Thomas "Bell" Jackson, CIA Operative
West Berlin, Germany
January 24 1981
Bell's rage had been boiling inside him for the past two days. All he could think about was the mission in Ukraine and the discovery that Hudson had been lying to them this whole time. He knew about the stolen nuke long before Kadivar had revealed Perseus was still alive. Why the fuck hadn't he said anything before during the briefing with Carter and Reagan? It didn't make any sense.
Now that they were back in West Berlin, maybe he could finally get some answers if Woods didn't beat him to it. He seemed more enraged than Bell was, and given that Woods had not encountered Perseus before Bell was surprised.
But what really surprised him was Adler's reaction to the whole thing. When they'd shown him the intel from the Soviet facility, he had looked shocked, but his response was much more passive than anticipated given the fact that Perseus was in the possession of an American nuke. Bell tried to rationalize it through a belief that after Fracture Jaw the theft of an American nuke in a place where it shouldn't have been was nothing new to him. Still, it was unsettling; Adler had always been impossible to read but somehow it was even worse now.
In any case, Bell didn't much care at the moment. He was sitting in the backseat of a car inbound to the safehouse. Lazar was driving and Park was sitting to his right. They'd hardly spoken a word to each other since they touched down in Berlin, but there wasn't much to say. Adler was driving the second car, and Woods and Mason were with him. He imagines the situation probably isn't much different from them.
"We're here," Lazar told them, and Bell looked up to see the safehouse just up ahead - with Hudson standing in front of a car while on the phone with someone.
Oh, Bell was going to enjoy this.
As the cars stopped in front of the safehouse, Hudson set the phone down on the hood of the car and walked over closer to the building. Bell saw Hudson's hands tighten up into fists. He already knew what was coming.
Bell hadn't even begun to open the car door when Woods burst out of the passenger seat of the other car and started storming forward, not even bothering to shut his door. Mason followed close behind him. Adler exited the driver's seat of his car, smoking a cigarette and seemingly calm, all the while still leaning against the car door. Bell, Park, and Lazar exited their vehicle and hurried forward to what was about to unfold.
Hudson maintained a stone-cold gaze at Woods through his aviators. Bell could hear the Marine Sergeant's breath pace up as he closed the distance between them and landed a right hook against Hudson's mouth. The sheer force of Woods' punch caused Hudson's aviators to fly right off his face. While Hudson was disoriented, Woods grabbed him by his jacket and pushed him up against the brick wall, reeling his fist back for another punch. Unless Bell's ears were deceiving him, he didn't hear a single peep out of Hudson, despite the fact that blood was dripping from his mouth and nose.
"You knew the nuke was from Greenlight and didn't tell us!" Woods just about screamed in Hudson's face, "What else are you hiding!? Maybe I can knock the truth out of you!"
Woods was too enraged to notice Hudson reaching behind his belt. Bell caught sight of this immediately and stepped forward before the situation got out of hand, rank and protocol be damned.
"You might want to rethink that, Woods," Hudson said calmly before Woods heard a clicking noise. He looked down and saw Hudson was now pointing his 1911 directly at his chest.
Almost immediately afterward, Bell had drawn his own 1911 and held it up to Hudson's head, saying, "I don't think so, Hudson. Drop the fucking gun, now."
Hudson's eyes darted over from Woods to Bell, and Bell could see he was struggling to maintain the illusion of composure. Bell knows if the situation was different that Hudson wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet in his head right then and there, but Bell truly could not give a fuck what Hudson thought. The tense standoff lasted a few moments, where nobody else dared to interfere with the three of them.
"Everyone stand down," Adler said, dropping his cigarette onto the ground and rubbing it out. He closed the car door and walked toward the group, saying "This little pissing match isn't gonna help us catch Perseus."
With that, Hudson dropped the hammer on his pistol and lowered it away from Woods' chest. Bell dropped his own hammer and lowered the gun. Woods let go of Hudson's jacket and backed off, and both Hudson and Bell holstered their pistols.
After a moment of relief, Mason approached Hudson and asked, "Why didn't you tell us it was an American nuke!?"
"He needed us to clean up his mess!" Woods spoke up before Hudson could respond, "The bastard's been lying to us all along!"
"It's not a lie, it's an omission of fact," Hudson explained, but Bell wouldn't have it.
"Oh, bullshit!" Bell yelled, "There's an American nuke in the open and you didn't think to tell us that Perseus had it!"
"This information was highly classified, well beyond any of your briefs," Hudson argued back, "This is something that none of you were supposed to know about!"
"Why? Because you don't trust us?" Mason asked angrily.
"Because it's a matter of national security!" Hudson shouted.
Adler motioned with his hands to try to get everyone to settle down. He then got closer to Hudson.
"Operation Greenlight," Adler began, "What is it? Tell us everything."
Hudson looked over from Adler to Park and Lazar. Bell could tell that he was hesitant to reveal such classified information to operatives from MI6 and Mossad, but at this point what did it matter?
"Speak, Hudson," Park said angrily, "I saw the files, heard your voice on the recording. It's no longer a secret."
Lazar said nothing, but crossed his arms and glared at Hudson to let him know he shared Park's sentiments.
"Fine," Hudson conceded, "But know this: if word of this leaks out because of you two, they'll have all of our heads."
Hudson then used his thumb to wipe off some of the blood from his mouth and nose, then glared at Woods.
"Back in '58, the arms race was in full swing," Hudson explained to them all, "Eisenhower was convinced that if the Russians moved on Europe, we couldn't respond quick enough. So he authorized Operation Greenlight: a top secret program that placed nuclear bombs in every European capital. The ultimate countermeasure to a Soviet attack."
After Hudson finished explaining, nobody said a word. Nobody could believe what they just heard. There were such things as desperate measures, but this? This was way too fucking far.
"Every European capital?" Mason asked.
"Every NATO nation, yes," Hudson told them, holding firm. Bell took once glance over towards Park and saw that she looked both enraged and terrified.
"Even London..." Park muttered under her breath. Christ almighty. The CIA put a fucking nuke under her home.
"In '74, the bombs were upgraded to high-yield neutron bombs, capable of terminating personnel without damaging infrastructure," Hudson continued, though now he was starting to look forlorn.
"Infrastructure?" Woods spoke up, "Millions dying in a flash, and you're talking about fucking infrastructure!?"
"Woods-" Hudson began, but then Mason interrupted him.
"I'll be honest, Hudson, I never expected this from you," Mason said, "After everything that went down in '68, you went along with this?"
"It wasn't my idea! It wasn't my fucking choice!" Hudson nearly screamed. Bell could hear the anger and frustration in his voice; he'd had enough of being ganged up on by everyone here. He then focused his direction firmly on Woods.
"Do you want to know when I was put in charge of Greenlight, Woods?" Hudson asked almost condescendingly, "When I first knew about the nukes that could wipe out millions of innocent lives? Please, take a guess."
Woods said nothing, but Hudson didn't expect him to either.
"December 5th, 1979. That's when," Hudson said firmly.
Bell thought about it for a moment, and then he suddenly remembered the significance.
"That was the day after the Tehran embassy takeover, when the Hostage Crisis began," Bell said in a moment of clarity. Hudson nodded.
"The previous Greenlight director was in the embassy, I am not at liberty to disclose who it was," Hudson began, "Carter assigned me to oversee Greenlight in their absence. And I will be very frank with you all, I immediately requested another assignment upon my briefing. Then the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, and Carter needed all the help he could get. When my transfer request was rejected, I submitted my letter of resignation. That too was rejected. I hated it, and they didn't give me a fucking choice."
Hudson cleared his throat, then wiped more blood from off of his face.
"Since then I've been carrying millions of lives on my shoulders," Hudson continued, "If I fuck up, then all those people dying is on me. So don't fucking stand there in judgment of me for something I didn't ask for!"
Woods still looked furious, but he said nothing. Hudson did not look triumphant here, and Bell could realize he was being serious.
"How long have you known about the missing nuke?" Adler asked, and Hudson turned to face him.
"Six weeks ago, one of the Greenlight nukes went offline," Hudson said, "We suspected it was Perseus but we couldn't confirm it until we saw the photos you brought back from East Berlin."
Hudson was looking at Bell now. He doesn't know why but he feels even more uncomfortable with him staring at him without his aviators.
"So, there's an American-made nuke in the wild," Adler began, "and once Perseus detonates it... the United States becomes global enemy number one."
"Adler," Bell interrupted, "Fuck what the world thinks about America, millions of people could die!"
"Does Perseus have the means of arming it?" Mason asked.
"I don't know," Hudson said, "But at this point I don't believe he does."
That was hardly reassuring in Bell's opinion. Sooner or later Perseus would find a way to detonate the nuke.
"Fucking hell, Hudson," Bell said, "You should have told us."
"We wouldn't have this problem if you'd done your job and killed Perseus in Vietnam," Hudson spoke directly to Bell and Adler, which enraged Bell. He had the fucking audacity to blame them for not killing Perseus? Bell did everything he could to ensure Perseus was dead, how the fuck was he supposed to know he survived?
He stepped forward with the intent of drawing more blood from Hudson, but before he could do anything, Adler raised his arm and stopped Bell from attacking Hudson.
"Careful, Hudson," Adler said coolly, but with an underlying anger to it, "Next time, I might not stop Bell."
With that, Adler lowered his arm and stepped away from the group. In another moment, the garage door to the safehouse opened and Sims and McKnight came rushing out.
"Yo, the fuck's going on here?" McKnight asked, "Everything alright?"
"No," Adler said, "No, it's not."
About a week had passed after the altercation outside the safehouse. Everyone was on edge as they went about their work, deciphering what intel they had plus the new information they obtained from Ukraine. The only bright side was now Mason and Woods were here with the rest of the team, and Bell appreciated their familiar presence here among the company of fresher facees.
In his time in the CIA after Vietnam, he primarily worked with them and McKnight on assignments, whether it was under Adler or Hudson or whoever requested their skillsets. In Bell's opinion, Mason and Woods were some of the finest agents he'd ever met. He only wishes he knew them during his Vietnam days like he knew Adler and Sims.
As predicted, Woods and Lazar seemed to get along great. Oftentimes Bell would catch them shooting the shit whether they were checking the weapons in the armory or having a beer together when they weren't on duty. There was only one point of contention between them, and it happened three days ago when Lazar mentioned he was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
"Are you fucking serious right now?" Woods asked, seemingly shocked.
"Yeah, why?" Lazar asked, "What's the matter?"
"The Steelers suck, man," Woods had complained, "They don't have shit on the Eagles."
"What?" Lazar inquired, confused by the hostility.
"Don't mind Woods, Lazar," Bell commented, "He's from Philly, it's sort of a requirement that he be an Eagles fan."
"And proud of it too!" Woods said, "Bell, what are you? A Chiefs fan, right?"
"Yeah, I love the Chiefs," Bell responded, causing Woods to laugh.
"I'd expect nothing less from a country boy like you," Woods teased, but Bell rolled his eyes.
"I'm not a fucking 'country boy,' Woods," Bell responded, "I'm from Charleston."
"Same thing," Woods said.
"Hey Bell," Lazar spoke up, "If you're from Charleston, why don't you have a Southern accent?"
"My folks came from Williamsport," Bell explained, "My dad moved down to South Carolina to work in the shipyards there."
"And not in New York or Boston?" Woods asked.
"My father was in Bastogne," Bell told them, "After that he always preferred warmer climates."
That had been one of the lighter moments in the past week. Often times they had been preoccupied with silence and isolation. All of them were used to it in their line of work, but there was a different kind of tension in the air. It's not every day that a Soviet agent stole an American nuke, not to mention that apparently there was one in every NATO capital and had been that way for the last twenty years.
Bell and the rest of the CIA operatives here were pissed off, and rightfully so. If they spoke to Hudson, it would be on formal matters like intelligence-gathering. Bell feels like asking if Greenlight had any influence on Westmoreland and his decision to place nuclear weapons at US firebases, but Hudson had kept his distance with good reason.
However, as the days went on, Bell noticed that Park had been keeping her distance too. Whereas before she was keen to ask about what he knew of Perseus or take part in analysis and group discussions, she became very quiet and kept to her workstation. Bell couldn't blame her; if he'd learned someone had placed a nuclear bomb underneath Washington DC he doesn't know what he'd do. Worst thing for Park is that now she couldn't even inform her own government of this. If she did, it could set Anglo-American relations back to the Revolutionary War.
"Everyone, gather 'round," Hudson said, grabbing everyone's attention in the safehouse. Bell got up from his workstation and walked over to the central table, with Mason standing at his right and Sims to his left.
"We finished our analysis of the data collected from Ukraine," Hudson said, placing the floppy disk on the table in front of him.
"So, what do we got?" Adler asked, "Any mention of the stolen nuke?"
"Negative. As far as the KGB's database is concerned, it's either still in the wind or its a buried secret," Hudson told them.
"Shit," Lazar said, "What do we do now?"
"We may not have a location on the nuke, but in the KGB reports there was mention of an excavation taking place in the Ural Mountains - Yamantau," Hudson finished, "Our insider within the KGB confirmed it."
"Yamantau?" Woods asked, "I thought you and Weaver buried that place in '68?"
"We did," Hudson said, "Or, rather, the avalanche did."
"I don't understand, how does this connect to Perseus?" Adler questioned.
"Perseus' name was mentioned in the excavation report," Hudson explained, "The site at Yamantau was a Soviet doomsday bunker. Dragovich used the site for research and development of Project Nova."
Bell saw Mason tense up when Hudson said Dragovich's name. It was the same look he saw at the Pentagon.
"You think that Perseus might be trying to recreate Nova 6?" McKnight asked.
"If Perseus already has his hands on a Greenlight nuke, why would he bother with Nova 6?" Sims offered.
"We can't be sure what Perseus has planned, but we do know one thing," Hudson explained, "Agent Park?"
Park was not facing the group. Instead she looked unfocused and was staring down at the closed dossier in front of her on the table.
"Agent Park," Hudson said, his voice firmer. Park looked up immediately and said, "Forgive me."
With that, she opened up the dossier and revealed several photographs.
"Based on aerial recon of the excavation site, it looks like the Soviets are trying to salvage the computer mainframe," Park said. After she finished she stepped back from the table only slighty. Bell was concerned.
"Dragovich and Steiner must've left some good shit behind if Perseus wants it," Woods commented.
"Steiner..." Mason muttered under his breath. Bell could just barely hear him when he looked and saw Mason had his eyes shut.
"If the Soviets finish their dig, Perseus'll have access to the mainframe," Lazar said, "But how does this relate to Greenlight?"
"If it relates to Perseus, then it relates to Greenlight," Hudson said, "If we can corner the bastard, maybe he'll lead us straight to the nuke."
"What do you advise?" Adler asked.
"That we infiltrate the site and take the mainframe for ourselves," Hudson said, "I'll handle this op - personally. I have experience with the site. I'll contact our KGB insider, he'll offer logistical support. Hell, he may want to fly the chopper himself."
"Chopper?" Bell asked.
"Have you seen the size of a Soviet mainframe?" Hudson asked rhetorically. Bell did not respond.
"What about a team?" Adler asked. Hudson was about to give his answer when Mason interrupted.
"Send me and Woods," Mason said, which alerted Hudson.
"No," Hudson said firmly, "You're too close to this, Mason. We can afford zero fuck-ups."
"Bullshit, you know there's no one better for the job," Mason said, "Frank, you up for this?"
"I'm always ready," Woods said, "Just say the word."
"It's my call, Hudson," Adler interjected, "I want Mason and Woods on this. Get that mainframe before Perseus does."
Hudson's jaw clenched, but he relented, "Fine."
"You gonna ask Weaver to lend a hand?" Woods asked.
"Weaver's on assignment elsewhere," Hudson said, "but I'll get in touch with Brooks. You remember him, he was at Yamantau."
"I remember," Mason said.
"Okay, get your gear together, we're leaving tomorrow," Hudson said.
"What about the rest of us?" Bell asked.
"You'll be on standby until further notice," Hudson said. Bell couldn't help but feel disappointed. So far he'd provided invaluable service to this mission, and now he was being asked to sit on the sidelines. Hopefully it would just be this one time.
"Dismissed," Hudson told the group, and they dispersed. Before Bell made it back to his workstation, he heard Mason muttering something under his breath. He discreetly tuned in to hear what he was saying.
"Dragovich, Kravchenko, Steiner... all must die..." Mason uttered, and Bell was starting to get very concerned now. What the fuck was going on with Mason? Should he warn Hudson about it?
In the end, Bell decided against it. Whatever was going on with Mason would pass; Woods would keep him in check. All Bell could worry about now is if their mission would be successful.
Bell sat down at his desk and pulled out his bayonet. He went about sharpening it, trying to get it ready for whenever he'd need it next. He spent several minutes doing this until the bayonet had a nice, sharp finish to it. Next time he'd go out in the field, he would use it again. If he was lucky, he would plunge it through Perseus' heart and finish what he'd started in Vietnam.
He was brought out of his dark thoughts by the sound of ice being rustled. If Bell had to take a guess, he assumed someone was getting ice out from the fridge. Maybe he could ask whoever was at the fridge to get him a drink or something to kill time.
Before he could open his mouth, Bell saw Park emerge from the area where the fridge was, holding a bowl of ice cubes. Curious, Bell watched as she walked over to where the television set was and sat down in one of the nearby chairs. He then observed her taking off the fingerless gloves she was wearing, revealing severely bruised knuckles on both hands.
Bell winced. That look like it hurt. It also looked very recent. When did Park get injured like that?
Park stuck her hands in the ice bowl, wincing herself and sucking air through her teeth as she felt the cold of the ice cubes. Bell doesn't know what compelled him, but he stood up from his chair and slowly walked over towards her. She'd been avoiding everyone for the past week, so maybe it was time for him to see what he could do.
Strange. He hasn't really done this for anyone else, making sure they're alright. Bell has a few theories as to why, but the most obvious reason (damn you, Sims) didn't make any sense; he'd worked with plenty of female operatives in the CIA before without this concern, so why was Park any different?
"Bloody hell," Park said, taking her hands out of the ice. She then removed a pack of gauze from her jacket and started to bind it over her knuckles. Afterwards she slipped on her fingerless gloves once more.
"Everything okay, Park?" Bell asked when he was next to her, causing her to jump a bit and turn in his direction.
"Ah, Bell," Park greeted I'm, "I apologize for not seeing you there. How can I help?"
"Uh..." Bell began. He wasn't expecting her to say that, since right now he was coming to check up on her, "I, uh... I just wanted to know if you wanted something to... to drink."
"Oh," Park said, looking away from him for a moment, "That's kind of you."
"Beer?" Bell asked.
"Actually, I'll have a Tab, now that you mention it," Park told him, and Bell nodded.
"Yeah, sure," Bell responded. He walked over to the fridge and pulled out two cans of Tab, one for Park and one for himself. He walked back over and handed Park the soda.
"Thanks, Bell," Park said, taking the drink in hand before cracking it open. Bell did the same and they both drank.
"Mind if I sit with you for a while?" Bell asked.
"Of course," Park said before she started to look slightly alarmed, "I mean, of course you can sit down. Not of course like I mind you being here and..."
Park trailed off, but Bell said with a smile, "Park, it's alright. I get it."
Park looked slightly embarrassed, but Bell sat down anyway with confidence just to reassure her nothing was wrong.
"So... what's up, Doc?" Bell said in an attempt to break the tension. He wasn't even sure if he was trying to be funny, but Park laughed anyway so that was a bit of a success.
"Ah, nothing, really," Park said, taking another sip of soda, "I hate to say it but I'm kind of glad I'm not on this next assignment."
"You know something? So am I," Bell told her, "If Mason and Woods want to freeze their balls off in some Russian tundra, that's their business, not mine."
"Quite," Park said, shifting in her seat, "So, Woods... he doesn't seem like the most pleasant person to work with."
Bell remembers back to when they were breaching the Soviet base in Ukraine, and Woods had told Bell privately that he thought that Park was "a bitch." For one, that couldn't be further from the truth. For another, he knows he shouldn't say anything of it right now; that would turn a stressful situation into a bad one.
"Woods is like that with everyone," Bell explained, "Don't take it personally if he seems like an asshole. He's just been through a lot, Vietnam and all."
"I see," Park acknowledged.
"Give it time and he'll warm up to you," Bell said, "Trust me, he put me through the same crap when I first met him."
Park nodded, but said nothing more. Bell's concern remained, especially in light of seeing her injured hands which she kept concealed with fingerless gloves.
"How're you holding up?" Bell asked her.
"I've been better," Park responded hastily, "Much, much better."
Bell winced, apologetic for broaching such a subject.
"Bell..." Park began, "when you were in Vietnam, did you... lose anyone you were close to?"
Bell swallowed. He had already gone over the details of Fracture Jaw with her, but he had a feeling her questions now were of a different nature.
"Plenty," Bell bluntly responded.
"Was there anyone in particular that just made you...?" Park trailed off, but Bell knew what she was asking.
"Yeah," Bell began, "There was this kid, uh, Baker. Been in country a few weeks, guys in our platoon called him 'Scarecrow.' Never saw combat until, uh... until Tet. RPG took out our chopper, bunch of us survived the crash, but... he didn't."
"Oh," Park responded dryly, facing away from Bell.
"Kid was barely old enough to shave, nevermind fight," Bell explained, "So that one stuck with me."
"I'm sorry you had to go through that, Bell," Park said, "It isn't right that the young should have their lives torn away from them without any say in the matter."
Park's voice seemed to crack slightly, and for the first time since he'd met her, Bell thinks he saw a tear for the briefest of moments.
"Park," Bell leaned closer, but Park still faced away from him, "What happened with Volkov?"
There was no turning back now. Bell knew it would have to be addressed at some point, and now he could no longer wait. If nothing else, he had to make sure Park had things together when they went into the field next.
Park turned her head towards Bell and said, "Anton Volkov is a mercenary, pure and simple. He peddles death to the highest bidder. I don't know if he gives a damn what Perseus has planned or not, but that would not be unusual for his standards. Drug cartels, the Viet Cong, the IRA..."
Bell listened attentively to what she was saying. He thinks she knows where she was going with this.
"About eleven years ago now, I was studying cryptography at Oxford like I told you," Park told him, "My older brother calls me one day and says he's coming up from Camden Town to visit me. I hadn't seen him in months, so naturally I was excited to see him again."
Park cleared her throat and looked away from Bell.
"He never came," Park's voice started to crack, "Apparently, his car was parked just next to that of a member of Parliament's, which had an explosive concealed inside the tailpipe courtesy of the Irish Republican Army."
Park's head droops down and Bell sees more tears come from her face. Oh God. This is what had happened. Bell knew that this is what Volkov was implying when he was captured in East Berlin when he made the comment about her brother.
Park straightened herself up and wiped off the tears from her face. The way she did it made it known that she was aware this was unprofessional, and that now she would act in a more calm and rational manner in front of Bell. It was expected of everyone in the building to not let anything in this building interfere with the task at hand. They were all trained professionals ordered to carry out surveillance and assassinations on behalf of their governments.
"And John, he..." Park started again, "... well, I like to think that he didn't feel anything when it happened. He certainly didn't know it was happening, he wasn't even the target."
Bell placed a hand on her shoulder, and Park looked at him.
"It wasn't until after I joined MI6 that I learned that Anton Volkov had had dealings with the IRA," Park spoke in a more assertive tone now, with underlying aggression, "He's been a target of ours for years, and now can answer for everything he's done. We've already begun our... interrogation."
Park took off the glove on her right hand, revealing her bruised knuckles to him plainly. Bell took his hand off of her shoulder and looked at them carefully, realizing she had acquired these injuries beating Volkov down for information. Now he knows why Hudson was angry at her before they went to Ukraine.
"Now no will be hurt because of him ever again. Thanks to you, Bell," Park said, a weak but appreciative smile on her face.
Bell doesn't know what to say at this time. All he knows is that Park just revealed to him something deeply personal, something he doesn't think she's shared with a lot of people. Of course, he had recounted his time in Vietnam to her after several years of silence, but that was concerning the mission of finding Perseus. Volkov had given up everything that he could about Perseus and the stolen nuke, so he was mostly on the backburner by this point as far as the mission was concerned. After all this time spent together both in the safehouse and in the field, he's come to really admire and respect Park. There are few people in the CIA that he'd encountered that still had their soul, what with all the dirty shit they did to keep their country safe. Good thing Park wasn't CIA.
"Tom," Bell said. Park looked confused for a moment before Bell finished, "My name's Tom."
Bell smirked and extended his free hand. Park smiled at the gesture. She took her bruised, uncovered hand and took Bell's in hers.
"Helen," Park told him, and the two shook hands. Afterwards, they looked away towards the television screen, which was still off.
"Wait just a sec, I'll fix that," Bell said, getting up from his seat and turning on the television. The first thing that came up was a soccer game, something simple and understandable, a refresher to all the chaos they had encountered so far.
"You Brits like soccer, right?" Bell asked, but then he heard Park laugh.
"Sometimes I forget how silly Americans can be with naming things," Park said, sipping more of her Tab, "In our country we call it football."
"Well, we already got football in America," Bell told her, walking back over and sitting back down, "and it ain't this."
"How often do they kick it?" Park told him, "From what I've seen all they do is run back and forth with it."
"Often enough," Bell said, picking his soda back up and sipping from it.
The two of them sat there for some time, only half watching the match as their minds were on other things.
"So," Bell had asked about ten minutes later, "what do you think Hudson'll find at Yamantau?"
"Something that'll lead us to Perseus," Park said, "If nothing else, he should answer for his dealings with Volkov."
"First we got to find that Greenlight nuke," Bell said. He knew that it was the fact that Hudson revealed there was a nuke right underneath every NATO capital, including London, that had put her on edge this week. Hopefully her closure with Volkov would help her get back on track so they could find the nuke before Perseus could use it. And then maybe afterwards they would state the case before President Reagan, asking for his authorization to remove the Greenlight nukes as a security measure. Even if Park didn't have a personal stake at this, it was still a substantial risk having any Greenlight nukes anywhere. If Perseus had found one, then it was only a matter of time before the Soviets found the rest. If that happened, it would risk either global humiliation of the United States or the potential deaths of millions.
Hopefully Hudson, Mason, and Woods would find some answers at Yamantau. Then, maybe soon, they could all go home.