Colony by Benjamin Cross

Author:Benjamin Cross
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: The Book Guild
Published: 2021-01-28T00:00:00+00:00

2

Peterson closed his eyes. How could things have gone so wrong and so quickly? How could he have been so stupid?

The pain in his chest was nothing compared to the guilt and despair that he felt in that moment. There was no Finback. There was no cause. There had only ever been Ptarmigan, the misguided puppet. He had been one hundred goddamn per cent duped! Manipulated into committing an act so heinous for a cause so offensive to his own convictions. And that was the pit that he really couldn’t swallow; far from helping to prevent the ruin of the Arctic, his gullibility had actually kicked it into overdrive. Not to mention the damage it could do to the spiralling relations between Russia and the west. The more he thought about it, the faster his sense of self-loathing turned to indignation, and then to fury.

Struggling for breath, he pulled himself up into a kneeling position. Volkov’s pistol was aimed directly at his face, but in that moment it might as well have been a steak sandwich. “You piece of shit, Volkov. You talk about Russia as if you’re it. As if you somehow embody a nation of hundreds of millions of free-thinking souls. But that’s not what this is about. Russia’s got nothing to do with it. You’ve got nothing to do with Russia. This is about you and your greed. Do you honestly think it’s in Russia’s interest to promote the neglect of the Arctic? To promote conflict? You short-sighted sonofabitch!”

“Mr Peterson—”

“Save it!” Peterson shouted. “You may kick-start your bankroll on this one, but this is only the start. What about the next project ten years from now, and the one after that, and the one after that, when it’s not you, but your children in the driving seat? You’re just plain deluded, you know that? You’re a power-mongering criminal, nothing more. And you’re certainly not a goddamn patriot!” He broke off, shocked at the vehemence of his own outburst. Then, just as suddenly, he started to laugh. Within seconds he was beside himself, his roars of hysteria echoing around the cavern. He removed his spectacles and wiped the tears from his eyes. “And you need me.”

“Excuse me?”

As quickly as it had started, Peterson’s laughter subsided. “I said, you need me.”

It was Volkov’s turn to laugh. “Well, now I am intrigued.”

A cocktail of fear, anger and loathing surged through Peterson’s veins, across his tongue and out over his lips. “One word, one letter. Stuxnet D.”

Volkov’s expression froze. For the first time since their encounter had begun, a quiver of uncertainty sounded in his voice. To most it would have been barely detectable. But to Peterson, it was as if somebody had smashed a gong over the bastard’s head. “You are lying.”

“Oh yeah? Check your goddamn footage!” Peterson began climbing slowly to his feet. “When I was in the security room on the Albanov, I uploaded the CCTV editor programme just as we discussed. But you’ll see I also uploaded something else from the data stick.

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