“I knew that the Chimera Programme was rumoured to be incredibly powerful, but…”
“But nothing. Tell him, Tatiana.”
Tatiana, who had gone quite pale, said. “The Chimera Programme is the most powerful virus based programme in the world — without doubt. It is so advanced, that not even the most innovative anti-virus software can combat against it. Chimera is self-teaching, so it is infinitely adaptable and works at lightening speeds to change its appearance — and can even make itself invisible. But the biggest breakthrough is that it does not work to ordinary scripts. Kirill wrote the original script, and then discovered the breakthrough purely by accident. The clever part is that you tell Chimera what it has to achieve and then push send. That’s it — from that moment on Chimera is thinking for itself. But more than that, it can enter even the most heavily guarded military computer mainframe, take the information it was asked to obtain and leave — without a trace of it ever having been there.”
“Without a trace.”
“To within a certain percentage rate. It’s not perfect — but it has already started to prove itself as brilliantly astounding.”
They came to the end of a corridor, blanked by an alloy door. Ezra placed his hand, palm down, on the biometric reader panel — the door slid back to reveal a large chamber, full of thirty or more men and woman all working at computer monitors, The bunker was hewn from the rock, the walls rough and course, grained and grooved by the tools used to create this underground network.
“Impressive isn’t it! We can monitor everything from down here, and we only have about fifteen minutes.” Ezra stood gazing at one of the monitors for a moment, and then said, “Arm the perimeter machine guns and also the stingers.”
“Are they on the island yet?” Dillon’s eyes were bright, alert.
“Soon, but they have split into three attack groups.”
Dillon frowned. “And?”
Ezra rubbed his chin stubble. “The good news is that they have come by sea, as we expected. Had they come by air, they know that we would have shot them out of the sky with our stinger missiles, long before they were anywhere close to the island.”
“And the bad news?”
“There are a few more of them than we first thought.”
“How many?”
“At least fifty. And they are armed with the latest laser guided hardware.”
“What sort?”
“Tank busters…”
“What the hell are we going to use against that sort of hardware?”
“Faith, Dillon. Faith. And of course an armoury full of state of the art weapons.”
Dillon met Tatiana’s gaze, both simultaneously picked-up the underlying nervousness in Ezra’s booming voice. Dillon pacedaround the room, his senses starting to stir in the dark recesses of his mind — adrenalin beginning to rise — anticipation of what was to come, turning to excitement…
Sunlight rolled over the ocean, white tendrils, dancing over the blue water. It glanced over the cliff top and through the olive groves. Occasionally a dog barked in the distance.
The men and women of Ezra’s secret facility waited. They waited for the Assassins.
Dillon stood to one side of the doorway, a Heckler and Koch
MP5 machine carbine in his hands. He held the lethal weapon loosely by his side, for it had been a long time since he had used such a heavy piece of hardware, always relying on his loyal Glock 9mm automatic. Dillon didn’t like machine guns; they were noisy, bone shaking instruments of mass destruction, to his mind.
Ezra came out with a jug of iced tea, handing Tatiana a glass full of the refreshing amber liquid, and then Dillon the same. They drank, Tatiana keeping her eyes fixed on the small portable monitor screen that she held in the palm of her hand. It showed the cliff top beyond the olive groves, with the sparkling blue vista of the ocean beyond, and at a touch, the image on the screen changed to those relayed by one of the concealed perimeter cameras.
Tatiana sported standard issue desert combats and boots. She held her sub-machine gun like a baby cradled in her arms; Dillon’s gaze swept the horizon for any unwelcome movement, and after a few moments they both went back inside the secret facility. As they walked into the monitor room, Dillon was immediately aware of the tense air of anticipation and the nervous realisation that their secure and secret world was about to be smashed. “Will they come, Dillon?” Franky said softly.
Dillon was sitting on the edge of one of the workstations, watching the monitor intently. The scene was surreal. An ordinary looking white-washed villa, olive groves, an abundance of colourful flora, their hues radiant in the sunshine… and in contrast, an array of hi-tech laser guided weaponry, all concealed and controlled remotely from this underground facility.
“From what I saw in Scotland, they’ll come,” he said, passing her a cigarette.
She looked at the open packet. “I’m supposed to be giving up. But these are stressful times.” She took a cigarette, and Dillon offered her a light from his slender gold lighter.
Tatiana came over and sat down beside Dillon. “How’s your shoulder?”
“Okay, thanks.” She smiled, but the smile was merely masking her nervousness. “It still feels like someone is sticking a red hot poker into my shoulder every time I move my arm. How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been hit by a train. But no problem, Ezra gave me some more painkillers. I just hope they kick in soon, as I have a feeling that I’m going to need a clear head and my wits about me soon enough…”
They waited in virtual silence.
“Do you think we can fight them from down here with the remote weapons?”
“Honestly. No chance. These Assassins are the elite, they will almost certainly be conversant with the majority of weapons that we have here — and how to disarm them.”
Dillon scratched an imaginary itch on his chin while wishing the headache, that had once again made its presence known, gone. “I hate these blasted waiting games; I work much better on my own.”
“We know,” said Tatiana, glancing round. “But unfortunately we have little choice.”
Dillon stood up and paced around the room, hands firmly placed behind his back. “Whatever happened to the world I knew?”
“Global computer terrorism. That’s what happened.” Franky said.
Spiros appeared from one of the passageways off of the main chamber; he carried a small circular optical disc in one hand, and was smiling broadly. He gave the disc to Ezra.
“There it is, Boss.”
“Is this all the data?”
“Everything — it would surely make Kirill weep.”
Dillon’s head snapped around at the mention of his name, his eyes sharp. “Kirill? I shot that bastard in Cornwall — he should be dead.”
“He most certainly is not dead, Dillon. Ferran & Cardini has been keeping an eye on professor Kirill for many months, on behalf of HM Government. He is believed to be inextricably involved with the systematic destruction of Scorpion, and he’s not working alone. As you know, his facility is located in one of the most inhospitable areas of the Scottish Highlands — but as always with Kirill, he has shrouded himself in such a cloak of secrecy, that we are having trouble establishing how he is able to implement his game plan and still evade every attempt to monitor him. He is very good — he is extremely wellconnected at the highest level, this bastard is almost untouchable. And since the Scorpion network and mainframe has been completely destroyed, it is pretty hard to check out certain facts now. To be honest with you — this situation can only get worse from here on in.”
Dillon made a kind of snorting noise, and then said. “Kirill,” he spoke softly. “He is definitely a major player in everything that’s taking place; I can feel it in my gut. He was ready to kill me back in Cornwall. Which means that he has obviously become more adventurous — more reckless…”