Year of the Golden Ape (35 page)

^{MacGowan sat down in the chair vacated by Reisel and looked round at the fatalistic expressions of the men gathered at the table. He didn't like the atmosphere. 'And San Francisco?' he asked quietly.}

^{'Forget it - that's gone.' The man who replied was a gnome-like figure who sat opposite MacGowan, placidly puffing a pipe. MacGowan didn't like the look of him either: too detached and sure of himself.}

^{'That's Francis Hooker,' Reisel whispered. 'He's putting in a minority report. Of one,' he added waspishly.}

^{MacGowan stared at Hooker who was watching him through rimless glasses as though he found politicians inexpressibly comic. The Governor had heard of Hooker, a scientist with a unique
reputation, the only man who had warned Washington of the risk at the San Clemente nuclear power station just before the plant nearly ran wild.}

^{'This minority report of yours, Hooker,' he said. 'You disagree with the majority assessment? You feel they overstated their case?'}

^{'No. They've understated it - badly. I think the blast could easily destroy San Jose, which is many miles outside that circle...'}

^{'And radiation?'}

^{'Radiation depends on the wind, of course. I estimate that if an average wind for this time of the year comes along - and the device detonates - half California could be at risk.'}

^{'So now we know ...'}

^{'Not yet. ..' Hooker was holding the floor, building up a head of steam. 'The geography of central California is well adapted to maximise the catastrophe. You see, we have a long valley - the San Joaquin - with population centres scattered along it to Bakersfield. With the wind in the right direction the radiation would be funnelled straight down the valley, so we have to start thinking of Fresno and Bakersfield ...'}

^{That's two hundred and fifty miles away ...'}

^{'Raise your sights. It might well reach Los Angeles in lethal quantities. On the other hand, if the wind comes off the Pacific we can assume Reno is in trouble,' Hooker went on. 'I'd assume Salt Lake City would be safe ...'}

^{That's five hundred miles away...'}

^{'It had better be,' Hooker replied. 'I'm only guessing at the size of the device, but I could tell you more if I knew who had made it. The degree of competence is a crucial factor.'}

^{'I may be able to help you there,' MacGowan said slowly, 'even if it is a very long shot. Earlier this morning Karpis of the FBI phoned Paris for information on LeCat. He lit a fire under government circles over there, I gather. Half an hour ago he had a call from a Francois Messmer, a French counter-intelligence man. A couple of days ago, in some way, Messmer linked LeCat with a missing French nuclear physicist called Jean-Philippe Antoine...'}

^{'I know Antoine's work,' Hooker said. 'I met him once at an AEC meeting in Vienna. I thought he was dead. He was an
innovator. If he designed the device we must be prepared for a very special kind of holocaust...'}

^{At 1pm on Thursday January 23 MacGowan closed the Golden Gate bridge. At 1.30pm he closed the Bay bridge to Oakland. Half an hour later he shut down the BART - Bay Area Rapid Transport - subway. By two in the afternoon San Francisco, which stands on a peninsula, was isolated except for the roads going south through Palo Alto towards San Jos6 and along the coast.}

^{The official reason for these unprecedented steps was that there were terrorists in the city connected with the men aboard the
Challenger.
To back up this explanation, all roads south had police road-blocks set up to check all traffic which might be transporting these fictitious men. For this measure, at least, there was unanimous approval from the Apocalypse men, including the maverick Hooker. 'When the device detonates,' Hooker said, 'both bridges will go, no doubt about it. And if it happened when they were carrying rush-hour traffic...'}

^{They also agreed that the five other Bay bridges would be knocked out by the enormous shock-wave from the detonation. "The blast will destroy all communications,' Hooker stated. 'Whatever is left of the Bay area after it happens will be isolated from the rest of the country...'}

^{They had, these grim, spectacled men, MacGowan noted, begun talking about the catastrophe as a near-future inevitable event. This change had taken place after Karpis had referred to the French report on LeCat, a remark he made soon after yet another debate on whether the tanker should be stormed by a detachment of Marines.}

^{'I can't back that,' Karpis said. 'This Paris report says LeCat is, I quote, expert in the remote control of explosives, that is, detonation by radio signals, unquote. My guess is that at this moment LeCat is on the bridge of that ship with some kind of radio mechanism that can flash a signal to the nuclear device. If I'm right, he only has to press a button and...'}

^{So far, by restricting the knowledge to only a few people, MacGowan had managed to keep secret the terrifying news about
the nuclear device. He knew that, sooner or later, this news must leak out. If it reached LeCat, whom they assumed was listening to radio bulletins, it might just cause him to detonate the device at once; it depended on the degree of his fanaticism, a completely unknown quantity. If it reached the city, God knew what would happen.}

^{MacGowan, a very tough man physically and mentally, was slowly being worn down by the massive weight of his responsibility, although outwardly he showed no signs of this. There was constant debate about whether or not to try and storm the ship, and each time MacGowan vetoed any such suggestion.'We already have a team aboard - even if they are still pinned down somewhere in the for'ard area. If fog comes tonight, they'll have their chance...'}

^{'If San Francisco is still here tonight,' Peretti snapped.}

^{There was constant debate about whether to start a mass-evacuation of the city. The Apocalypse men were again unanimous in their decision that people should start moving out at once. 'Do that,' MacGowan pointed out, 'and it will be screamer news in the radio bulletins, which LeCat must be checking on. He'll know then that we know - about what he has on board. He might press that button ...'}

^{More disturbing news had come in about LeCat's character. Winter had earlier told the action committee that the Frenchman had once lived in both Canada and the United States and a massive enquiry had been set in train. About the time MacGowan closed the Bay bridge a report came in from Quebec. A woman believed she had once rented a room to the terrorist; if it was the same man he had frequently expressed bitter anti-American views. Both decisions were postponed - about storming the vessel, about evacuating the city. At three in the afternoon LeCat came back on the ship-to-shore and made his ultimate demand.}

^{Conditions inside the carpenter's store on the fo'c'sle of the
Challenger
were not good. The three men had now been confined below deck for fourteen hours, with only vitamin pills and a diminishing supply of water from one water-bottle to sustain
them. They had foreseen that they might be there for several hours, but not for anything like this period. They already hated the sight of each other.}

^{The fog had never completely left the Bay, the sun had never penetrated the heavy overcast which drifted above San Francisco for the whole of the day. But there had been no chance to leave the cell and approach the bridge. A fresh lookout had just climbed to the top of the foremast - there had been two changes since they came aboard. And each time Winter cautiously raised the hatch a few inches the view was always the same - an exposed, fog-free deck, a lookout with a walkie-talkie on the foremast.}

^{'This is worse than a foxhole in Korea,' Cassidy remarked as Winter came back down the ladder, shaking his head. The Marine colonel was crouched on his haunches, exercising to ease the stiffness out of his limbs. 'Sooner or later we have to risk it - shoot the lookout on the foremast and head for the bridge...'}

^{'Better wait for dark,' Sullivan advised wearily. 'That's only two hours away. Two more hours... Jesus Christ...'}

^{They had used a bucket they found in a corner for performing natural functions. They had covered it with a piece of canvas, but a stale, urinal odour was seeping into the stuffy atmosphere. The only relief came during the few minutes when Winter had the hatch open. They agreed they must wait; the lookout could report their presence within seconds of their emerging from the hatch and all the hostages would be shot before they had covered half the distance to the bridge. They settled down to more waiting, until dark, until the fog came. If it did come.}

^{'Unless the American ambassador to the United Nations makes a statement by six o'clock tomorrow morning that the American government will send no arms - not one single tank, gun or aircraft - to the State of Israel for the next six months, that is until July 23 this year, all the hostages aboard this ship will be executed ...'}

^{It was LeCat's ultimate demand. The time was exactly three o'clock. The Frenchman had spoken in a monotone, as though he were reading from a piece of paper. There was complete silence in MacGowan's office as the six men listened, knowing it was quite impossible to accept the ultimatum. Stark, the State Department official, scribbled a note and pushed it in front of the Governor, who brushed it aside without looking at it. As it happened, he asked the question Stark had written.}

^{'What about the money - the two hundred million dollars?'}

^{'We have dispensed with that demand. We are not interested in money. Is the Greyhound bus in position?'}

^{'Waiting. On Pier 31 ...'}

^{'The Boeing 747?'}

^{'At San Francisco International Airport...'}

^{'With full fuel tanks?'}

^{'LeCat, if one single hostage is shot we shall immediately board the tanker...'}

^{A muffled 'Oh, God ...' It was Peretti.}

^{'If one single hostage is shot,' MacGowan repeated, 'I will not transmit your message ...'}

^{The sound of a shot came over the speaker. The men inside the room froze. MacGowan sat with fists clenched on the table. Gen. Lepke quietly picked up a phone which now had a direct line to the Presidio. Somewhere, a long way off, the sound of a foghorn came through the open office window. Karpis checked the exact time by his watch. The speaker crackled.}

^{'Next time you threaten me,' LeCat shrieked, 'a man dies.'}

^{The hysteria in his voice shook the men in the room. LeCat had played the same trick a second time. The impact had been just as shattering as on the previous occasion. MacGowan's voice was steady, aggressive, giving not an inch.}

^{'Now I want to speak to Mackay again before I'll take any action at all - certainly before I think of transmitting the demand you just made...'}

^{'The man who will be killed,' LeCat screamed, 'is Engine-Room Artificer Donald Foley who lives in Newcastle, England. Tell that to his parents, to his wife...'}

^{MacGowan fought for self-control, his facial muscles tensed with cold fury, his wide mouth tight. He waited for a moment while the others watched him. He said - quite calmly-'I'm waiting...'}

^{'Mackay speaking . ..' The voice was crisp, firm. Had he slept
for a few hours since they last communicated, MacGowan wondered. 'That shot went through the window. Miss Cordell is stili alive and well . . .' The captain was talking fast, as though any second he expected to be dragged away from the ship-to-shore. 'All my crew are alive and well. We hope that...' They didn't get to hear what he hoped; they heard LeCat's voice say, 'No more The speaker went off the air.}

^{The city had been in a turmoil since one o'clock when the first bridge was closed. Men who lived in Marin County knew they would not get home that night; it was too far to drive right round the Bay and they hadn't the gas. Then the Bay bridge was closed, then the BART system. Foreseeing what was coming, MacGowan installed a traffic controller, a man called Lipsky in one of his outer offices. Those who could, left early, driving to their homes, or the homes of friends, south of the city. By 2.30pm, as Lipsky relayed the traffic reports to MacGowan, it seemed as though the whole of San Francisco was on the move.}

^{'I'd never have believed it,' he said to Lipsky.}

^{'You wouldn't have believed they'd be coming in, too ...'}

^{'Coming in ?'}

^{'On Highway One and One-o-One. Steady build-up of traffic coming north - into the city. They must be using up the last of their gas...'}

^{It went on growing through the afternoon. Soon it became clear that despite the exodus and the influx the majority of citizens were staying inside the city, were refusing to get caught up in the cauldron. Then a fresh movement began - towards the waterfront, to try and see the terrorist tanker.}

^{Seeing what was happening, MacGowan reacted quickly with the mayor. A huge cordon of police was thrown round the waterfront, was extended across the top of Nob Hill, along the full length of California Street. Patrol cars formed barriers. The cable cars were stopped. Van Ness Avenue was closed. The bus station was open only for outgoing traffic, with orders that no bus must stop this side of Daly City.}