“Ship is flopping around like a cork,” the captain shouted to his first mate. “That damn agent sold us this aging piece of junk, and they didn’t put enough ballast into the keel.”
Nurlan wondered how much their weapon weighed. That and the launcher they were supposed to raise at the stern when the time came. Maybe their cargo would be washed overboard. That would certainly end the mission and save them all from this insane plot. Of course, the others were counting on the huge bonuses they had been promised to carry out the president’s plans. But Nurlan wanted no part of it. He had lain awake at night trying to figure out a way to stymie this launch. He thought about ways to jam the computer, though he knew they had backup systems, so that probably wouldn’t work. He thought about trying to redirect the launch so the nuke would detonate out over the open ocean, but he doubted he could pull that off either.
He stared ahead as another wave crashed over the bow. “Why we head into the storm like this?” he shouted to the captain. The man turned and gave Nurlan a look that said he was addressing an ignorant child. “We have to head into the storm because if those waves hit us broadside, we could turtle.”
“Turtle?” Nurlan called out.
“To make it simple for guys like you,” he said with disdain, “we’d go over and the bottom of our ship would be up in the air and we’d look like a dead turtle, you idiot. Now for God’s sake, man, get yourself a life preserver. Or, better yet, get below deck, and let us handle this.”
Nurlan took one last look at the waves and headed down a ladder to the crew’s bunk room. He grabbed the side of one of the bunks and sat down, hunching over to fit into the cramped space.
“Nurlan. Been looking all over for you,” his supervisor said, throwing the door open and holding onto the edge of the frame as the ship lurched again. “We got a message on the satellite phone from Astana.”
“From government?”
“Of course, from the government. No one else is supposed to know we’re out here. But then, that’s the problem.”
“What problem?” Nurlan asked, with one hand holding onto the bunk and the other pressed against his forehead.
“What’s the matter with you? You sick?”
“Uh huh,” Nurlan moaned. “Not feel good in storm.”
“Well, you better feel good pretty soon because the message we got moved up our launch date.”
“What that mean? We not there yet. And we can’t send up weapon in big storm.”
“No. We know that. But we figure we’ll get through the worst of it, and then later tonight things should calm down a bit. And even though we’re still at least two hundred miles from San Francisco, they want us to launch our weapon as soon as we possibly can.”
“Why rush?”
“As I said, looks like there’s a problem. The message said there’s been a leak about our plans.”
“Leak?” Nurlan asked, jerking his head up. “Leak in Astana?”
“They don’t know where it came from, but evidently the Americans are onto us. And if they are, you can be sure they’ve got their entire military looking for this ship. At least we’re in a fishing trawler, flying a Panamanian flag. That’s probably why they haven’t spotted us already. So we have to launch our weapon and get the hell out of here before they do find us.” He looked at Nurlan and shook his head. “Pull yourself together. We need you on those computers. And this time, we need you to do it right!”
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
CALIFORNIA COAST
“Welcome aboard, Dr. Talbot,” the pilot said, standing in the doorway of the Boeing 737. “We know you’ve been working on the systems we’ve got here on our little Electric Judy, as we call her. Sure hope you can work your magic over the Pacific.”
Cammy shook hands with the man and gave him a cautious smile. “I have to admit this is one scary assignment. At last word, the Navy and Coast Guard have not had any luck spotting that ship. But when we analyzed the time we think it takes for them to come across from China, we figure we’re getting down to the wire. And I’d like to be airborne and ready.”
“Absolutely. Those are my orders. I know that some of the systems you’ve requested are on one of our F-35 fighter jets. But there’s not enough space for everyone on that baby, so you’ve got us.”
“Fine by me,” Cammy said moving away from the door and stowing her gear.
Hunt came up behind her. “What do you think, hon? This platform going to work for you?”
“It’s got to work,” she said, tucking her white blouse into her khakis, sitting down and stretching her legs out in front of her. “Those tests we’ve been running are just that. Tests. There’s always a degree of knowledge, anticipation, a sense of assurance that everything’s going to be okay tomorrow if we screw up the test today. Even with the new airborne laser, the ballistic missile interceptors at Vandenberg, the Aegis missiles at sea, all of those tests are performed and the kill ratios may look great on paper. But this time we’re not in a flight simulator. In there you can crash and still walk outside a few minutes later very much alive. Not with this. Not today.”
Hunt sat down and leaned close to her. “I know. Believe me I know how you feel right now. After all those rehearsals, this is show time and you’re the star. You’ve got to feel some jitters knowing what’s at stake if those bastards slip through our net and fire that nuke. That is if they’ve really got one.”
“That’s the devil in this one,” she said, pushing some strands of hair back behind her headband. “All we have is the word of a young student that they’re out there heading toward San Francisco. And he’s got his own ax to grind. I mean with the reparations issue and all of that.”
“You heard the recording of his phone call though,” Hunt said. “Sounded awfully convincing. At least a big enough threat that the SecDef, Navy secretary, Coast Guard commandant and especially Ken Cosgrove heard enough that they ordered this massive hunt. And the president is completely on board with it too.”
“Well, he has to be. I mean, can you imagine what would happen in Washington if this thing, whatever it is, were actually detonated over northern California?”
“Happen in Washington? You mean the political upheaval?”
“Sure,” Cammy said. “The entire administration would be painted as unable to protect the American people and Jayson Keller would lose the election.”
“Quite frankly, I don’t give a damn about the political fall-out. I’m thinking about the fall-out on top of the people of San Francisco and maybe millions of people living nearby.”
“I know. I know. Guess I’m just trying not to think about the actual effects of an EMP, if that’s the end result.”
“If, and I know it’s a great big if. But if they’re able to launch the damn thing and it does create a pulse, it not only destroys communications, electronics, and every other thing people depend on, but think what it could do to aircraft in the area.”
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the voice of the pilot came through the intercom, “we’re readying for takeoff. Please fasten your seat belts. When we reach cruising altitude, Dr. Talbot and Colonel Daniels along with their crews will be free to roam the cabin. I’ll keep you posted. Weather is beginning to clear. May have some light turbulence on our climb out, but hopefully it’ll smooth out a bit as we head away from the coast.”
“Away from the coast,” Cammy echoed, glancing out the window. “I wonder how far we’d have to get from a detonation in order to have this plane survive.”
“Actually, they’ve hardened some of the systems,” Hunt replied. “Then again, I guess it all depends on how big the blast is. Well, you know that better than anyone on board this airplane.”
She sighed. “I guess I do. Just doing a lot of what-if’s in my mind right now. What if we find the ship? Will I be able to pull off a preemptive strike? What if they’re able to launch anyway? Will Vandenberg be able to track it, launch a missile and knock it out in its boost phase? What if that doesn’t work and it
gains altitude? Will our airborne laser be able to nail it before it detonates? What if it does go off and all the systems on this plane aren’t strong enough to withstand it, and we can’t navigate or land ourselves?” She paused and added, “Do you really think this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?”
“Cammy, stop it,” Hunt said, putting his arm around her and pulling her close. “You’ve been on the front lines of a number of attacks. In India you pulled off that incredible save when that cruise missile was heading to New Delhi. And then you figured out what that rogue Chinese general was up to and you saved Air Force Two with that new scheme you dreamed up.”
“No, that was you,” she said, gazing up at him with searching eyes. “You were the one who flew that little jet right underneath Keller’s plane and deployed the laser to deflect the missile that was aimed at it. You were the hero in that little stunt.”
“No way, Cam. You’re the one who invented that laser. Look, the whole point I was trying to make is that you’re a god-damned genius. You’ve been through some pretty hairy situations in the past. Situations where a ton of lives were at stake. And you held steady. That’s what you’re going to do now. And I’m right here to help in any way I can. I’m proud of you, lady. You know that, don’t you?”
“MmmHmm,” she murmured. “Guess I’m just getting a little nervous this time. I always get that way. I just try not to show it.” She leaned her head against the soft leather headrest and thought back to those earlier days. She had invented a new technology for a defense against cruise missiles, one she’d been working on for ages. Her boss had almost pulled the plug on her budget and experiments, but he had finally stuck with her, and her new idea had actually worked.
She had been inspired to work on missile defense projects when she was just a kid. She had grown up on an Air Force Base and one night she was watching TV with her dad. It was a long time ago, but she could still see the image on the old analogue set, the image of the president of the United States when he gave a speech about something he called his Strategic Defense Initiative. The media later called it “Star Wars,” and made fun of the whole idea. But she had been mesmerized when the president called on America’s best scientists to try and figure out a way to stop a missile before it could strike American soil. He had said that if the Soviets, who were then our enemy, had fired off a missile, even by mistake, it could kill millions of innocent people. Then all we could do would be to fire one back and kill millions of their innocent people. He said he didn’t like that strategy. Her dad said he didn’t like it either so they had both agreed that the president had a pretty good idea. Then the president had said, “Wouldn’t it be better to save lives than avenge lives?”
And with that pronouncement, she was hooked. She said she wanted to grow up to be a scientist and figure out how to stop the big missiles. Of course, she was only nine at the time. But she was good at math and science, so why not go for it? When she had graduated from Stanford and then got her Ph.D. at MIT, she had been hired at Bandaq Technologies and started her project to try and stop all kinds of missiles.
She had tried a lot of things, but finally decided to amass a huge database of information on all the different kinds of cruise missiles manufactured around the world. Then, since they are computer guided, she thought that just maybe she could use fast acting algorithms to figure out the frequency the enemy was using to communicate with their missile. If she could find it, she figured she could use the same frequency to go and invade the missile, take it over and, like a virus controlling a computer, redirect it back on the heads of the bad guys. She thought it was pretty clever at the time, but it took one heck of a lot of time to convince the higher-ups at Bandaq that it would ever work.
It did work, and she had used that very system when some militants over in Kashmir launched a missile toward New Delhi. She had been able to invade that one, redirect it and save the city. She remembered how Hunt had been with her on that mission and how, later that night they had ended up in a gorgeous hotel room with a view of the Taj Mahal as guests of the Indian government. What a night that had been. As she once again pictured Hunt sprawled out on that luxurious bed in a room with French doors opening to the terrace letting in warm breezes while they made love throughout the night, she longed for a repeat performance. Not in India. It could be anywhere. Any place where she could be alone with Hunt Daniels.
She paused for a long moment, looked up into his brilliant blue eyes again and said, “If we get out of this one, I mean if we can survive this whole nightmare, do you think we could … could we … maybe take a break and spend some more time together?”
“I never thought I’d hear you say that, sweetheart. But you’ve got yourself a deal. We nail this sucker, and I’ll put in for leave, and you take all those vacation days you’ve built up, and we’ll go away and forget all about the government, the defense industry, the politicians. It’ll be just you and me.”
Cammy nodded and took a deep breath. “Okay. Sounds like a plan. But first … first we’ve got to find that ship.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
THE WHITE HOUSE
Samantha scanned the room and checked her notes. She had called a deputies meeting in the SCIF in the EEOB. This particular Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facility was just one of many such rooms within the White House complex. There were others on the Hill and in certain agencies where communication lines were scrambled and sanitized, telephones were checked at the door and computer systems were hardened. It was in these rooms where officials and lawmakers with the highest security clearances were briefed on matters of national security. And this was just such a meeting.
She saw that all of the attendees were in place, the deputy secretaries of Homeland Security, Treasury, Energy, Transportation, Commerce, Health and Human Services. “Welcome everyone. Thanks for coming over on short notice. As the DHS people know, we are in the midst of a national security emergency. The information you are going to receive is Top Secret. For now. If the operation is completed successfully, it will be declassified and made public. But right now, the president is afraid that if this were to leak out, it could cause panic and possibly loss of life in the San Francisco Bay Area.”
With that statement she had their rapt attention. She went on to explain the threat outlined in the call from Pete Kalani, the background checks completed on both Pete and Nurlan Remizov, the demand for reparations for the Marshall Island survivors along with the promise not to harm Nurlan. She told them about the transport plane that reportedly flew from Kazakhstan to an airfield on the China coast where the crew, along with Nurlan and other technicians, were planning to load a nuclear device along with a launch mechanism aboard some sort of ship. She emphasized that no one knows the type of vessel involved, nor the flag it might be flying. She outlined the calls the president had made to the presidents of both Kazakhstan and China and their denials of any knowledge of such an operation.
She then summarized the actions of the Naval Task Force along with the search being coordinated with the Coast Guard and told them about the flight to the West Coast of Lt. Col. Hunt Daniels and Dr. Cameron Talbot. She told them how Dr. Talbot had been working with the Missile Defense Agency and others at DOD and finally how updates were coming into Ken Cosgrove’s office every four hours, or sooner as warranted.
The deputies sat in stunned silence as they listened to the details. No one said a word or tried to interrupt as Samantha continued the terrifying details. “And if this crew of Kazaks is able to launch a nuclear weapon and detonate it fifty to one hundred miles up in the atmosphere over San Francisco, many of you undoubtedly know that it would set off an electro-magnetic pulse that would not only disable but fry all electronics on the ground in its line of sight.”
It was then that the deputy Energy secretary blurted out, “And that means major portions of our electricity grid would go down, not just like a temporary black-out, but perhaps for months until major replacement c
omponents could be secured. And since many of those parts are made overseas, it could be, well,” he shook his head in dismay, “who knows? Years maybe.”
The deputies from Treasury and DHS spoke at once. “No banking, no internet, no telephones.”
“No electronic health records, none of the machines and systems in our hospitals would work,” the HHS representative chimed in. “People on life support could die.”
“Think about the food supply,” said the Transportation deputy. “If our planes and trains can’t get food to the cities, we’re in deep deep trouble.”
“Riots in the streets, or worse,” Samantha said. “You all saw reports of what happened in Kazakhstan when that crazy test nuke went off at an altitude way south of that city called Atyrau by the Caspian Sea.” The group nodded. “Well, it now looks like President Surleimenov is so mad about the sanctions we’ve placed on the country and specifically on others in high office that he’s trying to retaliate by pulling the same stunt over here.”
“But why San Francisco?” one deputy asked.
“We’re speculating that first, it’s a place they can hit from a small ship in the Pacific. But also, the opposition candidate in the upcoming Kazak elections, Sergei Baltiev, has a lot of his campaign money deposited in special accounts at the Bank of America.”
“And if their computers are down and their records destroyed,” the Treasury deputy said, “obviously, Baltiev can’t have access to the funds. If that’s their plan, it’s too cute by half, I’d say.”
“Now, as I said,” Samantha continued, “right now this is a Top Secret operation. And it could play out in the next few days. But as soon as it does, and let’s all say a prayer that the Navy can find the ship and Dr. Talbot and others can stop the attack, this will all come out. And at that time, there’ll be a lot of questions about the threat of an EMP, not only from places like Kazakhstan, but from other potential enemies, terrorist groups who would love to play copy-cat and Lord knows who else. So the bottom line here is that we simply must get plans in place immediately to harden many of our own systems, especially our communications networks along with the grid, and water supplies. DOD has hardened many of their military communications facilities, of course, but our concern now is the civilian population.”
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