Page 100 of Wild Oblivion

This bomb was similar to the others—a central core, an electromagnetic field array, backup power, multiple leads, and enough dummy leads to make it confusing.

“This is very similar to my design on a smaller scale and with a few modifications,” Emily said. “Ashton must have gained access to my computer and shared all of my notes and schematics.” She considered it for a moment. “I think I can neutralize the device by freezing it, then shattering the phase coherence with focused parametric ultrasound. It’s risky. You should probably clear out.”

“How risky?”

Emily shrugged. “By the way, I’m mad at you.”

“Me?”

“How long did you know about the brunette?”

“Can we talk about this later?”

“If there is a later.” She rushed to a cabinet and grabbed a can of liquid nitrogen, then dashed back to the table.

“Mist it over the device,” I said. “Any abrupt change in temperature could trigger it.”

Her annoyed eyes narrowed at me. “I know what I’m doing.”

She sprayed the pressurized canister with a fine nozzle over the bomb. Within a few passes, it looked like an evil Christmas ornament.

JD and I huddled around. I’m not going to lie, the instinct to find the door was strong, but we weren’t going to leave Emily on her own.

She hustled across the room again.

“What the hell is that?” JD asked when she pulled a device from a locker.

“A prototype we’re working on,” she said, holding what resembled a space-age rifle. It was off white with aluminum accents. Its long, thick barrel, flashing lights, and pistol grip made it look like something Space Marines might carry. “A high-intensity sonic weapon. Good for crowd control. Low-frequency ultrasound can cause disorientation, nausea, and loss of motor skills. It’s got an effective range of several hundred feet. With any luck, it will disrupt the mechanism.”

She shouldered the sonic weapon and took aim at the frozen device. “Last chance to clear out.”

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It was like standing in front of a giant speaker at the loudest concert you’ve ever attended. Multiplied by 10. The subsonic pulse was felt more than heard when Emily squeezed the trigger.

My whole body vibrated from the inside out, starting with my bones. It made me feel uncomfortable and twisted my stomach, even though I was well out of the line of fire.

Defense research companies had been working on this kind of tech for crowd control for a long time, but this was next-level stuff. Emily had skill when it came to designing disruptive weapons with cutting-edge tech.

When she squeezed the trigger, the subsonic pulse vibrated the device, knocking off the frost in a white mist. The lights went out, and the internal components suffered microfractures. At least, that was the hope.

With any luck, it was enough to stop the process.

We all shared a look and approached the device with caution.

“Think it’s disabled?” JD asked.

I shrugged.

Emily set the sonic gun on the table and grabbed an IR imager. She scanned the bomb.

There were no fluctuations in temperature, no hotspots, no flickering traces of activity within the core. The bomb looked inert.

“I feel reasonably certain it’s been rendered safe,” Emily said. “But I think we should clear the area just in case.”

I didn’t disagree. “How many more pulses is that thing good for before it needs a recharge?”

She smirked. “That’s the beauty of it. You could fire this non-stop for 24 hours and still have a charge left over.”