“Yes. Listen to me. You need to tell the Americans to activate NEST. They’re going to need to get people in here.”
There was a brief moment of stunned silence before she came back. “The Nuclear Emergency Support Team? Has there been a radiological accident?”
The purpose of NEST was to be ready to send teams to recover any kind of nuclear material or devices like dirty bombs. He wasn’t sure they were prepared for a fully functional, live nuclear bomb, but if anyone was prepared to deal with it, it was the NEST team.
“No. Listen to me. We’ve got a live atomic bomb.”
Again, there was a moment of silence. “All right, we’re contacting them right now. Is the site secure?”
“Hell no it’s not secure. The device is shortly going to be on its way to New York City.”
“They monitor for radiation levels all over the place around the East Coast.”
“This is a plutonium bomb. Plutonium is hard to detect in the first place and this one has a lead tamper around the pit. From the looks of the sophistication of it, they will probably use other shields to protect it on their way to New York City. These people know what they’re doing. I expect their truck is shielded. Any radiation will likely be tightly contained. It’s highly unlikely it would be detected.
“But even if some new, supersecret detection equipment did pick it up before it got into the city proper, that will be little consolation if they set it off when they’re intercepted. The blast radius, the firestorm, and the radiation would devastate a vast area. They don’t need to have a direct hit. With a nuke, close will do.”
“I’ve got red lights going up across the board with our contacts,” Dvora said. “Do you have coordinates?”
“I took the coordinates right at the site of the building they’re in. Sending them now.”
“Okay, got them.”
Jack knew that once the authorities secured the weapon they would need to get the NEST team in to disarm it.
“Let the Americans know that it’s not likely to have any fail-safe systems. But I would bet they have contingency plans for an attack.”
“I’ve got other operators notifying the DHS, NSA, and the FBI as well as the Pentagon as we speak. I don’t know what kind of tactical team they are going to want to deploy.”
“I suspect that whoever is closest will go in.”
“All right, Jack, we’re on it. We’ve got our entire center activated. We’re lighting up the Americans.”
Jack let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Dvora. I’ll stay on site until they get here just to make sure the terrorists don’t leave with the bomb. If they do we’ll follow them and I’ll update you with any information. Call me if you need anything more.”
“Stay well back from the area in case they can’t get boots on location fast enough. They may decide to send in a drone or jet to put ordnance on the site.”
“For god’s sake, I really don’t think they ought to be using explosives around a nuclear bomb.”
Explosives wouldn’t set off a nuke—it needed an electrical charge to detonate it—but there was always the risk of radioactive contamination from debris. They could inadvertently turn it into a dirty bomb.
“Given the situation, and the potential risk, that may be what they need to do. It’s their call,” Dvora said.
Jack knew what she meant. If an atom bomb was going to go off, better it go off in central New York State than in a major population center.
“Please tell them I advise against any heavy ordnance.”
“Do you think they will listen to what we tell them?”
“No, I suppose not. By the way, don’t let them know who is providing this intelligence. I’m not exactly welcome on the inside anymore.”
“Already anticipated that, Jack. We’re only saying that we have eyes-on intelligence. Since it’s us calling they will assume that it’s one of our agents.”
“Thanks, Dvora. I’ll call you if anything changes on the ground.”
After he hung up, he turned to Angela. She was watching him.
“I think it would be safer if we got some distance away from here. There’s liable to be lots of gunfire. I wouldn’t want either one of us getting hit with a stray round. Is there somewhere with some elevation where we can watch and see what happens?”
Angela nodded. “I know a place.”
They rushed to the truck but drove slowly out of the industrial complex. If the terrorists had lookouts, Jack didn’t want to alert them to the sound of a truck racing away. That would surely get them riddled with bullets.
Once they were on the road leaving the complex, Angela took the first turnoff onto a dirt road. It took them up through heavy woods to the crest of a hill, where she parked the truck at a gravel area at the end of the road. She grabbed a pair of binoculars from behind the passenger seat before they got out. They walked a short distance through maple and oak trees to a spot where they could overlook the entire area.
Angela handed him the binoculars. Jack surveyed the sprawling complex. The moonlight was enough to allow him to see all the buildings and vast stretches of concrete. He located the building where the terrorists had the bomb. If their truck left, he would be able to spot it.
If their cargo van left, and no one showed up in time, Jack knew he would have to try to stop it. If necessary, they would have to ram it to disable it so it couldn’t get to New York City.
Angela and Jack sat down on a rock ledge and waited, watching to make sure the men down in that building didn’t leave with the bomb. The minutes felt like hours as they waited for someone to show up. Jack didn’t know if it would be police cars, a drone that would fire a missile, or something in between. The problem with getting a team like SEALs or Delta Force in here was that they were likely not close by. But then again, Jack didn’t know anything about what American forces were available, where they were deployed, or what kind of aircraft they had at their disposal. He did know that they were effective and always ready.
He hoped they were close enough.
FIFTY-FOUR
A little over half an hour later Jack thought he heard something. He stood and took a few steps farther out from under the trees. He could feel a rapid thump, thump, thumping in his chest more than he could hear it. For all he knew there could have been more than one running in total blackout mode. He caught a glimpse of a blurred black shape as it passed across the nearly full moon high overhead.
“That sounds a little like helicopters,” Angela said.
“It’s a military stealth helicopter. Whoever is on board a ship like that is going to be the best of the best.”
Jack was relieved it was that kind of team that would be handling the situation.
The sound of the stealth helicopter died out in the distance. The dark scene below them was silent again. Jack watched but couldn’t hear anything or see anything. He figured they would have landed some distance away and would be approaching the building on foot.
As they waited, listening to the night birds singing up in the trees and the monotonous chirp of insects, the night suddenly erupted in the crackle of gunfire. The birds broke out of the trees overhead, squawking in fright as they fled. Jack put the binoculars to his eyes and saw a crisscross of tracer rounds going in every direction. The sound of the gunfire was probably the outgoing fire from the building. That type of assault group would likely have suppressors.
He handed the binoculars to Angela so she could see, too. As he did so, a massive explosion suddenly lit up the night. The building with the bomb vanished under an expanding, bright yellow-orange ball of fire. Jack could see the shock wave racing across the industrial site.
He put an arm around Angel’s shoulders and took her to the ground with him, holding her down protectively as the shock wave and the sound of the blast slammed into the trees all around.