The Ajax Protocol (The Project)

by Lukeman, Alex

  "They landed," Ronnie said.

  "Only one place they could do that around here," Nick said. "Right where we're going. We must be right on top of it. Go slow. Make sure no one sees us."

  A few minutes later they reached the tree line bordering the clearing surrounding the installation. A black helicopter was parked on the landing pad. The door to the cabin was open. The pilot sat inside, writing something in his log book.

  A large area had been cleared out of the forest. Two low, white buildings connected by a passageway took up the Southwest corner of the lot. There was a big satellite dish on the roof of one of the buildings, painted white. Six rows of tall antenna towers connected by an orderly grid of wires marched across the rest of the lot.

  The building was about a hundred feet from where they lay concealed in the trees. Ronnie had his binoculars trained on the site. He kept his voice low.

  "Four men with M-16s in civilian clothes. They look like ex-military. There's a fifth guy, looks kind of geeky. He's carrying a box of something. Geeky's going into the building and the others are taking up position outside."

  A generator started up. Lights went on in the building.

  "Looks like they only use this place when they need to," Nick said.

  "Those people are mercenaries or private security," Ronnie said.

  "The helicopter looks civilian," Selena said. "If this was a government operation, wouldn't they use a military helicopter?"

  "Not necessarily," Nick said. "But Ronnie's right. These sites are part of a top secret military program. Any military security would be in uniform. Something stinks about this."

  "Maybe they're getting set for a repeat of Novosibirsk," Ronnie said.

  Nick looked at the scene below.

  "I don't like it. Those guys look like they know what they're doing."

  "I thought this was too easy." Ronnie waved his hand through a cloud of black flies buzzing around his face."

  "Party time," Nick said. "Lock and load."

  Selena looked grim. They charged their weapons.

  "How do you want to do it?" Ronnie said.

  Two of the guards were standing by the side of the building, smoking and talking. One man was out of sight. Nick had seen him going toward the rear of the compound. Nick was about to answer when the fourth man began walking toward the tree line. His face looked strained. He reached the trees, zipped down his fly and began to relieve himself. The stream of urine spattered on the pine needles and landed a few feet from where Nick lay concealed in the undergrowth.

  A glance passed between Nick and Ronnie. The guard redid his fly and turned to go back to the building. Ronnie stood, silent as a wraith. With one, fast move he wrapped his forearm around the man's throat, covered his mouth and pulled him back before he left the shelter of the trees. The guard struggled and went limp. Ronnie set him down on the ground.

  "One down. Gag him and wrap him up," Nick said.

  The men at the building were laughing. They hadn't noticed what had happened to their comrade.

  "It won't be long before they figure out he's missing," Selena said.

  "We'd never make it across that open space," Nick said. His voice was quiet. "We'll work around to the side, get over to the building and then come around the front and get the drop on them. If they're smart, they'll quit. If they don't quit, take them out."

  Keeping low, they moved through the branches to the other side of the building. Now the open space they'd have to cover was only about 30 feet. Nick heard someone calling the name of the missing man. They crossed the gap and started down the wall toward the front of the building.

  "Hey!"

  The shout came from behind them. The fourth security guard, the one who had walked away earlier, stood at the far end of the building. He raised his M-16. The ripping sound of Ronnie's MP-5 cut short his motion. The man collapsed on the ground.

  After that, everything seemed to happen at once.

  One of the guards came around the side of the building and fired. The bullets punched holes in the building over Selena's head. Nick fired and brought him down.

  They heard the door of the building slam shut.

  "Sounds like he went inside," Ronnie said. He risked a quick look. There was no one there. He started around the corner. A burst of automatic fire knocked him down onto the ground.

  "The helicopter," Selena said.

  They reached around the building and opened up with their MP5s. The pilot was leaning out of the cabin, an M-16 in his hand. The spray of bullets peppered the helicopter and starred the glass. The man yelled and twisted back in his seat. His M-16 went flying. Fuel began leaking underneath the machine. There was a brief flicker of flame, then a sound as though someone had struck the earth with a giant hammer. The craft blew up in a brilliant ball of fire. Debris hurtled into the sky and fell back in flaming bits and pieces. The shock wave from the explosion rocked them with a blast of warm air.

  "Whoa," Selena said.

  "Keep the door covered," Nick said to Selena. He ran to where Ronnie lay gasping for air. He was wearing one of the new vests. It had stopped the bullets but he'd been hit more than once and an M16 packed a lot of punch. Nick figured him for cracked ribs.

  "Can you get up?"

  "Yeah. Uhh."

  Nick helped him to his feet.

  "There's one more guard inside," Nick said. "Plus the geek. Selena and I will go in after him. You cover us as best you can."

  "I'm good."

  "You scared me for a moment there."

  "Yeah. Me too."

  Selena stood by the closed door into the building, her MP-5 ready. Nick and Ronnie walked over to her. They were safe for the moment. There were no windows in the front of the building, only the one door.

  "Are you okay, Ronnie?" she said.

  "Yeah. Not going to be able to move fast, though."

  "This could get tricky," Nick said. "We don't know what's inside. This building connects to the next one. The two men left could be in either one."

  "You can bet your ass they're waiting for us to come through this door," Ronnie said.

  "There have to be other ways to get in," Selena said. "Another door."

  A sudden noise made them look up.

  "What's that?" Ronnie said.

  Nick backed away from the building, keeping his eye on the door. On the roof, the big satellite antenna was starting to turn. He hurried back to where the others were waiting.

  "The satellite dish is moving," he said. "They're getting ready to do something. We're out of time. I'll open the door. Selena and Ronnie, you cover me."

  Nick stood away from the door and put his hand on the knob. "Ready?"

  Selena nodded. Her lips were dry, her heart pumping hard. Nick turned the knob and thrust against the door and ducked back. It flew open.

  Nothing happened.

  Nick stood on the opposite side of the door from Selena. "Can you see anything from where you are?" he asked.

  "Not much. It looks like storage of some kind. A few big crates and some boxes pushed up against the wall. It might give us cover if we got behind them."

  "On three, you make a dash for the boxes," Nick said. "Get behind them and I'll give you covering fire. You see anything move in there, you shoot it."

  She nodded. Her heart was trying to pound out through her ribs. She gripped the MP-5 tight. Nick saw the tension. Adrenaline was good, but adrenaline could get you killed.

  "Take a deep breath," Nick said. "Another."

  "Better," she said.

  Nick held up three fingers and counted down. On three, Selena sprinted into the building toward the big crate she'd seen from outside. Nick reached around the doorway and began firing into the space beyond. Answering fire came from somewhere inside the building. The bullets splintered the doorframe and thudded into the wall.

  "I'm there," Selena yelled.

  Nick heard her MP-5 open up. Ronnie reached around the door frame and fired toward the back of the building. N
ick ran across the floor to where Selena crouched behind a wooden crate. He got down beside her.

  The box was marked FRAGILE ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT in red and black block letters. Another burst of automatic fire came from the back and smashed into the wooden slats. Nick heard things breaking inside the crate.

  "From what I could see there's nothing in here but more boxes and a door to the other building."

  "And whoever is shooting at us," Selena said.

  "He's trying to keep us pinned down. We have to get into that other building before his buddy does whatever he's trying to do."

  "To hell with this," Selena said. Before Nick could react, she stood and began firing. She let out a wild yell and began running and shooting toward the back of the building.

  "Damn it," Nick said.

  He jumped up and ran after her. He saw movement in the back corner. He flicked the selector switch to full auto and pulled the trigger. The 30 round magazine emptied with a sound like ripping cloth. The rounds tore into the last security guard.

  Selena saw him go down. She veered toward the door to the other building and kicked it open. She ran down a short passage. The door at the other end was open. Nick was right behind her. She could hear him swearing as he ran.

  The room was filled with electronic equipment. The man Ronnie had described as geeky sat before a computer screen and keyboard. He stared at her as if she were an apparition from hell.

  "Don't move," she yelled.

  He made a sudden grab for something on the desk, his eyes desperate. Selena couldn't see what he was reaching for. She opened fire.

  The rounds stitched a bloody pattern across his chest and smashed into the computer and monitor behind him. The body fell back out of the chair onto the floor, legs splayed at an awkward angle. Sparks and smoke came from the computer. The monitor was shattered.

  Selena walked over to the computer. The dead man had been reaching for a phone. She looked at him, at the sparking equipment on the bench. Nick came up beside her. Her face was chalk white.

  "It's over," he said.

  "I told him not to move," she said. "I told him. I thought he had a gun."

  Nick rested his hand on her shoulder. "It's all right," he said. "You did the right thing. Don't worry about it."

  Ronnie came into the room, one arm held tight across his chest.

  "You all right, Ronnie?"

  "Yeah. It hurts less if I hold everything tight."

  Nick turned to Selena. The color had come back in her face. "That was a stupid move," he said, "jumping up like that. What the hell were you thinking?"

  "It worked, didn't it? I don't know what I was thinking. Something came over me."

  "You could have been killed."

  "Well," she said, "it's not like it's the first time."

  "All the same...aahh, never mind."

  "What were they doing here?" Selena said.

  "I'm not sure," Nick said. "That dish on the roof is a directional antenna. They were going to send a signal."

  Nick looked around the room. It was a utilitarian space, the walls lined with workbenches and pieces of electronic equipment. The man Selena had killed had been sitting in front of what was obviously the main control console. It was in pretty bad shape. A burst from an MP-5 tended to wreak havoc wherever it went. The computers and monitors were no exception. Bits of shattered glass and jagged shards of metal covered the work table. The computer case was full of holes.

  "Maybe the hard drive is still intact," Nick said. He reached behind the computer and pulled the plug.

  "Selena, help me get this open."

  With the inside of the computer exposed, Nick saw the hard drive. He found a screwdriver lying on the bench, undid the screws holding the drive in place and slipped it out of the smashed computer.

  "We'll see what Stephanie can make out of this," he said.

  "Here's a logbook of some sort," Ronnie said. He held up a black binder notebook and flipped through the pages. "Looks like our friend on the floor was running tests. It doesn't make much sense to me."

  "Something else for Steph to look at," Nick said.

  "I'd better call Sam for pickup," Ronnie said.

  "Right. By the time he gets here we should have found anything else worth checking out."

  "What about the guy we tied up in the woods?" Selena said.

  "I forgot about him." Nick ran his fingers through his hair. "We can't just leave him here. I guess we have to take him back with us. Harker will know how to handle it. Ronnie, you and Selena go get him while I look around in here."

  They left the room. Five minutes later they were back.

  "He's dead," Ronnie said. "Looks like he threw up and choked on the gag."

  "Bad luck. I wouldn't wish that on anyone," Nick said.

  "I went through his pockets. He had a wallet and civilian ID. There wasn't anything else."

  "We need to check the others," Nick said. "Call your friend and tell him to come get us."

  "Already did it. He should be here in a little over an hour."

  CHAPTER 23

  It was Thursday night in Alexandria, Virginia, not far from the Capitol. General Westlake sat at home in his favorite chair, reading the Iliad, the epic poem about the war between Greece and Troy. It was Homer who had inspired him with the name for the operation that was about to begin.

  Westlake sighed. He had been denied the opportunity to lead vast armies. His enemies in the Pentagon had made sure of that. They would soon discover the mistake they'd made by shutting him out from important command in the field.

  His secured phone signaled a call.

  "Westlake."

  "We have a problem." The caller was Senator Martinez. Westlake felt his good mood begin to dissolve.

  "What kind of problem?"

  "There was a raid on the Alaska facility. We were unable to complete the test. "

  "What happened?"

  "Thorpe was about to activate when some kind of special ops force showed up. We ran a satellite pass. The helicopter that brought in Thorpe and the security team was destroyed. There are bodies outside the buildings and I can't reach anyone on-site. We have to assume the equipment was taken off-line by whoever hit the site."

  "CIA?"

  "My sources say no. I can't find any official operation, covert or otherwise. My guess is we're dealing with Rice's group, the Project. They have the balls to pull off something like this."

  Westlake could feel his blood pressure rising, an instant band tightening around his forehead. The failure of his attempt to eliminate the Project had come back to haunt him.

  "Those people have more lives than a cat," he said. "It's a setback, but that's all."

  On the other end of the connection, Martinez said, "We've lost Thorpe."

  "We don't need him. Everything he did is documented. Hell, any college sophomore could follow his directions and program the satellite."

  "If he's a prisoner, that could be a problem," Martinez said. "He knows too much."

  "Send someone up there and check it out. We need to know for certain."

  "All right."

  Westlake said, "We'll use Colorado for the rest of the transmissions. I wanted to reserve that for the final phase, but it will give us a chance to work out any glitches in managing the operation. "

  "Have you chosen the London location yet?"

  "Yes. We'll place the diversion in the financial district. The amplifier will go in an entertainment complex called the O2. There's a concert scheduled a week from Saturday. Some British rock star. It's sold out. There will be 20,000 people packed together and screaming their heads off. I thought that would be a good place to put our little gift box. The device will activate fifteen minutes after the bomb, while emergency services are responding to the explosion."

  "There will be real panic in a crowd like that. A lot of people are going to get killed."

  "You're not getting squeamish on me, are you Senator?"

  "No, but are you sure it
's necessary? After all, if we put it somewhere else it will serve our purpose just as well and there will be fewer casualties."

  "Provocation has to be severe. We want to encourage the strongest possible response on the part of the British government. You can't make omelettes without breaking eggs."

  "Please, Louis, spare me the clichés."

  "Then spare me your false humanitarian concerns. I didn't hear you commenting on the numbers of dead in Russia."

  Martinez thought about it. "I see your point. You're right."

  "Of course I am."

  "What shall we do about the Project?"

  "The damage is done," Westlake said. "They screwed up the test but things are too far along for them to do much else. They don't know what we plan. By the time they figure it out, it will be too late. They won't be able to stop it."

  "Still..."

  "I'll talk with Edmonds and convince him the Project is interfering with a classified military operation. I should've done it before. He'll be so happy a four-star general is taking him seriously that he'll jump on the chance to do something he thinks is presidential."

  "He could be useful. You think we should leave him in office afterward? He's familiar to the public. It might lend an air of legitimacy to the new government."

  "I haven't decided that yet. Let's see if he'll cooperate."

  CHAPTER 24

  In Virginia, Stephanie waited until Elizabeth finished talking with Nick.

  "Well?" Stephanie said.

  "They're on the way back. Ronnie has cracked ribs and a bruised ego but everybody else is all right. They're bringing a hard drive and a logbook for you to look at. They didn't find anything of consequence on the bodies. Nothing to tell us where they came from. Whoever sent them won't be using that site anymore."

  "How did they gain access to a secret defense facility?" Stephanie asked.

  "I don't know. They had to know where it was and how to get into it. Not many people would have that information."

  "That should make it a little easier to narrow down," Stephanie said. "The hard drive Nick found could help."

  "If you can read it, it might."