The hooded figure approached Lonnie’s cruiser and raised a hand toward her. She rolled down her window. A blast of extremely cold air instantly filled the interior of the cruiser. The frigid air elicited a grunt, and an uncontrollable shiver ran through her body. “Man,” she said, “It’s gotten a lot colder since we left Salt Jacket.”
The rubber-clad man pulled back his hood. “Yes, ma’am. Once the clouds cleared up, we had that big aurora, and then the temperature dropped almost twenty degrees in the past few hours. It’s about minus thirty-five already and dropping.”
“Are you guys from the base?” Wyatt asked.
“Yes, ma’am. The Homeland Security chief called us in. He said we were to report to a Trooper Wyatt or to FBI Agent Tomer.”
“I’m Wyatt.”
“I’m Captain Argis, and Major Detrick is inside. You have a package for us?”
She handed him the bundled Marcus had made. “Here it is. It’s in a shockproof case wrapped in two trash bags, a large folded towel, and a Ziploc bag. The prisoner in the back seat knows some of what it is, but not everything.”
Captain Argis looked into the back seat at Choi, who was staring up at him. “Does he speak English?”
“No, but I’m a translator. He was pretty cooperative earlier, and I think he’ll help us out if you need more information.”
“If he knows what this stuff is, that would be a great start,” said the captain.
“He told me earlier that he knew one of the chemicals in it. That was how he found it in the first place, using a device he had made to find that one chemical.”
“Well, ask what that one chemical is, and that will get us that much closer. Let’s get inside the trailer and out of the cold. Otherwise, this suit might freeze and crack on me.”
“There’s no classified stuff in there, right?”
“That’s all in a sealed room. We have a clean area where we can talk. Besides, the guy in the seat next to you looks like he could snap your prisoner in half if he tries anything.”
Bell smiled in response. “You betcha. Half Snapper’s Mate First Class Bell at your service, Captain.”
They opened the doors and got out of the car. Wyatt opened the back door of the cruiser to let Choi out. She explained to him in Korean what was going on. “You need to tell them what is in the vial.” She pointed to the trailer. “We are going to that building over there. If you are good, we will keep our agreement.”
Choi nodded to her.
“If you try to do anything funny, I will not be your Nuna. This man next to you,” she pointed to Bell, who moved next to Choi, “this man will kill you instantly. Do you understand?”
Choi looked fearfully up at Bell, who was nearly a foot taller and eighty pounds heavier than the slightly built North Korean. Choi swallowed hard and added. “Adaso. I understand.”
As they walked across the parking lot, Commander Stark came out the front door of the public safety building toward them. “Wyatt!” Stark called from across the parking area.
“Yes, sir?”
“Where’s the leader of these SEALs? And Marcus, too? I want to talk to them in my office.”
Marcus and Wasner were getting out of the Jeep as Stark approached Wyatt. Lonnie pointed to them and said, “Wasner is the SEAL team chief—he’s the white guy at the Jeep. The black man is Marcus.”
The two men passed Lonnie and the others as they crossed the parking lot. As they drew near, Marcus glanced up into Lonnie’s face. When their eyes met, Lonnie immediately snapped her eyes back up to the door of the trailer, avoiding his gaze.
“Chief Wasner? Mr. Johnson?” Marcus turned from Lonnie toward Commander Stark, who approached them from half-way across the pavement. “I am Bob Stark, Fairbanks Trooper Detachment Commander. Put your men inside to get warmed up and have some coffee. I want to talk to both of you in my office.”
The two men followed Stark inside. Lonnie, Bell, and Choi entered the trailer with Captain Argis.
The trailer was a fully outfitted mobile laboratory. Just inside the entrance to the right stood two chairs and a small table. A high shelf on the left stretched above a row of hooks, on which hung several dark green rubber suits. Large clown-like boots dangled just above the floor from the end of the legs.
The room was about ten feet deep and stretched the entire width of the trailer, about twelve feet. A computer console on a desk at the far end lay dormant beneath a panel of various electronic buttons, dials, and digital readouts mounted on the wall next to it. Above all that, on the wall that stretched between the chamber in which they stood and the larger main research area, was a glass window, about two feet by two feet square. The glass in the window was several inches thick. On the other side of the glass it was dark, but not as if the lights were off in the room. There was a black covering over the glass on the inside.
In the center of the dividing wall to their left, between the table and the electronic equipment, a small round glass window, no more than twelve inches in diameter, was set in a narrow door. It was blacked out from the inside as well.
“This is as far you three can go. The other side of the door there is mostly a lot of standard research equipment,
