The Ajax Protocol (The Project)

by Lukeman, Alex

  Korov. What the hell is he doing here?

  "Where did you come from?" Nick said.

  "Moscow, of course. Where else?" Korov got up and stood in the aisle looking down at Nick. "You look like shit," he said.

  "Yeah. Nice to see you, too."

  Nick looked around the plane. Harker was three rows ahead of him in the front of the cabin. Ronnie lay back on the seat behind her, sleeping. In the rear of the plane was a meeting area with chairs and a table. The table had been turned into an improvised bed for Lamont. Stephanie sat nearby, watching over him. She looked worried. At the very back of the plane was a small galley. A man in civilian clothes sat there, reading a magazine.

  "How are you feeling?" Korov asked.

  "A little dizzy. I've been better. Where are we? Where are we going?"

  "At the moment we are over the Gulf of Mexico. As to where we are going, I was waiting for you to wake up before choosing a destination."

  "You want me to tell you where we're going?"

  "Yes."

  "I need coffee."

  Korov called out something in Russian. The man in the back of the plane came forward. Korov said something. The man snapped to attention and went back to the galley. A moment later he appeared with a tray and two cups of coffee.

  Nick took a sip of the strong, black liquid and sighed. His mouth hurt and his face was swollen. He tasted blood. Probed with his tongue at a loose tooth.

  "How did you get us out of Cuba?" Nick said.

  "Cuba has few friends," Arkady said. "We have a special relationship with them, particularly concerning intelligence about America. We have influence. They told us they had captured a boatload of American spies and that the infamous Nicholas Carter was among them."

  "Infamous?"

  "Like your Jesse James, no? I made it clear that giving you to me would help with trade negotiations coming up soon with Moscow. After all, I am a ranking officer in SVR. The Cubans think I am taking all of you back to Russia for interrogation. What you Americans call rendition, yes?"

  "Why bail us out?"

  "Your director told General Vysotsky about Ajax. Then we found out you had been forced to leave Washington. You have made powerful enemies, Nick."

  "Go on."

  "The General believes your director is sincere in her desire to stop these madmen from deploying Ajax. He thinks you and your team have the best chance of doing it. You can't do that from a Cuban prison. He decided to intervene."

  Nick saluted Korov with the coffee cup. "Good to see you, Arkady."

  "And you, Nick. Now we must finish the job."

  "We?"

  "Tell me where we need to go. I'm going with you. Your director wanted an entire unit, but the General decided it was too risky. All you get is me."

  "This could turn ugly, real fast," Nick said. "There are going to be casualties."

  "There are always casualties when it matters." Korov looked out the window of the plane.

  "A Russian shooting it out with Americans on American soil won't go down well," Nick said.

  "If it comes out, the politicians will deal with it," Korov said. "Probably at our expense."

  "What else is new?"

  "Interesting, isn't it?" Korov said. "Your country and mine, no difference. The politicians always throw the soldiers under the car."

  "The bus. You throw someone under the bus."

  "Ah. Yes, under the bus."

  "We have to get Lamont to a hospital."

  "First we must get into American airspace. Can your director arrange something?"

  "I'll go talk to her," Nick said. "Lend me your phone."

  Korov handed him a phone and he went forward.

  Korov saw Selena follow Nick with her eyes. He sat down next to her. "You and Nick," he said. He stopped.

  Selena looked at him. "Yes?" Her tone was cool. It was hard to get past the fact that Korov was Russian, even though he'd proved a friend in the past. It was the Russians who had murdered her family. She knew it was irrational, knew Korov had nothing to do with it. But it didn't change how she felt.

  "You are with each other?"

  "You mean, are we lovers?"

  "I don't mean to be rude," Korov said. "I couldn't help noticing how you look at him."

  "I guess it's obvious. Yes, we're together. Why do you ask?"

  "It's good to know as much as possible about the people you fight with," Korov said. "I am glad for you." He got up and went back to his seat.

  What was that about? Selena wondered.

  Up front, Elizabeth called Clarence Hood.

  Aside from Hood himself, Elizabeth and her team were the only ones who knew how he had become Director of Central Intelligence. The DCI owed her a very large debt. It was time to call it in.

  "Clarence, it's Elizabeth."

  "Elizabeth. I was beginning to wonder what had happened to you. What's your situation?" Hood's voice was cultured, with a soft hint of a Southern accent. Elizabeth pictured him in his paneled office on the seventh floor at Langley.

  "Let me give you the short version," Elizabeth said.

  She briefed him on Cuba. When she told him about Korov, there was a long silence at the other end of the connection.

  "We seem to have a unique relationship with this officer," Hood finally said.

  "That's putting it mildly," she said. Then she told him she had traced the origin of the satellite signals to DIA and that she thought the Ajax command center was concealed under the Denver airport. She told him her suspicions about General Westlake.

  "I know about the complex under DIA," Hood said. "It's been abandoned for years. It was supposed to be part of the continuity of government program, but a budget decision was made to construct facilities elsewhere."

  The COG program was an emergency plan to protect government leaders in the event of a catastrophic event like nuclear war.

  "That confirms my suspicion," Elizabeth said. "It would make a perfect location."

  "What do you intend to do?"

  "I am going to put it out of action," Elizabeth said. "I intend to destroy it."

  "What if it's not there?" Hood said.

  "We'd better hope it is."

  "The joint operation between the Army and the Department of Homeland Security is scheduled to begin the day after tomorrow," Hood said. "There is unusually tight security surrounding the exercise."

  Elizabeth said, "I am certain this exercise is part of implementing Ajax. If I were planning this, I'd want the riots to really get going before the troops went in. That means they'll activate that weapon sooner than the day after tomorrow. I would guess in the next 24 hours."

  "That doesn't give you much time," Hood said.

  No kidding, she thought. "Whoever is running that exercise has to be part of the plot, and probably the Director of Homeland Security. There's no time to convince anyone that these people are traitors."

  "This is a nightmare," Hood said.

  "It will be a much worse nightmare if Ajax is deployed."

  "What do you need?"

  "Clearance into US airspace, for openers. We need an airport that will handle a Dassault E3. Lamont is in critical shape. He has to get to a hospital. We need fuel for the plane. Satellite phones. Weapons for my team. They need clothes. Uniforms, if there's nothing else."

  "You're over the Gulf right now?"

  "Yes."

  "Langley has a restricted airfield near Lubbock. I'll send you the coordinates. Land there. I'll transmit an emergency code to you after this conversation that will get you through our border defenses and onto the airfield. I'll have an ambulance waiting there. It might be better if you kept Colonel Korov out of sight."

  "Thank you, Clarence."

  "You may not thank me if this doesn't work out," Hood said. He paused. "Elizabeth."

  "Yes?"

  "No one can protect you if this goes bad."

  "If this goes bad, I won't be the only one without protection," Elizabeth said.

  CHAPT
ER 49

  They touched down at the CIA airfield an hour and a half later. A scorching Texas sun glinted off the windshield of an ambulance speeding toward them as they rolled to a stop.

  Lamont's breathing was harsh and ragged. Nick held his hand.

  "Shadow," Nick said. "You're back on US soil. We'll get you to a hospital."

  "Yeah." Lamont coughed. There was blood on his lips. He turned his head away and closed his eyes.

  A fuel truck rumbled up. A man in orange overalls got out of the truck and hooked up to the plane. Fuel began pumping into the tanks. A black SUV came toward them across the concrete and stopped. The man who got out wore a blue sport jacket and a white shirt open at the collar. He had on a pair of aviator Ray Bans. He didn't introduce himself.

  "Are you Carter?" he said.

  "That's right."

  "I was told to give you what I've got in the truck."

  He opened the doors of the SUV. Ronnie and Nick looked inside.

  There was a box of faded uniforms that looked like they'd come from an Army-Navy surplus store. On the back seat were three M16s that had seen better days. A cardboard box held magazines, ammunition and two holstered Beretta M9 pistols. There were two satellite phones next to the pistols.

  "You gotta be kidding," Ronnie said.

  "That's it?" Nick said. "This is everything they sent?"

  The man shrugged. "I'm only the delivery boy. You want this stuff or not?"

  Nick picked up an M-16. The stock was battered and marked from use. He racked the bolt and examined the rifle. It had the old-style pronged flash suppressor on the end of the barrel. Left over from Vietnam, he thought. At least it's clean and oiled.

  "Yeah, I want them. Grab the boxes Ronnie."

  They carried the box and weapons to the plane. Nick said to Elizabeth, "Director, you and Stephanie get off here."

  "I'm not sure that's a good idea," Elizabeth said.

  "It's my decision," Nick said. "There isn't anything you and Steph can do if you go with us. If you get killed, everything goes in the crapper. I don't want you along."

  "You don't mince words, do you?"

  "I don't see much point to it," Nick said. "I need you to watch our back."

  "What about your hand?"

  "What about it? I can still handle a weapon."

  Elizabeth wanted to go. The time on the island had changed something. She felt more like a part of the team, close to them, not just their boss. She wanted to stay with them, but Nick was right.

  "What about communications?" she asked.

  "Hood sent two phones." Nick handed her one.

  "All right, Nick. Stop them." She walked away.

  The attendants loaded Lamont into the ambulance. Elizabeth and Stephanie got in with him. Nick watched the ambulance drive off. It was a relief. He didn't have to think about Lamont anymore, or the two women. He felt just a twinge of guilt for feeling that way. He brushed the thought aside.

  Back at the plane, Korov picked up one of the M16s. "These are old," he said.

  "Yeah. Better than nothing. They only sent three," Nick said.

  "I have my own."

  Korov reached into an overhead compartment and took out an odd looking weapon. It was equipped with a scope and had a futuristic looking stock.

  "Interesting," Ronnie said. "Can I take a look?"

  "It is loaded," Korov said. "Be careful."

  Ronnie found the selector switch and made sure it was on safe. He brought the weapon to his shoulder, brought it back down. It was light weight. Ronnie guessed it at around three pounds.

  "Is this a spare magazine in back, like a stock?"

  "Da. It holds 44 rounds. Nine millimeter. This is a PP2000. We like it, although the MP5 is perhaps better."

  "Rate of fire?"

  "Around 850."

  Ronnie handed the weapon back. he sat down and began stripping one of the rifles.

  Twenty minutes later, they were in the air.

  CHAPTER 50

  Flying straight into DIA didn't seem like a good idea. They landed in Colorado Springs, 70 miles South of Denver. Another anonymous agent met them and gave them the keys to a GMC Suburban. The car was several years old and spattered with mud and dirt. One of the fenders was dented.

  Nick looked at the car and shook his head. "I guess Langley is getting hit with budget cuts."

  "I hope this is in better shape than the guns," Ronnie said.

  On the front seat was a brown envelope. It held cash and a road map, along with satellite photos of Denver International Airport. The photos were marked with the location of the buried buildings. The site was almost three miles away from the main terminal.

  They settled into the car and headed for the interstate leading north to Denver.

  Ronnie drove. Nick and Korov sat in back, Selena in front with Ronnie. They'd changed into the uniforms. The clean clothes felt comfortable but Nick wished he had his regular gear. Without armor he felt half naked.

  "Let's look at the airport layout," he said.

  Selena turned around in her seat. They studied the satellite pictures.

  "Whatever's there has to be accessed from a lower level," Nick said. "There isn't going to be anything obvious, where anyone could see it."

  "How about the train tunnel?" Ronnie said. "It could be like the subways in New York, where they sealed off the old stations and they're still there."

  "That makes sense," Selena said. "But how are we going to find the entrance?"

  "I have a better question," Korov said. "How do we get through your airport security?"

  "We have to look like we belong," Nick said. "Someone with a legitimate reason to be seen away from the passenger areas. Someone with a key card. Maybe maintenance workers or baggage handlers."

  Selena pointed at the map. A street called 75th Avenue split off from the main feed into the airport and passed a series of hangers and warehouses used by UPS, FedEx, and others.

  "There's a cargo facility here," she said. "We could slip into one of those. There will be vehicles, clothes, IDs, everything we need."

  "It will be dark soon," Ronnie said. "That will help."

  "It's an idea," Selena said.

  Nick shook his head. "It's an idea but it's not a plan. We're looking for something that's been well hidden. We can't go in blind and hope we stumble on it by luck."

  "Why go through the airport at all?" Selena said.

  "What do you mean?"

  "The bunker is where those buried buildings are, right?"

  "That's what we've thought all along," Nick said.

  "Why don't we look for an entrance there? There has to be more than one way in. No one could bring supplies or people in and out through the train tunnels without being seen. It would defeat the whole purpose of keeping it secret."

  "She's right," Ronnie said. "They have to be able to bring in equipment, whatever else they need. That means a road."

  Selena shuffled through the satellite photographs and pulled out the photo with the location of the buried structures.

  "There's a farmhouse and barn nearby," she said. "It's the only building in the area and its right off a paved road."

  "It could be the access point to the bunker," Nick said, "but it could just be a farmhouse."

  "Can Elizabeth get a real-time satellite shot, maybe a deep scan infrared reading? If it's the command center, they'll have computers in there. Computers need power and power means heat. If something's there, it should show up."

  Nick took out his phone and called Elizabeth. She picked up on the first ring.

  "Yes, Nick."

  "Director, I need a real time satellite shot and an infrared readout. Are you set up to do that?"

  "I can get it through Langley," she said. "What are the coordinates?"

  Nick looked at the satellite photo and gave her the location. "It's a farmhouse and barn. It might be a camouflaged entrance to the underground complex. If there's infrared activity, that would clinch it."

/>   "I'll call you back," Harker said. "Be careful you don't go charging into someone's living room and blow them away while they're watching The Simpsons." She broke the connection.

  "So now we have a plan," Korov said.

  "It's as good a plan as any," Nick said, "since we're winging this by the seat of our pants."

  "Winging? Pants? What do you mean?" Korov said.

  The three Americans laughed. "It means we don't know what the hell we're doing and we're pretending that we do," Nick said. "Making up the plan as we go along."

  "You make it sound simple," Korov said. "I hope you are right."

  The sun was setting behind the Rocky Mountains. The light was golden, the sky clear. The shadows on the mountain slopes were a deep purple. It made Nick think of the line in America the Beautiful about purple mountains' majesty. It wasn't hard to see what had inspired the song.

  "It is very beautiful, the mountains," Korov said. "It reminds me of home."

  They headed north toward Denver.

  CHAPTER 51

  It was full dark by the time they reached the objective. They parked a hundred yards away from the target, off the side of the road. Nick scanned the farmhouse through Korov's night vision binoculars.

  A dirt and gravel drive led to a plain wooden house with a shingle roof and a covered porch. A single light was on over the door. The building looked rundown and tired. Rusted farm equipment was lined up in a ragged row in front of the house. A dark colored pickup was parked in the packed dirt of the yard. Light shone behind the curtained windows of a room on the first floor.

  The house looked like thousands of others scattered across rural America.

  Behind the house was a rundown barn. To someone passing by, the place looked like a hardscrabble farm in need of a lot of maintenance. In the green light of the night vision optics, it looked like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock film.

  Nick studied the barn. "Take a look at the barn," he said, "at the doors." He handed the binoculars to Korov.

  Korov focused. "The doors are closed," he said. "They look strong for a barn that needs so much repair."

  "Look at the left side of the doors."