Charles started tapping keys and the images on the screen changed as he flicked through different views of the inside and outside of the main building of the Molebka power complex. The first view showed the building from the front, with tall grey chimneys rising high into the air. The second view was of the rear of the building where the main entrance was located, blocked by large metal doors. He then flicked through three views of the building’s interior where workers could be seen going about their business unaware they were being watched. Any modern power plant would have a comprehensive CCTV system of its own installed as a matter of routine but this was clearly an old complex, with lax security.
‘Are we all ready to witness the fruits of our labour?’ Charles inquired generally.
It was clear he could hardly contain his glee. He must have waited for this moment for a long time. Amanda and Jeremy could do nothing but watch, helpless, as events unfolded.
There weren’t many people inside the plant itself that day, it being the weekend, but there was no way of knowing how many individuals might be relaxing in their accommodation nearby, or in the houses that dotted the surrounding landscape. It could be dozens but it could equally be hundreds…
Charles made direct eye contact with Amanda as he pressed a combination of buttons on the laser keypad. Amanda instinctively clasped her hand over her mouth, unable to remove her eyes from the screen as the horrific scene played out before them.
Firstly, an alert went off within the control centre in the heart of the building. An elderly, dark-haired man stared at the dials before him in disbelief. As the reactor began to heat up the plant went into red-alert. Flashing lights warned people to abandon their stations and evacuate the plant. Workers could be seen filtering out through the exits. Some lingered, clearly thinking it was just another drill, or made their way towards the exits while chatting calmly to colleagues.
Those in the houses and bungalows within the perimeter of the plant came out of their homes and headed towards the main exit. Beyond that, men, women and children could be seen scurrying across the fields and seeking safety beyond the surrounding hills.
Suddenly, and without further warning, the reactor detonated.
A large fireball consumed the entire plant, blazing vivid amber and gold. Billowing clouds of smoke filled the air. The buildings vanished instantaneously and what was once a grassy plain was turned in a fragment of a second into nothing more than scorched earth.
Then the rising smoke and dust filled the entire screen and no more detail could be seen.
Mr Charles met the horrified looks of Amanda and Jeremy with an even gaze.
‘That was satisfactory. For a test run at least.’
‘This is insanity!’ Jeremy breathed.
A flash of annoyance crossed Charles’s face. ‘Now it is time to be done with both of you. I have allowed you to watch the first unleashing of my power but you will not be around to witness the end.’
He turned once again to the lectern and entered a brief code on the keypad. Water began to flow up from the floor of the glass booth. Neither Amanda nor Jeremy had realised that there were small perforations in the floor to allow fluid to come in. The water quickly collected around their feet, seeping into their shoes.
As the water gushed around their ankles, Charles offered them a gesture of apology, indicating the booth in which they were confined. ‘Elaborate, I know. But drowning is so much less likely to attract attention when your bodies are found. You aren’t the first snoopers I’ve needed to dispose of in this way.’
He turned back to face the screen. He was now ready to unleash the full might of his wrath upon the unsuspecting world. He split the screen into nine different sections pertaining to the locations of nine specific nuclear plants that he plainly intended to bring to simultaneous meltdown. Captions at the foot of each picture identified them as the Civaux nuclear power plant in western France; the Chooz nuclear power plant in the Ardennes, close to the border with Belgium; the Krummel nuclear power plant located southwest of Hamburg in northern Germany; the Gundremmingen nuclear power plant in Bavaria in southern Germany; the Santa Maria de Garona nuclear power plant in northern Spain; the Trillo nuclear power plant in central Spain; the Hope Creek nuclear power plant in New Jersey, USA; the Brunswick nuclear power plant in North Carolina, USA; and the Perry nuclear power plant in Ohio, USA.
‘I could have chosen locations in Asia as well,’ Charles told them as he checked the screen, ‘but I thought I would leave that until later. As you may know, Australia does not utilise its plentiful uranium resources as it currently has no existing nuclear power plants. The UK has been spared for obvious reasons. As you can see, the plants I have picked are mainly in central Europe. Three are in the US.’
The nine plants were once again visible in real time on the screen. Energy production was being carried out as usual and nobody on the screens seemed any the wiser about what was to happen.
Within the glass booth the water was now lapping around Jeremy’s waist, which was the level of Amanda’s midriff. Strangely, Amanda found that she less concerned for their situation that she was by the chilling events taking place on the far side of the glass walls enclosing them.
Even as she watched, Charles began to ready the codes that would activate the nine detonators.
‘I haven’t heard a thing from them since they requested the decryption programme,’ said Charlotte, unable to keep the anxiety out of her voice. She had called Mai and James to her office to update them on her last contact with Amanda. It had been over an hour since then. ‘Do you think we should tell the chairman?’
James lent against the door, with the left earphone from his i-pod Nano trailing across his chest but with the right earphone still placed firmly in his ear.
‘We didn’t want to bother him unnecessarily. I just heard that there’s an alert from Russia with regards to a malfunction at an old nuclear power plant.’
Mai pursed her lips. ‘I think we need to go and see him at once.’
She practically dragged the two of them towards the director’s office.
The chairman was finding the news he was getting from Russia deeply unsettling. Radiation levels in the area surrounding the Molebka power plant had reached over 10,000 microsieverts an hour. It appeared that all towns and villages within a one-hundred kilometre radius were being evacuated. As acceptable levels of radiation were under 500 microsieverts an hour, the radiation was far too high for an investigation to be carried out this soon. His contacts were telling him that the KGB was treating the incident as potentially suspicious, which was why SVHQ was now also on the alert. He had been about to dial into a private teleconference hastily arranged between the KGB and MI6 when Mai, Charlotte and James burst into his office.
‘Sorry to bother you,’ Mai said, ‘but we thought we should let you know that we haven’t heard from Jeremy or Amanda for over an hour. Charlotte sent a decryption advice to Amanda’s webmail at three p.m. and that was the last we heard from them. What do you think we should do?’
Mai appeared breathless and wore a look of genuine concern upon her face.
The chairman was silent as he took a moment to analyse the difficult situation he was facing. Events in Russia were foremost on his mind and he reminded himself that Amanda had a good track record when it came to getting herself out of difficult situations. Of Jeremy’s level of experience and capability in these types of assignments, there was no question. Besides, there was no definite reason to think that things had gone awry for them. Had they made an important discovery they may well be gathering the necessary proof before returning to SVHQ. There was no regulation that compelled them to be in contact with SVHQ at every moment throughout the mission.
‘We’ll wait for them to contact us,’ he decided at last. ‘I am of the opinion that Amanda and Jeremy are both fully capable of handling the situation.’
James opened his mouth to protest, but the chairman raised his hand.
‘That’
s my decision. All of you, get back to work. I have had important news that may require you to divert your resources entirely.’
The trio left the office looking slightly downcast at being brushed off in such a manner The chairman put his head in his hands. This was not going to be an easy night.
Amanda held onto Jeremy in order to remain upright. The water level had now reached the point where she was unable to stand on the floor and keep her head above the surface. As the level continued to rise she thought not of the impending tragedy of her own death but that of the many people who would be affected by the callous actions of the man standing in front of them. And they were powerless to do anything to stop him.
Charles continued to ready the detonators. It required a sequence of complex programme overrides to send all nine reactors into meltdown simultaneously. Such was his attention to detail that he wanted the timing to be exact. He wanted to see all nine plants razed to the ground in one sublime moment of destruction.
Charles’s minions stood motionless around him. All of them, including Viktor, seemed impervious to emotion. Their faces all bore blank, impassive expressions.
Both Amanda and Jeremy were now swimming to stay alive, kicking with their feet and paddling with their hands to keep their heads above water. The level had reached the point where only a small layer of air remained between them and the top of the chamber. The crowns of their heads pressed against the glass above them. Height was no advantage at this late stage. Jeremy was as vulnerable as Amanda.
Charles grunted with satisfaction. Everything was synchronised and the big moment was almost upon them. All he had to do was type the final code and the mass meltdown would begin. Lethal amounts of radiation would be unleashed and the cleansing of humanity would begin, to be followed by many more similar meltdowns he intended to set in motion.
His hands trembled with excitement as he reached out to type the characters.
Water now filled the chamber to the very top and both Amanda’s and Jeremy’s heads were covered as they each took a last breath. Lack of oxygen was making Amanda feel light and dizzy. Her vision became blurred and in seconds she saw only a mass of darkness before her eyes. Bright lights, like stars, glittered against the blackness, and were then snuffed out, one by one. She felt Jeremy clasp her hand tightly and she knew that in seconds they would both lose consciousness.
Amanda’s mind was not completely blanked out yet, however. Her brain, though starved of oxygen, searched frantically for some escape. When she found nothing, she felt a sense of shame rather than panic. She had failed in her task and now many would suffer.
As the lights before her began to be extinguished she struggled not to resign herself to her fate. She had never been a person to give up and she would die fighting. She tried to concentrate on maintaining her composure. Going into a meditative state might win her a few seconds more. She forgot about Jeremy and focussed on the lights that danced before her eyes. She needed to concentrate. Five lights remained, then four, then three, then two, then only one. It’s dim and flashing character reminded of her something, but she could not remember what.
What did that flickering light represent to her?
It was too late. The final light went out and Amanda was plunged into nothingness. A series of dreamy images passed though her subconscious, which was still somehow functioning inside her unconscious body. As the images flashed through her mind like a slide-show one particular image kept repeating itself – a flashing LED.
That was when the revelation came to her. It was the LED on the small explosive device she had used to escape from the American Hospital in Paris, the small explosive device that even now was tucked into the inside of her belt. If she could only bring herself round she would be able utilise the device to get them out of this mess.
Amanda willed her mind to come back to the present. It was not easy, but she was able to re-illuminate the lights in her mind by picturing the image of a lit candle passing its flame to the dulled stars. Once she had managed to gain some sort of consciousness she opened her eyes. They stung, smarting as the water flowed over them. She could see mistily that no one in the room was even looking in their direction. All other eyes were transfixed by the screen in front of them. Jeremy’s face, just in front of her looked lifeless and a cold pale blue.
Amanda manoeuvred herself to the pane of glass in front of her, her lungs bursting. She fingered the inner surface of her leather belt, identifying the various items she had concealed beneath its outwardly normal exterior. There was a small Swiss army knife, her Mont-Blanc pen, the key to the filing cabinet in her apartment, and finally the two components of the device she was searching for.
She unhooked the small, unassuming object, with its clear sucker on one side and its black casing containing the LED on the reverse, and fixed it firmly to the glass. She registered that Charles had his hand raised ready to transmit the code that would wreak nuclear devastation across two continents and then pulled Jeremy’s unconscious form towards her with all her remaining strength. Then, just as Charles was about to bring his hand down and trigger catastrophe, Amanda prodded the remote.
The reinforced glass burst outwards, fragmenting into a thousand pieces that shot across the room, followed by a tidal wave of water. Amanda and Jeremy were thrown forwards onto the floor as the full force of the explosion unleashed itself upon Charles, Viktor and the other men.
Coughing violently, Amanda struggled to her feet and blinked to clear her eyes. She spotted Charles on his podium, looking stunned, and hurled herself at him, seizing him in an iron grip and dragging the man’s arm as far away from the keypad as she could. Jeremy, meanwhile, had been miraculously jolted back to life and was trying to secure Viktor in a clumsy headlock. Viktor, Amanda noted dimly as she kept Charles clamped in her grip, was in a terrible state as fragments of glass had lodged themselves in his face, opening up his scars and making him writhe with pain. The other henchmen appeared to be in a similarly helpless state, having been lacerated by flying glass and hurled across the room by the surge of water.
Now, however, Viktor mastered the pain enough to reach up with his two hands and grip Jeremy firmly around the neck. Jeremy was still in a highly weakened state and unlikely to be able to keep his opponent down for long. Then Amanda glimpsed a black handgun lying on the floor at her feet and, whilst still holding Charles firmly in her grasp, she managed to retrieve it. She brandished it towards Viktor.
‘Step away!’
Viktor spotted the gun and the look on Amanda’s face and reluctantly relinquished his hold on Jeremy. Then he pulled himself onto his feet and stood there with his gloved hands raised above his head, his face bleeding heavily.
‘Tell the others to stay where they are!’ Amanda ordered as some of the henchmen began to show signs of recovering.
Viktor nodded and motioned for the other guards to remain still.
Jeremy hauled himself up and removed another handgun from an unconscious guard beside him. Then he used it to cover the others as Amanda turned her own gun on Charles.
‘If any of you attempt to move I will shoot!’ she warned.
The guards looked nervously at one, unwilling to be the first to take the risk.
‘Do as she says,’ Charles groaned.
Amanda pulled a face. It seemed that a gun to the head could evidently bring some sense even to a murderous madman like Charles.
Amanda dragged the groggy Charles towards the exit. Jeremy followed, while keeping everyone else in the room covered in case they tried to do something stupid. Once they were through the door leading out of the basement, Jeremy locked it securely behind them to prevent pursuit. Amanda guessed that only Charles knew the detonation codes so that the devices would be useless without him. As they went back upstairs, forcing Charles up between them, they could hear banging on the door behind them. Luckily whoever had designed the basement had taken security into account. The door was formed of thick steel sandwiched between two pieces of oak, and
the lock was of the highest quality.
But in the scullery at the top of the stairs an unexpected visitor awaited them.
As Jeremy pushed open the door they were confronted by a large man brandishing a very large AK 47. Amanda recognised him instantly as Julien, Chaumert’s ‘trusted’ bodyguard.
‘Let him go,’ Julien snapped, motioning with the gun at Amanda.
Jeremy seized his opportunity and threw himself forwards, only to be slammed to the floor by a mighty blow from one of Julien’s huge fists. His gun skittered across the kitchen floor tiles. Julien stared at Amanda but kept his gun trained on Jeremy.
‘Let him go, or I’ll shoot.’
Amanda let go of her captive and stepped back. She knew from Julien’s icy glare that he was not kidding.
‘Both of you, put your hands above your head,’ Julien commanded.
A dazed Jeremy got back to his feet and placed his hands in the air. Amanda did the same.
Julien, Amanda concluded silently, was obviously the informant they had been trying to uncover. Not only that but he was also a trained killer.
Balthazar Charles sat on the floor beside Julien, taking a moment to catch his breath.
‘Dispense with them, Julien,’ he wheezed at last, raising his head to give Amanda and Jeremy a hate-filled, vengeful glare.
Julian raised the powerful weapon. Amanda was to be his first target. Before he could fire, however, there was an eruption of shouting and other noise and the room was suddenly full of people. Julien’s weapon was snatched from his hands and then both he and Charles were brought forcefully to the floor under a mob of black-clothed figures in bullet-proof vests, all of them armed to the teeth.
Amanda started open-mouthed as the chairman came into the room, followed by Mai, Charlotte and James. He looked down at Charles where he lay pinned to the floor by SVHQ’s tactical squad.
‘It’s all over for you, Mr Charles.’ He turned to Julien. ‘And for you, too.’
Charles closed his eyes in defeat, while Julian gave a surly grimace but said nothing.
Amanda: Tales of an international female spy Page 15
