Free Going Dark (Thorn Mysteries) by James W. Hall Page B

know.”
    “We’re watching Prince. We’re doing it by the book. Point is, Prince is in the thick of this. Talking up the marvels of nuclear power by night, hanging with antinuke warriors the next. The guy’s a full-fledged eco-wacko.”
    “Wacko?”
    “Absolutely.”
    “Tell me something, McIvey. You a climate-change denier?”
    She drew a breath and slowed for an exit off the turnpike. “What is it, Frank? Living at the beach surrounded by the great outdoors, you’ve turned into a tree hugger?”
    “I do like trees. I admit it. Always have.”
    “I’m not a denier. The science is there. It’s solid.”
    “Next question. Since it’s true, polar ice melting, ocean turning acid, bigger, badder storms, you think there’s anything more important on the horizon for planet Earth than total obliteration?”
    “Okay, okay, we’re all doomed, the end is near.”
    “You sit in the same meetings I do, McIvey, read the NASA updates, Department of Energy, Weather Service. The goddamn US army has contingencies for climate-change scenarios. Those guys don’t waste time on fantasies. This shit is happening. The tsunami’s out there, rolling our way.”
    “Let it out, Frank. Ventilate.” Smiling at him.
    “I get worked up, yeah, but this is real and we go on our merry way. SUVs getting bigger, drilling a little deeper for the same old oil.”
    “So you’re saying what exactly? The bad guys are right, so let them do what they want. Including blow up a power plant?”
    Sheffield absorbed that for a few seconds, then said quietly, “Is that what we’re talking about, that’s the intel your snitch gave you?”
    “Bendell didn’t know the endgame. But, yeah, an attack on the reactor, that’s an option. Worst case, of course. But a possibility.”
    Sheffield was still looking at her profile. Nice, clean Midwestern lines, sharp angles, but not brittle. Maybe a double shot of Norwegian blood. Reminding him of somebody, a Hollywood actress from way back. Big star.
    “You can quit staring at me, Frank.”
    “It’s hard.”
    “With you it’s probably always that way.” She looked over with that teasing smile.
    “You got older brothers, don’t you?”
    “Three. How’d you know?”
    “They cops?”
    “One is. Indiana state trooper. The other two are lawyers. Why?”
    “Growing up with all those macho men around there was a lot of roughhousing. You being the only girl, that had to be a challenge.”
    “I held my own.”
    “They didn’t coddle you, protect little sis?”
    “What’re you trying to say, Frank?”
    “Just getting to know you. See how your mind works.”
    “It works just fine,” she said.
    “Like the rest of you.”
    “You going to make me regret calling you?”
    “Okay, okay. Sorry. That was out of line.”
    A car passed on the right. Some kamikaze going faster than she was.
    “Okay, so you lost Bendell, your eyes and ears inside the ELF cell. What exactly do you expect the Bureau to do?”
    “Raid the island, bring them all in?”
    “Get serious. You got a cartoon image on the power plant computers, and there’s some eco-freaks with no outstanding warrants, they’re hanging out on an island grilling veggie burgers and howling at the moon. Which is one step short of having absolutely nothing.”
    Nicole gave him a stony look and pushed the car a little faster. “You’re right. That’s not much.”
    “Tell me this,” Frank said, moving on. “Your hacker, this Wally Chee, he’s smart enough to put up the ELF image and keep it up there for a few days, but he’s too dumb to cover his tracks back to that biology workstation?”
    “Wouldn’t be the first time a smart guy does something dumb.”
    “Announcing themselves like that in the first place, putting that cartoon up on the plant’s computers, that’s just one more dumb thing? Warning everybody you’re about to do something?”
    “Fits their pattern. In-your-face arrogance, stop me if you can.”
    “Or a head fake.