“She was embarrassed, Marcus,” Eugene said. “I know my daughter. She was torn up about not having accepted your proposal before she met him. When she found out you were still alive, she almost went nuts. But she held on. I think it was because she hoped you might still come back someday.”
“Well, we’ll see, sir.” Marcus said, his voice low and pensive.
Linus spoke up from the other side of the counter. “Eugene, give her the store number. She can call here and leave a message if she likes. I’ll make sure Marcus gets it.”
“You got it, Linus.” Eugene turned back to the handsome, brown-skinned man seated next to him. “Marcus, you’ve always been like a son to me. Even if things don’t work out with you and Lonnie, that won’t change. If you ever need anything, and I mean anything, let me know.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” he replied.
“All right,” Eugene said, taking out his wallet as he walked toward the register to pay the bill. “It’s time for me to go. I’ve gotta track down a couple of yahoos that nearly ran me off the road on the way to the substation.”
Marcus straightened. “That was you?”
“You saw it?”
“Yeah, I was on my snowmobile on the side of the road. I barely got out of their way myself. The guys who drove that truck left here just a few minutes before you came in. I was about to call the cops and report them for reckless driving.”
Eugene turned and sat back down, one foot on the floor and the other on the metal rail that ran around the seat post.
“Their names were Adem and Nikola, according to Officer Bannock at the pump station. But I’ll be damned if I know of any guys by those names at TVEC, or with any of our contractors.”
“Did Bannock say anything else about them?” Marcus asked.
“He said he had an uneasy feeling about the way they acted when he approached them. Why do you ask?”
“I did two tours in the ‘Stan with Bannock, one during the Soviet Occupation, when we weren’t supposed to be there, and one in ‘04 just before he messed up his knee. He’s got an amazing danger antenna. If Charlie Bannock was suspicious, you had better get it checked out. I got the impression they don’t work for TVEC at all.”
“What do you think they’re up to, then?” Eugene asked. “Bannock thought they were speaking Albanian. We aren’t at war with that country, are we?”
“No, but Albania is the only European country that’s an Islamic Republic. Al Qaeda does a lot of recruiting there,” Marcus replied.
“Well, don’t that just take it all?” Eugene muttered. “What in the world would terrorists want all the way up here, messing with our electrical grid? I mean, this is the edge of the civilized world, not exactly a juicy target for Al Qaeda.”
“Whatever their purpose for being here, they are here,” Marcus said. “And if those two aren’t Tangos, then my twenty years in the Corps was a waste.”
“Dadgummit!” blurted the older man. “I’d better get in touch with Bob Stark down at Alaska Homeland Security. This day is going from bad to worse. “Well, you boys have a good rest of the night.”
Eugene pulled his cell phone out of a coat pocket and glanced at the screen to see if he had reception. Three of the four bars flashed above the icon of an antenna in the corner of the small LCD. He continued to speak to Marcus and Linus as he thumbed through the contacts list on the phone.
“Give me a ring if you see those two come by here again, or anyone else suspicious, for that matter. Here are my private office and cell phone numbers, and e-mail.” He handed each of them a couple of business cards. “I’m taking it to the troopers right away. Don’t hesitate to call at any time with anything you may find out.”
Eugene pushed the dial button and put the phone to his ear as he turned toward the door.
“Marcus,” he called back, “I’m gonna tell Lonnie that you’re back and give her Linus’s number. That’ll put it in her court. I ask you, give her a chance. A lot has changed in the past couple years.”
“Thanks, Mr. Wyatt.”
Marcus turned back to his soup as his father’s best friend walked out the door, got into his truck, and drove out of the parking lot. Eugene turned the big tan F250 west on the Richardson Highway and headed through the darkness back to Fairbanks.
Chapter 4
Training Zone Bravo
Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska
December 17th
18:00 Hours
Sergeant Choi Ho Kil looked at the small digital display in his gloved hand. He studied the numbers that glowed softly on the screen and did some quick calculations in his head. Choi’s excitement grew as he realized the detector worked just the way he had designed it.
“Captain Park!” he whispered hoarsely into the microphone that hung on the front of his white balaclava. “I think we have found it, sir.”
Captain Park came out of the shadows toward the sergeant. The bulk of his hooded white parka made the captain look like a polar bear cub running on its hind legs. Park took several bounding steps across the four-foot-deep blanket of snow that covered the landscape, white nylon-covered snowshoes keeping him on the surface of the powder.
“What do you see, Sergeant?” asked the captain as he flipped up the eyepieces of his night vision goggles and looked
