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Nick puts his big hand on my shoulder and gives it a squeeze. “Don’t worry, Charlie. We’ll figure this out.”
“There’s nothing to figure out,” I bluff.
Nick laughs. “Right. We both know there’s something going on with you and Ham. Heck, the whole team knows it, so you might as well admit it, and accept it, and see what happens.”
“See what happens,” I echo.
“Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
“Not really, no.”
He laughs again. “It’s not much fun for me either, just so you know. C’mon, let’s blow up a building.”
Chapter Six
There’s an art to blowing up a building, and I’ve learned from the best.
At least, I think she’s the best. The Canadian government might feel differently about Monique, seeing as they spent eight years trying to track her down, but even they have to agree she’s one of the best explosive experts out there.
Or in there: she’s now serving fifteen years for possession of explosives without a permit.
While there is an art to blowing up a building, the same can be said of blowing up a launch silo dug deep into the earth. And there’s a very fine line between causing as much damage as possible and causing all that damage and not getting caught.
Luckily, we have Ida in the NIIA lab on our side. If there is anyone who can help me avoid detection, it’s Ida and her gadgets. They have saved me more times then I care to admit.
These little discs create a charge that mimics a low magnitude earthquake. However, the energy released can be as much as a big one, which ramps up the intensity, which makes things fall down.
I honestly have no idea of the science behind this, only that it works. It means we can set the charges around the top of the silo and get out of here before things start to shake and shiver.
At least that’s the plan.
Nick and I split up with me taking the lower level. After he pointed to my ear with a Dad-like disappointed frown, I turned my earpiece back on and get to work.
The silo—a cylindrical vertical chamber dug deep into the ground—is surrounded by levels of walkways with a four-feet-high barrier preventing the accidental drop into the hole.
I attach the charges to the wall surrounding the silo in a star formation. What should happen is that each charge should create an earthquake strong enough to mess up the super-duper wall reinforcements and shake it up enough that things fall down. Into the hole meant for the missile which means no missile until everything’s cleared and fixed and checked, and by then, the UN will have heard about it.
It won’t destroy the facility, but it will make a big mess that Kivitenstan will have to explain, and doing that will make an even bigger mess for them.
That’s the plan. Quick, easy, and no one dies.
I have one more charge to affix to the wall when I hear Nick on the comm. A curse, a muffled oof, and then nothing.
“Nick?” I can hear him breathing. “Nick? Check in.”
“Status, please, Charlotte.” Ham’s tone is curt and professional with none of the pissed-off-ness that I would have shown if he’d disconnected me.
“I don’t know,” I tell him, with a little pissed-off-ness in my voice. “Heading up now.” I stick the last charge on the wall and look out, and up.
Nick is two levels up. The silo has been built much like the underground parking garage, so if I had a car or one of those golf carts, I could drive up in no time.
But I don’t, and it would take time to run around and up, time that Nick may not have.
There is a ladder inside the silo, and as I heft myself over the barrier to grab it, there’s only a tiny bit of maybe this isn’t the best idea. There are ten levels, so I’d estimate the bottom is one hundred and sixty metres below me. But as I scurry up the ladder, I tell myself it’s not like I’m going to fall.
I’m more worried about me being in this position if something goes wrong with Nick’s charges. Like if they go off earlier. Then I might just have a problem.
“Three minutes until first charge goes off,” Ham tells me with a tightness in his voice. “Where are you, Charlotte?”
