“So what do you think, Mister Mitchell?” said Cypher proudly as he looked up at the tectonic device hanging from heavy metal chains underneath of the derrick.
“It looks more like a high-tech torpedo than a bomb to me,” said Mitchell as he studied the device. It was smooth, about eight meters long. Along its surface protruded a series of slender probes. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. He looked down at the base of the derrick and saw that it had been built over a wide fissure in the rock.
“It goes down over three hundred meters. That is what you are thinking, isn’t it?” said Cypher.
“Yes, it is.”
“I only need to lower it down to just over two hundred meters to get the desired effect.”
“Which is?”
“As I intend to leave nothing behind for the authorities to tie me to the blast, I have programmed the device to go off like a shaped charge. The destructive power of this bomb will destroy this cavern and the surroundings area while the electromagnetic pulse wave aimed at the Big Hill installation will surge through the rock will like a tidal wave. When it hits, it will destroy the petroleum reserve and everything around it for about twelve kilometers in a blink of an eye.”
“So, I take it my friends and I will be here when your device goes off.”
“Yes, that’s the plan.”
Mitchell was about to ask to be taken over to Jackson when a fit, bald-headed black woman came bounding down the stairs. The look on her face told him that she knew him, but he couldn’t recall ever laying eyes on her.
Like a large cat, she moved over beside Cypher and whispered something in his ear.
Smiling, Cypher locked eyes with Mitchell. “You know, Mister Mitchell, there’s something I think you should see. I’m sure it will amuse you.”
“Well, if I’m going to die, it might as well be with a smile on my face,” replied Mitchell facetiously.
A few seconds later, a slender Asian man with salt-and-pepper hair made his way down the stairs; he looked to Mitchell as if he was in a hurry.
As soon as he stepped onto the rocky floor of the cavern, he called out in Korean. The workers stopped what they were doing and quickly congregated around the man.
“Good afternoon, Colonel. Is there something wrong?” said Cypher, looking over at the men standing behind Colonel Hwan.
“Mister Cypher, my government has instructed me to inform you that we are no longer interested in continuing our arrangement. As of this second, we are no longer in business together.”
“Colonel, why would your government invest so much time and money into something they now wish to abandon?”
“Our reasons are our own. You are to cease your operation here, surrender the device to me, and inform me where the other three bombs may be found so I can have them flown out of the country to Mexico, tonight.”
“And the remainder of my money?”
“As per our agreement, you can keep the money we have already paid you. As we are terminating our operations you are not entitled to any more money.”
Cypher let out a chuckle. “That’s very kind of you, Colonel, to let me keep the quarter of a billion dollars already sitting in my back account in Zurich; however, I am still owed three-quarters of a billion dollars.”
Hwan stared at Cypher for a moment. The mood inside the cavern grew tense. “I see your point of view. I will ask my government to release the remainder of the money owed you for the bombs.”
“That sounds acceptable.”
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, my men and I are leaving. I need to make arrangements to smuggle them out of the country.”
Cypher smiled and then raised his hand in the air. The chilling sound of dozens of weapons cocking filled the air.
“My dear, Colonel, do honestly think that I knew nothing of your orders to kill me and my people?”
Hwan’s face betrayed him. He had been caught in a lie.
“Seriously, Colonel, how hard do think it was for me to eavesdrop on all of your communications with your superiors in North Korea?”
“Obviously too easy,” said Hwan, through gritted teeth.
“Your encryption technology is years behind anything in the West. Your room was bugged and all of your calls were monitored. I’ve known about your orders to kill me and all of my people for days. I know that hidden in the back your rental truck parked behind the farmhouse are enough weapons to equip all of your men. Colonel, just so you understand your predicament, I should inform you that the extra men you smuggled across the border last night to assist you won’t be arriving anytime soon. Unfortunately, they were intercepted and are all lying facedown in the desert with a bullet hole in the back of each of their skulls.”
“How much to let us go?”
Cypher smiled. “Colonel Hwan, there isn’t a sum of money you could pay me to let you go free. After the blast, I need you and your men to be found in the wreckage of this farm as the true culprits of this heinous crime. For you see, Colonel, I intend to inform the Americans that I was duped by you and your superiors. I thought I was only helping you work on software in my factory in Mongolia. My motives were purely altruistic. Only, you lied to me and used my factory to build a tectonic device that you then used to level my factory to cover your tracks. Luckily, I managed to escape and hunt you down. Unfortunately, I arrived too late to stop you from detonating this device. Regrettably, you didn’t realize the power of this bomb and were killed while trying to make your escape.”
“And the other bombs?” asked Mitchell.
“This is the best part. I intend to tell the American government that I managed to discover where Hwan had hidden the three other devices, thereby saving the remainder of your precious reserve of oil. With all of the clues leading back to North Korea and not me, I suspect that there will be a massive demand for new arms and armaments, which my family’s company will naturally provide as the new favorite in Washington. I conservatively estimate that we will make at least ten billion in sales to the U.S. armed forces this year alone. Why settle for a measly one billion when you can have far more?”
Mitchell clapped his hands. “Atsuko said you were clever. But if you pump the North Koreans full of holes, your clever little scheme will fall apart. An autopsy will show that they didn’t die during the earthquake.”
“Oh, Mister Mitchell, please. Do you take me for a fool? I already thought of that. All I need is a couple of them along with Colonel Hwan to be found amongst the wreckage to prove that they were behind everything.”
With a loud bark from one of Cypher’s guards, the North Koreans were herded to one side of the cavern to await their fate.
With a pleased look on his face, Cypher turned to face Mitchell. “Unfortunately, your remains will never be found.”
“Too bad for me, I guess; I always thought that I would make a great-looking corpse.”
“Your feeble attempt at wit is lost on me, Mister Mitchell,” said Cypher dryly. He then ordered one of his men to lower the device into the crevice.
With a sense of growing dread, Mitchell stood rooted to the ground, impotent to stop the coming cataclysm. Grinding his teeth, Mitchell watched as the bomb slid down into the rocky crevice, quickly disappearing from sight.
Cypher saw the look in Mitchell’s eyes and smiled. He had beaten him. He glanced down at his watch and said, “My ride will be here soon. Please do enjoy your last fifteen minutes alive, Mister Mitchell.”
“I suspect it’s more time than you have left,” replied Mitchell bluntly.