The discussion continued for a few minutes until a helicopter finally came into view, landing on the runway very near the phantom plane. An SUV materialized moments later, most likely having been hidden behind the plane, and four men emerged. Three of the men carried the still-unconscious Nick Hall into the plane, and the invisibility technology made it seem as though they had been swallowed up by nothingness. The fourth man returned to the helicopter and spent five minutes speaking with the men who had brought Hall, probably confirming they hadn’t been followed and making arrangements to wire final payments.
“If I had to guess,” said the colonel, pointing to the man by the helicopter, “I would say this is Victor’s fabled right-hand man, Eduardo Alvarez.” He finished his bottle of water and shrugged. “But I don’t know this for certain.”
The glimmer remained at the top of the screen for ten minutes and then traveled down the length of the runway until it was gone. The plane had taken off.
“Can you track it?” asked Heather.
“Yes. The panels on this one confound line-of-sight, but not radar, and I’ve scrambled a jet that can hang out of range, but close enough to track it. Victor has the technology to foil this as well, but he’s not using it. I’m guessing he’s convinced no one could follow Hall to Oregon. And as I told Nick, he’ll have them make additional evasive maneuvers when they’re on the ground in Europe anyway.”
Heather took a deep breath. “Hang in there, Alex,” she whispered under her breath. “We’re coming for you.”
54
Nick Hall regained consciousness and his faculties gradually returned. He kept his eyes shut and remained still, determined to play possum for as long as he could.
There were over a dozen minds within reading range, although he didn’t bother to count. One of these was the man who called himself Victor.
And another was Alex Altschuler! And he was in perfect health.
Fantastic. A surge of adrenaline was released into Hall’s bloodstream, and if he weren’t intent on pretending to be unconscious he would have pumped his fists in triumph, like a running back who had just scored the game-winning touchdown.
Hall continued to read Altschuler’s mind to get a better idea of what he had been through, noting that his friend couldn’t get any Internet reception in the room in which he was being held, which explained a lot. Altschuler was bored out of his mind and going through BrainWeb withdrawal, but was otherwise in perfect shape.
He left Altschuler’s mind and turned to Victor’s. He read immediately that he was in the same room with the man. Victor was keeping busy while waiting for him to awaken. Hall had been laid on his back on the arms dealer’s black leather couch, which he had to admit was surprisingly comfortable.
As he continued to access Victor’s thoughts, he understood why Girdler and Campbell had never managed to track this man down. He was brilliant, with a mind that was as tight as a drum. Careful, organized, inventive, and disciplined.
But what Hall read next so surprised him he barely managed to continue faking unconsciousness.
He was still in Oregon!
He was in the main lodge on a ranch that served as Victor’s headquarters. The arms dealer had as many tricks up his sleeve as Campbell had thought. Victor was nearly certain Hall—in the guise of the American jihadist calling himself John Smith—could not have been followed to the landing strip. But even so, just in case, he had carried off an ingenious deception.
There was a compartment in the belly of the plane he had been carried into that lined up with a trap-door-opening in the runway just below it, completely hidden using high-tech display panels to make it invisible from the air.
As soon as Hall was taken inside the plane, he had been lowered through both openings and into one of a series of tunnels Victor had carved at various locations on the property. Then the plane had taken off, a red herring that would lead anyone following on a wild goose chase, never suspecting that Victor’s guest, and his headquarters, remained behind, deep in the heart of Oregon.
It was simple, yet brilliant.
And the security and tunnels and other surprises at the ranch were off-the-charts impressive as well. Victor had spared no effort or expense. The land surrounding the main lodge had been mined with explosives, and he could activate these mines on demand. The arms dealer monitored the area on a continual basis using state-of-the-art drones indistinguishable from birds and bats, which transmitted their feeds to a sophisticated computer.
Hall used his implants in cell phone mode and contacted the colonel.
“Nick?” said Campbell in delight. “Thank God you’re awake.”
“Awake and playing dead as we discussed,” thought Hall at his implants.
“We’re tracking the jet you’re on now,” Campbell assured him. “Does the pilot know your destination?” he asked eagerly.
“Yeah, about that,” said Hall. “I’m not in the jet you’re tracking.”
He quickly explained Victor’s deception, and that he had never left Oregon.
“Incredible,” said the colonel, unable to hide his admiration. “He’s even more impressive than I thought.”
“I have great news, though,” said Hall. “Alex is here and in perfect health!”
Campbell closed his eyes and blew out a relieved breath. “Outstanding!” he said. “Heather and Megan are downstairs in the kitchen having coffee. We didn’t expect anything to happen for a while. But I’ll let Heather know the great news as soon as we’re done.” He paused. “What about the implants?”
“All ten thousand sets are here,” said Hall. “Although one set is inside Victor’s head.”
“And he’s gotten them to work?”
“Yes. Perfectly. At the moment, he’s busy training the implants to respond properly to his thoughts in Spanish while he waits for me to awaken. But he’s brilliant, and by thinking in English he can already use them nearly as effectively as I can.”
“Okay. Let’s get what we’re after and get you the hell out of there,” said Campbell. “Oregon is close enough to Fresno that I’ll come to run the op myself. Hold on.”
Less than a minute later the colonel returned. “I have a helo on its way here so I can get to you as soon as possible. So what security are we looking at?”
“It’s truly mind-boggling,” replied Hall. “The property has several runways, hidden helicopters and weapons caches, and tunnels. Not just the ones under the runway. Victor usually works and lives out of the main lodge, but he planted mines throughout the entire property.”
“Mines? Landmines?” said Campbell in disbelief.
“Yes. But he controls them through his PDA, and they’re only activated when the site is in lockdown mode. Even if this were to happen, I have all the passwords needed to log on to the PDA and deactivate them. And I have the passwords I need to modify the drones Victor has flying around so they won’t sound any alarms.”
“What else?” said Campbell.
“He has invisible laser alarms crisscrossing the premises in a circle fifty yards out from the main lodge.”
“How does he prevent false alarms?”
“A computer monitors the feeds and can calculate the size and shape of whatever crosses. If it’s an animal, it doesn’t alarm.”
“Can I presume you can disable this system, also?”
“Yes. But there is one system I can’t disable. He has high-energy anti-missile and anti-aircraft lasers planted on site. He has sensors that tell him when any aircraft comes within thirty miles of the property. Given where he’s located, the only aircraft that come within this perimeter are ones he already knows about. Any others and he’ll assume he’s under attack. He can then trigger his lasers and other anti-aircraft measures and escape in one of his stealth helicopters or planes in minutes.”
“Why can’t this system be disabled?”
“The sensors that alert him to incoming aircraft don’t have a password. This is one system he purposely set up without an off
switch.”
Campbell cursed under his breath. “Understood,” he said. “It looks like we’ll have to come in on the ground. Good thing, because we wouldn’t want this op to be too easy,” he added sarcastically. “Is that everything?”
“Everything but human security. In addition to Victor and his second-in-command, Eduardo Alvarez, there are sixteen men who live here. Their jobs are to help prepare weapons shipments and basically do whatever Victor tells them, but mostly they patrol the area and keep their eyes open. But with surprise, and me guiding the attack, you should be able to get through them and to the main lodge to capture Victor, Alex, and the implants.”
“With an asset like you on the ground, and given what you’ve told me, it sounds like a relatively small strike force would be optimal.”
“I agree. If one of you are seen and the alarm is sounded, with tunnels under the main house and hostage possibilities, not to mention armaments and defenses most armies would envy, the op would be blown.”
“How about a team consisting of me and five others? Does this seem about right?”
“Yes,” replied Hall after a few seconds of thought. “I’ll do my best to direct all of you. And to make sure you surprise them and not the other way around. But I’m only one man, so I can’t monitor everything at once. You and your team will still have to look sharp.”
“Understood. I’ll try to round up five of the twelve men who were with you on the Oscar raid. These soldiers are as good as it gets and they’ve worked with you before and know about your special skills. They’ll be willing to take orders from you without question.”
“Perfect. But given you have to get here and stage the assault, and you can’t fly too close, how long do you think it will take?”
“I’ll try to be ready to pull the trigger within three hours.”
“Shit!” said Hall.
“I know. It isn’t ideal. Your best bet is to play possum for as long as you can. Even though you can read his mind, Victor is very clever. Without al-Ansari in proximity for you to draw answers from, he could trip you up pretty fast.”
“I guess I’m about to find out how patient Victor is willing to be with a guest crashing on his couch.”
“If he somehow discovers you’re awake,” said Campbell, “stall. Pretend to be wildly disoriented. Tell him you think you’re having some weird reaction to the drug they gave you. Ask for a shower and some time to recuperate. Anything to buy time.”
“Got it. I’ll try not to blow my cover before you and the team are in place,” said Hall. “But hurry!”
55
Mike Campbell burst into the kitchen like a man on fire. “Victor played the shell game with us,” he announced to the two women on his team. “Turns out Nick remained where he was in Oregon, despite appearances to the contrary. This ranch in the middle of nowhere is actually Victor’s headquarters.”
“Is Nick all right?” asked Megan anxiously.
“He’s fine,” said the colonel. He turned to Heather. “And so is Alex. He’s a prisoner there, but in perfect health.”
Both women began speaking excitedly at once, peppering him with questions. But before he could untangle them and respond the unmistakable drone of a helicopter reached their ears.
“That’s my ride,” said Campbell. “Follow me,” he added as he exited the kitchen on his way to the front door and the helicopter that was slowly lowering itself onto an open section of lawn, twenty yards away from the mansion. “I’m heading up the assault team,” he explained as they walked, “and I need to get it organized and staged as soon as I can.”
As they exited the house the clamor from the helo intensified. “I’ll call you from the air and give you more details,” shouted the colonel.
Heather and Megan exchanged glances, and while they didn’t share telepathy, Campbell would never have known it. “We’re coming with you,” shouted Heather, while Megan nodded vigorously beside her.
“There is no way I’m—”
“We aren’t asking to be in on the assault,” interrupted Heather. “But we want to be nearby. So we can see Alex and Nick right after they’re rescued.”
The three reached the helicopter and Campbell pursed his lips in thought. Finally he nodded. “We’ll be taking a jet to Kingsley Field, an Air National Guard Base in Oregon, about fifty miles from Victor’s ranch. But when we land you’re on your own. Get a cab or rental car and find a motel as near the ranch as you can. I’ll bring Nick and Alex to you before we head back to the base for our return trip to Fresno.”
“Thanks, Colonel,” said Heather, more invigorated than she had been since Alex’s disappearance. “This means a lot.”
Campbell gestured at the open door to the helicopter. “After you,” he shouted.
56
Hall continued to sift through Victor’s mind, absorbing his tragic childhood and his start in the Mexican drug cartels before he transformed himself into the ultimate arms dealer.
And that was when he came upon Victor’s initial conversation with General Justin Girdler.
Girdler was working with him, after all!
Hall had never allowed himself to fully believe it. After having been in Girdler’s mind, he had been unable to imagine the general could be behind a betrayal so vast, so despicable. But he had only been fooling himself. In this case, the only explanation that had ever made sense for the effortless capture of Altschuler and the ten thousand implant sets was the correct one.
The general had sold out his closest friends and everything he had believed in.
Hall isolated Victor’s memory of this first conversation and replayed it word for word, needing to know exactly what had been said. Not only could he see and hear this encounter as clearly as if he were watching it on television, he could also read what Victor had been thinking while the discussion was taking place.
It had begun when the general had left a voicemail message on Victor’s private line . . .
***
Victor stared at the phone in disbelief. A message from General Justin Girdler. Incredible. The man who had done more to hunt him down than any other. Girdler had been closer to finding him than he knew on several occasions, and the American had a mind almost as strategic and devious as his own. Almost.
And now, if this message was to be believed, Girdler wanted to propose an alliance. One that would be extremely worthwhile to them both.
Was it a trap?
Of course it was, decided Victor. And not the general’s first such attempt, either, although all others had been made while he was still a lowly colonel. But never had he made it so obvious. Usually, Girdler had others pose as up-and-coming players, interested in doing business with him.
But Girdler knew that Victor wasn’t an idiot. Knew he couldn’t be fooled by a ploy this transparent.
So what was the point of this? Did he just want to hear Victor’s voice? Did he think he had new technology that would allow him to trace the call? If this were the case, he still would have had someone pretend to be a possible customer, so Victor would remain on the line for a longer period of time.
The arms dealer hadn’t had his curiosity piqued this much in a long time. He spent the next day mining his tremendous network for intelligence on the recently minted general. What he learned was shocking. Girdler was in hot water. Boiling hot water. Victor’s sources were convinced he was about to lose his job and even his freedom in a court martial, but none could tell him precisely what charges were about to be levied.
So perhaps Girdler wasn’t the upstanding, square-jawed American hero type Victor had always assumed. Perhaps he had some dark motivations of his own. It was definitely worth a return call to find out.
Moments later he had Girdler on the phone, staring at his 3-D image, although his own image was not transmitted. “General Girdler,” he said in a friendly tone. “How nice of you to call. I don’t know whether to be honored that I’m still in your thoughts, or insulted that you really believed you could bait me
.”
“Hello, Victor,” said the general. “Don’t be honored, or insulted. Be intrigued. Intrigued by a proposal I’m prepared to make. One that will increase your wealth and power. One that will benefit both of us.”
“Okay. I’ll play along. Consider me intrigued. What do you have in mind?”
“I assume you’ve heard of Alex Altschuler? Theia Labs? BrainWeb technology?”
Victor rolled his eyes. “I may be hidden,” he said. “But I do still live on this planet.”
“Good. Only a few people know this, but Theia has a secret manufacturing facility and has just finished a production run of ten thousand implant sets. Altschuler knows the exact specifications for positioning them properly in the brain.” He leaned forward intently. “And I can get you these implants and Alex Altschuler both. Not to mention a monopoly on the technology.”
Victor coughed. “You’ve lost your mind, General. You really need to get some help.”
“I’m in charge of security for both Altschuler and the implants. I can give you codes, operating procedures, shift changes, locations, everything. Follow my instructions and you can’t fail.”
Victor digested this. The general actually seemed serious. “You used the word, monopoly. This has a very specific meaning. Even if I have the ten thousand sets, and Altschuler, that still doesn’t give me a monopoly.”
“Yes it does. Only Altschuler knows the software and algorithms behind the implants. He gave his board of directors a copy of this data, but it’s flawed. Believe me on this. All you have to do is blow the factory after you’ve taken the implants and you have the only supply the world will probably see in twenty years. Think about the advantages BrainWeb could give your customers.”
“So just like that, you help me steal the implants and kidnap Theia’s CEO?”
“Yes, but in the opposite order. You have to kidnap Altschuler first and pretend not to know about the pilot factory. That way he’ll give up the placement information without a struggle, certain that this won’t matter since you’ll never be able to acquire the implants anyway.”
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