PRIMAL Reckoning (Book 1 in the Redemption Trilogy, the PRIMAL Series Book 5) (15 page)
Read PRIMAL Reckoning (Book 1 in the Redemption Trilogy, the PRIMAL Series Book 5) Online
Authors: Jack Silkstone
“You
think any are workable?”
“Yes, however,
getting onto the roof is a problem. Two options. One, vertical; helicopter or
parachute. Two, lateral; rope on from another building. They all come with
significant risk.”
A
waitress came over and asked for their order.
“I’ll
have the beef burger and a vanilla milkshake, thanks love,” said Mitch.
Mirza
ordered a hot chocolate. They waited till the waitress had returned to the
counter before Mitch continued the conversation.
“So, Flash
is positive he can’t gain access without us physically getting into the actual
server?”
“It’s
completely isolated. There are no links out. That’s why we need to get in and
plant a transmitter.”
The
waitress walked over and delivered Mitch’s shake. “Yours will be a few more
minutes, darling.”
Both men
contemplated the problem in silence. Mitch sucked on his straw as he watched
the crowds walk past. He noticed a woman talking on her phone as she walked into
the building. She nodded to the security guards, swiped her ID, and
disappeared. He turned back to Mirza. “I think I’ve got a solution. Your cousin
OK with us borrowing his cab again?”
***
FORT BLISS, TEXAS
“Terrance,
is that you?” the director asked from behind the door.
Howard
took a deep breath. “Yes, sir.” He tentatively pushed it open.
“Come in,
son.” Everest gestured to the chair in front of his desk. “I have to admit,
this meeting request caught me a little by surprise.” He smiled. “A good
surprise, that is.” He nodded at Howard’s tie. “And you’re wearing your own
clothes too.”
He sat
and dropped the file on Everest’s desk. Damn, he thought, he had not meant for
it to seem so casual.
The
director’s grey eyebrows arched. “What’s this?”
He
swallowed. “It’s an intel pack I’ve been working on for a while, sir.”
Everest
picked it up and started flicking through it. “Summary?”
“Sir, it
outlines everything we have on an environmental terrorist who has links to an
American left-wing journalist. They are planning to attack an American-backed
mine just south of the border in Mexico.”
If
Everest’s grey eyebrows were raised before, now they were trying to make
contact with his receding hairline. “Really?”
“Yes, sir.
We’ve got reporting that a mercenary known only as Aden is currently in Mexico
conducting planning for an attack on the Barrio Del Rancho mine near Chihuahua.
This guy’s a bad ass, sir. He’s professional, low key, and he’s got skills. I
received an email today from Ground Effects Services, the organization running
security at the mine. One of their phones had been bugged by one of Aden’s
associates.”
Everest
held up the C4I4 image from Mexico. “This the guy?”
“Yes,
sir, I’m calling him Objective Yankee.”
Everest
chewed his lip and flicked to the next image. “This picture.” He stabbed his
finger at the grainy picture showing Objective Yankee standing next to a tall
blonde operative, both armed to the teeth.
“Yes,
sir, in Kiev he was part of an attack on a nightclub owned by an arms dealer.
Over twenty people were killed in that incident alone.”
“Yes, seems
to be a pretty serious threat.”
“It is,
sir.”
“So
what’s all this about, Howard? I’m guessing you’re not here just to show me
your good work. What do you need?”
“Sir, I
would like to put together a tiger team to work on two projects.”
“I’m
guessing one of them is to deal with the Objective Yankee threat. What’s the
other?”
Howard
realized he was leaning forward with his hands clenched together. He leaned
back and tried to relax. “Confirming the identity of the new Sinaloa boss for
Chihuahua. As you know, my source is telling me it’s Ramon Ramirez, but we’re
still not sure. Once confirmed, I want to work up courses of action to engage
him.”
Howard
could see the director’s brain was working. The man chewed his lip as he stared
into the distance. He pouted as he leaned forward. “Good initiative, Howard. I
like it. I’ll give you an additional analyst and a signals intelligence guy.
You can work out of one of the operations rooms. Need anything else?”
“Yes,
sir, I’d like a Predator to provide eyes on the mine at night. We know this guy’s
moving in for his recon. We might be able to catch him out.”
“I’ll
check with ops. If we’ve still got hours this month you can have what’s left.
It’s probably a better use for it than dawdling up and down the fence watching
refugees hiding in the dunes.”
“Excellent,
sir, I won’t let you down.”
Everest’s
eyes narrowed. “If you do, you’re done.”
The color
drained from Howard’s face.
“I’m just
messing with you. Get back to work.”
Howard
loosened his tie and wiped his hands on his pants as he escaped down the
corridor. He contemplated ringing Pershing and passing on the good news but decided
against it. He would confirm the availability of the Predator first, then head
home to get some sleep.
***
CHIHUAHUA
After dinner,
Roberto and the brothers, Miguel and Gerardo, lit a fire in a pit behind the
cabins. They sat in a circle, watching the flames dance and smoking cheap
cigars. Gerardo, the older of the two, had a guitar on his knee and was softly strumming
a tune.
Bishop sat on
a log at the edge of the group, staring out over the desert. It always amazed
him how clear the stars were when you got away from the glare of the city. He
zipped up his jacket to ward off the cool night air.
“If you are
cold, you should sit closer to the fire,” said Roberto as he offered Bishop a
cigar.
“I don’t
smoke, thanks.” He dragged his log a little closer to the flames.
“Has Christina already gone to bed?”
“Yes, I think
all the excitement wore her out.”
Roberto nodded
as he puffed on his cigar.
Gerardo
started humming as he played, and in a short while added lyrics to the tune. He
had a rich baritone voice that filled the night air. Bishop knew enough Spanish
to identify it as a love ballad.
He glanced
down the hill to where Emilio was sitting by himself on a rocky outcrop. There
had been no animosity from the old rancher, even though Bishop felt responsible
for the capture of his son, Carlos.
“We chose to
fight back,” Emilio had said when he tried to apologize. “We all know what’s at
stake.”
Bishop was
lost in his thoughts for a moment, then rose from the log. “I’m going to turn
in. I’ll see you gentlemen in the morning.”
“Goodnight,
Aden, thanks again for your help,” said Roberto.
The two brothers
nodded in agreement and he left them at the fire. He pushed the door of the
cabin slowly open and crept in.
“Aden, is that
you?” Christina mumbled from the bed.
“Yes.” He
stripped down to his boxers and T-shirt and slid in under the blankets, trying
not to disturb her. It was a small double bed and she nuzzled into his neck and
swung her arm over his chest. She mumbled something incoherent before her
breathing grew shallow and she fell asleep.
He lay there
thinking about Carlos, and the predicament the farmers faced. It was obvious without
help it was an almost hopeless cause. As he lay there listening to Christina’s
breathing and evaluating the situation, his eyes grew heavy.
***
NEW YORK CITY
“Just a
few more seconds, then we need to go around again,” Mitch replied from the back
seat. The PRIMAL technician had used suction caps to string lengths of wire
around the inside of the cab. They were plugged into a laptop, which he was
studying intently.
It was
the early hours of the morning and the streets were relatively quiet. New York
might not sleep but it certainly slowed a little. The only vehicles on the
roads were cabs, street sweepers, and garbage trucks. Mirza watched the traffic
as he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and hummed a tune.
He glanced in the mirror and noticed a
man in a suit staggering along the road. “Mitch, we’ve got another one.” Two
drunken businessmen had already tried to hail them.
“OK, OK,
we’re good. I just need you to circle the block once more.”
Mirza
started the cab, indicated, and pulled away from the curb. He drove down the
street and turned, circling back around the block. “This is going to have to be
the last time. If I drive past again the security guards may notice.”
Mitch was
still studying the laptop’s screen. “Last time, I promise. I’ve pretty much got
everything I need.”
“Pretty
much? We’ve been around five times.”
“Yep,
I’ve got it all, I’ve definitely got it this time. Let’s go.”
Mirza
drove slowly along the road behind the office complex. “So how exactly does it
work?”
“The
antennas pick up all the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cell phone networks operating in
the area. When we drive around Flash’s software uses triangulation algorithms
to locate the source and map it out. Then all I need to do is work out which
ones might give us a way of penetrating GE’s network.”
“And if
there isn’t one?”
“Then we
have to go back to plan B. Parachuting onto the roof and sneaking in. But hey,
that sounds like an operator problem not a technical issue.”
Mirza
grinned. “I thought you were looking forward to getting into the field.”
“Parachuting
and sneaking in through air vents is not field work.” He patted his computer. “This
is field work.”
“Each to
their own.” Mirza drove across town toward the apartment they had rented. “So you
sure you got everything?”
Mitch
hunched over the laptop. “Yeah I think so, old man.”
“Old man?
Do you even know how old I am, Mitch?”
The geek
looked up from his computer. “Just a term of endearment, mate. But now that you
mention it, how old are you?”
“Older
than you. So you should respect your elders and tell me what you’ve found.”
“Can’t
argue with that. We’ve got bugger-all networks and a handful of devices. These
guys are running a pretty tight ship. But, there are always kids that don’t
want to play by the rules. I’ve found a very faint Bluetooth signal coming from
around the twentieth floor. It looks like a tablet device.”
“How does
that help?” Mirza asked as he turned down their street.
“Well,
tablets use a lot of power and the easiest way to charge them is to plug them
into a USB port, yeah.”
Mirza
shook his head. “A company like GE would definitely have locked out their ports.”
“That’s
not a drama. Hacking around a locked-out USB port is the easy bit. The hard
part is going to be getting a Bluetooth transmitter close enough to upload a
hack.”
“And
we’re back to parachuting,” Mirza said laughing.
“That’s
not as stupid as it sounds.” Mitch closed his laptop. “What time do you think
the closest hobby store opens?”
CHAPTER
17
CHIHUAHUA
Christina sat astride her palomino watching
with a broad smile. Like Bishop, she had borrowed some more appropriate
clothing from the owners of the bed and breakfast ranch. “How can someone grow
up in Australia and not know how to ride a horse?”
“Hey, I never rode a bloody kangaroo to
school either. I grew up near the beach, not on a farm.” He slipped his boot into
the stirrup, reached up, and grabbed the pommel. With a grunt he hauled himself
up.
As he did
the horse twisted her neck, bared her teeth and tried to bite him. “Fuck you!”
yelled Bishop as he slid his leg over the mare’s back and managed to get his
foot inside the other stirrup. “Did you see that? She tried to bite me.”
Christina
laughed. “I’d bite you too if you tried to mount me like that.”
“I’d make
sure I was wearing spurs.”
Roberto
was leaning against the fence and shook his head. “Twenty miles in the saddle
is going to be rough on you and that horse.”
“Tell me
about it.” Bishop took up the reins and held them like he’d been shown. His
horse shook her head in objection. “You sure I can’t ride different one?”
“Tinkerbell
is the only one who can carry you,” said Roberto.
“Come on.
It’s not like I’m heavier than you.”
“True,
but I’m not going to ride that one.”
“Why
not?” asked Bishop.
“Because
she’s a nasty bitch. Now try walking her around a bit.”
Bishop
dug his heels in slightly. “You hear that, Tink, everyone thinks you’re a
bitch.” The horse braced herself on all four legs, lifted her tail, and
proceeded to deposit the contents of her bowel into the dust. “Sweet mother of
God.” He tucked his nose into his armpit. “What do they feed this thing,
refried beans?”
Christina
rode her pony alongside Tinkerbell.
“She
smells better than you, Mr. Rarely Showers. Now come on, big girl, let’s go for
a walk.
Tinkerbell
made a snorting noise and followed Christina’s mare. Bishop held the reins
limply as she lumbered along. “This is more like it. Maybe I can just stay back
here all day. The view’s much better, hey Tink.”
Christina
looked back over her shoulder and gave him a smile.
At that
moment Bishop realized for the first time in a while he actually felt relaxed.
Last night had been one of the first in a long time that was dream free. He
smiled, not sure if it was Christina or maybe just the fact he was in the
wilderness.
They
walked the horses into the desert for half an hour before turning back to the
camp. Bishop was feeling more comfortable and Tinkerbell seemed to have
accepted him.
Christina
maneuvered her horse next to him. “Hey cowboy, how about we try a trot?”
He shook
his head vigorously. “Nooo.”
She
pursed her lips seductively, slowed, and used her reins to slap Tinkerbell on
the rump. “Come on!” she yelled urging them both into a fast trot.
Tinkerbell
lifted her head and sprang forward as Bishop clung to the saddle’s horn. His
heart pounded as she broke into the equine equivalent of a jog. It was not anywhere
near as bad as he was expecting. She seemed to glide over the ground
effortlessly.
Christina
laughed. “See, it’s not hard.”
They
brought the horses back to a walk and returned to the ranch. As they passed
through the gates Bishop noticed a dust trail as someone drove away in a pickup.
Roberto and Emilio were leaning on a rail watching the truck disappear into the
distance.
“Something’s
up,” Bishop said as he directed Tinkerbell to the stables.
Christina
jumped off her horse and took Tinkerbell’s reins. “I’ll take care of these two.
You go see what’s going on.”
As Bishop
walked to the two men, Roberto left Emilio and pulled him aside. When they were
out of earshot he spoke. “They found Carlos.”
“Where?”
“On the
road to the mine. They dragged him behind a truck for miles. The only reason
they knew it was him was because they found his boots.”
Bishop felt
as if someone had reached into his chest and torn out his heart. The weight
that had lifted from his shoulders was back, with a vengeance. “God, I’m so
sorry, Roberto.”
“It’s not
your fault. This is a war and in war there will always be casualties.”
He looked
over at the wizened old rancher leaning against the rail. “Is Emilio alright?”
Roberto
shook his head. “No, but it is to be expected. A man is not supposed to outlive
his son. These people are brutal, Aden.”
“They’re
animals.”
Roberto
handed him a battered .38 revolver. “When we go on the ride you should take
this. I will take my shotgun.”
“You
don’t have any ammunition for the AK?” The rancher shook his head.
Bishop
checked that the cylinder of the heavy revolver was loaded. He felt naked
without the body armor and assault rifle he usually carried on a PRIMAL
mission. All they had was the pistol, shotgun, and Christina’s Canon 5D camera.
He shoved the revolver into his pants and walked slowly across to where Emilio
was staring into the desert.
“I’m
sorry for your loss.” He grasped the rail with both hands. “Your son was brave.
He stood and fought when others fled.”
Emilio
turned to him, tears running down the creases of his weathered face. “You’re a
warrior, Aden. Why do you fight?”
“For
justice.”
“Then
help me find justice for my son and for the families that have lost
everything.”
Bishop put
his hand on the man’s shoulder as he fought back his own tears. “I will.”
***
FORT BLISS, TEXAS
He sat at
his new desk, put down his Starbucks Grande latte, and brushed the creases from
his new chinos. Logging into the system, he projected his computer onto one of
the screens on the wall. Then he opened the in-briefing he had prepared for his
two new analysts.
This was
the first time in his career he was going to be responsible for subordinates. He
was feeling a little edgy. The knock on the door startled him and he almost
tipped over his coffee.
Both his
team members were waiting outside. He invited them in and they introduced
themselves. Shelly, the all-source analyst, was a homely, middle-aged blonde
who wore her hair in a pigtail. Ben, his signals analyst, was skinny, and in
his mid-twenties.
It only
took Howard five minutes to deliver the in-briefing before concluding. “Guys,
in addition to this intel, we recently found out our target in Mexico is using
the name Aden.”
“So Objective
Yankee’s name is Aden?” Ben asked.
“Correct,
however it may be a cover name.”
Shelly sat
at her desk and pointed at the big screen on the wall. “Howard, can you go back
to his image, the one from Kiev.”
“Sure.”
The
grainy image of Bishop and Kurtz standing side by side appeared. Both men were
clad in black and heavily armed.
“That’s
the one. I was thinking, maybe we can track him down through the other guy. The
shot of his face is a little better. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s of Nordic
stock, maybe Scandinavian.”
“I ran him through the database but it
didn’t get a hit,” said Howard.
“We
should send out a Request for Information to our European partners. It might
take a while but it will definitely broaden the network,” she said.
“Good
idea. Can you take care of that?”
Shelly
smiled at him. “Sure thing, boss.”
Howard
sat a little taller in his chair. ‘Boss’, he could get used to that. He clicked
to another image; a slide showing a timeline covering the next three days.
“Guys, this is our allocation of Predator hours.” He used his mouse cursor to
point out red sections of the time scale. “We’ve got three blocks of six hours.
They’ll all be flown from around 2100 to 0300 hours in the morning.” He
advanced the slide deck to a map of the area around the mine. “We need to
submit the areas that we want it to focus on, ASAP.”
Ben stood
and pointed to the rugged mountainous terrain to the east of the mine. “If I
was going to approach this I’d infiltrate through here. Vehicles would be
useless in that terrain so there’s not much chance the guys from the mine will
patrol it. If Objective Yankee is ex-military, he’s going to know that.”
Howard
used his mouse to draw a box over the area. He’d read Ben’s file, the skinny
geek was also a National Guardsman who had completed two tours of Afghanistan.
He knew what he was talking about. “You do up the Predator pack, Ben. Make it a
priority.”
“Roger.
Also, is there a chance I can get the details of the hack the security guys
found on their phone? If I can get it over to the NSA they might be able to
pull the software apart and find out who programmed it. Might give us a better
idea of who we’re dealing with.”
“I’ll see
what I can do. When you get time, I also want both of you to take a look at the
Sinaloa cartel comms traffic and see if there’s anything that might relate to
the threat to the mine.”
“You
think they might be behind this?” asked Shelly.
Howard
nodded. “Possibly. Whoever has hired Yankee is going to need some serious cash and,
tell me if I’m wrong Ben, but the type of hacking we’re talking about isn’t
cheap either.”
“Yeah, it
ain’t cheap. Not when programmers are charging a grand an hour to build it.
You’re looking at least fifty or sixty hours to build something simple.”
“Good to
know.”
“Have
they identified how the hack got into their system?” Ben continued.
“Not yet.
But as soon as they do, they’re going to let us know. Now if you guys have got
enough to get started, I’m going to get some fresh air.” Howard gulped the last
of his coffee, grabbed a can from the fridge, and swiped his way out of the
room. He walked down the corridor, retrieved his phone from the storage
cubicles, and headed outside.
The
director caught him at the door. “How’s it going, Terrance? You got everything
you need?”
Howard
gave him a broad smile. “Sure do, boss. The team’s hard at work. I’m just going
to grab a few minutes of fresh air.” He felt Everest’s hawk-like gaze pass over
him. It lingered on the zero-sugar energy drink.
“OK then.
I might drop by later on.” He turned and wandered back to his office.
Howard took
a deep breath as soon as he was outside. He was never one for the outdoors but
the fresh morning air seemed to be particularly invigorating today. He lit a
cigarette, popped the can of energy drink, and placed it on the outdoor table.
Then he fished out his phone and dialed Pershing’s number. Source 88 was going
to be a very happy man.
