Rules of Vengeance by Christopher Reich

Author:Christopher Reich [Reich, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Tags: Fiction, Historical, Suspense, Espionage, Spy Stories, Thrillers, Suspense Fiction, Conspiracies, Physicians, Spouses, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Association), Ransom; Emma (Fictitious Character), Ransom; Jonathan (Fictitious Character)
ISBN: 9780385524070
Publisher: Doubleday
Published: 2009-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

“And was it?”

“Do you mean was there oil there? Quite a bit. But at the time oil was going for forty dollars a barrel. At that price, it was too cheap to be extracted profitably from such a difficult spot. The boys in exploration didn’t want to touch it.”

“But the price went up,” said Kate.

Bella smiled knowingly. “That’s why BP has a rig up and running on those exact coordinates.”

“That’s some information,” said Graves.

“Five billion euros’ worth.”

He whistled under his breath. “And so?”

“And so,” Bella continued, “when Robbie asked for my help, I gave it.”

Graves crossed his arms, assuming the inquisitor’s stance. “What exactly did he want to know?”

“He wanted me to put him in touch with some of my contacts at the IAEA,” responded Bella Lauren, answering his stare with one of her own. “I left BP years back. I design nuclear plants now. He said he had information for them.”

“What kind?”

“He was worried about an accident at a power plant. A nuclear plant. He wasn’t specific as to what kind of accident or where, but he seemed to believe that something might happen soon.”

“In your message you said, ‘Seven days isn’t long enough for them to unpack their bags,’” said Kate, hoping to prod her. “That soon?”

Bella nodded. “It’s scary, I know. He asked me lots of questions about security measures and that kind of thing. I put two and two together. If Robbie wanted to talk to the IAEA about a possible ‘accident,’ and he was interested in how well or poorly guarded the plants were, then I just assumed he had wind of something bad. I mean glow-in-the-dark, hair-falling-out-of-your-scalp-in-handfuls bad.”

“So you put him in contact with the IAEA?”

“Yes.”

Kate consulted her notepad. “You also asked him if you needed to leave. Did he ever indicate that the ‘accident’ might occur on British soil?”

“Never. I can’t think it was, or he would have warned me.”

“Can we talk about Mischa?” inquired Graves. “What exactly does she do for the IAEA?”

“She’s director of S&S at their headquarters in Vienna. That’s the Department of Nuclear Safety and Security. She’d come to London to meet with the UK Safeguards Office. They help manage security protocols for the EU.”

Graves exhaled loudly, then turned away and planted himself by the window, where he stood gazing at the sea. “Safety and Security,” he said, his voice wrung out. “They’re the IAEA’s watchdogs.”

“What do they do?” asked Kate.

“A lot of things,” said Bella. “They set up procedures for safeguarding plants, of course. Handle vetting of employees. Standardize training of plant workers.”

“And watch over the illegal trafficking of radioactive materials,” added Graves from across the room. “It’s up to them to make sure that no one is selling weapons-grade uranium on the black market.”

“Is that what you think Russell was worried about?” asked Kate. “A weapon?”

“If it were a weapon, Robbie would have gone directly to the police. I know that much. This was different.”

“How?”

“He was primarily interested in learning how people got into and out of the plants.

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