As he was thinking about all of this, he got a secure call from Van.
“So, Dick, how are you enjoying your new digs?”
“We just moved in and they are great, thanks in large part to you.”
“I only contributed a small part. Your reputation and capabilities really drive your business, not me. Listen, Dick, are you free this evening about eleven p.m.? We need to talk in person after I talk with Harry today.”
Noting concern in his friend’s voice, Dick responded quickly. “I can be available, but how and where do we meet?”
“Let me deal with that. I’ll coordinate a place and we can pick you up around eleven p.m. Can you do that?”
“Yes, but what do you mean by ‘pick you up’?”
“Don’t worry about that right now. I can guarantee that it will be unusual, but safe and secure. If I’m successful with Harry, you are about to receive a new education,” Van said as he hung up.
Shortly thereafter, Van flew out of Brown Field to Arizona and from there drove to his forested cabin, stopping as he usually did to pick up a few things.
While he could have conversed with Harry through his implanted communications capability or through the SCIF, he did not want to run the risk that anything he said or did might be intercepted by anyone. Site R provided the best possible cover he could think of. And if Harry had no objections, he would scoop up Dick with a shuttle and take him to the site for a discussion and a big reveal.
After Van was settled in the cabin, he used the elevator to access Level 5. From there he proceeded to the operations center on Level 2. As he walked into the room, Harry appeared in his holographic form and said, “Welcome, Commander. I surmise that the lack of communication leading to your visit means that either something is not right or you have something important to share.”
“I do, as a matter of fact,” responded Van. “I need to talk to you about expanding our information loop to at least one more person.”
“Let me guess, Commander,” Harry said. “You want to brief Mr. Carson on this site and the Secrets, correct? When you used the communications device to tell him that you would pick him up this evening, and since he is such a close partner now, it was an easy logic step.”
“Thanks, Harry. It’s becoming obvious that even with you available, I could have made better decisions over these past months. Doing this essentially alone seems to me to be a little much. What I would like to do is introduce you and the site to Dick. I don’t expect, at present, to give him chair time, but I need some additional expertise that I can trust beyond you. In addition, there’s often too much to be done for just one man and the world’s only AI.”
“I understand your point of view, and I agree, Commander,” Harry said. “Mr. Carson is a trustworthy person, plus I have run numerous searches on him, his company, and his family. I believe he can be trusted, and you are making a logical and thoughtful decision. I also agree that exposure to the chair is premature. In fact, it may never happen unless circumstances demand it.
“I deduce that when you asked him to be available at eleven p.m. tonight, it means you would like a shuttle to pick him up and fly him here. Am I correct?”
“As always, you are correct. Any problems with that?”
“No problem at all, Commander. What location do you propose as a pickup site?”
“If I remember correctly, there is a big parking lot for the Metro in Vienna. Not many people there at eleven p.m. The shuttle can approach in stealth mode and open the rear door to let Dick in.”
“He will be here before midnight.”
“Great, I’ll contact him and explain where he needs to be and what to expect. He’ll have a hard time believing it, however.”
Just as Harry predicted, the Enterprise landed at Site R right on time. The ramp came down and a dazed Dick Carson walked, or rather shuffled, off.
“Welcome to Site R, Dick,” Van said, shaking Dick’s hand. “It’s not the government site, but it’s our operational home. If you’ll walk this way to the elevator, I’ll take you to our operations center, where we can talk. I’m sure you have a lot of questions.”
Several hours later, Dick was nearly speechless. Van had taken weeks to discover much that he had told Dick in just a few hours. It was indeed a lot to absorb. The proverbial fire hose treatment. But to Dick’s credit, he soon came to a sense of awareness and realized the importance of what he had seen and heard.
“I knew you were up to something major,” Dick said, “but I could never have imagined all of this. A lot of things make sense now. And you say that Harry has transferred much or all of this into your head?”
“Well, yes and no,” replied Van. “I’ve been given an incredible amount of information that I carry around, but I can and do also tap directly into Harry’s data storage system when I have the need. The poor old human brain, even mine, was not built to house everything that’s here, so I get help. But all of this data and Harry don’t cover all our needs. I’m just one person, and I’ve already found out that one is just not enough. So I picked you to be part of the team if you want.”
“I’m flattered and shocked all at the same time. What if I say no? Aren’t you afraid that I might talk about all of this?”
“Not really. If you do decide not to be involved, Harry can erase your memory of this. Tomorrow you won’t remember a thing about our conversation.”
“Where was Harry after some of my drinking bouts in our younger days?” laughed Dick.
“So are you in?”
“Probably, but answer this question: Why aren’t you sharing this with your own country, with our government?”
“Good question. The Host have a perspective that I happen to agree with. If I just open up the floodgates to this information to our or any state, it would likely lead to more problems than it would alleviate. Imagine one country suddenly possessing the cure for nearly everything, having technology to do nearly anything they want, plus having control of space as well as military equipment far in advance of anybody else. It would be unprecedented. Could we trust that all would go well? I don’t think so.”
“That’s a pessimistic view,” Dick responded.
Van knew he was stepping on a sensitive nerve with Dick, and he adjusted his tone to keep the peace. “Yes, it is. You were part of the government for a while, though. Would you trust it with virtually unlimited power?”
“When you put it that way, no I wouldn’t,” Dick said thoughtfully. “But why are you in control of this?”
“I’ve asked myself that a million times. It isn’t something I wanted. Not by a long shot. But it happened and the reality is that I am in control. So… what do you say?”
“You couldn’t keep me away,” replied Dick energetically. “Hell yes.”
Van expelled the breath he had been holding while hoping that his friend would agree to join him. “Great! Then I’ll brief you on one more aspect of our situation. Our mutual friend, Meier, has also discovered a site.”
Dick was speechless for almost a minute, and his faced showed more than just shock. Was it concern, or fear?
“Van, I don’t know what to say. If this is true, we all have big problems, much bigger than anything we could have imagined before this.”
“That’s true, Dick. But a part of the good news is that we know where Meier keeps his advanced computer—the one he used to steal fifty million dollars from us—much of which was earmarked to go to MD Anderson. Knowing that, we need to destroy it or recover it.”
“By ‘us,’ you mean you and my team?”
“Exactly. If you agree, and when you get back to your place, we can start the planning. Just one more thing, Dick. As part of the team you’ll need an internal communications device that Harry will install now. Then we’ll take you home.”
“Wait. You said internal? What do you mean?” Dick asked with a look of concern.
“It’s an implant behind your ear. It allows Harry and me to communicate even at great distances
. Before you say it, I know it sounds like some sort of control thing from science fiction. I thought the same thing, but it isn’t. It works and I’ve found it very useful.”
Dick thought about all the times he had been out of communication when he was doing “special projects” for the government or when he was in negotiations with other governments and even other companies. What he would have paid for such a capability! It was a risk, but he was a risk taker. More than that, and unlike Van, Dick enjoyed playing on the world stage… and he was good at it. He could and wanted to be of help.
“You had that going when you were kidnapped, didn’t you?” Dick asked with a degree of revelation.
“Yes I did, and Harry and I were in constant contact, when I wasn’t drugged.”
“OK, I guess. In for a penny, in for a pound.” Then he said, “Will it hurt?”
CHAPTER 21
A few days later, inside the new Carson Group SCIF in Virginia, Dick, along with Brice and Barbara, waited for the secure call from Van. In minutes the phone rang and Van was on the line.
“Good afternoon, everyone,” he opened. “I trust all is well and that you’ve had a chance to consider plans for entering Avantek and destroying or recovering the computer I mentioned to Dick.”
“Yes, Van, the three of us began considering this mission after you and I talked,” Dick said. “With the help of Harry and our joint intelligence gathering, we know quite a lot about Avantek and its facility in Ostrava. However, I must say that both Barbara and Brice initially objected. Their view was, Why risk our lives and the Carson reputation on something that appears to be solely a Stellar concern? First, I told them that the computer originally belonged to Harry and had been taken without permission. When I told them where money was going before it was stolen, and that if it can happen to Stellar, it could happen to other organizations around the world, they started to reconsider. The tipping point was telling them that if this computer was not found, it could adversely impact Carson operations as well. So that brings us to now, with everyone on board. Barbara, would you like to start on the mission intelligence brief?”
“Yes, thank you, Dick. Ostrava is located at the confluence of the Ostravice, Oder, Lučina, and Opava Rivers in the Czech Republic. It is an old industrial-based city, primarily steel and coal production, trying to rebuild itself as a modern technology-oriented metropolitan area. It has one main airport, Leoš Janáček Airport Ostrava, or OSR as it is known in flight circles. It’s located about twelve miles southwest of the city, has a decent capacity, and can serve aircraft as large as a 747, and is connected to the city via Highway 58.
“The Avantek facility itself is located just to the northeast of city center in a renovated area of former warehouses on Trojhali Street. Access is via rail, the Ostravice River, the Bohuminska Highway, Interchange 4793, and, of course, by air if a helicopter is used. This is mostly an industrial area with no housing and is usually quiet at night.
“The building faces Trojhali Street and is reasonably new. There is a surrounding security fence about eight feet high topped with concertina wire. Cameras are located strategically throughout the exterior and interior complex and entry is through a manned security gate.
“The building is a two-story complex of about one hundred fifty thousand square feet with prototype and small-scale manufacturing in the rear. Another security area is located inside the front entrance, and all access is via various scanning devices and electronic locks controlled by the front desk.
“The computer center is in the middle of the first floor. Access to the computer labs is via a center hallway, with additional manned security posts to enter. There are four labs, but the one we want is the second door on the right as you enter the lab hallway. That’s where we believe the computer we’re looking for is located. There’s more for detailed planning, but that’s the big picture.”
Wanting a complete team view as he usually did, Dick asked Brice, “What’s your view?”
“Well, as Barbara noted, security is high-level but not unlike targets we’ve encountered before. My seven-person team should be able to do this fairly easily. We do suggest go-time be on a weekend and after midnight to limit detection. The only questions I have now are, how do you want the computer destroyed, and do you want any parts of it?”
“Brice,” Van said, “if we can’t recover it, how the computer is destroyed is up to you as long as nothing remains. The one caveat is that I need to get a look at it first before you destroy it.”
“You mean you intend to go along?” Brice said with a shocked expression. He looked between Dick and Barbara as if seeking support.
“I don’t think we have a choice, Brice. We need to ensure that the computer we destroy is the right one, and I’m the only person who can do that. Plus, I want to look at its configuration and see if there are any storage devices we can remove.”
“But can’t we get one of my computer guys to do that?” Brice said with concern and a little anger in his voice as he now stared directly into Dick’s eyes. But Dick said nothing.
“Afraid not, Brice. This computer is one of a kind, and I can guarantee you it is beyond the technological capability of your or anyone’s team.”
“Dick, I don’t like this one bit,” Brice groused as he continued to press his view. “Taking a non–team member into action is never a good idea. It’s especially not a good idea when that person is as important to this partnership as Mr. Childs is. I know Barbara would agree.”
“Brice, I fully understand your point of view,” Dick said, trying to calm his security chief down a little, “but we have to make an exception here. Unfortunately, there’s no other person who can identify and assess the computer as well as Van, at least on our side. Work Van into the plan and, when you’re ready, invite him to your training preparations.
“Thanks, Van, we’ll work on things here,” Dick said and ended the call.
Dick saw that Barbara looked sullen. She wore a big frown, with her arms folded across her chest and tapping her foot. He suspected that Barbara wasn’t happy with the plan or with Van’s part in it. He had seen this behavior before but decided to say nothing. It was between her and Van. He didn’t want to get into the middle of whatever was going on between them.
Training with Brice’s team was done at the newly acquired warehouse facility that Dick purchased along with his new company spaces. In anticipation of the mission, the team created a mock-up of the Avantek building and was now practicing both ingress and egress. Van had flown in earlier for the practice, and from his perspective this wasn’t a crowd. It was a team of people he could relate to. His introverted nature was not disturbed.
“Say, Brice,” said Van, “I have a few new pieces of technology that we can use during these operations. First, we have access to some drones that we can set up around the facility that are both quiet and stealthy. In addition, we have some small drones, which I call ‘fireflies,’ that we can release outside and inside the building to give us better visual and audio coverage as we enter and leave. Let me show you an example here in the mock-up. They are easy to use and can be seen on the HUD of your helmets and heard via the internal communications system. I suggest we take some time to get used to them.”
Van opened a small container. A dozen or so small objects flew out and disappeared into the air. Brice stared at Van until his visor HUD started showing interior scenes of the mock-up.
“Cool,” Brice said.
After a week of training and preparation, Brice called the team, including Dick, Van, and Barbara, to his briefing room.
After everyone had taken their seats, Brice said, “In my view, we’re ready to go. As per the plan, Van will leave first using his own transportation to arrange for our equipment and weapons to be prestaged in a vacant barn just north of city center. That is a location discovered by Harry and Barbara from advance drone surveillance. My team and I will travel as individuals from DC to London and then from London to Ostrava.
“I selected a Sunday night mission start from the farmhouse. Not only do we expect people to be asleep, but there will also be a near lack of a Moon that night. Van has arranged two rented black Land Rover SUVs to get us to and from the target. So check your equipment and be ready to go tomorrow. Remember, there will be armed security at the facility. These suits are nice, but as Van said once, you can still get hurt. Be on your toes.” Brice looked around the room one last time but saw no confused or questioning looks. They’re ready to go.
Having gathered at the farmhouse rally site, the team suited up in their new combat suits and carried the same weapons and ammunition as they had in the Bern rescue mission.
Brice noted that Van also wore a combat suit, but it was different. It moved as well as the other suits, but it did not seem to be made of the same material as his. He did see that Van carried a small empty backpack to hold parts of the computer he wanted to keep.
As the clock ticked midnight, the team mounted up in the SUVs and started to Avantek.
Wanting to minimize their travel time, Brice elected to take Highway 647 southwest to the circle junction of Highway 56 and then headed south on 56. They exited just south of the Highway 479 overpass. Here they turned left, passed by Trojhali, and instead went to Karoline, where they turned right and followed the available road in a semicircle around the Avantek facility to a position one hundred yards to the south of Avantek and on the other side of some railroad tracks. There they stopped amid a copse of trees and exited their vehicles.
Harry already had the Enterprise in a high stealth position over Avantek and had also launched the D2. The whole team had the advantage of two overhead observation positions and could see the entire exterior of the grounds and building.
Not wanting to trip any unknown sensors, Brice decided to take the direct approach to the perimeter entrance. Straight from the SUVs, and with the added cover of trees, they proceeded to cross the railroad tracks and stopped at Trojhali Street while assessing the guard shack. With the confidence obtained from the Bern rescue, the team stood up in stealth mode and walked across the road, then stooped to walk in a crouch around the guard post. IR signatures on their HUDs told them that there were two guards inside. Both were sitting, perhaps watching TV. Brice stood up and walked to the door and knocked. The door opened and one guard took a step out while the other stood in the doorway with an AK-74 assault rifle held ready. Both looked into the night but saw nothing besides possibly a faint shimmer. But Brice knew they would most likely guess these were the perimeter lights coming through the trees moving in the slight breeze.
Future Discovered: Host Saga Book 1 Page 13