Ultimate Power (28 page)

Laiveaux sighed. "Bring it up on the fucken map,
Henrie
." He turned to Bruce. "Change to map view."

"You can do that?" Dumas asked with a frown.

The map changed, showing street names and schools and supermarkets. "There's a helluva lot," Laiveaux said, studying the image.

"Let's zoom in to two miles," Bruce suggested.

Laiveaux pushed some buttons on the remote and the map zoomed in.

"Okay, go to South Africa. Let's zoom in two miles from the G5," Bruce said.

Laiveaux leaned forward excitedly. "You see what I see?"

"Shit," Bruce said.

"What?" Dumas asked.

"This is Koeberg, on the western coast of South Africa," Laiveaux said, showing him the facility with a laser pointer. "Okay, now South Korea. He pointed again. "This is the town of Uljin in Gyeongbuk." The map scrolled to the right. "Now Japan."

Bruce closed his eyes, massaging his temples with his fingertips. "They're targeting all the nuclear power stations in the world."

"Could that cause any damage?" Dumas asked alarmed.

Bruce looked up wearily. "There are containment procedures in place. The biggest problem would be the fallout from airborne nuclear particles."

"Estimated loss of life?" Dumas asked.

Laiveaux shifted in his chair. "We've done the calculations in our emergency planning scenarios. It's difficult to say, really."

"Conservatively?" Dumas prompted.

Laiveaux turned to Dumas, his lips pursed. "If they hit all the facilities at the same time?"

Dumas nodded.

"One hundred million."

06:20 AM
 

T minus 1 hour, 40 minutes

Alexa plunged into the forest adjacent to the area where Maricke had picked Yumi up. She followed a path through the forest, finding telltale signs of Yumi's dash to freedom.
 

Neil crashed through the bush behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and put her finger to her lips. He nodded. She shone her torch on the ground, looking for broken grass or indentations in the forest floor.

She stopped, looked back. The tracks had disappeared. She scanned the area, pointing the flashlight at the ground. Shit. She jogged in a semi-circle, breathing a sigh of relief as she noticed a broken twig on a green sapling. She saw the indentation in the grass where Yumi head crouched. The girl had probably noticed the cars and deviated from her path, heading straight towards the highway.

Alexa managed to follow Yumi's trail, it headed straight through the forest, not deviating left or right. After four miles, the forest opened up and they came to a clearing. She motioned to Neil that he should stop, then she dropped on all fours and crawled forward. The moonlight shone on a rickety old wooden fence. It meandered in a haphazard way around a dilapidated double-story farmhouse, the shingles on the roof lifting and the paint peeling. It was dark inside.

She heard someone approach and ducked. She lifted her head and peered over the grass. Rowley stood smoking, arguing with Collingwood about Yumi. Collingwood threw his hands in the air, disappearing around a corner.

She saw Rowley examine the ground, a flashlight waving to-and-fro and Rowley started walking towards them, his eyes on the ground.

He spoke into a two-way radio and thirty seconds later two more men joined him. He waved his flashlight around the yard, they ducked as he pointed it straight to where Alexa and Neil were hiding. The men nodded in agreement and split up, one of them heading straight toward Alexa and Neil.
 

Alexa pulled her Glock from her holster, but Neil touched her leg. "Wait, let me," he said crawling forward. "That'll make too much noise."

She nodded gratefully. Her entire body was throbbing, she felt like she had a fever. She knew the feeling, septicemia had set in on her wounds, and her body was fighting the inflammation by sending blood to the infected areas. Her body was literally poisoning itself. She gritted her teeth. Physical pain she could endure. She had to finish this job.

The man jogged closer, following Yumi's tracks and crouched at the pole fence. He vaulted over the fence and Neil jumped up, smashing a palm into his nose, following up with a double punch to the temple. The man fell down with a thump, and Neil finished him off by jerking his head to the side. Alexa heard his neck break.

She fished her cell phone from her jacket pocket. "General, we have managed to track them down."

"Coordinates."

Alexa took the GPS from Neil and read Laiveaux the coordinates.
 

"Okay, hang tight, I'm sending backup." Laiveaux hesitated. "Alexa, we think we know what his targets are going to be."

"Yes?"

"He's planning on blowing up all the nuclear power stations around the world."

Alexa swallowed. Shit, this was bad.
 

"Okay, wait there, we're on our way," Laiveaux said again.

She disconnected the call.

"What are our orders?” Neil asked.

"He wants us to wait."

Sonti scanned the computer screens in the operation's room. The girl's escape had thrown a spanner in the works; he would have to move forward faster than he had anticipated.
 

He hated not keeping his promises.

He pressed a button on the console and spoke into a microphone. "Okay, I'm locking the place down. Get your men inside."

"What about the girl?" Rowley asked.

"She doesn't matter anymore."

"Copy that."

Sonti checked his watch, his finger hovering above a red button on the console. All the years of preparation had come down to this moment.
 

He blinked, took a deep breath and pushed the button.

He heard the satisfying slam around the premises as the barriers slid into place. Large red numerals appeared on his screen, counting down from ten minutes.

He leaned back and lit a cigarette. It had begun.

Koeberg Nuclear Power Station

Western Cape, South Africa.

T minus 0 seconds

Johnny Fortuin looked up as the rumbling projectile whistled through the morning sky, trailing a plume of white smoke behind it. He followed its trajectory through the air, his hand cupped over his eyes. His heart skipped a beat as he saw it heading toward the plant. "Oh shit, get out," he shouted, waving his arms and started running, glancing over his shoulder.

A second later, he heard the explosion as it slammed into silo three of the generation plant. And then he saw another rocket heading their way.

He grabbed his two way radio from his belt. "Eksteen, get the people out of here, the station is being bombed or something."

The radio hissed in his hand, no response.

He glanced back as the rocket exploded into silo one. It imploded slowly, like he was watching it in slow motion, before it swayed a bit and rumbled down on its base in a massive cloud of dust.

He stopped in his tracks and crushed his hands to his ears as another rocket hit the Admin block. He kneeled, holding his arms over his head as he was showered with pieces of rock and mortar and glass. He jumped over the debris and ran into the smoking building. People were stumbling around aimlessly, in shock.

"Monique," he shouted. She sat behind his upturned desk, her blackened face covered in scrapes and scratches, coughing and choking. He helped his secretary up and dragged her out of the building.

Another rocket exploded into a car in the parking lot a hundred yards to his left, the vehicle lifting off the ground and flipping onto its roof. He ducked, pulling Monique down with him.
 

She clutched at his arm. "Wait, I have to go to the crèche, Lucy's still there."

He had forgotten about her girl. He didn't have children of his own, but he knew what her daughter meant to her. He supported her by her arm as they made their way to the back of Admin block A. He almost gagged as he smelled the stench of burning human flesh.
 

Monique shrieked as her hand went to her mouth. They stepped over the crumbling walls. Nothing was left of the place except a large, charred hole in the ground and lots of small bodies tossed around where the playpen used to be. Mrs. Naudè's lifeless body lay slumped over her desk.
 

Johnny Fortuin looked up at the heavens. Why would anyone do something like this?
 
Monique sank to the ground next to him, sobbing hysterically. He grabbed his secretary's arm. "Come on Monique, we have to go," he said, pulling the woman to her feet.

She shook her head, crawling forward on all fours. "I can't." She lifted a tiny, lifeless body and clutched it to her chest.
 

Johnny looked around him. He didn't know what to do. People waddled around him like zombies, some missing limbs, all of them covered in blood. And Monique sat there, howling at the sky, her shoulders jerking up and down as she cried.

Interpol Headquarters,

Paris, France.

07:15 AM
 

T minus 5 minutes

Laiveaux leaned on the table, supporting his weight with his good arm. He cradled a red receiver on his shoulder, and he was directing the people in the boardroom with his other hand. "Get this stations evacuated right now. Send the nuclear containment squads ASAP, we need to minimize the fallout."

Dumas nodded, then hurried out of the room.

The President of South Africa answered the phone, sounding tired. "President Mofokeng, you need to get the emergency services to evacuate a five mile radius around all your nuclear power stations."

"Laiveaux?"

"There's no time to explain, Mr. President. Please get your emergency services to evacuate a five mile radius around all your nuclear power stations."

"What the hell, have you gone insane--"

Laiveaux slammed the phone down. He felt like Noah preaching to the deaf. The phone rang again. "Hello?"

"Laiveaux, what's all this nonsense about someone planning to target our nuclear facilities?"

"President Ross, we have information that a terrorism organization is going to attack your nuclear power facilities."

"When?"

Laiveaux glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Soon."
 

"How the hell do you expect me to react to that? I thought Interpol was supposed to give us fair warning of events such as these. How should I organize emergency services to--"

"Look, Mr President, you need to shut the fuck up and get moving. Your time is running out." He slammed the phone down.

Bruce dashed into the room. "It's started."

"What?"

"There was an explosion at Koeberg a couple of minutes ago. Details are sketchy, but it looks like two mortars hit the nuclear reactor."

"But Sonti said--"

"Since when have you ever trusted the word of a terrorist, General?" Bruce asked.

They checked the satellite image against the wall. Tiny red pinpricks started to blink on and off, a blue shadow spreading outward slowly from every pinprick.

"What are we going to do?" Bruce asked.

Laiveaux punched a number into his phone. "Alexa, it's started."

"What?"

"They've hit Koeberg in South Africa. Two more a couple of seconds ago."

"Shit, what do we do?"

"Backup isn't going to arrive in time. You need to go in, now."

Alexa and Neil jogged around the building, looking for any openings. All the windows and doors were covered with concrete slabs. The farmhouse was locked down airtight. Neil crouched on the ground and called Alexa over. "Alex, check this out," he said, picking up shards of glass on the ground. "I think this is where Yumi got out."

"Shit," Alexa said, tapping her lower lip with her finger. She patted her jacket pockets and fished out her cell phone and dialed a number. "Colonel Frydman, this is Captain Guerra."

"Yes, Captain?" The man sounded frightened.

"We're at Sonti's place. He's locked it down with concrete slabs. How the hell do I get in?"

Yes, yes," the Colonel said. "His protection against the fallout." He went silent.

"Colonel?"

"Give me a minute."

Alexa sighed, slapping her palm against the concrete slab.

"Okay, these slabs are heavy, they'll probably be manipulated with a hydraulic lifting mechanism. You need to reverse the polarity on the lift," Frydman said out of breath.

"How?"

"Find the power source, it should lead to a keypad."

Alexa scanned the ground, looked up at the walls. "I don't see anything."

"Okay, there will definitely be a keypad inside the building somewhere close to the slab. These things need to function independently in case of system override."

Alexa slapped her thigh. "That's the point, Colonel. I need to be inside to reverse the polarity."