"Dispatch in ten," said a mechanical voice over the intercom.
Alex rooted through his bag for his gadgets. Sokolov had sent someone to retrieve Alex's duffel bag and snowboard from Moscow.
Camryn stepped into the room. She was wearing a bulletproof vest beneath her unzipped sweatshirt. There was a Glock attached to her belt.
"So, how are you liking Chechnya so far?" Camryn asked.
Alex shrugged. "I've only been here for a day, and I was unconscious for most of the day."
"There's a ski resort nearby. It's really nice."
"Yeah? Maybe we should go sometime."
"We're going right now."
"Now? I thought we were looking for nuclear weapons."
"We are. What better a place than the mountains for a nuclear lab?"
"That's true." Alex threw on his flak jacket and tucked the Nintendo DS and Zelda game into his pocket. Next he put on the transmitter Sokolov had given him.
"Ready?" Camryn prompted.
"No," Alex sighed.
"Good, let's go."
Alex smiled and shook his head as he followed Camryn out of the room with his snowboard and goggles. The two left the base and climbed into the back of the blue van waiting outside. The back of the van had been hollowed out and filled with electronic equipment. Sokolov and another man sat in the back with the two teen spies. One man was in the front driving.
"Everyone ready?" the driver asked.
"Yeah," Sokolov answered. Then he turned to Camryn. "You remember Tubs, right?"
Camryn smiled. "How could I ever forget? Ha, ha, good old Tubs."
"How are you, kid?" the man named Tubs asked.
"Alright."
Sokolov clapped the shoulder of the man sitting beside him. "You probably don't recognize him, but this is Jack Benson."
"No way!" Camryn cried.
Alex raised his eyebrow. "Who?"
"Oh, sorry," Sokolov apologized. "These are my closest friends. They work with the CIA too. The guy driving is Tim Burton. We call him 'Tubs.'"
"Why?"
"I used to be fat," Tubs answered. "I worked off all the weight, but the name stuck."
Jack Benson held out his hand to Alex. "I'm Jack. Nice to meet you."
"I'm Alex." Alex shook the man's hand.
"Jack Benson is one of the most wanted rogue agents of the CIA," Camryn explained. "He's changed his name and appearance so many times to stay under the radar."
"I'm going by Dmitry Orlov for now."
Camryn smiled and said something in Russian to the men. The three older men replied in Russian. Alex sighed. He really should have studied Russian.
Alex nudged Camryn's side. "What's going on?"
"Oh, it's just something with their last names," Camryn said. "Sokolov means 'of Falcon.' Orlov means 'of Eagle.' Tubs goes by Zakhar Vorobyov. Vorobyov means 'of Sparrow.' Dad's old code name was Falcon. Jack's was Eagle, and Tubs' name was Sparrow."
"Interesting…"
The rest of the ride was silent. Tubs finally brought the van to a complete stop. He climbed into the back of the van with everyone else.
"Okay," Sokolov said to Camryn and Alex, "you two are going to ride the lift to the top of the ski resort. Use the Geiger counter to track the source of the uranium."
"Are you sure it's up there?" Alex asked. He wasn't quite sure if he trusted Camryn's father yet.
"Yes, I'm sure. If you find anything, contact us immediately."
"Are you sure you kids are okay on your own?" Tubs asked.
"We've dealt with worse," Camryn said.
"Camryn, I really don't like the idea of you going off by yourself," Sokolov said.
"Don't worry about it, Dad. I've done more dangerous things, and I'm still in once piece, aren't I? Besides, I'm not going to be alone. Alex is with me."
Sokolov gave Alex a testing look. Alex knew Sokolov didn't like the idea of the boy being alone with Camryn in dangerous territory.
Camryn opened the back of the van and hopped out with her snowboard and goggles. Alex followed her without looking back at the three men sitting in the van. The two teens went into the resort lodge and checked in. Then they went to the lift, which carried them to the top of the resort. Once at the top, Alex pulled the Nintendo DS out of his pocket and inserted the Zelda game cartridge. He turned on the game system. Immediately, there was a soft, steady, slow beeping. The two teens began trudging through the snow, following the Geiger counter. The beeping slowly and gradually became louder and faster. Within about an hour, the Geiger counter was beeping loudly and quickly.
"Turn that off," Camryn said.
"Why?"
"Someone will hear it."
"Are we that close?" Alex asked. He'd never really used a Geiger counter before.
"I think so." Camryn slid her snowboarding goggles over her eyes. "Do you have infrared vision?"
"Yeah."
"Good. There are probably infrared beams all over this area to trigger traps."
Alex pulled on his goggles and continued forward. The teens came upon a dip in the side of the mountain. In the bottom of the dip was the entrance to a cave. Through the infrared goggles, Alex could see countless red lines running across the dip.
"We're screwed," Alex muttered. He turned on his voice transmitter. "Uh…Mr. Sokolov, I think we found it."
"Good work. Stay out of sight. We'll be up as soon as we can."
Alex turned of the transmitter.
"Oh, shoot," Camryn muttered. She grabbed Alex's arm and pulled him away. She led him into a patch of trees.
"Cam, what's up?"
"I think they saw us."
"Who?"
"KGB."
Alex heard the distance roar of a snowmobile engine. It was slowly getting louder.
"Let's go." Alex mounted his snowboard. Camryn followed suit.
Alex switched the transmitter back on. "I think someone saw us. We're heading back down."
A bullet whizzed past Alex's ear. Camryn shrieked. The two spies started down the mountainside. Bullets were fired from behind, just barely missing their targets. One bullet ripped through the sleeve of Alex's jacket. Alex took a quick glance behind him. The seven snowmobiles were only a couple hundred yards behind him, and they were gaining fast. Alex bent his knees a little further to reduce air resistance so he could go a bit faster. But still, there was no way to escape. Camryn took the gun from her belt and threw off the safety catch. Within a few minutes, the snowmobiles had come within close shooting range. Camryn's head whipped around. She took less than a second to aim and fired, all while maintaining her balance on the board. Two motorists fell to her deadly aim.
"Cam! Watch out!" Alex called. There was a wide patch of trees in front of them. There was no way to avoid it.
Camryn swerved away from a tree at the last second. The two teens maneuvered through the trees, cutting close calls. Soon, they were out in the open again. They had lost one motorist in the trees. Three down, four to go. Alex glanced back again. One of the snowmobiles was almost on him. Alex swerved left and right to avoid being shot. He headed straight for a huge pine tree. He squinted his eyes in concentration. He could be severely hurt or even killed if he didn't time this right. Alex cried out in shock and pain when a bullet grazed his cheek. The shock nearly knocked him off balance. Before Alex knew it, the tree was only a few yards in front of him. Alex steered the board with his left foot, trying to avoid the tree. He felt the frozen bark scrape the back of his jacket as he made his narrow escape. Alex swore under his breath. The motorist tried to break too late and slammed head-on into the tree.
Camryn fired back three shots and brought down another man. A bullet hit her shoulder blade, knocking her off balance and into the snow. One of the two remaining snowmobiles sped with the intention of running her over. Camryn twisted out of the way, detached the snowboard from her feet, and swung herself onto the snowmobile. She shot the driver and pushed him off. She pulled the snowmobile up beside Alex.
"Get on!" she ordered.
Alex reached down and undid the clips that held his feet to the board. He jumped onto the back of the vehicle and clasped his arms around Camryn's waist. Camryn swerved the vehicle toward a patch of trees.
"Where are you going?!" Alex demanded.
"Trust me," Camryn replied briefly.
Three bullets made impact with Alex's back. The air was knocked out of his lungs. He held onto Camryn tighter so he wouldn't fall.
"Are you okay, Alex?"
"Yeah," Alex panted.
"Duck!"
Alex and Camryn ducked their heads down as they passed by the low branches of the trees. The other motorist wasn't too bright or quick. He was knocked off the snowmobile. His vehicle crashed and exploded.
Alex let out a sigh of relief as he and Camryn neared the bottom of the mountain. A distant rumbling made Alex's stomach lurch. He looked back over his shoulder.
"Is that what I think it is?" Camryn asked.
"I don't know. If you're thinking it's an avalanche, then yeah – you're right."