The Ecobombers

Nevada Test Site, 4:45 a.m., Tuesday, April 22, 2014 “I still can’t believe we are finally here,” Adams said. He was sitting on the tailgate of the Ford F-350 he had rented for the occasion, his legs dangling close to the ground, looking south out into the darkness from a round mountain top just outside the northern boundary of the NTS. “Amen to that,” his companion, seated next to him, agreed. Harris pulled two eight-ounce orange juice cans from a cooler in the bed of the truck and gave one to Adams. They pulled the tabs simultaneously and Adams held his aloft. “To the environment,” he said formally. “Amen to that, too,” Harris said, clicking his can against Adams’ and taking a deep swig. “Ahh, that tastes mighty good.” “Is everything ready?” Adams asked. “Damn straight,” Harris said. At 5:00 a.m. sharp you just push that little red button on my cell phone screen and you’re going to experience the most spectacular sight of your life.” “My heart is beating so fast I can hardly stand it,” Adams said. “I don’t think I’ve been this excited since the day Joni and I got married.” “Well you are about to launch the biggest environmental crusade in the history of the world,” Harris said, “So you damn sure ought to be excited.” “I keep thinking about Echo saying he was nervous as to whether this thing would work,” Adams said. “I guess I’m somewhat anxious about that too. I don’t want us to be known as the ‘eco duds,’ which Fox would probably label us should this fail.” “Well,” Harris said diplomatically, “we will know shortly.” They were about ten miles northeast of the site where just days ago Harris and Echo had placed the demonstration device in a small abandoned shack just inside the northern boundary of the NTS. It was in a very remote area, seldom visited by anyone. He had used his Lab credentials to conduct a surprise environmental inspection of the site, along with Eric Conner. Eric had activated the permissive action link then, so the device was in the ‘ready’ mode when Harris and Adams arrived on the mountain top two hours earlier. At that point Harris used the cell phone that his friend was now holding to disable the fail safe mechanism and arm the device. The device sent back a confirming signal that it was ready to fire. All that was needed now was to activate the PAL by pushing the button in the App that Eric had installed on the cell phone. “Do you think the DHS people are watching?” Adams asked. “Let’s check,” Harris replied. He reached into the duffle bag in the bed of the truck and extracted a night vision telescope. He hopped off the tailgate and deployed the telescoping legs of the tripod that was attached to the bottom of the scope. It took a minute for the optics to power up and then Harris peered through the monocle eyepiece. He slowly swung the telescope through an arc, adjusting the magnification as he did so. Then he stopped. “Yep,” he said. “There they are, right where they are supposed to be. Two of them, crouched behind what looks like a Hummer. Here, take a look.” Adams jumped off the tailgate and stepped up to the telescope. He bent over and peered into the eyepiece. “Wow,” he said, looking over the telescope with his naked eye to get his bearing. “It looks like they are only a hundred feet away. I think one of them is a woman.” “They are actually five miles away,” Harris assured him. “That’s a mighty fine instrument. They are about five miles from ground zero, and we are ten miles out. So they are going to experience the shockwave first. It might be interesting to watch their reaction, if we can take our eye off the mushroom cloud.” “Damn,” Adams said. “My heart is beating a hundred miles an hour now. What time is it, anyway?” Harris glanced at his wristwatch. “Four-fifty,” he said. “It won’t be long.” “I need something to do,” Adams said. “Let me see that copy of the note you sent to the DHS Secretary.” “Sure, let me get it.” Harris walked around to the driver’s side of the truck, opened the door, and retrieved a briefcase from behind the passenger’s seat. He returned to the back of the truck, dialed in the combination for the lock on the briefcase, and popped open the lid. He removed a manila folder and a small high intensity flashlight and handed them to Adams. “Just don’t aim that thing to the southwest. We don’t want to distract the attention of those DHS snoops.” Adams opened the folder, revealing a single sheet of paper with small letters taped all over it. “Oh wow,” he said, “I forgot that you had to doctor this thing so they couldn’t figure out where it came from.” “Right,” Harris said. “This is the original. The letters were all cut from various issues of USA Today. The copy they have was made at a Kinko’s store in Santa Fe. Fox actually delivered it to the secretary’s office when she attended a conference at DHS headquarters last week. It couldn’t have worked out any better.” Adams read the message: MADAM SECRETARY WE ARE DISGUSTED WITH THE LACK OF PROGRESS THE US IS MAKING ON ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS. WE INTEND TO CHANGE THAT. WE HAVE SIX NUCLEAR DEVICES DEPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE. THE FIRST OF THESE WILL BE USED FOR A DEMONSTRATION TO ESTABLISH OUR CREDIBILITY. IT WILL BE DETONATED AT 5:00 a.m. ON EARTH DAY, ANNOUNCING THE ARRIVAL OF SOME REAL CHANGES TO U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY. THERE WILL BE TWO SUNRISES IN NEVADA ON APRIL 22. HAVE SOMEONE AT N 37° 12.649' W 116° 14.162' BY 4:30 a.m., LOOKING SOUTH. AFTER THE ‘EVENT’ PUBLICLY AND QUICKLY ANNOUNCE THE NAME OF YOUR CONTACT PERSON. WE WILL CONTACT HIM OR HER WITH INFORMATION ABOUT OUR NEXT EVENT. IT WILL BE ONLY A FEW DAYS LATER, SO DON’T DALLY. THE ECOBOMBERS “Excellent,” Adams said approvingly. “And do we have the ‘Keystone’ devices in place as planned?’ “We do,” Harris said with a hint of pride. “Two weeks ago in Santa Fe I rented a van for a month. I hitched my boat and trailer behind it and made the swing to Nebraska, on to Illinois where I placed a device in a target that we will later discuss, and then on up to Washington, just as we planned. I thought the van provided better anonymity than my Tahoe. I’m glad that it has Colorado plates so it won’t point to Los Alamos so readily. The bottom line is that I have preplaced all five devices per our plan, and had no significant trouble doing so.” “Man, I just can’t believe how far we have gotten, John,” Adams said. “You are awesome!” Harris glanced at his watch. “Well let’s not get too carried away with accolades just now,” he said. “We have an appointment with a sunrise to keep.” “You’re right,” Adams responded sheepishly. “I am getting a bit carried away here. So, do we need to take cover or anything?” “We should shield ourselves from the radiation wave by standing behind the truck as you detonate the device,” Harris said. “I don’t think any other precautions are needed at this distance.” Harris proceeded to pick up the telescope and place it behind the front of the truck where he repositioned and refocused it. He aimed it toward the coordinates of the shack where he had preplaced the device and searched a bit until he found it. “Take a look,” he said, motioning Adams over. Adams peered through the eyepiece. “So that’s where it is?” he asked. “Yep,” Harris said. “I think I’ll watch the shack when you hit the button, not that I will be able to see what happens to it.” “It’s two minutes to five,” Adams said. “Are we going to have a countdown?” “I think that’s a good idea,” Harris said. “My watch is synchronized with the atomic clock at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, so let’s use it. I’ll start the countdown with fifteen seconds to go, which will be in about a minute. Are you ready Mark?”