The Four Corners of the Earth

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

The SPEAR team came in hard. The old, abandoned base was simply a haphazard arrangement of large, elongated warehouses with a network of flat dirt roads running between them. The roads were extra wide to allow for larger trucks. Drake imagined it had been some kind of storage depot once, a place to shout at for a vast array of military equipment. The helicopters came down on the outskirts, outside a rusted, wilting fence-line, and powered down almost instantly.

“Team ready,” Hayden said into her comms.

“Go,” DC told her. “Ensure the warheads are disabled and the other item is safe.”

Dahl grumbled at the ground. “Talk about locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.”

The team had already fixed the position of all three warehouses in their minds, and had a good idea of the twisting road network. Basically, everything crossed with everything else. There were no dead ends, no cul-de-sacs, no exit routes except one. The perimeter warehouses all backed up against dense forest, but the interior ones — the vital three — sat in the midst of others in a random arrangement.

Together, they ran.

“We’ll have to split up, neutralize the nukes, then find a way of getting them out of here and to a nicer place,” Hayden said. “Romania’s not far.”

Lauren was with them now, fully plugged in to DC and, having proved that she could think under pressure, they might need her when it came to handling the nukes. A steady head capable of relaying information through channels couldn’t be underestimated. They stayed low, fast, and on course for the warehouses.

A dirt road opened up before them, deserted. Beyond that the entire area was bare earth and shale with just a few tufts of straggly brown grass. Drake surveyed the scene and gave the order to move. They ran out into the open, guns at the ready. The smell of dirt and oil struck his senses and a cold breeze slapped his face. Their gear jangled, their boots struck the earth hard.

They came up against the first warehouse wall, and paused with their backs against it. Drake glanced down the line.

“Ready?”

“Go.”

He examined the next leg of their route, knowing they didn’t have any CCTV to worry about since instruments detected no signals coming out of the base except cellphones. The nukes themselves gave off a low frequency hum. Beyond that, the place was barren.

Another run and they came up against another warehouse. Each one had its designated number painted in black scrawl across the side. Each one appeared rundown, tawdry, with runnels of rust descending from the roof to the floor. Guttering swung free, jagged lengths pointing at the ground, dripping dirty water.

Ahead now, Drake made out the left corner of Warehouse 17. “We cross this road,” he said. “Make our way up the flank of that warehouse until we reach the end. That way, we’re only twenty feet from Seventeen.”

He moved out, then paused. A security vehicle passed along the road ahead, traveling the path that intersected theirs. Nothing happened though. Drake heaved a sigh of relief.

“No friends here,” Dahl reminded them. “Do not trust anyone outside the team.” He didn’t have to add, “Even Americans.”

Now Drake moved, hugged the warehouse wall and made his way forward. Warehouse 17 had two small windows looking out front. Drake cursed silently, but saw there was no other way to go.

“Move,” he said urgently. “Move it now.”