The Ajax Protocol

CHAPTER 18

It had been two days since the firefight in the hospital parking lot. Harker was briefing the team in the ops center below Harker's office.

"You're sending us to Alaska?" Nick said.

"As soon as we plan out the mission," Harker said. "Lamont stays here. He's still on meds and recovering from his wound."

"Director…" Lamont said.

"You're not going."

Lamont settled back in his chair. He looked unhappy.

"What's our objective?" Nick asked.

"Are you familiar with SATWEP?"

"Isn't that the Army's secret satellite program? The one no one wants to talk about?"

"That's the one. The signal that triggered the riots in Novosibirsk came from a substation that's part of the program."

"Isn't the installation on an Army base near Fairbanks?" Ronnie said.

"The main facility is. The signal came from farther north, near the Arctic Circle."

"How certain are you that it came from there, Director?" Nick said.

"Completely certain."

"What are we looking for?"

"Anything that can help us figure out what's going on or who is behind it."

"That's pretty vague. Do we at least know where to look?" Nick asked.

"I can show you," Stephanie said.

Stephanie's laptop was linked into the Crays in the other room. She entered a series of keystrokes, humming to herself as her fingers danced across the keyboard. The Ops Center had a large wall monitor identical to the one in Elizabeth's office. The picture that appeared on screen was a satellite shot over the Alaskan wilderness. Steph zoomed in on a white dot in the middle of a forest. The dot became two low buildings, set next to each other and connected by a short passage. Nearby, rows of tall antenna towers were laid out in a grid.

There was no road to the site. The land around the facility consisted of old growth forest that had been cleared back about a hundred feet. There was a helipad and hangar.

"Way out in the boonies," Ronnie said.

"Out of sight, out of mind," Nick said. "I wonder what they're doing out there?"

"Probably playing talk radio for the grizzly bears," Lamont said.

"I don't think they'd do that," Ronnie said. "You don't want to piss off grizzly bears."

Harker rolled her eyes. "Steph, show the nearest town."

"That would be Circle. It's not just the nearest town, it's the only town." She brought it up on the monitor.

They studied the picture. A wide river snaked past a cluster of low buildings laid out on the river bank. West of the town was a single, straight airstrip. There were no planes or hangars, only a cracked strip of pavement. A narrow access road ran like a tee from the center of the strip to a cleared area that was probably a parking lot and then to the town. A highway entered the picture from the lower left corner and ended at the town. A single main street ran through the settlement.

From miles above the Earth's surface, Circle looked like a one horse town without the horse.

"Is that the Yukon River?" Ronnie asked.

"It is." Stephanie adjusted the picture. "The highway you see is Route 6, if you can call it a highway. Circle is literally the end of the road in Alaska."

"How many people live up there?" Selena asked.

"Around 80, year round. More in the summer, when they get a few tourists."

"Not much going on," Lamont said.

"The nearest big city is Fairbanks," Stephanie said. "It's about a hundred and fifty miles from Circle."

"We can fly to Fairbanks and drive to Circle from there," Nick said.

"That might not be so easy, " Ronnie said. "I've been to Fairbanks. That road going North is unpaved gravel and in rough shape. No one will risk renting a car to go to Circle. We'd have to hire someone to drive us."

"There's that airstrip. We could hire a plane in Fairbanks to take us to Circle and hike in from there," Nick said, "but it's days on foot over rough country to the objective."

"There's a helipad right on site," Selena said. "Why not use that?"

Ronnie shook his head. "If anyone's there, we'd be sitting ducks coming in."

"A chopper is a good idea, though. We could land somewhere nearby and hike the rest," Nick said. "Call for extraction when we're done and have the chopper pick us up."

"I can't requisition a helicopter without someone asking why," Elizabeth said.

"I know a guy who lives in Fairbanks," Ronnie said. "He flew choppers in RECON. Now he's got a charter service that takes hunters into the backcountry. We can trust him."

Elizabeth nodded. "Good, Ronnie. We'll use him."

"I'll call and have him meet us at the airport."

Elizabeth looked at Nick. "You have to be careful, Nick. Get in and get out. Don't get caught and please, don't blow anything up."

"Mm," Nick said.