No one noticed Frank's hand grip the throttle until they felt the sudden surge as the mighty engines came to life and pushed the Francis B. ahead at full power. Seconds later they felt the force of the impact with the lock gates as it threw them forward in the pilothouse; some landing in heaps on the floor.
"What the hell are you doing Frank?" Charlie shouted as he grabbed the throttle.
"Let's see you open those gates and move north now, you sons a bitches." Frank yelled as Chambers, Reyes and two others wrestle him from the chair and onto the floor.
Charlie crawled into the chair and backed the boat from the gates. As the damage was revealed, the lock master shook his head, "Those gates aren't going to open tonight gentlemen. I'm afraid you have a real problem."
Charlie was numb as he watched them drag Frank out of the pilothouse.
Downstairs, Lennie looked briefly at Emily, then at Dasilva, and then the computer.
"Don't do it!" Dasilva shouted.
Lennie lunged for the computer, pulled a handful of wires, then turned and jumped through the door onto the deck outside. Emily followed him out the door as Dasilva moved to the computer.
The lock walls blocked the evening sunshine, but Emily could make out Lennie's image as he jumped from the boat onto the barge, and ran along the side of the barge toward the ladder on the lock wall. Suddenly, she heard the engines surge and felt the huge boat lunge forward. She grabbed the door frame just as the boat slammed against the gates, throwing her forward again.
As she looked up, she saw Lennie trying to regain his balance from the sudden movement. His street shoes were not made for traction on the slick barge decks, and she watched as he slipped off the side, falling ten feet into the water between the barge and the lock wall. As the boat backed away from the gates, the barges slowly drifted to the left, toward the lock wall. Moments later, one million pounds of Mississippi River towboat rubbed against the solid concrete and steel of the twelve-hundred-foot lock wall, with no space left between them for Agent Lennie Ryan.
"Graham, we’ve got trouble," Dasilva called from inside.
It may have been Lennie, it may have been Shallenger, it may have been any of a thousand things, but Emily heard herself laughing as she stepped back into the small room.
"The computer is down. That means the connection is broken."
"Twelve hours," Emily said.
"About eleven hours and fifty-six minutes to be exact," Dasilva said.
Chapter 102
Emily and Dasilva stepped into the pilothouse and found it crowded and quiet, with Captain Graff sitting in the chair.
"I'm afraid we have a problem Agent Graham." Charlie said. "We're not getting out of the lock, thanks to Frank, and that means we have less than an hour to..."
"We have twelve hours," Emily said, "or just about that."
Every head in the room popped up.
"What do you mean twelve hours?" Reyes said.
"Lennie disconnected the computer downstairs," Emily said. "He was our mole. The connection is broken, which means the timers have started on all of the devices."
"If we've got twelve hours," Reyes said as he turned to Chambers, "that means your plan just might have time to work."
Reyes punched numbers on his phone.
"Stewart," Reyes said" "tell the team to step it up on that device and see if they can confirm things. Tell them we may have the time to do this if they push it."
Reyes saw the question on Emily's face as he lowered his phone.
"Chambers has an idea for how we can disarm the devices," Reyes said. "You may have just bought us the time we need to pull it off."
"Yeah?"
"Remember when he gave that report at the meeting the other day; about those electromagnetic pulse things? The EMP's?"
"The nukes? You're kidding me."
"No, no, not like that. They've got smaller ones; ones that...hell, you explain it, Bill..."
"OK." Chambers said. "They've got the same kind of EM pulse in them, but they're not nuclear, in fact, there's no actual explosion at all; they're more like a giant flashbulb; remember those?"
"No explosion?" Emily said.
"Don't need it. The pulse will essentially fry any electrical circuitry within five to eight feet, quick and simple; if it works."
"If? What do..." Emily began.
"We have to make sure that these things aren't shielded so much that the pulse can't hit everything," Reyes said. "Even if one circuit stays alive, it might be the wrong one. I've got a team tearing the one apart downstairs right now to let us know. Bill," Reyes looked at Chambers, "do you have enough of these things that you can get your hands on? And do you have time to get them out there?"
"They're already moving." Chambers said. "Give us four hours, and you just tell me when to light ‘em up."
"Four hours?" Emily said. "That fast?"
"Agent Graham," Chambers said, "this is the kind of thing my people train for every day. Those above me may occasionally have some harebrained ideas, but I guarantee you that the people down the line know exactly what they are doing. Four hours will do it."
"That would give us just under eight hours to do something else if these don't do the job," Dasliva said.
"Well," Reyes said, "if Chamber's idea doesn't work, I'm afraid we'll spend those eight hours trying to move as many people away from the areas as possible. Other than the little flashbulbs here, I'm afraid we're shit out of options."
"If you people will excuse me," Chambers said as he moved to the pilothouse door, "I've got some things to do. Call me if there's anything good on TV."
"Yeah, me too," Reyes said, turning to Emily and Dasilva. "My team is picking up the two guys who've been putting the devices out there for the boat. We'll take them for processing, and then you can have them and see what you can learn from them."
Reye's phone rang, and he lifted it to his ear.
"Yeah?" he listened. "Right. I'll let 'em know. Thanks."
He lowered the phone long enough to punch another button.
"Chambers," he said, "it’s a go. My guys say the circuits are vulnerable. Let's do this."
He turned to the two agents.
"Gotta go." And walked out the door.
Charlie and the lock master had gone to view the damage to the lock gate and barge, leaving Emily and Dasilva in the empty pilothouse.
"Well," Dasilva said, "I guess we'd better get up there and talk with some of these people, and see if we can start putting the pieces together."
"Wait," Emily said, "I need to know something."
"Yeah?"
"About Lennie. How did you find out about him? How long have you known?"
"It was when I made the D.C. trip. While I was there, I got a call from someone saying that we needed to talk about what was going on and that he had key information about our mole. That's why I flew back early; so I could meet with him at the bar."
"His name wouldn't have happened to be Steve was it?"
"However did you know that?"
"I'll tell you later. What did he say?"
"Just that he knew we had a mole, and that they believed it was Lennie; whoever they were."
"Yeah, that's Steve."
"So I started looking into things and found that Lennie had been talking with someone outside the firm. He was actually taking orders from someone. That's when I found out about you."
"Me?"
"Lennie was told to get you out of the way. You were putting things together too quickly. They knew they would be stopped at some point, but they wanted to get as far as possible up the river before that happened. So, Lennie was supposed to slow you down."
"By killing me?"
"Or your dad. They figured either one would solve their problem."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I couldn't risk doing anything that might tip Lennie off; I needed to have the evidence. So, I called in some people I thought could protect you; you know, kind of follow you around and
keep an eye on you. But, they weren't as sharp as I thought they were, so I finally told Steve we needed to do something else. He called Chambers, he showed up in Chester, and you know the rest."
"It’s just hard to understand. I mean, Lennie. Why would he do this?"
"I'm afraid it’s not all that dramatic. It was money; plain and simple. They gave him a quarter-of-a-million dollars."
"To kill me?"
"For the whole thing. He's apparently been involved in the planning of things since it started; as long as Shallenger anyway. Lennie even helped locate the students to offer scholarships in Shallenger's program."
"Students? What did Lennie know about..."
"He used the company database, and his normal contacts, saying it was all part of some investigation your office was involved in. Nobody gave it a second thought. So, when I saw him leave the pilothouse earlier, I followed him to see what he was up to and caught him logging into the computer. We started arguing, and that's when you came in."
"What about Shallenger?" Emily asked. "What's his part in all of this; other than the obvious."
"I don't know any more than you do about Shallenger," Dasilva said. "Or Dennis. Or this Steve guy. I've chased every lead I can find, but they all fell apart."
"Same for me," Emily said. "But I guess the really good question is where the money came from; and who got Lennie and Shallenger started in the first place."
"That, Agent Graham, is the quarter of a million dollar question. Let's go see if we can learn anything from those two goons you tied up, or Susan, or those fishermen. At this point, they look to be our only hopes."
"Before we go..."
"Yes?"
"Thanks. For, you know, trying to keep me alive."
"Glad to be of service ma'am. Now, do you want to be the good cop or the bad cop?"
Chapter 103
"Thank you all for coming at such short notice," Dasilva said. "I'm assuming you've all read the brief I sent you."
"Damnedest thing I've ever heard," Colonel Goodwin said.
Everyone was connected by phone or computer. Dasilva, Chambers, Reyes and Graham were in St. Louis, Goodwin from the NRC and Nichols from the Corps of Engineers were in New Orleans, Agent Loren Erikson in Louisville, and Agent Carlos Rodriguez in Memphis.
"And who the hell is this Steve guy?" Nichols asked.
"You know as much as we know about him at this point Colonel," Dasilva said. "But we'll chase that rabbit later. Right now we need to let you know what is happening so you can do things that need to be done. Time is short. Colonel Chambers?"
"Thank you." Chambers said. "As you read in Agent Dasilva's brief, we are going to use small EMP units to try and stop the timers on all of the devices. We are confident that this will work, but we need to have steps in place if that outcome is not reached."
"Doesn't sound like we have a lot of steps," Goodwin said.
"I'm afraid you're right Colonel." Chambers said. "That's why my people are making every effort to see that it does exactly what we need it to do."
“Wait a minute,” Goodwin said, “I didn’t think an EMP would work underwater. The density of the water…”
“That is true for the standard EMP, Colonel,” Chambers said. “But we’re using something a little different here. The actual physics of the thing is beyond my pay grade, but I assure you that being underwater will not be a problem.”
"As Colonel Chambers said," Dasilva continued, "we believe the EMP units will render the devices safe for removal. However, if that does not happen, our only recourse is to get people as far as possible from the areas of risk."
"How much time do we actually have?" Agent Rodriguez asked.
"If we are not able to stop them," Reyes said, "the timers are set to go in about eight hours; at seven-fifty a.m., Central Time."
"That gives us eight hours to get as many people clear as possible." Chambers said.
"Well," Rodriquez said, "that may be well and good for places like Caruthersville, or Helena or Greenville. But for those of us in Memphis, or Baton Rouge, or St. Louis and New Orleans..."
"I fully understand Agent Rodriguez," Dasilva said. "Believe me, I understand. We can just do what we can do. And yes, I'm afraid in some places, that may not be enough."
"Just how far away is far enough?" Rodriguez asked.
"For the detonation itself and immediate risk from radiation," Agent Goodwin said, "a quarter-mile should provide a wide enough perimeter. The real question will be about what comes after the explosion, and that's going to depend on the local wind; the vectors and velocity. Depending on those elements, the best situation for radiation exposure would be three miles downwind in the first hour after detonation, and at least ten miles downwind three hours after detonation. That's radiation. The winds may carry the bio spores further; we just don't know how much further. However..."
"However?" Dasilva asked.
"However, that's all based on conjecture, since we've not actually had time to fully examine one of these things to see what they can really do. The reality is that, if one of them does blow, we'll have to work as fast as we can to find out what it means, and then do what we can to deal with it.”
"So, as I sit here in Memphis, with the winds blowing as they are right now, the recommendation is that I need to empty two-thirds of my entire city, and maybe more, in the next seven hours. Is that what I'm hearing?"
"As I said," Chambers began, "we are doing..."
"Please understand Colonel," Rodriguez said, "I have the greatest confidence in your people, but I am just wanting to make sure I understand what you are telling me I may be asked to do here."
"Yes, Agent Rodriguez," Dasilva said, "your understanding is correct."
"Agent Rodriguez?" Goodwin said.
"Yes?" Rodriguez answered.
"I believe if you can secure a perimeter of a quarter mile from the location of the device itself, you will have done your job."
Several moments of silence on the line.
"Colonel," Dasilva said, "how much longer before your team will be ready with the EMP's?"
"Fifteen minutes."
"Very good. While we wait, I will ask Agent Graham to update us on what she has learned since I sent the briefing. She has been interviewing the individuals apprehended this evening."
"Thank you, Agent Dasilva," Emily said. "I'm afraid what we have learned so far is not moving us much further along in the investigation. The students, Susan Handling and Lawrence Abbot, were just that; students. They were two of those apparently recruited by Lennie, by uh, Agent Ryan, and who were caught up in the passions of Dr. Shallenger. They were selected to go on the boat because of their blind worship of the guy, and knew nothing more than the specific tasks they were to carry out."
"What about the other students?" Goodwin asked. "Weren’t there others?"
"Yes Colonel Goodwin," Emily said, "there were others. Unfortunately, it appears they all died in the explosions. Lennie was involved there as well, and was quite complete in closing that trail."
A brief silence
“The two men on the boat with Shallenger were there for muscle. Two guys with minor backgrounds in organized crime. Apparently, Agent Ryan offered them deals in return for their helping Dr. Shallenger, as long as they didn't ask any questions. Some money was involved as well, but they know nothing beyond that."
"Organized crime was involved?" Agent Erikson asked. "Is that the 'they' we keep hearing about?"
"No," Emily said. "These two had minor connections a few years ago and got caught, which is how Agent Ryan found them. They're a couple of small-time hoods who were being paid to do the grunt work and look mean."
Emily paused briefly.
"And it’s about the same with the two in the fishing boat. They really are a couple of fishermen from up North who were given a list of bridges, a cell phone and a bag of money to do the job. As they drove up the river, they would get a phone call telling them where to find the canisters and whe
re to put them, and they just did it. They used the money for gas, and meals and such, and whatever they didn't spend, they got to keep. And before anyone asks, the calls came from a different number each time; so nothing has been traceable."
"Do we have any way of finding out where the rest of the canisters are?" Goodwin asked, "The ones for the rest of the bridges?"
"Not at this point, no," Emily said. "So far it’s another dead end."
"Anything else Agent Graham?" Dasilva asked.
"No sir," Emily said. "I know that Colonel Goodwin's people at the NRC will do their part to trace the various radiation signatures from the devices once we have them out of the water, so they may be able to offer us some direction there."
"Well do our best," Goodwin said, "I'll guarantee that."
"Agent Dasilva," Chambers said, "I'm told we are ready to go."
"OK then," Dasilva said. "If anyone on the line happens to carry a rabbit's foot in your pocket, now’s the time to start rubbing it. Colonel, it’s all yours."
Everyone listened as Chambers talked to his people on the radio.
"All stations, this is command. We are go for mission Killing Time. All stations report."
"Crescent City go."
"Huey Long go."
"Hale Boggs go."
"Sunshine go."
"Wilkinson go."
"Baton Rouge go."
"Audubon go."
Emily was mesmerized as she pictured each bridge float by as it reported in.
"Natchez go."
"Vicksburg go."
One more chance to stop the ride she had been on for the past week.
"Greenville go."
"Helena go."
One last chance to see that more lives would not be taken by this insanity. That's all it could be: insanity.
"Memphis go."
"Desoto go."
"Caruthersville go."
Were there really this many? It hadn’t seemed so big, one at a time.
"Cairo South go."
"Cairo North go."
"Girardeau go."
Screaming wouldn’t help.
"Chester go."
"Jefferson Barracks go."
Disruption: A River Of Secrets And Betrayal Page 33