-tech equipment from the electromagnetic pulses generated during a nuclear assault.