The Seventh Pillar (17 page)

"The Red Death."

"Right. So assumption number two is that whatever he does will provoke massive reaction on the part of our government that leads to war. Piss us off enough. But a nuke would do that anywhere."

"He'd pick a population center." Selena frowned. "It's their style. Maybe he'd target the military directly at the same time. A big base."

"He'd never get on a base. All military airspace is controlled. He couldn't just fly over and drop his bomb out the door. Anything sensitive is protected."

"Where could he hurt us the most? Where is there a combination of big military presence and a lot of people at the same time?"

Nick got up and began pacing across the room. Back and forth. "LA. San Diego. But we've ruled those out. Maybe we should pin a map up and throw darts at it."

"Maybe we should."

"What about Washington," Carter said.

"Washington? The Capitol?"

"No, the state. There are a lot of bases up there. Air Force, Navy. Most of the bases are clustered around Seattle, near the port and Boeing and the other big defense contractors. There's a big naval base. There's the Needle, that's pretty symbolic."

They looked at each other. Carter got goose bumps. It could be Seattle. It felt like Seattle. As hunches went, it was a good one.

His ear tingled. "The bomb is six kilotons. It would take out the naval base and most of the city. Seattle has over half a million people."

"Big enough."

He took out his phone. "I'm calling Stephanie."

She picked up on the first ring. Carter told her what they'd figured out.

"You were right," she said. "He went to Seattle."

"What? How do you know?"

"The Bureau found him. But it won't do us much good. Someone else found him first."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm sending you a picture."

They watched the photo appear. Selena went pale.

Three bodies lay on the floor of an apartment. The heads had been hacked off and were lined up in a row on the table. Blood was everywhere. Through the window beyond Nick glimpsed a large body of water. One of the heads had belonged to Bausari. His hair was dyed black, his beard shaved off.

"The Feds found one of those discs." It was all she had to say.

Nick rubbed his ear. "What about the nuke?"

"Not there. We have to assume the assassins have it now." Stephanie paused. "Rice wants you back here. He wants us to go after them."

"How are we going to do that? We don't know where they are."

"Langley may have something."

Part Three:

Judgement Day

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Satellite photos littered Steph's desk. Carter, Stephanie and DNCS Hood were in her office. Nick rubbed his shoulder. It ached like hell. He could make the arm work, but it hurt. He was practicing Tai Chi again, the fighting form with swords, pushing through the pain. Comfort wasn't important. Function was. Carter didn't practice the slow, stylized sword form people saw in demonstrations. His was the other kind. Meant to kill. Harder, effective, useful even in unarmed combat. It wasn't the sword that mattered. It was the quick, ingrained response to block an attack and counter with lethal force.

His back hurt. His stomach was upset. His ear itched like hell. What Hood was saying didn't make him feel any better.

"The terrain is difficult." Hood pointed at the photos. "The objective is across the Afghan border, on the Paki side. We're pretty sure this is what we're looking for."

"Pretty sure? What does that mean?"

Hood looked annoyed. "What I said, Nick. Nothing else fits. Landmarks match what you found in that manuscript in Mali."

Carter studied the photo. A building made of stepped tiers of stone sat at the end of a winding box canyon, recessed into a black mountain. Rock walls rose on three sides, protecting the building. The front was protected by a high stone wall crossing the full width of the canyon. A large courtyard formed an open space in front of the structure. Entry was through a wooden gate flanked by pillars. The gate was closed. The ends of stout timber beams jutted at intervals from the eves and walls of the building. Narrow windows covered by carved wooden shutters looked out over the canyon. It was a fortress, old style.

It looked abandoned, except for the closed gate. Some of the shutters hung askew, others lay on the ground. The courtyard was littered with debris. The third tier was partially collapsed. Fallen stones lay scattered on the balcony of the tier below.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

"It looks like a Buddhist monastery."

"It was, a thousand years ago. There's an odd zone of quiet around this building. Even the Haqqani don't go there. It's as if everyone has decided to leave it alone. We'd never have seen it if we weren't looking for it. The satellite has to be directly above to see it at all, the way the canyon and the mountains are. Notice this shadow."

Hood pointed to a dark blur in the ruins of the third tier. "That's a satellite dish. I don't think the Buddhists had one."

"Looks like a good candidate for a Reaper."

"It would be, if we were certain it's the base for the assassins. We have to find out."

Carter knew what was coming. "And you want us to go take a look."

"That's right."

"That's a job for a full assault team. Why do you need us? You have people on the ground already."

"We did." Hood looked grim. "Now we have two more stars for our wall. You have a good team. Look what you did in Tibet and with that whole unpleasant business here in Washington. You're the right ones to do it. Langley will provide full logistical support, insertion and extraction, everything you need."

And if something went wrong, Carter thought, Langley would have no blame for a failed op.

"Why not send in the Seals? Like with Osama?" Stephanie asked.

"We can't. The Pakis are making a lot of trouble about incursions. And what if this place is some kind of religious school or retreat, a Madrassa? Things are bad enough without making a mistake. We don't have enough intel for that kind of Presidential decision. But you, on the other hand..."

"Are deniable." Nick finished for him.

Hood had the grace to look embarrassed. "Yes, there's that."

"I don't know." Stephanie picked up a photo, set it down. "We have our own way of doing things like this. Our own team. Who runs the show?"

"You do." Hood looked at Nick. "We provide support. As I said, everything you need. The President is okay with this."

"What about your boss? I don't trust him. He doesn't like us."

"The President expressed his displeasure in colorful terms when the DCI informed him about the bomb. Rice told him this op is a top priority. You will be dealing with me, not Director Lodge."

Hood didn't try to defend Lodge. Maybe the DNCS had his eye on the job. Nick filed the thought away.

He thought about Afghanistan and Pakistan. He'd never wanted to see either one again. Things didn't always work out the way you wanted.

"I've got one more question. What are the rules of engagement?"

Hood looked at Nick. "Whatever you say they are."

CHAPTER FIFTY

The team sat in a semicircle looking at the big screen. A real time satellite kept twenty-four hour surveillance on the target, courtesy of Langley. The building and landscape were coated with snow. It was winter in the mountains. Once, someone came out and crossed the courtyard. He was hooded, like a monk. Aside from that, he looked like anyone else in that part of the world. He wasn't carrying weapons. That stood out in an area swarming with militants and terrorists.

The building was fourteen thousand feet up. There was no road. A steep, winding track covered in snow descended along the canyon floor for several miles until it emerged onto a high plain.

Ronnie, Nick and Selena were wheels up for Afghanistan at 0200 the next morning. Lamont's injuries meant the only thing he could do was monitor the mission with Stephanie. He wasn't happy about it. Neither was Nick. They needed Lamont. Carter knew this operation could turn bad fast. The cold weather added another complication.

They had to approach unseen. They had to get in. They had no idea what lay inside. They had no idea how many people were there, or what they might be armed with. A safe assumption was whoever was inside was hostile and armed to the teeth.

"We can't go through the gate," Ronnie said. "It's exposed, they must have lookouts. We'd never get within a hundred yards. This sucks, Nick."

"Yeah. A chopper would be nice. We could drop right into that courtyard. But it's not going to happen."

Nick stood and walked over to the screen. He pointed. "Look at this notch in the canyon ridge, on the left of the courtyard and over it. If we can get to it from the other side, we can rappel down and land right at the front door. It's only two or three hundred feet."

"Excuse me." Selena raised her hand. "Would someone tell me why three of us are going to try and get into a place full of trained assassins who think the end of the world is coming? Doesn't this sound a little difficult to you?"

"It's difficult but not impossible. Pretend you're Tom Cruse. We're going because the President wants us to, Langley is covering its ass and we're expendable."

"Oh, that clears things up. I feel much better now."

"Welcome to the next level of your training." Carter sat down again. "We have a couple of things going for us. We've got surprise. No way they're expecting us. We get into that building, we've got firepower. We can create a lot of confusion. We've only seen one person but there must be more. That's what we'll assume."

Stephanie moved the satellite focus out. They studied the terrain.

"We could set down there, on the Afghan side." Nick indicated a flat area just across the border and a little over six kilometers from the objective. "Six klicks away. Then come in from the west."

Steph moved the focus to the west side of the canyon and zoomed in. A steep slope covered in snow and black rock rose to the ridge overlooking the courtyard. The  ragged notch Nick had pointed out was clearly visible.

Nick studied the image. "It looks like we could climb to it."

The slope was bare of vegetation. They'd be fully exposed.

"Night penetration," Ronnie said.

"I agree. The only way." Nick rubbed the back of his head. He had another headache. "Way I see it, we get in and improvise after that. If it's a religious school or some kind of monastery, no problem, we leave. If it's not, we do as much damage as we have to, get as much intel as we can, and leave. Then we call in a strike."

"I don't like this." Stephanie looked at Nick. "We don't know anything."

"Then I guess that's why we're going. To find out what's there."

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

The plane vibrated with the pulsing drone of the engines. For the second time in her life, Selena found herself seated on an orange strap bench in a cavernous C-130. For the second time in her life she was dressed in camo battle gear with a pistol, a K-Bar knife and an MP-5. Different colors for the camo, but everything else was the same.

The first time in a plane like this she'd been busy with her mind, focused on the translation of an old text. The first time, she'd had only a vague idea of what she was in for. The guns, the knife, the gear, it had all been a little unreal. She hadn't known what combat was like. She'd had no idea of the deafening noise of battle, the instant choices that meant life or death. What it felt like to shoot back or die. Now she had more than an idea. Now she knew what might happen.

It scared the hell out of her.

They were headed for Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. From there they'd be transported to the landing zone near the border. After that, it was up to them.

Nick dozed. Ronnie leaned back against the aluminum skin of the aircraft. His lips moved. He had his leather pouch in his hand. He was repeating one of the Navajo ceremonies to himself, preparing himself for battle. Keeping himself in harmony with the universe. She knew the Navajo people had once been fierce warriors. If Ronnie was typical, they still were.

She wished she had a ritual ceremony. She wished she was back behind a lecture podium at Stanford.

No you don't, something said inside her head.

The realization felt like a flare of light across her mind. A ritual would be good. But not the predictable routine of life before the Project. Before Nick.

She was in love with him in spite of herself. She wasn't sure when it happened. Maybe in his cabin, after Tibet. Maybe later. It didn't matter. What made her uneasy was that she didn't know if he felt the same way. Sometimes she thought he did. He'd given plenty of indications. He'd look at her, say something, touch her just to make a connection with her. As if he wanted to be sure she was there, that she was real. But he hadn't said the words.

Other times he walked in a world where no one else could go, a closed landscape of his mind as remote and inaccessible to her as the surface of Jupiter, a place filled with faceless enemies. They'd be in a restaurant or on the street. Something would make him reach for the .45 he always carried. A stray cat. A homeless man with a shopping cart. A car slowing nearby. A waiter passing with a tray. He was always jumpy. He watched everything. Hyper-vigilant.

He brought out primal sexuality in her she hadn't known was there. He was passionate. He took as much pleasure in her ecstasy as his own. He knew when to be strong, when to be gentle. He was everything she could want in a lover.

She wanted more.

His honesty fueled her doubts and hopes at the same time. She'd never met a man as honest as Nick. It wasn't just that he'd never rip someone off or lie to them to gain some advantage. He had the kind of honesty that was direct and simple, almost naive. Given what he did, she thought it was astounding. He said what he thought. He could be tactful or blunt or mistaken, but he never said something he didn't mean. If he ever managed to say those three words to her, he'd mean it. It hadn't happened yet.