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.He thought about it and realized that ground zero was a relative term.From what he had read online during his research, this device should eradicate a huge swath of the city in a giant ball of fire.All he needed to do was park close.He found himself on Presidente Affonso Camargo Avenue, driving past a rail switchyard he had reconnoitered earlier.He saw his escape platform still parked in the switchyard, a freight train destined for São Paulo.He would be leaving his car here, and wanted a clean break out, so he had decided to hop a freightliner back to São Paulo.No tickets purchased, no rental agreements in a computer system, no identification shown, nothing to connect him to Curitiba.He’d hopped freight trains plenty of times in Nigeria, as it was one of the few ways available to travel long distances, and in truth he felt more comfortable stowing away than he did trying to decipher the mass transit system or brave the five-hour drive back to São Paulo with the lunatics on the streets around here.He would watch the detonation in real time from São Paulo, access Twitter, post the video, and then fly back to Nigeria using his original passport.But where to park the car? The stadium was out since he couldn’t get past the police.Parking on the street was out.Too much chance of getting towed or broken into.He considered.Why not just return to the parking garage? It was three blocks away, but that distance was negligible, and he’d paid for the spot.He could park in the same location, free from interference.He turned the car around, heading back the way he’d come, humming a mindless tune.85We were on short approach to the São José dos Pinhais International Airport in downtown Curitiba when the little blue marble began to move.Unfortunately it was going outside of town, which left the unsettling thought that he’d hidden the nuclear needle in the haystack of the city and was now fleeing.Choices, choices.Focus on finding the bomb, or focus on capturing Chiclet?I said, “Doc, given the soccer stadium, how quickly can you locate the radioactive material?” I pointed at his boxes in the plane.“I mean, will this stuff start pinging a mile away, or do you need to walk right up on the bomb?”Shortly before taking off, Jennifer and Shoshana had come back with our NEST expert, a thin bespeckled man with a thatch of red hair.He’d brought all sorts of detection equipment with him, so I was hoping we could solve the problem fairly quickly.He said, “That all depends.Is the material highly enriched uranium or plutonium? Is it shielded? If so, with what? How much material is there? Is it—”I cut him off.“Jesus Christ, give me an answer.It’s a nuclear bomb.Can you fucking find it?”“I don’t know.”Looks like it’s Chiclet.I turned to Brett.“What’s he doing?”“He’s on a highway headed north toward São Paulo, but not moving too fast.About fifty miles an hour.”“Can we catch him, or should we go to São Paulo and interdict him coming south?”“We don’t have time to do that.It’s a five-hour drive from São Paulo to Curitiba alone.The game’s in four and a half hours.”I turned to Jennifer.“Tell the pilot to get us down, now.Declare an emergency and cut in line.” To Aaron: “Figure out the rental companies on the ground.Get us two vehicles.”I started to ask Brett a question when he said, “He’s not on the highway anymore.”“So he’s not headed to São Paulo?”“Uh.I don’t know.He’s still headed north, but according to this map, he’s running right through the woods.”“On a dirt road? An unmarked road?”“Not at that speed.”Shoshana leaned in and said, “He’s on a train.”She’s right.I said, “Get on that other laptop.Figure out the trains to São Paulo.See where that thing is going to stop.”The plane started a steep descent and Aaron said, “Got two vehicles lined up.One SUV and one sedan.”“Perfect.”Much too quickly Shoshana came back.“There are no passenger trains to São Paulo.In fact, there aren’t very many passenger trains in the country of Brazil.Lots of metro inner-city, but no long-haul between cities.”“So it’s not a train?”Brett said, “No, it’s a train all right.It’s on the map now.The other imagery must be from before they completed the tracks.”“So he’s acting like a hobo? Hopping a freight train?”“I guess.”The wheels touched down and I said, “Figure out where the next switchyard is.”• • •Twenty minutes later Aaron, Brett, and I were hauling ass out of Curitiba headed toward a town called Campina Grande, about forty-five minutes away.We weren’t sure the train would stop, but satellite imagery showed that the tracks led to a switchyard there.Given that Akinbo had at least a half-hour head start, all we could do was pray the train spent some time doing whatever it is that trains do at switchyards.I’d tasked Jennifer and Shoshana with running the doc to the soccer stadium to see if they could find anything.If they did, it would be up to them to render the bomb safe.I wasn’t holding my breath that it would do any good, but it was better than all of us chasing after Chiclet like the gang from Scooby-Doo.Although I wouldn’t mind it if Chiclet ended up saying, And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for those meddling commandos.Luckily, the airport was in the southeastern section of the city, so we didn’t have to fight our way through a bunch of inner-city gridlock and could hit a ring highway right off the bat.We’d reached the north edge of the city and joined another highway, with me driving and Brett watching the ball.He said, “Target stationary in Campina.”“Good deal.”We drove on, getting into some hill country, and I saw the tracks off to my left, running parallel to the highway.I passed a few houses, then more and more structures as we entered the town.Brett said, “Switchyard is a half mile ahead.”“Vector me in.”He did, getting me off the highway and giving me left and rights through the poor village.Eventually, we were on a dirt road paralleling a chain-link fence littered with paper and plastic bags.On the other side was a two-track switchyard and a lone freight train.I drove forward until the chain link went to the right and our road entered a wood line.I threw the car in park and said, “Status?”“He’s still there.From the overhead it looks like the fourth or fifth car from the end.”I studied the train, seeing most of the cars were open bay coal containers.He wouldn’t be hiding there.The last seven cars were enclosed and appeared to be for cattle, and from this distance, they looked empty.“Okay.Let’s go.We’ll enter where the tracks exit the switchyard.Move straight to the rear of the train.I’ll take the first cattle car on the train.Brett, you take the last.We’ll work our way toward each other.Aaron, you stay outside in the grass for squirter control.You see him break free, give us a call.”Aaron, looking over my shoulder, said, “Pike, the train is starting to move.”I whipped around and saw the wheels slowly turning, the train jerking forward.Shit.“Change of plan.Aaron, you got the SUV.Parallel the train [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]