Charlie Thorne And The Last Equation

Semel uses satellites to pinpoint Charlie’s jet and determine where they are headed. The satellite feed soon identifies a jet of the right kind flying over the Arctic Circle, the most common route for flights from Israel to the US From that, Semel calculates where Charlie is going.

John lands at Los Angeles International Airport and listens to the message from Alexei warning him that Charlie escaped. Assuming Charlie is headed for Los Angeles, he hurries to reach Pandora first. He plans to find Pandora and sell it to the highest bidder; if anyone doubts the power of what he has, he will bomb a city as proof. Then he will take his money and become a new person.

Dante wakes, and Charlie informs him that due to bad weather, they had to change their flight route and will now be landing in a small airport closer to Mount Wilson than LAX. A rental car will meet them there. Dante wants to contact the CIA to request backup, but Charlie refuses. The CIA has already accused them of being traitors and cannot be trusted. Dante argues that “most government employees are like [him]. They’re good people, trying to do the right thing” (342). Charlie retorts that he cannot guarantee that the US government will use Pandora’s power responsibly. Milana agrees with Charlie’s concerns. However, she says they should find Pandora first and then discuss what to do with it.

In Beverly Hills, a man named Benny receives a call from Semel. Benny is one of several former Mossad agents, including another named Leo, who now live in the Los Angeles area. Though they are officially retired, they know they need to be ready if they are called into service. Semel explains the situation and orders them to find Charlie and the others and get to Pandora. Leo locates and follows Charlie into the San Gabriel Mountains.

Charlie and the others head to the Mount Wilson Observatory. The mountains are snowy, but Charlie had her bank provide winter clothing along with the rental car. Unfortunately, she had not thought to request more ammunition for Dante and Milana’s weapons and hopes they will not need them. They arrive at the observatory, which consists of several buildings, a reservoir, and an array of telescopes. Charlie is momentarily awed, saying, “It makes more and more sense that this is where Einstein hid Pandora. A big idea like that would be in good company up here” (351). Using their CIA credentials, Dante and Milana demand access to the Hooker telescope dome, and the head of operations, Tim, shows them in.

The former Mossad agent Leo follows them to the observatory and reports to Benny. Then, the call goes silent. Fearing the worst, Benny and several other retired Mossad agents race to the observatory to help. John, who has just killed Leo, considers his options. Despite John’s careful planning, Charlie has somehow reached the observatory before him and accidentally led the Mossad there as well. Now, he will let Charlie find Pandora and then take it from her.

Charlie and the others inspect the Hooker telescope building. They explain what they are looking for and ask if the building has changed much since 1931. Tim insists that if Einstein had hidden anything inside the building, someone would have seen it by now.

Charlie reconsiders the clue, including the reference to “Neptune’s optics.” She realizes that “optics” means reflectors and the largest reflector in the area is the reservoir. Tim adds that Einstein laid the cornerstone for the pump house at the reservoir in 1931. They run to the pump house, and Dante uses a sledgehammer to crack the cornerstone. Inside is a metal case with “ten code wheels in the lid, each with numbers 0-9” (362). A message etched into the metal explains that the case contains a vial of pure cesium, which will explode if the wrong code is entered, destroying the equation inside.

They hear a noise, and Dante investigates, leaving the others. Charlie realizes she knows the code. The equation from the previous clue yields a 10-digit number, but she hesitates to unlock the case. She tells Milana it may be best to destroy the contents and not allow anyone to have Pandora.

Milana says she understands that Charlie wanted the codename Prometheus not merely because Prometheus was a thief but because when the gods created women, Pandora was the first, and Prometheus was charged as her protector. Milana says: “You imagined yourself as Pandora’s protector, Charlie. And you can still be. It doesn’t have to be the Furies that come out of the box. Hope can emerge as well” (365). Convinced, Charlie enters the 10-digit code and opens the case. Inside lies a small envelope. Before Charlie can open the envelope, Milana points a gun at Charlie and orders her to hand it over.

Charlie fears that Milana has switched sides. Then, she realizes that Milana is simply loyal to the CIA. Charlie slowly reaches out to give Milana the envelope but drops the cesium vial at the same time, which explodes. Just then, John aims to shoot Milana from a hiding spot, but the explosion blows her clear of his gunfire, sending both Milana and Charlie out of range. He emerges from his hiding space to find them and sees the Mossad agents moving in.

The Mossad agents arrive in time to witness the explosion. Then they spot John, who fires at them. Dante also sees the Mossad agents closing in. Fearing for Charlie’s safety, he runs toward the pump house.

After the cesium explosion, Charlie and Milana lay in the snow. Tim recovers from the blast, retrieves the Pandora envelope, and runs toward the main building. Charlie follows him. When Charlie reaches him, she explains that the men with guns are after the envelope, not him. If he gives it to her, she will lead them away. She tells him to lock himself in the observatory for safety. Then she takes the envelope and runs into the woods, away from the gunfire.

Meanwhile, Milana recovers from the blast. She sees John and the Mossad and ducks to avoid the crossfire. One bullet hits her thigh, but she runs after Charlie.

Dante tries to follow Charlie, but the Mossad agents block him. He promises that he will let them have Pandora if they help him save Charlie. He is surprised to realize he is telling the truth: that he cares about Charlie and is willing to risk his career to save her.

John races after Charlie, following her tracks in the snow until she reaches a cliff on the mountainside. Charlie skids to a halt at the cliff’s edge with nowhere to run. She grabs hold of a tree branch and leans out over the edge, holding the Pandora envelope out over the side. She tells John that if he shoots her, she will fall and take Pandora with her. Instead, he will have to put his gun down and use both hands if he wants to pull her back from the edge. Reluctantly, he does so, but the moment he pulls her to safety, she punches him in the face.

Charlie knows she is not a strong fighter but hopes the punch will surprise him. It works momentarily before he recovers and knocks her to the ground. Milana runs toward them but is too far away to help. John prepares to shoot Charlie, but Charlie throws a rock at his head, sending his shot wide. The bullet strikes a propane tank nearby. It explodes, slamming into them and spreading fire through the woods, cutting Charlie and John off from the others.

Dante and the Mossad run toward Milana, who explains that Charlie and Pandora are on the other side of the fire. Dante tries to dive in to save his sister, but Milana stops him. He realizes Charlie will save herself.

John lies on the ground, his spine broken from being slammed against a tree. He can only watch as Charlie recovers the envelope. He is infuriated that a mere girl has ruined all his hard work and planning. Then, he dies in the fire.

Charlie recovers the envelope but is trapped by the flames. Determined not to die without seeing Pandora, she reads the equation, which is “like a lightning bolt in Charlie’s brain. [...] A feat of divine inspiration” (383). She then sees a piece of metal debris that is roughly the shape of a snowboard. She grabs it, losing hold of Pandora at the same time. Pandora burns in the fire and now only exists in Charlie’s memory. Using the metal, she leaps off the cliff as the numbers appear for her.

CIA agents swarm the observatory and interrogate Dante and Milana. The agents searched for Charlie after the fire but are convinced she did not survive. Dante and Milana stand at the cliff’s edge and see a track in the snow leading toward Los Angeles, and they realize that Charlie is alive.