The Last Second (A Brit in the FBI #6)(91)
Bradley stood, shook Grace’s hand. “Thanks for coming, Carl. You know everyone?”
Grace glanced around the room. In addition to the president and vice president, the assortment of men and women included the president’s chief of staff, the head of NASA, and a couple of spit-shined men in uniform from the DOD.
Bradley said, “The joint chief is on one open line, and we have General Clarke from Strategic Command on another. They’re tracking the satellite where they think the nuke might be. Have a seat, they’re about to brief us on what they know. Go ahead, Command.”
A third screen flashed up and Grace saw the interior of another situation room, knew this one was in Florida, well away from D.C. He also knew Callan Sloan shouldn’t be here. Protocol dictated the vice president and the president be separated in times of national security distress. But he also knew Sloan wouldn’t leave Bradley’s side, even with a gun to her head, succession plan be damned. He liked that about her. She was tough, loyal, and smart.
The general said, “We think we found the right satellite, the one launched on the fourteenth. It’s in the right orbit to be the P-Tel Communications satellite. The specs match. From what we can tell, despite the official word from Galactus, the satellite was successfully launched in orbit, only it was inserted in a completely different elliptical, which is why we didn’t pick up on it sooner. Like you, we understood the satellite missed its orbital window and had fallen back to Earth. We also would have been looking for it in the wrong orbit entirely, much higher than this. It was certainly never activated by P-Tel Communications, though I did receive a report they did in fact attempt to communicate with it.
“We’ve come to believe Dr. Patel managed to recode the satellite’s computer system and hijack the motherboard from the ground. Instead of the satellite inserting in a geosynchronous orbit at twenty-two thousand miles above Earth, she sent it into a low Earth orbit at two hundred and fifty miles, where it has been moving, silently, into position—right here.” The screen changed to a map, showing the ley lines of the satellite’s orbit, looping sine waves that ended up converging in a single spot. “Its current position puts it two hundred and sixty-seven miles above Earth, in the general vicinity of Nepal.”
Vice President Sloan said, “Nepal is nowhere near Sri Lanka and Patel’s facility. Why there?”
“No idea, ma’am. But it’s in the general region where the eclipse can best be viewed. We’re assuming the eclipse has something to do with all of this.”
Sloan turned to Grace. “We have assets on the ground in Sri Lanka now, correct?”
Grace said, “Correct, ma’am. There is also a Category 4 typhoon making landfall in the area where our assets are located. Currently, they are here.”
The screen showed a canopy of trees with a small bloom of heat signatures. Grace could see nine blobs of red.
“The facility is close by. As of last check-in, they’re making excellent time, though they had a problem with a mudslide and are doing ingress on foot. My assets are working with Agents Drummond and Caine from the New York FBI Field Office. Their Covert Eyes team tracked the facility based on the purchase and subsequent shipment of an industrial-grade telescope, incredibly detailed. We are relying on this team to deactivate the nuclear sequence from the ground.”
Bradley couldn’t believe it. “Drummond and Caine? They’re there?” He shook his head. “Leave it to those two to be involved in this. And thank all that’s holy they are—there are few people on this earth I believe more capable of stopping this than those two. Now, is there a reason we haven’t simply dropped a bomb on Dr. Patel’s facility? Wouldn’t that stop the countdown?”
Grace said, “Unfortunately, sir, we have no idea what sort of backups she has in place. A bomb could set it off. Patel has been plotting this for years, certainly before she stole the plutonium in 2015. You can bet they’ve taken every precaution, covered all the bases.”
He drew in a deep breath, then spit out, “I believe our best course of action is to let our people on the ground attempt to stop the explosion.”
DOD spoke up. “But just in case, Grace, Drummond’s idea about eliminating the satellite carrying the nuke is sound. Should we determine the satellite does in fact carry a nuclear explosive, we can attempt to move the X-37B—the Orbital Test Vehicle—into place to intercept. Assuming, of course, it’s in the proper orbit, and can get there in time.”
The president rubbed his chin. “I’m no nuclear scientist, so explain to me how blowing up the satellite carrying the nuclear bomb won’t set it off?”
General Thomas Monroe, the chief of staff, said, “There’s an interior trigger that must be set off so that the two chambers of plutonium can collide and react with one another, resulting in a nuclear explosion. Fission. Avoid the fission, avoid the explosion. Understand, sir, it’s not as simple as lighting a stick of dynamite and tossing it at the bomb. This must be a precision strike.”
“Then let’s get an ICBM loaded and up there. The Orbital Test Vehicle can be a backup, assuming it’s capable of such a feat.”
“We’re at the outer limit of the ICBM’s range, sir. And all of this is assuming we can find the satellite among all the space junk floating around up there. We think we know where it is, but until we positively identify the satellite carrying the nuke, sir, we can’t take any offensive measures.”