Chapter 34
Jordan’s phone rang. The director. Thank fuck. He connected and was on the receiving end of a diatribe about not having permission to use her direct line whenever the hell he wanted. Like he was some asshole asking for a date rather than a professional dedicated to keeping people safe.
He tried to interrupt. “Director Rhodes.”
She carried on yelling at him.
“Ursula!” He shouted loudly enough for the woman to shut up and listen for a moment.
While she inhaled enough air to destroy him, he jumped in.
“We believe Bocharov deepfaked his image onto the driver heading south. With you greenlighting the fuel rods to be inserted into the reactor today, we believe—”
“What are you talking about? I did no such thing.”
Dread washed through Krychek. “Didn’t you send Crabtree to escort the nuclear scientists to Moses Lake and get the fuel rods installed ASAP?”
“No. I did not. What the hell is going on, Operator Krychek?”
Fuck. He was starting to understand how big this was.
“In that case, I believe someone spoofed your phone, and deepfaked your voice on a call with Professor Williams, the Moses Lake facility, and the fuel rod supplier to make sure that installation happened today. We have to assume we are under attack from terrorists and possibly a hostile foreign nation and to notify POTUS. The Commander in Chief needs to know what’s going on. ”
“Where are you?” Her tone was urgent now.
“Three of us will be pulling up to the facility shortly. A good portion of Gold Team are en route in helicopters about fifteen minutes out, and the remainder of Gold Team is picking up whoever is in that vehicle, ma’am.”
“Prioritize shutting down those reactors.”
His mouth went dry. He needed to get Daisy to safety first.
“I understand your girlfriend might be in danger, but my order is to get those reactors shut down, otherwise South Carolina to New York City might become a radioactive hellhole in the near future. The political and economic hubs of our country, Jordan, are at stake. Not to mention if this is truly an attack and the terrorists are at the reactor building, it’s possible you’re already too late to save her. Now I need to update the president.”
“Understood, ma’am.” He hung up on the cold-hearted bitch. “She wants us to shut down the two operational reactors before rescuing Daisy.”
“Makes sense.” Alex kept his tone neutral.
Jordan glared at the back of the guy’s head. “If it was Mallory?”
“Mal every time.” In the rearview mirror Jordan watched Alex’s lip pull back. “But in this case, it could be all our lives at risk if there’s a meltdown, including Daisy’s, Mal’s, and Georgie’s.”
Jordan’s mouth went dry at the thought of a nuclear meltdown happening in Virginia.
“Doesn’t mean I’m willing to sacrifice Daisy,” Alex continued.
“But as awesome as the three of us undoubtedly are, we’re going to need more equipment to stage a full-scale assault, especially when we don’t know how many terrorists there are—or even if there are any terrorists.
Maybe Bocharov’s plan isn’t a direct assault on the reactor but something more subtle.
We can’t simply roar up to the reactor building and tell them to stop.
We don’t want to tip them off we’re onto them until we know exactly what we’re dealing with. ”
Shit. Alex was right.
“So communicating with the people in charge and getting workers from the other reactors safely out as soon as they shut them down—that seems like something we can do in tandem as we figure out what the terrorists’ plans are and where Daisy might be.”
Jordan reached for his training and pushed aside all worries for the woman who’d come to mean so much to him over the past couple of months.
“We don’t know for sure Bocharov is at the facility,” Cisco added. “We’re just assuming.”
“He’s there.” Jordan texted Mac a quick update for the task force.
“What they really seemed to want is the fuel rods. Perhaps they’re faulty in some way. Designed to fail? Maybe someone from the lab other than Amed Hussein is involved in the plot,” Cisco suggested.
“My money is on Amed Hussein being the patsy in case the FBI got suspicious after Tremblay’s death. This plot has likely been in the works for years.” Jordan was pissed. “Possibly not the exact location or lab, but the rest of it. Crabtree has to be working for them.”
“The question is, was he turned or did he deliberately infiltrate the Bureau to carry out this kind of attack?” Alex put in. “And I’m so fucking pissed they’ve managed to fool so much of our security features that I’ll be happy to take him into a quiet corner to question him.”
“It could be Bocharov wants Daisy to be associated with some sort of catastrophic failure aimed to destroy her career and reputation,” Cisco offered without conviction.
Bocharov wouldn’t be satisfied with a damaged reputation or even making the FBI look like a bunch of fools. The man liked to inflict physical and emotional trauma.
He could have carried out this plan without dragging Daisy and Jordan into it, but instead he’d made a point of it.
Why?
Because Bocharov needed revenge. Jordan doubted the man’s masters gave a damn about him, but Konrad had been waiting a long time to extract payback.
Bocharov knew he would come for Daisy, and that gave Jordan hope. If nothing else, Daisy was bait. Bocharov would keep her alive until he could lure Jordan to him and finish this thing between them once and for all.
Perhaps they weren’t too late. Perhaps they’d caught wind of this before Konrad had even arrived and could get the drop on him?
“Get me the number of whoever the hell is in charge of Moses Lake, could you, Cisco? And then let’s find a side entrance rather than go in the main gates. In case Bocharov has goons stationed there.”
They’d get those reactors shut down, but his priority was always going to be the woman he’d foolishly gone and fallen in love with.
He tried Daisy’s cell again, but she didn’t answer, and his heart shriveled inside his chest. Where was she? Was Bocharov there? Had the terrorists already started killing people? His heart drummed, but he forced the fear out of his mind so he could operate.
Konrad Bocharov wasn’t walking away this time.
It had to end.
Now.
Today.
Even if he had to sacrifice himself to get the job done.