Project Aura

by Bob Mayer

  Things were accelerating, something she had experienced before during times of national crisis, yet no one in the government other than her knew there was a crisis. She had read the report on Mrs. Callahan's death. She had known the National Security Adviser and her husband reasonably well, and she had no doubt they would never have committed suicide, but the FBI had labeled it that and closed the case.

  McFairn had never liked Callahan, a relative newcomer to Washington, coming in on the President's coat tails. The Adviser job should have been hers, so the death didn't bother her as much as the implication if she added in the death of Eichen: There was no doubt the Priory was moving against Nexus.

  Since she had supplied Boreas, thus the Priory, with most of the intelligence about Nexus, she knew she was responsible for the deaths. Whatever guilt she had over that was assuaged by her anger that she had never been approached to be a member of Nexus. Who better to keep an eye on the Priory than the Deputy Director of the NSA?

  All her thinking brought her full circle to the fundamental problem with her position: what did the Priory have planned and who was its enemy? The Priory had repeatedly shown that it cared little about who or what it had to destroy in accomplishing its goals, and she had little trust in Boreas's word that the plans were beneficial to the United States.

  She turned back to the desk looked once more at the accusing photo, then picked up the phone linking her to the NSA operations center. At the very least she could have her agency monitor what was going to happen and be prepared to react whichever way was needed. She made sure the ops center was operating at full staffing and all the lines of communications with other government agencies were open.

  Then she waited.

  *****

  Dalton watched from behind Hammond's shoulder as the last member of Kirtley's team was lowered into his isolation tube. "Let me know when they're all on the other side," he told Hammond.

  Barnes and Jackson were already in the other room where the extra tubes holding Dalton's team were stored, preparing them for movement.

  "Who are we working for?" Hammond suddenly asked.

  Dalton was startled. "What do you mean?"

  Hammond shrugged. "I'm just a scientist but even I can see things here are anything but straightforward. Why did Jenkins cut off that team? He worked for the government right? Then why did Raisor kill him? He worked for the government too. And I'm supposed to be working for the government, as are you, yet we're getting ready to hide from our own government."

  "The government-" Dalton began, but he realized she was asking questions that didn't have simple answers. "The government is supposed to serve the people," he finally said. "But things have changed over the years. I've seen the same thing in the Army. We exist to defend our country; it's what we swear a binding oath to. But most officers, and a heck of a lot of NCOs, are only interested in their own careers, their own interests."

  He looked at the isolation tubes and the NSA team as he searched for words. "You're just a scientist and I'm just a soldier. Just." He laughed shortly. "You know, people want to believe there is a 'they.' A bunch of other people who run things. Maybe there is a 'they,' but even if there is, it's our fault for giving up responsibility. And if there isn't a 'they,' then we're at fault for not taking responsibility."

  He thought of some of the places he'd been ordered to go and what he had done. "Sometimes good people do bad things with a good motive. Sometimes bad people do bad things for a bad motive. Does it matter?''

  Hammond smiled, a most unusual event on her worn face. "I wouldn't have pegged you for a philosopher." The smile was gone so quickly, Dalton wondered if he had really seen it, as she continued. "I think I became a scientist to avoid asking all those questions. I wanted things in black or white. It either worked or it didn't. You either proved a hypothesis or you didn't Then they sent me here, and if there's one thing Bright Gate isn't that's black or white. Even when we go over to the other side, it's all gray." She leaned forward and typed instructions into Sybyl. "They're all on the virtual plane now."

  Dalton turned to give Barnes and Jackson help, when Hammond placed a hand on his aim, halting him. "Can I ask you something?"

  Dalton was afraid she was going to ask him who he was working for now, but the question was different.

  "Why the Army?"

  There was no hesitation in his answer. "The people. I went in at first looking for some sort of adventure, but I stayed because of the people."

  Hammond was nodding. "A good reason." She looked about the control center. "I wish I had one as good for doing what I'm doing."

  "Tell me," Dalton said.

  She shrugged. "Why am I here?"

  "No," Dalton said. "Why did you decide to become a scientist?"

  "Knowledge. To learn new things. To discover."

  "All good reasons," Dalton said. "Hang in there. I have a feeling we have a lot more to learn," he added as he headed for the freight elevator.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The Aura IV satellite had been launched from Kouro the previous week using a French-designed Ariana 4 rocket. The basic design of the satellite was the same that the HAARP team was using to renovate the MILSTAR satellites. The retransmit plans were part of the wealth of information Souris had taken with her when she defected.

  To implement the plan and build the satellite, Cesar had been able to hire Russian scientists. Getting the European Space Agency to launch it had simply required putting the appropriate amount of money in the specified bank account. With the establishment of Kouro as an international launch center, space was truly becoming open to all, as long as they had enough money.

  Given that there were over eight thousand objects in space, one more small satellite had excited little interest among the world's intelligence agencies. ESA had announced the launch as a communications satellite for a private company. It was now in a geosynchronous orbit centered over the Caribbean Sea, halfway between Saba and Colombia.

  Once the satellite was released from the rocket, it had unfolded and spread the retransmit antennas, forty feet wide on either side, mirror images of the towers at HAARP. The bulk of the rest of the satellite was a very powerful battery, capable of adding strength to the signal when it came. The uplink was a specially designed antenna on top of the volcano on Saba. Souris had estimated they would get only one burst out of the battery, maybe two. But all they needed was one to confirm they could do what they needed.

  *****

  Farruco had to climb over one of the women to get to his cell phone, which was on the nightstand. He ignored her yelp of pain as his knee pressed into her stomach.

  "Yes?"

  "The Americans are coming," Cesar informed him.

  Farruco jumped out of the bed, one hand on the phone, the other reaching for his pants. "I will-"

  "Shut up and listen," Cesar cut him off. "I want you to do exactly as I say."

  *****

  "Careful," Jackson warned Dalton as he and Barnes finished sliding the dolly under the last tube in line. They wore heavy work gloves, as the eight-foot-high tubes were still supercooled. Cables looped all around, providing power from portable generators and life support for the bodies inside the tubes. The job had been made considerably easier given that the iso-tubes were designed to be moved if needed.

  Dalton wiped the sweat off his forehead and surveyed what they had accomplished so far: All ten cylinders that held his team were free and ready to move; ancillary equipment had also been loaded on the movable platforms.

  "What about Raisor?" Barnes asked. "And the other team?"

  Dalton shook his head. "We'll be lucky to get all these in the sling loads. Hammond says they'll last like this on generator power for about two hours, then we've got to hook everything back up."

  "Where are we taking them?" Barnes asked.

  "We’ll see it when we get there," Dalton said.

  "Enough yacking," Jackson said. She had her padded shoulder against the first tube in line. "
Let's get these to the landing pad."

  "Yes, ma'am." Dalton snapped a half salute and joined her.

  *****

  Valika had secured the Barrett to the floor of the helicopter. She doubted whether she would need the long gun, but it was best to be prepared. She checked the function of the MP-5 submachine gun Gregory had brought for her.

  She leaned close to Gregory, who was seated next to her. "How long?"

  "Thirty minutes."

  She looked at the Aura generator, debating whether to turn it on yet. She decided to wait until they were just about to land. She opened one of the metal cases. A dozen canisters were secured in the foam padding. She pulled one out and handed it to Gregory.

  "What's this?" he yelled.

  "A special type of grenade. Russian. We call it a beer can. When it detonates, it sends out an intense electromagnetic pulse. It is designed to be used inside headquarters and communications centers to destroy electronic equipment while not injuring personnel."

  Gregory frowned. "Why do we need it?"

  Now that they were in the air, Valika was pretty certain that Gregory and his men would follow through on the mission. It was time to tell him the nature of the objective and how she envisioned the grenade being used against Psychic Warriors if they appeared.

  *****

  Two avatars materialized on the roof of Cesar's villa, the lead element of Kirtley's team. Kirtley was two miles away with the rest of the team, on the virtual plane at the objective rally point.

  "No guards that we can see," one of the men reported. "The roof is clear."

  "Jump," Kirtley ordered the rest of his team. He, however, remained where he was. "Hook me into the command net of the Special Ops team," he directed Hammond through Sybyl.

  *****

  The Special Operations task force from the Roosevelt was less than ten minutes out from the villa, flying low-level just above the treetops. The soldiers on board the Blackhawks prepared their weapons, putting rounds in the chamber. Forty men, the elite of the American military, they were as prepared as they could be.

  The team leader listened as a radio call came in from the satellite receiver. "Hammer Six, this is Eyes Six. Over."

  The team leader keyed his radio. "This is Hammer Six. Go ahead. Over."

  Kirtley's voice came back. "Hold at final line for my command. Over."

  "Roger."

  "Also, be prepared to go to the location I give you. Over."

  The team leader frowned. "We have the location of the villa. Over."

  "The villa is not your priority objective. The priority objective will be where I tell you to go. Out"

  The team leader turned to his executive officer, eyebrows raised in question. The XO could only shrug his ignorance of this change.

  *****

  Sergeant Lambier started as two forms materialized in front of him. "What the hell?"

  "We're friendly," one of the forms spoke, the voice echoing. As Lambier watched, the smooth white surface of the forms transformed into clothes, skin, hair. A man in a black jumpsuit with no identifying badges or insignia.

  "Who are you?" Lambier demanded.

  "NSA," the first form answered. "Helicopters are less than ten minutes from here. Where are the guards?"

  Lambier shook his head as the other members of his team gathered round. "I don't know. We haven't heard anything in a while." He reached out to touch the form. His hand passed through. "What the hell are you?"

  ****

  On a hillside a half mile away, Farruco could see the strange forms appear on the roof of the building. Just as Cesar had told him would happen. He flipped open his SATPhone. "They're here."

  *****

  Cesar put his hand on Souris's shoulder. "Now!" She pressed the Enter key.

  From the antenna on top of Saba's volcano, a tight-wave beam darted up into the sky toward Aura IV. It hit the retransmit panels, triggering a surge of power from the main battery, and was redirected down to Earth.

  *****

  Kirtley's avatar staggered, the screams of his team members' dying psyches hitting him with a wave of virtual pain.

  *****

  The last thing Sergeant Lambier saw was the two forms getting wiped away, like pencil images under a powerful and extremely fast eraser. Then his brain exploded in agony, blood poured from his eyes, mouth, ears, and nose, and he collapsed to the floor dead.

  *****

  "They just disappeared," Farruco reported.

  Cesar slapped Souris on the back "It worked!"

  "Of course it worked," Souris said.

  "Go in and see what happened to the prisoners," Cesar ordered Farruco.

  *****

  "Did you track it?" Kirtley demanded. "Did you track the transmitter? Is it close by?"

  Boreas was staring at the data HAARP had picked up. It made no sense.

  "Where is it?" Kirtley's voice had risen to a panicked pitch. "They wiped out my team, goddamn it! I've got the choppers on hold at the final line. Give me a location."

  "You knew that was going to happen," Boreas said calmly, still trying to figure out what the information he was looking at meant, as it wasn't like the previous Aura transmissions they'd intercepted. "Stand by."

  *****

  In the air next to Mount of the Holy Cross, Roby was watching his radar screens, and he didn't like what they were telling him. Four helicopters were coming in from the north. He tried contacting them on the guard frequency, but there was no reply.

  "This ain't good," he muttered.

  *****

  "I've lost them!" Hammond said as she came running into the loading bay.

  "What?" Dalton spun around, his attention diverted from the sky outside. He could hear the inbound Blackhawks but he hadn't seen them yet.

  "The team. They're gone. Except for Kirtley. The rest of them flat-lined. All at once. No mental activity at all."

  "Damn it," Dalton cursed.

  With a blast of cold air, the first Blackhawk came to a hover, the side door opening. The crew chief shoved out the cargo netting and Jackson and Barnes began spreading it out on the grate.

  Dalton ran over to Jackson, grabbing her shoulder to get her attention. "Get this first load out, then get on board the second chopper."

  "Where are you going?"

  "Hammond's lost the team. Something happened to them."

  "There's nothing you can do," Jackson said.

  "Kirtley isn't gone. He must be in a different place. I'm going to have Hammond extract him and find out what the hell is going on. The pilots know where to take you."

  He could see that Jackson was going to protest further, but they were both interrupted by the crew chief throwing an expended aluminum flare tube at them It clattered on the grate and Dalton picked it up. He pulled the top off and took out the note crammed inside.

  Four helicopters inbound. Not responding to hails. You have six minutes.

  He shoved the note into Jackson's hand. "Get them loaded and get out of here."

  "What about you?"

  "We’ll get out," Dalton said. He reached over and pulled the emergency radio off her flight vest. "Come back for us once the gear is secure." Then he turned and ran to Hammond, leading her back into the complex.

  *****

  "It came from a satellite," McFairn's voice echoed out of the speaker.

  Boreas slapped his palm on the desktop. That fit the data but was unexpected.

  "My people tracked the downlink," McFairn continued, "but we didn't catch the uplink."

  "Do you have a lock on the satellite?" Boreas asked.

  "Space command is tracking it. I've got an F-15 out of Eglin Air Force Base scrambling. It's armed with ALMV.”

  "A what?"

  "ALMV stands for air-launched miniature vehicle. It's an ASAT-antisatellite-missile."

  "We need the uplink," Boreas said.

  "First things first" McFairn said. "We take out the satellite before someone else gets killed."

  Bor
eas leaned back in his seat, Souris was one step ahead of them again. What the hell were she and the Ring doing? He spoke into his headset directly to Kirtley. "Order the helicopters in."

  "Where's the transmitter?" Kirtley demanded.

  "In space. Order the helicopters in and clean up the mess at the villa."

  *****

  Farruco kicked one of the American bodies with the tip of his boot. The amount of blood surprised him. How had Cesar done this? And who were the strange beings who had just appeared on the roof then disappeared?

  He cocked his head at the sound of helicopters approaching. Barking orders, he ran upstairs. Reaching the main level, he flipped open the cell phone as the first American helicopter came racing in over the treetops.

  *****

  "Can you do another burst?" Cesar asked Souris.

  “I’m checking on the status of the satellite's power right now," she replied. Reading the screen, she nodded. "I think we can get one more."

  "Stand by," Cesar told her. He spoke into the phone, ordering Farruco to pull his men back.

  *****

  Afterburners kicked in as the F-15 taking off from Eglin Air Force Base roared into the sky, nose pointed almost vertical. Slung beneath the left wing was a long rocket. The F-15 passed through the sound barrier less than two minutes after wheels-up and continued to accelerate.

  ****

  "Pull Kirtley back using Sybyl," Dalton ordered Hammond.

  "What about the rest of the team?"

  "You've got no contact with them?"

  "No."

  "Then there's nothing you can do. Leave them alone. I want to know what's going on. These inbound choppers are probably Kirtley's people."