The Ajax Protocol

CHAPTER 23

It was Thursday night in Alexandria, Virginia, not far from the Capitol. General Westlake sat at home in his favorite chair, reading the Iliad, the epic poem about the war between Greece and Troy. It was Homer who had inspired him with the name for the operation that was about to begin.

Westlake sighed. He had been denied the opportunity to lead vast armies. His enemies in the Pentagon had made sure of that. They would soon discover the mistake they'd made by shutting him out from important command in the field.

His secured phone signaled a call.

"Westlake."

"We have a problem." The caller was Senator Martinez. Westlake felt his good mood begin to dissolve.

"What kind of problem?"

"There was a raid on the Alaska facility. We were unable to complete the test. "

"What happened?"

"Thorpe was about to activate when some kind of special ops force showed up. We ran a satellite pass. The helicopter that brought in Thorpe and the security team was destroyed. There are bodies outside the buildings and I can't reach anyone on-site. We have to assume the equipment was taken off-line by whoever hit the site."

"CIA?"

"My sources say no. I can't find any official operation, covert or otherwise. My guess is we're dealing with Rice's group, the Project. They have the balls to pull off something like this."

Westlake could feel his blood pressure rising, an instant band tightening around his forehead. The failure of his attempt to eliminate the Project had come back to haunt him.

"Those people have more lives than a cat," he said. "It's a setback, but that's all."

On the other end of the connection, Martinez said, "We've lost Thorpe."

"We don't need him. Everything he did is documented. Hell, any college sophomore could follow his directions and program the satellite."

"If he's a prisoner, that could be a problem," Martinez said. "He knows too much."

"Send someone up there and check it out. We need to know for certain."

"All right."

Westlake said, "We'll use Colorado for the rest of the transmissions. I wanted to reserve that for the final phase, but it will give us a chance to work out any glitches in managing the operation. "

"Have you chosen the London location yet?"

"Yes. We'll place the diversion in the financial district. The amplifier will go in an entertainment complex called the O2. There's a concert scheduled a week from Saturday. Some British rock star. It's sold out. There will be 20,000 people packed together and screaming their heads off. I thought that would be a good place to put our little gift box. The device will activate fifteen minutes after the bomb, while emergency services are responding to the explosion."

"There will be real panic in a crowd like that. A lot of people are going to get killed."

"You're not getting squeamish on me, are you Senator?"

"No, but are you sure it's necessary? After all, if we put it somewhere else it will serve our purpose just as well and there will be fewer casualties."

"Provocation has to be severe. We want to encourage the strongest possible response on the part of the British government. You can't make omelettes without breaking eggs."

"Please, Louis, spare me the clichés."

"Then spare me your false humanitarian concerns. I didn't hear you commenting on the numbers of dead in Russia."

Martinez thought about it. "I see your point. You're right."

"Of course I am."

"What shall we do about the Project?"

"The damage is done," Westlake said. "They screwed up the test but things are too far along for them to do much else. They don't know what we plan. By the time they figure it out, it will be too late. They won't be able to stop it."

"Still…"

"I'll talk with Edmonds and convince him the Project is interfering with a classified military operation. I should've done it before. He'll be so happy a four-star general is taking him seriously that he'll jump on the chance to do something he thinks is presidential."

"He could be useful. You think we should leave him in office afterward? He's familiar to the public. It might lend an air of legitimacy to the new government."

"I haven't decided that yet. Let's see if he'll cooperate."