“My information is more up-to-date,” said Dean. “There’s a good chance the truck is on its way to Philadelphia.”
Daniels unhooked his tie — it was a clip model, a precaution all police took against it being used for a choke hold — and set it on the desk. “Mr. Dean—”
“Charlie.”
“No offense, but looking for a truck packed with explosives is only a little easier than looking for a needle in a haystack. We can cover the major highways, but once you start including country roads, local roads—”
“If I were you, I’d stop every truck in the state,” said Dean. “Every vehicle. The bomb is that big.”
125
Tucume pulled the van to the side of the street. They were near or inside the city borders, but he had no idea where precisely they were. Babin’s directions were confused and confusing.
“I need to rest,” Tucume told Babin. “Let’s stop here awhile.”
“No.”
“I need to rest,” he said. The voice seemed loud even to him. And stronger.
It was his voice. He’d lost it but now had it back.
A deep anger welled up within him. When he looked down at his fingers on the wheel, he saw that his knuckles were white.
“Relax,” said Babin. “We can rest. Let’s find a place for coffee.”
He should have gone with the girl, Tucume thought. She’d been his chance to escape.
Hadn’t he made that same decision years before, when he chose to pursue his dream of leading the people? He had given up everything for it.
What did he have to show for his decision now? Bitterness. The sum of who he was.
No. He was the leader he had hoped to become. He had made mistakes — fatal mistakes, errors that came from his own character. He had trusted people who should not have been trusted. But in every other way, he had made himself the leader he had wanted to be. He was
Would an Inca have sought blind revenge, even in defeat? In triumph they were generous. In defeat…
Would his namesake have called on the sun god to obliterate the earth so that his wrath might be appeased?
“General, coffee and something to eat,” suggested Babin. “We passed a small restaurant not too long ago. A diner, the Yankees call it.”
“Coffee would be a good idea,” Tucume said. “Direct me.”
126
Among the assets that had been allocated to the Pennsylvania task force was an Air Force Special Operations Pave Low MH-53J. The large two-engined helicopter was specially equipped with infrared radar to see in the dark, and extra-large fuel tanks that would allow it to stay in the air for several hours. Captain Daniels had decided to use the helicopter to go up to Philadelphia to inspect preparations there, and Dean went along.
The crew chief gave Dean and Daniels radios and head-sets to allow them to connect with both the helicopter’s interphone system and the emergency network being used to coordinate the search.
“You with me, Rockman?” Dean asked as he pulled on the headset, pretending to fiddle with the controls.
“I’m always with you, Charlie. You never told me how your hunting trip was.”
“Too short. How are we looking?”
“Situation is basically unchanged since Marie spoke to you a half hour ago. Truck with small bathtubs was found outside of Houston a few hours ago. Two dead males were found not too far away. Haven’t been identified yet. They haven’t established time of death precisely, but it’s likely to be a little over twenty-four hours ago. We’ve been looking at stolen vehicles in the area, also rentals, and even purchases. We’ve got a couple of tractor trailers, U-Hauls — basically everything we’ve been looking at up until now. We’ve expanded the search to include vans, SUVs, and station wagons. I realize this isn’t much use to you.”
“Yeah.”
“State police have barricade checkpoints around every major highway. Two Coast Guard aircraft are surveying the roads south of Philadelphia and local police departments are stopping every cargo carrier and large truck they see. You know all that?”
“Yeah.”
“They’re holding a marathon cabinet meeting about what to tell the public,” added Rockman. “Mr. Rubens is down the hall, talking to them. They’re debating whether to go to Red Sky even though they haven’t definitely found a bomb. Some of the key personnel have already gone into shelters. Personally, I think it’s overkill. I think this whole thing may just be a wild-goose chase.”
Dean didn’t particularly care to hear the runner’s opinions.
“Red Sky” was a procedure to be invoked in the event of a nuclear terrorist attack. Among other things, it would shut down all air traffic in the country, close the borders, and send cabinet members and other important leaders to bomb shelters. The federal government would exercise direct control over the affected area, in effect declaring martial law.
“Is this radio going to work or what?” he said, changing the subject.
Rockman reminded Dean that they were supposed to maintain organizational secrecy “to the extent possible if the target is discovered.”
Dean smiled to himself, thinking of the cracks Tommy Karr could have made about that.
127
A cacophony of confusion spread out in the darkness below the MH-6 “Little Bird” helicopter Lia and Karr were flying in north of Washington, D.C. The helicopter and its pilot were members of the famed 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Besides carrying surveillance gear that included a forward-looking infrared radar capable of seeing in the dark, the helicopter also had a.50-caliber machine gun, which was loaded and ready for use.
The road network around the capital had been effectively shut down, and while it was very late — or early, depending on how you interpreted 12:30 a.m. — the traffic jams were massive. Air traffic had been curtailed, and civilian flights that were allowed had to fly very precise routes or risk being shot down.
“What’s your estimated time of arrival at Crypto City?” Telach asked Lia over the Deep Black com system.
“Another ten minutes,” she told Telach.
“Good. As soon as you refuel, head up to Pennsylvania. They only have one AEC person covering the area up there.”
“AEC” stood for the Atomic Energy Commission — other bomb experts assigned to work with the local task force. There were already two in the D.C. area and another three in nearby Virginia.
“Where’s Charlie?”
“He’s in a helo en route to Philadelphia with the troopers there.”
“Tell him I said hi.”
“Will do.”
Lia looked out the side of the small helicopter. If you ignored what was going on and just stared at the lights,
