The Ajax Protocol

CHAPTER 19

It was after midnight when Ronnie, Nick and Selena landed at the private terminal in Fairbanks. Ronnie's friend was waiting for them. Sam Newhouse was a wiry, short man who looked like he'd been carved out of beef jerky.

"Hey, Gunny. Long time. How they hanging?"

The two men hugged and clapped each other on the back.

"Sam, these are my friends. This is Nick and this is Selena."

"Pleasure," Newhouse said. They shook hands. He looked at Nick. "Afghanistan, right? Recon? I remember you from Bagram. I was flying the bird that pulled you out. You were hit pretty bad. Glad you made it."

He's in the market, ramshackle bins and ragged cloth walls. Clouds of flies swarm around the butcher’s stall. He hears a baby cry. The street is deserted.

The rooftops erupt with men firing AK-47s. The market stalls shatter in a firestorm of splinters and plaster and rock exploding from the sides of the buildings.

A child runs toward him, screaming about Allah. Nick hesitates, a second too long. The boy cocks his arm back and throws a grenade as Nick shoots him.

The child's head dissolves in a red fountain of blood and bone. The grenade drifts through the air in slow motion…everything goes white…

"Nick?" It was Selena. Newhouse was looking at him. Nick realized he'd been gone for a moment.

"Sorry, yeah, that's right. Bagram. You have a good memory. I never got a chance to thank you."

"No thanks needed. Follow me," Newhouse said.

He led them outside to the parking lot and a red Toyota Highlander spattered with mud. They stowed the bags with their gear and weapons and got in. Newhouse pulled out of the lot. Ronnie sat next to him in front.

Newhouse said, "You said on the phone you wanted to fly up past Circle. We have to wait for daylight. There's a motel near here that's clean. I figured you might want to rest up a little. The only had two rooms available. I hope that's okay." He turned onto the highway.

"Sounds good," Ronnie said.

"You want to fill me in? You don't look like you're going fishing and there's nothing up there except bears and black flies."

Nick had checked out Newhouse. He'd talked it over with Harker and they'd decided the pilot would need to know something about why they were in Alaska.

"There's something we want to take a look at," Nick said from the back seat. "It's a government installation. We don't exactly have permission to visit it."

Newhouse said nothing.

"I can't tell you everything but you need to know that we all work for the President."

"Rice? He's a good man, not like that jerk he picked for a VP. It's too bad he had that heart attack."

"Rice didn't have a heart attack," Nick said.

Newhouse looked at him, surprised. "What do you mean, he didn't have a heart attack?"

"Someone tried to poison him. We don't know who did it but this place we're going may have something to do with it. We need you to set us down about a day's hike away and then come get us when we call you. The whole thing needs to be kept quiet."

"You're spooks, aren't you?"

"No, we're not Agency."

Newhouse was quiet as he drove. Then he said, "I guess not, or you wouldn't need my bird."

"It's complicated," Ronnie said. "We need to stay below the radar. Literally."

"Like the old days," Newhouse said. "Hell, I thought I left all that behind over there."

"At least no one's going to be firing missiles at you," Nick said.

"You sure about that?"

"Pretty sure."

"Well, hell, that makes me feel a lot better."

"We need you, Sam." Ronnie looked at him. "Are you in?"

"Makes a nice change from ferrying tourists around, I guess. Yeah, I'm in."

Newhouse turned into the parking lot of the motel, a low one story building with a row of rooms facing out toward the highway. A red neon sign read NO VACANCY. The V was out on the sign.

"Not fancy, but like I said, it's clean." Newhouse parked. They got out and unloaded the duffle bags with their gear.

"What time you want me to pick you up?"

"0600," Nick said.

"Works for me. Good to see you, Ronnie."

Newhouse got back in his truck and drove off. The night air was cool but not cold. This time of the year, temperatures didn't drop much below 50 at night. It would be warm during the day. Winter didn't move in here until September. It would be colder farther north, but the temperatures would still be bearable.

They checked in. Newhouse had reserved two rooms next to each other. Nick and Selena took one, Ronnie the other.

"Get some sleep," Nick said to Ronnie. "We'll need it."

The room was like a time trip from the 60s. It had two beds with quilted covers. A cheap print of red and yellow flowers in a brown vase hung over the headboard. A table lamp and night stand sat between the beds. A small TV was bolted to the wall. The narrow bathroom featured a toilet, a stand up shower stall and curtain. The rings on the curtain were rusty. The sink stood on thin chrome legs and was square and small. A small, wrapped bar of soap, a spotted water glass and two thin towels completed the amenities.

The outside wall was made of cinder blocks painted white. A heater and A/C unit sat in the front wall under a wide picture window. Nick pulled the drapes closed and turned on the heat. The unit rattled. Lukewarm air rushed out.

"Not the Taj Mahal," Nick said. He sat on one of the beds. The mattress sagged.

"I've never been to Alaska," Selena said. "I'm looking forward to hiking into the forest."

"I did a survival course here when I was in Recon," Nick said. "It's beautiful but it can kill you if you're not careful. Where we're going, it might as well be 1898."

"This was gold rush country, wasn't it?"

"Yep. Circle was an important town, back then."

"I suppose if you want to hide a secret installation this is as good a place as any to do it."

"Secret from the public, anyway. Any enemy worth his salt has to know exactly where it is."

"It doesn't seem like anyone can hide much of anything these days," Selena said. "Not with the kind of technology governments have now."

"Yeah. A brave new world." Nick stood up. "Better lay our gear out for the morning so we don't have to fumble around with it."

They spent the next minutes sorting out what they'd need. Woodland camouflage uniforms with no markings. Hiking boots, soft brimmed hats. Knives, their pistols and MP-5s. A GPS and compass. Nick hoped they wouldn't need the guns. The knives were handy for many things.

Each back pack held rations, extra ammo, first aid kit and a survival pack. They could live off the land for weeks if they had to. Nick didn't think that was going to happen. It was old habit to be prepared.

"I'm going to take a shower," Selena said. She undressed and walked naked into the bathroom. Nick watched her and felt himself getting aroused. False modesty wasn't one of Selena's faults. He heard the water running and thought about how he missed holding her at night.

After a while she came out, pink and clean, toweling her hair. A cloud of steam followed her into the room.

"Your turn," she said. She smiled at him. "It's small, but the water's hot."

He used the toilet and stepped into the stall. She was right, it was small. The water felt good. Some of the tension went out of his shoulders as the hot stream beat down on him.

He dried off and went back into the room with a towel wrapped around his waist. Selena was already in one of the beds. They hadn't spent a night together in the same bed for months.

Nick walked over and sat down on the edge of her bed. The mattress sagged under his weight.

"I've been thinking," he said.

Selena lay back against her pillow and rested her head on her arm.

"About what?"

"About us."

"It hasn't been easy," she said, "has it?"

"It seems like things keep getting in the way," he said. "The nightmares. The work we do. Every time we start getting close, something happens."

She reached out and took his hand. "How close do you want to get?"

"All I know is that when you're not around I feel like something's missing."

He reached out and touched her cheek. Her skin was smooth under his fingers.

"I love you," he said. "I don't want any distance between us. That's how close. "

"I like close," she said. Then she said, "Aren't you getting cold out there?"

Nick stood up and dropped the towel he'd wrapped around himself. He slipped under the covers and put his arms around her. "I don't like sleeping by myself."

"Me neither," Selena said. She ran her fingers through his hair. She reached down for him.

"Oh," she said. "Miss me?"

"You talk too much," Nick said. They kissed.

Later, they slept. Nick didn't dream.