by Mark Lemke
CHAPTER 59
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Jerry was trying to concentrate on his task, which was to find where Jansen's team had been in the last couple of hours.? He'd managed to put together a short list of vital areas that had been entered, cross-referenced the badge numbers, and found that the guys who'd entered all those areas were Waxman Industries contractors.? That was it.? He had the information he'd been looking for.? He knew where they'd been, and it wasn't good.
Worried now, Jerry turned around and gave the list to the Old Man.? As he did so, he looked more closely at the person in front of him.? He still didn't know who this guy was-he was clearly not the usual contractor type they got to help out at the plant.? He was much too old and looked like he should be retired, not running around a nuclear plant under attack.? But he was there and seemed to be in the know.? Jerry was past trying to figure it all out.? There was a problem and the gentleman standing next to him was-hopefully-going to help them out.?
The Old Man took the list and looked at it anxiously. As expected, there were doors that had been opened into the vital emergency diesel generator rooms.? Explosives there would damage backup power to vital equipment.? One guy could have gone in all three D/G rooms easily enough.?
Further down the list were a couple of places in the auxiliary building, inside the radiological controlled area.? Two of those areas seemed to be unimportant, at least as far as vital equipment was concerned.? The Old Man reasoned that they might be used to create a distraction or spread contamination around.? They were in areas related to radiological waste systems.?
Then he saw what he was looking for, but hoping he wouldn't find; the emergency air lock vestibule outer door on Unit 1.? Shit!? He knew a door like that would have an alarm on it, so control room personnel would know if anyone had opened the door.? He needed to confirm that, on the remote chance the computer was in error.?
"Call the control room and find out if the Unit 1 emergency airlock has been opened recently," he said.? "They should have an alarm on it."
Jerry speed-dialed a number.? "This is Jerry Sims in SAS.? Did you recently get an alarm on Unit 1 containment emergency airlock?"
The Old Man was watching Jerry. ?It was a short conversation.? Jerry thanked the person on the other end of the line, hung up, and said, "The Unit 1 containment emergency airlock door had just been opened prior to the security event that's in progress.? They were going to send someone out to check on it, but with the security lockdown in progress, they hadn't done anything yet."
That call must have prompted a discussion in the control room too, because moments later the SAS phone rang.? Dave was now on the phone.
"This is Dave Street, shift manager.? Who's in charge in there?"
Jerry said, "Hector's in charge."
"Let me speak to him, quickly."
Hector took the phone.? "This is Hector."
"Hector, this is Street.? I'm declaring a General Emergency.? People tried to take over the control room.? We have one fatality; a terrorist.? We've secured the control room.? I'm notifying State and County authorities."
Hector breathed out a sigh of relief.? He'd been waiting for some kind of confirmation.? "So I assume by your comment that Nick was successful?"
After a moment of silence, Dave said, "Hector, what the hell's going on?"
"We don't have a lot of time, Dave. ?We've confirmed we have terrorists inside the plant and assume they've planted bombs, probably on Unit 1.? They may also be inside Unit 1 containment by now.? That's why we were checking on the door alarm.? I know this is bad, but we're working on it."
"Who else is involved in this?? How deep does this go?? I've got guys out in the plant.? What should I tell them?? Are they going to be safe?"
"Working on it," Hector responded.? " But don't make any PA announcements for the time being.? Call your guys by phone if you can, and tell them to stay put, don't move around the plant.? If they move around they're going to look a lot like targets and that's only going to make our job more difficult."
"I'll do my best.? What else can I do?? Do we want to bring in the local law enforcement?"
"No!? We need to contain this situation.? And I really need to go.? Keep the control room safe. ?We'll be in touch."?
With that, Hector hung up the phone.? He had no time for outside people trying to assist them.? He had immediate problems and needed to get moving on them.?
As Hector was talking on the phone, several of his men showed up in SAS, looking serious, weapons in hand, and unsure of the identity of the older man standing in front of them.? It was crowded in the small space, and that made the men even more uncomfortable.? One brought his weapon up, not sure if SAS was secure or not.
The Old Man said, "Hector, tell your guys I'm with you!"
Hector said authoritatively, "Lower your weapons.? He's okay."
They still showed skepticism but relaxed their posture. ?They didn't know what was going on; but whatever it was, they knew it was highly irregular and probably illegal.? But they knew Hector, and, for the moment, that was good enough for them.? Deep down, many of them yearned for a fight.? They had trained for years and this was an opportunity for them to put their skills and training to the test.? Far from hesitant, they were anxious to get in the game.
The Old Man turned to Hector.? "You need to get me to the Unit 1 emergency airlock.? Can you do that, and I mean, now?"
Hector knew immediately what he was planning to do.? "Okay, but I'm going with you."
The Old Man looked at the determination in Hector's eyes.? "This is bad, you know.? If we're lucky enough to get in there before something blows up, we may not get out of there in one piece."
"We're wasting time.? You ready?"
The Old Man nodded his head.
Hector said, "Before we go, what do you want my guys to do?"
Looking at the grim faces around him, he said, "We need you to look at the emergency diesel generators on Unit 1.? We're pretty sure there are explosive devices hidden there.? And shut down access to the radiological controlled area for the same reason.? Jerry has a list of the locations the bad guys went into.? He can brief you.? Those are the areas that need to be cleared."
Hector looked at his men.? "Any questions?? This is as real as it gets, guys," then turned his head and nodded to Jerry.? With grim resolve on his face, he looked at the Old Man.? "Let's go!"