The Midas Legacy

36

‘This is a most grave situation,’ said Oswald Seretse, shaking his head. ‘I cannot believe that Fenrir Mikkelsson would do this. I cannot!’ The outburst, though little more than his raising his voice, was nevertheless the strongest display of emotion Nina had ever seen from the normally unflappable diplomat. ‘But,’ he continued, ‘whatever I believe, the evidence is undeniable.’ He went to the windows, staring disconsolately across Manhattan.

‘I’m afraid so.’ The speaker was a man named Howard MacNeer, a senior official of the US State Department. ‘We lost track of his jet once it entered the commercial air corridor over Russia, but picked it up again in Chinese airspace heading for North Korea.’

‘You couldn’t intercept it?’ Eddie asked. ‘America’s got loads of planes in South Korea.’

‘Intercepting it would have risked starting a war,’ replied MacNeer. There was a world map on one wall of Seretse’s office; he indicated the Korean peninsula, a tiny stub hanging off the eastern edge of China. ‘They never entered international airspace, so we couldn’t touch them.’

‘You could’ve still got a missile lock from hundreds of miles away. Shoot ’em down, and if the North Koreans complain, say you had a weapons malfunction or something.’

MacNeer clucked patronisingly. ‘This isn’t a Tom Clancy novel, Mr Chase. But the jet landed at Tonyong, a military base about forty miles north of the DMZ. It took off again a half-hour later and flew to Shenyang in China, where it’s stayed. We’re trying to track down Mikkelsson and the others there, but haven’t located them yet.’

‘You think he’s in China?’ asked Nina.

‘Would you want to stay in North Korea any longer than you absolutely had to?’

‘Point taken.’

Seretse joined the other official at the map. ‘What is the significance of Tonyong? Why would Fenrir go there?’

‘It’s a North Korean weapons development facility,’ MacNeer answered. ‘It’s underground, built into a mountain — they even dug one end of a runway into it so planes can be loaded without our surveillance satellites seeing what’s going on. There’s been a lot of activity over the past couple of years; more tunnels being excavated, judging from the amount of rubble that’s been dumped nearby.’

‘Big enough to build a particle accelerator?’ said Nina.

‘Maybe. We don’t know for sure — it’s one of the hardest countries in the world to get reliable intel out of. The North Koreans have a nasty habit of imprisoning or straight-up executing anyone they even think might be spying. Most of their big-money facilities have been involved with their nuke programme, and we know where they are, but particle accelerators have multiple uses — including separating enriched uranium-235 from useless uranium-238. We invented the technique as part of the Manhattan Project in the 1940s, so it’s not as if it’s a big secret. Considering how desperate they are to build up their nuclear arsenal, it wouldn’t surprise us if the North Koreans have been using every possible method to get fissile material out of their uranium deposits.’

‘And if Mikkelsson’s right about how the Crucible works, they can use it to turn their useless uranium into plutonium,’ she said gloomily. The small Crucible had been recovered along with the three survivors on the frozen lake, and was currently being kept under guard at a secure location pending a decision on what to do with it. ‘They can make the jump from A-bomb to H-bomb.’

MacNeer gave her a bleak nod. ‘The thermonuclear test they did in 2016 was a fizzle, whatever Kim tried to tell the world. But if they start to manufacture plutonium on a large scale, it’s only a matter of time before they have the real deal.’

‘So what’s being done about it?’ Eddie asked.

The two officials exchanged looks. ‘What?’ said Nina, realising the subject had already been discussed before she and Eddie arrived.

‘There has been a proposal by the State Department,’ Seretse said carefully. ‘Or more accurately, US intelligence. However, I suspect you will not like it.’

Eddie made a face. ‘That’s a really good start.’

‘What is it?’ Nina demanded. ‘What proposal?’

Seretse retreated to grant his guest the dubious honour of presenting the bad news. ‘As I said, it’s hard to get reliable intel out of North Korea,’ MacNeer began. ‘It looks likely that Mikkelsson delivered the Crucible to the North Koreans, and they’ve taken it to Tonyong — but we don’t know for sure. We hardly know anything about what’s down there. But what we do know — and this isn’t just the United States talking, but an agreement between the other nuclear powers in the IAEA — is that North Korea cannot under any circumstances be allowed to mass-produce nuclear weapons. Not only would that be a hugely destabilising threat to the world, it would violate the treaty that North Korea itself just agreed to.’

‘A treaty that Mikkelsson convinced them to sign,’ added Seretse. Another shake of his head. ‘What game are you playing, Fenrir?’ he added, almost to himself.

‘Under the terms of the treaty,’ MacNeer went on, ‘there’s a provision that allows direct action to be taken against any nation that wilfully violates the agreement. If North Korea arms itself with thermonuclear weapons, that would definitely qualify as a violation. The US, or any other involved nation for that matter, would be justified under international law in using any means necessary to prevent it.’

‘That sounds more like it,’ said Eddie. ‘So you’re going to send over a few stealth bombers loaded with bunker-busters?’

‘No action can be taken without proof,’ Seretse told him solemnly. ‘Solid proof. After what happened in Iraq with the weapons of mass destruction that turned out not to exist, the United Nations requires a higher standard of confirmation before it will approve such risky measures.’ He gave the State Department official a hard look.

MacNeer let the implied criticism slide. ‘The thing is, getting that proof is going to be hard, and take a long time. We just don’t have the assets in place. Unless… we recruit some.’

Nina felt decidedly uneasy about the way he was looking at her and Eddie. ‘I’m going to guess that you’re not talking about bribing some North Korean guard to sneak in a camera.’

‘I’m afraid not. We need someone who can get in there by offering the North Koreans something they need — and then get back out to tell us what they’ve seen.’

Eddie’s eyebrows rose as he realised where the American was leading. ‘You mean us? You want us to go on a spying mission into North fucking Korea?’

‘You’re the only people who can do it,’ MacNeer explained. ‘You found the Crucibles in the first place, you retrieved them from the Greek, and you know how they work — both in turning mercury into gold and uranium into plutonium. There isn’t anybody else who could conceivably offer the Crucible you recovered to the Koreans. It would be too suspicious.’

‘It’ll be suspicious anyway!’ Nina protested. ‘What, are we supposed to rock up to the North Korean embassy and tell them, “Hey, we know that Fenrir Mikkelsson sold you the big Crucible, but we’ll let you complete the set if you show us your secret underground base”?’

MacNeer almost smiled before catching himself. ‘That’s kind of a sarcastic way of putting it, but… yes, in essence.’

‘And why the bloody hell would they believe us?’ said Eddie.

‘Because they do not know you,’ said Seretse. ‘If you make them an offer that seems mercenary, even positively rapacious in its demands, they will think you are simply after money — because the North Koreans believe all foreigners, especially Americans, are greedy, imperialist monsters.’

‘Except for Dennis Rodman, I guess,’ Nina said.

‘If there’s one thing they love to do,’ added MacNeer, ‘it’s show off all the incredible technology that they’re going to use to destroy America and conquer the world. Granted, most of it’s twenty to thirty years behind us, but that doesn’t mean they won’t give you a guided tour if you tell them you want to hand over the Crucible in person.’

Eddie was still dubious, to say the least. ‘Okay, so even if they decide to let us in, then what?’

‘All you need to do is confirm that they’re manufacturing plutonium, or intending to. Once you’re safely out of the country and report in, Special Forces will take care of the rest.’

‘How? They can’t just take a cab across the DMZ.’

MacNeer gave him a knowing look. ‘North Korea’s air defence radars can’t pick up our stealth aircraft, and we’re sure of that because we’ve been doing covert overflights for years. And the B-2 can deliver more than bombs.’

‘What, they can carry paratroopers?’ Eddie said in disbelief. ‘Since when?’

‘Since we built pressurised drop pods that fit in the bomb bays.’

Eddie laughed. ‘Thought you said this wasn’t a Tom Clancy novel!’

The official held in his amusement, then became serious once more. ‘Once you confirm that the facility’s being used to develop nuclear weapons, a team will HALO-jump on to the mountain above it, inside the perimeter, so the North Koreans won’t even know they’re there. They’ll descend to a position above the runway tunnel, which based on our thermographic analysis is the only way in or out, and plant explosives. When they’re clear, they’ll blow the charges and collapse the tunnel. Problem solved.’

‘But how will the soldiers get out of the country?’ Nina asked.

‘By doing what they’re trained to do. I’m sure Mr Chase knows what I mean.’

Eddie was still unconvinced. ‘Not saying I couldn’t do it, but getting out of North Korea without support? Not easy.’

‘They can do it,’ said MacNeer. ‘But it’s up to you whether or not they get the chance. If you don’t go, it might take months to confirm what’s going on by other means.’

‘And by then it may be too late,’ Seretse added sonorously.

‘You’re asking a hell of a lot,’ said Nina, worried. ‘We’re not spies, but you want us to go on an espionage mission into one of the most paranoid regimes on the planet! If they suspect anything, we won’t get out again even if a former president flies in to Pyongyang to ask for our release, like Bill Clinton did for those journalists.’

‘I know one former president who’d fly in just to tell ’em to keep us,’ muttered Eddie.

‘We’d be putting ourselves in danger again,’ Nina continued, ‘and we only just got out of it!’ She gingerly touched her arm, where a bandage under her sleeve covered the now-sutured bullet wound. ‘I got shot, and my grandmother almost died. And we’ve got a daughter now — if anything happened to us…’ She let the statement hang in the air.

Seretse nodded. ‘I completely understand your reluctance. But at the same time, I am sure you are aware of the seriousness of the threat. Perhaps if you take some time to think the proposal over?’

‘Not too much, though,’ said MacNeer.

‘I’m already fairly sure what my answer will be, but… yeah. We’ll think about it,’ she said. Eddie nodded in agreement. ‘I’ll let you know our decision as soon as we’ve made it.’

The State Department official was clearly disappointed, but kept his expression neutral as he shook their hands. ‘Do please give the matter full consideration,’ implored Seretse. ‘There is a great deal at stake.’

‘We will, don’t worry,’ Eddie told him. ‘All right, let’s go and get Macy.’

They made their way through the Secretariat Building to the IHA’s offices, where Macy had been left with Lola. When the couple arrived, they found that their daughter had drawn a small crowd of other colleagues. ‘Hey, Macy, here are your mommy and daddy!’ Lola trilled.

‘Told you it was “mommy”.’ Nina nudged her husband, smirking.

‘Mummy,’ he sighed, before picking up the little girl. ‘Ay up, love! Did you miss us?’

Macy shook her head. ‘Lola let me talk to all her friends!’ She waved at the smiling group around her.

‘Good to feel wanted,’ Eddie said with another sigh.

‘Is everything okay?’ Lola asked Nina as the others laughed. ‘You look a bit… you know, that look you get when something’s about to catch fire or explode.’

‘We’re fine,’ Nina assured her. ‘We’ve just got something big to think about, that’s all. Was Macy okay with you?’

The blonde grinned. ‘Are you kidding? She’s gorgeous. You two have made one heck of a little girl. She’s been drawing, singing — even showing off how much she knows about archaeology.’

Eddie groaned. ‘And so it begins.’

‘Quiet, you,’ said Nina. She took Macy from him. ‘We’ve got to go now, honey.’

‘Where are we going?’ the little girl asked.

Nina paused before answering, then smiled. ‘To see your great-grandma.’

When Nina cautiously entered the hospital room, she thought at first that Olivia was asleep. She was about to withdraw when a weak voice reached her. ‘Nina?’

‘Hi,’ she replied softly, going to the bed. Her grandmother looked older and far more frail than when she had first met her. Her skin was still pale from her ordeal. A colourless fluid ran down an intravenous line into her arm. ‘How are you feeling?’

Olivia opened her eyes. They at least still had the same spark as before, even through her exhaustion. ‘I’m as good as could be expected, thank you. A little lighter, though. They had to amputate two of my toes. Frostbite.’

Nina was horrified. ‘Oh my God!’

‘One from each foot, so fortunately they balance out.’ A faint weary smile. ‘Apart from the need to buy a completely new collection of shoes, I should make a full recovery, they tell me. Again, as well as could be expected for an eighty-nine-year-old. But,’ another smile, this time a little wider, ‘at least I should make ninety. Thanks to you and Eddie.’ She tilted her head, trying to see past Nina to the door. ‘Is he here?’

‘He’s just outside. With Macy.’

‘You brought Macy?’

‘Yeah. I wanted her to meet her great-grandmother. Properly, I mean.’

‘Looking like this? I’m more likely to send the poor girl running screaming. What about you two? Are you both okay?’

Nina indicated her bandaged arm. ‘I’ve had worse gunshot wounds. Which is kinda terrifying when you think about it, but yeah, we’re fine. I’ll go get them.’ She went to the door and called her family in.

‘Ay up,’ said Eddie. He was carrying a large bouquet of flowers. ‘You’re looking… all right.’

Olivia sighed. ‘Damned with faint praise. But thank you anyway. Both of you. If not for you, I’d be…’ She glanced at Macy, who was taking more of an interest in the monitoring equipment beside the bed than its occupant. ‘I wouldn’t be here,’ she finished. ‘You have my eternal gratitude.’

Eddie nodded, then presented her with the flowers. ‘These’ll brighten up the place,’ he said, regarding the starkly decorated room.

‘Thank you. But there’s someone here who does that much better than any number of carnations.’ She strained to sit up to see Macy.

‘Hey, no need to do that,’ said Nina, seeing that the bed had a remote control. She pushed the button to raise Olivia higher. ‘Macy, come here. I want you to meet someone.’ She perched her daughter on the edge of the bed.

Macy peered at the elderly woman. ‘You’re the lady who came to our house.’ A quizzical look. ‘Your hair’s different.’

The tight bun Olivia had worn before was now hanging in loose strands, hairstyling a low priority for the medics. ‘Yes, I am. And yes, it is.’

‘Macy, this is Olivia,’ said Nina. ‘She’s your great-grandma! That means that she’s my grandma. Say hello to her.’

‘Hello,’ said Macy politely, holding out a hand.

Olivia gently squeezed it in her palm. ‘Hello, Macy. I’m very, very happy to meet you.’ She gave the young girl the broadest smile she had managed in a while.

Her great-granddaughter returned it. ‘Are you very old?’

‘Yes, I am,’ she said, laughing. ‘Ah, children. I’d forgotten how direct they can be.’

‘They’re fun, aren’t they?’ said Nina with a grin.

‘They are. Oh, I wish I’d met you at this age…’ Olivia’s eyes became wistful for a moment, then she looked back at her visitors. ‘But at least I know you now. I shouldn’t regret what I didn’t have, but be thankful for what I do have.’

Nina nodded. ‘Good words to live by.’

‘Can I smell your flowers?’ Macy cut in. ‘They’re very pretty.’

‘Of course you can,’ replied Olivia, passing the bouquet to her.

‘What do you say, Macy?’ Nina prompted.

‘Thank you, Great-Gamma!’ Macy cried, hopping from the bed and scurrying to a chair to examine her gift.

The old lady smiled after her, then became serious as she addressed the couple again. ‘Is there any word on Fenrir or the Crucible?’

‘Yeah, and none of it’s good,’ Eddie told her.

‘We just came from the UN,’ Nina elaborated. ‘It looks like he delivered the Crucible to North Korea.’

Olivia’s face fell. ‘Where is he now?’

‘China, apparently. Where he’s going to go from there, I have no idea, but I imagine he’s got something planned.’

‘I have absolutely no doubt about that. Fenrir always thinks three steps ahead.’ She paused, regarding Nina with curiosity. ‘Laura used to get exactly the same look when there was a problem preying on her mind. There’s something else, isn’t there?’

‘You could say that,’ Eddie rumbled.

Nina nodded. ‘Yeah. They — by which I mean the UN and the State Department — want us to go to North Korea to find out if they really are using the Crucible to make plutonium for H-bombs.’

‘They want you to go?’ Olivia exclaimed. ‘Why you?’

‘Because we’re the only people the Koreans might accept as willing to sell the small Crucible. If we offer to deliver it in person, we might be able to confirm what they’re doing, so action can be taken to stop it.’

‘Action of the wheee, boom kind,’ added Eddie, miming a bomb being dropped and exploding.

Olivia nodded. ‘Fenrir told you how to profit from the Crucible, so it’s not beyond the bounds of plausibility that you might want to cash in.’ She caught her granddaughter’s disapproval. ‘Since they don’t know you personally and know that you never would, of course.’

‘Of course,’ Nina echoed. ‘It’s all academic, though. Because there’s no way we’re going.’

Eddie reacted with mild surprise. ‘Thought we were going to think about it first.’

‘What? Oh come on, Eddie. You can’t possibly want to go.’

‘God, no. But it’s not just about what we want, is it? Some fat dictator with hair like Dilbert’s boss’ll be able to crank out nukes like Volkswagens if the Crucible does what Fenrir said. That’s not a good thing.’

‘No,’ she protested, ‘but as you’re so fond of saying, we don’t work for the UN any more. It’s not our problem. And you stopped being a soldier a long time ago. You’re a dad now. You want to risk leaving Macy on her own?’ Their daughter looked up from the flowers in alarm.

‘It’s okay, love, don’t worry,’ Eddie said to her, before glowering at his wife. ‘See, that’s why we need to talk about this properly, in private.’

‘I don’t think there’s anything to discuss,’ Nina replied, bristling.

‘Before you get any deeper into an argument, may I offer some advice?’ said Olivia quietly. ‘From a historical perspective.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean that while you’re both old enough to remember the Cold War, neither of you can really appreciate what it was like at its height.’

‘What’s the Cold War got to do with anything?’ asked Eddie.

‘Everything. I’m talking about what it was like to live under the constant threat of nuclear armageddon. It was a frightening time, especially in the 1960s and ’70s. When Laura was growing up,’ she added, giving Nina a look laden with meaning. ‘An anxious, fearful time, because there was nothing you could do about it. Unless you were willing to live in a concrete bunker in some godforsaken desert wilderness, money couldn’t offer you any protection. And if there’s one thing parents should always do for their children, it’s try to protect them.’

Nina lowered her voice so as not to scare her daughter. ‘Our ending up in some North Korean hellhole, or worse, is hardly going to protect Macy.’

‘There’s a bigger picture to consider, Nina. It’s not just your child, it’s everyone else’s children too. We’re living in dangerous times, just as dangerous as the Cold War — and more unstable. Fenrir giving a megalomaniacal madman a way to mass-produce nuclear weapons is not going to help matters. North Korea already has rockets; they’ll be able to target hydrogen bombs on Seoul, Tokyo, Honolulu, San Francisco… maybe even further afield. And who’s to say he won’t start selling them to other countries, or terrorists? That threat, that fear, isn’t something I want to live through again — and I certainly wouldn’t wish it upon anybody’s children.’ She gazed at Macy, who was counting the petals on a flower.

Eddie looked thoughtful. ‘Me neither. I remember when I was a kid, twelve or thirteen, I was on my way to school when an air-raid siren started up. I thought it was the four-minute warning! Never did find out what it was, but it scared the’ — a glance at his daughter — ‘poop out of me. Thought everyone I knew was about to get nuked! It was probably one of the reasons I ended up joining the army. At least that way I’d actually be fighting against it in some way.’

‘I didn’t know that,’ said Nina.

‘Hadn’t thought about it until now. But I don’t want Macy to have to fight against it. The world’s got enough bad stuff going on already without adding this.’ His face became as grim as she had ever seen it. ‘Especially when we’ve got a chance to stop it.’

‘You really do think we should go, don’t you?’ she said, dismayed.

‘It’s not that I want to, believe me. But that guy from the State Department was right that we’re the only people who could offer them the second Crucible and be believed.’

‘Might be believed. It’s a big difference.’

‘It’s that or nothing. And we know the Crucible works with a particle accelerator, ’cause we saw it in Greece. If they’ve built one already…’

‘Oh God.’ Nina turned away from him, heavy-hearted.

Macy immediately picked up on her expression and crossed the room to her. ‘What’s wrong, Mommy?’

‘We… might have to go away again, Macy.’ It took an almost physical effort to force out the words.

The little girl was distraught. ‘But you only just came home!’

‘I know, honey. I know. We’re still thinking about it; we haven’t decided for sure yet.’ Even as she spoke, though, she knew with an increasingly leaden sense of inevitability that the choice had already been made. ‘But we’ll be as quick as we can. I’m sure Holly will look after you. You like Holly, don’t you?’

Tears were forming in Macy’s eyes. ‘Yes, but she isn’t you! You keep going away! I don’t want you to go away!’

Nina felt a tear run down her own cheek. She smiled sadly and hugged her daughter. ‘I love you, Macy.’

Eddie joined her. ‘I love you too. We both do. And we’ll be back before you know it, okay?’

‘Why do you have to go?’ Macy cried.

‘Because nobody else can,’ said Nina, kissing her.

‘But that’s not fair!’

‘I know. I know.’ She and Eddie continued to embrace the little girl, then unwillingly withdrew. ‘Better get it over with,’ Nina told her husband. She took out her phone. ‘Oswald,’ she said, once she had been put through to Seretse. ‘It’s Nina.’ A long, deep breath. ‘We’ll do it.’