Fifty-Nine

ATLANTA

It was midmorning by the time they reached the construction site. Al-Yamani drove past the entrance twice before turning in. He even stopped once and scanned the sky to make sure there were no helicopters following him. He had very bad memories when it came to helicopters. They reminded him of the early years in Afghanistan when the Soviets had dominated the battlefield with their lethal flying machines. Al-Yamani loved the bitter irony that it was the Americans with their shoulder-launched Stinger missiles who had helped them to beat the godless communists. To al-Yamani it was further proof that Allah was on their side.

When they pulled into the clearing, the sun was already peeking over the tops of the easternmost stand of tall Georgia pines. Al-Yamani got out of the car wearing a cheap pair of sunglasses that he had bought to help shield his increasingly sensitive eyes.

Two men came out of the construction trailer with broad grins on their faces.

Al-Yamani took this as a good sign. He quietly embraced each of them, relieved beyond measure that they had made it. He pointed to the trailer and all four of them went inside where they could talk more freely.

"Imtaz," al-Yamani said, as he took off his sunglasses. "This is Khaled and Hasan."

The three men exchanged greetings. Al-Yamani had thought of his two old friends often since he last saw them in Cuba almost a week ago. He was relieved that they had avoided detection by the Americans.

"Have our shipments arrived?" al-Yamani asked.

Hasan, the taller and older of the two men answered. "Yes, the main component arrived yesterday."

"Take me to it. I wish to see it."

All four men went outside. Hasan led them to the back of a pickup truck and lowered the tailgate. A wooden crate approximately three feet square sat in the middle of the coated bed. Hasan climbed up and offered a hand to his weakened friend. He then pried the top off the crate with a crowbar and unpacked a balled-up canvas tarp. The two men stood there for a moment looking at the object of destruction that they had worked so hard to acquire. Basking in the warm sun they looked up at one another and shared a smile. They were about to do something great.

Zubair, standing on the ground below them, was like a child trying to see what the grownups were looking at. His contribution to the project had been to design the fire sets and help shape the explosive charges. For security reasons he had been kept at a separate location from the nuclear material, and had yet to lay eyes on it. Unable to hold back any longer he climbed up into the truck bed and looked into the crate.

What he saw horrified him. Zubair had expected to see a shiny, stable core of nuclear material in a properly shielded case, but was instead greeted with the sight of a corroded hunk of metal the size of a basketball. His eyes opened wide with fear, and he jumped from the back of the truck, almost spraining his ankle in the process.

Zubair scurried to his feet and ran back toward the construction trailer, leaving the other three men staring after him in surprise. "You need to get away from that object right now." Without the proper equipment, Zubair had no idea just how hot the nuclear material was, but he guessed it was extremely dangerous.

Al-Yamani glared at the cowardly Pakistani. He was just like the other three. The Saudi had recruited all of the scientists and killed each of them as soon as he had completed his task. He had hoped this one would show a little more bravery in the face of such magnificence, but it appeared he was as weak as the others.

"What are you so afraid of?"

"That is extremely unstable material, and it isn't even shielded. How did you get it into the country?"

Khaled, who was standing between the scientist and the pickup, pointed to the trailer that the semi truck had delivered yesterday. "We hid it in a shipment of granite."

Zubair spun around and looked at the truck. Of course. Not only would granite shield the device, but it emitted natural radiation that would confuse any sensors. He looked back at al-Yamani and said, "I'm not joking. You need to get down right now."

"Stop overreacting. It cannot do any more harm to me than has already been done."

"Oh yes it can. If you stand up there much longer you'll be dead before the sun sets."

Al-Yamani looked down into the box and decided to hear the scientist out. He climbed down from the truck and Hasan followed.

"Explain to me your fears."

"That has no shielding and it is showing signs of severe deterioration. Anything other than brief exposure could be fatal."

"I am already dying."

"But that will hasten your radiation poisoning. In order for us to transport and assemble the weapon it must be properly shielded or it will kill us all."

"How quickly?" asked al-Yamani. All he cared was that they made it to their target.

"Most likely before we reach Washington."

Al-Yamani frowned. "So what do you propose we do?"

"As I said, we need to shield it properly."

"Is that difficult?"

"Not with the right material...either lead or depleted uranium will do."

"How long will it take?" Al-Yamani had some extra time built into the schedule but not much.

Zubair thought about it for a minute and said, "A couple of hours."

"Do we have an alternative?"

"Not if you want to take it all the way to Washington."

There was a backup plan to detonate the device in Atlanta, but al-Yamani was not willing to settle for that. Especially after listening to the president this morning.

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