The Hunt

57

Of course, a place as beautiful as Namtso Lake attracted a smattering of tourists. Snowy peaks plunged abruptly into the turquoise waters, wind-sculpted ice crusting the very shoreline. And along the northern fringes, herds of sheep grazed upon the seasonal grasses that thrived amidst the yellows, ochres and greys of the lakeside.

But the lake’s sheer remoteness kept the number of visitors down to a trickle, and few ever ventured to the far western fringes – into the Boqi gorge. Even if they did, all they would see would be a bona fide hydropower station, with all the usual associated facilities, security included.

Miles and Brooks had hit the nail on the head: this place was perfect for Kammler’s purposes. In fact, the entire set-up was so smart and accomplished that it made Jaeger marvel at the sheer waste of such intellect. So much creative intelligence and cunning channelled into death and mass destruction.

What would a man like Kammler have been capable of, had he not been seduced by his father’s twisted dreams of Nazi world domination? Of the rise of a Fourth Reich?

It troubled Jaeger beyond reason that Ruth might be down there. It was such a horrific thought that he blanked it from his mind. If he dwelt upon it, it would torture and destroy him.

He leant back from the SwiftScope and wriggled around, trying to work some life back into frozen limbs. Without a word being said, Raff took up position at the scope. What they were waiting on now was the arrival of the tungsten shipment – their Trojan horse.

Jaeger eyed the big Maori for a second. With approaching six days’ growth of beard, and trussed up in layer upon layer of cold-weather gear, the guy looked like some kind of a cave troll. It never ceased to amaze Jaeger how much punishment Raff seemed able to take without complaining. The exception was the cold.

Raff truly hated the cold. It made him grumpy; bad company, just like he was now.

‘Got an idea,’ Jaeger ventured quietly. ‘Want to hear it?’

‘Just as long as it doesn’t involve jumping into bloody snowdrifts,’ Raff muttered, without removing his eye from the scope.

‘Remember the heavy-water raid? 1942? We studied it in commando training. Started with Operation Musketoon, twelve commandos dropped by submarine off Norway’s coast. They trekked across the mountains to sabotage a hydropower plant – Glomfjord. Pretty similar to this one.’

‘Yeah,’ Raff grunted. ‘Commando legend. Sunk Hitler’s nuclear programme. And?’

‘They were a small force,’ Jaeger continued. ‘Lightly armed. Nowhere near strong enough to take down the two hundred German troops defending the place. So you know what they did? They harnessed the power of mother nature to smash it to smithereens.’

‘Don’t drag it out. I got brain freeze.’

‘They realised the pipelines were pointed directly at the power plant, like the barrels of a massive shotgun. You blow the pipes, the water spews out and slams into the target, carrying with it trees, rocks, boulders – the works.’

Raff took his eye away from the scope. Jaeger could tell that he had the big Maori’s attention now.

‘Think about it,’ he enthused. ‘We blow the pipelines, high above the plant, security fencing gets swept away, walls get breached; it’s chaos. Gives us an edge, a way in.’

The hint of a smile crept across Raff’s frozen features. ‘Does this mean I get to go home early and get warm?’

Jaeger grinned. ‘Pretty much. But you’re the demolitions guy. How do we do it? Do we have enough explosives?’

‘Damn right we do,’ Raff growled. ‘Wrap a collar of shaped PE4 around each of the pipelines, preferably at a point of natural weakness. Job sorted.’

‘So,’ Jaeger mused, ‘we blow the tungsten bomb, lab gets obliterated. We blow the pipeline charges, perimeter fence and a lot else gets smashed to pieces. That’s our way in – we go in hard on the tail end of that.’

Raff’s smile glinted in the half-light of the OP. ‘What’s not to like?’

Quite a bit actually, thought Jaeger, though he wasn’t about to vocalise it. As far as the rest were concerned, they were risking their lives. But in Jaeger’s case there was also the possibility that his wife was down there. And when they blew the pipelines, would anyone in that plant survive the coming storm?

What was Jaeger then supposed to tell his son? I killed your mother, but I had my reasons. The survival of the world was at stake.

He blanked the very thought from his head. No son would ever understand.

But what other option was there?