Tunnels 05 - Spiral

copying the
Book of Proliferation
page by page on a scanner so he’d be able to translate it with Eddie’s help. “Come on, you two — you’re the tech specialists. Any bright ideas?”
    Danforth glanced up from the scanner but didn’t reply, and Drake was slowly shaking his head.
    “The Dark Lights,” Eddie suggested. “Thanks to Drake, we can locate them. And my people, wherever they are, are likely to be using them on an intensive basis.”
    Drake was quick to answer. “But we’ve already considered that. Yes, we can detect Dark Light activity by using mast arrays, but it only works over relatively small areas. In order to increase the search radius, I’d need microwave antennae mounted up somewhere high, so there’d be uninterrupted line of sight out across the country.”
    “You mean a whole cluster of bloody powerful parabolic dishes, and directional to boot,” Danforth added in a patronizing tone.
    Drake gave him a weary nod; although the Professor was arguably one of the most brilliant minds on the planet, at times his sense of self-importance was difficult to stomach. “Then, in theory at least, we could identify any major Dark Light hot spots two or three hundred miles or even farther from the center of London,” Drake said.
    “Well, that’s a start,” Parry said optimistically.
    “We would also need to dispatch roving teams with battery-powered mobile detectors to help us pinpoint the precise coordinates of any hot spots.” Drake paused as he pursed his lips in a moment of contemplation. “Yes, we might strike gold, but it’s a hell of a long shot.”
    “Hell of a long shot,” Danforth echoed, as he turned to a new page in the
Book of Proliferation
and placed it facedown on the scanner.
    “High-powered parabolic dishes in clusters,” Parry summarized. “Now we’re getting somewhere. But where would we find that sort of setup in a hurry? The city? Canary Wharf?”
    Sergeant Finch mumbled something.
    “What?” Parry boomed, wheeling toward him. “What did you just say?”
    Sergeant Finch was taken aback by Parry’s reaction. “It’s just what you were saying . . . it made me think of the Backbone Chain,” he suggested sheepishly.
    “What’s the Backbone Chain?” Drake asked quickly.
    “It was a network of purpose-built concrete towers erected across the country by NATO to preserve communications after a nuclear strike,” Parry said. “The nearest tower to us here is at Kirk O’Shotts, and then there’s one at Sutton Common, and another at . . .”
    Parry and Sergeant Finch looked at each other, speaking at the same time. “The Post Office Tower,” they chorused.
    Parry strode over to Sergeant Finch and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You bloody genius!”
    “You’re talking about the BT Tower in London?” Drake asked.
    Parry waved his walking stick impatiently. “Stuff and nonsense! They will keep changing the blessed names of everything! Yes — the BT Tower — and we can get into it using the old emergency protocols, can’t we, Finch?”
    Sergeant Finch was grinning. “We certainly can, sir — and I’ve got a cousin who used to work there, back in the good old days wh —”
    “Raise him right now on one of Danforth’s satphones. Haul him out of bed if necessary,” Parry ordered. “And you two,” he said, setting his gaze on Drake, then Danforth, “how many mobile detectors can you rustle up for me at short notice?”
    Danforth groaned; he didn’t seem to be particularly enamored of the thought of doing any work. “How many do you want?” he inquired begrudgingly.
    “How many can you give me?” Parry said.
    “But how can we mass-produce them here?” Drake put in.
    “Simple as pie — if somebody gathers up all the Geiger counters in this place,” Danforth replied, “I can adapt them with components from the stores on Level 4. It’ll be bloody tedious, to say the least, but you can help me, Drake.”
    Drake raised his eyebrows. “You can do it? With components here in the Complex?”
    “In my sleep,” Danforth replied resignedly.

    “And once the mobile detectors are ready, we’ll ship them down south and send patrols out. Your men can lend a hand,” Parry said to Eddie, “but there aren’t enough of them. It looks as though I’m going to have to bring the Old Guard into play. We’ll need quite a few bods to cover the country.”
    “And we need to get ourselves down to London,” Drake said, “to the BT Tower.”

    There