The rubber-clad man pulled back his hood. “Yes, ma’am. Once the clouds cleared up, we had that big aurora, and then the temperature dropped almost twenty degrees in the past few hours. It’s about minus thirty-five already and dropping.”
“Are you guys from the base?” Wyatt asked.
“Yes, ma’am. The Homeland Security chief called us in. He said we were to report to a Trooper Wyatt or to FBI Agent Tomer.”
“I’m Wyatt.”
“I’m Captain Argis, and Major Detrick is inside. You have a package for us?”
She handed him the bundled Marcus had made. “Here it is. It’s in a shockproof case wrapped in two trash bags, a large folded towel, and a Ziploc bag. The prisoner in the back seat knows some of what it is, but not everything.”
Captain Argis looked into the back seat at Choi, who was staring up at him. “Does he speak English?”
“No, but I’m a translator. He was pretty cooperative earlier, and I think he’ll help us out if you need more information.”
“If he knows what this stuff is, that would be a great start,” said the captain.
“He told me earlier that he knew one of the chemicals in it. That was how he found it in the first place, using a device he had made to find that one chemical.”
“Well, ask what that one chemical is, and that will get us that much closer. Let’s get inside the trailer and out of the cold. Otherwise, this suit might freeze and crack on me.”
“There’s no classified stuff in there, right?”
“That’s all in a sealed room. We have a clean area where we can talk. Besides, the guy in the seat next to you looks like he could snap your prisoner in half if he tries anything.”
Bell smiled in response. “You betcha. Half Snapper’s Mate First Class Bell at your service, Captain.”
They opened the doors and got out of the car. Wyatt opened the back door of the cruiser to let Choi out. She explained to him in Korean what was going on. “You need to tell them what is in the vial.” She pointed to the trailer. “We are going to that building over there. If you are good, we will keep our agreement.”
Choi nodded to her.
“If you try to do anything funny, I will not be your Nuna. This man next to you,” she pointed to Bell, who moved next to Choi, “this man will kill you instantly. Do you understand?”
Choi looked fearfully up at Bell, who was nearly a foot taller and eighty pounds heavier than the slightly built North Korean. Choi swallowed hard and added. “Adaso. I understand.”
As they walked across the parking lot, Commander Stark came out the front door of the public safety building toward them. “Wyatt!” Stark called from across the parking area.
“Yes, sir?”
“Where’s the leader of these SEALs? And Marcus, too? I want to talk to them in my office.”
Marcus and Wasner were getting out of the Jeep as Stark approached Wyatt. Lonnie pointed to them and said, “Wasner is the SEAL team chief — he’s the white guy at the Jeep. The black man is Marcus.”
The two men passed Lonnie and the others as they crossed the parking lot. As they drew near, Marcus glanced up into Lonnie’s face. When their eyes met, Lonnie immediately snapped her eyes back up to the door of the trailer, avoiding his gaze.
“Chief Wasner? Mr. Johnson?” Marcus turned from Lonnie toward Commander Stark, who approached them from half-way across the pavement. “I am Bob Stark, Fairbanks Trooper Detachment Commander. Put your men inside to get warmed up and have some coffee. I want to talk to both of you in my office.”
The two men followed Stark inside. Lonnie, Bell, and Choi entered the trailer with Captain Argis.
The trailer was a fully outfitted mobile laboratory. Just inside the entrance to the right stood two chairs and a small table. A high shelf on the left stretched above a row of hooks, on which hung several dark green rubber suits. Large clown-like boots dangled just above the floor from the end of the legs.
The room was about ten feet deep and stretched the entire width of the trailer, about twelve feet. A computer console on a desk at the far end lay dormant beneath a panel of various electronic buttons, dials, and digital readouts mounted on the wall next to it. Above all that, on the wall that stretched between the chamber in which they stood and the larger main research area, was a glass window, about two feet by two feet square. The glass in the window was several inches thick. On the other side of the glass it was dark, but not as if the lights were off in the room. There was a black covering over the glass on the inside.
In the center of the dividing wall to their left, between the table and the electronic equipment, a small round glass window, no more than twelve inches in diameter, was set in a narrow door. It was blacked out from the inside as well.
“This is as far you three can go. The other side of the door there is mostly a lot of standard research equipment, but a there are some highly classified bits and pieces in there as well. If the prisoner can give us as much information as possible going in we can cut down the time it takes to identify this stuff.” Captain Argis waited for an answer.
“Please refer to the prisoner as Mr. Choi, so he’s not so intimidated. I think he will cooperate,” Lonnie said.
“Yes, ma’am.” The captain looked at Choi, held up the bundle, and said calmly, “So, Mr. Choi. What is in this vial?”
Lonnie translated the question and the answer came instantly in rapid-fire Korean. Nervous and fearing for his life, Choi spoke fast. Too fast. Lonnie asked him to slow down and repeat himself several times.
“It is a chemical compound called Tetrazyklon-E, according to our records,” Choi said. “At least, that is what my device was designed to detect. The chemical properties are relatively benign until it comes in contact with petroleum-based substances like plastic or nylon. On contact with such a material, the TZE converts into an acid that vaporizes the substance it touches.”
Wyatt translated the information back to Argis, who looked at the vial in curiosity. The small windowed door opened and Major Detrick came out of the back room. He pulled the rubber hood from his head. He was a tall, thin man, very nerdy looking with old-style black military issue horn-rimmed glasses resting on a large, beak-like nose. His face was long and narrow, with a pursed mouth and eyes that bore a constant look of surprise. His Adam’s apple jutted almost an inch from his pencil-thin neck.
Bell, unaccustomed to being around science types, looked at the gangly officer with wide-eyed curiosity. He seemed too skinny to qualify for military service.
Detrick approached without greeting and said, “Tetrazyklon-E? I am familiar with that compound. It was a form of Zyklon-B that the Nazis had developed, but it turned out to be useless in chemical warfare and in the concentration camps. In mass quantities, the worst it could do was create noxious fumes. It was only a minor irritant.”
“It doesn’t make sense to spend so much effort on something that weak,” Argis said. “Ask him why they would be so concerned something like this.”
Lonnie repeated the question to Choi.
He nodded excitedly and replied, “Yes, yes. I agree with you. It seemed like a waste of time to me, too. I know TZE is not a good weapon against people, so I asked my superiors why we were going to this trouble. They told me it was none of my business.”
Wyatt translated as Choi continued. “I had to know, so I tried to think of how it could be used. And my conclusion is that there is something else mixed with it, perhaps a bacteria or a virus that could use the TZE as a vehicle to help deliver it. TZE is known as a strong acid against plastics, doesn’t damage metals, and is not only heavier than air, but mixes with the molecules in water to change them into a favorable environment for itself to move undiluted.”