“Oh, Dr. Patel, I am so glad you have answered. I have terrible news. Monsieur Broussard’s yacht is missing. They fear he has gone down with the ship, and his crew, as well.” There were liquid tears in Alys’s voice, though Nevaeh could tell she was trying to keep it together.
Nevaeh felt her heart kettledrum in her chest. It was too soon, way too soon. “What do you mean, the ship is missing?”
“I don’t know when the word came, but I only found out moments ago. The manufacturer of the ship’s transponder called into the office to speak to Jean-Pierre. Apparently, the transponder went offline sometime last night. Claudette tried to raise Jean-Pierre, but he wasn’t answering and she alerted me. The Malaysian coast guard and a search is underway.”
“How is this possible, Alys? Why didn’t Claudette notify me immediately?”
“There’s been so much confusion, no one knowing what to do. I’m sorry, ma’am.”
She yelled, “You should have called me first!” but Alys was crying, distraught.
“Calm down, calm down. I’m sure he’s fine. Jean-Pierre is an experienced sailor, the battery probably ran out on the transponder. Who contacted Claudette?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know. I’m sorry.”
Nevaeh said, “It’s all right, Alys. I know this is very upsetting. Thank you for alerting me so quickly. Listen, why don’t you go home. I will take it from here.”
Alys sobbed her thanks and was gone.
Nevaeh turned off the phone. “How can they have been reported missing so quickly?”
Kiera shrugged, used her calm voice, the one she only used with Nevaeh. “It won’t matter, Nevaeh. If and when they do locate him, they’ll find a dead man along with everyone on the ship. That was a Hellfire missile we shot them with.”
Nevaeh stared out the window. “I hope you’re right.” Still, something felt off, felt wrong.
CHAPTER TWENTY
T-MINUS 66 HOURS
The British Embassy
Rome
Fentriss barreled over to the workstations like a bull rushing a matador’s cape. “What are you talking about, Drummond? Grant sent a message in Morse code about a nuclear EMP? Who has a nuke? Where is it?”
Everything stopped in the room, all eyes on Nicholas.
Nicholas said, “There’s a microburst here with the message intact. That’s all there is, and the location isn’t registering any different than their last known. We better start looking for a nuclear signature in the area.”
He shrugged. “It isn’t like this scenario hadn’t been a distinct possibility for years. We all know eventually someone is going to be stupid enough or greedy enough to try and set off a nuke, be it a suitcase bomb, a dirty bomb, or a nuclear EMP. God save us all if someone tries to launch a warhead toward another country.”
Mike asked, “Did it go off? Is that why they’re offline? It would have sunk them, right?”
Nicholas said, “I haven’t the foggiest. But if there’s a nuclear signature, we’ll at least be able to measure how strong the EMP might be. It all depends on the load of the plutonium. Though had it already gone off, the satellites would be affected and they aren’t. So, I don’t think it’s happened yet. We would know.”
Fentriss started barking orders and everyone scrambled. New views appeared on monitors, headsets were adjusted, the level of chatter increased.
Nicholas said to Mike as they watched the choreographed chaos, “Do you know, I don’t think he was all that surprised to hear about the nuke. What do you think that means?”
She raised a brow, said slowly, “It means they know there’s a nuke missing, doesn’t it?”
“Sir,” Nicholas said, standing so quickly his chair nearly fell backward. “May I have a moment?”
“Not now, Drummond.”
“Yes, now. Sir.”
Fentriss jerked a thumb to indicate toward the door and Mike and Nicholas followed him to the hallway and into a small dark-wood-paneled antechamber. Fentriss closed the door and rounded on them. “What is so bloody important you need me right now?”
“When were you going to tell us about the missing nuke?”
Fentriss looked ready to explode. Instead, he stared heavenward, and said between gritted teeth, “I know enough about you, Drummond, to know you aren’t going to let this lie. So I’m going to read you in, because surely at this point your people would know as well. There is no missing nuke, per se. A small amount of plutonium has gone missing from the Idaho Research Facility. Its whereabouts are currently unknown, and we’ve been warned to be on the lookout. It’s possible the amount stolen was enough to equip a nuclear bomb.”
Mike couldn’t believe this. “You were told. Blue Mountain? Not the FBI, not the CIA, but the staff of a high-end security firm?”
“Don’t punch out a wall, Agent Caine. Look, it’s being kept quiet—the last thing anyone wants is panic on our hands or the thieves who stole the plutonium to know we’re onto them. We were told because Blue Mountain has teams all over the world unfettered by government oversight. We’re uniquely equipped to look for the missing plutonium. But of course the proper authorities have been alerted. I talked to the head of the DOD myself yesterday. General Temple is well aware of the significance of the problem. He’s given me full authority to search anywhere we need and stop this mess.”
“Yesterday? You only talked to General Temple yesterday? How long have you known about this?”
Mike was vibrating. Nicholas put a hand on her arm. “When did the plutonium go missing?”
Fentriss said, “The last time it was registered in-house at the facility was in 2015, when it was moved from one research area to another, in a standard protocol. But they only discovered it was actually missing a couple of weeks ago.”
Now Nicholas was getting mad. “You’re telling us there’s been nuclear material unaccounted for out in the world for more than two years, and no one knew? That’s preposterous.”
Fentriss’s face was turning red, but his voice was low and even. “I know you’re both angry, but dial it back, agents. We aren’t responsible for someone misplacing plutonium, not our purview. The research facility didn’t release the information until a few days ago. Whether they were aware two weeks or two years ago, it’s out there now, and we need to find it.
“There’s more. One of my men on the Kosovo mission said he’d heard there was a nuke EMP in play. Unfortunately, he died right after his transmission, and we haven’t exactly been conversant with the rest of the team, so good luck finding out where he heard it. Their mission fell apart, then Grant’s team went off the radar.”
Fentriss’s face suddenly looked older, worn. “Trust me, agents, now you know what I know. So can we get back to work finding my people?”
Nicholas said, “What was your team’s mission in Kosovo, sir? How would your man overhear this news? Was he murdered?”
“It’s a standard K&R, an oil executive who went missing in disputed territory while trying to broker a deal. It has nothing to do with the plutonium. My guy was a terrorism expert, one of the reasons I hired him. The team uploaded his tablet to me, and I’ve been going through his notes. He was in Damascus last month, had a meet with a source, and they mentioned some followers of Khaleed Al-Asaad were making not-so-discreet inquiries. Our man was found in a ravine, his neck broken. Was he murdered? I think it likely.”
Nicholas said, “We were told Al-Asaad was killed some two years ago, if I remember correctly. The CIA got him.”
“Yes, evidently so. His power structure was rumored to be second only to Bin Laden’s. And, Al-Asaad had a huge following, all eager to blow us up, to buy and sell arms to those who want to commit acts of terrorism all over the world.” Fentriss rubbed a hand across his tired face. “They will never give up, never give in, until they have what they want, sowing chaos until they gain total destruction of the West. These not-so-discreet inquiries gave me the impression Al-Asaad could be alive. If he is, it will only get worse. Is he
involved with a nuke? It’s our worst nightmare.”
Mike was still angry. “Regardless, we need to let our boss know what’s happening. Who else has been read in about the missing plutonium?”
Fentriss said, “Listen to me. The plutonium isn’t your problem, it’s mine. Your job here isn’t to find a nuke. It’s to help me find my team. If you want to go plutonium hunting, I suggest you get in touch with your people and get assigned to the program. In the meantime, if you were serious with your offer to help find Grant, please, stay focused.”
Mike said, “Fine. But don’t think we aren’t going to be pursuing the nuclear angle as well. No choice. We’ll be drawn and quartered if we don’t at least mention what we know.”
“Up to you. Shall we?” He gestured toward the door, and they started back to the main staging area. Fentriss peeled off to bark more orders at his people.
Mike watched him stride away, her mind going a mile a minute. “I can’t believe this, Nicholas. Listen, if a nuke went off and there was an EMP, there’d be a signature, yes?”
“Yes, without a doubt. It hasn’t gone off—yet.”
“Exactly. So there’s a chance to still use GPS to find Grant.”
A dark eyebrow went up. “How so?”
“His fitness tracker, Nicholas. Remember the new one he was wearing? I told you I wanted to get one in Rome. Well, I did some research. The device he was wearing was made by Ziost, uses GPS to automatically track outdoor runs. You don’t have to tell it to track you, it’s all ready to go the moment it senses you running. So even if the ship’s GPS is offline, there’s a chance the tracker isn’t. If we find the device, we can find Grant and his team. I hope. Assuming he’s still wearing it, of course, and it’s still sending out signals.”
He stared at her, grabbed her arms, and hugged her tight. “Have I told you lately I love your brain? That’s brilliant. Let me get Adam on this.”
“Are you going to touch base with Zachery, too?”
“Zachery is on a retreat with some other muckety-mucks this week, remember? In the wilds of Montana, no wireless, a team-building exercise. I think we should play this out first. If the powers that be call him back, and he wants us, he knows how to reach us.”
“You know we’re going to be hotdogging, something Zachery hates.”
He grinned. “Yes, well, Fentriss has a point. We should take advantage of this being a silent op for the time being. We’re still off the official radar. So let’s find Grant. I assume it will be all hands on deck soon enough. Perhaps he’ll know more about what’s happening and we can avoid an international crisis.”
She shook her head at him. “Another one, you mean.”
He hugged her again. “It’s what we do, Agent Caine. Now, let’s call Adam.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Adam Pearce, their twenty-year-old off-book hacker, and a major part of their Covert Eyes team, answered on the fourth ring, his face popping up on Nicholas’s screen. His hair stuck up at angles, he was wearing earbuds and a vintage Journey tour T-shirt, and a can of Red Bull was visible by his elbow.
“What took you so long?”
Adam grinned, waggled his eyebrows. “You don’t want to know.”
“Adam, Mike here. Don’t tell us you’re entertaining a female caller. Are you?”
“Maybe . . . No, of course not. Just kidding. I was playing Fortnite, of course. What every red-blooded young hacker in the world is doing right now.”
Nicholas said, “I’m not sure what that says about society’s future. Terribly sorry to interrupt your game, but we have a serious situation and need your help.”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“Grant Thornton is missing.”
“Oh, no, not again.”
“Yes, again. Different situation this time, though. He was on board Jean-Pierre Broussard’s yacht.”
Adam’s mouth fell open. “You’re kidding. Oh, damn. I heard they’re afraid the yacht went down. I had no idea Grant was anywhere near there. I thought he was with Kitsune, at their place—” He shut up. Operational security concerning Grant and Kitsune was paramount for the entire Covert Eyes team. Adam was too smart to openly discuss their whereabouts, even on a secure connection. “Is Kitsune okay?”
“She’s on a job and we have no way to reach her. Malaysia’s search and rescue teams are working the area, but the yacht’s transponder seems to be offline. It’s possible a small EMP went off in the area, we’re trying to confirm now. But Mike thought of something rather ingenious. Grant was wearing a Ziost fitness tracker. It has—”
Adam’s face lit up. “GPS, to track outdoor exercise. Pretty standard when it comes to these kinds of devices, though Ziost does everything automatically. You’re thinking I could use his tracker’s GPS signal to locate him. Assuming an EMP didn’t knock it offline. You remember the micro-EMP you set off in Italy last month? That didn’t mess with your watch, did it?”
“No. But my watch was shielded, and it’s much too old to be affected by an EMP. Not GPS-enabled, not digital at all.”
“Let me know when you want to come out of the Dark Ages, dude. Okay, now, I’m not sure how an EMP might affect smaller, personal device electronics of this nature. I don’t know if anyone’s been doing any testing to find out, either, since fitness trackers aren’t exactly vital to national security. Still, it’s a super idea, Mike. I’m on it. Though since this is a public company, we’ll have to get a warrant, and it’s going to take some time.”
Mike said, “Mm-hmm—”
“Of course, there are faster ways—”
Nicholas grinned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Mike said, “Nor do I, but we’ll deal with the repercussions—if any—later.”
“Got it. I’ll get back to you.”
Mike said, “Hold on, Adam. Before you go, a favor. After you run Grant’s tracker, please pull everything you can find on the Idaho Research Facility. They are—were—stewards of some missing plutonium, and I’d like to find out if a small bit of plutonium from Idaho could be used to build a nuclear EMP.”
“A nuclear EMP? Now you have my attention.”
“This is on the down-low, okay? There was a Morse code burst transmission from The Griffon before it went offline about a possible nuclear EMP in play. We’re hoping it’s a false alarm. Get into the dark web and see what you can find, okay?”
Adam took a swig of Red Bull and nodded. “I will, but I haven’t heard anything about this. Not cool. I’ll get back to you as soon as I find anything.”
“Thanks.”
“Be careful, guys. I have a bad feeling.”
Nicholas said, “We will. We’re going after Grant, and we’re going to bring him home. With any luck, Kitsune will only find out over the dinner table.”
“Wait, you’re going to Malaysia?”
“Yes. We’re with Blue Mountain. Wheels up in sixty from Fiumicino, so we have to get moving. We’ll be in touch, and you ring me straightaway when you’ve tracked Grant.”
“Copy that. And don’t worry. I’ve got this. I can find out about everything we discussed faster than you can.”
Poppy Bennet appeared at Nicholas’s elbow just as Adam’s face disappeared from the monitor. “That boy is going to track Grant through his fitness tracker GPS? Amazing. When will we have the coordinates?”
Mike said, “Adam will let us know. He’s very good. If it’s possible, he’ll do it. With luck, we will have them soon.”
Poppy heaved a sigh of relief. “At last, some hope. Now, we have to go. I’m giving you a ride to Fiumicino. ETA to Malaysia is ten hours.”
Nicholas said, “Plenty of time to hear from Adam and to figure out where this nuke came from and is now. Oh yes, we need to stop by the hotel and grab our bags.”
“I already have them waiting in the car, and have checked you out. Blue Mountain covered the bill.” She smiled. “I’m terribly efficient.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
; T-MINUS 60 HOURS
Fiumicino Airport
Rome
Fentriss’s personal Blue Mountain jet was a beautiful Gulfstream G650—a much upgraded version of the same plane the Covert Eyes team used. Fentriss was already aboard, on a call, and waved them to their seats.
He told whoever he was talking to he’d call them back and hung up. “Problems on the K&R mission. I’m afraid I won’t be able to join you in Malaysia.” He handed Nicholas a card. “Here’s my personal information. You call me immediately with any updates. Poppy told me about your idea, Agent Caine, tracking Grant using the GPS on his fitness tracker. Good thinking. Flight computer says you’ll be in Kuala Lumpur in ten hours. Hopefully they’ll be found before you land.”
And to Mike, “If this works, I’ll be forbidding my people from wearing the fitness trackers in the future.”
Mike said, “But if Grant wasn’t wearing it, we wouldn’t be able to find him—or your client, Mr. Broussard.”
Fentriss said, “You know what this means. If anyone can hack into the system and locate my operatives when they’re meant to be off-grid, the trackers are a major operational security risk.”
Nicholas said, “It’s a good thing we aren’t just anyone, sir. I understand your rationale. The wrong person gets ahold of this information, it would compromise your teams.”
“Exactly. I often ask myself why there’s always a downside. Now, I have to deal with the Kosovo situation, going there directly. Thank God it’s a damn sight closer than Malaysia. Poppy will go with you and liaise with operations in Kuala Lumpur, get you a team, and anything else you need. Go find my people.” He paused a moment, then shook their hands. “Thank you. I’m trusting you with their lives.”
Nicholas said, “We’ll find them. And thank you for providing the ride. Saves us a lot of time getting our own jet here.”
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