"Hold up for a second. I just want to make sure this thing isn't booby-trapped," he said, and Farrington nodded.
Daniel opened his door and stepped out into the frigid air. He was relieved to be out of the SUV. They had driven nonstop for over nine hours, the last four on spine-breaking roads. It didn't help that they drove around lost for nearly two hours before finding the obscured entrance to this road. Whoever left this site last did a professional job concealing the turnoff.
He approached the gate with a small but powerful flashlight and inspected the lock and chain connection on each side, paying close attention to the vertical posts. It all looked pretty straightforward to him and nothing raised his suspicion. He lifted the black and yellow pole a few inches off the posts and didn't see any wires. Nothing attached to the gate, as far as he could tell, but he wasn't one of their explosives experts. He directed the light along the ground to the side of the posts and could immediately tell that the gravel and rock had been recently groomed. He backed up several meters and examined a similar stretch of ground on the same side of the road, noting the difference. A significantly large section of ground immediately adjacent to the post had been raked or brushed. He repeated the observation on the other side and jogged back to the Land Cruiser through a sudden gust of cold air.
"The ground looks groomed on both sides. I don't like it. The gate looks fine. Sergei, you've received some advanced training in improvised explosives. Why don't you grab a set of bolt cutters and take another look at the gate? If it looks safe, cut the locks, and bring the truck up. I'm going to walk up to the site and take a look at the road. Meet you up there," Daniel said.
He reached back into the truck for his backpack and night vision spotting scope as Sergei hopped out of the SUV with a large set of bolt cutters. Daniel walked with him to the right side of the gate and showed him the ground.
"Yep, that looks pretty fucked. Land mines?" he said.
"I hope so. I'd hate to think someone is watching us with their thumb on a detonator. That's why I'm walking ahead of the truck," Daniel said and slapped Sergei on the shoulder.
"And it sounded so selfless and brave a few seconds ago," Sergei said.
"That's part of my unusual charm. It grows on you. Just ask Farrington. See you guys in a few."
Daniel slid over the top of the gate and started his slow, cautious trek up the windswept road, scanning ahead for trip wires and to the sides of the unimproved gravel road for evidence of an IED. He heard Sergei snap the chains, followed by the hollow metallic ring of a hollow pole thrown to the ground. A few minutes into his walk he had the Land Cruiser several feet behind him, illuminating the road far better than his small flashlight. Bathed in light, he felt exposed, but there was no rational reason to be worried. Aside from his team, the nearest human being probably sat huddled up under blankets twenty miles away in Kurchatov.
Ten minutes later, they assembled in front of the first building with all of their gear. They did a sweep of the immediate area with a portable hand Geiger counter, and although the reading was higher than normal, it didn't fall into any hazardous parameter that would preclude them from spending time at the site. Once this sweep was concluded, they shouldered backpacks and split up into two teams of three to examine the buildings. They each carried basic biological/chemical detection lab kits, designed to give an immediate color coded indication of the most common agents: anthrax, nerve, blister, ricin, Ebola, botulinum. Beyond that, they would have to bring samples back in small coolant containers, if they found any.
Three of the larger structures had new stainless steel chimneys, so these were prioritized for first inspection. Daniel had chosen the largest of the buildings, which was a one-story, flat-roofed structure roughly 50x30 feet. They walked the building's perimeter and found a second door at the rear of the building. Continuing along, Daniel located a small vented shed set against the far side of the building. The shed sat on a recently installed concrete slab, and upon opening the unlocked door, he immediately surmised its purpose. Besides the distinct smell of diesel fuel, electrical wiring protruded from the back wall of the shed and rested upon a large metal spring dampener that had been bolted into the concrete. A yellowed, translucent plastic hose protruded from the wall a few feet away from the wires. The shed had obviously been used to house a heavy duty generator, and judging by the small puddle of diesel fuel below the plastic hose, it had been recently used.
Daniel decided to enter through the back door, which was located halfway down the building. The door was locked, but using a small crowbar, they easily forced their way in. A musty, dank smell hit them as soon as they stepped inside the small vestibule, but there were hints of something more familiar.
"What does that smell like to you?" Daniel said.
"Old building, but definitely used recently. I want to say cologne or some kind of chemicals," Andrei said.
They both pulled out larger flashlights and illuminated the hallway. Nothing looked damaged or out of order upon first impression. They cautiously stepped into the main hallway and could easily assess the entire building's layout. One hallway ran from one end of the building to the other, ending at the exterior walls on each side. The front door stood opposite the back door, across the intersection of hallways. Glancing in either direction down the main hallway, they saw several open doors stood on each side.
"Let's split up," Daniel said.
He stepped inside the doorway of the first room and worked the light over the interior. The room was completely bare. Even the light bulb had been removed from the ceiling socket. He examined the walls where they met the floor, looking for anything left behind. He found nothing in the room, which had been apparently swept clean. In one corner he found broom lines in the thin layer of dust. He started to walk out of the room, when he suddenly flashed the light up at the ceiling. Something about the light socket seemed odd.
Examining the socket closely, he started to think that he had been mistaken. It was a standard one bulb fixture, crudely screwed into the ceiling. Nothing unusual, he thought, when he suddenly realized what had caused him to take a second look. The wiring for the socket ran along the ceiling, outside of the drywall. He followed one wire that ran to the light switch and the other that tied into the building's electrical system. Studying the room again, he found the same wiring setup repeated for hastily installed wall sockets throughout the room. The wires were bundled in groups and neatly stapled to the walls and ceiling, and there were enough outlets installed in the room to handle a credit card phone customer service center, or an equipment laden laboratory.
With a small digital camera, he snapped several pictures of the room before walking directly across the hall through another open doorway. He found the same wiring arrangement in this room, but nothing else. He was impressed by how clean the rooms appeared. The building was at least twenty years old, solidly constructed with little flourish. It had probably served as a mineral company's initial headquarters and laboratory years ago, someone having decided that mineral core samples taken nearby looked promising enough to warrant the construction of permanent buildings. Obviously, this hadn't worked out for the company, but someone else had recently found its seclusion and rugged construction suitable for temporary use.