Marsh turned and walked back into the hotel room. Zoe sat sipping champagne, her slim legs raised and resting along a chaise longue. “So we’re just waiting now?” he asked the guy.
“Not long.”
Marsh smiled at Zoe and held out a hand. “We’ll be in the bedroom.”
The couple snagged a strap each of the backpack and carried it with them into the biggest bedroom. Within a minute they were both naked and twisting together atop the sheets. Marsh tried to prove he possessed the required reserves of stamina this time, but Zoe was just a little too wily. Her wide flawless face did all sorts of things to his libido. In the end it was good that Marsh finished quickly because there soon came a knock at the bedroom door.
“The man is here.”
Already? Marsh dressed quickly alongside Zoe and then the two of them wandered back out into the suite, still flushed and slightly sweating. Marsh shook hands with the newcomer, noting his lank hair, pale complexion and rumpled clothes.
“Don’t get out much?”
“They keep me locked away.”
“Oh, well, whatever. Have you come to check my bomb?”
“Yes, sir, I have.”
Marsh placed the backpack on the low glass table that occupied the center of the large room. Zoe walked by, catching his attention as he briefly remembered her naked form from only minutes ago. He dragged his eyes away, addressing the newcomer.
“What’s your name, lad?”
“Adam, sir.”
“Well, Adam, you know what this is and what it can do. Do you feel nervous?”
“No, not at the moment.”
“Tense?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Twitchy? Stressed? Maybe overwrought?”
Adam shook his head, eyeing the backpack.
“If you are I’m sure Zoe here can help you out.” He said it half-jokingly.
The Pythian turned with a sly smile. “Be happy to.”
Marsh blinked, as did Adam, but before the youth changed his mind their bearded driver spoke up. “Hurry this,” he said. “We must be ready for…” he tailed off.
Marsh shrugged. “All right, no need to start stamping your feet. Let’s get down and dirty.” He turned to Adam. “With the bomb, I mean.”
The young man turned a bewildered gaze firmly upon the backpack and then rotated it, so the buckles faced him. Slowly, he undid them and eased the top open. Inside lay the real device, surrounded by a sturdier and altogether superior backpack.
“Okay,” Adam said. “So we all know about MASINT, the Measurement and Signature Intelligence protocol that scans data received from radiation and other physical phenomena signatures associated with nukes. This device, and at least one other like it that I know of, have been post-designed to slip under that field. Now, there are a lot of systems detecting and monitoring the world for nuclear devices but not all of them are cutting edge, and not all of them are fully manned.” He shrugged. “Look at the recent debacles in civilized countries. Can anyone really stop a determined man or tight cell acting alone? Of course not. It only takes a single malfunction or an inside job.” He smiled. “An unhappy employee or even a dead-tired one. Mostly it takes money or leverage. These are the best currencies of international terrorism.”
Marsh listened to the young man talk, wondering if one or two deeper precautions had been taken when he explained his route to Ramses and Webb. It would have been in all their best interests. He would never know and, frankly, didn’t really care. He was right here now, and about to open the doorway to Hell.
“Essentially, this is what we call a ‘dirty bomb’,” Adam said. “The term has been around forever but still applies. I have a scintillometer to detect alpha particles, a contaminant detector, and a few other goodies. But mostly,” Adam took a screwdriver out of his pocket, “I have this.”
Quickly he removed the sturdy package and unstickered the Velcro straps that gave access to a small display and mini-keyboard. The panel was held down by four screws which Adam quickly removed. As the metal panel came free it unraveled a series of wires behind it, wires that ran into the heart of the newly revealed device.
Marsh held his breath.
Adam smiled for the first time. “Don’t worry. This thing has more than one failsafe and ain’t even armed yet. Nobody here will set it off.”
Marsh felt a little deflated.
Adam peered at the mechanism and the parts inside it, taking it all in. After a moment he checked a laptop screen at his side. “Leaking,” he admitted. “But not so bad.”
Marsh shifted uneasily. “How bad?”
“I’d advise you never to have kids,” Adam said without emotion. “If you still can. And enjoy the next few years of your life.”
Marsh stared at Zoe as she shrugged. He’d never expected to outlive his egotistical father nor his supercilious brothers anyway.
“I can shield it better now,” Adam said, taking a package from a suitcase he’d brought along with him. “As I would any device of this sort.”
Marsh watched for a moment and then realized they were almost done. He met the dead eyes of their driver. “These cells Ramses spoke of. Are they ready? The chase will soon start and I want no delays.”
A dry smile flickered back. “And neither do we. All five cells are now active, including the two sleepers that the Americans cannot possibly know of.” The man checked his watch. “It is now 6.45 a.m. All will be ready for seven.”
“Fantastic.” Marsh felt his libido rising again and thought he might as well take advantage of that fact whilst he still could. Knowing Zoe as he recently did, they’d finish quickly anyway. “And the money transfer protocols?”
“Adam will concentrate on finishing a program that will bounce our location around the world on an endless cycle. They will never track the transaction.”
Marsh didn’t notice Adam’s expression of surprise.
He was too concentrated on Zoe, and she on him. He took five more minutes to watch Adam arm the bomb and listen to the instructions on how to disarm the damn thing, and then made sure the man took the relevant photographs of the working device. The photographs were crucial in persuading the White House of the authenticity of the device and in engineering the chase that would divert attentions and divide the forces arrayed against him. Happy at last he addressed Adam.
“The yellow one. That’s the disarm wire?”
“Umm, yes sir, it is.”
Marsh turned a genuine smile upon the driver. “So we’re ready?”
“We are ready.”
“Then move out.”
Marsh held out a hand and led Zoe into the bedroom, tugging at her jeans and panties as they went, and trying to stifle a giggle. A flood of passion and excitement almost overwhelmed him as he realized all his dreams of power and importance were about to be realized. If only his family could see him now.
CHAPTER FIVE
As Drake stood upright the full weight of what was transpiring bore down upon him. Urgency coursed through his veins, frayed his nerve-endings, and one look at his team-mates told him they felt the same — even Kenzie. He’d really thought the ex-Mossad agent would have made her move by now but then, in truth, because of the bond between soldiers, he didn’t even have to ask her why she hadn’t. The same innocents she fought for were at stake here, the same civilians. Anyone with even half a heart would not let this stand, and Drake suspected there might be a lot more to Kenzie than half a heart, however deeply buried it may be.
Seven-forty-five, the wall clock read and the whole team were on the move. The police station was filled with an uneasy chaotic calm, cops in charge but clearly on edge. News reports flashed across TV screens, but none that were relevant to them. Moore paced and paced, waiting for news from undercover agents or surveillance teams or roving cars. Hayden squared off with the rest of the team.