Red North!
Page 27
CHAPTER 23
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Driving back to the cabin, I got on the phone to Prichard.? He answered the phone immediately, suggesting to me it was apparent he was expecting the call and understood what I was trying to tell him a short while ago in his office.
"Thanks for calling, Nick.? I assume you have a plan that you didn't want to share in front of Marti?"
I didn't exactly have a plan, but I did have a strategy, and that was good enough for the time being.? We needed to get moving and let the pieces fall into place as we went along.?
"Let's say I've got a few ideas.? What's important right now is that we need to stay ahead of the FBI and local law enforcement.? They're not going to want us involved.? And if they find out about us, they'll do everything within their considerable power to shut us down.? So we're going to have to work under the radar.? Are you okay with that?"
"I guess I'll have to be, won't I?" he said with irritation in his voice.? "I'm sure you know that I'm going to have to at least appear to be cooperating with the feds and the locals, don't you?"
"I wouldn't expect anything less."? What I didn't tell him was that I was counting on it.? The FBI was predictable, if nothing else.? Knowing what they intended to do and when they intended to do it would help me.? Feed the beast and they'd be right where I wanted them to be.?
"All you have to do is say the word.? My men and I are ready to go.? For the time being, the less you know about what that means, the better.? There're leaks in your organization, and we can't risk someone finding out what we're doing.? So in case anyone asks or is paying attention to my whereabouts, I won't be involved."
Prichard was going to need to walk a fine line on this one.? He had responsibilities, legal and otherwise, to the corporation that owned The Headlands.? He didn't need to explain that to me.? All he needed to do was give me the go-ahead and be prepared to fund the effort.?
"You're going to need information on what's going on here, from time to time.? How do you propose we do that?"
"I'll either call you or Marti.? Depends on what I need.? But for now, I have what I need."
"How's this going to go down?" Prichard couldn't help asking.? "We don't know much right now, and I'm not sure who to trust around here."
"First things first.? Let me get some assets in place, gather some intel, and then we'll talk again.? In the meantime, I suggest you do nothing to arouse suspicion.? Keep it business as usual-at least as much as the FBI will let you."
I've worked with vice presidents of these big nuclear stations before.? They're conservative decision-makers most of the time.? My take on Prichard was that he was no different.?He wanted to do things that would provide the least amount of risk to his station.? My being there presented him with a choice:? do nothing proactive and let the feds take over, or keep my team and I in place, whether the FBI knew about us or not. I knew that my being involved would lessen the risk of whatever was going on, though he could only take that on faith.? Hope and luck are generally not a good strategy, and definitely not the way he would choose to run the nuclear power plant.? That was, if he had a choice.
"I'll do my best," he said.? Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "I don't know if this is important to you, but you made a statement a while back, that it would help if you knew who was behind all this.? I don't know if this is relevant or not, but the Chinese are trying to get into commercial nuclear power in a big way.? We've been sending our people over there to help them and also to learn more about how they run their nuclear program. ?It's better for the US nuclear industry to help them do it right than to ignore them altogether.? But every time we send people over there, we've found that they're corrupting our computers and cell phones.? They would much rather steal our information than ask for it outright.? That's why I was in Washington when we met.? This is a significant issue for us and one that I wanted to discuss with the Department of State."
"Are you suggesting corporate espionage might be behind all this?"
"I really don't know, but there's big money to be made in nuclear power.? That's especially true with emerging nuclear states like China.? They need power badly, and I can believe they could see this as the way forward for them."
"Okay.? Good to know.? Let me think about that."
Prichard had some decisions to make and I was getting antsy to get going.? I knew what had to be done, even if he didn't.? As the pensive silence on the phone grew, I knew I needed to prompt him.? He needed to know it was okay to get me involved.? With nobody else around to tell him that, it fell to me.
"Jeff," I said with compassion as well as a sense of urgency in my voice, "the clock is running.? We have a short time frame and a lot to do.? What I need from you right now is the green light to proceed."
I heard him take a deep breath, as if thinking of all the ways this could come back to haunt him if he authorized me to proceed, and a number of ways it would if he didn't.? In the end, I knew he would come around to doing something proactive.? Guys like him are men of action.? Conservative decision makers for the most part, but action oriented nonetheless.? With conviction in his voice, he said, "Go."
"I'll do my best for you, sir."? And with that, I hung up.? Time to get moving. Prichard knew enough to approve my actions, without compelling me to tell him my plan.? As hard as it was going to be for him, the less he knew about what I had in mind, the better for the time being.?
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