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The security man called Claude was the only one to speak: 'Hands on your
heads. Stand away from all equipment. Now. Move, or you will be killed. We
mean it.'
The tone of his voice convinced the six men. Flustered, they dropped
clipboards and pens, clamped their hands to their heads and stepped clear of
any piece of monitoring equipment. So hypnotised were they by the weapons that
it is doubtful if they even saw the other two men slip past their comrades,
and move quickly and unerringly to two points in the room. In a matter of
seconds these two were giving the thumbs-up sign to their armed colleagues.
They had cut off all links with the outside world by severing the
communications cables and pulling the external control override switches. The
reactor operating at Saint-Laurentdes-Eaux Two could be handled only from this
room, which now had no contact with the outside world.
The man who had severed the communications link was completing the job by
tearing the three telephone leads from their sockets as the gunmen ordered the
six technicians to line up, facing the door.
A series of images flashed through the minds of these half dozen unfortunates
- pictures of their wives and families crossing bleakly with incidents they
had seen on television newsreels: hostages held in terrible conditions for
long periods; hostages shot and killed as a warning to others; the drawn and
haggard faces of men and women who had lived through ordeals like this. It was
therefore with a sense of both great surprise and relief that they heard the
gunmen tell them to leave quietly through the main door and get up the stairs.
'It would not be advisable for anyone to take panic action,' the gunman called
Claude told them. 'Just report to the authorities and say that a message with
certain demands will be coming through from outside within a few minutes. Any
sudden move before that and we shut down the cooling system. We cause a China
Syndrome. Tell them that, okay?'
The six men nodded, shakily leaving their place of work. The heavy door to the
control room slammed behind them and the two gunmen clamped on the interior
safety locks, watching through the reinforced glass which ran the length of
the gallery as the released operators slowly filed away.
The other two men had been busy removing their most essential piece of
equipment, the transceiver, from a canvas haversack. One of the men now ran
out a cable and plugged it into a wall socket. The security guard, Claude, who
was the squad leader, switched on the small, box-like, transceiver and watched
as the red light glowed, then turned green. Pressing the transmit button he
said loudly and distinctly, 'Number Three. War.'
Similar scenes to these were being enacted in five other nuclear power
stations, in Europe and the United States.
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James Bond heard the words clearly through the headphones:
'Number Three. War.'
'That's the French one,' Murik said, his voice interrupted by another quick
message: 'Number One. War.' 'England.' Murik was ticking off the names of the
plants on a clipboard lying in front of the console.
'Number Four. War.'
'Number Five. War.'
'Number Two. War.'
They came in quickly, tumbling into the earphones, as though someone was
speaking within Bond's head. Then a long pause. Bond saw Murik's hand clench
and unclench. He looked hard at the man who was embarked on an operation from
which there could be no turning back. The wait had Murik worried, drumming his
fingers on the edge of the console. Then after what seemed an eternity:
'Number Six. War.'
'All in.' Murik grabbed Bond's arm, nodding his head excitedly.
'Now,' he said, his voice strange, almost out of control, 'now for my message.
In a moment I shall activate the ultimatum. You see, everything is ordered,
outside human control  except for the reaction of the governments concerned.
Throughout Europe and the United States we have a series of hidden powerful
micro-transmitters controlled by a signal from this aircraft. The transmitters
will relay a translated message to every European country, and a number of
Asian and Eastern countries too. The transmission is locked into the normal
broadcasting frequencies of the countries concerned and will cut in on any
programme already going out.' He adjusted a dial and watched a pair of needles
centre themselves on a VU below it. 'You will hear the ultimatum in your own [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]