Fire Ice (NUMA Files 3)

"Apparently, Razov is willing to take that chance," Reed said.

"Good God!" the president said. "That would be a disaster of unimaginable proportions."

"It would be worse than that," Sandecker observed. "With his huge methane hydrate mining ships and a weakened U.S., Razov would be in a position to control the world's future energy supply. He could be the closest thing to a global dictator we've ever seen."

"This man must be stopped," the president said.

"A squadron of fighter planes would make short work of Mr. Razov," the vice president said.

"Do we have enough evidence to blast this ship out of water, especially with the situation in Russia?" the president asked.

Sandecker said, "That's an excellent point, Mr. President. As we all know, Russia is in turmoil with Razov's rightwing forces battling the moderates. Razov would use any at. tacks against Russian ships to show that the U.S. is the enemy. The moderates would be done for. Russia's nuclear arsenal would come under the control of the Cossack lunatic fringe."

"But we can't let that ship carry out its mission," the president said.

The receptionist knocked softly at the door, then opened it. A young woman rushed in with a folder in her hand. "Sorry for the delay," she said breathlessly. "We ran into complications."

"That's quite all right," Sandecker said, "but how complicated could it be to find one ship?"

"That was easy," she said, handing over the folders. "We picked up the target so quickly we decided to look at the rest of the East Coast down to Florida."

"You found another ship, then?"

"Actually, sir, we found three of them in position off the East Coast. Another three appear to be on their way, and there seems to be some activity off the Pacific coast as well."

"Thank you," Sandecker said, dismissing the courier. When she was gone, the president exploded. "Three ships? And more on the way? Damn! How will we know which city is the target?" The shadow of a cloud passed over the president's face. "What if there is more than one target?"

Sandecker turned to Yaeger. "Hiram?"

"Kurt and Paul did all the hard work," Yaeger said. "They gave me access to the encrypted files aboard the Ataman ship, but Razov was using a steganographic system. The communications were hidden within digital photographs – it's become a standard tool of terrorists because the images can be tough to decipher. In this case, it was a photograph of a Russian restaurant menu. It was part of what Razov called Operation Troika."

"Razov told me that Troika was nothing more than a nickname for his plan to open trade centers in three U.S. cities," Austin said. "There was nothing secret about it."

"The menu hid his plans for the real operation," Yaeger continued. "The key to deciphering the code was on Razov's yacht. Thanks to Kurt again, Max and I were able to get into the yacht's central control system. We tracked down the bi- nary code in a dark comer of the system. The actual operation is not Troika, but Wolfhound."

Austin raised an eyebrow. "Gorky and Sasha," he said. Seeing the quizzical expressions around him, Austin explained: "Those are the names of Razov's pet wolfhounds. He's pretty infatuated with the two mutts."

The president said, "I like dogs, too, but I'm more interested in the nuts and bolts of this operation."

Yaeger said, "The Wolfhound file indicated that the three , ships would be off the cities of Boston, Charleston and. Miami."

"But… those are the cities where Ataman plans to open his trade centers," the vice president said. He seemed stunned.

"What better cover for an operation?" Sandecker asked.

Yaeger said, "The admiral's right on the mark. I came across orders to evacuate Ataman personnel and interests in all three cities. Unfortunately, there was no information in the yacht's computer system about whether one city or all the cities are targets."

"My guess is Boston," Austin said. "There's a major international financial conference going on right now at the Boston Harbor Hotel. It's being attended by representatives from all the countries that have been trying to undermine Razov."

"Then the other ships are decoys?"

"I won't rule out the possibility that Razov means harm to all three cities, but Boston may be his prime target." Austin opened a manila folder he'd been holding on his lap. He pulled out two transparent sheets and put them on the presidential desk. "This is a map of Rocky Point. The other sheet is a mylar transparency of Boston Harbor and surroundings."

The president laid the transparency over the map and swore under his breath. "They're almost identical."

Austin

nodded. "I think that when Razov chose Rocky Point to try out his wave-making machine, he picked a place as close to his intended target as possible."