us. If you spot anyone coming on your reader, tap Alena on the shoulder. When it’s clear to move, tap again and point in the direction you want us to move. Okay?”
Gerrit heard the engine of a plane overhead. It sounded like the drone was at tree level.
Willy reached up and grabbed his shoulder. “Wait, Mr. G. One, two…bam.”
A man screamed about one hundred yards away. “Man, I can’t see anything. What was that-?”
“Shut up, stupid. Our targets are somewhere out there,” another voice hissed through the night air. The voice came from the same location where the first man’s voice rang out.
“But I can’t get a reading. Where is everyone?”
“Will you shut up? You’re going to get us killed.” The man finally quieted down.
Gerrit felt Willy tap him on the shoulder, motioning toward his night vision glasses. “I can turn them on?”
Willy nodded. “Those two are blind as bats. Their night vision gear is fried.”
He slowly rose, flicked on his night vision and signaled the others to follow.
Richard screamed across the room at a man frantically switching from one camera site to another. “Tell me what’s going on out there, you idiot. I pay you big money to take care of problems like this. And you can’t tell me what’s happening?”
The man, huge enough to scare a pro-bowl offensive line, cowered over the console. He was afraid to face Richard. His big paws danced across the keys, trying to access their wireless surveillance monitors.
Flashes of brilliant light had blinded the cameras, and from what he heard over the air, ground-support units were walking around in a daze. The blinding flashes came across intermittently, followed by long periods of blindness as the lens of thermal-imaging readers and night-vision scopes filled with images of snow.
“Someone’s got a drone working directly overhead. Each flyover, our guys get hit with electronic pulses that make their Night Optical Devices go blind. Some of their equipment has been permanently put out of commission.”
“I can see that, you moron. What I need from you is how to take this drone out.”
The huge man shrugged helplessly. “We don’t have any surface-to-air capabilities. We never imagined that-”
“Correction. You never imagined. And yet, I pay you to anticipate these contingencies. Well, now we must react.” Richard paced back and forth, thinking. He thrust a finger at the hapless giant. “Pull everyone back. Ring the perimeter with security units. Gerrit and his people are trying to get inside the compound.”
The man turned back to his console.
“I’m not finished with you.” Richard peered down at the man seated before him. The man was twice his size, but at this point he seemed to shrink next to his boss. “Start checking for incoming aircraft. I imagine they’ll chopper in reinforcements to back up Gerrit. I want to make sure when they land, our welcoming surprise is ready for them. My demolition team set up claymores ready to go off on my command.”
Richard leaned over and pointed to a small case on the console. He opened it and carefully pointed to a series of switches inside. “Any aircraft sets down on the pad, I want you to trigger these switches. Just make sure that no one walks away from those aircraft when they land. Think you can handle that?”
The Hulk nodded, starting to disseminate Richard’s orders to all security units on the ground. Perspiration ran down his armpits as he watched Richard storm across the room and take an elevator belowground. Relieved, he breathed in easier, his giant forearms laying across the console for support.
Chapter 61
Denver, Colorado
Beck dashed toward the waiting jet as frigid winds cut through his thin suit jacket. He bounded up the stairs and into the belly of the craft. The moment he was inside and the stairs raised, it began taxiing toward the runway.
A crewmember closed and locked the hatch before Beck could grab a seat. Colonel Jack Thompson emerged from the cockpit and made his way to Beck. “Got my pilot initiating takeoff. We need to talk right now.”
Beck leaned forward. “What’s the latest?”
“Sent that drone in at your request and pulled together a small unit to hit the place as backup. But we can’t go in blind. What are we up against?”
Beck leaned back and ran his fingers through his hair. “I wish I knew, Colonel. We have the satellites photos and the images the drone sent back. The trouble is this battle will be over by the time you and I get anywhere near Kane’s compound.”
Thompson nodded. “We got to trust Gerrit to give us the green light to hit that place. Only one landing pad, and if I were Kane, I’d put that out of commission.”
“Any other possible landing sites or clearings the chopper might be able to use?”
The colonel shook his head. “All high forest around that compound, except the road leading in to the place. The best approach is that landing pad. Otherwise, our people are gonna have to rappel down with their gear, and if any of the bad guys have them in their sights, it’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel.”
“Then we just have to wait to hear from Gerrit. And hope he and his people can last long enough for our people to get there.”
“Any word on Joe O’Rourke?”
Beck grimaced. “Kane has him squirreled away someplace or the man is dead. We haven’t been able to pick up any chatter one way or the other.”
“So we know Kane’s at the compound.”
“Yeah. We picked up his signal at that location. Unless he got wise to our tracking device.”
Thompson faced Beck. “Okay, I’ll radio ahead to have our people launch the second they hear from Gerrit. But unless he can give us an update, I can’t in good conscience send our people in. Just too risky.”
The colonel hunched forward. “What’s the problem?”
Beck studied Thompson before answering. The old man must be reading my thoughts. “Can’t figure how Kane knew Gerrit and the others were coming.”
“What do you mean?”
“It was like they were expecting Gerrit’s arrival. I took a look at the heat signatures the drone shot back. Just as Gerrit and his team left the marina in Seattle, I saw new replacements emerging at Kane’s location. They must have brought in more security teams and began fanning out, some heading right toward where Gerrit planned to hit the beach. Fortunately, the drone alerted us to the patrols and Gerrit switched plans. But somehow they knew, Colonel. Who tipped them off?”
“You don’t think Willy or Alena tipped Kane off? They’ve been with Joe for years.”
Beck frowned. “Yeah. Just like Redneck.”
“Maybe Kane had been able to track them with his newfangled technology.”
“Maybe.” Instinctively, Beck knew Kane was getting help from someone close to Gerrit. “If they painted Gerrit or his team with trackers, they would have gotten specific coordinates when the three hit land. Our thermal readers indicated that the security force didn’t know specifically where they were…just the general area. As if they’d been told where to look.”
Thompson tapped his fingers on the edge of his seat. “Gerrit is a straight shooter. He’d never roll. What do we know about the other two?”
“Willy came from the streets. First Alena recruited him, and then Joe took him under his wings.”
“And the woman?”
Beck squinted at the window. “Joe connected with her when he started running.”
“How did they meet?”
“Just said he trusted her with his life.” Beck didn’t look at Thompson. Joe shared a few details of Alena’s life with him a while back, information that might put her in a bad light right now. All he knew is that Joe trusted her. That was good enough for Beck.
“Yeah, and now Joe’s missing. Presumed dead.”
