Zero Day (John Puller, #1)(133)

“But it was still a nuclear device. You were still going to nuke your own country, you *.”

Mason snapped, “I knew what I was doing, okay? We only used a minimal amount of plutonium, enough to give it a little boom and some radiation. And it’s the middle of nowhere. So what if Drake, West Virginia, went radioactive? It was already dead.”

“It has over six thousand people, Joe.”

“A lot more people than that die in traffic accidents every year. A hundred thousand people die every year in hospitals because of mistakes. In that context the collateral damage was pretty damn small.”

“But you’re intending to sell the nuke fuel to our enemies. They won’t detonate in an area that has no people, Joe. They’ll nuke New York, D.C.”

“Yeah, well, I’m in the process of moving to another country. I’m kind of tired of this one. But you did screw things up for me. I can still sell the stuff, but it’ll just be trickier. That’s why I’m here. To give you a little payback.”

Puller said, “Did you really need the money that badly? To sell out to terrorists? You’re scum.”

“I’ve busted my ass for my country for over thirty years. And in the next round of budget cuts they were going to let me go. I owed them nothing.”

Puller held up a fourth finger.

Mason said, “You said there were only three points.”

“I lied. We nailed Bill Strauss in South America. He took off before the Bunker blew, of course. It wasn’t like he was going to stay around for the mushroom cloud, although he didn’t bother taking his grieving wife. Guy’s a real winner. Oh, did I mention that he ratted you and all your guys out?”

Mason blurted out, “That’s impossible. I spoke to Bill—”

“Yeah, you spoke to him yesterday and today. I was in the room when you did. FBI recorded the whole thing.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“How else do you think I knew all the details I just told you? I’m a pretty good investigator, but Strauss debriefed us on a lot of stuff. Only way I knew about it.”

Mason just kept staring.

Puller said, “So you’re basically sitting on a bunch of nuclear material you’ll never be able to sell. But then again, you don’t need a lot of money in prison. Or if you’re convicted of treason, you get lethal injection. Either way is fine with me.”

Puller looked around and observed that all of Mason’s men were now showing signs of extreme nervousness. That was both good and bad. Good in that nervous men were not as effective fighters. Bad in that nervous armed men did erratic things, and were thus hard to predict.

But even though it was six against one, Puller could sense that they were feeling outnumbered right now.

He looked back at Mason. “You ready to surrender, Joe?” asked Puller.

“I’ll tell you what I’m ready for, Puller. And I’ll tell you right now.”

CHAPTER

95


MASON LOOKED OVER at the sixth man standing next to the Malibu. He waved him forward. The man was in his middle fifties, dressed in slacks and a light windbreaker though the air was warm and there was no breeze. He had a SIG nine-millimeter held loosely in his right hand. He was two inches shorter than Puller but about twenty pounds heavier. He looked rock solid, mean, and ready to kill.

Mason said, “This is Sergei, Puller. He was in the Soviet army. He specializes in pain, creating it in others, that is. He’s going to take you somewhere and work on you, show you some of his techniques. He’s really the best at what he does.”

Puller gazed over at the other man, who looked back at him with a superior expression.

Puller said, “Soviet army? You guys can’t fight worth shit. You let a bunch of desert farmers kick your ass in Afghanistan.”

Sergei’s confident look went away and was replaced with a murderous one.

Mason said, “I’m not sure that was your smartest move, Puller.”

“Did I hurt your feelings, Sergei? Were you one of the guys who didn’t have the balls to carry a rifle? Did they keep you at the rear to work over the guys who couldn’t fight?”

Sergei looked even more unhinged. Which was Puller’s purpose behind the taunts. Pissed-off people made mistakes. Puller edged a step closer.

Mason said, “Let me give you the rundown, Puller. We’re going to take you to a place where Sergei is going to inflict some real pain on you while I watch. And then we’re going to put you out of your pain permanently. I tried to take you out twice before with bombs, but missed both times. But the third time, as they say, is the charm.”

Puller swung his arms wide and used this movement to distract their attention from him taking two more steps forward. He said, “So that’s the plan? Hope you didn’t spend much time thinking up that one, Joe, because it really sucks.”

“It works just fine for me. And then I have contingency plans, Puller. I always do. Strauss in the federal bag or not, I’m out of here. And don’t even think about putting up a fight. We’ll shoot you right here if you do.”

Puller shrugged. “Well then, let’s get this over with. I’ve got stuff to do today.”

Before Sergei could even bring his gun up Puller struck. His iPod’s edge had been filed down to the sharpness of a Ranger KA-BAR knife.