Domination Bid

“Big difference,” Kurtzman replied. “A laser beam has to be intensely focused and remain constant to weaponize it. This requires an intense amount of sustained energy. That’s where we draw the line between science and science fiction. But with an EMP, the energy is already contained within the pulse. It then becomes merely a matter of focusing it.”

“But wouldn’t the same principle apply?” James asked. “I mean…wouldn’t it take as much energy to build up an electromagnetic charge as a laser beam?”

Kurtzman shook his head. “Not according to what Dr. Dratshev’s many years of research has revealed. Somehow, Dratshev has discovered a way to generate that energy at the atomic or even subatomic level.”

“Or at least that’s what our intelligence agencies have surmised,” Price said.

“Unfortunately we don’t have the time to give you a full physics lesson right now,” Brognola cut in. “The important thing to know is that Dratshev has found some way of doing it, and now he’s fallen into the hands of someone willing to go to great lengths to possess that knowledge. Someone we deem to be extremely dangerous.”

“But how can we know they’re dangerous with any certainty?” Hawkins asked.

It was Gary Manning, former member of the RCMP and a self-taught expert on nearly every terrorist organization in the world, who answered. “Because anyone bold enough to go up against the Russian government and, in particular the FSB, is just plain crazy.”

“Or fanatical, at least,” McCarter added.

“In any case,” Price said, “we have to assume the worst. Dratshev’s abduction must be deemed a direct threat against the United States and her allies until otherwise verified. That’s why we’ve activated Phoenix Force.”

“And Able Team,” Brognola added.

“We’re going to work together on this one?” James inquired.

“Not exactly,” Price said. “Not too long after we received the news of Dratshev’s disappearance, an incident occurred at a U.S. Department of Agriculture research facility in a rural area north of Des Moines, Iowa.”

“Uh-oh,” McCarter said. “If memory serves, Barb, isn’t that—?”

“Yes, it’s a data backup warehouse for a special sector of international satellite operations overseen by the NSA.”

James looked at McCarter in amazement. “How the hell did you know that?”

McCarter shrugged. “I read the classified CERN bulletins.”

Hawkins chuckled. “The European Organization for Nuclear Research bulletins? What a nerd.”

“Don’t forget mission controller’s pet,” Encizo added.

“Moving right along to the incident?” Brognola prompted

“Go ahead, Barb,” Manning said. “I’m listening.”

Price smiled. “An armed force of about a dozen men breached the USDA facility and was engaged by security personnel. A number of men were killed on both sides, and about half of this mysterious team managed to escape. Unfortunately there were no survivors to question.”

“Any idea who they were working for?” James asked.

“No,” Price said, shaking her head. “All of the deceased were American citizens with military experience, however. So we’re thinking some sort of mercenary group.”

Brognola said, “The NSA apparently got wind something like this might take place and so they beefed up security just in case there was something to it. Turns out they were right.”

“Then they must have some idea what this team was after,” McCarter said. “Breaking into a bloody NSA data facility is a risky op. The stakes had to be high.”

“We won’t know for sure until Able Team can get there and start an investigation of its own,” Price replied. “What’s interesting about this attack, though, is that the particular data sets stored there by the NSA include covert operations in Belarus and a number of surrounding countries.”

“Which is where Dratshev disappeared,” Hawkins concluded.

“Right,” Brognola said.

Price added, “That’s why we think the two incidents are connected, and thus far the intelligence we’ve gathered would seem to support that theory.”

“What we don’t understand yet is what domestic interest would launch an operation on U.S. soil and why,” Brognola pointed out.

“Well, it sure wasn’t whoever snatched Dratshev,” Encizo replied. “That wouldn’t make any sense.”

“Unless they were trying to divert our attention.”

McCarter shook his head. “I’d have a lot of trouble buying that, Hal. First, it would imply that our own people snatched Dratshev. Second, it wouldn’t make sense to put good resources as such risk for the purpose of creating a smoke screen.”

“That would be an expensive diversion,” Price conceded with a nod.

“And we’re not dealing with idiots or amateurs in any case,” Manning remarked. “That much is obvious.”

Price said, “Well, we figure Able Team will be able to tell us something soon enough. Meanwhile, we’re sending you to Belarus. You’ll pick up whatever clues you can.”

“Are we sure that’s the best place to start?” McCarter asked.

Price nodded. “We have a CIA contact there who’s been shadowing the FSB team sent to retrieve Dratshev when he contacted his handler and reported he’d been compromised. An insider told our contact there was a significant delay notifying the backup team.”

“So this was an inside job,” Hawkins observed in his typical Texas drawl.

“It would seem so.”

McCarter scratched his jaw in consideration. “Any possibility the Russians staged this whole thing?”

“It’s always possible,” Price said with a shrug. “But to what end?”

“Maybe they wanted to throw everyone off Dratshev’s trail? Think about it. They fake his abduction and then everybody starts looking for him in all but the obvious place. His own backyard.”

“We posed that as a potential scenario to our CIA contact and he didn’t think it was likely,” Brognola said. “He’s convinced the kidnapping is real and the threat is viable, mostly due to the amount of scrambling the FSB’s doing. They’ve apparently crawled under every rock and into every crevice of the city.”

“Okay, then I guess it’s off to Minsk we go,” McCarter said.

“If there’s any more intelligence that comes our way while you’re en route,” Price said, “we can always divert you.”

The five warriors nodded in concert.

“Good luck, men,” Harold Brognola added.

* * *

CARL LYONS WAS enjoying an icy swim through a Mississippi tributary in northern Minnesota when the waterproof GPS device around his wrist sent a very mild tingle along his skin.