by Mark Lemke
CHAPTER 24
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I met with Pete back at the cabin over a quick sandwich and filled him in on what was going on, including a rundown on the fight in The Tavern and seeing Jansen outside.?
"I had the distinct impression he wanted me to see him."
"That's about his style," Pete observed.? "He always was a bit of hot dog, wasn't he?"? Pete knew Jansen, too.? "What else do we have?"
"Not much yet.? But the plant's senior NRC resident is involved and she's the one who brought us the intel.? I've got her keeping track of the FBI and the locals."
"She?? Is she up to this?" Pete said with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice.?
I chose to ignore the inference for the moment.? "My read is yes.? We'll see.? We don't have much to say about it either way.? She has intel about what's going on and she's already involved."?
I'd worked with women operatives before, overseas.? Most of them were locals and, because of that, they were well motivated.? But Marti wasn't an operative.? She was probably an engineer by trade who's training was in regulatory enforcement.? I had no clear idea how she would perform under pressure.? Like all people, she'd probably perform consistent with her abilities.? Not knowing what those were, I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt-for the time being.? I really had no choice.? She was in this and it might be for the best.?
"We have to assume the report has been compromised and that Jansen has it," I told Pete.
"I assume you left a few things out of the report, as usual?"
"Of course," I said with a sly smile.? "I don't want them to know everything I know."
"Does Prichard know that?"
"No, I didn't tell him.? Best to leave it at that for now."?
I usually found a few things that were best not to bring to anyone's attention.? These were things that were either too extreme to really matter or too sensitive to put down in writing.? All these big plants have a Trojan horse or back door through their security system if you know where to look and if you have the resolve to exploit it. ?But you had to know what you were looking for.? And I did.
"Intel we got from Marti indicates the terrorists have knowledge of the dead woman.? So we have an insider, which has been confirmed by the FBI.? Because of that, we need to focus our efforts on the plant and not worry about the external threat to the transmission system, if in fact there is one."?
Pete was listening as he worked on his computer.? He could multi-task easily enough.
"One more thing," I continued.? "The dead woman was married to a ventilation system engineer.? We have to assume that the engineer didn't kill his own wife.? So it's reasonable to assume the insider killed her, maybe to get to him."
"That's risky, isn't it?" Pete observed.? "It tips their hand.? They couldn't assume that nobody would find that out.? They can't be that stupid."
"We can hope they're that stupid, but I don't think so.? That means they're either reckless and amateurs or they're confident that it really doesn't matter.? More likely it means they assumed that by the time anyone found out, it wouldn't matter anymore.? That points to a short timetable."
Pete looked up from his computer.? "Agreed.? Based on what we're seeing so far, something tells me that this could get seriously bad in a hurry." Then, as an afterthought, he said, "I'm surprised Jansen did that, to tell the truth.? Know what I mean?"
I shoot him a look but moved on.? "I'm sure there's more to that than we know.? The good news is that we have some time, though not much, to get into this before something happens.? But we need to get moving."
"What do you have in mind?" asked Pete, ready and anxious to begin.
"I have some ideas, but nothing solid yet.? I need you to get all the intel you can from the sheriffs office, the FBI, wherever.? We're going to need to know what they know and what they're planning to do.? Meanwhile, I'm heading south.? I need to talk this over with the Old Man.? It'll be late by the time I get there.? I'll probably spend the night and come back early tomorrow."?
I knew a guy with technical expertise in the operation of nuclear power plants, who I referred to simply as The Old Man.? He wasn't exactly on the NeXus payroll, but he did unofficial consulting for me from time to time.? He was why I was so well informed about the plant systems and how they worked, though few people knew that or anything about him.?? Both the Old Man and I preferred it that way.? Turns out he lived just a few hours south of Willits, on the Central Coast of California.? So it was best to pay him a visit in person, rather than go into any of this over the phone.
"Tell him I said 'hey,'" Pete said.
"Will do.? I'll check in with Prichard and Marti later tonight.? Maybe we'll learn something then."
"Marti?? I assume that's the senior resident on site? ?Anything else I should know about Marti?" asked Pete, with more than passing curiosity in his voice.
"If there is, you'll have to find it yourself. I just met her."? It was a discussion I didn't want to get into right then.
I picked up the keys to my personal truck.? On a trip like this, I wanted to be comfortable, and the rental car wasn't going to do.? I had my ride in a parking garage downtown and would have to go pick it up.
"One more thing.? As you pointed out, if Jansen is in town, we know he's not alone.? He'll have a team of well-armed and no doubt well-paid guys with him.? We don't know what kind of talents they have, so keep a low profile.? I don't want you taking any chances."
"Roger that."?