Red North!

by Mark Lemke

CHAPTER 33

  The plant security force was always understaffed.? Like other departments that had to train their employees, security had to run brand new armed responders through a training program before they could be given weapons and put on the watch bill.? And it took time and resources to run those classes, two things that were always in short supply.? Security wasn't a glamorous job, frequently involving a lot of standing around, watching the paint dry.? It would be more exciting to put a dime in a parking meter and watching it expire. There had never been an armed attack on a nuclear power plant since nuclear power was first used to generate electricity more than five decades ago.? That bred complacency.?

  Despite all the technological measures and countermeasures they had, personnel still had to staff posts near the perimeter fence and in other remote areas, sometimes sitting for hours at a time to watch for intruders who they were sure were never going to show up.? To alleviate the boredom, some plants actually allowed the security officer in remote posts to read magazines and books and, in some cases, to watch videos.? Management believed this was better than having them fall asleep, as had happened at one or two stations in the past.? The pay for someone in security wasn't as good as that in the technical departments either, but like other departments, specialty work meant specialty pay.? In the world of security, being an armed responder was a specialty, meaning more training and more pay, and was therefore the sought-after job in the department.?

  Because The Headlands had fewer personnel than management would have liked, security officers, as well as their supervisors, had to work overtime routinely.? While this made for big paychecks for them, it also meant a lot of long hours.? As a result, Hector still had the graveyard watch as the security supervisor, and had for several days.? This turned out to be okay, though, because he was finishing the report on what went wrong the other day in the security drill.? And if he had to do it, he might as well get paid for it.? So working overtime provided him some time to get it done.

  Hector was sitting at a desk on the raised security shift supervisor's platform in the security building when he noticed his manager walk in and step into the metal detectors.? His presence there at that time of night was unusual, though not unheard of.?

  "Hey, Rob.? What're doing here?? Checking up on me?"

  "No rest for the weary."? Rob stepped out of the metal detector and into the explosive detector.? A moment later, hearing the 'ding', he stepped forward into the security building.? Despite the fact that he ran the department, he had to be screened before coming in, just like everyone else.

  "I've got some work to do for Prichard.? He's amped up about something and I figured I'd come in and work on it for a while.? It's not like I'm going to get much sleep tonight anyway.? Anything unusual happening tonight?"

  "Nope," Hector replied.? "Quiet as a tomb around here."

  "So long as I'm here, you got a first draft of that report on the drill yet?? I'm going to start getting some heat on that if we aren't done with it soon."

  "Working on it as we speak," Hector said.?

  As Rob walked past, he looked closer at Hector.?"What's the matter?? You don't look so good.? You feeling all right?"

  "Yeah.? I'm fine.? Just working some long hours, you know?"

  "Okay.? I plan to be here for a while, so it would be nice to read what you have as soon as you can put a bow on it."? Then, as if it were an afterthought, he said,? "Hey, have you got that NeXus report handy?? I want to take a look at that again too."

  "It's over in CAS at my other desk.? I'll bring it by in a little bit."

  "Okay."? Rob glanced around.? "I don't see Lynn anywhere around.? Have her come see me when she can, okay?? I'll be in my office."

  "I think she's in CAS, too," Hector told his manager.? "I'll let her know."?

  With that, Rob went through the security turnstiles and into the plant protected area.? He had a nice corner office on the bottom floor of the admin building.? This kept him close to his people, who were mostly located in the security building, while being available to senior leadership a few floors above him.?

  However, tonight, he went to the elevators and up to the fifth floor, straight to Prichard's office as instructed.? When he got there, the door was open, so he knocked on the doorjamb and walked in.

  Prichard was sitting behind his desk, looking at some e-mail on his computer.? When he saw Rob, he got up.? "Thanks for coming in.? Please close the door."

  Rob did as instructed.? "No problem.? What's going on?"

  Despite Nick's warning about trusting others, Prichard felt he needed to bring Rob in on what was going on.? If he didn't and something happened, his security force would be compromised by not being prepared.? Besides that, if the FBI and sheriff knew, sooner or later Rob would find out.? Better for Prichard to bring him in than have someone else do it.

  "We have a credible threat against the station."

  Rob immediately went quiet and questions started rolling through his mind.? Did this just happen?? Why the hell wasn't he told about this earlier? ?'Credible threat' meant the FBI and the NRC had already verified it and they believed it was real or they wouldn't be too concerned about it.?

  "That explains some of the chatter I've been hearing from the guys at the sheriff's office.? Nobody has said anything openly yet, but I figured something was in the wind."

  "Yeah.? I apologize I didn't speak to you earlier about this but conditions dictated that I keep this pretty close for the time being. Do you have the NeXus report?"

  "Hector has it.? He's working on the drill evaluation and felt the report would help him with some details."

  "I'd like you to get the report back for me," Prichard said with as little emotion as he could.? "I want to look at it again."

  "Okay.? No problem."

  Rob and Prichard went back a-ways.? They'd both been with the company a long time, and Prichard had learned to lean on his security manager for sound advice and council.? Sometimes it was helpful to go outside the technical ranks to get that.? Prichard was the one who recommended Rob for the position over more senior people.? It wasn't a popular decision at the time, but Rob had won over both his staff as well as the local sheriff.? Community relations are sometimes as necessary as technical competency when it came to running a nuclear power plant.? Many people in the community were concerned about the dangers of living near a plant.? So they looked to their leaders to represent their best interests.? Plant leadership knew it and worked to cultivate a good relationship with them every chance they got.? That was where Rob exceled.? He was well liked by the sheriff and the county administrator.

  Prichard went on.? "It gets worse.? The FBI thinks there's an insider.? I mean, when you think about it, that's not a stretch.? After all, someone killed Brenda.? That kind of thing doesn't happen accidentally."

  Rob was visibly shaken by the news.? It wasn't like he hadn't already considered it, but to hear the VP say it out loud caused him to wonder if someone was blaming him.? Someone on the inside could cause a lot of problems.? He knew that all too well, as did almost everyone else.? And if the FBI believed there was a mole, they would make his life difficult . . . even more than Prichard knew.

  "Does the FBI have any leads on who it might be?" he asked softly, his heart pounding in his ears.

  "Nothing yet, but keep your ears open and mouth shut on this one.? We don't want to give away what little we know or think."?

  Rob's heart was beating fast now, and he was quickly starting to piece things together. ?"How worried do you think we should be about this NeXus report?"

  "Plenty," Prichard replied.? "Connor was very thorough. ?I scanned the report before I gave it to you.? Looks like he covered a lot of vulnerabilities that we already know about, and some we didn't.? And we need to remember that he beat your team.? So he probably has a good handle on how you're organized, what works and what doesn't.? I imagine most or all of that is in the report.? So if it gets out, it's a bit like a game plan for the other side.? And that's wh
y I want to get it back."

  It was all coming at Rob fast.? He was behind the information curve, and he didn't like that.? This was his plant and he needed to know what was going on.? He prided himself on knowing more than everyone else.? "I still can't believe any of my guys are involved with this.? I know these guys.? It just doesn't scan."

  "No sense in trying to figure out how all this happened.? Right now we need to figure out what to do about it.? And remember; let's keep this close for now.? Keep your reason for being out here believable."

  "With everything that's going on, it would probably be more odd if I weren't out here," Rob said.

  "Check in with me later. ?I'll be here for a while."

  "Will do."? Rob hesitated for a moment as if he wanted to say something, then thought better of it, turned and left his VPs office, far more distressed than when he'd arrived.? He knew it was going to be a long night.? Not knowing who to trust was only going to make it that much harder.