by Alex Lukeman
He slipped the ring back on his finger as Crowther's knock came at the door.
"Enter."
"You sent for me, sir?"
"Your team is prepared for the assignment I gave you?"
"Only waiting for your permission to proceed, Herr Kondor."
"You have permission. Make sure you do not fail."
"We won't fail, sir."
"Your targets are in America. You have all the information you need. Be sure nothing leads back here."
"Of course not, sir. You don't have to worry. We'll leave tonight."
"If possible, make it painful for them."
Crowther smiled.
"I'll do my best, sir." Crowther paused. "The leader and his wife. I was wondering about their children."
"What about them?"
"Do you want them eliminated as well? They're not very old."
"They are the spawn of my enemies. Is that clear enough?"
"Quite clear, sir."
"Then you'd better get going," Kondor said.
Chapter 38
Elizabeth was talking to Stephanie when the display on her secured phone showed DCI Hood was calling.
"It's Langley," she said. She made the connection. "Good morning, Clarence. I hope you've got some good news for me."
"Morning, Elizabeth. Yes, good news. We've got a fix on one of those missing nukes. Right now it's in Germany, moving along the E50 autobahn. It's probably in a truck like the one we found in Hungary."
"What about the other one? Have you picked up on that?"
"Not yet. The tracker might be turned off or malfunctioning."
"Have the German authorities been notified?"
"Yes," Hood said. "They don't know it's a nuke, only that the truck is being driven by terrorists and contains explosives. Hopkins is still trying to keep the theft of the bombs a secret."
"Doesn't he realize he's jeopardizing the lives of millions of people by misrepresenting the threat?"
"Elizabeth, I haven't a clue how that man thinks."
"How are the Germans going to handle it?"
"They've set up a roadblock a few miles outside of Nuremberg. They want to stop the vehicle before it gets to the city. I'm going to relay a live satellite feed to you. We can watch what happens as it goes down."
"Hang on a moment." Elizabeth turned to Stephanie. "Steph, Clarence is relaying a satellite feed to us. Set it up."
"On it," Stephanie said. "Freddie, Langley is sending us a live satellite feed. Can you put it up on the monitor?"
Of course, Stephanie. The feed is coming through now .
The monitor lit. There was a brief burst of static. The picture cleared to show a group of police cars blocking a broad highway. The focus zoomed in for closer detail. Elizabeth and Stephanie could see the faces of the German police waiting at the roadblock. They wore leather jackets and high peaked caps. All were armed with automatic weapons. They were stopping vehicles, inspecting them, then letting normal traffic pass. Traffic was beginning to back up on the autobahn.
"We've got it, Clarence. I can see the roadblock."
"The Germans are good at this kind of thing," Hood said.
"Do they know what they're dealing with?"
"They know they're dealing with terrorists who have nothing to lose. They have a lot of experience."
"They're going to need it," Elizabeth said. "If what happened in Hungary is any indication, those people won't give up without a fight."
"I hope you're wrong," Hood said.
As Elizabeth and Hood were talking, the truck with the Paris bomb passed a road sign indicating it was ten kilometers to Nuremberg. Apti was driving. Beslan sat in the passenger seat, watching the manicured German countryside pass by.
"A prosperous people, these Germans," Beslan said. "Every house looks freshly painted. Every field is perfect. I could almost believe weeds and disorder are not allowed here."
"If the winds are blowing right when the bomb goes off, they'll have more than weeds to worry about."
They came around a long, sweeping curve. Ahead, cars were slowing, coming to a stop. No one ever stopped in the middle of a German autobahn.
"What's happening up there?" Beslan said.
"Maybe an accident," Apti said. "At the speeds these people drive it must happen a lot."
As they got closer, they saw police cars and flashing lights .
"It's a roadblock." Apti slowed. "They're checking papers and looking in vehicles. Look, they're moving trucks to the side and searching them."
"Do you think they're looking for us?"
"I don't know. Maybe."
"Our papers are good. If they look in the back, they will only see automobile parts."
"If they look closely, they will find the bomb," Beslan said.
"What shall we do?"
Beslan took out the cell phone that would set off the bomb in the back of the truck. He entered all of the numbers except one.
"Try to bluff our way through."
He looked at his friend.
"Apti, I think today we will enter paradise."
"You don't think they will pass us through," Apti said.
"If God wills it. But, no, I do not think so."
"Then we will enter paradise together."
Beslan reached over and squeezed Apti's shoulder.
"We will be reunited with our families."
Apti inched the truck forward as cars moved through the roadblock, until a policeman held up his hand for them to stop. The cop walked over and Apti rolled down his window.
"Your papers, please. "
"I'm sorry," Apti said. "I don't speak German. Do you speak English?"
The cop called out something in German and a second policeman came over.
"I speak English. What have you got in your truck?"
"Automobile parts. Transmissions, mostly."
The cop pointed to the side where police were going through a trailer.
"Move your vehicle over there. We need to examine your load."
His earpiece crackled.
"Deiter, it's them. That vehicle has the tracker. "
The cop stepped back and raised his gun.
"Put your hands up. Don't move or I will shoot."
"God is great," Beslan said.
He pressed the last number. In Virginia, Elizabeth and Stephanie watched in horror as the screen went white.
"Oh, my God," Stephanie said.
Chapter 39
Nick and the others had been back for a day. Elizabeth and the rest of the team were gathered in her office.
"What happened in Germany?" Nick asked.
"The bomb didn't work as it was supposed to," Elizabeth said. "It fizzled. The primary charge exploded, but the secondary failed to detonate. If it had, a lot of Europe would have been toast. As it is, it spread plutonium particles over a wide area. Aside from people who were killed in the immediate area, there are going to be deaths from radiation."
"Like in Missouri," Ronnie said.
"Yes, but worse. There's radioactivity associated with the primary charge. The casing for that is made of uranium."
"What about the terrorists?" Selena asked.
"They were vaporized. There's not much left."
"If we'd gotten to Hungary sooner, this wouldn't have happened," Nick said.
"It's not your fault," Elizabeth said. "Don't blame yourself for something you couldn't have prevented. You couldn't get there sooner because we didn't know where they were. Think how much worse it would be if you hadn't stopped one of those bombs."
"What about the last one?" Selena asked.
"There's no sign of it."
"I assume the Russians are looking for it?" Nick said.
"They are now. Hopkins didn't want to tell them."
"You have got to be kidding. "
"No. Fortunately, it doesn't look like he's going to be president much longer. It's now public knowledge he knew those bombs were out there and didn't warn anyone. His days i
n the White House are numbered. There are calls for him to resign. If he doesn't, he's going to be impeached."
"Good riddance," Lamont said.
"I don't know much about the VP, but anyone's better than Hopkins," Ronnie said.
"In the meantime, there's been a development. Langley cracked the encryption on the cell phone you recovered in Hungary."
"What did they discover?"
"It confirmed that Gregor Kondor has been funding this operation from the beginning."
"What are they going to do about him?" Ronnie asked.
"They aren't going to do anything. We are."
"We are?"
"Kondor is too high profile and too powerful for anyone over there to move against him," Elizabeth said. "He has to be removed. Someone has to do it."
"Who's authorizing this?" Nick asked.
"Does it matter? This man engineered the theft of the bombs. He handed them over to terrorists who hate the West. He trades in weapons and is responsible for the deaths of millions. As far as the Kremlin is concerned, this could be a plot to attack them. They're starting to make threats. If that last bomb goes off in Moscow, they'll retaliate with everything they have. It would mean World War III. We have to find out what Kondor knows."
"You're sending us after him?"
"That's right. He may be able to help us find that last bomb. Your assignment is to kidnap him. Find proof he's behind everything that's happened. Interrogate him. Record the interrogation."
"And then what?"
"Then bring him back here for trial. "
"What if he resists?"
"Just bring him back."
"You don't expect much, do you?"
"I know it sounds like a lot, Nick, but I have faith in you. You and the team."
"It's going to take more than faith to pull this off," Nick said. "Where does this guy hang out when he's at home?"
"Switzerland," Elizabeth said.
Chapter 40
A black SUV was parked under some trees, a quarter-mile from the Virginia House. Harlan Crowther observed the building through high-powered binoculars. It was a perfect spot. On this back country Virginia Road, traffic was almost nonexistent.
"They're still in there," he said.
He handed the binoculars to the man sitting behind the wheel. Two other men occupied the backseat.
"How do you want to handle it? Do we go after them here?" one of them asked.
His name was Marcel. He was a former French legionnaire turned mercenary. Crowther had recruited him in Africa.
"Maybe," Crowther said.
The driver handed the binoculars back.
"We've got two choices," Crowther said. "We can go for them here, when they're all together, or we can go after them one by one. Get them where they live."
"I don't like the second option," Marcel said. "Too many chances of witnesses and something going wrong. Out here, there's no one around. We can take them out and be gone before anyone knows what happened."
"That gate looks pretty solid," the driver said. "They've got cameras. By the time we reach the house they'll be ready for us."
"Mmm."
"Remember that government minister we took out in Angola?" Marcel said.
Crowther looked at him. "The one in the big yellow house?"
"That's the one. It was a little like this. High wall, iron gate, surveillance. "
"What about it?"
"Remember how we went in?"
Crowther smiled. "Yeah. That was a pisser."
"Why not do the same thing here? By the time they figure out what's happening, we're inside the house and they're toast. Just like Angola. We've got everything we need in the back."
Crowther nodded. "I like it. Okay, no time like the present. Marcel, you and Rick break out the gear."
The two men got out, went around to the back and opened the hatch. Marcel opened a long box and took out an AT4, a recoilless, one-shot antitank weapon made in Sweden. It came as a prepackaged unit and was meant to be thrown away after use. It fired a highly efficient 84 mm unguided missile, designed to be used against tanks and buildings. It was popular with terrorists all over the world.
Rick opened a duffel bag and took out four MP5s. He went around to the side of the vehicle and handed them in to Crowther and the driver. Marcel put the AT4 down and opened up a box. He took out two packages of C4 and detonators. Rick came back and put the C4 and detonators in his pocket. Then he picked up extra magazines for the guns.
Marcel and Rick got back in the car. Rick handed out the extra magazines. Marcel cradled the AT4 in his lap.
"Everyone set?" Crowther asked. "Eddie, get us up near the gate."
Eddie started the vehicle and they drove toward the gate. The wall was high enough so that passing traffic could not be seen from the house. It was a nice feature, but it meant Crowther and his crew could get close to the gate without being observed.
"Stop here," Crowther said.
The SUV came to a halt.
"Rick, do your thing. Don't let those cameras see you."
"This ain't my first rodeo, Harlan. "
"Yeah, yeah, just make sure that gate goes away when we press the button. Marcel, you get ready."
Rick got out of the car and followed along the road until he reached the gate. The camera was above his head, pointed out toward the road to observe any vehicle stopped for the gate. It wasn't difficult to avoid being seen by the lens.
The gate was made of heavy black iron. It swung inward on two large hinges set into the stone wall. Rick molded one package of C4 around each of the hinges. It was overkill, but it was guaranteed to eliminate the obstacle. He placed the detonators and retreated along the wall to where Marcel waited. Rick looked back at the idling SUV. Crowther nodded.
"Fire in the hole," Rick said.
The explosions were loud. The gate blew inward and landed on the lawn, along with half the stone column that had supported it.
Inside the building everyone looked toward the sound of the explosion.
"What the hell was that?" Nick said.
Freddie's voice boomed through the room.
The feed from the security camera at the gate has been lost.
Marcel ran forward with the AT4, took aim at the double oak doors on the entrance of the building, and fired. The missile streaked forward. The heavy doors vanished in a thunderous roar of orange flame. The entrance disintegrated in a blizzard of splinters and fragments of stone. A cloud of gray smoke rolled out over the grounds. Rick and Marcel ran back to the SUV and clambered in.
"Go, go, go!" Crowther shouted.
Eddie tromped on the accelerator. The SUV leapt forward .
The force of the blast blew pieces of the door through the foyer and straight into Elizabeth's office, filling the air with wooden splinters that acted like jagged arrows. One of them hit Elizabeth in the chest and knocked her out of her chair. The pressure from the blast blew out the windows on the back wall. Stephanie was standing by Elizabeth and got knocked to the floor. Nick and the others were sitting on the couches in front of Elizabeth's desk. The couches protected them from the worst of the blast, stopping most of the splinters, but one grazed Lamont across his scalp. Blood poured down over his shirt from the gash.
The explosion was deafening. Nick couldn't hear anything. He knew they had little time before someone would come through what was left of the doorway.
His mind took in the room as he stood.
Ronnie and Lamont were on their feet and drawing weapons. Everyone in the Project carried a pistol, all the time. It was a rule. Selena was up, a pistol in her hand, uninjured. Valentina lay on the floor. Harker was out of sight behind her desk. Stephanie was struggling to her feet.
He gestured. "Ronnie, Lamont, cover the front."
His voice sounded dull and flat in his ears. He didn't know if the others could hear him. He drew his pistol and ran to the side of the wide doorway into Elizabeth's office. He gestured at Selena.
"Se
lena, help Harker." He waved at Harker's desk, then pointed two fingers at his eyes, then the doorway. "Watch the door."
She nodded and went to where Stephanie was kneeling next to Elizabeth behind the desk. Nick's hearing began to come back.
"Here they come," Ronnie said.
Nick peered around the doorframe and saw a black SUV barreling toward them. Someone leaned out of a window and fired into the building. A stream of bullets went by and smashed into the back wall .
Ronnie, Lamont, and Nick began firing at the oncoming vehicle. Stars appeared on the windshield as the bullets struck, sending a spider web of cracks across the glass. The car came over the outer steps and through the opening where the door had been, then swerved and crashed into the wall of the billiards room. The horn began sounding. The doors flew open. Three men came out, firing sub machine guns.
The slide locked back on Nick's pistol as one of them swung his gun toward him. Nick ejected and reached for a new magazine, knowing he wouldn't be in time.
The side of the man's head vanished in a cloud of hair and blood and bone. He fell to the floor. Nick glanced behind and saw Valentina standing with her pistol held in two hands. Lamont and Ronnie kept firing. The other two men from the vehicle went down.
Nick finished reloading and fired at them as they tried to crawl away. He fired until the gun was empty. He ejected and reloaded.
Suddenly the only sound was the horn blaring away.
"Jesus," Lamont said. He wiped blood away from his eyes with the back of his hand.
Nick walked over to the bodies lying on the floor and prodded them with his foot. One man lay on his back. His chest rose and fell in rapid movements as he tried to breathe. Red foam covered his lips. His shirt was soaked with blood. Nick bent down over him.
"You're hit pretty bad. Anything you want to say? Now's the time."
The man looked at him, panic in his eyes.
