We must have made a strange-looking procession. First Mansour wheeling the bomb in front of him. Then Dendoncker. Then me. And finally the guy with the Uzi, farther back, keeping what he probably thought was a safe distance. No one spoke as we went through the first set of double doors. Along the glass corridor. Through the second set of doors. Across the dining hall. Through the assembly hall. And out into the parking lot. Mansour continued until he was level with the pair of SUVs. It was almost fully dark by then. His outline started to fade as he reached the limit of the glow that was spilling out through the tall windows. The orange light was no longer visible from around the corner of the building. There was no sound, except for the device’s wheels skittering across the asphalt. The soccer players must have called it a night.
Dendoncker made another call. He said he wanted the floodlights switched on. A moment later the whole perimeter of the building lit up. It was like a castle moat, only made of light rather than water. Ahead of us Mansour prodded the device’s wheels with his toe. One at a time. Engaging their locks. Then he made his way over and stood at Dendoncker’s side.
Dendoncker dialed another number and held the phone out to me. “Want to do it?”
I shook my head.
“OK.” Dendoncker hit the green button, closed the phone, and slid it back into his pocket. “Just watch.”
Nothing happened for ten seconds. Twenty. Then I heard three beeps. From the device. High-pitched. Electronic. The pump began to hum. It built up to a steady drone. Smoke appeared. Just a wisp at first. White. From the holes in the central shell. It grew into a steady stream. It was thick. Dense. Like steam from a kettle. Blue smoke began to pour from the right-hand shell. It mingled into a single plume but maintained the two distinct colors. Finally the left-hand shell got in on the act. Red smoke gushed out. It was at full force right away, billowing upward and quickly matching the other shades for volume.
“See? Smoke.” Dendoncker walked forward until he was a couple of feet away from the device. He flapped his left arm and made a show of wafting some of each color into his mouth and nose. He kept it up for ten seconds then coughed and retreated to his previous spot. “It burns the throat a little. I can’t deny that. But it’s not poisonous. There are no explosions. And there’s no danger. So, are you satisfied?”
I waited another minute until the last of the smoke had petered out. The blue lasted longest, but all three shells had produced a prodigious quantity. The space between the wall and the fence along the whole width of the building was filled with a swirling patriotic cloud. I was impressed. When Sonia first told me about Michael’s plan I was dubious. I pictured a tiny spurt. Pale colors. A blink-and-you-miss-it kind of deal. Nothing to impress an audience. Live, or on TV. But if a thing like this went off in the middle of a ceremony there was no way the crowd could fail to notice.
“Satisfied?” Dendoncker glared at me. “Good to go?”
I was starting to think I’d been wrong. Maybe I should have been more interested in Dendoncker’s proposal after all.
I said, “You want me to take one of these things, drive for three days, then leave it somewhere?”
“Precisely.” Dendoncker nodded. “That’s all you have to do.”
“Where do you want me to leave it?”
“You’ll be given directions, one day at a time.”
Three days’ drive. Enough time to get all the way up into Canada. Or down into Central America. But realistically, given that kind of distance, the target would be on the East Coast. D.C., maybe. Or the White House. Or the Pentagon.
I said, “OK. But why do you want me to leave it anywhere? What’s the point?”
“I have my reasons. You don’t need to know them. And they’re not up for debate. The only question is who drives the truck. You can do it and walk away when the job’s done. Or you can choose a different outcome and I’ll find someone else to do it.”
“And the woman?”
“Her fate is your fate. You choose to live, she lives. You choose not to…”
“OK. She can come with me. In the truck. Share the driving. Help with the navigation.”
Dendoncker shook his head. “She’s going to remain our guest until you complete the mission.”
“In other words, you don’t trust me.”
Dendoncker didn’t reply.
“That’s OK,” I said. “I don’t trust you, either. How do I know you won’t kill the woman the moment I’m out of sight?”