Lisa took another sip of her coffee while she gathered her thoughts. The doubts whirled around her mind. Who could she trust? How much information could she share? Munroe was honorable, but Jessup was an unknown.
She told them what she knew. “OPIS consists of four ruling families and many more second tier families and individuals. Like the European feudal system, in a way. I’m still trying to get my head around it. Whatever the case, each ruling family is in charge of a sector. We’re working on locating where they’re all based. Santander is, we think, in Kazakhstan, but we have identified several bases on Russia’s Pacific coast that her family operate. My best team acquired intel from Touma Yamada. He described a faction or split within OPIS. I believe we can exploit it to take them down.”
“Play them off each other?” Munroe said.
“Exactly.”
“Is this what your operation is for?” Jessup said. “To take them down?”
Lisa nodded. “Partly. We have reason to believe that Victor Offenheim is the leader of OPIS. We think that if we dispose of him, the remaining families will fight for power, giving us a chance to locate and neutralize the threats.”
“What’s the other part, then?” Jessup stared at Lisa. His steely gaze unnerved her. She was certain he didn’t trust her, didn’t believe LK3 were capable of achieving what she said.
“Offenheim controls North and South America. We take him down, we regain some control of satellites and stop his crazy plans.”
Munroe coughed. “You sure you don’t want some help? I have plenty of Army Rangers going a little stir-crazy now that the Black Skulls have up and left.”
“No, sir. Thank you for the offer, but it’s imperative we do it the LK3 way. With stealth. But I could use your help to engage the OPIS battalion down in the valley.”
“I can do that.”
Lisa drained her coffee. “I still believe that the intel I gave you about the cities being bombed is true. Why else would OPIS suddenly withdraw their troops?”
Jessup and Munroe nodded.
“How many bases have we got on our side now?” Munroe asked.
“Twenty-four. Mostly in the western states. Three in Hawaii and two in Texas. All locked down and on high alert,” Jessup said.
“All right, Omstead. Carry on with your operation. We’ll continue to fly sorties and harass their ground troops. If you succeed and we survive any attack, we’ll talk strategy then. I suspect your task will be to track down the rest of this OPIS organization. I’m giving you the order now to use whatever force needed. Clear?”
“Yes, sir.”
Lisa left the operations center and took some time to walk through the airbase grounds. The normally well-manicured gardens were now overgrown with weeds. Plant debris littered the sidewalks and paved areas. No one had time for trivial matters anymore. Sandbags had been placed around the buildings, and windows had been boarded up. The gates had new guard towers, and machine gun nests were dotted around the perimeter. Lisa made her way across the parade ground, enjoying the spring sun. Halfway to the barracks, near the hangar that LK3 had been given sole use of, she paused to retie her hair in a tight bun and replace her cap.
Sofia looked up and smiled as she entered. “Good timing,” she said, and pointed at her radio handset then passed it to Lisa. “It’s Cal.”
“Cal. SITREP.” Lisa said.
“Things have gone a bit sideways. We made it to the ranger’s hut up near Elephants Back. Ryan was captured by a sentry team, but we managed to intervene and, I think, stop them from alerting Offenheim. They claimed their radio equipment was damaged in that storm the other night.”
“Ryan. Is he okay?”
“He’s still out but appears unharmed.”
“They must be a crack squad to capture him.”
“We found drones. High speed, and equipped with thermal imaging cameras, guns and tasers. Zanzi’s going to check them out. From what Sofia says, they’re highly advanced. So be on the lookout. I’d say they have other teams similarly equipped.”
“Now we have an issue,” Lisa said. “They’ll expect them to report in soon. I hope the faulty radio buys us enough time.”
“Me too. If we don’t run into any more problems, we should be in position at the scheduled time.”
“Okay. Do what you must. You know what’s at stake.”
“Copy that.”
Lisa handed the handset back to Sofia. “Everything ready?”
“Brock and Kamal are finalizing gear checks. Other than that, we’re ready.”
“Good work. Final briefing in five. Let everyone know.” Lisa turned and headed to her bunk to pack her tactical pack.
Repacking just before a mission was a routine she’d adopted back in her recon days, a way to focus. At the same time, she could double-check that she had everything she needed. She glanced over at the empty bunk to her left. In any barracks, that would have been the one Cordwell occupied. Not for the last time, a pang of guilt jolted through her. Leaving him like that, lying on the road in Hood River, haunted her. She had wanted to go back and give him the burial he would have wanted, in accordance with his faith. She pulled out the rosary beads he had given her a long time ago and ran them between her thumb and forefinger.
“You’ll need these one day, Omstead,” Cordwell had said. “I know you think God abandoned you when your father died. These are to remind you that he hasn’t. He is always here.” Cordwell had then pointed to her heart and tenderly wrapped the beads around her wrist. Lisa hadn’t looked at them since her husband had died.
She smiled. Cordwell, you softy.
***
Brock nodded when he saw the rosary beads around her wrist as he took his seat. Kamal sat on his left. Reid on the right of Brock, with Allie next to him.
Sofia handed Lisa the folded map and took the last seat.
“Right,” Lisa said. “Listen up. Sigma team heads out in thirty minutes. This is a critical phase in the mission. Timing is everything. Sigma will be dropped north of Upper Blue Lake. After a short hike, we’ll proceed down through the lower lakes, across Meadow Lake, and finally onto our last waterway.” She pointed at a satellite photo of the area. “This is The Eyrie. Familiarize yourself with the whole area. Everyone has been issued with a map. Black Skulls will be everywhere. Don’t hesitate to shoot because they won’t. Beta team, you know your location. Keep out of sight until we need you.”
Lisa gazed around the table. Some of those present were highly trained and proven field operatives. Others were former military, like her, and had long-since retired. It was time to urge her tired bones on for what she hoped was one final mission. Possibly the most vital in her long career.
“Our core objective stays the same. Take down their scrambler and install Avondale’s virus. Once he has control, he can hit them with what we hope is the knockout blow.”
“What about Offenheim?” Reid said.
“Capture him if possible. If we complete our missions and kill all the elites, he’ll be on his own.”
“His downfall will cause a power struggle with the other families,” Sofia said. “Keep them fighting and we might have a chance to take them down.”
“Sofia’s right. Make no mistake, Offenheim will be well guarded.” Lisa switched off the screen and began gathering her files together. “Whatever happens out there. I’m proud to have served with all of you,” she said.
She was met with a chorus of agreements. As Sigma and Beta teams filed from the briefing room, they shook hands with each other or hugged. Lisa smiled inwardly. She’d meant what she said. She was proud and honored to have served with each person present. When she needed them most, they had put aside looking for their own families to serve the greater good.
Klaxons blared, sudden and loud, and red lights flashed.
Lisa’s radio hummed to life a few seconds later. “We’ve got incoming. Fighters and drones from the look of it. Get your team into the bunkers,” Jessup’s aide said.
A private appeared in the doorway, his face red and flustered. “This way.” He turned, gesturing with his hand. They had barely moved twenty meters when the ground shook and dust rained down. The booms of ordnance rumbled around the base.
Sofia grabbed Lisa’s arm. “We have to leave now. We might not get another chance.”
Lisa stared at her for a few moments, torn between following orders and doing what had to be done. She shrugged. Who was she kidding? She was LK3. They did this sort of thing all the time.
“Allie!” she shouted. “We have to get to the chopper.”
Allie grimaced, but nodded.
Sigma and Beta teams burst from the barracks and sprinted across the parade ground toward the hangar. The base could best be described as organized chaos. Fighter jets took off from the runway, ten seconds apart. Anti-aircraft guns blazed. Enemy fighters swooped down, attacking with missiles and machine gun fire.
Kaboom!
A huge explosion rocked the ground. Lisa grabbed Brock and clung on. That had been close. Her ears rang, and she shook her head to clear the fuzziness. The F-18s from Beale began to engage in dogfights, and the base’s missile defenses engaged, knocking a couple of OPIS drones from the sky. One drone slammed into the trees hugging the perimeter and exploded in a fireball.
The LK3 Black Hawk was fully loaded. They jumped on board and two ground crew pushed the chopper out of the hangar as Allie started the engines.
The radio crackled. “LK3, you don’t have permission to take off. We’re under attack.”
Lisa grabbed a headset and sat in the co-pilot seat. “With all due respect, we’re leaving. This is a perfect opportunity. The enemy is otherwise engaged.”
Expletives came over the radio. “You’re on your own, then.”
Lisa nodded at Allie and strapped in. She glanced over her shoulder to check that everyone was on board. They were.
Ten seconds later, the Black Hawk hovered twenty meters above the ground. Then Allie tilted the nose slightly and pushed the cyclic control forward. She kept low until they were well clear of any buildings, then banked away over the surrounding town and headed east toward the Sierra Nevadas and OPIS.
Thirty-Three
Sierra Nevada Mountains, California
Ryan struggled to recall the last time he’d been caught so off guard. In the past, he would have identified the strange buzzing immediately and acted accordingly. Sure, he had been captured several times before, but never because he’d missed something so obvious. Maybe it was the lack of sleep. Or the enormity of the task ahead. Whatever the reason, he was annoyed with himself. He should’ve suspected OPIS would have drones.
He sighed and stretched, and his stomach rumbled. Someone had made fresh coffee and the scent was enticing him to refuel.
His profession had become more complicated over the years. Back when he started, mobile phones were analogue, and cities had barely any cameras. For fossils like Ryan, technology moved too fast. The Nameless needed younger members, recruits like Zanzi and Reid.
“You’re awake,” Booth said, standing in the doorway. His grin confirmed his amusement.
“I feel terrible, but yeah.” Ryan pushed aside his embarrassment at having been captured, stood and brushed past his old friend to join his team in the dining area of the ranger’s hut. A Black Skull had been secured to a chair with duct tape. He spotted two others lying still in the back room.
Zanzi and Tilly sat, heads bowed together as if deep in discussion, though no words were being spoken.
“About time you got up,” Cal said. “You’ve been out for six hours.” Though busy cleaning her MP5, she pushed a mug of coffee over to Ryan.
Ryan grunted. “Who’s this guy?”
“One of the sentry team. 404.”
“404?”
“That’s what they are. Just a number. No name.”
“Another way a cult controls – take away a person’s identity. What happened to the other two?”
“I may have overused the taser,” Cal said nonchalantly. “404 said OPIS has groups like this posted everywhere.” Cal jabbed her finger at the map spread out in front of her. “I got him to mark them down.”
“We expected that.” Ryan cast his eyes at the map, choosing to ignore the dead Black Skulls. If they were going to have any success, they would have to proceed with extreme caution. “We’ll have to use the survival blankets.”
“Way ahead of you,” Cal said. She clicked her weapon back together and jammed in a magazine.”
“How are we for time?”
“It’s going to be a stretch, but if we leave soon and push hard, we’ll make it,” Cal said.
“I can’t believe I didn’t see those drones.”
“Not something we’ve dealt with very often. Not in our day.” Cal pulled him away from the table and lowered her voice. “404 informed me that they have drones patrolling constantly, equipped with thermal cameras.”
“He gave up the intel willingly?”
“More or less.” Cal grinned.
Ryan’s eyes widened. This was a side of Cal he hadn’t seen before, an almost sadistic side. Like she had enjoyed extracting the information. Maybe she had hardened during the three years when she was working for Offenheim. Maybe the knowledge of the pain she was causing had forced her to take on a different persona. “What are we going to do with him? Sooner or later, The Eyrie will expect a report. When they don’t get it, they’ll send a team. Mission over.”
“We can’t kill him. That guy saved Zanzi,” Booth said.
“That’s the guy?”
“In the flesh.”
Ryan grimaced. “We can’t kill him in cold blood. It’s not our style.”
“Yes. But he’ll give us away the moment we leave,” Cal said.
“Let’s knock him out and take the radio, or destroy it,” Booth said.
Cal was right. Though Ryan hated the idea of killing the Black Skull, his loyalties lay with OPIS. He preferred Booth’s idea, but as soon as 404 regained consciousness, he would alert his masters.
“We can’t kill him,” Zanzi said.
Tilly nodded. “He saved us, giving me the chance to find my sister’s records.”
404 began to struggle in his bonds, humming through the duct tape over his mouth.
Ryan reached over and ripped it off. “What?”
404 coughed a couple of times. “You know where the records are?” he said, his eyes locked on Tilly.
“Yes. Barko sent me down to the file room once when his secretary was away. I’ve seen the room. Rows of those cabinet things.”
“Maybe, after all this time…” 404 muttered. He had the look of a man struggling to go against something he had believed in for a long time. Ryan had seen the look in dozens of people before. On many missions. Lucid thoughts connecting dots, leading to a revelation.
“What do you propose?” Ryan said.
“I can get the radio working easily. We were due to fix it when we spotted you with our drones. We report in every twelve hours. Obviously straight away if we have to.”
Cal groaned and grabbed him by the shirt. She shoved her Glock under his chin. “He’s lying. He’ll rat us out as soon as we leave.”
Both Zanzi and Ryan eased down her gun hand. “Hear him out first,” Ryan said.
Cal shook her head. “Why are you on his side all of a sudden?”
“I’m not. I just want to hear him out.”
Booth frowned. “Let the man speak.”
“You don’t know what these assholes did to me. You wouldn’t understand anyway. I have no mercy for them. Every Black Skull I can kill now, the better.” Cal dropped into her seat, gripping the side with her free hand and whitening the knuckles.
Again, Ryan was puzzled by his wife’s behavior. Normally cool, calm and collected, her temper was teetering on a knife edge.
“Hear him out. If we don’t like it, he’s yours,” Ryan said. He had no intention of letting Cal do anything permanent to 404, but he ha
d to placate her somehow. Cal appeared to accept his words and stopped staring daggers at the Black Skull.
404, his eyes still on Tilly, said, “All I want is my file. That’s all. My name, my family, everything about the life I never knew will be in that file. You get that for me, and I’ll help.”
“Just that?” Zanzi said.
“Yes.”
“But if we don’t have your name?”
“They have red folders. Until now, I never knew why. I’m guessing my number’s stamped on it.”
“Okay,” Zanzi said.
404 seemed to mull over what Zanzi had said before turning to Ryan. “You can hold a gun to my head if you like while I make the report. You can even write the script. After that, you have twelve hours to do what you came here to do.”
“What’s to stop you alerting another team?” Cal said.
“Nothing.” 404 swallowed. “You ever wake up one morning and wonder how you got to where you are?”
“Once or twice,” Booth said.
“You know the feeling, then. The dread. I wake up every morning like that. What are they going to make us do today? I never wanted this, but I had no choice. That was taken from me. My file will give me that choice back. That’s why I won’t alert anyone.”
Ryan spent a few moments looking at 404. He seemed sincere, but so did any desperate person. Threat of life did that. Whichever way he looked at the problem, there was no easy solution.
“I say we trust him,” Ryan said. “It’s all we have.”
Booth, Tilly and Zanzi murmured agreement.
“Fine,” Cal said.
404 gestured toward the back of the hut. The radio unit sat on a desk amongst dirty dishes, empty beer bottles and junk food packets. “The mast is outside,” he said. “It should only take a few minutes to fix.”
He held up his hands, showing that he needed to be freed.
***
The late-afternoon sun painted the mountains in light, accentuating the gray rocks and, farther down, the dark green conifers. Ryan pulled the space blanket tighter and peered through the spotting scope. It was weird, seeing the satellite complex again. They had originally come here to investigate after a former worker went to the FBI, telling them a story of a nefarious group carrying out experiments on children. His tale was so outlandish, the agent doing the interview wasn’t quite sure how to file it. They’d asked the worker to come back the next day, and when he never showed up, they shrugged it off as a hoax. It was only when it was discovered that the worker had died in strange circumstances that the FBI put it through the channels, giving the case to LK3. Lisa had asked The Nameless to conduct a covert operation.
Masks of Ash Page 25