Phoenix

by Alex Lukeman

  CHAPTER 44

  With the house in Virginia compromised, Nick and Selena's loft became temporary headquarters. It was big enough. It had excellent security, installed by Selena to protect her valuable paintings and artifacts. Elizabeth added technology to suppress possible eavesdropping and brought in two large monitors. Stephanie told Elizabeth what was needed to set up communications.

  When the last workman closed the door behind him, the loft had been turned into an operations center. Satellite links to the monitors were in place. Elizabeth would be able to talk with the team in the field. Then she called a meeting.

  "I could get used to this," Lamont said.

  He lounged on one of two couches in the living area. He had a sandwich in his hand, raided from the kitchen. A beer sat on an end table next to him. Ronnie sat across from him, sipping a soda. Elizabeth sat on one end of the couch, Nick and Selena across from her on the other.

  Burps wandered in from the kitchen and settled down on a rug between the two couches, curling up and going to sleep. He had a bandage wrapped around his torso. It was getting frayed from where he'd chewed on it.

  "I don't think we'll ever get that cat out of here," Nick said.

  "He likes it here," Selena said.

  "Who wouldn't?" Lamont said. He lifted his beer in salute.

  A laptop computer was set up on a table where everyone could see it. It served as the link to Freddie and to Stephanie, still in the hospital.

  Elizabeth had a pen in her hand, but no desk to tap it on.

  "Let's begin," she said. "Nick, I want you to look at the target and tell me what we need to take it on. Freddie, bring up the satellite shots of the bay on monitor one."

  One of the monitors lit with satellite footage of Prudhoe Bay. The bay was located next to the biggest oil field in the United States. The Pan-American highway ended ten miles away, in the town of Deadhorse. Caribou could be seen walking across the flat landscape. A gigantic pipe filled with oil snaked away from the facility, heading south on raised supports that let the caribou pass underneath.

  What an easy target, Nick thought.

  Facilities for the oil field and the workers stretched across the horizon, built on gravel pads. The pads kept them from sinking into the ground when the frozen tundra thawed during the summer. Temperatures could go as high as the 80s in July, but usually hovered somewhere in the forties.

  That was in the summer. This time of year, it could be twenty below.

  Ronnie whistled. "A lot of buildings. Which one is the target?"

  "It's set apart from the others," Elizabeth said. "Freddie, zoom in on the DARPA facility."

  The scene shifted past rows of huge oil storage tanks, processing facilities, administrative buildings and equipment sheds. The camera stopped and zoomed in on a large, H-shaped building. Antennas and satellite dishes cluttered the roof.

  "At least it's not in the middle of everything," Nick said. "I'd hate to have one of those storage tanks go up if things get nasty."

  "We have to talk about rules of engagement," Elizabeth said.

  "Figures," Lamont said.

  "Director, if this is what we think it is, we're not going to walk in there and politely ask them to stop what they're doing. They'll have a lot of security."

  "I asked Freddie to look into that. Freddie, tell us what you found."

  Sensitive DARPA facilities are usually guarded by military units assigned by the Pentagon. Security for this installation is handled by a private contractor.

  Nick interrupted. "What's the name of the company, Freddie?"

  Red Mark Security, Inc.

  "Those guys are bad news," Ronnie said.

  "You know who they are?" Elizabeth asked.

  "Yeah, we know them," Nick said. "They're a bunch of mercenary scumbags. We ran into them in Afghanistan."

  "If they're running security, I wouldn't worry much about ROE," Lamont said. "They deserve whatever they get."

  Ronnie grunted agreement.

  "Freddie, what kind of security on site?" Nick asked.

  I have been observing the facility. There is a twelve foot perimeter fence surrounding the installation. Two guards make regular inspections of the perimeter at random intervals. Guards are changed at four hour intervals. There are one dozen security personnel.

  "Other personnel?"

  There are between twenty and thirty people working in the compound during the day.

  "Where are they quartered?"

  They are quartered in the east wing, along with security personnel.

  "Do you have plans of the interior?"

  Yes.

  "Display them on the monitor," Elizabeth said.

  The DARPA complex was laid out on an east-west axis. A large rectangular building formed the bar of an H, designated as manufacturing space. The east side of the H contained a kitchen and recreation area, bedrooms, and bathrooms. It provided housing for guards and civilian personnel.

  A large garage on the south end of the other side of the H was used for parking and equipment storage. After the garage, the wing was broken up into numbered rooms assigned to research and development. There were no windows in the building. Entry was either through the garage or the center part of the H. There were alarmed emergency exits in each wing.

  "Going to be hard to do with three people," Ronnie said.

  Selena said. "There have to be alarms, cameras. You'll never get into that building without being detected."

  "You'd make a lousy jihadist," Lamont said.

  "Why not hit it with a Reaper?" Ronnie said. "Freddie could hack into one of our drones and put it right on target."

  "Do I have to remind you that's a DARPA installation?" Elizabeth said. "There are civilians. I can't order up a drone strike on our own people."

  Nick smiled. "We could blame it on the people behind the attacks."

  "It's a terrible idea. No reaper. It's not going to happen," Elizabeth said.

  "Only kidding, Director. What's our mission?" Nick asked.

  "Your mission is to get into the facility, destroy that computer, and gather as much Intel as possible."

  Lamont began humming the theme for Mission Impossible.

  Elizabeth gave him her warning look.

  "Sorry, Director."

  "Is the ground still frozen?" Nick asked.

  "Yes. Average temperature this week has been around minus eighteen at night. It warms up to a couple degrees above zero during the day."

  "I'd better take a beach towel with me," Lamont said.

  "The computer has to be in one of those rooms marked for research," Nick said.

  The computer is located in research room number five.

  Room five was located at the far end of the wing.

  "That helps," Nick said. "We could go in through the garage. It's the nearest access to the target."

  "How do we get on site? And after we've taken care of business, how do we get out again?" Ronnie asked.

  "We can't get anywhere near that building in a vehicle without being spotted," Nick said.

  "If we can't get close without being seen, let's turn it to our advantage," Selena said.

  "What's your idea?"

  "Pretend you're someone with authorized access. Drive right up the gate, show your orders, and drive in."

  "That might work," Ronnie said.

  "I could go with you," Selena said.

  "No. You are definitely not going," Nick said.

  "Hear me out," Selena said. "We could pose as an inspection team sent from the Pentagon. If a pregnant woman is part of the team, they'll never suspect we're anything but what we say we are."

  "Damn it, Selena."

  "I'm only a little over four months. I'm still in good physical shape. I'm showing enough that they can't miss it. If we wear civilian clothes, they won't know why we're there until it's too late."

  "You're closer to five months, not four. One look at Lamont, and they'll know he's no PhD."

  "Hey, you're goi
ng to hurt my feelings," Lamont said.

  "You have feelings?" Ronnie said.

  Elizabeth said, "Nick, Selena has a point. There's no way the three of you can get into that facility by fighting your way in."

  "You would let her do this? Even if we could get in without a problem, sooner or later the shooting would start. How are we supposed to be an inspection team and be armed like we need to be? They'd spot that in a minute. It's a bad idea. I won't risk Selena and the twins."

  Ronnie had been looking at the monitor, studying the target.

  "There's another way," he said. "We don't have to go in on the ground."

  Nick turned to him. "What do you mean?"

  Ronnie pointed at the screen. "We could do a night jump and land on the roof. See that big satellite dish on the north end of the wing? There's roof access right next to it. We could get into the building that way."

  "HALO?"

  High-altitude, low opening, meant jumping from somewhere between 15,000 to 30,000 feet and waiting to open chutes until close to earth. The advantage was stealth. The disadvantage was that HALO jumps were hazardous to one's health.

  "That's what I was thinking."

  "How are you going to get the Air Force to drop you in there without telling somebody why?" Selena said.

  "I can get us around that obstacle," Elizabeth said, "but Ronnie is right. You need a way to get out fast when you're done."

  "It's doable," Lamont said. "The roof is big enough to give us a decent LZ."

  Nick looked at the monitor. "You're right. It would avoid the perimeter fence and the guards. That gets us there. How about getting out again?"

  "Helicopter," Elizabeth said. "I can set up the drop and arrange the extraction. They can pick you up where you went in, on the roof. At that point there won't be any need for stealth. Security will probably know you're there."

  "You got that right," Lamont muttered.

  "Okay," Nick said. "We get into the building and find the computer. Then we blow it up and go home. Is that about right?"

  Stephanie's voice came over the laptop speakers.

  "I've got a better idea than blowing it up, Nick."

  "What your idea?"

  "There's no guarantee you'll destroy everything with explosive. You'll wreck it, but you might not get to the heart of it, where the programming that gives it intelligence lies. You need to do something to corrupt it so it will never work again, no matter what."

  "How do I do that?"

  "We need to infect it. Even Freddie couldn't penetrate the firewall on that computer. The only way is to do it on site."

  "You're talking about a virus?"

  "Right. As long as the computer is powered up, it has defenses against the kind of program that would destroy it. If the power goes off, you'll have a brief window before the backup generators kick in and the computer reboots. I can give you a thumb drive with the virus on it. There will be a console in that room, something like the one I have downstairs at headquarters. There are ports where you can insert different kinds of drives or accessories, like a regular computer. You shut down the power and insert the drive. When the computer reboots, the virus will penetrate the system before the shields go up. Then it's only a question of time before it's corrupted beyond repair."

  "How are we supposed to get the power to go off?"

  "That's your problem," Stephanie said.

  "Where does the power come from?" Ronnie asked.

  A generating plant that supplies power to all buildings. The DARPA installation has emergency generators which automatically supply power in the event of an outage.

  "How long does it take for them to come online?" Nick asked.

  Approximately forty-five seconds.

  "Not long," Lamont said.

  Nick scratched his chin. "It has to be long enough. Freddie, where is the generating plant located?"

  The generating plant is located one point two miles from the target.

  "Great," Ronnie said.

  "We can't hit the plant. We'll have to cut off power on site. Either you or Lamont will have to do it when I'm ready to insert the drive. Freddie, do you have electrical plans for the building?"

  Yes.

  "Display them."

  Plans came up on the monitor, a schematic wiring diagram marked with dozens of symbols.

  "That's Greek to me," Lamont said.

  "Me, too," Nick said. "Freddie, identify a place where power into the building can be disabled."

  Identified.

  "Where is this spot located?"

  The main electrical panel is located on the north wall of the garage, next to the entrance to the main building. Disabling the panel will shut down power to the entire facility.

  "It's a long way from the computer room," Nick said.

  "Guess that means it's up to me to blow that panel," Lamont said.

  "Why you?"

  "I'm the fastest. I can make it back to where you and Ronnie are while the building's blacked out."

  "Makes sense," Ronnie said.

  "Okay. Once we're in, I'll go for the computer room. Lamont, you'll go for the panel." Nick pointed at the diagram of the ground floor. "Ronnie, you cover that hall into the center part of the building. I'll head for the computer room. It'll be the middle of the night. There shouldn't be anybody there except the guards."

  Ronnie grunted.

  "Lamont, once you're at the panel, you let me know. When I'm ready to insert the drive, you blow the panel and hightail it back. Then we head up to the roof and our ride."

  "A lot could go wrong," Ronnie said.

  "It probably will. But I don't see how else we can do this, if we have to shut off the power. It would be easier if we could blow the damn thing up."

  "If you have to, that's better than nothing," Elizabeth said.

  CHAPTER 45

  In Beijing, Minister Deng finished briefing President Zhang and General Liu on the transmissions that had destroyed the Three Gorges Dam.

  "You are certain the transmission originated in the Russian Federation?" President Zhang asked.

  "It was a difficult analysis, but there are distinctive characteristics indicating Russian origin," Deng said.

  "But why?" Zhang asked. "What is their purpose? Surely they know we would discover it was them."

  Deng shrugged. "Who can fathom the mind of a foreigner? The Russians are barbarians. They see us as inferiors. The trail was cleverly hidden. I am sure they believed we would never identify them as the source. The loss of the dam has set us back years. We lost the factory manufacturing our newest fighters. A significant part of our food supply has been destroyed. Our economy is in danger of collapse. All this, without bombs or soldiers. It was a clever move on their part."

  His voice was bitter.

  "They have placed us between the dragon's pool and the tiger's den," Liu said. "We must respond before they do more damage. Our troops are already in position along the border. The Russians have not yet built up enough strength to resist us, but intelligence indicates reinforcements are on the way."

  "If we invade, it is uncertain how it will end," Zhang said.

  "We must not fear the wolf in front or the tiger behind," Liu said.

  "Proverbs are not the way to decide strategy," Zhang said. "However, you may be right. To hesitate at this point may be a mistake."

  "Now is the time to strike. In another week, they will have boosted their strength and fortifications. They already have Iskander M missile brigades in the area and more are coming."

  "Those are nuclear capable. What have you done to compensate?"

  "Dongfen-14 missiles have been strategically placed in the northeast. They wouldn't dare use the Iskanders against us. If they do, we will turn Moscow into radioactive rubble."

  "Comrade Chairman, the people are restless," Deng said. "Food supplies have been disrupted. The economy is unstable. Many suspect that the dam was sabotaged. They look to us to avenge this great loss of face."

  "Re
stlessness leads to trouble," Zhang said. "Perhaps war is the answer. It would unite the people behind us."

  "The plans are ready," General Liu said. "We've long known this day might come. Our troops are fully equipped and anxious to prove themselves."

  Zhang stood and began pacing back and forth. The other two men watched him, waiting for his decision. After a minute, he stopped and faced them.

  "Minister Deng, you are certain the Federation is behind the attack? Think carefully."

  Deng took a deep breath. "I am, Comrade Chairman."

  "General Liu. Do you agree?"

  "Yes, Comrade Chairman."

  "Inform your staff that we are at war. Proceed with the invasion. How much time do you need?"

  "Three days. Detailed plans have been prepared for this eventuality. All the necessary combat units are in place. Reserves can be brought up immediately and logistical support is also in place. All that is required is final coordination between the key commanders."

  "Very well. You may begin."

  CHAPTER 46

  The team took off from Eeilson Air Force Base, not far from Fairbanks. The plane was an unobtrusive twin engine VC-6A, a Beechcraft King Air modified for jumps. It was used as a training plane to teach high-altitude jumping. It was small, perfect for what they needed.

  There was nothing to see out the windows of the aircraft except a night sky dark with an approaching storm. A front was moving in. They would get to the target right before the storm hit.

  Nick finished checking his gear for the third time and thought about Selena.

  They'd argued about her wanting to go on the mission and ended up screaming at each other. It was the first time that had happened. That night they slept apart. In the morning they'd reached an uneasy truce, but things were strained.

  Ronnie sat next to Nick. Lamont was on his other side, eyes closed.

  "How you doing, amigo?" Ronnie said.

  "I'm good."

  "You've got that look on your face. Something's bugging you."

  Nick nodded. "Selena and I had a big fight the night before I left."

  "About her wanting to go along?"

  "Yup."

  "She'll get over it. She's just feeling left out. After all those years in the field with us, she hasn't adjusted yet."