Mitchell walked over to the sea container escorted by Alexandra and a couple of men, who, not trusting Mitchell, kept well back with their weapons trained on him at all times. A minute later, the sound of a helicopter’s rotor blades split the air. Looking up, Mitchell saw that it was another one of Romanov’s choppers coming in to land. The powerful downdraft from the rotors sent a bitterly cold wind whipping across the open ground, stirring up the fresh snow into a mini-blizzard. Mitchell turned away from the blast as the chopper landed. As soon as it was on the ground, the engine switched off. Looking back, Mitchell observed Dmitry Romanov climb out, accompanied by Nika and their goon, Teplov. A serious-looking Asian mercenary with a black eye-patch walked over and started to talk with Romanov. They were too far away for him to hear a word. Romanov thanked the man and then walked towards the sea container where Alexandra Romanov stood waiting for her father.
On an order from Chang, the doors to the container were opened. A loud protesting screech from the rusty hinges rang out.
“Come with me, Mister Mitchell. I want to show you something that will change the world as we know it,” said Romanov, as he walked towards the entrance of the open container.
Stepping forward, for the first time Mitchell saw inside. Instantly, a chill ran through his body. Securely fastened into metal cradles were two long cylindrical bombs. Mitchell instantly knew they were nuclear. Spinning on his heels, Mitchell locked eyes with Romanov. “What the fuck are you doing with two nuclear bombs?”
Romanov grinned at Mitchell. “I knew there would be no fooling you, Mister Mitchell. You are quite correct; I have in my possession two nuclear bombs,” said Romanov condescendingly.
“Where did you get them? And for God’s sake, please don’t tell me you were able to buy them on the black market.”
“Unfortunately no. The Russian Mafia and the Pakistani military both rebuffed my offers, oddly enough. So I had Colonel Chang appropriate a couple for me,” said Romanov, walking over beside the bombs. “They are South African, a little old, and somewhat crude, but still quite functional. They are more than sufficient for what I have planned.”
“And just what is that?” asked Mitchell, trying to get something, anything, useful out of Romanov.
Romanov pursed his lips and shook his head at Mitchell. “All of your questions will be answered in good time, Mister Mitchell. You must remember when I said you were an essential part of this operation. Trust me, I meant every word. Now, no more idle talk; Chang and his men have a lot of work to do over the next few hours.”
Mitchell thought about making a lunge for him, but knew that he would not make more than a meter before being cut down by one of Romanov’s goons. Frustration grew inside him. He had to do something before this mad man actually tried to use the bombs that he had in his possession.
Teplov turned to one of Chang’s men and said, “Cuff Mitchell to the lead eight-wheeler and make sure that two men remain with him at all times. If he escapes, I’ll hold you responsible,” Teplov said menacingly.
Chang stepped forward until he could look into Teplov’s cold eyes. “My services are contracted to Mister Romanov, not you. I’ll give the orders to my men from now on,” said Chang, thinking back to the wasted death of his deputy in the desert.
Seeing the look of anger in Chang’s eyes, Teplov could tell that Chang hated him and if given the chance, would enjoy killing him. Taking a step back, Teplov said, “Fine, have it your way. But I still want Mitchell secured and guarded.” With that, he turned and walked away.
With a nod from Chang, two men roughly grabbed Mitchell by the arms, forcibly dragged him over to the ATV, and cuffed him to the ATV’s roll bar.
Mitchell stared defiantly at the two guards and pulled hard on the cuffs. As he expected, they didn’t budge at all. Mitchell had to admit to himself that he was going nowhere fast. Letting go of his building frustration and anger, Mitchell stared back into the container at the bombs and tried to figure out what Romanov was planning. He would not have brought them here if he intended to use them on a major city in Russia or another target in the West. He could have easily shipped them into a busy port and detonated them there before anyone knew what was happening. There had to be another reason. Looking around at the camp, Mitchell saw the tunnel dug into the base of the tall ice-covered volcano. Some of Romanov’s men were busy clearing the snow from some of the equipment around the entrance of the tunnel. Looking back at the bombs, Mitchell broke out in a cold sweat. He suddenly knew what Romanov was going to do. If he wasn’t stopped, millions of people would be dead in the next few hours.
37
Sam sat there, intently staring down at the image on her tablet. Moving her finger delicately along the pad, she adjusted the zoom of the camera and brought up a picture of Mitchell sitting under guard at the side of an ATV. She could see that he looked less than enthused about his situation. Cardinal took over keeping watch on the roof, methodically identifying and recording his targets, while Sam moved below with Nate. She had heard from Fahimah in the past minute and was relieved to hear that Yuri had managed to refuel the helicopter, and that they were both anxiously waiting on a quiet airstrip. She reported that Yuri was already strapped into his seat, ready at a moment’s notice to fly his rented Bell 204 Huey helicopter to their location the instant that the word was given.
Jackson lowered his binoculars and said, “Looks like Jen is still under guard at the closest pre-fab office building, and Ryan is having tons of fun being cuffed to that ATV in front of the sea container.”
“Getting them out will be a lot harder now that they’re split up,” observed Sam.
“I’m open to suggestions,” said Jackson as he surveyed the metal fence running the perimeter of the camp, looking for the best place to try to cut their way through.
Up above, Cardinal raised his rifle and looked through the scope, looking around the camp for potential targets. As his sight moved past the sea container, Cardinal’s heart skipped a beat. His hand fumbled for his throat-mic. “Folks,” stammered Cardinal, “take a look at the sea container. They’re moving a couple of devices outside and they sure as hell don’t look friendly.”
Jackson moved over beside Sam and looked down at the image on the small tablet while Sam focused the camera on the container. Both instantly swore.
“Are those what I think they are?” asked Cardinal incredulously.
“My God, they’ve gotten their hands on a couple of nukes,” said Jackson, not believing what he was seeing on the screen. “By the looks of them, I would say that it’s something in the order of ten kilotons destructive power per bomb.”
“Jesus, what the frigg are they doing with them here?” Sam said as she watched while a bomb was placed onto a trailer behind Mitchell’s ATV.
“Sam, get in touch with Fahimah ASAP,” said Jackson, wondering if the day could get any worse.
On an airstrip, just over one hundred kilometers away, Fahimah almost fell out of her seat as the images from Sam’s camera appeared on her laptop. Her heart raced like a jackhammer in her chest. There was no doubt in Fahimah’s analytically-trained mind that she was looking at two nuclear devices in the hands of Dmitry Romanov. Her hand still shaking, Fahimah instantly opened a line to the Polaris Complex and passed on the data for immediate analysis and feedback. Looking down at her watch, Fahimah realized that the graveyard shift was still on duty. Only a couple of junior analysts would be working at the complex this early in the morning. Grabbing her cell phone, Fahimah dialed Donaldson’s home phone.
It started to ring.
“Come on…come on,” said Fahimah, nervously chewing on her lip.