Death Wave

19

Hold tight,” Rubens told Dean. “The NEST guys will be there in a few minutes.”

“Copy that,” Dean replied. “McCauley is posting SEALs in each hold. I’ve just been told that the ship is secure.”

“Pass a message to Commander McCauley for me, please,” Rubens said. “Under no circumstances are the pirate boats alongside the

Yakutsk to be sunk. I’m also passing orders to the helicopter gunships that the pirate mother ship not be fired on. Just in case the pirates were able to get the nukes off the freighter.”

“Roger that — but it doesn’t look like they had time to move anything. Unless there are more crates hidden down here somewhere, the nukes are not on board the Yakutsk.”

“NEST should be able to confirm that. Meanwhile, I suggest you get out of that hold. Unshielded plutonium is not conducive to a healthy lifestyle.”

“Copy.”

The Nuclear Emergency Support Team operated under the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration, providing squads of specialists who could find, evaluate, and disarm nuclear or radiological weapons, whether planted by terrorists or in the aftermath of an accident involving such weapons. Rubens had requested that a number of NEST personnel be flown out to the

Constellation over the past two days, where they’d been awaiting the word that the Yakutsk was secure before going aboard. With them were several tens of millions of dollars of high-tech hardware, from handheld radiation scanners to neutron detectors to X-ray devices used to find hidden weapons.

Their HUMINT from Alfred Koch in Karachi had suggested that all twelve stolen suitcase nukes had been put on board a ship — but it was possible they had been divided up among several ships or, more alarming, that some had been put on an aircraft for a flight to their final destination.

Which the information Lia had developed strongly suggested was the tiny island of La Palma in the Canaries, part of the mysterious project involving an unlikely alliance between the Army of Mohammad and Chinese intelligence.

Rubens picked up a phone from a nearby console and punched in his secretary’s number. “Ann? I need you to schedule a meeting for me with ANSA.”

“Yes, sir. Tomorrow? Or sooner?”

It was Sunday, though Rubens rarely distinguished weekends from workdays.

“ASAP,” he replied. “Today if he’s available. Tell him it’s Priority Yankee White.”

“Yes, sir.”

He paused, then added, “Tell him we will need a face-to-face with POTUS on this one.”

The President of the United States would be back in the Oval Office tomorrow, and Rubens would need to talk with him directly if there was any way to swing that.

It was a meeting he did not expect to enjoy.

Lia called a halt, and the three of them pulled their bicycles off the narrow path. It was midafternoon, with a searing tropical sun beating down on the western face of the Cumbre Vieja ridge. Eight miles or so to the north, the vast caldera of the Cumbre Nueva appeared to be nestled within a spectacular layer of clouds, its rugged peaks protruding above a flowing sea of white.

They’d been on and off the trail for over three and a half hours now, at times walking their bikes across ruggedly inhospitable volcanic terrain in order to avoid stretches of bike trail that had been blocked off by the mysterious Scientific Institute of Geological Research. The tangle of bike trails below the crest of the ridge, however, had for the most part allowed them to find alternate routes, and Lia’s implant gave them the equivalent of GPS tracking. The Art Room knew exactly where they were at all times within about half a meter, and could even transmit detailed topological maps based on satellite imagery to Lia’s BlackBerry.

So from the cluster of three craters on Montaña Rejada, they’d traveled a mile and a half south to the crater of Hoyo Negro just below the loom of Pico Berigoyo, then along the Ruta de los Volcanes for another half mile to the towering, rounded caldera of Duraznero. Four-tenths of a mile beyond that was Deseada, and beyond that San Martin 1 and 2. The volcanic craters were strung along the top of the ridge like pearls, or snuggled up close high along the western flank, a different crater pocking the black and red soil every half mile or so.

Altogether, it was a straight-line distance of about five miles along the ridge, from the northernmost of the three Berigoyo craters to the Volcán de San Martin in the south. Ten volcanic calderas in all; Lia, CJ, and Carlylse had visited five of them. The others would have required traversing barren, open slopes where they were certain to have been seen. Several times they saw more guards on the ridge above them, and once they were stopped at another checkpoint.

Fortunately, the sentries up along the ridge crest weren’t talking to one another, because they were simply warned off a second time. Now they were at the southernmost of the craters, overlooking Volcán de San Martin, less than six miles from the extreme southern tip of the island.

At the bottom of each crater they’d gotten close enough to investigate, they’d seen a drilling derrick, tents, piles of supplies, and teams of men working in the hot sun.

And guards.

Always guards, grim-looking men with mix-and-match army surplus clothing and AK assault rifles. Lia estimated that there were anywhere from five to ten armed sentries at each drill site; there might be as many as a hundred men guarding the chain of drilling rigs — and multiply that by three to include off-duty troops serving a four-on, eight-off rotation. Helicopters made frequent flights in to the craters from the east — probably the La Palma Airport. They watched as workers off-loaded drilling equipment, water, and reel upon reel upon reel of what looked like electrical wiring.

There was plenty of daylight left, but the bottled water they’d brought along was nearly gone. They would have to turn back soon. Lia wanted to see how far they could push the envelope to get more information, however, and here, at the southernmost drill site, she thought she saw how she could do just that.

They lay among volcanic boulders at the rim of another crater — a black cinder cone on the outside, but a startling red-ocher within the crater bowl. Through her binoculars, she could see Herve Chatel. He was standing near the tents, off to one side of the drilling rig, apparently deep in conversation with someone dressed identically to the guards, including a checkered kaffiyeh. One of the unmarked civilian helicopters rested on a makeshift landing pad nearby.

“Art Room,” she said quietly, still holding the binoculars on the pair. “Can you give me an ID on the character in the head scarf talking with Chatel?”

“Working on it, Lia,” Marie Telach told her. A minute dragged past. “Okay! Got an ID … seventy-percent-plus probable match. That’s Ibrahim Hussain Azhar. Pakistani, probably with links to Pakistan’s ISI. One of the founders of the Army of Mohammad, probably with ties to al-Qaeda. He’s the one they’re calling al-Wawi, the Jackal.”

“Show me,” she said, pulling out her BlackBerry.

A moment later, her handheld device pulled in a signal from an NSA communications satellite, downloading a photograph of a bearded man in a Jinnah cap, the round fur hat, or qaraqul, worn by men in south Asia. She took another long look through the binoculars. It might be the same man.

“Art Room,” she said. “I’m going to go down there. I’d like to see what my friend Chatel has to say about all of this.”

“Lia?” Rubens’ voice said in her ear. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“I have backup,” she said. “CJ and Roger will be up here watching every move I make.”

“If they decide to kill you, CJ and Mr. Carlylse won’t be able to help you. I’m sorry, Lia. I’m denying your request.”

“Wouldn’t you like some up-close photos of what they’re doing? Maybe be able to listen in on Chatel and al-Wawi, to see who’s really in charge? There’s a helicopter down there. Maybe I can look and see if they’ve delivered those suitcase nukes.”

“The risk—”

“Is a part of the job,” she said, interrupting. “This is an absolutely one-in-a-million opportunity that we cannot afford to pass up. Sir.”

Rubens paused, perhaps thinking it over. “Okay,” he said at last. “Reluctantly, okay. But you keep all channels open and do not antagonize them, you hear me?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll play the fluff-head and tell him I’m lost. Herve will get all protective. Won’t be a problem.”

She stood up, dusted off her jeans, and started down the steep slope into the gaping crater.

“Watch yourself down there,” CJ told her.

“Actually, I’ll be watching them.”

Twenty NEST personnel had fast-roped to the Russian freighter’s deck and spread out through the ship, searching with handheld scanners. Forty minutes later, they’d confirmed Dean’s earlier assessment: there were two, and only two, nuclear weapons on board the Yakutsk. Those were carefully dismantled to prevent accidents, packed into leadlined cases, and hoisted away by helicopters dropping lines onto the ship’s forward deck.

The four pirate speedboats were also searched, and a SEAL unit had been dropped onto the pirate mother ship a mile to the south after the vessel had displayed a prominent white flag.

Dean and McCauley were on the ship’s bridge with the vessel’s recently freed captain. He was a small and fussy-looking man named Nuranin who spoke passable English — and he was furious.

“Captain Nuranin?” Dean said. “We are turning your ship back over to you.”

“After killing two of my crew? That is so very decent of you, American.”

Dean winced and exchanged a glance with McCauley. The butcher’s bill had included two dead Russian crewmen and four wounded, out of twenty. The wounded, at least, had not been seriously hurt. Superficial splinter wounds; those miniguns on the HH-60s could send shards and splinters flying for a hundred feet.

There’d also been eight passengers on board — all Pakistanis, so far as Dean had been able to determine, and they’d fought hard when the SEALs had come aboard. Only three were still alive. As for the Somali pirates who’d provided the excuse for assaulting the Yakutsk, they’d nearly been an afterthought. Four had been killed by the helicopter gunships, and two wounded; all the rest, twelve of them, had surrendered as soon as the SEALs had arrived.

None of the SEALs had been killed, none wounded. With the exception of the collateral damage to Nuranin’s crew, it had been a near-perfect op.

Except that only two of the expected twelve suitcase nukes had been on board.

“We regret the casualties, sir,” Dean told the man.

“Da? Then you can regret it all you like to the Russian antipiracy flotilla. It will be here any moment.”

Dean already knew about the Russian ships, a detachment from the Russian contribution to the international force patrolling Somali waters, though in practice they only escorted Russian ships. Since the

Yakutsk was Maltese-flagged, perhaps they’d overlooked her.

Or, just possibly, they’d deliberately planned on distancing themselves from the Yakutsk when she reached Haifa with her deadly cargo. Did the Russians know about the nukes on board? That raised a few terrifying thoughts …

That was for the politicians to work out, and the Navy SEALs and the NEST personnel had no intention of being on board when the Russians arrived. According to radar reports, a couple of Udaloyclass guided missile destroyers and the frigate Gromkiy were on the way but still three hours off, rather than due to arrive “any moment,” as Nuranin claimed.

“There is also the small matter of damage to my ship,” Nuranin complained. “My forward hatch blown off, the locking mechanisms destroyed! Both of my masts cut down, the standing rigging destroyed! Bullet holes everywhere! The bridge windows smashed out!”

“Put together a list,” McCauley growled at him, “and shove it up your ass!”

“I believe Commander McCauley means … submit it to our State Department,” Dean added.

“Should I list the cargo you forcibly removed from my forward hold?”

“We have no idea what you are talking about, sir,” McCauley said.

“Liars! You were seen sending packaged bundles up to your helicopters! You are as bad as the damned pirates!”

“I think you will find, Captain,” Dean said carefully, “that everything on your ship’s cargo manifest is still on board.”

“What was in those bundles?”

“We have no idea what you are talking about, sir,” McCauley said, repeating himself in a manner that suggested he would continue repeating that sentence, word for word, for as long as Nuranin cared to keep asking the question.

“This … this invasion means big trouble between your country and mine,” Nuranin declared. “You cannot simply shoot your way on board and rifle through my cargo!”

“You’re welcome,” Dean said. “We’re always happy to help distressed seamen of any nation.”

McCauley tapped his Velcro-covered watch. “We need to haul ass, sir.”

Dean tossed Nuranin a mock salute. “Don’t hesitate to call us if you have any more pirate problems,” he said, grinning.

“Padla!” the Russian spat.

They emerged on the port bridge wing and trotted down the metal ladder to the deck. The sun was setting in a bank of flame-washed clouds off the ship’s bow. The helicopters had been circling the ship in shifts, returning to the Constellation as their fuel ran low and being replaced by others.

On the forward deck, the three Pakistani prisoners were being readied for their ascent to one of the HH-60s. Their hands were zip-stripped at their backs, they had hoods over their heads, and each had been wrestled into a harness. As Dean watched, a heavy snap-hook was affixed to a D-ring on one prisoner’s harness, with a cable reaching from the hook up to the hovering aircraft overhead. A SEAL gave the cable three sharp tugs, and the prisoner was jerked off his feet, screaming as he rose swiftly through the darkening evening sky, his legs kicking wildly.

The captured pirates would be left for the Russian military to handle. The Pakistanis, however, were a priceless windfall for American intelligence. While they were likely the terrorist equivalent of privates rather than officers, and probably ignorant of the overall plan, interrogating them might turn up the names of contacts or leaders, timetables, telephone numbers, the locations of training camps, and details of their operational orders.

As the prisoner vanished into the cargo hatch of the HH-60 overhead, McCauley said, “Officially, there were no survivors.”

“What do you mean?”

McCauley shrugged. “We can’t very well send them to Gitmo, right?”

“I’ve already reported to my handlers,” Dean said. “These prisoners will be properly and legally processed.”

McCauley made a face. “What good is it fighting the bastards if we have to let them go?”

“Well … that won’t happen for a while yet. They’ll be questioned, probably at a military base somewhere in Europe.” Likely the prisoners would be held at the same facility where they would be working over Koch, or possibly the Israelis would get them. Those two weapons had been aimed at Israeli targets, after all.

It would be cleaner to shoot them here and pitch them over the side. How did you get desperately needed information from people, information that might save tens of thousands of lives, without violating their rights as human beings?

The question had gnawed at Charlie Dean ever since they’d picked up Alfred Koch in Karachi. If there was an answer, it had to do with people losing those rights when they sought to kill people on a monstrous scale. That they did so behind the cloak of religion made it worse, if that was possible.

Charlie Dean was very glad that the decisions were not his to make.

Lia picked her way down the steep inner slope of the crater, cinders and small rocks tumbling away in front of her with each awkward step. As soon as she started down the red-colored slope, the guards inside the caldera saw her and moved to a point directly beneath her, weapons ready, watching her descent expectantly.

She was already having second thoughts about the wisdom of this. If they wanted to, they could pick her off with a single shot. If they let her get to the bottom alive, her survival depended, she realized, on Herve Chatel’s goodwill — and, just possibly, on how much influence he had with Ibrahim Azhar, a known terrorist, hijacker, and murderer.

The hell of it was, there was no way for her to change her mind. She couldn’t scramble up and out of this crater if those people down there decided that she wasn’t going to leave.

The San Martin crater was oddly shaped, an oval a third of a mile long, northwest to southeast, and two-tenths of a mile wide. The crater ridge rose only about fifty meters above the surrounding black, moon-surface terrain; the deepest parts of the crater’s interior, however, plunged into shadow over a hundred meters below. The crater’s floor was broken and uneven, some places much deeper than others. The helipad and tents had been set up on a relatively shallow, level stretch to the southeast; the drilling derrick rose from the very deepest part of the crater, in the northwest. To Lia’s untrained eye, it looked as if the crater was the product of two eruptions, creating a single oblong caldera but, most likely, occurring many years apart.

The guards came up to meet her as she neared the bottom of the cinder slope. “You are not permitted here!” one barked in accented Spanish, then repeated himself in even worse English. “You no come here!”

One guard grabbed her arm and yanked her forward. “Hey!” she shouted, playing the outraged tourist role. “Get your hands off of me!”

“What you do, restricted area?” one of them demanded.

Lia turned and looked at Herve Chatel, watching from perhaps fifty yards away. “Herve!” she called. “Herve! It’s me, Diane! Call off your dogs, will you?”

One of the guards snarled something in Arabic and struck her in the back with the butt of his rifle, sending her sprawling to the ground. Too late, she remembered that the term “dog” was a deadly insult among Muslims in general and Arabs in particular. She’d meant the phrase colloquially, not as invective.

Shit. A fine cultural liaison I turned out to be, she thought.

Rough hands grabbed her by either arm and hoisted her to her feet, dragging her toward Chatel and Azhar.

“Lia, are you okay?” Rubens’ voice said in her ear.

“Yeah,” she said through clenched teeth. “Language difficulties.”

“Silence, whore!” the guard on her right growled. They dropped her in an untidy heap on the ground.

“Diane!” Chatel said, hurrying forward. “What are you doing here?”

“I was out biking,” she told him. She started to rise, and Chatel reached out and helped her stand, brushing the volcanic dust off of her shirt in entirely too familiar a manner. She ignored it. “I was just out biking … and I saw this cinder cone above the trail. I was up there.” She pointed to the rim of the caldera, carefully avoiding that part of the crest where she knew CJ and Carlylse were still watching from under cover. “I was interested in the drilling … wondering what they were drilling for. And I saw you.” She patted the binoculars, now in their case and slung over her shoulder. “I hadn’t seen you since we got here, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt if I came down to say hi!”

Azhar joined them, his face dark but otherwise unreadable. “You know this woman?”

“Yes,” Chatel said. “She came with me from Spain. She is … a friend.”

Azhar smirked at that. “I know about your ‘friends.’ “ He looked at Lia. “Didn’t you see the postings on the trails? No trespassing.”

“I saw one north of here,” she said. “At Montaña Rejada. After that, I stayed on the bike trails below the crest of the ridge. Those weren’t blocked off.”

“You needed to be on the crest trail to get here,” Azhar told her.

“I went off-trail,” she replied. “I crossed a flat, open stretch of cinders and pine trees, and ended up on the ridge trail. I didn’t see any roadblocks.”

All of that was the exact truth. They couldn’t possibly block off all those miles of twisting bike trail and footpath, not without bringing in an army.

“Are you alone?” Chatel asked her.

“I was riding with a couple of other tourists for a while, but that was a few hours ago.” That would explain the presence of her companions if Chatel checked with the sentries that had turned them back at Rejada.

“I really wish you hadn’t come up here, Diane,” Chatel told her. “It makes things … complicated.”

“Why not? You were gone so long! I missed you!”

“I would have been back to the hotel tonight. I’ll be flying back to Spain tomorrow.”

“So … what are you doing here, anyway? Drilling for oil?”

“Not inside a volcanic crater,” he told her. He seemed uneasy. “This island, these volcanoes, they’re all igneous rock, not sedimentary. Not a good place to prospect for petroleum.”

“This is part of a research project,” Azhar told her. “There is a … a danger of the volcanoes on this ridge exploding, of them possibly triggering a massive tidal wave.”

“I’ve heard the theory,” Lia told him. “Why all the security? Roadblocks, armed guards …”

“These things can be … misunderstood by the general public,” Chatel said. “It could even cause a panic. People might think that an eruption is imminent if they see us drilling up here.”

The explanation actually made sense.

“I was reading a book just the other day about La Palma blowing up and causing a big tidal wave. Death Wave: 2012, or something like that.”

Chatel made a face. “That nonsense again. A bit too sensationalist for my taste.”

As they talked, Lia looked around the floor of the crater. In the deeper part, to her left, the drilling derrick ground and chugged. Nearby, she noticed more enormous wooden spools of insulated electrical wire. What the hell was that for?

“So long as I’m here,” she said brightly, “can you show me around? I love science.” She said it in that perky and airheaded singsong that suggested that she probably didn’t know the difference between astronomy and astrology.

Chatel exchanged glances with Azhar. “Perhaps later. But you will stay with us for a bit, chère.”

She looked at her watch. “Just so I’m back at the hotel by seven.”

“We’ll see what we can do.” He turned at the sound of rock scraping. Another figure was coming toward them from the direction of the workers’ tents.

Lia followed Chatel’s glance, her eyes widened, and she bit off a curse.

Shit!

“Well, well,” a familiar voice said. “The elusive Ms. Lau. I was wondering what had become of you.”

Feng Jiu Zhu, formerly of Chinese military intelligence, had the cold stare of a venomous snake as he joined them, and he was holding an ugly little semiautomatic pistol.