Strategic Reserve by J. J. Abrams

Author:J. J. Abrams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment
Published: 2006-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Thirty minutes later the team, minus Vaughn and Jack, reassembled in the conference room.

“We ran another analysis of the leak in the pipeline from the platform,” Marshall said.

He stopped talking as Vaughn and Jack entered the room and took their places. Jack’s face gave away nothing, but Vaughn looked troubled. In spite of her resolve to take it slow in her renewed relationship with Vaughn, Sydney felt a momentary impulse to go to his side.

She shoved the feeling aside. There might be time for them to talk later, but right now they had a job to do. In her line of work, saving lives came first, and personal relationships second. Hadn’t her father, and Sloane, drilled that into her head often enough?

Marshall resumed his briefing. “As I was saying, Sydney, Nadia, and I went back over every bit of information we had regarding the platform. We cross-checked the sensor logs against what Blake told us.”

“Bazhukov,” Jack said under his breath.

Marshall glanced up at Jack. “Right, Bazhukov. I still think of him as Blake, since that was the guy who hijacked me, and he’s kind of stuck in my brain as Blake. But you’re right—”

“Mr. Flinkman,” Sloane’s impatient voice cut Marshall off.

Marshall gave him a sheepish look. “Sorry.” He picked up the thread of his briefing again. “As I said, we went back over all the data. We are reasonably certain that Blake—Bazhukov—placed a remote-controlled robot in the pipeline. It carried a dummy charge of some kind, but I think we can expect the one in Alaska to have the real thing.”

Marshall motioned to Sydney, who stood up to address the group. “The charge is likely triggered by an onboard sensor and is designed to travel a specific distance, or for a set amount of time, before it goes off. This would allow Soukis, through one of his so-called contractors, to damage a remote section of the pipeline without ever going near it. He will probably disguise the robot as one of the ‘pigs’ they use to regularly clean the pipe.”

Nadia took over from Sydney at this point. “There are three hundred and eighty miles of pipeline that are buried, which makes that section the likely target.” A diagram appeared on the screen behind her. “As you can see, the pipeline switches back and forth from aboveground to underground, depending on the terrain. We have no way of knowing where Soukis may plan to strike.”

“That is why we must stop him before he can get the device into the pipeline,” Dixon said. “We want to find Bazhukov’s contact, put one of our people in his place, and sabotage their sabotage plans.”

Sydney could see the tension in her partner’s face.

“Time is short,” Dixon continued, speaking rapidly. “There is a plane waiting to take us to Seattle. Prudhoe Bay is too small for one of our own planes to land without being noticed, so we will take a commercial flight out of Seattle.”

Dixon handed out copies of a briefing report. “Nadia, you will accompany me to Seattle, posing as a woman with a bad past going to Deadhorse to find a job.

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