by Stuart Gibbs
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Murray Hill stole it.”
“It’s still dangerous,” Erica said solemnly. “A nuke in this area could kill thousands of people and irradiate millions more. Any idea where the bomb is?”
I shook my head. “It’s somewhere in the mountains near here, but I don’t know the specifics.”
“That’s a huge amount of land,” Zoe said, discouraged. “Finding a single bomb out there would be like looking for a needle in a million haystacks.”
We were now several hundred feet above the lake. Cyrus pressed forward on the stick and the helicopter shot forward, racing up the canyon.
“Where are we going?” Mike asked.
“Where else?” Cyrus replied. “To talk to Leo Shang.”
NEGOTIATION
Leadville Airport
Leadville, Colorado
December 30
1420 hours
Leadville, Colorado, is the highest town in the United States, perched in the mountains 10,340 feet above sea level. Therefore, it was home to the highest airport in the country—as well as the highest high school, highest ice cream shop, and highest garbage dump. There wasn’t much to the airport, only a windswept runway and a few corrugated aluminum hangars. Most visitors used the far nicer Eagle County Airport in the Vail Valley.
Leo Shang wasn’t your average visitor, though.
Hank and Jawa had been keeping tabs on him all day, listening to the bugs I’d planted, while Chip stood guard around the hotel. The bugs had ultimately been useless—once Shang had realized I was an agent, he’d suspected the room was miked—but he couldn’t keep his sudden departure from the hotel a secret. While Cyrus and Alexander had been rescuing us, Chip had seen Shang and Jessica hurriedly check out, hop into their car-tank caravan, and speed away from town.
The guys had done their best to follow—Hank had a driver’s license, a rental car, and high marks in Tailing the Enemy 101—but the caravan had shaken them on Highway 24. There was only one airport in that direction, however, and once Cyrus knew that Leo Shang’s goons had planted a nuclear bomb close by, it was easy to guess where Shang was headed. “The guy’s about to light up this whole state like a Roman candle,” Cyrus explained as we flew toward Leadville. “So he’s gonna want to get out of Dodge as fast as he can.”
Sure enough, the caravan was racing down the two-lane road toward the airport as we arrived. There were three car-tanks in it. Shang’s jet waited on the tarmac. Waves of heat rose from the twin engines, indicating they were primed to fly.
The military helicopter we rode in was much larger than the heli-skiing choppers. It was mostly cargo bay, with a small cockpit and a line of jump seats along the left wall. On the right wall were a sliding door, a winch, and a tether for lowering people down or hauling them back up. Erica, Zoe, Warren, Mike, and I were belted into the jump seats. Cyrus and Alexander were in the cockpit. Woodchuck lay on the floor, wrapped up in so many blankets he looked like a flannel burrito. Thankfully, he’d managed to recover from his hypothermia. He’d stopped shivering and his face was its usual ruddy color, rather than blue.
Several pairs of skis and poles were piled at our feet. It looked as though Cyrus and Alexander had looted them from the ski rental.
Now Cyrus hovered over the runway, pointed toward Shang’s jet, and ordered Alexander, “Take that out! Shoot the wings so it can’t fly!”
“Er,” Alexander said uncomfortably, “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I used all the bullets back at the lake.”
“What?” Cyrus roared. “You didn’t save any for emergencies?”
“I thought the gunfight at the lake was the emergency!” Alexander explained. “I didn’t realize there might be two emergencies today.”
“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a thousand times,” Cyrus growled, “always keep some spare bullets! But you never learn, do you? You can’t do anything right!”
After days of being berated, Alexander finally cracked and stood up to his father. “Oh, that is so like you!” he snapped. “I helped save everyone back at the lake—and do I hear one bit of praise from you? No. But the moment I make one tiny mistake, I hear plenty!”
“This wasn’t a tiny mistake!”
“Would it kill you to say something nice to me just once in my life?”
“You know what will kill me? That nuclear bomb. Which is going to go off if we don’t catch Shang and find out where it is!”
While they bickered, Shang’s caravan raced onto the tarmac below us. Erica unbuckled herself, went to the winch by the door, and grabbed the tether that hung from it. It was a large rope with a thick loop at the end, easily big enough to go around her torso.
“Whoa there, young woman!” Alexander warned. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I’m going to rappel down to the tarmac and stop Shang,” Erica said matter-of-factly.
“Oh, no, you’re not,” Alexander told her. “It’s way too dangerous.”
“Well, we have to do something,” Erica shot back.
“Not that,” Cyrus joined in. “You’ve been rendered unconscious once already today. And that was the second time this week. I’m worried about your brain.”
“You were the one who knocked me unconscious the first time!” Erica pointed out. “And now you’re worried about me? Shang’s going to get away!” She reached for the door handle.
“Do not touch that door,” Alexander warned. “If you rappel out of this helicopter, you’re grounded.”
“I’m not sneaking out after curfew,” Erica protested. “I’m trying to prevent nuclear annihilation. If I don’t stop the Shangs, who will?”
“Me,” Alexander said.
“Oh, please.” Erica sighed. “You couldn’t stop a car if your foot was on the brake.”
Shang’s men opened fire on us. Erica hit the deck as bullets tore through the door of the helicopter. Others webbed the cockpit window, forcing Cyrus to take evasive action.
Warren dropped to the floor of the helicopter and curled into a ball. “They’re shooting at us!” he cried. He seemed to have recovered from his knock on the head; rather than being loopy, he was back to his normal, weaselly self. “Make them stop! I’m too young to die!”
The helicopter swiveled wildly as Cyrus tried to avoid the enemy fire. The spare skis and poles skidded around the cargo bay, clanging off the sides.
Mike looked to me, concerned. “Does this sort of stuff happen to you a lot?”
“No, this is my first helicopter gunfight,” I admitted. “But we can probably trust Cyrus to handle it.”
Below us, the caravan was racing down the tarmac toward the jet. The Shangs’ car was obviously the one in the center. It was the only one without people shooting at us from it.
Rappelling out of the helicopter was now impossible, and the Hale family was arguing about what to do next. It was becoming extremely evident why Erica always claimed getting emotionally involved could mess up a mission; the Hale family dynamics were so messed up, it seemed unlikely that they would ever agree on a plan of action.
But then something occurred to me. If emotions could mess up our mission, then maybe they could mess up Leo Shang’s mission as well. The last time I’d seen Jessica, she’d been furious at her father—and I figured that, since he was ending her vacation abruptly, she probably was now even angrier. Given the number of text messages she’d sent me, it seemed she wanted to talk.
So I dug out my phone and dialed her.
I wasn’t sure she’d answer, given that there was a gunfight going on, but she picked up on the third ring, sounding even more excited to talk than I’d expected. “Ben! I’ve been hoping you’d call!”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yes! You really freaked me out when you didn’t answer any of my texts. I thought you were mad at me or something.”
“No! I just . . .”
“I mean, I can understand why you’d be upset after the way
my father treated you. Sorry he was such a jerk. He’s being a total nightmare to me, too. He got some rival businessman angry at us, so we have to leave Colorado right now. . . .”
“The people in that helicopter aren’t rival businessmen,” I said, trying to get a word in edgewise.
Jessica actually stopped speaking for a second. Then she asked, “How do you know about the helicopter?”
“Because I’m in it!” I told her.
Below us, the caravan parked by the jet. The guards leapt out and formed a gauntlet for the Shangs to pass down. They kept shooting at us, forcing Cyrus to continue our evasive action.
Over the phone, I could hear Leo Shang. “Jessica! This is no time to be on the phone! Hang up and follow me!”
Jessica ignored him and asked me, “Why are you in the helicopter?”
“I’m a junior CIA agent! Your father has been lying to you. He’s not really a businessman. He’s a criminal.”
“That’s not funny, Ben.”
“I know. It’s all incredibly serious. Your father didn’t bring you here just to ski. You were right about that. He brought you here to plan a crime. A big one.”
“Jessica!” Leo Shang was saying. “Get off the phone, now!”
Only, Jessica didn’t get off the phone. And she didn’t get out of the car. Because, like Erica, she didn’t always listen to her father. Especially when she was angry at him. “What are you talking about?” she asked me.
“If we don’t stop your father right now, he’s going to set off a nuclear bomb in Colorado. He’s doing it to corner the molybdenum market. . . .”
“Molly Denham has a market?”
“No, molybdenum. It’s an element used in making weapons. And your father is trying to destroy the entire U.S. supply of it—even though it means killing a lot of innocent people.”
“No,” Jessica said. Her voice sounded strained, like she was struggling with the idea that her father was an international criminal. Which made sense; I would have reacted the same way. “He would never do something like that. He wouldn’t kill people.”
“He’s having his men try to kill us right now! They’re shooting at us!”
“Maybe he’s just trying to frighten you off. . . .”
“No. He’s been trying to kill me all morning. He sent Dane Brammage to do it.”
I could see Leo Shang was out on the tarmac now, with the door of the car open. Over the phone, I heard him yelling at Jessica. “If you don’t hang up right now, you’re in big trouble!”
“Daddy,” Jessica said sternly, “did you tell Dane to kill Ben today?”
Leo didn’t answer right away. And when he did answer, it wasn’t very convincing. “What kind of question is that? Of course I didn’t tell Dane to do such a thing!”
“Then where’s Dane?” Jessica asked suspiciously.
“He’s, uh . . . getting some snacks for the plane trip.”
Jessica didn’t buy this for a second. “Oh my God,” she gasped. “You tried to kill my friend! That is so uncool!”
“Jessica,” Leo said, “we need to get on the jet right now.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you!” Jessica screamed at him. “You’re the worst father ever!”
“You don’t understand what’s going on here!” Leo yelled. “Now, get out of that car this instant!”
“Or what?” Jessica yelled back. “You’ll kill me too?”
On the tarmac, the gauntlet of guards now looked a bit confused about what was going on. Leo Shang climbed back into the car to deal with Jessica. “You are my daughter and I demand respect! Now, you are coming with me!”
The sounds of a scuffle followed. I heard Jessica scream, “Let go of me!” and then there was a yelp of pain from Leo Shang. The door on the far side of the car opened and Jessica leapt out and ran across the tarmac, heading away from the jet.
Shang leapt out after her, but he was hobbling, like he’d been kicked hard in the shin. “Jessica!” he yelled. Only, he didn’t sound angry anymore. He sounded panicked, like a worried father. He might have been upset at his daughter, but he wasn’t about to leave her behind to die. “Get back here!”
Jessica kept going, though. So Shang turned to his guards and pointed after her.
The guards obeyed. They all chased after Jessica. She gave them a good run for their money, scrambling like a wide receiver, forcing the guards to spread out across the tarmac.
Which meant no one was shooting at us anymore. Erica quickly leapt back to her feet and threw the helicopter door open.
“Erica!” Alexander yelled. “I thought I told you that’s too dangerous!”
“Yeah, you did,” she admitted. “But I’m doing it anyhow.”
Before Alexander or Cyrus could say another word, Erica slipped the tether loop around her waist and leapt out the door.
“Teenagers,” Cyrus muttered. Then, since he knew he couldn’t get Erica back into the copter, he maneuvered over the jet. Erica rappelled to the ground beside it.
I stuck the radio transmitter into my ear, then listened as Erica slipped into the jet and took care of Shang’s pilot. There was some shouting in Chinese, followed by the sounds of a brief fight, followed by some more shouting in Chinese; only this time, the shouting was coming from someone in pain.
“The jet is secured,” Erica reported calmly. As though she’d just bought a quart of milk, rather than defeating someone in hand-to-hand combat.
“The jet’s secure,” I relayed to our team.
Across the tarmac, Shang’s guards finally caught Jessica. She didn’t give up the fight, though, writhing and kicking at them.
Cyrus flipped on the helicopter’s loudspeaker system and addressed Leo Shang through it. “It’s over, Shang. We have commandeered your jet. You’re not going anywhere until that bomb is defused—and the longer you stall us, the less time there is to do that. So tell your men to stand down.”
Shang turned back toward his jet in time to see Erica closing the door and locking him out. All his bravado immediately drained out of him as he realized the jig was up. He shouted to his men, who dropped their guns and raised their hands.
Cyrus brought the helicopter down beside them and killed the engine. The roar of the rotors dropped to a soft whine as they slowed to a stop.
“Nice work,” Mike told me. “You’re pretty good at this spy thing.”
“Thanks,” I said.
Cyrus hopped out onto the tarmac and signaled for the rest of us to follow him. “Zoe and Warren, go pick up those guns,” he ordered.
“Yes, sir!” Zoe saluted and, with Warren’s help, collected all the guns from the ground, scurrying around Shang’s guards.
Meanwhile, Cyrus approached Leo Shang, who had now become nervous and fidgety. “I need to know exactly where the bomb is,” Cyrus demanded.
“It won’t help,” Shang whined. “It’s too hard to get to and there’s no way to defuse it.”
“Let me be the judge of that,” Cyrus told him.
“Hold on,” Warren said worriedly. “There’s no shutoff switch on it?”
“Why would I put a shutoff switch on a nuclear bomb?” Shang asked.
“So you can shut it off !” Warren yelped. “In case of emergencies! So when something like this happens, we don’t all die!”
“We don’t have to die,” Shang said. “We can save ourselves if we leave now. We can all take the jet and get far enough away in the time we have left.”
“How much time is left?” Cyrus asked.
“Er . . . I’m not quite sure,” Shang admitted.
“You’re not sure?” Warren wailed. “You mean it could go off any second?”
“No,” Shang told him. “We have more time than that. I’m just not sure exactly how much. Dane Brammage set the timer, but I haven’t heard from him in a while.”
“You might not hear from him at all,” Zoe said. “Ben kind of sank him in a frozen lake.”
Shang seemed surprisingly unmoved by t
his. “Well, I guess that leaves more room on the jet. I told Dane to give us until around three o’clock. . . .”
“That’s in less than half an hour!” Mike exclaimed.
“I know!” Shang cried. “So let’s all get out of here! We still have time to escape!”
“But the rest of Colorado doesn’t,” Alexander pointed out. “We’re not leaving thousands of innocent people to die.”
“And if we’re going to risk our lives, you’re sure as heck gonna risk yours,” Cyrus told Shang. “So let’s stop the dilly-dallying and get down to brass tacks. Tell me where the bomb is.”
Jessica had stopped fighting the guards by now. The gravity of the situation had sunk in.
Leo Shang gave her an angry glare. “This is all your fault,” he said.
“My fault?” Jessica replied tartly. “I’m not the one who put a nuclear bomb in the mountains without an off switch.”
Zoe and Warren returned to Cyrus’s side, their arms full of guns. Cyrus selected one he liked and casually pointed it at Leo Shang.
Shang gave in. “Dane dropped the bomb on a mountain near the Climax Mine.”
“What’s the exact location?” Cyrus demanded. “Latitude and longitude would be nice.”
Shang grew a little embarrassed. “Uh . . . I don’t know that. Dane might, but you killed him.” He looked at me accusingly as he said this, like I’d screwed up somehow.
“It was self-defense!” I pointed out. “And for all we know, he still might not be dead.”
“So all you know is that the bomb is on a mountain?” Warren asked Shang, wild-eyed with panic. “That’s not helpful at all! There’s like a million mountains around here!”
Cyrus glared at Warren. “You’re not helping things.”
“I think I might know how to narrow the search down,” I said. “The heli-skiing company’s copters have GPS tracking systems in them. They’re accurate down to the foot. What time did Dane drop the bomb?”
“Around nine thirty this morning,” Leo replied. “He commandeered the helicopter from the company, dropped the bomb, and then went off to take care of some other things.”
“Like trying to kill us?” Zoe asked pointedly.