The Ajax Protocol

CHAPTER 51

It was full dark by the time they reached the objective. They parked a hundred yards away from the target, off the side of the road. Nick scanned the farmhouse through Korov's night vision binoculars.

A dirt and gravel drive led to a plain wooden house with a shingle roof and a covered porch. A single light was on over the door. The building looked rundown and tired. Rusted farm equipment was lined up in a ragged row in front of the house. A dark colored pickup was parked in the packed dirt of the yard. Light shone behind the curtained windows of a room on the first floor.

The house looked like thousands of others scattered across rural America.

Behind the house was a rundown barn. To someone passing by, the place looked like a hardscrabble farm in need of a lot of maintenance. In the green light of the night vision optics, it looked like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock film.

Nick studied the barn. "Take a look at the barn," he said, "at the doors." He handed the binoculars to Korov.

Korov focused. "The doors are closed," he said. "They look strong for a barn that needs so much repair."

"Look at the left side of the doors."

Korov shifted the lenses. He smiled. "A numbered keypad," he said.

"Doesn't that seem a little unusual for an old barn in the country?"

Nick's phone signaled a call from Harker.

"Yes."

"Nick, you were right. The satellite overpass shows infrared activity at that site, consistent with something buried underground. How far under, I can't say."

"Outstanding," Nick said. "Now all we have to do is get in. We're about to go hot, Director."

"Copy that. Good luck, Nick. Keep your head down."

Nick put the phone away and told the others what Harker had said.

"We don't know what's down there," Korov said, "but it will be defended. What are the rules of engagement?"

"If someone is armed, don't hesitate. Shoot to kill. There will be control stations for a satellite or satellites somewhere in that complex. Our mission is to destroy them."

"What if there are civilians?" Selena asked.

"These people want to destroy America," Nick said. "There are no civilians down there."

No one else had any questions.

"Lock and load," Nick said. "The house is probably a guard point. We'd better clear it first."

They crawled on all fours toward the house. The moon hadn't come up yet and the only light came from the stars, high over the Rocky Mountains. In the distance, Denver was a fairytale glow against the dark outline of the Front Range. The night smelled of grass and the dry dust of the plains. Earlier, there had been thousands of crickets chirping. Now the only sound was the quiet movement of their bodies across the ground.

They worked their way up to the rusted machinery. The front of the house was about 30 feet away. The light was still on in the window and on the porch. The curtains were drawn. It was impossible to see who or what was inside.

Nick signaled and ran forward, cradling the M-16 across his chest. The others came close behind. The old feeling came over him, the adrenaline surge rushing in his ears, a mix of fear and excitement. They reached the porch and Nick stepped onto it. A moth circled the light. He reached for the knob on the front door. Then he saw the camera.

He threw himself to the side. The roar of a shotgun came from inside the house. The front door blew off the hinges in a shower of splinters.

Big. Must be a 10 gauge, Nick thought.

Selena and Korov and Ronnie opened up at the window and door. Another blast of the shotgun sent more splinters flying. Nick reached blind around the smashed doorframe and fired a fast burst. The shotgun boomed again. Nick fired a three round burst and rolled into the house. The man with the shotgun was at the end of a long hall that stretched past a flight of stairs. Nick shot him. Someone appeared at the top of the stairs and began shooting. The rounds chopped holes in the floor behind him as Nick dove out of the line of fire. Ronnie came through the doorway and cut the shooter down. The body tumbled down the steps.

Selena and Korov came into the house and moved down the hall, fast, looking into rooms and calling out as they went.

"Clear."

"Clear."

Ronnie and Nick went up the steps. There was no one left on the top floor. They came back down.

The man Ronnie had killed wore a TSA uniform. No one would give someone in that outfit a second glance in an airport terminal.

"Only two of them here," Ronnie said.

"Spotters," Nick said. "Here to sound the alarm if someone shows up that's not supposed to."

"Like us," Selena said.

"If these two got off a signal, it means the opposition knows we're here."

"Maybe they didn't have a chance to do it," Selena said.

"We'll find out quick enough," Nick said, "once we get into that barn."