Red North!

by Mark Lemke

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  Prichard was considering his options.? He didn't know if Dave Street knew what was going on or to what level he might be involved.? It was possible Dave didn't know anything, but he couldn't depend on that.? If something was going to happen, he had to assume that Dave had already been contacted.? And if Rob was involved, as well as an engineer, he had to assume that phones and e-mail had been corrupted.? He had to go talk to Dave personally-and soon, as Nick had instructed.?

  Prichard wondered how Dave would react.? He tried to think about what he would do in a similar situation.? The VP didn't like to walk into meetings or conversations without knowing the probable outcome.? He liked to be prepared, and that had helped him out on more than one occasion.? But in this case, he had no relevant experience to bring to bear on the situation.? And time was running out.?

  As he grabbed his hard hat and safety goggles and headed for the door, Prichard considered that meeting with Dave in the control room might not be the best course of action.? As vice president, he was very visible and right now he didn't want to be seen near the control room.? That might alert someone who was watching.? Of course, the security computer could track him anywhere in the plant, but he'd be less conspicuous meeting Dave somewhere else.? Going back to his desk, he picked up his phone and dialed the number for the shift manager.?

  Dave answered on the first ring.? "This is the shift manager, Street," he said immediately.?

  He sounded to Prichard like he was on edge.? "Dave, this is Prichard."

  "Yes, sir.? What can I do for you?"? Dave was expecting to be contacted by whoever sent him the note about his family.?

  "Just spending some time in the plant doing some equipment walk-downs.? I like to do this on backshifts," he lied, in case someone was listening.? "I'm down by the component cooling water heat exchangers.? We have a leak on the inlet to the 1-1 heat exchanger.? I wonder if you could come down here and look at it with me."

  Dave didn't want to leave his desk.? He was still expecting a call but didn't know if this was the one.? "I'll send my senior control operator down there to look at it with you."

  Prichard had anticipated that response.? "No, I really think this is something you need to see."

  Dave had no choice now.? The site vice president had asked him to personally to look at something, and he knew he had to go.? Reluctantly, he said, "Yes, sir.? I'll be right down."

  "Thank you."? Prichard hung up and began the short walk through the turbine building and down to the CCW heat exchangers.? He'd have to hustle, because Dave was much closer to the equipment than he was.?

  Prichard picked the heat exchanger room because it was relatively quiet and a closed room that nobody just walked through.? He'd know if someone came into the room while he was in there talking with Dave.? So they could talk in relative privacy.

  As Prichard headed across the turbine building deck, Dave walked out in the control room to the unit supervisor's desk.? "Bob, I'm going to take a walk in the plant.? You've got it for awhile," he said, referring to overall command and control of both units should something happen.

  Bob, the Unit 1 supervisor, acknowledged with a simple, "Okay."? He turned to his computer and logged himself in as the person with command and control.? "You going to be gone long?"

  "No," Dave answered.? "I just want to go check something out.? I should be back in ten or fifteen minutes."

  "Okay.? I've got it."

  With that, Dave put on his hard-hat and safety glasses and left the control room.? He got into the elevator just outside the control room and pressed the button for the 85-foot elevation, several floors below him.? This was ground floor for the turbine building.? The CCW heat exchangers were just outside the elevator.? As he got off the elevator and walked to the door of the heat exchanger room, he saw Prichard walking quickly down the hallway toward him.?

  Meeting up with the vice president outside the room, Dave said, confused, "I assumed you were in the heat exchanger room when you called me."?

  "Let's go inside.? I want to show you something," Prichard said, using his key card to open the door to the room.? They didn't have much time.? The security computer would pick up that he and the shift manager had entered the room.? If someone was watching, the odds were high they'd see a security rover in a few minutes.

  Once inside, Prichard looked around to make sure they were alone.? The room was cool because of the cold seawater coursing through two heat exchangers the size of small tanker trucks.? But at least it was relatively quiet.?

  Satisfied that they were alone, he asked, "Have you heard from Kay tonight?"

  Dave blanched.? He didn't want to believe that Prichard was the guy he'd expected to hear from, but here he was and he'd asked about Kay.?

  "You bastard!? What have you done with her?"? With an effort, he suppressed an urge to reach out and grab the other man.? He tensed but hesitated.

  "Hold on!" Prichard said.? "Apparently you haven't spoken with her tonight?"

  Dave was shaking.? "What the hell is going on?"? He needed information and someone to tell him the truth, and he didn't have either right now.? "You know I haven't.? If you've hurt her . . ."

  That removed all doubt from Prichard's mind.? Dave had just confirmed that his wife and kids were, in fact, in harm's way.? Prichard needed to get Dave on his side now.? This could take a bit of doing, and the clock was ticking.? Nick was going to call back soon.

  "Get hold of yourself!? Of course I don't have her.? I'm on your side.? Has someone contacted you about her?" Prichard asked.

  Dave looked back and forth at Prichard's eyes.? He desperately wanted to confide in someone.? Seeing no deception in his eyes, the shift manager relaxed and decided to trust him. ?In a rush, Dave told his vice president about the e-mail and phone call.

  Prichard was past being stunned by these events tonight.? "Okay.? We don't have a lot of time.? I need you to do something.? You remember that guy from NeXus you met the other day?? The one running the force-on-force drill?"

  "What does he have to do with my wife?" Dave asked, his heart still racing.

  "He needs to get into the plant, and he's coming in through the circulating water tunnel."

  "What?" Dave almost shouted.? "That's not possible.? What the hell's going on?"

  Prichard gave him a short rundown of Nick's plan for entering the plant.? He also told him the FBI's instructions, at least as relayed by Marti.? It was important for Dave to know at least that much in case someone challenged him.?

  Dave listened to Prichard and then repeated it to make sure he had it right.? "You want me to go to half load and shut down a circulator, then come back and open the water-box and let some guy I don't really know, into the plant, with no security credentials, badges, or approval?"

  "Yes."

  Dave looked at the VP with exasperation on his face.? "Is this for real?"

  "He's here at my request, Dave.? You're going to have to trust me on this one.? Okay?"

  "I guess it'll have to be.? I'm not sure I have a lot of choice.? How will I know when he gets there?"

  "I have no idea.? But in the meantime, we need to get the pump shut down and drain the tunnel."

  "What are we going to tell the FBI?" Dave asked, not unreasonably.

  Prichard replied, "This is still our plant.? They aren't here and we are.? This is what we need to do."

  Dave was relieved to have someone to talk to about all this.? "What about the people who have Kay and the kids?? They gave me instructions not to change load.? What do we do about that?"

  Prichard could see the stress Dave was under.? "We'll have to play some of this by ear.? I don't have all the answers.? But time is of the essence right now.? We need to move."

  Dave wasn't convinced.? "I understand, but this is still a nuclear power plant.? We don't just ramp down to fifty percent power without a procedure and process in place.? We don't do things that way, and you know that!"

  Prichard was growing annoye
d.? They pounded the use of procedures into these guys, but he also knew that Dave knew them backwards and forwards.? He knew Dave knew how to 'operate' the plant, and could do so, without procedures, if need be.? "I appreciate your responsibility to the plant.? But now I'm telling you . . . ramp down and take that circulator off line!? This is not open for discussion!"

  Dave thought about it a moment.? He knew he needed help and couldn't just sit by while someone destroyed the nuclear power plant.? He couldn't do much about Kay and the kids but had to trust that they'd be all right.? He had some measure of control over the plant, and that was what he'd have to work with for now.? He was still very upset, but thankful there was a plan.? He was action-oriented and always felt better doing something.

  "Okay," Dave said.? "I'll have to figure out something to tell the unit supervisor.? He's going to want to check with the auxiliary operator at the Intake.? He'll know we don't have a problem with the screens."

  "Just get the thing shut down and do it quickly!" Prichard commanded.

  "What about Kay and my kids?" he asked again, hoping for some kind of answer this time.

  "Nick said to tell you he'll take care of them.? I don't know how he intends to do that, but if Nick says he'll take care of them, he will. ?As for the FBI, if we tell them the screen differential pressure is going up and we have to shut down a circ water pump, they have no choice but to believe us.? We can make this happen."?

  Prichard was getting nervous.? They'd been talking for several minutes.

  Just then the door to the room opened and an armed security officer entered.?

  "So, you'll get that leak put in the corrective action system tonight?" Prichard said to Dave, in a voice loud enough for the security officer to hear.

  Dave looked at Prichard and read the concern in his eyes.? He looked over at the security officer who was approaching them in a deliberate, almost menacing way.? Dave decided the best thing to do was to back up his boss.

  "Yes, sir.? I'll do that right away."

  "Excellent.? Then I think I may go home," Prichard said, looking hard at Dave.? He acknowledged the security officer with a nod, went out into the hallway and headed back to his office.?

  Dave followed him out, leaving the security officer in the room, looking around. ?Once in the hallway, Dave turned the opposite way from Prichard's path and headed back to the elevator and the control room on the 140-foot elevation.?

  The security officer was told at the beginning of the shift to be on the lookout for anyone who might talk with the shift manager.? The whole shift had been briefed on that.? They were told that there was a 'fitness-for-duty' issue with the shift manager that couldn't be discussed.? They didn't know if he'd been drinking, was on drugs, or if he was having a nervous breakdown.? All they knew was that they'd been told to keep an eye on him.? The security officer had been around the plant for years and knew Dave Street in passing.? He thought he'd always seemed like a decent enough sort of guy, even for an operator.? But orders were orders, even if they were a little goofy.? Still, he didn't think that applied to Street talking with the site vice president.? He was due for a break in about twenty minutes.? He'd go back to the break room in the security building and get his coffee and inform the watch commander then.? He didn't think the encounter with Street and Prichard was significant enough to call in immediately.

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