Red North!

by Mark Lemke

CHAPTER 25

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  THE OLD MAN

  ?

  I liked sports cars.? They were fast and high tech.? I'd owned a few and I still liked them, but my current ride was an F-150 Harley Davidson pickup truck.? It was supercharged, which meant it was fast; and it was a truck, which meant it was roomy inside.? I liked the roominess but appreciated the high performance, even if it wasn't a sports car.? I'd become something of an adrenaline junky since my time on the teams.? Nothing quite like hanging out of a Black Hawk helicopter in the dead of night, going like a bat out of hell, skimming the tree-tops, fifty feet away from another helo with no running lights on, heading out on a mission.? My truck wasn't a match for that, but for personal transportation, it wasn't bad.?

  As I drove down the road, I thought about the Old Man. ?I knew a lot about tactics, weapons, and how to kill a man.? The Army trained me well and I was very good at all of it.? I wasn't raised with guns, didn't play football as a kid, and wasn't technically oriented.? But I grew up learning how to succeed.? I learned a lot of that from studying traditional Japanese karate for fourteen years.? I'd earned my black belt at the age of sixteen, the youngest you could be to earn a black belt in that style.? There was no breaking boards or theatrical kicks.? There were, however, doing pushups on my knuckles, lots of repetitions, and fighting.? There was no talking in class, so when you got hurt, you learned to just cowboy up and move on.? As it turned out, I had a knack for that.?

  However, I didn't know anything about nuclear power.? I had a bachelor's degree in criminal science, but I never took a liking to technical disciplines, such as engineering.? What I found, though, was that it wasn't necessary for me to be a nuclear engineer to be able to evaluate security at nuclear power plants.? Security was security.? Strategy and weapons didn't change much from one job to the next.? But I had to admit it helped if I knew something about how the station operated so I would know what the security staff was trying to protect.? This was where the Old Man came in.? He was an expert in nuclear power, having worked in the industry for a few decades before he retired.? So from time to time, I'd meet with him when it was necessary to my assignment.? I didn't advertise that of course, and he preferred it that way.? He liked being retired and resisted many opportunities over the years to contract back to the industry he'd retired from.? However, in his years in the nuclear power industry, he'd developed an expertise that made him invaluable to me.? He had a degree in nuclear technology; held a senior reactor operator license for 20 years, which meant he knew reactor physics, heat transfer and fluid flow, thermo-hydraulics, electrical systems, and how to put it all together to make a highly technical plant work.?

  More than just the technical knowledge, he had a familiarity with plants, knew where things were located, what was flowing through the various pipes, and what a plant should sound like.? That kind of expertise comes from a lifetime of being in the plant, not just book learning.

  But a lot of people worked in nuclear power and had similar expertise.? What made the Old Man unique was his additional knowledge of station security.? He'd gotten involved in security after 9/11 when nobody else wanted to or even really knew the relevance of it to the nuclear industry.? Each plant had to have someone who could look at the new threat area, and the Old Man got the assignment.? As a result, he ended up working with various federal agencies like FEMA, the NRC, the FBI, and even the National Security Agency.? Being involved meant he had access to information that most others at the stations did not.?

  In many aspects, it was a new field, and those who got in on it right away rose quickly to positions of influence.? He'd participated in risk analysis reviews of nuclear power plants and worked with local agencies to determine risk factors at various stations.? He'd learned how the entire nation's electrical system was interconnected so a person with sufficient knowledge could find vulnerable points.? He'd experienced this for himself several years ago, when a freak accident was blamed for taking out the electrical grid for the entire Eastern Seaboard.? He'd been on a plane in Boston sitting on the tarmac waiting to take off when the incident occurred, delaying him for several very long hours. The problem supposedly started at a Canadian nuclear plant just across the border on Lake Ontario and then cascaded into the US, causing a disruption to the electrical grid frequency, which in turn caused nearby nuclear stations to trip off line-resulting in more instability and more plants tripping off line.? A domino effect.? Cities went dark and airport traffic was temporarily suspended.? As he sat on the tarmac, he had time to ponder how this could have happened so easily.? Intrigued, he became something of an industry expert in a new field.?

  It was years later that he found out the grid disruption had actually been a computer fault.? A subcontractor hired to maintain the system was installing a new program, and one of the mainframes saw it as a virus and started to shut down computers to protect itself, which started a cascade within the national power control grid that cut power to fifty million people.? That information was never made public for fear of spreading panic and giving already inventive computer hackers new ideas.?

  The sun had already set behind the coastal mountains when I pulled into the Old Man's driveway, past the huge rural mailbox that everyone out there had.? It was getting dark, so it was good that I knew where he lived because there weren't any streetlights.? He lived out in the country on a ranch in the hills behind San Luis Obispo, a small college town a few hours south of San Francisco.? I always liked visiting there when I could.? I wasn't a cowboy or a farm hand, but I enjoyed the peace and quiet and the smell of the hay fields and animals.?

  Sweet smoke was curling from the chimney and a warm glow was coming from the windows as I drove up the long dirt road to the main house just coasting-barely a couple of miles per hour-so I wouldn't kick up too much dust.? Living in the country meant there was no need for curtains as they only block the view from the inside.? Privacy was obtained by living a good distance away from your neighbors-and protected by Smith and Wesson.

  Getting out of the truck, I stretched my legs from the long drive and breathed in the night air filled with the smell of hay and horses.? I walked up onto the wood porch and knocked on the beautiful solid oak door.? From somewhere inside the house, I heard a deep, throaty bark; the kind that indicates something big and nasty lurked on the other side of the door.? I smiled to myself.? For all the technology in the world today, one of the best security systems was still a large dog.? When the door opened, a huge bullmastiff charged through it to see who was making all the racket outside.? As soon as the dog saw and smelled me, his menacing growl turned to a playful, but throaty, woof, to greet an old friend.?

  I loved the old dog, but bullmastiffs had a nasty tendency to drool, and this one had long strings of drool hanging out each side of its mouth.? So even if they didn't bite you, they slobbered on you.?

  I grabbed the 110-pound dog by his large, thick neck and shook him back and forth.? "Blackie!? How are you, boy?"?

  Blackie made a deep rumbling sound from somewhere in his throat that indicated he enjoyed seeing me again, too.? He put one enormous paw out as if he wanted me to shake it and tilted his head to one side in a playful way to encourage me to rub his ears.

  "Nick!? Good to see you, boy!" said the Old Man from the other side of the door.? "Come on in!? Let me get you a towel and wipe some of that spit off your hands."

  "Good to see you, too, Old Man.? How's it going?" I said as I walked into the house, followed by a very happy Blackie.? That dog's tail alone could knock holes in a wall.?

  "You know I'm not one to complain," the Old Man said as threw me a towel.? "Come on in.? You want a beer or coffee or something?"

  "Coffee would be great, thanks."?

  I followed the Old Man into the comfortable country kitchen.? The timber frame house had huge rooms, lots of wood, lots of windows, and vaulted ceilings.? Not quite a log home, but very rustic, warm, and just about what you'd expect out in the country. I pulled out one of the chairs at the k
itchen island and sat down, with Blackie alongside pushing his nose up and down on my leg, indicating he wanted me to rub some part of his body, which I willingly obliged and rubbed his ears.

  As the Old Man poured coffee into a huge mug, I said, "You're looking good for an old guy.? Been on a diet or what?"

  The Old Man chuckled. "Not exactly.? It's all the work around this place.? Man, it never seems to end.? I guess I'm not used to having to do everything for myself.? It's hell getting old.? My back hurts from doing so many chores.? I'm supposed to be retired, you know?? What's with that?? But what the hell.? You have to do something with your life, right?"?

  He went quiet for a moment, during which time I assumed his thoughts turn to his wife of thirty-seven years.? Jenny passed a couple of years ago just after they retired and moved into this place.? At sixty-three years old, he still looked fit, with a bit of a paunch, but not too bad.? Still had all his hair, though it was significantly grayer and a bit longer than it was just a year ago, which was the last time I'd seen him.

  The Old Man put the past aside for the time being.? "What's going on that has you out at night driving down here to see me, in the middle of February?"?

  "Got a problem up at The Headlands power plant," I said as I sipped the hot, black coffee.? "You been watching the news?"

  "Hell no!? I'm retired remember?? I do enjoy watching reruns of The West Wing, though.? Best show ever made.? I have all eight seasons on disc, you know.? Hey, want me to fix you something to eat and we could watch some?? Won't take but a minute to rustle something up."

  I enjoyed the banter but didn't have time for this.? I also knew better than to believe the Old Man didn't know what was going on in the world outside his little piece of heaven.? He was still well connected, and I suspected that he knew much more than he was letting on right now.?

  "So, you don't know what's going on, eh?" I said, tongue-in-cheek.

  He looked at me with a slight smile.? "I didn't say that.? I just said I don't watch the news.? Too depressing.? The stock market's going down again and that just pisses me off.? Not to mention, it's taking food out of Blackie's mouth.? And you know how cranky he can get if he doesn't eat something regularly."?

  Blackie was lying on the floor between the two of us, a bit of drool coming out of his mouth, over huge lips the color of licorice, just happy to be in the same room with us as we talked.

  Getting back to the business at hand, I said, "I've been up there for a few days doing a security evaluation for the plant."

  "Good for you.? Always good to be gainfully employed," he said as he pulled out a chair next to me.

  ?"Yeah, but there are some unusual things going on.? A woman washed up on the beach.? Seems she was an employee at the plant."

  The Old Man looked at me without blinking his eyes.?"Yeah, I heard something about that."

  I had a suspicion he knew.? "What you probably didn't know is that there's a credible threat against the plant."

  "So?? I imagine they get threats all the time.? Why does this one have your panties in a wad?"?

  The Old Man enjoyed picking on me every chance he got.? "In this particular case, they've got a mole on the inside."

  The Old Man's smile vanished.? He leaned back, folded his arms, and said nothing. He knew that threats come and go, but an insider meant someone was serious.? "I assume the fact that you know all this means something is about to happen," he said.

  "So, I've got your attention now?"? I couldn't resist giving him a ration of shit for his glib remarks earlier.? As I drank the hot coffee I gave him a rundown of the last couple of days, including the dead woman, my run-in at the bar, seeing Jansen, and the threat assessment.?

  When I was done talking, he asked, "Who knew you were going up there?"

  "What are you suggesting?" I asked, leaning forward a bit.

  "Well, the timing is odd if you think about it.? Just after you do your look-see, run a drill, and write a report, a threat is made against the station.? Either the timing is just a weird coincidence, or someone was waiting for you to do what they couldn't do.? And I don't believe in coincidences quite that much."

  That made sense to me, too.? I didn't like the implications but saw that the Old Man made a reasonable observation.?

  "The only people who knew I was going up there were plant staff-VP, a few guys in security, maybe operations."

  "And didn't you say that Prichard said the perimeter gates and locks didn't look messed with?"

  "Yeah, and he seemed to know that right away."

  "So whoever killed the woman and pushed her in the drink had knowledge of the security system.? They also had to have a key to get through the gates.? When you put it all together, this looks like a well-choreographed situation.? Much more than an amateur job."

  I sat back and finished off my coffee.? I'd been up a long time already, but I wasn't feeling sleepy in the least.? "That was my read, too," I said.

  "So what do you need from me if you have all this figured out already?"

  "Hey, I'm a long way from having it all figured out.? But it's my problem now.? Jeff Prichard, the VP, asked me to get involved.? I told him I'd help out but on the down low.? The FBI and the sheriff have the lead, or will soon enough, seeing as how there's a credible threat out there-and you know how anal those guys can be."

  The Old Man nodded his head.? "Yeah, I've had some dealings with the FBI before."? He looked at me and asked, "Got any assets in place yet?"

  "I've got a team on the ground just in case.? I got Pete heading them up and doing some intel."

  "Ah, Pete.? How's he doing these days?"? The Old Man knew a lot about NeXus and the team.

  "He's good.? He said to tell you hello."

  The Old Man nodded his head.? He had a great deal of respect for my guys.?

  "Anyway, we just don't have all the pieces yet," I continued.? "Thought you might have some insights on all this.?A cold read and all.? I figure we don't have much time now since the dead woman was found.? I'm thinking that's going to force their hand.? I don't think having her wash up on the beach was part of their plan."

  "You're probably right about that," agreed the Old Man.

  "So this all means they're probably well entrenched and have a plan that's already in the works.? That leaves us behind the power curve on this."

  The Old Man just listened.

  "I figure it's too late to try to stop them from getting in.? And we don't know what they're doing or who they are.? My thinking is that we need to start working on a take-back strategy.? I'm not sure we can stop them from doing what they plan to do, but we can take the plant back from them.? They won't expect that from anyone other than the FBI.? But I could use your help with it.? If this thing goes down, and if it involves someone within the plant security department, there aren't a lot of folks left to rely on."

  The Old Man got up to get the coffee pot.? As he poured us some more coffee, he asked, "How you doing these days?"

  I knew he was referring to my time on the teams and the injuries I'd sustained, both mental and physical, that resulted in the Medal of Honor.? He wasn't supposed to know about it, and for the benefit of everyone else, he pretended not to know.? But he did.? He also knew it was one of the reasons I got out of Special Forces.? At the time, I was stressed out, and being distracted while deployed down range was something that you didn't want.? So for my sake, and the sake of my team, I opted to go into the private sector where I could slow down a bit and sort things out.? And while that was all true, that was the cover story.? As in many areas of Special Forces, things weren't always what they seemed.? And the fewer people who knew, the better.?

  "I'm okay.? I try not to think about it too much."? I actually still didn't feel like talking about it but appreciated that the Old Man asked anyway.? Still, I wanted to change the subject.? "We can have that discussion some other time.? Right now, we have business to attend to."

  The Old Man let it go for the time being.? "Okay.? Let's talk this through."? H
e appeared now to be moving into his analytical mode. ?"As you know, to really compromise the safety of one of these big nuc plants, you need a few things.? Let's look at what we've got here.? From what you've said, we can assume they have someone in security on their side.? That's not a really big deal unless the person is well placed on the inside and has the knowledge and ability to muck up the works.? We don't know yet if that's true or not, so let's just table that one for now."

  I was petting the beast under the table and processing information as the Old Man continued.?

  "They're quite possibly trying to subvert the husband of the dead woman.? You said he was a containment ventilation engineer?? Let's assume that's a key piece of this puzzle.? That would suggest that they probably have a few assets in place already.? And if that's true, the fact that they do and we don't puts us at a disadvantage."? The Old Man leaned back in his chair and looked pensive for a moment.? "It's February.? I'll bet they got an outage coming up soon, right?"

  I saw where he was going with this.? "As a matter of fact, they do.? It's in about two weeks."

  "Outages have always been weak spots as far as security goes.? So they may have additional outside help that's somehow gotten on the inside."?

  "It's a vulnerability that I noted in my report."

  "I thought you would."? The Old Man leaned forward.?"The third leg of this stool is the control room.? To do really significant damage to the station they need someone actually in the control room.? And this is the piece we're missing right now.? If they can corrupt a key player in there, we have a big problem."

  He let that hang in the air for a moment.

  "This is all a stretch, you know.? It's improbable to get that many assets in place without someone finding out.? Nonetheless, my suggestion is you call Prichard and see if there's been anything unusual happen to the crews.? See who called in sick recently, or who might be vulnerable."

  I looked at my watch.? It was approaching 9 p.m.? "I'll call him in a bit.? So what do you think?? How do you see this playing out?"

  The Old Man got up and grabbed a double-stuffed Oreo cookie.? He must have loved those things because he had them every time I visited.?

  "As I said, nuc plants are hard to seriously screw up, but that doesn't mean it can't be done.? For the sake of argument we'll assume the improbable has happened, so they have means and opportunity.? That's one.? Two is that we know they're serious, because they've already murdered one person.? This takes it out of corporate espionage and puts it more in the terrorism arena.? Not good for us."

  He dipped his cookie in his coffee.

  "But if Jansen is around, that means they have mercenaries involved, which means they're in it for money.? Money is no good to them if they don't come out alive.? So that means they have an exit strategy.? They want to be around to spend their ill-gotten booty.? And that can work to our advantage."

  That's what I liked about the Old Man.? He didn't get too emotional about these things.? He thought things through.

  "That exit strategy is going to be their weak point.? If we can figure that out, we'll know where to look for them and how to stop them.? For example, if they get into containment and damage it enough to cause a problem, they'll never get out alive themselves.? As they aren't patriots, I think we can rule that out."

  I thought about that for a minute.? "But if they can get into containment, don't we have to assume that they have already defeated the security staff?? And wouldn't that mean that they could place delayed charges and still get out again?"

  "Good point.? That's possible.? But there are three barriers between the nuclear fuel and the outside world:? the fuel cladding, the reactor coolant system, and containment itself.? You tell me-can they carry enough explosives to damage all three systems?"

  I shook my head slowly.? "Based on what you've told me before about the components in containment, I'd say that's unlikely.? Even with military-grade explosives, it'd be hard to carry enough to damage all three, unless you had a lot of guys humping a lot of C-4, timers, and detonators.? That's a lot of gear."

  The Old Man dunked another cookie, having devoured the first in a single bite.?

  "So what do you see as the weak link in all this?" I asked him.

  "Well, it's possible their goal is not to kill a lot of people by releasing massive amounts of radiation.? Maybe they just want to gum things up a bit.? You know, do enough damage to the plant that it's economically unfeasible to fix it and start it back up.? This kind of scenario could cause the plant to go bankrupt.? If they do that, they'll show all nuclear plants to be vulnerable to attack.? Pro-safety folks would have a field day."

  "Who'd stand to gain from that?"

  "The anti-nukes, for one.? They're all over the place and remarkably well organized, but this looks too detailed and well funded for them to be involved.? They're serious about their cause, but generally aren't this militant."?

  He gobbled down another cookie, which where starting to look pretty good to me, too.? I hadn't eaten in awhile.

  He went on.? "We did some studies on this a few years back.? Believe it or not, it's possible that a country with an emerging nuclear industry might stand to gain from it.? If the US decided to back off nuclear power, or if one or two large plants have to shut down, it might free up parts-or at least make them a lot more affordable to overseas countries that would rather buy them used than new.? If a US plant had to shut down because of a terrorist event, they'd likely sell their equipment off to recoup some of their investment."

  It was my turn for a cookie.? Only I liked milk with mine.? I walked over to the cabinet to get a glass and then to the fridge for some ice-cold milk.

  "That fits with something Prichard told me this morning.? He said the Chinese have been trying to hack their way into The Headland's LAN for information.? It's possible they're trying to jump-start their commercial nuclear program by stealing or plagiarizing whatever they can get hold of from someone else."

  The Old Man looked at me and squinted.? "That's not really news to you, now is it?"

  As I wolfed down my first cookie and went to get another one, I realized just how hungry I was.? "You know that's still heavily classified, right?? It's not a subject I'm going to discuss."?

  I knew he wanted to talk about it for a variety of reasons.? And I would have loved to be able to discuss it with him, but both he and I knew it wasn't going to happen.? I moved on.?

  "Whatever their long-term goal might be, I think we need to assume they have a short-term goal of breaching the plant and causing damage.? How much damage, we don't know.? But I'm assuming any damage to a nuclear plant presents some risk of releasing nuclear materials."

  "Unfortunately, you're right," the Old Man said, shaking his head.? Despite his casual manner, this was the kind of scenario that no doubt kept him up at night. And both he and I knew it.?

  I looked at my watch again.? It was 9:23 p.m.? "Before it gets too late, let me call Prichard and see what's going on.? I can ask him about the status of the operators, too."

  "No problem.? I'm going to take Blackie out for a pee."

  Blackie heard his name and the word 'pee' in the same sentence, jumped up, and ran for the door, his nails clawing at the hardwood floor trying to gain some purchase but failing, his muscular legs splaying as he slid into the wall.