‘That doesn’t sound like a great idea,’ Damien said.
‘We need a sustained distraction,’ Sophia said. ‘The EMP and the evacuation will only last so long. I need a hostage situation.’
‘Christ,’ Chickenhead said.
Abraham glared at him, then said, ‘Who will be on the hostage team?’
‘Whoever is willing to volunteer,’ Sophia said. ‘You’ll need leverage and you’ll need to string the process out. Give them something to do. Demands. They don’t have to be real but they have to be believable. The hostage team will be covering our ass.’
DC was almost laughing under his breath. ‘Shit,’ he said. ‘You know what? I’ll do it.’
‘You can have our best team,’ Abraham said, turning to Aviary. ‘Your jaguar knights.’
Aviary nodded. ‘I’m sure they’ll be up for that.’
‘Will they?’ DC said. ‘I mean, I need to know who I’m working with here.’
‘They used to be Force Recon,’ Jay said.
‘They can handle themselves,’ Abraham said.
‘Fine, but DC is in command of the hostage team,’ Sophia said. ‘They’ll keep the cops busy while the EMP team holds their position and the infiltration team — Damien, Jay and myself — RV at the hopefully open blast door with the advance team.’
Jay was nodding. ‘Sounds good. I like it.’
‘Well, I don’t,’ Abraham said.
‘The EMP is one use only, right?’ Sophia asked Denton.
He nodded. ‘Once it’s used, you can ditch it.’ He addressed the team. ‘We have other vans for our extraction, with FBI lettering and logos painted on the sides. We’ve covered them with adhesive for now. We also have FBI tags you can attach to your vest or shoulder for later when we escape the airport.’
Nasira laughed. ‘So I have to, like, wear three uniforms?’
Sophia didn’t smile. ‘Yep.’
Nasira’s smile disappeared.
‘This is how we enter the OpCenter,’ Sophia said. ‘I’ll be your prisoner. You captured me at the airport. I’ll be blindfolded, seemingly cuffed and seemingly unarmed. You’ll walk me into the OpCenter. The access tunnel runs for just under a mile and connects with the north and south tunnels. We take the south tunnel to the OpCenter main chambers and support area.’
‘Won’t the guards at the OpCenter scan for our RFID chips in our arms?’ Grace said.
Denton placed a handful of pill-shaped chips on the table. ‘We’ll be needing some minor surgery before we begin tonight.’
Jay’s eyes opened wider. ‘Oh fuck off, I’ll be on the EMP team.’
Denton started laughing.
Sophia suppressed a smile. ‘What he means is, he’ll be taping it to your clothing, under your cuff,’ she said. ‘They scan through your sleeve. If they bother at all.’
‘With those RFIDs, does that mean you can shoot their weapons?’ Aviary asked.
‘Sadly, no,’ Denton said.
‘And once we’re in?’ Damien asked.
‘You take me directly to security command,’ Sophia said. ‘We … besiege and then divide into small teams.’
Everyone’s mouths hung open, stunned.
‘Besiege?’ Damien said. He almost visibly gulped.
‘We have five small EMP devices at our disposal. We use four, we have one spare just in case,’ Sophia said. ‘That means one team remains at security command. Grace?’
Grace gave Sophia a single nod. She had no problem with that.
‘And—’ Sophia started.
‘I can do it,’ Damien said quickly.
‘OK. So one EMP device at security command, that’s Grace and Damien,’ Sophia said.
‘These devices are timed; no fancy remote detonators, nothing to interfere,’ Denton added. ‘Set it and forget it.’
‘Nasira, Chickenhead, you can take the super-array,’ Sophia said.
‘I’ll take the systems center,’ Denton said.
Sophia nodded. ‘From security command, Grace can seal all the Blue Berets inside their barracks on the sub-level below us. She’ll also be capable of sealing any door you want. Once you have your EMP device in place, return to security command and tell Grace to seal the door. Grace, Damien, you guys should seal yourselves in security command. Anyone who wants in, use your radio or four knocks on the door. Simple as that. Grace, if you don’t hear four knocks you don’t let them in.’
‘And then?’ Jay said.
‘And then we extract,’ Sophia said. ‘Return to the airport, put on your FBI hostage rescue vests. The rest of your uniform remains the same. Keep your Magpuls.’
‘That’s a lot of role-play,’ Damien said.
‘Yes, can we pull off these impersonations?’ Abraham said.
‘If you look like you belong, there’s nothing you can’t do,’ DC said.
Abraham seemed satisfied with that answer because he said nothing further.
‘Everyone RVs back at the terminal,’ Sophia said. ‘We move to the vans in Garage West, peel off the adhesive that covers the FBI logo and letters and we’re good to go.’
‘So,’ Aviary said, ‘what can I do to help?’
‘You tell me,’ Sophia said.
‘She’s good with explosives,’ Damien said.
Denton thrust a finger onto the airport map. ‘The transit tunnel,’ he said. ‘Cave in one side. That way, if we have any unwanted company they’re forced to enter from the south end.’
‘But then we’re forced to exit from the south end,’ Sophia said.
‘If we’re in our so-called FBI disguises that shouldn’t matter, should it?’ Abraham said.
‘Aviary, can you make me a batch of high explosives?’ Sophia said. ‘Enough to cave in a tunnel, with some to spare. Give your shopping list to Nasira, we don’t have much time.’
‘You got it,’ Aviary said.
Sophia made a mental note to set up a separate encrypted channel to communicate only with those she trusted: Nasira, DC, Chickenhead, Damien and Jay. Even Grace was excluded. She hoped she wouldn’t need it, but she felt it was necessary.
She reached for the P99 in her waistband. ‘Abraham, you said something about surplus firearms. What do you have?’
‘My men are already armed. This is what we have left over,’ Abraham said and gestured to the far wall of the warehouse, now stacked with duffel bags.
Sophia’d thought they were Denton’s bags until now. Abraham strode over and unzipped a bag. She followed him.
‘Carbines, a few tactical shotguns, pistols. Some ammunition.’ He removed a carbine from the bag. It was sand-colored and compact, with a stubby barrel. ‘SCAR 17S. Accurate enough, reliable. Fires 7.62 rounds.’
He handed it to her to inspect. It was ambidextrous and the charging handle looked a bit strange at first glance. The modular rifle was made by the same company that made the P99s she’d used in Desecheo Island. She nodded and handed it back.
‘Good. We take these in bags. And we’ll need some new pistols. How many rounds do you have for these weapons?’
‘Box of a hundred nine mil, half that in forty-five. A dozen shells for the shotgun and a few hundred for the SCARs.’
‘That doesn’t sound like a whole lot,’ Jay said.
‘He’s right,’ Sophia said. ‘Even if you had spare, you don’t have the mags. I doubt we’ll have time in a firefight to feed new rounds into our mags.’
Abraham swallowed. ‘I’m sorry, but this is all we have. I’d get more but the government has a ban on almost all types of ammunition that we use.’
‘This will have to do then. What pistols do you have?’ Sophia asked.
‘A few Glocks, one or two with flashlights. Six including my own. Nine mil.’
‘There are nine of us,’ Jay said.
Abraham looked disappointed. ‘You don’t have any of your own firearms?’
‘Yeah,’ Chickenhead said, placing his L22 on the table. ‘This is the best we have.’
Nasira pull
ed her Sig Sauer P229 pistol from her jeans. ‘We have a few rounds left.’
‘Somehow I’m guessing you don’t have compatible magazines,’ Sophia said.
Abraham shook his head. ‘I’m afraid not.’
Before he’d finished speaking, Sophia had already unzipped another bag and found a few pistol-sized cases. She snapped one open and was pleased to see a subcompact Glock G26—or Baby Glock as she called it — inside. Much like her P99—which only had three rounds remaining — it was a great subcompact 9mm pistol for concealed carry. She released the mag and saw it was at capacity with ten rounds.
‘This will do nicely,’ she said, turning to the others. ‘We’ll use these SCARs as support weapons for those who remain above ground, but the infiltration and advance teams will need at least one pistol each.’
‘Nine mil for a primary weapon?’ Jay said, eyebrow raised. ‘You sure, Soph?’
‘We shouldn’t even need a primary weapon,’ she said. ‘But we also don’t plan for shouldn’t.’
‘I also have a couple of Glock 39s,’ Abraham said, ‘but I’m afraid I don’t have any ammunition to fill the mags.’
Jay looked crestfallen.
‘Denton, how’s your ammunition?’ Sophia asked.
‘All used up in Miami against the zombie horde,’ he said.
‘Chickenhead?’ she said.
He frowned and tapped the curved black magazine protruding from his bullpup L22. ‘Only a few rounds left, mate.’
‘You can’t bring that inside anyway,’ she said. ‘You’ll need a pistol.’
‘Here’s some more rounds’ Grace said.
Sophia watched as she placed two Glock 21 magazines on the table.
‘Where did you get those?’ Sophia asked.
‘Picked them up along the way,’ Grace said. ‘They’re yours if you need them. I already have a full mag.’
Grace’s Vector SMG used Glock 21 magazines with thirteen rounds apiece.
Jay picked one up and inspected it. ‘They’ll stick out of the Glock some, but hell, I’m not complaining.’
Grace glared at him. ‘You’re welcome?’
‘Yeah, um, thanks,’ Jay said.
Denton palmed the other mag and shared a terse nod with Grace.
‘How many is that?’ Damien asked.
‘We’re short by two pistols,’ Sophia said.
‘I have my own,’ Aviary said.
‘So we’re short by one. Here.’ Sophia handed the Glock she was holding to DC. ‘You can have this one.’
‘I’m not even going down there,’ DC said. ‘I’ll be in the airport, remember?’
‘Exactly, and you need to take hostages. I’m no expert, but you might need a gun for that.’
‘The jaguar knights have their own pistols,’ Aviary said.
‘That’s nice, but Sophia can’t walk down into the OpCenter without any sort of weapon,’ DC said. ‘That’s suicide.’
‘So was coming here,’ Jay said. ‘Just saying.’
DC thrust the pistol back into Sophia’s hand. She put it down and removed her P99 pistol from her waistband. She only had three rounds in it, donated from Nasira.
‘Nasira, what’s your count?’ she said.
Nasira didn’t even check, she already knew. ‘One.’
‘I have a full mag,’ Sophia lied. She handed the Glock back to DC. ‘Keep it.’
He took the pistol reluctantly. Nasira racked her pistol. Her chambered round popped into Sophia’s hand. She pocketed it and planned to add it to her magazine later. Four rounds would have to be enough.
‘Forgive my crude language, but you must have a lot of balls to pull this whole operation off,’ Abraham said.
‘You don’t need balls for this,’ Sophia said. ‘All you need is nothing to lose.’
‘And everything to destroy,’ Denton said.
Chapter Fifty-One
Damien peered through the back window, fogged from Jay’s heavy breathing, at the approaching airport. They passed a thirty-foot horse statue rearing into the night. It had glowing red diode eyes and black veins that ran thickly across its fiberglass body.
‘Demon horse,’ Jay said. ‘Cool.’
‘We’re not even there yet and this place is creeping me out,’ Damien said.
‘Where are the other three horses of the apocalypse?’ Jay asked.
‘The artist who made that died in an accident while working on it,’ Aviary said from the front passenger seat.
‘Thanks,’ Damien said. ‘I feel much better.’
They passed another thirty-foot-tall sculpture, this one a concrete rendering of Anubis, the god of death and the afterlife.
‘I thought they were trying to be subtle with the OpCenter,’ Grace said from the driver’s seat.
‘It’s like a warning,’ Damien said, mostly to himself. ‘To stay the hell away.’
‘Not today,’ Grace said.
She drove up the inbound lanes of Peña Boulevard, into Garage East. Once she’d parked on the third level, Damien slipped his concealed earpiece in one ear and climbed out of the car.
‘How’s your leg?’ Aviary asked.
Damien realized she was talking about her knife wound in his thigh. By the time they’d reached Denver there wasn’t even a scar left.
‘It’s fine,’ he said.
She smirked. ‘No hard feelings?’
Damien felt Grace’s eyes on him as he opened the trunk and retrieved his daypack — full of shielded radios for post-EMP communication.
‘Only for a repeat offense,’ he said.
Aviary nodded and moved off toward the van that housed the EMP. Abraham and his men were standing around it. Damien joined Grace — already in her police uniform — and Jay and they walked toward Jeppesen terminal. Jay was carrying a duffel bag loaded with Magpul PDRs and their Glocks.
Most of the team were carrying the Glock 26s, but Jay and Denton had opted for the larger caliber 39 chambered with .45 rounds. The 39 was an equally excellent and concealable subcompact — although less concealable with Grace’s longer magazines — but Damien didn’t like it as much because it had a hell of a lot more kick and was sometimes a challenge to get immediate follow-up shots on target when that fraction of a second counted. Obviously Jay had no such concerns.
Damien saw Sophia, DC and Chickenhead — dressed as a police officer — on the way in, but he ignored them. A bunch of Abraham’s men trailed casually behind DC. Damien recognized a few of them as the jaguar knights from New York. He felt a coil of anxiety slowly unwind as he stepped into the terminal. It was real now. This was happening.
He showed his passport and boarding pass to security and was waved through. The terminal’s tented ceiling, which from a distance looked a bit like meringue, was more like a circus tent from the inside. It had three dozen masts woven with miles of steel cabling supporting a multi-peaked white fiberglass roof. There was a large fountain still under construction in the center. The warmth of the terminal’s temperature control made Damien’s skin flush.
He felt Grace’s breath on the side of his face. ‘You asked about my first operation,’ she said.
He turned to her. ‘I know.’
‘No, you don’t,’ she said. ‘When I was taken into Project GATE, I was an orphan.’
It took a second for Damien to process what she was saying. Everyone’s first operation in Project GATE was to eliminate their parents. But she’d never had to pull that trigger. Shoot her own family. Not like he’d had to.
She was facing him squarely, her mouth slightly parted. ‘I’ve been weird,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Why?’ Damien said. ‘I mean, not why are you sorry. Obviously that’s a good thing I guess.’ He realized he was babbling. ‘Why were you weird?’
‘Because liking you complicates things.’ She squeezed his hand, then released it, fingertips brushing his.
‘You said your first op was what made you switch sides,’ he said. ‘What was your first op?’
>
Grace looked around to make sure no one could hear them. ‘Jay failed his first operation,’ she said.
She turned and walked away. He was alone in the crowd. Reaching into his pocket, he grasped the small gold wristwatch that had been his great-grandfather’s. When he was a child and sick with food poisoning, his father had given him the watch and asked him to keep it safe. If his parents were alive and right here today, he wondered what he would say to them.
‘Hey, everything good?’ Jay slapped him on the shoulder.
Damien let the watch slip back into his pocket. ‘Yeah, all things considered.’ He turned to Jay. ‘I think I’ll stay in the airport with you.’
Jay looked pleased. ‘Glad to hear. That way we might actually survive.’
Grace’s voice crackled in Damien’s earpiece. ‘I have access. Still waiting on Nasira and Denton.’
‘Guys, get down there,’ Sophia said. ‘Grace and Chickenhead are waiting on you.’
Through the crowd, Damien could see Sophia and DC. DC placed a hand on her shoulder, but said nothing. For a moment they seemed to share an unspoken understanding, then DC turned and disappeared deeper into the crowd.
The flight information boards loomed above Damien. The word CANCELED appeared next to every flight. The fly ban had been in place for a few days now and no one knew how long it would last. Many of the people here were trying to get refunds for their flights and they weren’t happy about it.
‘I feel like I’m in a Dan Brown novel,’ Jay said.
Damien looked over to see him tapping his foot on a stone block engraved with Freemason symbols. ‘Please don’t make this any worse than it has to be,’ he said.
Jay was looking above Damien’s head. ‘I think someone just did.’
Damien followed his gaze to the flight information boards. The flights were being updated. In a furious wave that rippled from board to board, the word CANCELED was replaced with newly prescribed boarding times. Actual boarding times.
‘Oh shit,’ Damien said.
Over his earpiece, Sophia’s voice came loud and clear. ‘Change of plans,’ she said. ‘Stand by.’
‘What the hell do we do now?’ Jay said.
Damien had no idea. But he hoped Sophia did. He saw her emerge from a camera store with a disposable camera in hand.
The Seraphim Sequence tfc-2 Page 43