Enemy One (Epic Book 5)

by Lee Stephen

  Swapping a fleeting, shocked look, the two men threw their utensils down and took off out of the cafeteria. Running full speed to keep up with the judge, Logan shouted out after him, “Where is he?”

  “China!”

  Logan blinked. “China?”

  “His unit is attacking a satellite station!” As the trio turned for the airstrip, they ran into the other members of Vector, all of whom were responding to the call. Forming up, they made a beeline for their V2.

  “Did you say a satellite station?” Pablo asked as he caught up to Torokin.

  The judge nodded. “They are attacking a station in Hami! That is all that I know.”

  A sense of urgency came over Pablo. “We must stop them before they destroy that facility!”

  “Why?”

  “Because if that facility is destroyed, it will erase all my efforts to communicate with Jīngshén-2. I will have no way of tracking the outlaws’ communication in Krasnoyarsk!”

  Marty shook his head fervently. “Forget ’dat part of it! ’Dis is our shot to actually nab the suckers. We ain’t gonna have to worry about trackin’ Remington if we got him in a six-by-eight cell!”

  Dashing up the ramp of the Mark-2 Vulture and toward the cockpit, Minh said, “I can have us there in twenty minutes!” Behind him, the rest of the hunter team strapped in.

  Logan looked at Pablo crossly. “What reason would Remington have for attacking that facility on his own? Does it offer any other tactical advantage?”

  “EDEN will lose comm traffic, but only for a short while until things swap to an auxiliary system.” For once, the technician wasn’t smiling. “The only lasting impact destroying Hami Station would have is in how it affects us with Jīngshén-2.”

  Speaking to Torokin, Logan asked, “You know what I’m wondering, don’t you?”

  There was no hesitation from the judge. “Yes, I do.”

  “What are y’all wonderin’?” asked Marty, who was strapped in next to Lisa on the other side of the troop bay.

  The Australian looked at him. “I’m wondering if Remington knew what we were trying to do.”

  Torokin looked at the group at large as he stood at the bottom of the ramp. “I cannot go with you. I have been forbidden from engaging in combat. If I go on this mission, I will engage.” Spoken like a man who knew himself. No one argued the point. “Good luck, gentlemen. I will await your return here.” He looked at Logan. “This one is yours, comrade.”

  Nodding his head, Logan said, “Lock and load—let’s get airborne!” He gripped the handrail as the V2’s rear bay door went up, giving a final look to Torokin before the door was closed. The transport rose from the ground.

  * * *

  Hami, China

  DEEP INSIDE HAMI Station, Valentin and the infiltration team were desperately searching for the room Boris needed to download the access codes from. Though there were only four hallways to explore, they’d already gone down two of them and found nothing but break rooms and kitchens. With each minute that passed, the group got more anxious.

  Despite David’s warning to the keeper, Valentin had taken several more shots at workers in the station—though fortunately for the workers, they’d managed to duck into rooms without getting slain. For whatever it was worth, Valentin didn’t waste time pursuing them for the sake of killing them. The keeper’s mind was one-tracked on progression.

  “Tell me you have found something!” Valentin asked as he followed Boris into a room the technician darted into.

  Boris was standing before a massive row of computer consoles in what looked like some sort of server room. His eyes darting in every direction behind his slayer helmet, he stood almost in a trance of some sort. At long last, his gaze widened, and he rushed toward one of the consoles built into a rack. “This is it! This is what I need.” He looked at his followers and pointed to it. “This is the kind of hardware places like these use to—”

  “I don’t care about the history—download the codes!” said Valentin.

  Without a word and with trembling hands, Boris opened up his hacking kit.

  * * *

  Hovering above the facility in the Pariah, Scott’s attention was glued to the radar, despite knowing that Tiffany’s Superwolf would detect any incoming aircraft far sooner than the Pariah would. Addressing the infiltration team on his comm, he asked, “What’s the status down there?” Time was getting critical, and he was yet to hear any news of progress. They needed to get those codes and get out of there.

  “We found what we need!” answered David. “Boris is working.”

  Behind his helmet, Scott was sweating. “What about you, colonel? How are those explosives?”

  Several seconds passed before Lilan replied. “They’re getting it done. Probably about a third of the way finished now!”

  A third. That wasn’t bad.

  “Or maybe a quarter,” Lilan said.

  Scott half-frowned. Not quite as good. Looking up from the radar screen, Scott watched as the Superwolf streaked across the Pariah’s horizon line, far ahead. At any minute, she was going to announce that she’d spotted a contact. Scott was just waiting for it.

  * * *

  “Okay,” Boris said, fidgeting with his helmet. “We have a little bit of a problem.”

  “What kind of a problem?” snapped Valentin, his gaze focusing for a moment on Boris’s adjusting. At long last, as if making a conscious decision, he stepped forward and twisted the helmet off. “Use your real eyes for this!”

  Boris’s black mop of hair was dripping with sweat. “They are using outdated software. Before I will be able to connect with it, it must be updated.”

  Leaning into the room from outside, Javon said, “You kiddin’ me? You gotta update their computer?”

  “Yes,” said Boris, exasperated despite his fingers flying across the keyboard. “Log onto the internet, find the software, download the software, install the software…”

  “Come on, man, for real?”

  The technician nodded. “Then restart the computer…”

  Snarling as he spun around and approached Boris again, Valentin said, “We do not have time for this!”

  Boris snapped. “What do you want me to do? It must be done! You are yelling, and I do not like it!”

  “Hey—hey!” said David, grabbing Valentin before he could enter Boris’s personal space. “Let the man work.”

  Valentin relented and said nothing. Tucking Boris’s helmet away, he retreated back to the doorway.

  Assault rifle fire erupted from the hallway, prompting all four men to spin that way. Leaning in from where he’d been out of view, Pyotr offered them a wave. “It’s okay! I was just killing that guy down there.”

  The group stared at Pyotr for several seconds before returning their focus to Boris. Leaning in close to David and with his voice hushed, Javon said, “I ain’t a real big fan of how these guys operate.”

  David shook his head in disgust. “Yeah, you ain’t the only one.”

  * * *

  “How’s it looking down there, colonel?” Scott asked.

  After a burst of interfering static, Lilan answered, “Got about a third of ’em, now!”

  Now it was a third? They had to move faster than this.

  “Contact!” Tiffany announced over the speaker.

  Behind his helmet, Scott’s face paled.

  “Two Superwolves out of the southeast, coming in at Mach-5! They’ve gotta be from Hong Kong.”

  “Two Superwolves,” Scott said, looking over at Travis. “She can handle two Superwolves, right?”

  Travis shook his head. “Those are probably the first two out of fifty.”

  Well, that wasn’t good. “How fast is Mach-5?”

  “Fast.”

  * * *

  COMING AROUND IN her orbit, Tiffany placed her hand atop the throttle. “Permission to intercept?”

  “Do you think that’s the best thing to do?” Scott asked over the comm.

  “Lemme p
ut it to you this way. If I don’t intercept, you guys are probably all gonna die. If I make a beeline for them, I can keep them far, far away from what you guys are doing here. If they’re too busy fighting me, they can’t come here to fight you!” She glanced at her radar as more contacts appeared. “Four more, same heading—all from Hong Kong.”

  There was a pause. “Intercept.”

  “Intercepting.” Breaking the Superwolf out of its orbit pattern, Tiffany pointed its nose to the southeast, pinning the throttle down as the fighter’s engines burst with power.

  * * *

  “TICK, TICK, TICK,” said Boris nervously as he watched the software update with agonizing slowness.

  Scott’s voice crackled through the comm. “Team, we’ve got enemy Superwolves en route! What’s the status report?”

  The group stared at Boris as he winced. Lifting his comm to his lips, he said, “We are almost ready to begin, in about ten minutes.”

  “Did you say begin in ten minutes?”

  Boris covered his face and cursed in Russian.

  Picking up where the technician left off, David said to Scott, “We’ve got to update some kind of software, man. This might be a while.”

  * * *

  Scott wanted to slam his comm against the wall. “We don’t have a while, we have Superwolves inbound!”

  “Umm,” said Travis from beside Scott, reaching sideways with his hand to tap Scott on the shoulder. When Scott looked, Travis pointed to the radar. “That’s not all we’ve got inbound.”

  Scanning the radar screen, Scott could clearly see multiple aircraft appearing at the far end of the Pariah’s detection range. “What are those?”

  “Vultures,” Travis answered, “three of them, all Mark-2’s, all coming from Novosibirsk.”

  Novosibirsk. Fantastic. “Ground team, get ready,” he said to Lilan. “You’re about to get some company.” As soon as he was back off-comm, Scott asked Travis, “Are those V2s going to come after us in the Pariah?”

  “I don’t know.” Travis shook his head with uncertainty. “We definitely can’t outgun them if they do.”

  That wasn’t what Scott wanted to hear. “Do you think they can see us, yet?”

  “I doubt it. We’re low and we don’t have a transponder. They probably won’t see us until they come within visual.”

  As good as that news was, it still didn’t tell Scott what he was supposed to do next. Pulling off his helmet, he dragged his hand down his face. “Okay,” Scott said, despite having nothing to follow it up with. He was making this up as he went. “All ground teams, we’re going to take the Pariah into the valley on the other side of the mountains.” It felt like cowardice, but it was the only way Scott could give the Pariah a fighting chance. If the Pariah fell, every member of the ground team would be doomed to death or capture. “We’ll come back in to get you when you’re ready for extraction. Work fast!” Their only hope was that, by the time the ground team was ready to be picked up, Tiffany would be back in her Superwolf and able to cover the Pariah.

  “That’s the right call,” said Travis.

  Scott was glad to hear it. “Get us behind those mountains.”

  * * *

  MINH DANG GLANCED back from the cockpit of his Mark-2 Vulture and into the troop bay, where the collection of Vectors and Logan Marshall were armed and ready. “Coming in fast, ETA two minutes!” The Vector Vulture was at the front of the small V, two Vultures of standard operatives from the takeback of Novosibirsk tight in formation behind them.

  Walking to the center of the troop bay, Chiumbo addressed the crew. “If any of you see Remington, he is to be taken alive!” He looked sharply at Logan, who was giving him a look of dissatisfaction. “Alive. Understood?”

  “Alive,” Logan said with reluctance.

  “It’s your show,” the Mwera lieutenant said to him.

  The Australian didn’t hesitate. Stepping in front of Chiumbo, he faced the operatives before him. “These blokes are more dangerous than you think, particularly Remington and Brooking! What they did in Cairo wasn’t luck.” Pointing to Lisa, he said, “I want to put you somewhere you can get some height. Do you need a spotter?” Behind her visor, the sniper from Essex smirked. “Didn’t think so,” said Logan. He pointed to the overhead map of Hami Station that was on the troop bay monitor. “There are two entrances to this facility—the main one in the front and a smaller maintenance door in the back. Okayo,” he said, indicating to Chiumbo, “Breaux and I will approach the main entrance and draw some fire, assuming that’s where the Fourteenth breached! Between us and those other boys, we should give them a serious bloody push.” His attention shifted to Sasha and Pablo. “I want you two going into the back—see if you can cut them off. Quintana, I want you being a nuisance in that facility. Seal them off, take over whatever systems you can—give them a reason to panic.”

  The technician already had his kit ready.

  “Don’t underestimate what these guys can do! They’re the world’s most wanted for a reason. Any questions?” No one had any.

  From the cockpit, Minh yelled, “Coming down!”

  “Coming down,” Logan repeated. “Let’s catch these guys!”

  * * *

  AS HE WATCHED the trio of Vultures from Novosibirsk descend, Lilan barked into his comm, “Demolition boys, take cover behind those dishes! Incoming, incoming, incoming!” He looked back at Jayden and Feliks—the only two men with him. Pointing at the blown-open hole where the front door had been, he said to Feliks, “You and I are gonna take cover on each side of this door! Timmons, fall back into the building and take shots from down the hall. Deal some damage, son!”

  “Yessir,” said Jayden, dashing into the main building with his sniper rifle. Feliks got into position on one side of the doorframe, Lilan mirroring him on the other.

  Signaling to Feliks, Lilan asked, “What’s your name, again?”

  “Petrukhin!”

  “All right, Petrukhin. Show me what makes you guys special. Let’s light ’em up!” Aiming with their E-35s, the two men waited for the Vultures to touch down.

  * * *

  “Hey, man!” said Tom, snatching his massive cousin by the shoulder guard. Donald turned around to see him. “We ’bout to get smacked in the mouth!”

  Looking at the three Vultures as if becoming aware of them for the first time, Donald took cover behind the dish he’d just finished setting for detonation. The demolitionist readied his hand cannon. “Not today, we ain’t!”

  “This ain’t our job, man! We done enough for these guys—we gotta run!”

  “I ain’t runnin’ and neither is you.”

  Focus switching rapidly between Donald and the Vultures as if panicked, Tom finally took cover on the side opposite his cousin, frantically pulling out his assault rifle as he took a lazy aim. “This is bad news, man.”

  On the opposite end of the array, William and Becan had already taken cover behind the dish they’d been working on. Just like Donald and Tom, the Irishman and Southerner had their weapons ready to attack.

  “Do we have anny kind o’ actual plan?” Becan asked. Approximately fifty meters in front of the main entrance to the complex, the three Vultures kicked up dust as they came down.

  “I’m gonna shoot the moment the near one’s rear door comes down,” said William, already aiming. “Take out as many as I can with shot number one. You got my back for the others?”

  Becan nodded. “Aye. I gotta admit, though, I’m not sure how good I feel abou’ this!”

  The demolitionist’s eyes narrowed. “I feel damn good about it.”

  * * *

  “Installation complete!” said Boris, thrusting his fists into the air before his fingers returned to the inputs. “Restarting the system so the update will take effect.”

  “What’s our time frame, man?” asked David frantically. “We’re about to get some serious company in here!”

  The technician’s fingers were practically blurring as they flew fro
m one key to the next. Hitting a final command, he set the system to reboot. “Two minutes to reboot, two minutes to connect with my kit—”

  “All those ‘two minutes’ add up, Boris!”

  “I know, I know!” His fingers tapped nervously as he waited for the system to cycle back on. “Seven minutes total, maybe eight!”

  Turning back to the corridor, Valentin stared down the hall in both directions, stopping when he saw Jayden setting up in the intersection. Motioning to Javon and Pyotr, he pointed to the Texan. “You two, go and assist him. The rest of us will stay here to protect the technician.” The two men acknowledged and dashed toward Jayden’s intersection. Valentin got on the comm. “Seven minutes,” he said to Scott.

  “Or eight!” Boris said, looking back.

  Turning his head slowly to face Boris, Valentin said, “Seven.”

  Boris blinked. Swallowing deeply, he turned back to his kit. “I can do seven.”

  * * *

  Jayden had just set up at the edge of the intersection when Javon and Pyotr came rushing to join him. “Hey guys! What are y’all doin’ here?” the Texan asked.

  “Helpin’ you!” said Javon. The soldier looked at Pyotr and pointed in the direction behind Jayden. “Watch the six, man. Keep my boy safe.”

  “There’s another way in?” Jayden asked as he watched Pyotr set up in the opposite direction.

  Javon nodded. “Maintenance door all the way in the back. Nice way to get ambushed from behind. We on top of it though!”