Long Road to Mercy (Atlee Pine, #1)(100)

“This is a situation, Mr. Roth. And we have to confront it. Ben Priest told me a little about it.”

“You know Ben?”

“Yes. And I think it was our military who abducted him.”

Another moment of silence passed before Roth blurted out, “They took Ben? How?”

“It’s a long story. The point is, everything is screwed up.”

Roth kept the light in their faces. “How did you find this cave?”

“Coordinates were on a flash drive I found at Ben’s home.”

“How did you know about me in the first place?”

“Ben didn’t give you up, if that’s what you were thinking. Oscar Fabrikant told me. I got on to him because Ben was a member of SFG. Are you familiar with that organization?”

“Yes. What else did Oscar tell you?”

“That he was concerned the Russians were involved.”

“They are involved. But now you have to leave. I can’t trust anyone at this point.”

“I can’t do that, Mr. Roth. I’m here to do my job. And to track down whoever killed Fabrikant.”

There was another long pause. “He’s—Oscar’s dead?”

“His body was found in Moscow. It was ruled a suicide, but I know it wasn’t.”

“Oscar, dead? I…I can’t believe it.”

“Can you point the light out of our faces, please?”

The light vanished.

“Will you trust us, Mr. Roth? Because I think we need each other to finish this.”

Roth didn’t answer.

“Please, Mr. Roth. What can I do to make you trust me?”

Roth said, “What do you think is going on?”

“I think there’s a nuke in here. And since my job is to protect the Grand Canyon at all costs, that’s not a good thing.”

There was another long moment of silence.

“If you turn out not to be who you say you are, it will be the last thing you ever do,” he said threateningly.

“Works for me,” said Pine.

“Come fully out of the passageway.”

They entered the cave, and suddenly the space was illuminated by a light source that they saw was a battery-powered lantern. Roth must have just turned it on.

And behind the illumination was Roth himself. His face was streaked with grime, and the man looked thoroughly exhausted.

Pine tossed him her badge and creds.

He looked them over and then threw them back.

“Everything I’ve told you is the truth,” she said.

Roth slowly nodded. “I believe you. I’m not sure why, but I’ve gone with my gut before, and I guess I have to now.”

“Was that your trip wire back there?” asked Kettler.

“Yes, just a warning for me in case someone stumbled in here.”

“So you’re armed, then?” said Kettler, looking around.

Roth replied, “You could say that I’m armed all right.”

He shone his light on something beside him.

It was rectangular in shape, had a metallic hide, and was about four feet long and three feet tall.

Both Pine and Kettler instinctively shrank back from the thing.

“That’s…that’s a nuke?” said Pine.

Roth nodded. “And you’ve just confirmed for me that you’re not involved in this plot.”

“How?”

“Because you both just looked ready to run for your lives.”

“Who wouldn’t in the face of a nuclear bomb?” said Pine.

“This is a very special nuclear device,” said Roth.

“It doesn’t look big enough to be a nuclear bomb,” said Kettler. “Is that what they call a suitcase nuke?”

Roth shook his head. “This is a tactical nuclear device. But, it’s plenty big enough. I calculate its yield at about the equivalent of nearly three kilotons of TNT. For comparison’s sake, the hydrogen bomb dropped over Nagasaki had a yield of over twenty kilotons. The largest detonation of all was the Tsar Bomba device that the Soviets set off a long time ago. That had a yield of fifty megatons. If the Soviets could have put a depleted uranium tamper on the sucker instead of a lead one, it would have doubled the yield.” He patted the device. “But for its size, this is the most powerful tactical nuke I’ve ever seen. It could have taken a huge chunk out of the Canyon and also left the place radioactive for a few thousand years.”

“Is it going to detonate?” asked Pine fearfully, taking another step back.

“I shouldn’t think so.”

“So you defused it?”

Roth shook his head. “You don’t really defuse a nuke. It’s not like a Hollywood movie with the timer counting down and the hero deciding which color wire to cut. If a nuke is going to detonate, the best you can do is take steps to make sure the nuclear chain reaction does not take place. Then it just becomes a big explosion, but not a nuclear one.”

“How did it get here?” asked Pine.

Roth waved them forward and pointed at the front metal panel. “Do you see that engraved writing?”

Both Pine and Kettler peered closer. Pine said, “That’s Korean?”

“Yes, it is.”

“That makes sense. There were plans for a North Korean nuke on the flash drive Priest had.”