Jessup answered the phone with a trembling hand. “UNSC. May I help you?”
At first there was only crackling static and a strange whistling on the line. Then the caller spoke.
“Um, hell o? Is Margie there?”
“This is the United Nations,” said Jessup.
“Ohhhh, wrong number, I guess.”
Jessup’s forehead was wet with perspiration. “How did you get this number?”
“I guess I made a mistake. Sorry.” The caller disconnected.
“Jesus Christ!” said the CIA agent as he ripped off the headset and dumped it on the desk. “My heart almost stopped when that light flashed.”
The other two agents sat without comment.
Jessup watched them for a moment, then looked at the CIA agent. “Isn’t this a special line? I thought that wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“It’s not.” The agent was slumped in his chair. “I’ll check.” He picked up another phone.
But before he could dial a number the hotline phone rang again.
Jessup let it ring twice, as before, then picked it up.
“UNSC. May I help you?”
This time Ned Bloom, the CIA agent, was already connected.
There was a series of clicks, then an electronical y masked voice spoke.
“The deadline approaches. Have you secured the money?”
Jessup looked at Bloom with wide eyes and covered the receiver with his hand.
“This is him. Over to you.”
Bloom punched a button on his desk phone and all its connection lights went on. “This is agent Ned Bloom of Central intelligence,” he said slowly. “I am authorized by the UN and the US Government to answer your questions.”
“The money,” said the voice. “Is it secured?”
“It is our official policy not to capitulate to terrorist threats,” said Bloom.
“If I detonate the nuclear devices embedded in the ice,” said the monotonous voice, “it makes no difference to me. Is that your wish? To sacrifice the coastal cities of the world? To kill thousands of innocents? So be it.”
“Wait,” said the agent breathlessly. “I didn’t say we
wouldn’t
give you the money. . .”
“What
are
you saying then?”
“I. . .” began Bloom.
“Switch him to the Secretary,” whispered Jessup emphatically.
Bloom nodded and said, “I have to switch you to the Secretary’s office. I’m not allowed to negotiate. . .”
“Make it fast,” said the voice, its imminent loss of patience evident despite the enhancement.
Jessup pressed the “hold” button on his phone and took a deep breath. Then he dialled the Secretary General. It seemed to take forever, but less than a minute passed before the Secretary General’s office answered.
#
At the Hacienda, Rudolfo Suarez pressed his ear to a cel phone as he sat comfortably on a luxurious living- room sofa, his feet resting on a large burlwood coffee table. In front of him a panoramic picture window framed a magnificent view of the Andes. His eyes traced the contours of the mountains as he waited for the office of the UN Secretary General to come on the line. He smiled broadly, relishing the moment.
Next to him sat Remo, ordered to listen on another line but keep silent.
They could hear the phone link switching as it followed a special computer program that routed the call to various points on the globe. Every fifteen seconds there would be a
click!
followed by silence, and then another
click!
as the linkup reconnected. Suarez had spent a great deal of time figuring out how to route his calls so they couldn’t be traced. If a trace was possible at all, the most anyone would be able to determine was that the origin of the call was somewhere in South America.
Finally he heard a woman’s voice on the line. “This is Representative Armandi – Jean Armandi. May I help you?”
“You know who I am?”
“No sir,” said Armandi. “I am assuming you can give me a coded identifier? That was your demand, was it not?”
Suarez smiled. They were following his orders to the letter.
“White Mountain,” said Suarez.
There was a click, then silence for a few moments. Then Armandi came back on the line. “That’s fine.
We’re prepared to start transferring the money – the securities – from the Wall Street computers as soon as you give us the location of the bombs.”
“I will do that
after
the transfer,” said Suarez, smiling at Remo.
“Then what kind of guarantee do we have that you won’t detonate the nuclear bombs?” said Armandi.
“I am giving no guarantees,” said Suarez. “I have no interest in destroying the world. I only want the money.
The bombs are simply to ensure that I get it. Once the transfer is complete I will
consider
giving the locations of the devices.”
There was a long silence, followed by another click as his computer continued to route the call.
#
By now there were over thirty people listening to the conversation, including the President of the United States as well as Hayes and Grimes, who had returned to the
Enterprise
with their captive; Hodges was now secured in the ship’s brig. Also listening were Henry and Sarah. The call had come during an informal debriefing in Captain Halsey’s quarters.
They sat in silence as the conversation between the ambassador and the terrorist played through a speaker in the ceiling of the room. Shep, who had been sleeping beside Henry’s chair, had lifted his head when he’d first heard the terrorist’s electronically enhanced voice, and growled.
“That’s him,” said Henry, noticing Shep’s reaction.
“That must be Suarez.”
“No question,” agreed Hayes. “We know who it is.
But we’re still trying to put a trace on the call. If he gives us the location of the bombs, then we have him.
TransAm Optical’s corporate headquarters will cease to exist.”
“Isn’t that a bit drastic?” asked Sarah. “You’d just blitz a place without even knowing who’s in there?”
“These are times for drastic action,” said the general. “If we can negate the threat by forfeiting a few civilian lives. . .”
“Then we’re no different from Suarez,” she interrupted. “No different at all.”
“And so we go ahead and make deals and trust the guy, then he goes and pul s the plug on us after all,” said Grimes. “What then, Ms Bleeding Heart?”
The mechanical monotone of the terrorist’s voice over the loudspeaker interrupted their argument. “Ambassador Armandi, I appreciate your position, but don’t be fooled by my willingness to discuss these matters with you. By now you will have tried, unsuccessful y, to locate the source of this call. By now you will have linked this call to the US President and perhaps hundreds of other interested parties around the world. It is
you
that I speak to, and it is you who I warn that, when tomorrow’s deadline comes, I will send the signal to destroy the ice shelf in Antarctica. Is that clear, madam?”
“Yes it is,” said Armandi. “We understand your position, and I am in touch with the President of the United States, who is authorized to transmit four billion in securities to the account numbers you will give us. May I ask how you intend to give us those numbers?”
“You will be notified within the next ten hours – and make that
five
billion,” said Suarez.
The line went dead.
Henry looked at the speaker in the ceiling as though he expected it to say more. There was only static on the line. Then even that was gone.
“Ten hours,” said Grimes.
Sarah looked around the room. “I don’t understand how this is going to happen, this money transfer.”
“I wonder if anyone other than Suarez really does,” replied Hayes. “The methods of securities exchange and the world’s financial pathways have become extremely complex, and get more so every day in this computer age. Perhaps we could trace the money if it went to just one place. . .”
“Or came from only one place,” said Halsey, who had been listening quietly to them. “Our guy is showing his financial knowhow. The more I hear about this man Suarez, the more he seems like a logical conclusion to the situation in Latin America. Someone who sees his country plundered. . .”
“Boo hoo,” said Grimes. “No more, sir, you’re breakin’ my poor heart.”
“I’m not forgiving the bastard, Grimes, but it doesn’t hurt us to try to figure this guy out, does it?”
“No, sir,” said Grimes. All eyes went to the SEAL as he rose to his feet. “Gentlemen,” he said, “I have a lot of respect for you all. Most of all, though, I’m responsible to my country, and my country has been charged with protecting the world from pieces of human lichen like Suarez.”
“Permission to speak, freely, Commander Grimes,” said Halsey with a bitter smile.
“By all means, Kai,” added Hayes.
Grimes stared at them blankly. “We have to take him out. That’s all I’m sayin’. Sitting here is not making the world a better place.”
“Okay,” said the general. “Let’s do it.” He reached for the phone.
It rang in his hand.
He lifted the receiver to his ear. He knew it had to be the President. Less than a minute later he was putting the phone back down.
Four faces stared at him.
“By my count, Tony, that was at least five ‘yes, sirs’ and two ‘maybe, sirs’,” said Halsey. “Care to fill us in on what the man said?”
“Take Suarez alive.”
Grimes groaned. “Always the hard way.”
“You don’t agree with that strategy?” Halsey asked, regarding the SEAL with a sceptical eye. “What action would you recommend?”
Grimes evidently realized that, once again, his focus as an anti-terrorist had him toeing the line of insubordination. “One well placed Hel fire before he suspects a thing. Nuke ’em, sir. Deal with the bombs in the ice later.”
“Tony?” said Halsey. “Agree or disagree?”
“Irrelevant,” said Hayes. “We have our orders.”
Henry rolled his eyes. He kept feeling as though he had strayed into some kind of current, like a surfer caught in a riptide. He found his mind retreating to the only place where he felt safe: out by himself on the ice with his team of dogs. Amid the purity of that frozen world the affairs of men vanished. He pictured Sadie nipping at the heels of the pack to force them over some obstacle in the ice, her dark eyes always looking back for a sign of approval. He wondered if it was his ego that made life on the deep ice so appealing. Out there it was usual y a matter of just one man ruling a pack of dogs; one man in control of his destiny.
There has to be some reason I love that life,
he thought.
It certainly isn’t the weather. But isn’t it the weather that keeps the world away from the place and ensures the security to be found only in isolation?
On the ice he had been total y in charge. Here, in love and up to his ears in an international crisis, nothing was certain any more. Not even his identity. He shot a glance at Sarah, sitting next to him. Then he remembered the story of Adam and Eve.
His mind drifted back to where he was when he heard his name mentioned.
Hayes was speaking.
“Are you listening to any of this, Gibbs? I was saying we still need someone to identify Rudolfo Suarez.
Basically, that means you. Are you willing to help us for a while longer?”
“I have a choice?”
“Not really. You’re still drafted, officially. But I guess what I’m asking is if your heart is going to be in this thing. We may need your full attention.” The general looked back and forth between the two civilians.
“Sure,” Henry found himself saying. “That guy shot my best dog. I’m in it, if you need me.”
“I’d think you’d be more pissed at him that he shot you, Henry,” observed Grimes.
“My dogs, like any other sled team, are a big part of life on the ice,” said Henry angrily. “Not so hard to understand. A lot of ice doggers feel like that. You get to know ’em, all their. . .”
“I guess it’s like having half your SEAL team wasted,” said the general. “You can understand that, can’t you, Commander?”
“I guess,” said Grimes. “I don’t know much about dogs.”
“And I don’t know much about military matters,” said Henry. “I don’t mind telling you I’d just as soon be back in New England, or anywhere else but here. Or is this the part where I’m supposed to
enjoy
sticking my neck out?”
Sarah looked at him and he lowered his eyes.
“Just seems to me that by now you should have a pretty good idea about what Suarez looks like without dragging me and Sarah along as spotters.”
“We have to be
sure
, Henry,” said Hayes sympathetical y. “And, when we act, split seconds count because things
happen
in split seconds. You know that. If you can help us fix our sights on Suarez our job will be easier, and safer. Lives could be saved.”
“If Suarez sees me again and he’s finally worked out who I am, he’ll kill me for sure,” said Henry.
“We won’t give him the chance,” said Grimes. “Don’t worry, hero.”
#
At 8am on the morning of October 1, Rudolfo Suarez called Trevor Hodges’s cel phone. It rang three times, and with each ring his anger mounted. He was about to hang up when Trevor answered.
“Yes?”
“Where have you been?” said Suarez, disguising his wrath as best he could. “Why aren’t you here?”
“I can’t talk now,” said Hodges. “I’ll fill you in when I see you.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes,” answered Hodges. “See you soon.”
He hung up.
Suarez was furious. “Who does he think he’s talking to?” he said to Remo, who stood at the picture window trying to wake himself up with a cup of strong coffee.
“What did he say?”
“He’ll ‘fill me in when he sees me’,” answered Suarez. “What in hell does that mean?”
“Well, at least we know he’s okay,” said Remo, still staring sleepily at the mountains in the distance.
“I’m not so sure. He sounded. . . weird.”
“Is he on his way here?”
“I guess so,” said Suarez.
#
Two hundred miles away, aboard the
Enterprise
, Grimes and his men were congratulating themselves on having fooled Suarez. Their best electronics man, Dan Hoy, had put together an assemblage of computerized dialogue based on Grimes’s interrogation of Trevor Hodges and had been waiting sleeplessly for the inevitable call.