Phoenix

by Alex Lukeman

  "Three? Are you telling me there could be three explosions?"

  Hopkins adjusted his tie. He usually tried to appear cool and collected. He looked anything but cool at the moment.

  "That's about the size of it, Mister President."

  Corrigan turned to Hood.

  "How did this happen? How could the cooling systems for three separate power plants all fail at the same time?"

  "Sir, I think Director Harker is better prepared to answer that question."

  "Well, Director?"

  "Mister President, the servers at Palo Verde were hacked. The cooling systems were instructed to shut down."

  "Hacked? Someone did this deliberately?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Who? Who did this?"

  It was the question Elizabeth had been dreading.

  "Sir, we are not certain. Early indications are that the attack possibly originated in Moscow."

  "The Russians? The fucking Russians?"

  "Sir, I repeat, it's not certain. There are some indications it was them, but they are suspicions only. Someone could be trying to confuse us."

  "Are you certain it wasn't the Chinese?" Cartwright asked. "Could they have made it look as though the hack came from the Russians?"

  "You're asking me to speculate," Elizabeth said. "The consequences of this are too serious for speculation."

  "You didn't answer my question, Director."

  "This attack is similar to the one that took out Three Gorges. I can't believe the Chinese would do that for any reason. It could be the Russians, but it might easily be someone trying to make it look as though the Russians did it."

  "In other words, you don't know anything. Could be and might be aren't helpful. We need to respond and we need to do it immediately."

  Elizabeth looked at Cartwright and wondered how anyone so uninformed could rise so high. Chief of Staff to the President was one of the most powerful positions in Washington.

  "Your political background does not give you the expertise to make the kind of judgment you just expressed," Elizabeth said. "Without clear and firm intelligence, taking action against Moscow or anyone else is premature and dangerous."

  "Remember who you're talking to," Cartwright said.

  "I know exactly who I'm talking to. Fortunately, it's the president who will make those kinds of decisions, not you."

  Cartwright made a face as though she were sucking on a lemon.

  Corrigan said, "Hopkins, what are they doing to stop those plants from blowing up?"

  "Everything they can, sir. If they can't get those pumps working again, we're looking at another Chernobyl. Palo Verde is upwind from Phoenix. Normally, the plume exposure path in the event of a major accident is about a ten mile radius. However, there are unusually strong winds in the area. They are predicted to last through the rest of the day. If any one of the containment domes over those plants is breached, Phoenix will be exposed to serious radiation. We have an open line to the site and are monitoring progress as we speak."

  Director Hood leaned forward. "Mister President, I recommend that evacuation orders be issued for Phoenix and the area surrounding the plant."

  Cartwright said, "If we issue evacuation orders, it will create panic."

  "If we don't issue those orders and the plant blows, it will create a lot more than panic," Hood said. "It will create hundreds of thousands of people poisoned by radiation."

  "We'll wait," Corrigan said. "There's a chance they can get the cooling systems back on line in time. We have to give them the opportunity before we push the panic button."

  "Sir..."

  "I said, we'll wait."

  Hood sat back. "Yes, Mister President."

  "Director Hood. I assume you have agents within the Federation."

  "Yes, sir."

  "Use them. See if they can find out anything."

  "I'll do what I can, Mister President, but it will take time to contact them."

  "Damn it, Director, what good is Langley if you can't get information to me in a timely manner?"

  Hood kept his temper. "Sir, our assets in the Federation are all under deep cover. It's not as easy as calling them up and telling them what we need."

  "Find out what's going on, Director. Consider it an order."

  "Yes, Mister President."

  I wish Rice was still in charge, Elizabeth thought.

  CHAPTER 33

  The Palo Verde nuclear plant was located in the desert forty-five miles from Phoenix, far from any source of natural water. Water to cool the reactors came from treated sewage provided by Phoenix and towns and municipalities in the area. Twenty billion gallons of wastewater a year coursed through four pumps that pushed 111,000 gallons of water a minute through two giant steam generators. The steam drove the turbines that produced electricity. The Palo Verde facility was the largest power generator in the country.

  The plant was a key switching point in the Western electrical grid. If it went off line, large parts of Arizona and Southern California would go dark. Phoenix, LA, and San Diego would all be without power. A sudden loss of all power from the plant would likely cause a cascade effect, taking out the entire West Coast grid. It wouldn't end there. The effects would be felt across the rest of the nation. The electricity grid in the United States was tightly interconnected and subject to potential shutdown. The lone exception was Texas, which had its own, isolated grid system.

  As a strategic target in time of war, Palo Verde was on the top of everybody's hit list.

  Each of the reactors was housed within a concrete dome designed to contain radiation in the event of an accident. As the world had learned from Chernobyl and Fukushima, radioactivity would poison everything in the area if containment was breached.

  If a problem was detected in one of the reactors that required shutting it down, normal procedure used control rods inserted into the reaction chamber to soak up heat and prevent meltdown. The computer programs that controlled the process had been corrupted by the same virus that had shut down the pumps. The technicians were unable to lower the rods. Radioactivity was rising as the reactors began to heat up.

  At 2:11 in the afternoon, nonessential personnel were ordered to evacuate all three reactor buildings. At 2:47, the core of reactor number two reached the critical meltdown point. All the water on top of the uranium fuel rods had evaporated and they began to melt from the intense heat. A pool of radioactive material started to form at the bottom of the steel containment vessel. At 2:56, the core of reactor number three reached melting point. Technicians managed to restart the pumps, but it was too late.

  As at Fukushima, the fuel rods at Palo Verde contained zirconium. A reaction began between the superheated zirconium and the remaining water in the reactor cores. Hydrogen gas began filling the containment domes.

  Each of the containment chambers contained remote controlled video cameras. In the control room, one of the technicians wanted to see a slightly different view of the damaged reactor. He commanded one of the cameras to move to the right. As it began to move, the motor created a tiny spark.

  The hydrogen gas in reactor number two ignited.

  The explosion blew through the containment dome and saturated the control room with lethal radioactivity. A radioactive cloud spewed out into the clean, desert air.

  CHAPTER 34

  At the White House, Elizabeth's phone buzzed in her pocket. She took it out. The call was from Stephanie.

  "Mister President, I need to take this. It will bear on the situation at Palo Verde."

  "Go ahead, Director. Put it on speaker."

  "Steph, I'm still in a meeting with the president. I'm putting you on speaker."

  Stephanie's voice was strained. "There's been an explosion at Palo Verde. The containment dome of one of the reactors was breached, and there's been a serious release of radioactivity. One of the other reactors could blow at any moment. They're trying to get it cooled down."

  Corrigan said, "General Adamski."

 
"Sir?"

  "Go to DEFCON 2."

  "At once, Mister President."

  Adamski got up and left the room.

  Elizabeth gripped her phone. "Anything more on who did this?"

  "It was the same people who interfered with the Wayne. Freddie refuses to say it was the Russians. He thinks the digital trail is misdirection."

  "I'll call you when I'm out of the meeting."

  Elizabeth disconnected.

  "Who is this Freddie person?" Corrigan asked.

  "Freddie is a computer, not a person. He's a Cray XT my deputy has modified. If Stephanie and Freddie say we can't pin this with certainty on the Russians, you can take it to the bank."

  Corrigan gave her an unfriendly look.

  "You want me to take the word of a computer that the Russians didn't do this?"

  "I stand behind the judgment of my deputy," Elizabeth said. "Freddie isn't your average computer. If she thinks there's reasonable doubt about the Russians being responsible, we need to consider that."

  "That doesn't mean they weren't behind it," Hopkins said.

  "No," Elizabeth said. "It doesn't."

  An aide came into the Oval Office.

  "Mister President, there's been a containment breach at the Palo Verde nuclear facility in Arizona."

  "I know," Corrigan said. "Get General Denton on the phone. Get the head of DHS, the DNI, and Director Franklin in this office within the hour. And the head of the NRC as well."

  Denton commanded the United States Strategic Command, headquartered at Offut AFB in Nebraska. He was in charge of the missiles that would defend the country and retaliate. USSTRATCOM was a unified command with global strike capability. Director Franklin headed up the National Security Agency. The NRC was the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They would be the ones responsible for dealing with the aftermath of the explosion.

  "Yes, sir," the aide said.

  He closed the door behind him.

  CHAPTER 35

  Outside General Alexei Vysotsky's office window, the leaves on the trees were turning green. The brutal winter of the past few months was fading into memory. The sun was shining, the sky was blue. People strolled under the blooming trees and laid out picnics by the side of the Moscow river, taking advantage of the perfect weather. The mood of the city was cheerful, happy.

  Vysotsky was not happy.

  A file on his desk was stamped in large, red letters:

  ACHILLES

  Совершенно Секретно

  Vysotsky looked again at the latest message received from his agent in America, then placed it inside the file. He put the file in a safe on the bottom right-hand side of his desk, closed and locked the safe. He rubbed his forehead, trying to head off the pain of a headache building behind his eyes.

  An American nuclear plant had been sabotaged, creating a major radiation emergency. The Americans thought the Federation was responsible.

  Someone was trying to make it look as though Russia had sabotaged the nuclear plant. Vysotsky knew it wasn't true, but the Americans clearly suspected Moscow was behind it. They had gone to DEFCON 2. The Federation and China had followed suit.

  Until he'd read the report, Vysotsky had been confused by the American escalation. Now he understood the reason. While the citizens of Moscow basked in the rare weather outside, the world was moving toward nuclear war.

  Vysotsky picked up the red phone.

  "Da."

  "I need to see him. Immediately."

  "Hold one."

  A minute later the voice came back on the line.

  "The President will see you in half an hour. Be prompt."

  The line disconnected.

  Asshole, Vysotsky thought.

  On the drive over to the Kremlin, Vysotsky considered what to tell Orlov. Someone was trying to make it look as though the Federation had attacked the United States. Someone was trying to start a war. But why? What could they possibly gain? Surely they knew that even if America struck first, Russia's rocket forces would annihilate them in return. No one would win the exchange. The Chinese and NATO would be drawn in. If things continued like this, the world might soon be reduced to radioactive ruins.

  It didn't make any sense.

  Orlov's personal aide was waiting for him. He escorted Vysotsky to the president's office in the green roofed Senate building.

  Orlov rose as Alexei entered the room, a good sign.

  Vysotsky wondered how Orlov always managed to look as if he were ready for some strenuous athletic event. He was pushing sixty but exuded the energy of a much younger man. His eyes reminded Alexei of the blue ice found in the glaciers of the far north. They gave nothing away of what Orlov was thinking.

  "General. Please sit down. I can see you have urgent news. Does this concern America?"

  Orlov sat down. Vysotsky took a chair near Orlov's desk.

  "Yes, Mister President. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice. I have discovered why the Americans raised their defense posture."

  Orlov waited.

  "There has been a meeting at the White House between the American President, the Director of the CIA, their National Security Advisor, and Director Harker of the Project group. Corrigan called them in to discuss the emergency at their nuclear power facility in Arizona."

  "Go on."

  "The plant was sabotaged by hacking the computers that control the cooling systems. It was the same kind of attack that took down our plane and destroyed the Three Gorges Dam. Digital indicators were discovered that indicate we are responsible."

  "That is a lie," Orlov said.

  "Yes, Mister President. We know that, but the Americans do not. Harker tried to make a case that indications of our involvement might be false, a deliberate attempt to misdirect blame. This did not go over well in the meeting. Corrigan believes we are responsible and that we are preparing a first strike. It is the reason the Americans raised their military posture. Corrigan is a hothead. He may make a mistake."

  "I was uncertain why the Americans had escalated. What you've told me makes it clear. What you haven't told me is what worries me. Are you any closer to finding out who is behind these attacks?"

  "We know the transmissions are coming from within the Arctic Circle. We don't know the exact location. Corrigan believes this latest one originated here, in Moscow."

  "Corrigan is the product of a diseased donkey and a whore," Orlov said.

  "I would like to contact Director Harker."

  "Why?"

  "Her analysis of the hacker's transmissions is superior to ours. She's our best chance of proving we are not involved. We've managed to work with her unit in the past, to our mutual advantage."

  The Project and Elizabeth Harker needed no introduction for Vladimir Orlov. His current mistress was Valentina Antipov, Selena's half-sister. Selena's father had been a CIA agent stationed in West Berlin during the Cold War. Valentina's mother, a KGB agent stationed in East Germany. Valentina was the product of an unapproved liaison between them.

  "Harker tried to get Corrigan to see it might not be the Federation behind the attack but he doesn't believe her. She doubts the authenticity of the digital trail pointing toward us. I know her. She does not want war between our nations. It's possible she may help identify the true enemy."

  "You have permission, General. Be quick about it."

  "Yes, sir."

  "I will call the American President and try to persuade him we are not the cause of his misfortune, but he may not believe me. I am relying on you to find out what we need to know."

  Orlov stood. Vysotsky rose with him.

  "Do not fail me, General."

  "Never, Mister President."

  Outside the Senate building, Vysotsky crossed the paved courtyard and looked up at the soft, spring sky.

  Do not fail me, General.

  Alexei had a terrible feeling that failure would fill that sky with death.

  CHAPTER 36

  Elizabeth looked at the display on her satel
lite phone. The ID was blocked. Not many people had that number. She activated the call, curious.

  "Harker."

  "Director. How pleasant to hear your voice. It is been a while since I've had the pleasure of speaking with you."

  General Vysotsky. I'll be damned.

  "General. I'm surprised to hear from you."

  "I'm sure you know about the plane crash that killed our officers."

  "Yes. You have my deepest condolences."

  Why would he call? "The plane was sabotaged," Vysotsky said. "I have been instructed to investigate. Although I doubt that your country is behind this atrocity, President Orlov is suspicious."

  "Please tell President Orlov that his suspicions are unfounded," Elizabeth said. "We are not responsible."

  In Moscow, Vysotsky sighed. It was the kind of sigh only a Russian could make, filled with hidden meaning. Yes, but we both know I cannot take your word for it.

  "We are aware that your President Corrigan believes we are responsible for the incident in Arizona."

  How the did he know that?

  Vysotsky continued. "We did not sabotage your nuclear facility. Why would we? President Orlov does not want war, but someone is pushing our countries toward a confrontation. China, too. Why else would the dam be destroyed, except to create suspicion? They have sent troops to our border, but my sources inform me that they are equally suspicious of your own country. Once again we have a common enemy. In the past, you and I have worked well together. I propose we share any new information we discover. Have you been able to find out where these attacks come from?"

  Elizabeth had no illusions about General Vysotsky. He'd use whatever she told him to the advantage of the Federation, but eventually he'd find out the transmissions had come from within the Arctic Circle.

  "We think the origin is somewhere in the Arctic. Beyond that, we haven't pinned it down. Not yet."

  Good, Vysotsky thought. She is being truthful.

  "We may be able to work together," Elizabeth said. "But you're forgetting something."

  "Oh? What would that be?"