PLAYING KEEP AWAY
From Spies and Terrorists





A triggered spark gap like this can be used to set off a nuclear bomb.



There’s a wild car chase down the streets of L.A. An FBI agent—let’s call him, I don’t know, Jack—is racing after a rogue terrorist who has made off with a soup can-sized electrical device that looks like a spool of thread with a hook on top.

In the hands of a medical professional, this device, called a “triggered spark gap,â€