“Yes, I know my small, limited, physical human brain can’t handle nuclear terror and chew gum at the same time. How much more time?”
“You’re an IT guy. You know how these things go. It’s done when it’s done. I mean we are doing something super-human here in a few hours that would take a much larger, normal team months. That’s not an excuse or a dodge. Just don’t get your panties in a twist. We’ll get it done.”
“I’m not sure if that last comment is vaguely sexist or a shot at my manhood or both. Just have one of your many yous keep me posted. Little has a chopper picking Al and me up here in a few minutes to fly us to Cambridge. I might lose cell signal on the way, so keep trying me if you’re not getting through.”
“What about Gary?”
“Well, he’s going to stay and keep working on the vaccine with you. Also, Tilson is working on plugging Gary into their systems here. At least at Indian Point, he’ll be ready to go once you have the bug, I mean vaccine, ready.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be in touch. Safe travels, son.”
CHAPTER 105
SECURITY
The Leopard and Viktor strolled down JFK Street. It was 10:30 on a cool early summer night, but the chill in the air felt exhilarating. This would be the big night, the culmination of years of planning. LaSalam didn’t really have any friends, but Viktor may have been the closest thing to one. When you fight a lot of battles together, you form a bond. Besides, Viktor had been loyal through it all. He might be the one person LaSalam trusted aside from his brother. Having Viktor at his side now made him feel calm and safe. He was still a bit troubled by seeing Hadar in the Square earlier, but wasn’t yet prepared to jump to any conclusions.
They turned onto the walk alongside the house and down the back steps to the office entry. He gave his retinal and finger scan as before and the door buzzed open. He surveyed the room that was now only half full of staff. The glow from the computer monitors provided the only real light. The faint odor of onions from someone’s dinner lingered in the air.
Hadar greeted him. “You’re back early. I told the staff to rest, eat and be back at 11:00. Some came back early as you can see.”
“Yes, I can smell them.” He scrunched his nose and Hadar winced almost imperceptibly. “Very well. I like to get places early. Gives me a leg up on the enemy.”
“I certainly hope you don’t think of us as the enemy.” She smiled.
“On the contrary. As I said before, I’d like to get to know you much better. How did you get that bruise on your eye?”
She knew she had to be careful here. She had learned growing up in a broken family and in a hostile country how to lie to protect herself. But she couldn’t be sure how much he knew. The best lies were ninety percent truth and ten percent obfuscation. It was the ten percent that mattered and the ninety percent that sold the lie. “While we had a break, I went for a run to visit my boyfriend in Central Square. Running helps clear my mind and keep my energy up for important things like tonight.” She remembered that the other key thing about an effective lie is not to say too much. Otherwise, it sounds like you’re making it up as you go. She got to the point. “We had an argument. It didn’t go well. I was a bit shaken so I took the T back to Harvard Square and ran home from there.”
Her story was consistent with what he had observed at the square earlier. “Maybe you should give me his name. I could pay him a visit when this is all over.”
Now a little charm to complete the lie. She touched his shoulder gently, smiled and her cocoa brown eyes met his. “You are such a sweet man. You make me feel safe. Although I live an American lifestyle here, my boyfriend is more traditional. So sometimes he feels he needs to discipline his woman. I have to respect that. I can take care of it myself.”
LaSalam grew aroused at her touch and her submissiveness. He wasn’t sure he could wait until the plan went forward tonight to get to know her better. He had to control his urges. He took her hand in his, admiring the elaborate gold leaf tattoo on her forearm. “I understand. I just wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you. Promise to tell me if you ever need my help.”
She could tell from his touch that she had sold the lie or he just wanted to get in her pants or both. She fluttered her eyelids coyly and looked down. “I will. Thank you.”
“Michelle, I’m sorry. I have been rude. This is Viktor. He is my assistant and my friend.” Viktor scanned Michelle like she was prey and showed a very faint, menacing smile. “I’ve asked Viktor to come along for security and as my advisor tonight. Hopefully, I’ll just need him for advice and not security.”
Viktor took a small black box from his jacket pocket, flipped a switch and a small red light began to blink. “Miss Hadar, this is just a precaution. It blocks all your cell phone communication in or out of this building—just in case one of your staff has other ideas, if you know what I mean.”
“I understand. I suppose that makes sense.” But how would she know that her parents were safe? How would she alert Little when to make his move? “What if one of our people inside the power plants needs to communicate?”
LaSalam held up a basic android smartphone for her to see. “Viktor said ‘your’ communications were blocked. Mine are not. If someone needs to get in touch with us, the agents have this burner cell number to call or text me.”
Hadar did a hard swallow. This was a problem, a very big problem. “If you’ll excuse me, I have some preparation still to do for tonight.” She turned and walked to her office at the rear of the room.
CHAPTER 106
SPY STUFF
The view from the helicopter of the city lights below and the full moon above were spectacular. Part of me wanted the flight to just continue. It was serene, quiet and uncomplicated up here. I could think and even relax a little. However, I knew that danger and possible terror lay below and a tide of anxiety would wash over me when we landed. Deep breaths, I told myself.
Like Little, our transport landed on the JFK Park lawn. Al and I moved quickly away from the heavy wind created by the rotors and the chopper promptly rose again and banked sharply to the west. We were met by an unmarked black Dodge Charger out of which stepped Lea Swan. Despite the plain dark business suit and glasses, her looks were striking. She had the most attractive of Asian and European features—mysterious eyes, long dark hair, high cheekbones and pouty, full lips. I suspected the suit hid a very full figure as well.
“Welcome to Cambridge, Mr. Sunborn and Detective Favor. Nice to meet you.”
I shook her outstretched hand. Her skin was warm and soft but her grip was firm like a vise. She definitely worked out. I tried not to wince. “Please, just call us Sam and Al. Thanks for picking us up. Please fill us in.”
“Great. Just call me Lea. We have surveillance a couple of blocks away on what we believe to be the Leopard’s current command center. He has recently returned there along with his sidekick, a guy who looks like Mr. Clean.”
“I know that guy. We have a little score to settle. What about your inside woman? Please tell us about her.”
“Her name is Michelle Hadar, a top ranked computer sci grad student at MIT. She had been coerced, by threats to her family, into cooperating with the Leopard and leading a team to carry out his plan. We think we may have turned her by guaranteeing her family’s safety.”
“When you say ‘think,’ what’s the catch?”
“We have a team on their way to pick up and exfil the family. However, she says she will not act on our behalf until she hears directly from her father that they are safe.”
“Why don’t you and Little just raid the place and take them all down?”
“Whether it’s true or not, Hadar has told us that there are certain fail-safe mechanisms in place that will carry out the plan even if the Leopard and company are taken out of the picture. She says that our only way to truly stop them is to work with her and thwart the execution of the plan at near zero hour.”
Frank was back in my ear. “Sounds li
ke real spy stuff, ‘exfil,’ ‘failsafe,’ ‘zero hour.’ I’d be entertained if I didn’t know it was real. Sam, ask her what she knows about the nuclear plant inside saboteurs.”
“What do you know about the inside operators at the nuclear plants that are cooperating in this plan?”
“Little finally read me and my partner in on what he knows. He thinks they are semi-autonomous, which is part of the failsafe, and why we aren’t raiding the house that you see coming into view across the street. We think that the plant operators may have the authority and directives to go ahead on their own unless specifically told to stand down by the Leopard himself with some kind of coded communication. Unless we can get control of that, we have to wait.”
“Well, we’re still working on our end to inject our own code, for now we’re calling it a ‘vaccine,’ into the local nuclear plant computer systems. That would block the actions of the saboteurs. But we haven’t finished the code and we have to manually deliver and inject it. Two big ‘ifs.’ Frank, where are we on that code? Sorry Lea, I have one of our lead scientists on speaker here—Dr. Einstein.”
“Any relation?”
“Just in spirit, intelligence and a bad sense of humor,” I said and she smiled.
“We’re code complete, but as I said before, we’re still testing. It’s going well. We fixed a few bugs and it feels like we’re close, but you know how those things go. One little hiccup could blow the whole thing up at the last minute. Sorry, bad choice of words. It’s just code after all, not a bomb.”
“We knew what you meant.”
CHAPTER 107
THE MOON
So now we sit and wait. Wait for the code. Wait for the Leopard to make a move. Wait for Hadar’s parents to reach safety. Wait. Wait.
I sat in the car with Al and Lea, just staring at the house aka command center, watching the students stroll by, most with backpacks, some with obvious mates.
“Since nothing’s happening, I’m going to make a call.” I stepped out of the car.
Al slid her window down. “Don’t go far, but for God’s sake don’t stand around like you’re on a stake-out.”
“10-4, Captain.”
I walked a couple of blocks south toward the Charles River before I pulled out my cell. “Frank, I need to hang up for now. My battery is getting low and I want to call Monica.”
“That’s OK, son. I’m pretty busy at the moment.”
I hung up and dialed home. Although I knew she was not physically at home, “Home” was wherever Monica was at the moment. It rang four times and went to her silly voicemail. “Hello, hello…”
I closed the phone and sat down in the moist grass on the bank alongside the river. Although I could feel the moisture seeping through my pants and the night was cool, I didn’t care. Apparently, it didn’t matter either for the young couple making out under blankets nearby. Young, in love and oblivious. At least I had one of those three. I looked at the full moon reflecting in the water. The moon seemed ever graceful, shining on both friend and foe alike. It’s just there with no judgment, not caring. Maybe because it knows us humans can’t screw with it, at least for the moment. So it was cool, very cool.
My phone rang. Thank God it was Monica. “Sam, hi. How are you? I was so worried.”
“I’m fine. We’re at a site where this whole thing may go down in the next couple of hours. Don’t worry, I’m surrounded by DHS, FBI and probably a few other three letter and four letter people. Where are you?”
“We’re tucked in at a motel in Fresno. That should be far enough away from any problem, hopefully. We’re watching the TV news, and they’ve raised the terrorist alert level to orange.”
“Hmm, I thought they stopped using those color code alerts after some politician used them to stoke fear and get re-elected. Well, anyway, everybody at the top levels on down are aware of what’s going on. We’re working several angles to stop it. By the time you wake up tomorrow, it should be over one way or another.”
“If you think I can sleep tonight with this going on, you don’t know me very well.”
“I’d like to get to know you better, if you know what I mean.”
“Sam Sunborn. Why can’t you ever keep it in your pants? That’s one of the many things or should I say, ‘thing,’ that I love about you. Save some of that playfulness for when I see you. You just need to get done with it and come home safe to us. Will you promise to call me at anytime during the night when it’s over?”
“I promise. How is Evan?”
“He went out to explore a little. It’s still early here, but he’ll be back soon or I’ll send Jerry after him.”
“I’m not sure leaving him unguarded is a good idea.”
“Don’t worry. I really doubt anybody, good or bad, knows we’re here. Besides I just can’t keep a young boy like ours cooped up all the time. There’s really only so many video games he can play.”
“OK, but get him back soon. You don’t want him outside when and if this all goes down.”
“I will. Remember, call me. I love you.”
“I love you too. More than you’ll ever know.”
CHAPTER 108
SIT ROOM
“Hager, get Little on the line again. I want an update,” Longford said.
Hager whispered a command to a young marine sitting beside him in the Situation Room. The young marine typed a few commands into his console and Little appeared on the screen, “Madame President, gentlemen.”
“What’s happening? Please give us the latest.”
“According to Sunborn, who’s now here in Cambridge with us, they are doing final testing on the code for the vaccine. We have deployed agents to all sixty-one nuclear sites and have kept the French in the loop. Mr. Secretary, have you been able to clear a path for our people when they get to the plants, so they can get immediate system access?”
“We’re still working on it. There’s more protocols, thanks to the new law, that don’t make it easy. Kinda like trying to squeeze a porcupine through a witch’s c –. Sorry, just an old colorful Texas expression. It’s hard, but we’ll get ’er done. Let’s just leave it at that. Probably, within the hour.”
“Hadar said that anytime after midnight this could go down. So you better hurry.”
“How long until you have the vaccine?”
“I can’t get a straight answer on that either, but we’re pushing as hard as we can. Hopefully, we’ll have it by the time you get us clearance.”
“This is all a little too tight or what we used to call ‘close to the limit.’ That’s when mistakes happen and things go wrong. What else have you got going?” Longford said.
“We’re working on identifying who the likely saboteurs might be at each location. We’ll have our DHS teams ready to move on them when the time is right.”
“Why not move on them now?”
“Madame President, pardon my frustration, but this question keeps coming up. You have to trust that you’ve got the right people on this. But to repeat, and this applies to the Leopard and his command center as well, we’re concerned there is some kind of failsafe in place that will push the plan forward, no matter who we apprehend. In fact, making a move now might tip them off and cause them to accelerate the attack. Again, I apologize. We’re just feeling the heat out here.”
“Director Little, I appreciate all that you and your people are doing. Stay calm. Stay focused and let us know whatever you need from us to get the job done.”
“If you can just cut the red tape at the power plants so we can get right in when the vaccine is ready, that would be huge.”
“Hager here. We’re all over it. We’re all behind you.”
“I appreciate that. It’s what’s in front of us that scares me.”
CHAPTER 109
NO BUTS
LaSalam, Viktor and Hadar were now standing in a corner looking over the office as midnight approached. All the cubicles were full now. The Leopard looked at his watch. “Miss Hadar, we’re pus
hing up the Go time to 1:00.”
“What? I thought we agreed on 2:00?”
“Another security measure. If we are being tracked, this will throw them off. If we’re not being tracked, well, sooner is always better.”
“I’m not sure we’ll be ready. I have everyone tuned and coordinated for 2:00.”
His demeanor took on a kind of dark menace that she had never seen before in anyone. It was the look of pure evil and it was frightening. “Change it and change it now.”
She knew instinctively not to cross the devil. She stepped forward toward the middle of the room. “Listen up everybody. Stop what you are doing and look at me.” It was always hard to pull people away from their keyboards and monitors. It was like they were in a trance. “Stop now. Look at me so I know you are paying attention.” She waited for everyone to look up. “We’re pushing up the zero hour to 1:00 instead of 2:00.”
There was a low, but audible grumble coming from the team in the room. “But…”
“No buts. When we said we wanted to make this simulation realistic, these things sometimes happen. We want to see how successfully you can react to things like this schedule change. So get on it. You have an hour.” Sometimes she scared herself at how easily she could slip into a convincing lie. Was there any limit on it? Would there ever be a time when she didn’t need to lie? she wondered.
LaSalam stepped toward Hadar and slid his hand around her waist. “Very good, my dear. Sounds like we’ll be ready. Maybe while we have a little time, you could show me your room upstairs.” He was already getting aroused.
She knew this was coming. She just didn’t know when and she didn’t know if she could stall him any longer. Funny, it made her think of a story her father used to tell. Of course, he told it with a thick, almost comical Farsi accent. A poor but clever man was about to face a firing squad for some unspecified crime. The king asked if the man had any final words. The man said, “If you give me a year, I can teach your horse to talk.”
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