“There are five effects of a nuclear explosion. Most people think of only two — the blast and the radiation. The blast, which is the kinetic energy, uses about half the energy of the bomb. That’s what blows things up: it’s the shock wave of compressed air that radiates from the bomb at supersonic speed. If the bomb goes off underground, that wave is muffled, but it takes out whatever it blows near, creating a crater. If it’s an airburst or above surface, then the blast does more damage. You have to worry about not only the original wave but also the high winds that are generated by the overpressure. We’re talking winds of more than two hundred miles an hour, so it can be pretty destructive.
“There are two types of radiation: prompt and delayed. Prompt is what is immediately generated by the explosion and uses about five percent of the energy of the bomb. It’s in the form of gamma rays, neutrons, and beta particles. We measure those in rads. Six hundred rads and you have a ninety percent chance of dying in three to four weeks.”
“How many rads would these bombs put out?” Conner asked.
Riley shrugged. “I can’t answer that. It depends on the strength of the blast, whether it goes off in the air or underground, your relative location to ground zero, and how well shielded you are. Usually you’ll die of blast or thermal before you have to worry about prompt radiation.
“If you survive the initial effects, then you have to worry about delayed radiation — also known as fallout. However, with the strong winds down here, the fallout would get dispersed over a large area. And there aren’t many folks here to be affected by it. In a more populated and less windy area, fallout can be devastating.
“The other two effects are thermal and electromagnetic pulse. Thermal causes damage in built-up areas because it starts fires. If you’re exposed to it, the flash will blind and burn you even before the blast wave reaches you. Thermal uses up about one-third of the energy of the bomb.
“Electromagnetic pulse, known as EMP, is the one effect that few people know about. When the bomb goes off, it sends out electromagnetic waves, just like radio except thousands of times stronger. Those waves will destroy most electronics in their path for a long distance.”
Riley was depressed. He’d buried all those facts deep inside his head and had refused to dig them out for a long time. “The bottom line is that no one really knows exactly what impact nuclear weapons will have on people. There are too many variables. The only times they’ve ever been used against people — at Hiroshima and Nagasaki — were so long ago, and those bombs were so different from what we have now, that the data is not very valid.
“I think Nikita Khrushchev, surprisingly enough, summed up nuclear war quite well. He said the survivors would envy the dead.”
Conner and Sammy were silent for a few minutes as the implications of what Riley had said sank in.
Riley was lost in his dark thoughts. He remembered the debates in the team room about their nuclear mission. Most had been worried about simple and more personal things such as whether there was actually a firing delay in their ADMs, as they had been told. Many believed that once the bombs were emplaced and initiated, they’d go off immediately. Why would the powers-that-be risk an hour’s delay to get the team to safety? Riley had spent his time worrying about more global effects. He’d read all that was available about nuclear weapons, mesmerized and repelled by the destructive power he could carry on his back.
“What if there’s a fire down here? Would those bombs go off?” Conner interrupted his thoughts.
“It has thermal safety devices that would prevent accidental detonation due to fire,” Riley replied.
“How do you think the bombs got here?” Conner asked. “I thought you said those things were tightly controlled.”
“How did this base get here?” Riley replied. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
Sammy pointed at the blue binder. “Do you think we should open the safe?”
Riley shook his head. “I looked at it. It’s set in the ground and requires a combination. We don’t have that. I recommend we don’t mess with it. You’ve got the bombs. You don’t need the codes.” Riley suddenly stood.
“Where are you going?”
“I need to start earning my money.” He looked at Sammy. “You want to give me a hand?”
“Sure,” she replied.
With that they were gone. Conner speculated for a few seconds about what Riley might be up to, but then dismissed her sister and Riley from her mind as she opened up her portable computer and got to work, preparing her story.
Falcon carefully read the reply from ISA headquarters.
No further information on Eternity Base.
Confirm information that U.S. Air Force C-130, tail number
6204 from 487th TAS, Clark Base, Hawaii, was reported as
MIA 21 December 1971, Vietnam
Actual location U.S. Army Engineer unit, B Company, 67th
Engineer Battalion, from August 1971 through December 1971
was Chi Lang, Vietnam, OPCON MACV-SOG.
Falcon scanned the page-long printouts for pertinent information on the people he’d had checked out. The fact that Riley was an ex-Special Forces man who’d run counterterrorist operations caught his attention. He wondered if there was a connection between that and the MACV-SOG cover-up. There were so many classified organizations conducting various operations that Riley could still be working for the government.
This whole damn thing didn’t make much sense. The end of the message indicated that his superiors thought the same.
Request all information you have on Eternity Base.
Priority One.
Slowly he put the papers down on his desk. The report had yielded no significant information. Eternity Base’s cover had been back- stopped all the way through the classified files in the ISA’s database. Although Falcon knew such a thing was in the realm of possibility — especially for something that had happened so long ago — it meant that the secret of Eternity Base could be a bad story publicity wise. Since they didn’t know what the base was or what the original cover story had been, there was no way to plan for damage control.
Falcon typed into his computer and studied the data that Young had already sent. His forehead wrinkled in concern as he saw that the last transmission had been coded only for Parker’s ID and password. Why had she done that? What had she found that was so important — more important than the existence of the base and the finding of the body? Falcon was worried about what Parker now knew that he didn’t.
Falcon tapped a finger against his teeth as he pondered the situation. Wheels were turning, but he wasn’t sure where they would lead him. His fingers flew over the keyboard as he searched other databases. He stopped when he found the order from Parker sending the new support team to Antarctica ASAP. Why hadn’t he been informed of that? Falcon slammed a fist down on his desktop in frustration. Damn Parker and his penchant for secrets.
Falcon reopened the data file on information that Young had sent prior to the coded message. There had to be something that would help him figure out what was going on.
Chapter 16
The headquarters for the North Korean Special Forces is located twenty-five miles north of the famous border city of Panmunjom. This puts it in close proximity to the demilitarized zone, where many of its units’ covert activities are conducted. Tonight, however, Gen. O Gulc Yol, the army chief of staff and former commander of the Special Forces Branch, had his eyes focused on a map that had never before been unfurled in his operations room. The fact that his staff had even been able to find the map on such short notice was quite an accomplishment. General Yol had been awakened by the duty officer and given Kang’s message from New York just forty-five minutes ago.