Free Infinite Dreams by Joe Haldeman Page A

Montevideo, and Madrid, without attracting undue attention.
    The Renault and Soyuz vans have not been road-tested because they are not distributed in the United States. One mockup Renault is being smuggled to Mexico, where they are fairly common, to be tested. We may be able to modify the Ford setup to fit inside a Soyuz shell. However, we have only two of the Russian vans to work with, and will proceed with caution.
    The Toyota’s suspension gave out in one out of three Atlanta runs; it was simply not designed for so heavy a load. We may substitute Econolines or VW’s for Tokyo and Kyoto.
    90% of the vehicles were barged to New Orleans before the Atlanta run, to avoid suspicion at the Key Largo weigh station.
    We are sure all systems will be in shape well before the target date.
    (signed) Supervisor Maxwell Bergman
    11. 14 October 1974
    Today they solved the China Problem: automobiles and trucks are still fairly rare in China, and its border is probably the most difficult to breach. Ramo wants a minimum of three targets in China, but the odds against being able to smuggle out three vans, load them with bombs, smuggle them back in again and drive them to the target areas without being stopped—the odds are formidable.
    Section 2 (Weapons Research & Development) managed to compress a good-sized bomb into a package the size of a large suitcase, weighing about 800 pounds. It is less powerful than the others, and not as subtly safeguarded—read “boobytrapped”—but should be adequate to the task. It will go in through Hong Kong in a consignment of Swiss heavy machinery, bound for Peking; duplicates will go to Kunming and Shanghai, integrated with farm machinery and boat hulls, respectively, from Japan. Section 1 (Recruiting) has found delivery agents for Peking and Shanghai, is looking for a native speaker of the dialect spoken around Kunming.
    12. Naming
    Ramo doesn’t like people to call it “Project Blackmail,” so they just call it “the project” when he’s around.
    13. 1 July 1975
    Everything is in order: delivery began one week ago. Today is Ramo’s 79th birthday.
    His horoscope for today says “born today, you are a natural humanitarian. You aid those in difficulty and would make a fine attorney. You are attracted to the arts, including writing. You are due for domestic adjustment, with September indicated as a key month.”
    None of the above is true. It will be in October.
    14. 13 October 1975
    7:45 on a grey Monday morning in Washington, D.C., a three-year-old Econoline van rolls up to a Park-yourself lot on 14th Street. About a quarter-mile from the White House.
    The attendant gives the driver his ticket. “How long ya gonna be?”
    “Don’t know,” he says. “All day, probably.”
    “Put it back there then, by the Camaro.”
    The driver parks the van and turns on a switch under the dash. With a tiny voltmeter he checks the dead-man switch on his arm: a constant-readout sphygmomanometer wired to a simple signal generator. If his blood pressure drops too low too quickly, downtown Washington will be a radioactive hole.
    Everything in order, he gets out and locks the van. This activates the safeguards. A minor collision won’t set off the bomb, and neither would a Richter-6 earthquake. It will go off if anyone tries to X-ray the van or enter it.
    He walks two blocks to his hotel. He is very careful crossing streets.
    He has breakfast sent up and turns on the
Today
show.There is no news of special interest. At 9:07 he calls a number in Miami. Ramo’s fortune is down to fifty million, but he can still afford a suite at the Beachcomber.
    At 9:32, all American targets having reported, Ramo calls Reykjavik.
    “Let me speak to Colonel Day. This is Ramo.”
    “Just a moment, sir.” One moment. “Day here.”
    “Things are all in order over here, Colonel. Have your salesmen reported yet?”
    “All save two, as expected,” he says: everyone but Peking and Kunming.
    “Good. Everything is pretty much