by Ty Patterson
‘This is our operation,’ Ahmed seethed. ‘I should know everything. I bet Shuren knows who those shooters are!’
‘He doesn’t,’ and this time Yefremov was telling the truth. ‘He hasn’t asked me either. Why are you so interested in their identities? We agreed that I would provide the killers.’
In Colorado, Sarah Burke mouthed Back Off to Ahmed who nodded. ‘I’m just asking,’ he said. ‘How’s it looking there? Any signs of Carter?’
‘No. Can you get some more killings in America?’
‘Yes, the engineers are working on it.’
‘Great,’ Yefremov said. ‘Let’s check in tomorrow,’ and he ended the call.
He dialed a number from memory which got routed through several proxies until a male voice answered in Russian.
‘Da?’
‘It’s me.
‘Who else would it be?’ the man said, bored. ‘No one else has this number.’
‘I’ve got a job for you. Washington DC. Day after tomorrow. One pm. You need to shoot into a crowd in front of the White House. Can you do that?’
‘That’s a high security area.’
‘If you can’t do it, I’ll get someone else.’
‘Of course I can. But I want a million dollars for it.’
‘That’s too much,’ Yefremov protested.
‘Listen, Igor,’ the killer growled, using the name he knew Yefremov by. ‘The chances are very good that I’ll be killed.’
‘You won’t need the money, then.’
‘Go, get someone else.’
‘That price is okay,’ Yefremov said quickly. ‘But you should know there will be two other shooters.’
‘I work alone.’
‘All of you will be working alone,’ he snapped. ‘But in different positions. You are the first person I called. You decide which location you want to occupy.’
‘The right of the White House, as I face it.’
‘Alright. I’ll message you the usual way at one pm, with the go signal. Payment to the previous bank account?
‘Da.’
Yefremov made two more calls and after half an hour, he had his shooters lined up. Mikhail, the first man he had called, would open into the crowd from the right. Denis, the second killer, would fire from the front of Lafayette Square and Laurence, would take position on the corner of Madison Place Northwest.
The Russian made one final call. There was no sign of Carter but that didn’t mean there was no need to be prepared.
‘Vasily, how quickly can you and your men get to Boulder City? No, I want you to stay there. Come to where I am only if I call you. Yes, like a backup.’
He hung up when he was satisfied with the arrangements. The three shooters were freelance killers he had used in the past. Vasily and his crew were former Spetsnaz. They provided shooting support to the Russian mob and while they were New York based, they moved around at short notice.
Yefremov leaned back and put his feet on the desk. Everything was ready.
He closed his eyes and dreamed of being rewarded by the Russian President.
Chapter Ninety-Four
‘I am not entirely surprised,’ Zeb spoke into his phone. ‘If Yefremov didn’t share details with him before, he wasn’t going to start now.’
He listened for a while, grunted and hung up.
‘That was Sarah,’ he replied to Beth’s questioning look. ‘Ahmed had his check-in call with Yefremov, but the Russian refused to say who his shooters were, or where they would be positioned. Shooting time’s confirmed, however. One pm. Day after tomorrow. In front of the White House.’
‘We’ll have to make Yefremov talk, in that case,’ Bwana said.
‘Uh huh,’ Zeb acknowledged and turned to the large chart on the table.
It was three pm. They were in Edwards Air Force Base. A large conference room with a map of the area spread out in front of them. Getting to the base hadn’t been difficult.
He had made a call to Clare when they were enroute from the Laird Ranch. Their Gulfstream had picked them up at Grand Junction Airport, along with the dogs, and had flown then to Quartz Hill Airport in Lancaster, southern California.
Clare had arranged for two SUVs and a van for the robots at the airport. Additionally, she had made more calls which had resulted in a final call originating from the Pentagon to the Commander of the Air Force Test Center at the base. The message was simple. Receive one Zeb Carter and his crew. Provide them with whatever they need. Ask no questions.
That order was strictly adhered to. They were received at the base by security personnel who matched their faces to photographs that Clare had sent.
The guards had looked long and hard at the dogs in the van and had then shrugged. If their superiors had okayed these visitors, who were they to question them? They sent the arrivals to the interiors of the complex.
The base was home to the 412th Test Wing, a division of the USAF that tested aircraft, weapons, and software. Every aircraft that the USAF used was tested at Edwards.
A uniformed attendant had greeted them in an airconditioned office and had then led them to the conference room. There, a stocky, buzz cut, Chief Master Sergeant Dwight Kelly had met them. ‘I heard y’all need a Lockheed Galaxy. And two pilots. Two vehicles as well that should explode in mid-air.’
‘That’s correct,’ Zeb replied. He didn’t make any introductions and was glad that Kelly expected none. He had sized them up immediately and had cut to the chase.
Kelly studied them for a few more minutes, went out silently and returned with two men in flight suits. ‘Lt. Colonels Benny Anderson and Chad Goring. Gentlemen, meet our visitors whose names we aren’t supposed to know.’
The pilots, for that’s who they were, looked similar. Both were about five feet eleven in height, lean, leathery faced, brown eyes that smiled readily, closely cropped hair.
‘I wouldn’t say that,’ Roger drawled, reached out and shook their hands. He introduced the operatives quickly and then asked, ‘You got the aircraft and the other stuff we wanted?’
‘Yeah,’ Kelly replied. ‘Anderson and Goring will be with you until you fly out. They know where everything is.’ He nodded at them briefly and left them.
‘Ignore his hospitality. Kelly doesn’t like it when he’s told not to ask questions.’ Goring chuckled. ‘You, a fellow Texan, sir?’ he asked Roger.
‘Yeah. Unfortunately these others aren’t that lucky,’ the operative bumped fists with the pilot. ‘Let’s drop the sir or ma’am stuff. First names will do.’
‘That goes for us too,’ Anderson’s face split into a warm smile. ‘I’ve a feeling you folks have seen some action. You’ve been in the military?’
‘Don’t mind Benny,’ Goring spoke quickly when none of the operatives replied. ‘What do you want us to do?’
Their faces didn’t change expression when Zeb told them.
‘Tonight?’
‘Yes.’
‘That’s private property as far as we know.’
‘Yes, it is,’ Zeb didn’t elaborate.
‘Alright then.
‘You’re lucky,’ Anderson didn’t seem put out that his question hadn’t been answered. ‘We had a Galaxy come in a few days back. It should be fueled and that power station, that’s less than a hop away. The vehicles are getting outfitted as well. You want to check them?’
‘No,’ Zeb replied. ‘Is there any place we can rest for a few hours? We won’t be accompanying you on the flight.’
‘Sure, we’ve got rooms arranged for you. Let’s go through the details again.’
Zeb and his team went through the plans over and over again until the pilots were satisfied.
Anderson took them to their rooms after the briefing. Two bungalows in the vast complex. ‘We get visitors,’ he explained, ‘from the Pentagon mostly. A few defense contractors. They stay here.’
‘Sleep,’ Zeb told Beth and Meghan when the second pilot had also left and the other operators had departed to their acco
mmodation. ‘No screens.’
Meghan raised her hands in surrender. She and her sister had briefed the FBI’s technical team that had arrived shortly before their departure. ‘Yes, boss,’ she said tongue-in-cheek.
‘Zeb,’ Beth stopped him.
‘Yeah?’ He turned back to the sisters.
‘Ahmed,’ the younger sister grimaced. ‘He goes scot free? Just because he’s given us intel?’
‘He won’t be free, dummy,’ Meghan corrected her. ‘He’ll face jail time.’
‘Yeah, in our prisons!’
‘When this is done,’ Zeb’s lips twitched, ‘Riyaz Khalid Ahmed will be gratefully taken in by Avichai Levin. And will never be heard of again.’
The smile that burst on Beth’s face dimmed the sun. ‘You fox, you planned this all along.’
‘They will get justice,’ Zeb said, ‘all three of them.’
‘Shuren? What about him?’ Meghan asked. ‘We don’t know where he is.’
‘Yefremov will tell us and then we’ll find him. Wherever he is. These killings will end tonight when we put an end to the Nevada site. And then we go after the mastermind.’
Chapter Ninety-Five
Zeb and his team left Edwards Air Force Base at nine pm.
* * *
Anderson and Goring saw them off, after the pilots had insisted that they inspect the packages.
The operatives had followed the men through various buildings, brightly lit, pedestrian and vehicular traffic even at night. They climbed into two vehicles and were driven into the night.
The main airfield has three runways, Zeb recollected from his briefings about the base. Rogers Lakebed and Rosamond Lakebed have additional runways.
They stopped at one of the runways on the main base and went towards a dark silhouette, the Galaxy. It’s rear loading door was open, a few men working inside.
‘Your Jeeps,’ Goring said, pointing to the vehicles which were strapped to the floor and sides of the enormous inside of the aircraft. ‘They aren’t roadworthy, but you won’t be doing any driving in them, will you?’
His lips curled in a knowing smile.
‘Nope,’ Bwana said emphatically.
‘The explosives,’ Anderson indicated the packs mounted on the front and rear seats, ‘there are some underneath the hood too. They’ll be triggered by their rate of descent, when the windspeed reaches a critical threshold. We have timers too just in case those triggers fail. Bottomline, they’ll detonate when in air, fifteen seconds before impact. They’ll explode when they hit the ground. They’ll burn for about an hour, afterwards. You wanted sound and fire, a spectacle. You’ll get it.’
Zeb nodded in thanks.
‘Care to tell us what this is about? We’re good at keeping secrets.’
‘You heard about the shootings in Columbus? All over the world?’
The pilots looked at each other. Their eyes narrowed. ‘This…’ Goring cocked his head at the explosives, ‘is about all that? You sure you want them to land where you told us?’ his voice was low, harsh.
‘Two hundred yards to the left of the house, and the same distance to the right,’ Beth replied. ‘Not on the house. Nowhere near the solar panels which are at the front, nor at the back. Yeah, the coordinates we gave you are correct.’
‘Of course! You want them alive,’ Anderson murmured almost to himself.
‘Good hunting,’ Goring shook their hands. ‘And if you need some help, let us know,’ he grinned. ‘We’ve a few people here who know their way in such situations.’
* * *
Nevada Evergreen was two hundred and twenty miles from the airbase. A drive that would normally take about three and a half hours.
Zeb floored it when they hit the I-15 North. He was in the lead, Burt, Pilgrim and their dogs in the van in the middle, and Bwana driving the last SUV.
Meghan checked their earpieces. They worked. She checked their comms with Anderson and Goring. Those worked as well.
A moon to guide them, the desert pale and flat for as far as the eye could see.
‘You got the C4?’ Beth asked Bwana.
‘Yeah. Enough of it.’
‘Larry, Zack, you guys are holding up?’
‘Sure are,’ Burt answered cheerfully. ‘So long as no one’s shooting at us, we’re good.’
‘You’ll not be coming close to the house. There’s no fear of that happening.’
Zeb tuned them out and focused on driving. Mile after mile of dark road sliding beneath their wheels.
A ten-minute break after two hours. Coffees from flasks. Light conversation. And they got back in their rides again.
He knew this would be different from the takedown in Colorado. Yefremov had better men with him than Ahmed had. They wouldn’t be taken in by a pack of dogs running around the house. Besides, I don’t want to repeat the attack pattern.
Getting inside the house would be the biggest challenge. Sure, they would have the element of surprise, but even so…some of us might not live through the night.
Zeb’s lips tightened. His foot pressed harder on the gas. If anyone had to die, it would be him.
I will breach the house first.
Chapter Ninety-Six
Five miles away from Nevada Evergreen. The road an inky black. All around them, land as flat as a sheet of paper. Pale. Nothing moving but them. The moon above, observing them dispassionately.
Zeb drove off the road and stopped his vehicle. The van rolled next to him and then the second SUV. The silence enveloped them, broken only by the opening and closing of doors and soft murmurs.
‘Wait!’ Bwana commanded and swigged a large sip of coffee from his flask. He smacked his lips, wiped them with the back of his hand and took the lead.
One am.
They were strung out on the desert, walking swiftly, with purpose. The dogs loped, effortlessly. Burt and Pilgrim beside them.
‘You did good in Colorado,’ Beth complimented the scientists. ‘Those attack programs. How’re you able to control each robot individually with just two screens?’
A question like that was music to their ears. They tripped over each other’s words, trying to answer her first. Something about multiple clones of programs, a master control. Zeb shook his head, bemused and cracked a grin when Bear grunted, ‘nerds,’ in disgust.
Conversation died down when they were a mile away. They stopped to don full combat gear. Plate armor, NVGs, helmets around their necks for the time being. HKs were checked. The researchers made sure their command and control programs worked and the dogs responded.
At Zeb’s nod, Beth clicked her mic. ‘Goring, Anderson?’
‘Yeah?’ a Texan drawl, warm and reassuring in their earpieces.
‘Let the show begin.’
‘Copy that.’
The Lockheed’s General Electric CF6 turbofan engines whined to life. They thrust forward the giant aircraft, weighing just over four hundred thousand pounds. The airplane rolled down the lit runway, and parted from the ground as if mocking gravity. The aircraft banked to the left as the pilots set course for the solar power station.
‘You should see us soon,’ Goring announced cheerfully.
* * *
Zeb led his team, sprinting towards the house, visible in the distance. A few lights on the ground floor.
‘There!’ Beth announced excitedly.
He looked up as a dark shape swept across the sky. Too high to see the cargo doors opening but the smaller shapes were distinctive as they fell from the aircraft.
‘Three.’
‘Two.’
At her One, the shapes burst into flames and turned into orange and yellow meteors, hurtling towards the earth.
The ground shuddered when the fiery balls landed and their explosions reverberated in the night.
‘Take positions,’ Zeb shouted and he, Meghan, Bear and Broker sprinted to the Jeep on the right, the other operatives went to the left.
Burt and Pilgrim slowed to a walk. They would get clo
ser to the house once entry was made.
* * *
‘SIDOR! SIDOR!’ Yefremov grunted and sat up on his bed. He glowered at the screen.
‘What?’ he yelled at Boris.
‘You got to see this. Something fell from the sky.’
Chapter Ninety-Seven
Yefremov blinked.
‘Something fell from the sky? A meteor?’
‘I DON’T KNOW. COME UP AND SEE THIS.’
He swore, slipped into his shoes and went out of his panic room. Climbed the steps and flung the door to the ground floor open.
Boris wasn’t at the control station. He and several men were crowded at a window. Many others were bunched at another, to the right.
‘What…’ Yefremov’s voice trailed off when he saw the glow in the distance. About two hundred yards from the house.
‘What’s that?’ he asked when he had recovered his wits.
‘Don’t know,’ Boris shook his head. ‘One of the men saw it fall seconds ago.’
‘From the sky?’
‘Da. There’s one more to the right of the house.’
‘One more?’ Yefremov repeated mechanically and joined the other men. Sure enough, there was another ball of fire in the night, almost identical to the one on the left. At a similar distance, too.
‘How could those fall from the sky? Are they meteors?’
‘I don’t know,’ Boris replied impatiently.
‘Isn’t there an airforce base nearby?’
‘Da. Edwards. We often see planes in the sky.’
‘Could they have fallen from an aircraft?’
‘Possible.’
‘IT COULD BE AN ATTACK!’ Yefremov reared up suddenly.
‘Nyet,’ Boris told him curtly. ‘That was the first thing I checked. Nothing on our CCTV cameras. No movement. Besides, if anyone was attacking us, wouldn’t they drop those things, whatever they are, on top of us?’
