‘Can’t, Blue Dog. This headset plugs into the sub. I’m about to unplug.’
‘Shit!’ Gallen thumped the console. ‘Okay, Red Fox, but leave the line open. And you’re on the air again in five minutes, okay?’
‘Sure, boss,’ said Ford.
‘I’m serious. I’m running a clock. That’s fiver! ‘
Gallen stood back as the line from the sub hissed, and Aaron nudged him. ‘Ford was waiting for something?’
‘Sorry?’ said Gallen, lost in thought.
Putting a piece of fax paper in Gallen’s hand, Aaron pointed at it. ‘Got Mike’s name on it. Must have requested something. What did he want with the US Army?’
Opening the piece of thermal fax paper, Gallen took it in: the fax was a photocopy from a US Army regulations book, featuring the symbol he’d seen on Negroponte’s arm.
‘Holy shit,’ he mumbled under his breath as he read the description attached to the insignia. ‘Pull her up, Hansen.’
The big Swede looked at Aaron, who’d technically been left in charge while Florita was submerged.
‘Now look, Gerry—’
‘No, Aaron, you look.’ Gallen pushed the fax into Aaron’s chest. ‘You know about that?’
‘It’s, um…?’
‘Read it.’
Aaron looked up from the paper, confused, and Hansen grabbed it.
‘It says it’s the Nuclear Reactor Operator badge,’ said Hansen in his thick accent. ‘Who does this refer to?’
‘Yeah, Gallen,’ said Aaron. ‘What’s this about?’
‘It’s the tattoo on Negroponte’s arm.’
‘Negroponte?’ said Aaron. ‘The chief engineer?’
‘The one who’s locked away in his own private engine room,’ said Gallen.
‘You have a nuclear reactor on the Ariadne and you didn’t tell me?’ said Hansen, blood rushing into his Nordic face as he turned on Aaron and Joyce. ‘Are you mad?’
Joyce looked confused. ‘Is that a bad thing?’
‘Why don’t we find out?’ said Gallen. ‘Master Hansen, can we bring the Ariadne to the surface?’
‘With pleasure,’ said the Swede, as he issued the orders.
CHAPTER 59
Winter appeared in the control room, having been paged. Hansen’s orders had been acted on and the crane’s cables were moving upwards.
‘What’s happening?’ said the Canadian, checking his SIG handgun and replacing it in his arctic suit.
‘Lost comms from the Ariadne,’ said Gallen, watching the cables slowly move. ‘And then I found out what that symbol was on Negroponte’s tatt.’
Winter squinted through the windows. ‘What is it?’
‘US Army insignia for Nuclear Reactor Operator,’ said Gallen.
Winter twisted to give Aaron a look.
Aaron lifted his hands. ‘It might be a mistake.’
‘So the power source on the Ariadne is nuclear?’
‘Looks like it,’ said Gallen.
‘Is it safe?’ said the Canadian. ‘I mean, some of these things are really small and really powerful these days.’
Gallen looked at him. ‘You know about this?’
‘Sure,’ said Winter with a shrug. ‘They’re called STARs — the Russians especially are building them as remote power for, you know, mining sites, oil rigs.’
‘You said star?’ said Gallen, remembering the notation in the margin of the Newport Associates report. That was Durville’s scribbled question — was that the information that was being suppressed?
‘Stands for Small Sealed Transportable Autonomous Reactor. You can load one on the back of a truck,’ said Winter.
‘Or the bottom of a submerged oil rig?’ said Gallen.
A light flashed on the console and a voice spoke; a French female voice.
‘That’s far enough, Master Hansen,’ said Martina Du Bois in a nasty purr. ‘You can stop the crane while we have a chat.’
Looking at Gallen and Aaron, Hansen turned back and issued the command to the technician. The ship seemed to shudder again as the crane stopped and the massive weight on the end of it stretched the cables for a few seconds.
Gallen pushed Aaron forward to the mic.
‘That’s better, Master Hansen.’
‘What do you want, Martina?’ said Aaron. ‘Is Captain Menzies there? Where’s Florita Mendes? Where’s her bodyguard?’
‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Mr Michaels. This is a rare chance to have a proper dialogue, n’est-ce pas?’
Aaron snapped, ‘Dialogue about what? Where’s our CEO? Who’s in charge down there?’
‘Everyone is where they have to be, Aaron,’ came the superior tone. ‘Except the media.’
‘The media’s halfway to Kugaaruk or Barrow, depending on where they’re flying out of,’ said Aaron, pushing his hair back on his head. ‘What do you want? Is this a hostage situation?’
‘I need Fox and CNN back here now, Aaron, or there’s going to be consequences,’ Du Bois said from the speaker. ‘You have thirty minutes, and the Ariadne goes nowhere until I say so.’
‘You could always film yourselves, Du Bois,’ said Gallen, trying to keep the comms open. ‘You could get the lighting and angles just right and do some hari kari — you know, for the environment and the polar bears. I’d make sure Fox News gets the footage.’
‘Ha!’ said the Frenchwoman, sounding genuinely amused. ‘I’m going to take a blind guess and say that this is our suspicious American, the one who’s been hit with a baseball bat, hmm?’
‘You’re a real little Charlie Chan, aintcha, Du Bois?’
‘I’m a real little environmental activist who’s going to tell the world what Oasis Energy is about to do to one of the few untouched areas left on earth,’ said the Frenchwoman. ‘It’s not yours to rape — it belongs to all of us.’
Gallen laughed. ‘Told the Russians this?’
‘I’ll tell the world this, Mr Gerry,’ she said, giving his name a soft’J’ sound. ‘And I’ll tell them at nine pm Eastern Time, a late news breaker.’
‘Coulda done that when the media was all here, Du Bois,’ said Gallen, trying to taunt her. ‘You’d rather kill people, that it?’
‘I’d rather talk to Fox and CNN, and you now have twenty-five minutes.’
The radio died again and the men in the control room looked down at the console as if it might hold clues.
‘Master — we got navy or coast guard nearby?’ said Gallen.
Hansen instructed an operator to get on it while Aaron moved away and grabbed Joyce.
‘You gonna get those news crews back?’ said Gallen. ‘You think that’s a good idea?’
‘Only to buy time,’ said Aaron. ‘Who knows what they have planned?’
Staring at the console, Gallen thought about it and turned to Hansen. ‘They’re at thirty-five metres.’
‘Yes,’ said Hansen, distracted as he directed the operators.
Gallen rubbed his face, felt the bruising and cuts that Du Bois had commented on. ‘We got dive gear on the ship that goes to thirty-five, forty metres?’
‘Of course,’ said Hansen. ‘This is a rig service vessel. We’re equipped to run fifty divers at once if we have to.’
‘Can I take one of your guys?’ said Gallen, looking to see if Aaron was listening. He wasn’t; he was getting pilots to turn their helos around.
‘A diver?’ said Hansen. ‘You sure?’
‘I need someone to set us up.’
‘Okay. But before you go in the water, you clear it with us, okay?’ The Swede pointed to Aaron.
‘I’m thinking that if they’re focused on media attention, that might be a good time to be stealthing onboard.’
‘You hear this?’ said Hansen as Aaron got off the phone and walked to the console area.