by Wes Lowe
But he did decide that whether it was six months or six years, he was going to enjoy his remaining days on earth.
This morning, like he did every day since returning from the disastrous trip from Eastern Europe, Davy plopped himself onto the leather armchair inside the former teacher’s lunchroom. He aimed the remote control at the monstrous 98” Ultra High Definition television monitor in front of him, powered by his custom-built computer, a powerhouse that he had personally designed.
This room is where he came to life. The real world was now an impossible place for him to exist and ten seconds later, he was luxuriating in the fantastic images of 4k porn.
Davy did not consider himself a pervert. But he was most definitely an addict.
And he could not stop himself from indulging in his poison of choice.
Not children or even teenagers; those men were monsters.
No, Davy preferred women who had some experience… but not too much. No artificial boobs, no skanks, no one who spread their legs and paraded their innermost privates.
But not prudes either.
Sensuous, soft, sexy.
And they had to be Asian. Like Carter, Davy had been forever converted to the allure of Oriental women since their hormones caught on fire with the ecstasy that Sally Wong had elicited from their pre-pubescent bodies in elementary school. Submissive with petite bodies, smooth ebony hair, and sparkling almond eyes…
And they couldn’t be fake.
His testosterone levels only elevated at the pictures of living, healthy women without unnatural gargantuan breasts or rigid botox expressions plastered on their faces. He had gotten pickier too. It was getting harder to find anything new, because over twenty-five years of research and gathering for up to six hours a day gave him what was likely the biggest collection of Asian porn in the world.
Even though he could no longer perform sexually, he was still more than a mere collector. He became an avid virtual participant after creating his own digital avatar. The online Davy was how he imagined himself if he had stayed healthy—tall, lithe and good-looking guy with a toned body and sinewy strength that promised electrifying sexual fulfillment.
He was scanning through his images of nubile Oriental goddesses and was about to allow a particularly lascivious Japanese girl from Kyoto to wrap her silky, slim legs around his digital self’s athletic, muscular body, when a text message appeared on the screen.
It was from Carter.
I’ve got our ticket to make the bastards pay.
The text disappeared and was followed by another statement.
* * *
CONNORVILLE NUCLEAR PLANT (CNP)
14 Amherst Ave.
Stamford, CT 06907
* * *
PRESS RELEASE: Schedule of Decommissioning of the Connorville Nuclear Power Plant Advanced by Eighteen Months
* * *
Posted: February 21, 2019
* * *
Connorville Nuclear Plant (NYSE: CNPP) announces that decommissioning of the Connorville Nuclear Power Plant in Stamford, Connecticut, will begin immediately.
* * *
Dr. Norbert Fischer, President and CEO of CNP announced, “Three years ago, the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) approved the sale of the Connorville Nuclear Power Plant to Enertek from Powercorp Industrial. A condition of the sale was that we would immediately begin the research and due diligence required to gain regulatory approval for its decommissioning, and allotted five years for the process. Because of the extraordinary dedication and abilities of our staff, and the experience of the entire CNP team, we were able to complete the feasibility studies in November 2018, a full year and a half ahead of schedule. Approval to proceed was granted by the USNRC on February 15, 2019 and we are preparing to begin the process of decommissioning immediately. We anticipate the release of the plant site for unrestricted use within eight years.”
Deconstruction of nuclear plant sites is complex, requiring extensive planning, project management and personnel with specialized training, knowledge and nuclear skills, practical experience in the process, and also the foresight to create and manage new technologies when needed.
CNP has a proven record of success, prudent management, innovation, and safety of nuclear management, as well as strong financial performance. For the past twenty years, we have provided a comprehensive solution to reactor deconstruction, decontamination, and decommissioning.
Safety of personnel, the community, and the environment, are of paramount importance to CNP. Our commitment, collective decades of experience, and expertise in all facets of decommissioning and site remediation, will help ensure that we will continue to maintain our accident and fatality-free record.
Our presence will also benefit the residents of Stamford and the surrounding community. While we will of course use our top experts for key positions, CNP has an ongoing policy of hiring local residents whenever possible, which will result in at least a thousand persons years of work at superior pay levels. Present employees of the Connorville Plant that have the necessary qualifications will have priority access to these jobs.
This includes transportation workers, accounting staff, administrative personnel, food workers, maintenance staff, and security guards.
Under strict security watch, CNP has been transferring the used nuclear material to our cask systems and will begin its removal under the oversight of the governmental regulating bodies, in accordance with our legal obligations.
Dr. Fischer commented, “Throughout the history of CNP, we have been welcomed into the communities we serve. Being excellent corporate citizens is something we pride ourselves on. As we complete the decommissioning process, our leading-edge methods of deconstruction will ensure that there is minimal impact on the environment and maximum benefit to the people of Stamford.”
* * *
Normally, Davy would have ignored this text too, but this one was so annoying, he had to respond. Irritated, Davy called Carter. “Lady Miyako and I were about to begin our ultimate orgy and you send me a press release? What gives?”
He wanted to continue his rant but the smooth, excited tones of Carter’s voice intervened. “Get out of your funk, Davy. It’s time to strap the saddle on a real stallion and get ready to take a ride all the way. No virtual reality. We’re gonna be real.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” It wasn’t hard to detect the skepticism in Davy’s voice.
12
The Plan Hatches
In his corner office on the nineteenth floor of a new concrete edifice on Lakeshore Boulevard, senior lawyer of Sommers Dawson Archer, Carter Johnson’s face exhibited a broad, satisfying grin. “It’s time to press go,” stated the suave fifty-year-old attorney on a private burner phone.
Cynicism dripped from Davy’s voice. “Press go on what?” He felt his stomach lurching into his throat with disgust. “This press release is just PR bullshit.”
Carter held himself in check. After forty years of knowing him at his best and his worst, of going to hell and back with him, he knew that at this time, Davy was not to be bullshitted, but needed gentle yet firm persuading.
“Chillax man. I know that, but I also know what is not there.” Carter relaxed in his ergonomic five-thousand-dollar black leather office chair and exhaled. “The firm was asked to look at this file a month ago. These guys are badly managed and fast going broke. Nobody else in the office, including me, wanted to touch it with a ten-foot pole, but then I got a call from my dear old dad.”
The mention of Harold was enough to set Davy on edge. “What did that a-hole want?”
“He wanted me to look at it and see if it could be saved without anybody getting egg on their faces.”
“Knowing dear Harold, he meant he didn’t want egg on his face,” said Davy.
“Yup. I started doing some digging. When I saw that CNP was a year and a half ahead of schedule for getting approval, I thought ‘something stinks in Denmark.’ No one is ever early�
�there are too many bureaucrats with fingers in the pie. And it turns out, the reason has nothing to do with being great corporate citizens who have done a wonderful job on accelerating due diligence. The damn company is close to bankruptcy, and the reason the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission will let them begin now is that if they wait, CNP might not have any cash and USNRC is going to have a very expensive white elephant nuclear power plant that nobody wants to maintain.”
Davy could feel the smirk spreading over Carter’s face when the lawyer asked, “And guess who was working with the USNRC on the decision to approve the decommissioning in the first place?” Without waiting for Davy to reply, Carter answered his own question. “The Chair of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety.”
Davy shrugged “So? I’m not impressed. What does your old man want you to do?”
There was an evil edge to Carter’s voice. “Dig up and expose the paper trail that shows CNP falsified their reports that allowed USNRC to give their initial approval of decommissioning.”
Davy asked the obvious question. “So why doesn’t he do that himself? It would make him a hero.”
“It would, except dear old dad also managed to get three hundred grand put into his personal slush fund, but that’s not why I called.
Carter added with an undertone of duplicity. “I know you had your heart set on a nuke and dropping it from the air. We did our darnedest but it didn’t happen, so now we’ve got to pivot. Let’s do what I said to do years ago. We’ll build a couple of dirty bombs, place them inside a nuclear power plant like CNP, and detonate. The fallout could be catastrophic. Mass hysteria, a huge area of contamination, lengthy and costly cleanup, colossal numbers of illnesses for years, maybe decades to come. Not to mention, because CNP is being decommissioned and is not that close to Stamford, human casualties would be minimal.”
Carter allowed a few seconds for Davy to digest his last statement before uttering softly, “Davy, we’re so close I can taste it. Take a look at it Davy, and tell me whether you think I’m crazy or not.”
Although Davy had glanced at the press release before, he had dismissed it. But with Carter’s new info, he began to study it intently. The nuclear power station was over sixty years old and located less than half a mile from the ocean, built less than a dozen feet above sea level.
Examination over, Davy said, “Doesn’t do it for me. Not interested.”
Carter could feel Davy’s innards churning but knew he had the truth on his side. He also knew he couldn’t pull it off without Davy, and Davy’s clock was relentlessly ticking.
With a soft firmness, he said “Davy, it will be close enough. The weak link of what we’ve always tried to do is the radioactive material. If we don’t build a full-blown nuke, we don’t need fifty pounds of HEU, and we can source it here without having the Russkies burn our asses.”
Carter waited a beat before announcing confidently, “We’re gonna blow up a nuclear reactor and you’ll have a front row seat. Maybe even be the star.”
“We’ll never be able to do it. The security at nuclear power plants is so damn tight,” grumbled Davy.
“Not one that is in the process of being decommissioned. Not CNP. Look, these guys are trying to do things on the cheap. Maintenance is pitiful—a lot of the floodlights, radiation detectors, and cameras aren’t working. They’ve also cut way back on security costs, which makes our job a lot easier.”
Davy was silent. He couldn’t argue with the logic but… “That doesn’t solve the problem of getting the raw fissionable material.”
“No, it doesn’t, but if we do it like this, we don’t need anywhere near the ten pounds we were going to get from Nikolai. There’s tons of old medical equipment, poorly guarded radiation disposal sites, and colleges research facilities in the United States where security is a joke. The same isotopes used for blood transfusions and cancer treatments—cesium-137, cobalt-60 and iridium-192—can be used to build a bomb. You know the stats as well as I do. Every day some radioactive elements are lost, stolen or abandoned. You know that there are over fifteen radiation disposal sites in the United States, not to mention the old radiation equipment we can get from hospitals and medical labs.”
“It’ll take forever to get the radiation bits out of the junk equipment,” decried Davy. “Time I don’t have.”
Carter frowned; this was the moment of truth. “I’m not going to beg. I’ve outlined the facts and you know I’m right. It’s time to recognize that we need to reset. There is a way to do this. Let’s stop complaining and make a decision. Are you in or out?”
After what seemed an eternity, Davy croaked, “I’m in.”
13
Pact Sealed
I’m in!
Carter exhaled. Those two words from Davy were exactly what he wanted to hear. While he was a planner and strategist, Carter was not a nuts and bolts kind of guy. “Any first thoughts on how we do this Davy?”
Davy scrunched his face in concentration, staring at the overview of CNP’s layout on the computer, then spoke seriously. “First understand that what we’re going to do has never been done before. There are all kinds of websites, scientific studies, terrorist manifestos, manuals from all kinds of everybody, but they have one thing in common—they haven’t done it. We need to keep this as secret as possible. The parts and ingredients already exist, but I will design and supervise the making of our own explosive devices. We won’t buy plans, intelligence, or bombs from anybody.”
Carter disagreed. “You want to design them yourself? What’s the point of re-inventing the wheel?”
“First of all, because I can do it and want absolute control. None of the stuff you can buy has the capacity or capability that we want. This requires meticulous planning, not improvised types like unreliable IEDs.”
Adrenaline coursed through his body. Carter couldn’t hide the excitement in his voice—Davy was onboard one hundred and ten percent! “What kind of bombs are you thinking about?”
“Something easy and something hard. The hard one will give us a bigger payoff in terms of explosion and territory contaminated. The easier one will still be huge, but not quite so dramatic.”
“Yeah? What’s the difference?”
Davy explained, “The hard option, which will give us a bigger bang for the buck, is to put the bombs close to the nuclear reactor’s fuel rods. Because reactors are so well-built—even the old ones—they are almost impenetrable structures to get through. Nesting containment barriers shield the fuel rods, and the steel walls of the vessel containing them are often five inches thick or more. Not to mention, the building housing often is made with re-enforced concrete walls of four to six feet thick. So we would have to build a very powerful bomb. That being said, if we were able to pull it off, the instantaneous explosive chain reaction of radiation from the core meltdown would cause widespread radioactive contamination of the human populace, as well as environmental and economic damage of apocalyptic proportions.”
Davy waited a few moments for his words to sink in before continuing. “Now, when I say that the second alternative is easier, that doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t have as much impact. It potentially could. This one would go to where the spent fuel rods are stored in the deep, steel-lined, heat-reducing pools of water. The reason that it is not entirely predictable is that we don’t know how long rods have been there. Even though they remain radioactive for 10,000 years, as fuel, they are used up in the reactor after about eighteen months. Unlike the reactor which is shielded by multiple layers of thick metal and concrete, the pools are usually covered with sheet-metal roofs at best. If we can plant a bomb or bombs sufficiently powerful, we could expose the fuel rods and release a ton of radioactivity into the air with a lot less hassle… I suggest we make several bombs of different sizes, bigger ones for the pools and smaller ones for the hard-to-get at rods in the reactor.”
Carter did an instant summary of the division of labor. “Right on, Dr. Davy.
So you’ll stay at the school, stop working on the nuke, and build our dirty bombs. I’ll focus on raising the moola and location logistics.”
“We definitely need someone from the inside of CNP. Insider sabotage will be critical to the mission,” Davy noted. “They know what’s what and can figure their way around security measures based on their observation and knowledge of vulnerabilities. I also need current data and intel on all the equipment, machinery and facilities. You think that you can get someone fast and I mean yesterday?”
Carter nodded. “There’s going to be a ton of employees totally pissed at losing their jobs and someone is bound to want revenge. I’ll start working on that now. And we’ve got to be fast. My old man is expecting me to come up with a solution to his problem in two months.”
In reality, bureaucracy worked much slower and Harold would have been happy if his problem was solved within half a year, but that wouldn’t work for Carter. He wasn’t convinced that Davy would still be alive in six months, let alone remain well enough to finish the mission.
“Two months works for me.” Davy clucked his tongue and intoned the pact the two friends made forty years ago. “We are going to make the bastards pay.”
Carter’s eyes glistened; he and Davy were back in sync. “Let’s get it on. How much cash do you think you’ll need?”
“Well, most important, we need to get enough radioactive material. Even though we could easily get what we want from radioactive waste disposal sites or colleges with reactors, we would need specialized people to break in and get it. I don’t think we can hire or train who we need in our time frame. While there are lots of medical, engineering, or hospital equipment with radioactive material that we could use, we can’t risk leaving a paper trail, so buying any of the equipment new is out of the question. This is going to be a hassle because the stuff we want is not all in one place, but we got to steal or buy individual obsolete or irreparable equipment and machines.”