"They must've known Qaderi was tagged," said Valentina, her breath hanging on the air.

And Hansen bet that Kovac had tipped them off.

Fisher agreed and mentioned that Grim had briefed Kovac a few hours before but had left out any mention of Ajax, so Kovac had probably a.s.sumed standard Third Echelon-issue beacons.

Hansen checked his OPSAT. "The bots are heading due east at 150 miles per hour."

Fisher said they needed to hide. He'd explain why later.

[image]

HANSEN found an abandoned mica mine built into the cliffs a mile west of the lake. It took them an hour to reach it, and they backed the SUVs into the broad main tunnel to keep them invisible from the air. found an abandoned mica mine built into the cliffs a mile west of the lake. It took them an hour to reach it, and they backed the SUVs into the broad main tunnel to keep them invisible from the air.

n.o.boru asked Fisher to explain why they were hiding, and Fisher obliged: "They killed Qaderi because Kovac reported the trackers. Grim told Kovac we were still in Irkutsk, and the weather was causing problems with the GPS. That's why the Sikorsky didn't look for anyone tailing Qaderi's car. My gut tells me they'll be back--about the time we would have arrived if we'd left Irkutsk when Kovac thinks we did."

Hansen said, "You and Grim put some thought into this, didn't you?"

Fisher nodded.

"How long do we wait?" asked Valentina.

"Depends on where the Ajax nan.o.bots go and how long it takes the Sikorsky to leave."

TWO hours later the chopper resounded in the distance, confirming Fisher's suspicions, and after its search over the lake and foothills, the bird touched down 30 miles due east of their position, about 1.5 miles inland from Ayaya Bay. The location was about two-thirds of the way between the bay and a calmer, V-shaped lake called Frolikha. hours later the chopper resounded in the distance, confirming Fisher's suspicions, and after its search over the lake and foothills, the bird touched down 30 miles due east of their position, about 1.5 miles inland from Ayaya Bay. The location was about two-thirds of the way between the bay and a calmer, V-shaped lake called Frolikha.

"Middle of nowhere," said Fisher. "The perfect spot for a black-market auction."

Hansen said that location was on the other side of the lake. Gillespie added that there weren't any roads to get around the lake. Fisher agreed. "We're going to need a boat."

They would have to wait, though, because Fisher warned them that the chopper would no doubt return. And it did, shortly before noon, spending several more hours searching for them. During that time, they checked their gear and Gillespie discussed the operation of the hands-free headsets she and Valentina had found as well as a jury-rigged flexicam they'd constructed. Hansen showed them all the black uniforms and web gear he'd bought, along with full balaclavas. n.o.boru unveiled his paintball project, then mentioned that he'd forgotten something out in the SUV.

A moment later he called out, and Hansen rushed over to see what was wrong.

Ames was gone.

KEEPING a straight-edged razor blade hidden in your boot heel was one of the oldest tricks in the book, perhaps way too obvious for the team to have considered--but that was Ames's style: That would be way too obvious. And so he'd managed to contort himself into a position to gain access to the blade and use it to saw through the plastic flex-cuffs they'd used to bind him. He'd slipped right past them, abandoning the cuffs at a triple branch in the tunnel and laughing as he did so. a straight-edged razor blade hidden in your boot heel was one of the oldest tricks in the book, perhaps way too obvious for the team to have considered--but that was Ames's style: That would be way too obvious. And so he'd managed to contort himself into a position to gain access to the blade and use it to saw through the plastic flex-cuffs they'd used to bind him. He'd slipped right past them, abandoning the cuffs at a triple branch in the tunnel and laughing as he did so.

"Adios, a.s.sholes. A little gift for you."

HANSEN and the others took up their Groza a.s.sault rifles and began the search for Ames. Fisher found a pair of flex-cuffs, then returned and said that Ames had a big lead on them and the team couldn't be distracted with a search for him now. They had bigger fish to fry. Hansen vowed that after all this was over he'd make it his mission in life to find and punish the man. The others agreed wholeheartedly. and the others took up their Groza a.s.sault rifles and began the search for Ames. Fisher found a pair of flex-cuffs, then returned and said that Ames had a big lead on them and the team couldn't be distracted with a search for him now. They had bigger fish to fry. Hansen vowed that after all this was over he'd make it his mission in life to find and punish the man. The others agreed wholeheartedly.

They waited until nightfall, then returned to the SUVs and headed up to the town of Severobaikalsk to find transport across the lake. They "borrowed" a pair of johnboats with electric trolling motors from the marina and set out in darkness for the long journey across the frigid waters. It took several hours to make a stealthy approach to the sh.o.r.eline, switching the trolling motor on and off to glide as much as possible. Fisher and Hansen kept a close watch of the heavily wooded hillside as it came into view, their night-vision goggles peeling back the shadows. Once in the mouth of Ayaya Bay, they paddled ash.o.r.e and, in a staggered single file, charged up toward the forest.

Hansen's OPSAT reflected the position of the Ajax bots: all tightly cl.u.s.tered around a position two miles inland, sitting smack-dab between them and Lake Frolikha. A sign higher up the beach indicated that they were on the Great Baikal Trail, which would make the hike inland so much easier. Perhaps the auction organizer had chosen this spot because the trail would allow the attendees greater access? Hansen wasn't sure. Situating an auction near a public trail was risky and odd.

The team covered about a half mile in twenty minutes, and by 3:00 A.M. they'd closed to within a quarter mile of the target site. They came into an oval-shaped meadow, and for the life of him, Hansen could not imagine anyone transporting a weapons cache to this site. He suddenly feared that they were on a wild-goose chase, the bots leading them to a diversionary location while the real auction went on elsewhere. He voiced his concern to Fisher, who told him, no, they were in the right place.

As they fanned out and searched more, they spotted a section of field where no doubt the helicopter had landed. The smaller shrubs were bent back and telltale track marks scarred the ground.

Over on the north side of the meadow rose a cinder-block hut with a rusted sheet-metal roof. Vegetation, still brown from the long winter, had swept up the hut's walls. Through it Hansen could see that the structure was probably very old.

"Move back to the hut," Fisher told Hansen.

They converged on the small structure, where they found a sign in Cyrillic: METEOROLOGICAL STATION 29. The hut's single hefty steel door was heavily pitted with rust, but the padlock was brand new, and while Hansen wasn't entirely adept at remembering such things, Fisher knew exactly what they had before them: a Sargent & Green-leaf 833 military-grade padlock with a six-pin Medeco biaxial core, ceramic anticutting and antigrinding inserts, and the capability to withstand liquid nitrogen.

"This must be one special meteorological station," Hansen quipped in a whisper. "Can we pick the lock?"

Fisher said the job would take a while, hours probably, and that the station itself was hardly big enough to hold the a.r.s.enal. The only thing they might find inside was Qaderi's briefcase. Nevertheless, the bots' signals were strong. They were sitting right on top of it.

There had to be something more underground, and Fisher said they'd take an hour to look for another entrance.

FORTY minutes later, Valentina called over their makeshift comm system to say she'd found something about three-quarters of a mile away and directly north of the hut. She placed a marker on their OPSAT maps, and they converged on her location, a simple ravine about six feet deep and cordoned off by pine trees. About twenty yards ahead lay a near-perfect circle of melted snow. Fisher donned his night-vision goggles, crawled to the spot, then signaled for the others to come. minutes later, Valentina called over their makeshift comm system to say she'd found something about three-quarters of a mile away and directly north of the hut. She placed a marker on their OPSAT maps, and they converged on her location, a simple ravine about six feet deep and cordoned off by pine trees. About twenty yards ahead lay a near-perfect circle of melted snow. Fisher donned his night-vision goggles, crawled to the spot, then signaled for the others to come.

It was an air shaft, and warm air was being piped up from somewhere below. The shaft was protected by a steel grating, and they found no locking mechanism or alarm system. Fisher and n.o.boru double-teamed the grating, and with some considerable tugging, it finally pulled free from its rusted framework.

Gillespie moved in behind him with her rope coil already removed from her pack. She lowered the rope down to the bottom, rolled it back up, and said, "Thirty-five feet." Fisher gave her a nod. They set up a secure line, and one by one descended down to the bottom of the shaft courtesy of a Swiss seat rappelling harness that Gillespie had tied off for them. She was first to descend, and Hansen pulled up the rear.

Gillespie's LED flashlight revealed a roughly triangular room, about ten feet wide, with ceilings angling up and more vent grating overhead and in the middle of the floor. Warm air blew past them and rushed up through the shaft, and from somewhere above, Hansen detected the faint hum of machinery. Fisher moved ahead to a door, eased it open, vanished a moment, then returned with the news: He'd checked a circuit panel and some lights were on somewhere. They were in a utility room, and judging from the size of the panel the place was d.a.m.ned big.

Fisher also said a service tag on the panel read "March 1962."

Valentina guessed they were in a Cold War bunker or some kind of test facility.

"Either or both," Fisher said. He suggested they pair up and do a little recon. Hansen would branch off with Gillespie, while Valentina and n.o.boru would serve as a second team.

That left Fisher alone, and Hansen voiced his concern.

Fisher grinned. "I'll get by."

Hansen was almost embarra.s.sed by the question. He'd grown so used to working with his teammates that it suddenly seemed unnatural for a Splinter Cell to be working alone. With a curt nod, Hansen turned back and headed off with Gillespie.

40.

NEAR LAKE FROLIKHA, RUSSIAN FEDERATION.

ONCE Hansen and Gillespie left the utility room, they came into a wide corridor with a low ceiling barely seven feet high. The floor was painted with faded red, yellow, and green lines that fanned out away from them, not unlike the lines Hansen had seen on some hospital floors. Three-letter Cyrillic acronyms were stenciled onto each line. They donned their night-vision goggles and took Fisher's order to head down the corridor to the left. n.o.boru and Valentina fell in behind. Hansen and Gillespie left the utility room, they came into a wide corridor with a low ceiling barely seven feet high. The floor was painted with faded red, yellow, and green lines that fanned out away from them, not unlike the lines Hansen had seen on some hospital floors. Three-letter Cyrillic acronyms were stenciled onto each line. They donned their night-vision goggles and took Fisher's order to head down the corridor to the left. n.o.boru and Valentina fell in behind.

They moved quickly down the hall, keeping tight to the wall, rifles at the ready, until Hansen spotted something and called for Fisher to come to their position.

They were staring at a map of the complex, protected by a sheet of dust-covered Plexiglas. Cobwebs extended up from the sign and rose to the ceiling. Hansen wiped a gloved hand across the gla.s.s. The complex was shaped like a cloverleaf with four concentric circles at its center. A label read RAMPS TO LEVELS 2, 3, 4. Each leaf was marked as a zone, and each zone was divided into four areas interconnected by more corridors.

"Medical, electronics, weapons, ballistics," said Gillespie, reading the labels for each zone. "It's a test facility." She hoisted her brows at Valentina, who'd made that guess earlier on. Valentina nodded curtly.

"I a.s.sume ballistics means missiles and rockets," Gillespie added.

Fisher nodded, and Hansen glanced over at n.o.boru, who said, "This place is ma.s.sive. Take a look at the scale."

Hansen watched as Fisher used his thumb and finger to check the map's gradated line, then measure the complex from one end to the other. "Twelve hundred meters."

With his jaw falling open, Hansen said, "That can't be. That makes it a square mile."

Valentina shook her head. "Four levels. Four Four square miles." square miles."

Fisher squinted hard at the map, deep in thought. "Ballistics and electronics. If you were experimenting, you'd want access to water for cooling and fire suppression."

Hansen agreed.

"We'll clear it as it's laid out, by zone and level, starting here and moving down."

He a.s.signed Hansen to the medical zone, Valentina to electronics, Gillespie to weapons, and n.o.boru to ballistics.

"I'll loiter at the ramp area and play free safety. Questions?"

They were good to go and started off, but not before discovering a freestanding elevator shaft that Hansen thought might lead up to the "meteorological" hut they'd found in the meadow. Fisher took up a position beside the ramp railing while everyone else split up.

HANSEN picked his way down to the medical zone, the corridor festooned by overhead piping that dripped here and there. He ventured about two hundred yards farther and came to a pair of doors marked with a laboratory number. He tried the handle: open. picked his way down to the medical zone, the corridor festooned by overhead piping that dripped here and there. He ventured about two hundred yards farther and came to a pair of doors marked with a laboratory number. He tried the handle: open.

Tightening his grip on his rifle, Hansen eased the door open, braced himself, and slipped inside, sweeping the rifle over what was, in fact, another, shorter corridor with doors on both sides. Hansen poked his head inside the first open door and saw a laboratory with workbenches, sink area, rolling stools, and complicated networks of Pyrex tubing, test tubes, and beakers. He shoved up his goggles and flicked on his small LED flashlight. Gray metal shelving lined the walls. On the shelves were large gla.s.s jars filled with a yellow liquid. Hansen drew closer, wiped the dust from one of the jars, and something inside it shifted and pressed against the gla.s.s.

Hansen blinked hard. Cursed.

Was that a tiny human head? A nose? He gasped and backed away from the jar. "Sam, meet me in medical zone one," he called over the headset.

Within a minute, Fisher arrived and they moved on into a hospital ward where the long rows of beds were equipped with shackles. They moved on to the next two areas, encountering more laboratories and hospital wings.

"There were a dozen or so gulags within a hundred miles of here," Fisher said. "There'd always been rumors of prisoners disappearing and either never coming back or coming back . . . different."

Hansen swore under his breath.

Fisher called for a status report, and the others checked in. They regrouped at the main ramp, where Gillespie said she had found an indoor target range. Valentina said she'd found a test area full of antique electronics, even some stuff equipped with old vacuum tubes. n.o.boru just shook his head: drafting tables and workbenches. No high-tech a.r.s.enal.

They started down the wide ramp toward level 2.

No more than a minute later, Fisher signaled a halt, advanced, leaned over the railing, then returned and filled them in.

"Two guards stationed at the entrance to the ramp below. They've got AKs. No night vision that I could see."

So they had two guys down on level 3, and Hansen told the others that where there were two, there were no doubt more. Fisher agreed. They opted to check level 2 before contending with those guys below.

n.o.bORU had been charged with clearing the ballistics area of level 2. The test facility was already sending chills up and down his spine. It seemed that back during the Cold War the Russians knew no bounds when it came to discovery and experimentation. He was almost afraid of what they'd find next. had been charged with clearing the ballistics area of level 2. The test facility was already sending chills up and down his spine. It seemed that back during the Cold War the Russians knew no bounds when it came to discovery and experimentation. He was almost afraid of what they'd find next.

And, in fact, what he found next left him standing there like a proverbial deer in the headlights.

Slowly he slid up his goggles, flipped on his flashlight, and gazed up into the ma.s.sive, man-made cavern that had been carved into the rock and earth. The place was at least two football fields across and lined with engine-test scaffolding that looked like something from Cape Canaveral. Four ma.s.sive steel bays still held rocket motors, their colossal nozzles sitting before giant, concrete, sewerlike pipes whose innards were blackened. The pipes were no doubt some kind of exhaust system to flush the motor fumes and gases out of the test zone.

n.o.boru doused his light, refit his goggles, then charged down the row of scaffolding to make a perimeter search. He reached the zone between the second and third nozzles, rushed past a wall lost in deep shadow, then did a double take. He froze, looked back, and started toward the wall, which in silhouette seemed to be part of a pyramid. He pa.s.sed several thick posts that had partially blocked his view, and then he saw it.

VALENTINA slowly opened the first locker and found nothing but coveralls and a moth-eaten parka. She didn't bother opening any of the others. The entire locker area appeared as though it hadn't been touched for years. slowly opened the first locker and found nothing but coveralls and a moth-eaten parka. She didn't bother opening any of the others. The entire locker area appeared as though it hadn't been touched for years.

She came back out into the corridor, and for a moment, she thought she saw someone at the far end of the hall. She dropped to her knees, and did, in fact, see a shadow shift slightly to the right.

But then it was gone. She blinked. Had she really seen it?

A call came in from Fisher. He wanted everyone down in ballistics.

HANSEN gasped at the twenty-eight Anvil cases ranging from the size of small footlockers to that of bedroom furniture. They looked exactly like the case he'd seen back in Korfovka and were secured by the same type of padlock they'd found on the hut above. gasped at the twenty-eight Anvil cases ranging from the size of small footlockers to that of bedroom furniture. They looked exactly like the case he'd seen back in Korfovka and were secured by the same type of padlock they'd found on the hut above.

Gillespie remarked that this couldn't be the entire a.r.s.enal. Fisher estimated it to be about a third, so the rest was elsewhere inside the facility or, perhaps, not in Russia at all. Valentina was concerned about Fisher's Ajax nan.o.bots being able to get inside the cases to tag the weapons. He a.s.sured her that they needed a gap that was only a fraction of a hair's width and was certain they'd penetrate.

Fisher ordered them back, then drew one of n.o.boru's modified paintball guns and fired at the ceiling. The dart bounced off the rock, hit one of the Anvil cases, then rolled to a stop.