"They are reporting that the plant was warned ahead of time?" Alice asked.

Virginia nodded as the scene on the monitor switched to show the three hundred employees of the refinery standing outside of the gates, watching their livelihoods vanish before their eyes.

Niles looked from the monitor to the two women. Virginia, for her part, averted her eyes.

"What in the hell is happening?"

At twelve midnight, Niles walked into the complex cafeteria and took a tray from a stack. He looked around the eating area and saw only a few technicians sitting and drinking coffee. He slid his tray down the cold line, eyed the egg salad sandwiches in their see-through wrapping, and decided he would settle for a cup of coffee and piece of pie.

He had just placed his tray on the table, sat and removed his glasses as Captain Everett walked over with Pete Golding in tow. Everett dropped a computer printout on the table and then sat in an empty chair, Pete following suit. Neither man looked happy.

Niles didn't bother putting his glasses back on as he raised a piece of pie to his mouth. Halfway there he thought better of it and put it back down.

"Europa says she admitted no one to the lower levels before the detonations," Everett said.

"Europa doesn't lie, Captain, although she can be fooled. We have a saboteur here, and as soon as you grasp the fact that it's someone with the clearance and someone who knows the Cray system, the sooner you can start your hunt in earnest," Pete said, pulling the piece of pie over to his side of the table and starting to eat.

"We also found this mysterious accelerant on level seventy-four. It just failed to ignite. So that means the target could have been any one of six hundred vaults--if they were targeted at all."

Niles rubbed his tired and itching eyes and looked at Everett.

"It has to be someone with intimate knowledge of Europa and her subroutines, wouldn't you say, Pete?"

"Absolutely. Not all department heads even know they can bypass her security. I would say less than six people have that knowledge."

"What about an outside influence?" Niles asked with hope.

"You mean to break into Europa and flush her security protocol?" Pete asked indignantly.

"Why not? Her main job is to backdoor other systems; maybe she was done the same way," Niles persisted.

"I uh ... why ... no! That just can't happen, not to Europa!" the computer genius said with a mouthful of pie.

"Take it easy, Doctor. That would still leave a physical presence here inside the complex to lay the explosives and accelerant. Europa can do a lot of things, but that isn't one of them," Everett said, watching as Pete finally swallowed the piece of pie he had in his mouth.

"Okay, what I want you to do, Pete, once an inventory list of every vault on both floors is compiled, is to go through them with a fine-tooth comb. By looking at that, we may be able to find something to give us the why of it. Captain, until further notice, all department heads are locked out of Europa and confined to the complex."

"Yes, sir."

"I reported to the president, but he hasn't returned my call. With the Texas City and Venezuelan incidents on the front burner, we may be on our own for a while."

THE UNITED NATIONS,

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

The UN general assembly was in short session, as many of the delegates wanted to be close to their consulates while the world figured out who initiated the three attacks. Accusations were tossed around as freely as the insults that preceded them.

As Venezuela took the floor, accusing the United States of dragging its feet on letting the world know the evidence they had in their possession, the lights dimmed and sixteen large viewing screens lowered from the ceiling. A blue field appeared and steadied.

The General Secretary of the UN, Sir John Statterling of Great Britain, stood and slammed his gavel hard on the main dais, then held his hand above his eyes to shade them from the sixteen bright xenon lights of the projectors at the rear of the building. He quickly ordered security to find out what the malfunction was. The general assembly became raucous, making some in attendance feel as if they were back in grade school, acting up when lights suddenly went out.

The screens flashed brightly, and then a sentence appeared. Every screen was utilized, and every language of the UN was spelled out, correctly and precisely, in clear block letters.

ATTENTION: THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE HAS BEEN COURIERED TO EVERY MAJOR NEWSPAPER AND NEWS ORGANIZATION IN THE WORLD.

Several UN security personnel were banging on the door of the audiovisual room, six floors up. The door had been locked from the inside and spot-welded shut. The video slides had been programmed two hours before by a technician with impeccable UN credentials.

The general assembly floor was silent but uneasy. There were shouts of indignation from individuals, but most felt that this had a very ominous ring to it.

The picture changed and more words appeared in white against a blue field, and still in every language represented by the assembly.

THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD HAVE LOST THE RIGHT TO USE THE SEAS FOR COMMERCIAL PETROLEUM AND CHEMICAL TRANSPORT. ALL DELIVERIES OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS AND CHEMICALS ARE HEREBY BANNED FROM THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH'S OCEANS.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

WASHINGTON, D.C.

The president was eating a late breakfast due to an earlier-than-usual national security briefing that morning when a Secret Service agent entered the private dining room. He went straight to the president and whispered into his ear, then handed him a fax just received from the Department of the Navy and the FBI.

"They received these simultaneously?"

"Yes, sir, also the State Department, the Interior Department, the United States Coast Guard, the NSA, and the CIA, plus every news organization with a typewriter or a video camera. All the copies say the same thing."

The president read the first of the faxes. His wife and daughter watched him as his jaw muscles clenched, and the blood slowly drained from his face.

THE UNITED NATIONS,

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Several of the members were standing in shock. Others were yelling at the top of their voices at anyone within earshot.

The screens flickered again and a new message appeared.

THE OCEANS OF THE WORLD ARE NOW AT 61 PERCENT LOSS OF SPECIES DUE TO CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE BY THE OUTLAW NATIONS GOVERNING THE SEAS. THE SEAGOING PRODUCTION OF ALL OIL AND NATURAL GAS WILL CEASE IN THIRTY DAYS, OR THEIR CORRESPONDING PLATFORMS OR PUMPING STATIONS WILL BE DESTROYED. ALL REFINERIES LOCATED WITHIN A ONE-KILOMETER DISTANCE OF SHORELINES WILL CEASE OPERATIONS WITHIN ONE YEAR. WHERE THEY ARE RELOCATED IS AT THE DISCRETION OF PETROLEUM-PRODUCING AND -CONSUMING NATIONS. YOU ARE HEREBY WARNED--THEY WILL REMAIN INLAND OR BE DESTROYED.

AS OF THIS DATE, FORCES INVULNERABLE TO MILITARY ACTION, AS DEMONSTRATED OFF THE COAST OF VENEZUELA AND THE UNITED STATES, HAVE RECLAIMED THE SEA. NO MILITARY VESSEL WILL BE ALLOWED PAST THE THOUSAND-METER DEPTH IN ANY OCEAN OF THE WORLD, UPON PENALTY OF IMMEDIATE AND RUTHLESS REPRISAL. YOUR WARS REMAIN YOUR OWN; YOUR LANDS REMAIN YOUR OWN. HOWEVER, THE SEAS HAVE BEEN FORFEITED THROUGH YOUR NEGLIGENCE, ARROGANCE, AND AVARICE. AS A GESTURE OF GOOD FAITH, CIVILIAN TRAVEL UPON THE SURFACE OF THE SEAS WILL BE PERMITTED.