Deadly Weakness (Gray Spear Society) (36 page)

"What, sir?"

"We have to work on the new headquarters."

Nancy furrowed her brow. "The Rosemont Tower?" she said.

"No." Aaron shook his head. "
Another
new headquarters."

"Are you being obscure on purpose, sir?"

"It doesn't have to be much. Just an empty building that looks convincing from the outside. Xavier won't actually go inside."

She stared at him. "Are you playing another trick on Xavier, sir?"

"The last and best trick, I hope." He nodded. "Let's go. We have to hurry back to Chicago. Tomorrow will be another busy day."

* * *

Marina looked out the front windshield of the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III. It was night outside, and all she could see were points of light. Some were stars and some were individual homes on the ground. It was hard to tell where the separation was.

She sat in the back of the cockpit. Two Air Force pilots occupied the front seats, and the glow from the instrument panel illuminated their faces. They believed she worked for the FBI Special Missions Unit. It was a good cover story because Hanley could personally vouch for her.

One of the pilots turned to Marina and said, "Ma'am, somebody on the ground is trying to reach you."

"Thanks." She put on her aviation headset and adjusted the position of the microphone. "Hello?"

"It's Bethany, ma'am."

"Don't use your name!" Marina barked. "You're talking on a radio."

"Sorry," Bethany replied in a deeply apologetic tone. "I must be getting very tired. At least the radio is encrypted."

"What's going on?"

"The body of a dead TSA inspector was found in a train station in Lincoln, Nebraska. We analyzed routes and schedules and projected the ten most likely destinations for Xavier. We placed a Global Hawk over each location and used infrared surveillance to..."

"Stop," Marina said. "Just tell me where you think Xavier is."

"A mobile home park in Hastings, Nebraska. Your squad is the closest of the three. The flight time is about a half-hour. Should I notify the police?"

"No. This time we'll try to sneak up on him quietly. Do you have a satellite photo in front of you?"

"Yes, ma'am," Bethany said.

Of course she does,
Marina thought. "I'm going to miss you two girls when I'm in San Francisco. I just hope the hackers on my team are half as good."

"Thank you."

"I'm going to parachute down with my squad," Marina said. "Find an open field near the trailer park and give me the exact coordinates."

She relayed the information to the pilot, and he put it into his navigation system.

"Thirty-one minutes," he said.

"Very slow and very quiet on the approach," she told the pilot. "We'll jump off the ramp."

He nodded. "Yes, ma'am. That should be quite a ride. Good luck."

Marina left the cockpit and climbed down a ladder to reach the cargo bay. The interior of the C-17 was enormous enough to accommodate a hundred troops with equipment. It was so big it seemed more like a blimp than an airplane.

Only five passengers were riding today: three men and two women. They sat together in a close group. They wore body armor with the gray and black camouflage pattern favored by the Society. It was the new type that Guthrum had worn at the camp, and it covered their entire bodies from neck to ankle. The material combined ultra-strong, braided fibers with composite plates over critical areas. The fibers were knitted tightly to form dense layered netting. Combat helmets and full face masks would protect their heads. The squad was armed with a wide assortment of powerful weapons, ranging from different types of grenades to assault rifles loaded with armor piercing ammunition.

Marina took the long walk over to them. A man named Jacob was speaking and the other four were listening intently.
More war stories,
Marina thought. The squad had been swapping tales of past missions all day long.

Jacob faced her and said, "Any news, ma'am?"

Marina suppressed a smile. A senior
legionnaire
was calling her "ma'am." It still felt funny.

"We're jumping in a half-hour," she said. "Get your parachutes on. Xavier is holed up in a mobile home park. We'll be landing in an open field north of his position."

"Are the other two squads joining us?"

"They're too far away. We'll try to take Xavier by ourselves."

Nobody complained, but the squad was clearly unsettled by the news. They were going after the traitor with just one third of the search team.

"We'll be fine as long as we work together," Marina added.

"Yes, ma'am."

She almost smiled again.

It took most of the half-hour for the squad to prepare for the dangerous jump. All of them had jumped out of an airplane exactly five times before. Those jumps had occurred in the morning as part of a hastily arranged training session. The squad members were barely qualified to jump without an instructor, much less do it at night from the back of a jet plane. Marina was looking forward to an intense experience.

They received a one-minute warning from the pilot over the intercom. Everybody walked to the loading ramp.

"Use your phones to find each other," Marina said. "Don't go after Xavier until we're all together."

"Yes, ma'am," the squad replied.

The ramp lowered and the noise was deafening. A blast of freezing wind tried to sweep Marina out of the plane, but she was holding onto a strap.

A red light above was flashing. Everybody watched it closely. The light turned yellow and then green. She immediately ran off the ramp and into darkness.

She curled herself into a ball. As soon as she fell out of the wake of the plane, the airstream slammed her very hard. It was like being hit by a giant tennis racket made of icicles. Even though she wore body armor, the impact hurt. The wind tried to rip off a mask that was strapped tightly across her face. She clenched her jaw as she tumbled through the sky.

After a moment she transitioned into normal freefall. She stretched out her body to slow herself down. The tumbling stopped, and she achieved the proper face down orientation. She moved her arms and legs experimentally. Nothing felt broken or dislocated.

Night vision goggles were integrated into her mask. She could see the mobile home park clearly. She used her hands to steer herself towards an empty field to the north. She wondered if this was how birds felt when they flew.

Finally, she pulled her rip cord. The sudden jerk seemed extra hard, or maybe she was just sore. She glided to the field and landed on her feet.

She sucked in a deep breath. Her heart was pounding like a hammer.
Once was enough for that experience,
she thought.

She took out her phone and opened the locator app. It showed the positions of everybody else in the squad. Even with the guidance, it still took a while to round them up. Two people had landed in the wrong field. One of the women had twisted her ankle during a hard landing and couldn't continue the operation. Jacob carried her to a nearby barn, where she would wait while the rest of the squad searched for Xavier.

Marina had four people left. One was Jennifer, who could vomit black adhesive slime. Jacob had the ability to lay down patches of invisible energy that acted as proximity sensors. He could tell whenever somebody moved near a patch, and the energy lasted up to an hour. It was a subtle and very useful gift. The other two men, Carl and Zach, had no gift.

Marina called Bethany on the phone. "We're finally in position to begin the search."

"It's been almost an hour, ma'am," Bethany replied.

"I know. These operations never go as smoothly as we want. Can you give me a more specific position for Xavier?"

"Somewhere in the northern half of the mobile home park. That's all the information we have now."

Marina grunted with irritation. "How many homes will we have to search?"

"Thirty or forty."

"That could take hours." Marina sighed. "We'll need your support. Are you and Leanna going to be able to stay awake?"

"We'll try hard, ma'am. Smythe is right here watching us. We have a Global Hawk positioned directly above you, and it has infrared cameras."

"Good. Call if you see anything."

"Yes, ma'am," Bethany said.

Marina put away her phone and addressed her squad, "The northern half of the park. We'll stay together and check the homes one at a time. That may take a while but splitting up is too risky. Be alert. If we find Xavier, the action will switch from slow to very fast in a heartbeat."

"Yes, ma'am," the entire squad responded in unison.

Marina allowed herself a small smile this time. She liked being the boss.

"I'll take the lead," she said. "Stay close. Weapons ready."

She crept towards the mobile home park. She had an assault rifle strapped across her back, but it was too bulky for sneaking around. Instead, she grabbed a HK MP7A1 submachine gun. It didn't have the punch or accuracy of a rifle, but it could be handled in tight spaces and fired with one hand.

She approached the first home. The lights were off inside. She gently tried the door and found it was locked. Using her lock picks, she opened the cheap lock easily and quietly. A millimeter at a time, she eased open the door. Her night vision goggles allowed her to see into the dark interior. Nobody was there.

She slipped inside and her squad followed. Like dark ghosts, they searched the interior. A couple was sleeping in one bedroom and a child was in another. There was no sign of Xavier. Marina led the squad back outside a few minutes later. They left no evidence of their presence behind.

The following fourteen homes were searched the same way. Even though the process was repetitive and tiring, Marina forced herself to treat each entry as a lethal threat.

The next home gave her trouble though. The lock on the door was stuck. She fought with it for a minute but the cylinder refused to turn. Jennifer gave it a try and had the same result.

Marina walked around the home, looking for another entrance. Most of the windows were small, and while she and Jennifer might be able to slip through, the men would make too much noise. Marina found a sliding patio door in back that looked promising. The rest of the squad came up behind her and readied their guns. She knelt down and went to work on the lock.

The entire door fell out as soon as she touched it. The frame had been unscrewed. She could only watch as it smashed on the floor with a noise loud enough to wake the neighbors.

"Oh, shit," she muttered.

An instant later, she heard an explosion on the other side of the home. Everybody sprinted around. A portion of a side wall had been blown open. Marina caught a glimpse of a big man in a gray coat just before he disappeared around a corner.

The entire squad chased after him. Marina trailed behind for several paces and then stopped running.
Xavier throws shadows,
she thought.

"Wait!" she yelled. "Stop! It's just a shadow!"

The squad halted and looked back. Marina heard a noise behind her. It sounded like somebody kicking open a door. She took a step towards the hole in the side of the home.

She suddenly remembered what had happened to Yule back at the camp. She threw herself to the ground and covered her face with her arms.

Another explosion sent flames washing over her. Her body armor and helmet were fireproof, but the back of her neck was uncovered. Pain made her cry out.

After the explosion was done, she rolled onto her back and gasped. Her squad ran over.

"Get behind cover!" she screamed. "He's out here somewhere!"

Jacob grabbed Marina's arms and dragged her to her feet. Gunshots rang out. Carl stumbled but kept going. The squad found cover behind another home.

Everybody was breathing hard.

"You OK?" Marina asked Carl.

He touched his side gingerly. "The armor worked. The bullet didn't penetrate, but it did break a rib."

Jacob looked at Marina's neck. "That's a nasty burn. You lost quite a bit of hair, too."

"I'll deal with it later." Snarling, she took out her phone and called Bethany. "I need your help."

"We saw an explosion," Bethany said. "What's going on? Is anybody hurt?"

"Not seriously. Xavier is somewhere near my position. That Global Hawk of yours will be my eyes in the sky. If he steps into the open, tell me where he is."

"I see him!" Bethany yelled. "He's moving! Wait, no, there are two... three... Uh, oh."

"I guess his shadows show up in infrared just like the real Xavier. When God gives a gift, He gets the details right."

"Yes, ma'am. God is
very
good at details. I have four possible locations for Xavier. I wonder if he knows we have a spy plane."

"If he doesn't already," Marina said, "he'll figure it out soon enough. He knows our capabilities."