Chapter 4
Uzen-Atyrau-Samara Pipeline
Russia-Kazakhstan Border
Tuesday
1:19 p.m. Local Time
It had taken almost five hours to disconnect the warheads from the missile, safe them, load them on the trucks, make the drive through the rugged terrain to the pipeline access roads, make contact with the “right” pipeline access security team, and then get through the border and on their way. One of their contacts had hacked through most of the security and street cameras along the way, erasing them as needed and covering their tracks. It was good to know competent people and to have a well-thought-through plan of action.
Michael and Vladimir couldn’t have pulled this part of the plan off without the right people—people who were very influential politically, well connected across multiple business avenues, and very rich. It was the right kind of help, in the right ways, at the right times and places that made the plan possible in the end. And this particular part of the plan had been in motion for more than six years. The overall plan, well, that had been in the works since before the first pandemics. In fact, if the pandemics weren’t actually part of the plan, they had certainly been useful along the way. But Michael couldn’t get an honest answer from his well-placed and connected partners as to whether they had been integral in the pandemics or the plagues had been mere serendipity. Michael didn’t believe in coincidences. But he also had a hard time believing in conspiracies, unless they were his.
One of the big benefactors of the plan was a major shareholder in the oil fields of the Russia-China “new silk road” and therefore had unbridled access to the pipelines and the maintenance contracts. That had come in very handy for Michael and Vladimir. As it turned out, they were in actual maintenance trucks with all the right papers and even the yellow flashing caution lights on top whirling about. Not only did they look official, they were official, and were supposed to be on the road according to all the pipeline management and security paperwork and software. They truly did have friends in high places.
“We’ll have to thank Marcus for building us such a nice road to drive our stolen nuclear warheads on,” Vladimir said with a laugh. “It must have cost him millions to build them.”
“Six hundred and fifty million American according to a Reuters article I read a few years back. That’s only a drop in the bucket for what he spends on election rigging and currency devaluation around the globe,” Michael replied from the driver’s seat as he kept a wary eye on the side and rearview mirrors. The three chase vehicles with the rest of the team were following closely and, so far, there had been no issues. Michael didn’t like issues.
“Indeed,” Vladimir responded and added a Russian curse Michael had heard him use before but never quite understood. He figured it was a bit like when he used the MFer-word as a positive adjective. To Russians there was nothing that directly translated the sentiment, and when he used it, they only saw it as a terrible incestuous comment.
“He managed to get Chinese, Russian, and Kazakhstani investors to pay most of the pipeline—that’s several billion. He also got the Turks and the Russians to help pay for the port we’re headed to. According to The Economist, he was in for an undisclosed large amount on that too. I suspect he was in for about a billion U.S. dollars total said and done. I managed to make about seven hundred and eighty thousand on the deal. Helps knowing which politicians are paid off and what companies will get the contracts.”
“I could have used this information, my friend.” Vladimir grunted disapprovingly. “You know, I like money too.”
“I didn’t quite know you then,” Michael replied. “With hindsight, sure. Sorry.”
“Marcus did. I had already been interviewing with his company to be his test pilot. He could have vouched for me,” Vladimir said.
“Yeah, I know. He had me and Sandy do your background check. But that didn’t mean that I trusted you to help me hide a body.”
“Didn’t know that.” Vladimir shrugged. “And I guess I can see it from your point of view.”
“I thought you did.”
“Did what?”
“Know that Sandy and I did your background investigation.”
“Oh, no. I didn’t. No matter.” Vladimir waved it off as unimportant.
“So, anyway, I know where all your bodies are buried.” Michael laughed halfheartedly.
“Not all of them, my friend. Not all.” He paused for a dramatic smirk. “And I didn’t bury all of them.”
“Hahaha.” While Michael hadn’t truly known him at the time, he did now. He trusted him now and had, in fact, helped him bury a few of those bodies over the past few years. Vladimir was as much of a friend as he’d ever had and was as much in on the plan as he was. Michael also now knew that Vladimir was willing to go all the way to the wall, or die trying, to get to their end goal. Or, as Marcus had often said, “to the beginning.”
“Fortune…” Vladimir said almost under his breath, “…favors the bold, comrade.”
“Hey, man, no worries. We’ve got all the fortune in the world in the back of this truck.” Michael watched the timer in his virtual glasses telling him that they were currently “on schedule.” He didn’t like being “on schedule.” There were still hundreds of kilometers to go to reach the pipeline junction with the Caspian Pipeline Consortium just north of the northern shore of the Caspian Sea. There it would be a “scheduled” turn to the east to follow that line all the way across the Russian lands between the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea to the oil shipping port at Novorossiysk.
“Yes, my friend, we have the fortune,” Vladimir said. “Now it is time to be bold.”
“Soon enough, V. Soon enough.”
The port where the pipeline hit the Black Sea was where they’d take to water and be less likely to be discovered. The plan was to keep the nukes belowdecks and beneath shielded water tanks on a specially designed high-end yacht until they met up with other means of transportation. Until they got to the water, there was always the chance that somebody might want a peek inside the truck. If that were to happen, well, Michael eyed the M4 sitting next to him and noted the rest of his team in the rearview mirror.
While they were “official” pipeline contractors, there was always the chance Murphy’s Law could rear its ugly head. Michael would have preferred to be “ahead of schedule” just in case any nonsense, such as Murphy, got in their damn way and delayed their progress. He wanted to get this part of the plan behind him as soon as possible. They were sitting on the hottest commodity in the world right now and soon everyone on the planet would be looking for them.
“Fortune. Bold. Bah.” Vladimir took his shades off and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He took in a long breath, held it for a moment, then exhaled between pursed lips, making a motorboat sound. “I’m more interested in the fun. Life gets…boring, sometimes. I hate boring.”
“Well, we have a very, very long drive ahead of us and I, honestly, am hoping to avoid as much ‘fun’ as possible. ‘Fun’ wasn’t accounted for in the schedule. In case you have forgotten, we have a boat to catch and a whole lot more, which is on our schedule. We don’t need any ‘fun’ today. Actually, I hope today turns out to be…boring…as hell. I adore boring.” Michael didn’t bother to look away from the road as he responded.
Yellow caution lights flashed across the pipeline to the right then to the trees on the left and rotated back again. Knowing that there were six nuclear warheads in the back of the truck made the caution lights almost humorous to him. But now wasn’t the time for humor. He checked the schedule clock and the map in his virtual view again almost obsessively and compulsively.
“I suppose in this particular instance, Michael, I agree with you. The fun will start soon enough.” Vladimir grinned and nodded. Michael managed to match his colleague with a half-upturned corner of his mouth and a raised eyebrow. He pulled his coffee mug from the cupholder on the dashboard and raised it to his friend. Vladimir followed suit by grabbing his mug.
“To soon enough,” Michael said.
“I’ll drink to that. Soon enough, my friend.” Vladimir sipped from his coffee mug. It was mostly coffee now, which he hoped to soon remedy. “Soon enough.”