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Local time – 8:50pm, Sunday 17th June, 2011.
Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
The six army trucks driving towards the nuclear missile transporter seemed like a herd of stampeding buffalos. Alex was close to fainting with terror, but she still couldn’t look away. Henry’s body was tense against hers. Before either of them found a way to react, the convoy stopped, the front truck only meters from their vehicle, the others lined up behind. Alex let out a small whimper when she saw a man get out of the passenger seat of the truck closest to them. None of the soldiers on the back of the truck moved, not even turning to watch the stocky, official looking man stroll casually towards the nuclear transporter. Unlike the soldiers in the back of the trucks, he didn’t have a helmet, nor did he wear a camouflage uniform. He was obviously a senior officer of some kind, as he wore a black cap, with a red and gold band around it, and his chest was adorned with colourful insignia. Alex couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit of relief when she noticed he wasn’t carrying a weapon. There was also something else peculiar about him. He was smiling. When he reached their door, Alex again failed to muffle a squeak of panic. She thought for a moment he was going to pull down on the latch and open the door, but three quick knuckle raps on the steel surprised her. He was knocking, as if paying them a casual visit.
‘Open it.’ Henry managed to say with a loud exhalation of air.
Alex struggled to push down on the heavy latch with her shaking hands. As soon as she heard the latch click downwards, the man put his fingers round the side of the door and dragged it open. Alex winced as his eyes met hers, and she instantly recognised a flash of confusion.
‘Bernie?’ The man said, his voice sounding as apprehensive as Alex felt. He looked at her and Henry as if they were aliens. As if he hadn’t seen them properly until the door opened. He even looked a little afraid. Alex’s mind spun to an answer.
‘Bernie couldn’t make it. He had a stroke. I work with him, so he sent me instead.’ The words tumbled out of Alex’s mouth like they were the only thing between her and a bullet. She waited for the man’s expression to change. But he still looked anxious and now confused as well.
‘But everything was arranged… why did no one tell us?’
‘We didn’t know who to tell! Bernie wasn’t able to communicate everything he was planning before he died. So we’re just following the instructions we do have.’
‘He died? What have you been asked to do?’
‘We are moving this weapon away from here.’
The silence that followed pushed Alex back to a place of panic. The man didn’t seem at all convinced. He stood looking at them in complete silence, weighing up what to do next. Alex tried desperately to think of something to say that might persuade him, but she didn’t want to give away how little she knew about what they were meant to be doing with the weapon. Bernie had obviously arranged an escort for his mission. But what were they escorting him to do? The man turned on his heel and marched back towards his truck. Henry took the chance to say something.
‘I had no idea Bernie had contacts in the Pakistani army. They’re here to help him.’
‘I’ve gathered that. But now what do we do?’ Alex was shocked to see how pale and sweaty Henry was. There was absolutely no doubt he too was expecting to be shot, and now that this fate had been temporarily postponed, he was struggling to regain his composure.
She glanced through the window towards Ahmed, and saw that he looked equally sick. He had slouched down low in his seat, making every effort to disappear into the foot well. When Alex looked back over at the officer, she saw that he was talking on a mobile phone, leaning against the passenger side of the truck. The driver stared straight ahead, his face devoid of emotion. The man on the phone seemed jumpy and tense. Unsurprisingly, he was displeased to find three unknown people driving away with Pakistan’s last nuclear weapon. Just for a moment, a strange calm engulfed Alex and allowed her to think clearly. This man was put off because of how nervous she and Henry looked. She needed him to believe she was working with Bernie. She needed to be confident. She watched as the phone call ended and the man put his mobile on the dashboard of the truck. He then walked back towards them. Before he reached them, Alex jumped down from her seat. There was no way to stop Henry’s grimacing face from distracting this man. So she had to separate them.
She took a deep breath and used all her concentration to paste a look of absolute self-assurance on her face. Then she took two steps forward, meeting the man in the gulf between his soldiers and the weapon.
‘I’m Alex North. Pleased to meet you.’ She held out her hand, and the man slowly reached out and shook it.
‘I am General Nasiri. You are a colleague of Bernie’s?’ The man still looked sceptical.
‘Yes. I’m his research assistant. When he passed away, it was decided I knew most about his mission so my boss sent me in his place.’
‘You are very young, I’m surprised, well, Bernie knew the dangers, but… ’
‘It’s OK, I’m older than I look. And I know the dangers too. We had no intention of giving up, just because they caught up with Bernie.’ A strange silence settled between them, and Alex could still feel the man’s hesitation. From where they were standing, he could only see Henry, not Ahmed. Alex could see his eyes darting towards the transporter, as if nervous it might start moving away. He pointed to it.
‘Who is in there?’ The man seemed to be struggling to decide what he should and shouldn’t say. Alex sensed that her approach was helping him to trust her, but there was still far too much worry on his face for her to be completely at ease.
‘I brought another of Bernie’s friends – Henry Bradford. And the man on the other side is Ahmed. We met here.’
‘Was he alone?’ The way the man asked this, Alex could tell it was a problem if he wasn’t. So she lied. Every ounce of her begged the man to believe her, and not to look too closely at the nuclear exhibit, which still shone like a beacon on the dark street. If he saw the dead bodies, he would know she was lying.
‘He was alone. And he had the second code. So we knew he was the person Bernie was meant to meet here.’
The man rubbed his chin. It dawned on Alex that he might be just as much in the dark as she was. Perhaps he was just following orders. But just when she thought he was about to give in, and happily accompany her in removing the weapon, her spirits were dashed. He started to walk round to the other side of the vehicle. She could see he was headed straight for Ahmed’s side of the truck. Her heart sank, as she followed him and watched as he knocked on Ahmed’s door.