Sea of Fire

'Whoa. Just one?' Ellsworth asked him.

'Officially, yes,' Coffey said.

'Will the United States back whatever decision we make, emphasis on the we?' Ellsworth pressed.

'You've got sound legal grounds, and my office agrees that there are real security concerns,' Coffey said. 'That's as close to a yes as this attorney can give you right now.'

Dr. Lansing looked from Coffey to the others. He shook his head unhappily. 'Attempting to wake this man may kill him. You understand that?'

'We do,' Loh said.

'I'm absolutely opposed to it,' Lansing said. 'I want that known.'

'Noted,' Ellsworth said.

'I also want to tell you, not as a doctor but as an interested observer, that the one man to whom this matters most can't say a bloody word! I don't think that's right.'

'Why do you assume he would be opposed?' Coffey asked.

'Good point!' Jelbart said. 'Maybe he would want us to snatch whoever did this.'

Lansing looked from Ellsworth to Jelbart. 'I have other patients. Which of you two is going to sign the consent form?'

There was a long moment of silence. Jelbart turned to Ellsworth. 'Is this going to be a military or government matter?' the warrant officer asked.

That is a good question, Coffey thought. If this were classified as a military issue, the armed forces would have a legal leg up to launch a military response. The transport of nuclear material would automatically be classified as a security threat and not simply illegal traffic. If Ellsworth signed, Canberra would be obligated though not bound to pursue a diplomatic resolution.

Coffey was not surprised when Jelbart answered his own question a moment later.

'I'll sign the form,' the warrant officer said. 'Let's see what our guest can tell us.'

Dr. Lansing summoned a nurse. He turned Jelbart over to her while he went to the medical supply closet on the opposite side of the corridor. Officer Loh went silently into the hospital room.

'Thank you, Lowell,' Ellsworth said.

'You're welcome, Brian,' Coffey replied.

The government official looked pale. He went to the water cooler on the opposite wall.

'Would you like some?' Ellsworth asked as he filled a cup.

'No, thanks,' Coffey said.

Ellsworth drained the cup and refilled it. He drained that, too, then crumpled the paper cone and tossed it in the trash.

'Is there anything you haven't told me?' Coffey pressed.

Ellsworth shook his head.

'Is there anything else I can do?' Coffey asked.

'Yes. Would you mind sticking around?' Ellsworth asked. 'I know you have that convention in Sydney. But we really could use a third-party voice.'

'What would you have done if I had gone against you?' Coffey asked.

'I didn't think you would have,' Ellsworth replied, sounding somewhat defensive. 'I feel that we have the jurisdiction to do this.'

'You didn't answer me. What would you have done?' Coffey asked.

'We would have done exactly what we are doing,' Ellsworth admitted. 'We don't have a choice. This is a scary business, Lowell. It has to be dealt with aggressively.' He looked at Coffey and smiled slightly. 'But it's good to have you on our side.'

Coffey smiled. It was strange to hear Ellsworth talk about dealing with things aggressively. Just a minute ago he had frozen when it came to taking responsibility for drugging their guest. What the chief solicitor meant, of course, was that he must aggressively authorize others to take action and responsibility. It was a strange new world for people like Brian Ellsworth. Men who enjoyed the perks of power without the shoulder-bending weight of liability.

In the meantime, though, Lowell Coffey found himself in agreement with Ellsworth on one point, at least.

This was a scary business. And he had a feeling it would get a lot more terrifying before it was through.

Chapter Fifteen

Darwin, Australia Friday, 12:59 P.M.

FNO Loh stood between Warrant Officer Jelbart and Dr. Lansing. The three wore rubber gloves and surgical masks. The Singaporean naval officer watched dispassionately as the physician injected a clear solution into the patient's intravenous needle. He had already turned off a valve to the drip in the patient's thin but sinewy left arm. Brian Ellsworth and Lowell Coffey stood behind the lead-lined screen near the doorway.

The balding physician shook his head. 'This poor chap is going to get a double dose of wake up,' Lansing said.

'How so?' Jelbart asked.

'I've had to shut off the flow of painkillers. Morphine inhibits the uptake of norepinephrine,' the doctor informed him. 'In a perverse way, though, that may help to save him. I'm giving him a moderate dosage of levarterenol. I'm hoping that the combination of pain and stimulant will be enough to wake him without damaging him.'

'Why would he be damaged? What does this norepinephrine do?' Jelbart asked.

'It is an energizer,' Lansing told him. 'This patient is suffering from hypotension.'

'Shock,' Jelbart said.

'That's right,' Lansing replied. 'The sudden jump from systemic underactivity to overactivity could easily drive him to cardiac arrest.'

'I see,' Jelbart said. 'What about the radioactivity? How has that affected him?'

'It's too early to say,' the doctor replied. 'There would not be many symptoms this early, and we still don't know what the original exposure levels were.'

'Then how can you treat him?' Jelbart asked.

'He's still alive,' the doctor said dryly. 'So we can infer that the dose was not lethal.'

'True,' Jelbart said.

'There are standard responses, regardless of the exposure,' Lansing went on. 'I've given him Melbrosin pollen, a natural radiation-sickness therapy. We can treat the results, the nausea and weakness. But this boosts the capability of the bone marrow to produce red and white blood cells. It won't affect the pharmacological treatments he's receiving for his wounds. If there is good news in any of this, it is that the burns appear to have been caused in the explosion, not as a result of the radiation.'

'How can you tell?' Jelbart asked.

'The body responds differently,' the doctor replied. 'You see a more extensive form of blistering with radioactive burns.'

'What about the levels of radiation the patient himself is generating?' Jelbart asked.

'They are extremely low,' Lansing assured him. 'We won't be contaminated in any way if we stay for less than a half hour or so. And we will be here for far less than that, I assure you. That lead screen is primarily for the nurses who walk by all day.'

The man in the bed began to moan as the drugs entered his system. FNO Loh leaned toward him.

'Don't bother talking to him yet,' Lansing cautioned. 'He won't hear you. This is only the pain talking. You'll know he's conscious when you see his eyes begin to move under the lids.'

Loh stood up again. She tugged on the hem of her jacket and absently ran a hand down the front.

The room was warm, and there was the faint odor of antiseptic. It smelled sanitary rather than fresh. To FNO