Phoenix

by Alex Lukeman

  "The Chinese. They think either Moscow or Washington is behind the destruction of the dam. They may not believe similar attacks were leveled against us. It creates a dangerous situation."

  "Yes," Vysotsky said. "They are a paranoid people, even more so than my countrymen."

  "It's what happens with old cultures," Elizabeth said. "Old cultures are born out of war and treachery. In a treacherous world, paranoia is a healthy perspective. It becomes a way of life."

  "You sound philosophical today, Director."

  "We have to try to convince them neither of our countries is responsible for what has happened to them. Can you use your contacts to find out what they're really thinking?"

  "Then we have a deal?" Vysotsky asked. "We will share information as it becomes available?"

  "Yes."

  "I will do what I can with the Chinese."

  "The world has become a much more dangerous place in the last few days," Elizabeth said.

  "There isn't much new about that, is there? Corrigan is rash, but he is not stupid. War between us will leave both our nations in ruins. I have confidence in your government's ability to exercise caution. I am not so sure about our friends in China."

  "In that case, we'd better hope whoever is behind this doesn't hit them again," Elizabeth said.

  CHAPTER 37

  Josef was nervous. Mister Nicklaus was angry. There were few things that frightened Josef, but when Mister Nicklaus was angry, there was something about his eyes that triggered fear. The eyes glittered, black orbs that drew you in to a dark, cold place. When Nicklaus was angry he smelled, a faint unpleasant odor of decay. It was even more unsettling than his eyes.

  Sometimes Josef thought about disappearing, going back to the simple crimes of his youth, but he knew it was too late for that. Nicklaus would find him wherever he went. No one ever left Mister Nicklaus' employ. Not alive, anyway.

  Nicklaus' voice was quiet. His eyes watched Josef as if he were an interesting specimen to pin onto a board.

  "Why is the woman still alive, Josef?"

  In spite of himself, Josef trembled.

  "I don't know how she got out of there, sir. She was bound hand and foot. The whole place was on fire when I left. She should be dead."

  "But she isn't. And now I have to do something about her. Her, and the rest of her group. You should have killed her."

  Josef knew better than to point out that Mister Nicklaus had told him to hurry and to let the fire take care of her.

  "Yes, sir."

  "I am tired of having to think about this Project group. I want you to put together a team. You will attack them where they work. Kill them. There is a computer in the basement. I want you to destroy it."

  Josef let himself relax a little. This was the kind of mission he understood. It reminded him of the good days in Bosnia.

  "I will need information about the building and its defenses."

  "All that will be provided. Put together whatever you need. Do it quickly."

  "Yes, Mister Nicklaus."

  Nicklaus turned the full power of his eyes onto Josef.

  "Don't fail me this time."

  The sense of relief Josef had begun to feel disappeared.

  CHAPTER 38

  The mood in Elizabeth's office was somber.­­­

  "The NRC sealed off Palo Verde. Everything within a twenty mile radius has been evacuated. First responders and local residents are showing signs of radiation sickness."

  Lamont said, "What about Phoenix?"

  "The wind blew a radioactive cloud over the city. The radiation isn't as intense as in the area around the plant, but it's serious. You don't want to hang around in it. Everyone with a vehicle is trying to leave. Every highway out of the city is clogged with cars. Nothing's moving. Looting's begun," Elizabeth said.

  "Figures," Ronnie said.

  "The looters are too stupid to realize they're in a radioactive environment. Most of them belong to gangs allied with the Mexican cartels. They're armed with automatic weapons and the police can't stop them. Downtown Phoenix is a war zone."

  "Maybe they'll kill each other off," Lamont said. "Good riddance if they do."

  "What's Corrigan doing?" Nick asked.

  "He's activated the National Guard and he's got people from NRC telling him what to do."

  "That's not what I meant. Somebody attacked us. What's he doing about that?"

  "I wish I knew," Elizabeth said. "All I know is, he's pissed. I'm afraid he might launch a first strike in retaliation. Cartwright is trying to convince him that Beijing is behind the attack. She thinks the trail leading to Russia is Chinese misdirection. General Adamski is leaning toward Russia as the culprit."

  "Why would the Chinese hit Palo Verde? It doesn't make sense. And what about the attack on their dam? "

  "Cartwright seems determined to disregard any information except what she wants to hear."

  "You think she's encouraging Corrigan to go to war?"

  "I don't think she understands the consequences of what she's telling him," Elizabeth said.

  A klaxon alarm began blaring in the office.

  Freddie's voice boomed through the room.

  There is an armed incursion at the entry gate.

  "Show it on the wall monitor, Freddie," Elizabeth said.

  I am unable to comply. Camera feed from the location has been lost.

  "What did you see before the feed was lost?"

  Security personnel have been eliminated.

  Ronnie swore.

  "How many attackers?"

  The number is uncertain but I estimate a dozen.

  "Show the view from camera four."

  The wall monitor lit with a view from a camera focused on the road leading to the building. Three black Suburbans were speeding toward them.

  "They'll be here in a minute," Elizabeth said.

  Nick got up from the couch. Calm, as if people broke through security all the time. Ronnie and Lamont stood with him.

  "Director, anything up here they shouldn't see if they get in?" Nick said.

  "No. Everything's in the computers. They can't get into the files from here without the passwords."

  "All right. Selena, Director, Stephanie, head downstairs and break out weapons."

  He glanced at the end of the couch where Burps watched, his ears straight up. He knew something was wrong.

  "Take the cat."

  Selena scooped him up and followed Elizabeth and Stephanie to the stairs going to the lower level.

  "They have to come through the front or the patio doors," Nick said. "Getting through the front isn't going to be easy. They'll have to blow it. These big patio doors are another matter. They may be bulletproof, but they can be broken."

  Ronnie said, "We can't fight them in here. This building was never set up for something like this. We'll be overrun."

  Lamont nodded.

  Ronnie looked at the ceiling. "I hear a chopper."

  The sound of the rotors got closer.

  "I don't like that," Nick said. "If these guys have a chopper..."

  He never finished the sentence. An explosion rocked the front of the building and knocked them to the ground. Part of the ceiling collapsed in a shower of dust and debris. A beam landed on top of Ronnie.

  "Fuck!" Lamont yelled.

  "Downstairs," Nick yelled, "get downstairs."

  Ronnie pushed the beam away and struggled to his knees, shaken. Lamont and Nick grabbed him under each arm and moved him to the stair entrance. Lamont started down, keeping Ronnie upright.

  The house was built over a decommissioned Nike site that had been turned into a private home. The steel and concrete magazines of the original site now formed the lower level. The previous owners had feared a nuclear attack and installed a thick steel door at the head of the spiral staircase leading below.

  The first of the attackers came through the smashed entry and fired as Nick started to close the door. Rounds peppered the wall next to his head, stinging his
face with fragments. He swung the door closed and locked it. Bullets pounded into the steel. It sounded like heavy hail on a metal roof.

  The others waited below. Selena handed Nick an MP7 and two spare magazines. Each of the women had one of the submachine guns, Lamont a grenade launcher. Burps was nowhere to be seen.

  "You all right, Ronnie?" Nick asked.

  "Yeah. I'm good."

  "What happened up there?" Elizabeth asked.

  "They've got a chopper," Nick said. "They hit the front with a rocket and blew it open. Lamont, get a Stinger."

  Lamont handed the grenade launcher to Ronnie and ran into the armory. He came back a moment later.

  The Stinger was a formidable weapon, a portable one man system that fired a heat seeking missile tipped with six and a half pounds of high explosive. It had a range of up to five miles.

  Everything was silent above.

  Nick pointed up the stairs. "They'll get through that door."

  "We can pick them off as they come down the stairs," Lamont said.

  Ronnie shook his head. "I were them, I'd toss a grenade. Maybe two."

  "Makes sense," Nick said. "These guys are pros with serious backup. Someone wants us dead."

  "This is a lousy place for a firefight," Ronnie said. "I vote we run and live to fight another day."

  "He's right, Nick," Selena said. "There's no point in getting killed. There's no real cover in here. We'll lose, if we stay here."

  An escape tunnel had been added to the designs when the Project took over the building. Elizabeth had justified it as precaution. Secretly, she'd always wanted something like it, ever since she'd been a child reading mysteries with a flashlight under the bed covers. The tunnel had proved useful once before. Now it meant life or death.

  "I don't like running, but you're right," Nick said. "We'll take the tunnel."

  He looked around.

  "Where's the cat?"

  "Hiding," Stephanie said.

  "He'll have to take his chances," Nick said. "Let's go."

  They started toward the computer room and the hidden entrance to the escape tunnel.

  The intruders are getting ready to blow open the door. Would you like to know how they plan to do it?

  Stephanie said, "Not right now, Freddie. Execute shutdown mode. Transfer all processes to remote backup. Do it now."

  Yes, Stephanie. Goodbye.

  "Remote backup?" Elizabeth asked.

  "I'll explain later," Stephanie said.

  At the computer room Stephanie slid her card through the reader at the entry and waited for the iris scan to complete. The tall, glass doors hissed open. An explosion upstairs told them the attackers had breached the door to the stairs.

  The entrance to the tunnel was hidden behind one of the Crays, the only clue to its existence a thin outline in the wall. Stephanie pressed the upper left corner of the panel. It slid open, revealing the escape route. Overhead fluorescent lights flickered to life.

  "Quick," Nick said.

  The women went first, then Lamont and Ronnie. Nick followed them into the tunnel and through a switch on the inside wall. The panel slid shut.

  The exit was a hundred yards away. At the end of the tunnel, steps led up to a closet with a door. Selena opened the door and stepped out into a maintenance shed. The shed stood next to a thick grove of trees. There was a door in the back of the shed, out of sight from the house.

  From the shed they followed a faint path through the woods to a fence and a gate. Beyond the gate, a camouflaged garage was hidden under the trees. The garage fronted an access road leading out to the highway.

  Above the trees, the helicopter circled. The menacing beat of the rotors vibrated through the woods.

  "They'll be confused," Nick said, "but they'll figure it out. They'll start searching outside. They might find the entrance to the tunnel, but it will take them a while. I'm more concerned about that chopper. Once we're in the car and out from under the trees, we're visible."

  Lamont patted the Stinger.

  "We can handle it."

  Elizabeth punched in numbers on a keypad mounted by the garage door. The door lifted open. An armored, black Suburban took up most of the space inside. A battery charging cable was plugged into a special fitting on the side of the engine compartment. Elizabeth pulled it free and dropped it onto the floor. She took out her cell phone and dialed Clarence Hood.

  "Elizabeth."

  "Clarence, we need help. We're under attack. We need backup."

  "Where are you?"

  "At headquarters. At least a dozen attackers. There's a helicopter, too."

  "I'll send people."

  "Make it quick."

  "Director, get in." Nick gestured.

  Elizabeth broke the connection and scrambled into the car.

  Nick said, "Selena, you drive. I'll sit up front. Ronnie, you and Lamont behind us. Director, Steph, get in the back. Keep your heads down."

  "What's the plan?" Ronnie said.

  "We take it to them. We go out to the highway and come back in through the gate. They won't be expecting us. Try not to kill all of them, I want to find out who sent them."

  Selena started the car. She put the big SUV in gear and drove out of the garage.

  Lamont held the Stinger against his chest.

  "Showtime," he said.

  CHAPTER 39

  They reached the paved highway. Selena paused while they were still under the trees.

  "Watch for the chopper," Nick said. "He'll spot us once we're in the open. We're only going to get one chance. Selena, when we see it, stop. Lamont, you get out and shoot the bastard down. Don't miss."

  "Copy that."

  Selena pulled out onto the highway. Half a mile away, the road intersected another that ran in front of the headquarters. Selena came to the junction and turned right. She stepped on the gas. The others watched the sky.

  "I see him," Nick said. "Coming in at 2 o'clock."

  Selena slammed on the brakes. Lamont threw open his door and jumped out of the car. Bright flashes came from the helicopter, churning up spouts of dirt at Lamont's feet.

  He brought the Stinger to his shoulder, zeroed in on the incoming chopper and fired. The missile shot from the tube and accelerated toward the helicopter, leaving a weaving trail of smoke behind. The pilot saw it coming and tried to veer away.

  It was a futile attempt, as the Russians had learned in Afghanistan. The missile honed in on the heat of the engine, struck the helicopter, and detonated in a massive burst of flame. The burning machine dropped like a stone. It hit the ground two hundred yards away and exploded. One of the blades cart wheeled toward them and buried itself in the ground ten feet from where Lamont stood watching the destruction.

  Lamont got back in the car.

  "Nice shot," Ronnie said.

  "Can't miss with one of these babies."

  Nick said, "Selena, go."

  Selena pushed the car up to eighty. They came to the access road leading to the project compound. She slowed, turned onto the road, and sped toward the open gate. The windows of the guardhouse were shattered. Two bodies lay sprawled next to the building. A third could be seen slumped in a chair inside.

  Nick said, "Drive on through. Director, Steph, stay with the car unless there's good reason not to. You're our backup. Selena, you too."

  "Nick..."

  "Don't argue."

  They approached the building. Three men carrying assault rifles and dressed in black tactical gear stood talking outside the gaping hole where the front door had been. They turned to look at the approaching vehicle.

  Selena accelerated and aimed straight for them. One of them raised his weapon and fired. Stars appeared on the bulletproof windshield. She plowed into the group, throwing the shooter up over the hood and another man to the side. The third went down under the wheels. The car bumped over him and stopped.

  Nick, Ronnie and Lamont jumped out. One of the men lying on the ground lifted his rifle and fired at Nick. T
he bullets missed and struck the Suburban. Ronnie shot him.

  Nick and Lamont stood on one side of the shattered entrance to the building, Ronnie on the other. Nick risked a look inside. He saw no one.

  They went in low and fast. The first floor was mostly given over to Harker's office. A large entry foyer was furnished with a mirrored Victorian style bench and coat rack. A door to a closet led off the foyer. Another door led to a storage room. The entrance to the lower level was between the foyer and Elizabeth's office.

  Someone fired from the top of the stairs. Ronnie hit the deck, rolled, and came up firing. Someone else let off a burst from Elizabeth's office. Nick and Lamont opened up. The air filled with the sounds of gunfire.

  Outside, Selena heard the fierce staccato of the guns. She got out of the car.

  "They need help."

  "Nick told us to stay here," Stephanie said.

  "Nick still has some old-fashioned ideas of chivalry," Selena said. "Take the H-Ks. Shoot anybody we don't know."

  They got out of the car with the MP7s.

  "What do you want to do?" Elizabeth asked.

  "Head around the building to your office and make sure there's no one outside. Elizabeth, you stay here and cover the front."

  Elizabeth shook her head. "I'll stick with you."

  "Then you cover our six. Make sure no one comes up behind us."

  Selena led the way to the right. She glanced around the corner.

  "Clear."

  Halfway down the wall was a window. Selena stopped short, then took a quick look. The room was empty. She crouched down below the window and moved forward. The others followed. When she reached the back of the building, she stopped and turned to the others. Her heart began pounding from the adrenaline surging through her body.

  I missed this.

  The thought shocked her. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed the adrenaline rush of combat, the edge of fear and excitement. She shoved the thought aside.

  Think about it later.

  "Ready?"

  Stephanie and Elizabeth nodded. Selena glanced around the corner.

  There was no one there.

  "It's clear," she whispered.

  A grenade exploded deep inside the building. Selena went around the corner in a crouch, her weapon up against her cheek. Stephanie and Elizabeth followed. They reached the edge of the patio outside Elizabeth's office.