“Bring it over here,” Hays said from behind the boiler. “There’s nothing much back here but a concrete wall, and I suspect it’s pretty thick.”
Pak moved over to him and set the bomb down gently in the corner.
“Okay. I suggest you stand on the other side of that boiler… just in case.”
Hays did as he was told this time. “Okay. I’m clear.”
He waited there in a moment of absolute silence. The room was cold and there was no running equipment or machinery to add any ambient noise. He couldn’t see Pak but knew better than to ask him what he was doing. He’d know in a minute, one way or another.
Just then, Pak walked around from behind the boiler.
“Got it!” he said, holding the detonator. “It’s not likely to go off now, but I suggest we leave it where it is and clean it up later.”
Hays just breathed out. “I thought you said we were going to explode it? You took a mighty big chance, wouldn’t you say?”
“I made a call, that’s all.”
Hays didn’t know if he was pissed or pleased. “Good work. Let’s see if we can’t help out the Old Man.”
“Copy that.”
They left the boiler room and headed back up the stairs to the emergency airlock.
CHAPTER 63
I knew I had one chance to find Jansen and put this to bed before all hell broke loose. If I didn’t get to him soon, it’d get extremely messy. Based on what the SAS guys told me, Jansen was still on site and probably inside the administration building. He hadn’t accessed any protected area doors, so they knew he wasn’t in the plant. The admin building was a six-story building with lots of places to hide. But I didn’t think he was trying to hide. He had a secondary command post somewhere. And he didn’t know I was there.
I thought about it a minute. Where would I go? He came into the plant because his plan was falling apart. He still needed this to succeed so he could get paid. He needed a place of relative security and one that was easy to get to. He’d also want a place his team could assemble. His people were dressed as security officers and had key cards that allowed them to go where they wanted. Where was the one place he could do all this with relative impunity?
The logical place to go, and perhaps specifically because Rob was dirty, was likely to be Rob’s office. It only made sense. Besides that, nobody’d think to check Rob’s office for terrorists.
I thought back to where Rob’s office was. I’d met with him and others in there after the exercise. Bottom floor of the admin building, in the corner. One way in, secure location at the end of a hall. That’s where I’d find Jansen. That’s where I’d find his team. So that’s where I needed to be.
I left the control room by the front door. No time to waste now. I opted to go down several flights of stairs, rather than the elevator, to the ground level and walk over to the admin building through the turbine building. I was in it now, and being on the move made me feel better. My Glock was in my hand.
As I moved through the building, I realized I still didn’t know Jansen’s exit strategy. It’d be good to know what it is so I didn’t overlook something. I had to assume that both he and his team had plans on how to get out. And with the FBI coming, they’d have a tough time doing that unless… of course! The FBI will want to evacuate the site. That was their plan from the beginning. Balls’ey move. It would take a lot of nerve for Jansen to pull it off. The FBI would tell everyone to leave the site. They would insist on it. Jansen and his team would simply walk out with everyone else. Elegant in it’s simplicity, really. But that meant they’d have to be ready to leave when the FBI agents moved in. Rob would have that information and surely would have already provided it to Jansen. I looked at my watch. It was 4:10 a.m. The FBI would be here by 6 a.m. I had to get moving.
Now that I’d figured out what his plan was — or at least what I thought his plan was — I could concentrate on where I was going and what I was going to do when I got there. I didn’t have everything worked out yet, but this had to end.
I moved slowly and carefully across the ground floor of the turbine building, in-between and around its massive components, pipes, and earthquakes supports. I knew Jansen’s team was still here somewhere. No doubt their plans had changed since I’d altered the playing field and took the initiative. Best way to throw a wrench into the other team’s plans.
At the end of the turbine building, I stood in an electrical distribution center, preparing to make the short walk outside to the admin building. The plant was still in lockdown following the security event. I hadn’t heard any other PA announcements saying anything to the contrary. I assumed Jansen’s team would be moving out of the power block and back into the admin building as well, in preparation for departing the site, so I had to be careful not to let any security staff see me on my way. I might have a hard time discerning the good guys from the bad guys. Either one would probably want to shoot me on sight. I decided I needed some intel before I headed over there.
There were phones everywhere in a nuclear power plant, so I picked up the nearest one and dialed the number 3388 that Dave gave me for his private line.
“Dave Street,” he answered.
“Dave, this is Nick. How are things up there?”
“Scary, I have to admit. I’m trying to hold things together up here. The units are still on line, but it’s not easy. I’m not sure what all’s going on. There was an explosion at the intake. And we’ve had a couple of alarms on the Unit 1 containment airlock. We’re not prepared for this kind of thing. I’m still a bit shaky myself.”
“You’re doing a good job,” I assured him. “Really. You’ve had some issues to deal with, no doubt about that, but you did well. Hell, you got us out of the water box,” I reminded him.
“That reminds me… how in blazes did you get into the water box in the first place?”
“I’d like to tell you but I’m in kind of a rush right now.”
“What do you need?”
“I need to know if there’s a back door to Rob’s office.”
“Let me think a minute,” Dave replied, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure there is, but if I remember right, it’s usually locked. Lots of safeguards information down there, and I’m sure Rob doesn’t want anyone just waltzing in the back door and making off with it.”
“Any way in through that door?”
“None that I know of. Besides being locked from the inside, it’s probably alarmed. I don’t know for sure. I don’t go down there very often.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Not what I wanted to hear. But I can’t just walk in the front door. I didn’t even know if Jansen was in there for sure — I only assumed he was.
“One last thing. How’s our NRC resident holding up?” I hoped my transparent inquiry about Marti wasn’t too obvious.
“Marti? She’s fine. She’s a trooper. She sure brightens up when your name is mentioned. And there are a lot of people talking about you up here.”
“Let’s keep all that on the down low, can we? Publicity is not my strong suit, you know what I mean?”
“Well, you may have a problem with that.”
I was getting ready to hang up, when something hit me. “Did you say you got ‘multiple’ door alarms on containment? How many exactly?”
“We got one earlier when I assume the terrorist went in. Then we got two more when your team went in and came back out. Hector called to tell me they got the guy and the Old Man brought a bomb out with him. But then we got one more alarm, as if someone went back in. Truth be told, we’re not sure about that one. But again, we’re standing fast and not moving about, otherwise I’d send someone to check it out.”