"We need to assume this is the case and get our job done here. We can upload photos and any data from somewhere down the road, just not here," Sergei added.
They turned their heads at the sight of Dusty and Andrei jogging toward them.
"Anything interesting?" Daniel said.
"Nothing really. I found some recently installed plumbing in two of the rooms, cracked and frozen. They must have a well somewhere close by. There's no way they're connected to a municipal water source, but there's a water pump connected to a pipe that penetrates the flooring," Andrei said.
"Same thing in this building, but there's also a shower. The furnace is new. On demand hot water type and it's hooked into a radiant flooring system, which is also new. I accessed the crawl space from one of the rooms to check it out," Farrington said.
"On the surface it doesn't look like much, but a considerable amount of money and time has been poured into these buildings. The one we examined looked like it might have been their lab center. Andrei?"
"I agree. Nothing there to indicate living quarters. The electrical system is rigged for heavy duty use, with a backup breaker box, which leads me to suspect they ran a lot of equipment in the building," Andrei said.
"There was only one box in our building. I get the impression this was their living quarters. There's an old kitchen that came with the place. Propane stove and space for a refrigerator, not that you'd need one around here now. I see indentations outside where they had probably installed temporary propane tanks," Farrington said.
"I guess the million dollar question is what lies behind curtain number four?" Daniel said, nodding toward the path leading away from the main site.
"Andrei and I will take the trail. You guys finish up any further assessment of the buildings. Let's plan to be back on the road in less than thirty minutes. I like Sergei's idea of uploading all of this shit well away from here," Petrovich said.
"We still need to take a look at the three bodies not far from here. We might find the good doctor with his brains splattered on the ground. I can't imagine Al Qaeda leadership would want him in circulation anymore," Farrington said.
"Fuck. More detours," Andrei said.
"He's right. If Reznikov is dead, then we have no leads and a big problem on our hands," Dusty said.
"We already have a big problem on our hands, if my suspicions are correct," Petrovich said.
"Should we grab the rifles? If someone is watching us, the rifles might keep them from paying us a visit," Sergei said.
"What do you think, Rich?"
"You should really get used to calling me Yuri. You're gonna blow our cover if you can't keep it straight," Farrington said.
"Sometimes the strangest things get under your skin, Yuri."
"I think walking around here with rifles will tip our hand too soon. If someone is watching us, I think it's from a safe distance. They know we're professionals and won't want to take the gamble. At some point they'll call this in, and who knows what we'll be dealing with? A fake roadblock, a small ambush in one of the nameless towns…I think we should keep our ace card hidden for now," Farrington said.
"We have another ace up our sleeves," Petrovich said.
"Yeah, over three hours away. They'll get some nice pictures of our dead bodies. Forget the rifles. Let's get this going and get the fuck out of here. The Russian border isn't that far away, and I'm not in the mood to entertain company," Farrington said.
"Good point. Dusty, why don't you join our group? I suspect you might have a better idea of what Berg expects to find out here," Petrovich said.
"I really don't, but I have a few worst case scenarios in mind," he said.
"So do I, and I really hope I'm wrong."
Ten minutes later, after navigating a treacherous, lightly worn path through several large rock clusters, they descended into a small dip between two hills. The dark structure lay twenty meters ahead of them, and Daniel took a moment to study the building with his night vision scope. A large stone chimney stood at one end of the square building and extended several feet above the flat roof. He didn't see any windows or a door from their slightly elevated position on the trail. He couldn't see anything through the scope that would keep them from approaching the building, so he gave the signal. They proceeded cautiously and quietly, using flashlights to keep them from twisting an ankle or stumbling across a hidden tripwire.
The three men arrived at the front corner of the building and split up. Daniel placed his hand on the brick wall and walked toward the back corner of the building, feeling the brick scrape and catch his gloved hands. The wall spanned about fifteen feet. When he turned the corner and saw the back wall, he felt his heart rate spike. A large metal door sat flush on the brick wall, aligned with the chimney, three feet off the ground. Cut firewood sat stacked against the wall on the other side of the metal door, extending from the frozen ground to a point three quarters of the way to the top of the wall. Petrovich noticed that the roof was constructed of the same brick as the sides. He'd seen something like this before, but it had been a bit cruder.
He stumbled over a few loose pieces of firewood and grasped the oversized metal handle of the door to steady himself. He felt the thick metal door open slightly, and after regaining his footing, he pulled it open. The slightly rusted door creaked open on its hinges, and Daniel directed the beam of his flashlight inside. The metal door spanned two feet by two feet and opened into the immense metal belly of a stove. A thick layer of ash filled the chamber. He shut the door and scanned the nearby area for more ashes. He found two piles measuring three feet high by five feet across. They had burned a lot of wood in a short period of time, he thought. He heard movement near the corner of the building and raised his light, instinctively reaching for the pistol tucked into his heavy coat jacket. He was in full combat mode based on what he had seen so far and wanted to get as far away from this place as possible. His light caught Andrei in the face.
"You need to see this," Andrei said, no longer speaking quietly.
Daniel followed him around to the front of the building. Flashes of bright light filled the entrance, and he couldn't believe Dusty had walked inside that place. There was no fucking way in hell he would set foot in there. More flashes illuminated Andrei, who stood next to the metal door, flashlight in one hand pointed into the building, pistol in the other. Andrei nodded for him to take a look, and Daniel hesitantly moved toward the opening. He could see that the door was thicker than the stove's door, with three oversized external slide lock mechanisms and one large handle. Easy to open with oven mitts. He'd seen it done before.
He poked his head inside and extended his light. Dusty's flashlight lay on the blackened floor, providing illumination while he placed samples of scant material in plastic bags. The room was completely scorched on all sides and constructed of thicker bricks than the outside wall. Heat resistant, refractory bricks, most likely. Though his sense of smell felt compromised by the painfully cold air, the stench of burnt flesh was apparent. He couldn't believe life had pushed him into the path of another human crematorium. A blinding flash caught him by surprise and left large images floating on his retinas when he reopened them.
"Goddamn it, Dusty."
"Sorry, I'm in a hurry…I need to get out of here," Dusty said, rushing toward the opening.
When the door was shut, Dusty grabbed Petrovich's shoulder.
"I have to call our man immediately. There's only one conclusion to draw here. They'd only need a crematorium if they were testing on human subjects," Dusty said, wide eyed and clearly shaken by what they had discovered.
"And they wanted to completely destroy any evidence of the bioweapon. Find out what they discovered in the other building and give him a call. Tell him we're leaving ASAP. We've seen everything we need to see here," Petrovich said.