He started out and the others followed in single file.
They crawled about ten feet when floodlights came on. The harsh light bathed the open field like a football stadium on game night. They lay there naked to the world.
Someone must have spotted them.
He sprang from the ground. “Alena. Willy. Run for it. Now!”
The elevator door opened and Richard Kane strode toward the security console. “Give me an update.”
The Hulk glanced up, blinking twice. “Someone just triggered the laser beams to the landing site.”
“I gave strict orders for our people to stay away from there. We have it set up for any incoming visitors.”
Nodding, the Hulk seemed to shrink in his chair. “I know, sir. I believe we’ve got combatants inside our security compound. Look!” He pointed to the color monitor directly overhead.
Richard glanced up and saw three figures darting across the open field. “Zoom in. I want to see their faces.”
Feverishly, the Hulk pounded on the keys until the camera swooped in. For just a second, Richard saw the side view of Gerrit as he flashed by. Then the images disappeared.
Richard whirled around. “They got to the building. Lock us down. Now!”
An alarm sounded, harsh beeps pulsating through the building. Richard scurried toward the elevator. “I will be down on the lower level. Keep me posted.”
Gerrit pressed his back against the side of the building. Alena and Willy crouched next to him. They tried to catch their breath, listening for any sounds coming their way.
Nothing.
“Cover me.” Gerrit pushed off the wall. He peeled away and zigzagged a path to the front steps. Large flagstone steps led to the front door. Seeing a camera above the door, he used the butt of his rifle to smash the lens, although they must have already spotted him.
He lowered his backpack and pulled out a det cord and packed it around the door, letting out the line to the detonator. Gerrit grabbed his pack and retraced his steps down the stone entryway until he stood next to Alena and Willy, dragging the line with him. They stood, shielded from the recessed door.
“Cover your ears,” he hissed, a moment before setting off the blast. As smoke settled, Gerrit leaned out to see the damage. The blast punched a hole in the entryway, the door flung inward to allow easy access, one hinge still stubbornly holding it up.
“Willy, let Alena and me do a quick sweep, then you follow.”
“Copy, Mr. G. The cavalry’s ten minutes away.”
“Tell them we need them now! We just hit the building and Kane’s security must be moving our way.”
Ten minutes seemed ten hours right now. Patrol units would be converging here within minutes. They did not have that long to survive.
Chapter 63
30,000 Feet above Boise, Idaho
Beck looked up just as Jack came into the cabin area. “Bad news?”
Thompson’s normally unreadable face wrinkled with concern. The colonel flung himself into the seat across from Beck. “Just got a message from our guys. Choppers took off about five minutes ago and the unit commander just got another message from Willy.”
Beck said nothing, waiting for Thompson to continue.
“They’ve been spotted. Gerrit cleared the landing site of claymores, but they set off an alarm system as they were moving toward the lab. Says they need help now. Not sure they can hold out.”
“Anyway backup can get there quicker?”
Thompson shook his head. “They’re already slamming pedal to the metal. They can’t go any faster.”
Beck leaned on the arm of his chair, chin resting on a tightly clenched fist. “They can’t hold Kane off for that long.”
Thompson nodded. “Willy hasn’t been able to break into Kane’s system yet.”
“Can Willy tell what might be happening once he breaks in?”
“The only good news so far. He reports that he should be able to verify that what we started in Albuquerque is piggybacking on Kane’s transmissions. The Trojan horse we sent in should be going to work on Project Megiddo right now.”
“So what Gerrit and Alena are doing at the moment may be all for nothing.”
Glumly, Thompson leaned back in his chair. “Everything they do now may be just a big smoke screen, one last attempt to save Joe. We still don’t know where Kane’s main servers are stored. My people-once they get there-have orders to blow the place.”
“No updates on Joe?”
“Nothing. Don’t even know if he’s there, let alone whether he’s alive.”
“I say again-is this sacrifice they’re making for nothing?” Beck seemed to express how both men felt.
The colonel nodded. “Not exactly. Primary mission has been accomplished. They breached Project Megiddo in New Mexico. Gerrit knew what the cost might be going in. We still had to send them in. Even if Joe wasn’t there. We had to make it look good.”
“Well, it looks like they did a bang-up job. Kane’s sending everything he has to take them out. We’ve got him fooled.”
Both men looked out the passenger window. Below, dots of light lay across the high desert as they flew over Idaho’s capital city. Beck stared out into the blackness, feeling helpless as he thought of what Gerrit, Willy, and Alena faced. Sometimes he wished he were God. But that would be stupid. Beck had enough problems dealing with the troubles of this investigation, let alone carrying the burdens of the world.
In his own investigation, he learned to respect what Gerrit’s father had tried to achieve. First, Thomas O’Rourke tried to shoulder the whole load after learning how his research would be used by Kane and his people. The father tried to protect his son by trying to bring him back to MIT where he could be protected.
Instead, Gerrit went off to war, unaware of what his own father was struggling with back home, angry that he couldn’t make his father understand. Unknown to Gerrit, his father knew quite well what was at stake. Like some international thriller, Thomas O’Rourke struggled against a growing technological invasion that threatened the entire international community. Ironically, it was the father’s death that brought his son home. And then Gerrit struggled to find out why his father died, not knowing his ignorance was the only thing keeping him alive.
Beck hoped Gerrit lived long enough to learn what his father had sacrificed.
This thought took him to a night many years ago when Joe told him he’d recruited Alena to be a part of the team. At first, Beck told Joe he was crazy. They knew what she had done in her past and he thought the risk too great. Joe fought him every step of the way, even though he knew what the woman had brought on Joe’s own family.
“People change. Redemption is always possible if a person is willing to confess his or her sins and make amends.” That was all Joe would say.
It looked like Joe might have been right about her. Maybe. And Beck hoped Gerrit would still be able to work with Alena once he knew the entire story about his father and that night many years ago.
Gerrit would handle it one of two ways. He’d learn to work with her and put the past behind him.
Or he’d kill her.
This whole conflict might be moot if Gerrit and Alena didn’t survive tonight. Help was still minutes away.
He prayed they lasted that long.
Gerrit pulled the pin and rolled a flash-bang into the darkened lobby. Lights inside the building had gone dark the moment he blew the door. They must be waiting inside.
He wanted to even their chances of survival. He counted off the seconds before the explosion. As soon as it went off, he peeled around the doorway and entered the lobby to the left. Alena swept past him toward the right. Once again, he and Alena had to pass through the kill zone.
