When twenty minutes had passed, Frank called the secure phone located in his Black Diamond office, and Spencer answered, “What the hell is this all about, Frank?”
“Spencer, we’ve known each other for a long time. I consider you to be a close friend that I trust implicitly, and that is the only reason I’m making this call. I may live to regret this, but here it goes. Around noon today, you made a phone call to the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory and spoke with a geologist named Stephen Hanson.”
The sudden surprise and guilt that quickly covered Spencer’s face gave him the appearance of a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “That was a necessary phone call to a colleague,” Spencer said defensively.
“I understand that you were talking to a colleague, but you gave him critical information about Black Diamond that you knew was classified.”
“I had to share some information with him in order to try and figure out what in the devil is going on here, and I gave him very little information about this facility. You debriefed me thoroughly on what’s classified, and I didn’t violate that.”
“I have a report indicating that you supplied detailed information concerning the location, security, construction, and purpose of the facility on that phone call.”
“Frank, that’s bullshit! You know me better than that. What a load of crap!”
“Calm down, Spencer. I believe you.”
“What?”
“I said I believe you.”
“Then why did you throw this shit at me?”
“I needed to see what you’d say; especially if I’m going to put my ass out on a limb here.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Apparently, the phone line was tapped at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory when you made the call to Hanson. They called me this evening to inform me that you had divulged classified information and were threatening national security. None of these people know that you’re a personal friend of mine. They just think I consulted you because of your excellent reputation. I was given specific instructions from high levels in the government to personally eliminate the threat that you posed to national security.”
“Eliminate the threat? Does that mean what I think it does?”
“Yes, I’m supposed to quietly make you disappear forever. Now, you understand the position I’m in here.”
“Holy shit, Frank, why would they be doing this?”
“You must have said something that scared the crap out of some powerful people—something that they absolutely don’t want to get out. Now, Spence, it’s your turn to be honest and tell me what they’re so scared about. I’m sure you know what it is.”
“I was planning on talking to you when you returned to let you know what I had discovered.”
“Well, you better go ahead and spill the beans to me now, because both of our lives are at stake here.”
Over the phone, Spencer started softly chuckling, and Frank said, “What, in the name of God, could be funny about that?”
“Frank, our lives are not at stake here. What’re at stake are the lives of the entire human population.”
“The entire human population? Now, I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Do you remember when we were talking earlier about dinosaur extinction?”
“Sure—the huge asteroid that hit in the Yucatan sixty-five-million years ago.”
“That was what we call an
extinction level event—something that causes mass extinction of species. There have been many others that occurred throughout Earth’s history; that was simply the last major extinction event. In fact, it wasn’t even close to being the worst extinction in the past 500 million years.”
“What was the worst one?”
“They call it the Great Dying. It occurred 251 million years ago at the boundary between the Permian and Triassic periods, and it resulted in the extinction of 96 percent of all marine species and seventy percent of land species, including plants, animals, and insects. The more recent extinction only killed fifty percent of all species, but did completely eliminate the dinosaurs. Most people don’t realize it, but humans were pushed close to extinction 74,000 years ago, during a relatively minor extinction event, when a super volcano erupted in Indonesia.”
“I’m still confused. Are you trying to tell me that you think another huge asteroid is about to hit?”
“No, Frank, I’m trying to tell you that I think something much, much worse is about to occur. For all of our sakes, let’s hope I’m wrong.”