Ash looked out the side window as the wheels touched down, and noted the landing lights weren’t the ones affixed to the runway, but portable lamps with wires running between them.
The plane slowed and then taxied toward a hangar, where someone was waving more lights. When the G550 pulled to a stop, three people jogged toward it from a large helicopter parked nearby.
Ash unbuckled his belt and stood up. “Everyone hang where you are for a moment. I’ll be right back.”
He motioned for Chloe to follow him, and headed over and opened the door. By the time he hopped off the steps, the three people were there.
A big man with a wide smile stepped forward. “Are you Captain Ash?”
“Ash is fine.”
He held out his hand and the man took it.
“Edward Powell,” the guy said. “Philadelphia team.”
He turned to his two companions. “This is Omar Gamin, also Philadelphia.”
“Omar,” Ash said, shaking.
“And this is Tamara Costello.”
As Ash shook her hand, he said, “We all enjoy your work.”
“Thank you,” she said, looking a bit embarrassed. “Really, all I do is stand there and talk. It’s my partner Bobby who does the real work.”
“The cameraman.”
“Among other things.”
Ash looked past them toward the helicopter. “Is he here?”
Powell shook his head. “He’s on the recon team.”
It had been Ash’s idea to send an advance team to the coordinates so it could report back if something was there or not. He didn’t know why Bobby was on it, though. The cameraman and Tamara had been brought into the mission so they could get some footage that, if there was a chance to broadcast it, would show people what was really going on.
Tamara apparently sensed his confusion. “Trust me, you’ll be glad he went. Let me show you.”
They walked quickly to the helicopter, where Tamara grabbed a laptop sitting inside and woke up the screen. She worked the keyboard and cursor for a moment, then said, “Bobby?”
A whisper came back. “Here.”
“Captain Ash has arrived. Can you show him?”
“Hold on. Repositioning.”
Tamara turned the computer around so they could all see the screen. Filling it was a green-tinted moving image. When it settled a few seconds later, Ash could make out three men crouching behind some trees. Beyond them was a black void.
The image zoomed into the darkness. As it passed the last of the trees, the area beyond began to take shape. It was a shallow valley with several buildings sitting squarely in the middle, lit only by moonlight.
A dead town.
“Everton, Vermont,” Tamara told Ash.
“Changing lenses,” Bobby whispered.
The picture went blurry for a moment before sharpening again and focusing on a brick building, large for the area, probably three stories high.
“On the roof,” Bobby said. “Give it a second.”
Scattered across the roof were several exhaust vents and a small, hut-like structure that Ash figured provided access to the inside of the building. Nothing unusual.
For several seconds the scene remained unchanged, and then, in a flash of brighter green, something moved out from behind the hut. Not something. Someone.
The person was carrying an M16A4 rifle, and decked out in the same military-style winter gear Ash had seen Project Eden soldiers wear that night in Las Cruces. He watched as the guard moved deliberately along the retaining wall at the edge of the roof.
No question. He was a lookout.
“Are there more?” he asked.
“We’ve ID’d two more guards so far, but the guys with me figure there’s probably more.”
“What about ones not obviously on watch?”
“No. Town’s quiet otherwise.”
“Do you know what they’re guarding?”
“Haven’t found it yet. But we haven’t completed our loop. There has to be something.”
Powell said, “I told them to do a full circuit of the town without getting too close.”
Ash nodded, then said to Bobby, “When you finish, return to whatever you deem the best spot for observation and hold there.”
“Will do.”
“And try not to get caught.”
A low, nervous laugh from the other end, then, “Yeah, that’s pretty high on my priority list.”
As Tamara ended the communication, Ash glanced at Chloe. “You saw it, didn’t you?”
“The uniform.”
He nodded and turned to Powell. “How long will it take to get there?”
“I can fit your whole team in the helicopter. We can go as far as Rutland. Made the trip already when we dropped the others off. That’s about twenty miles from Everton. Flight time just over thirty minutes.”
“All right. Let’s move.”
As the team transferred to the helicopter, Ash called Ward Mountain.
“This is Leon.”
“I need to talk to Rachel,” Ash said.
“Hold on.”
The delay was brief.
“Captain?” she said.
“There’s definitely something there,” he said.
A beat. “So we’re on.”
“Yes. Expect the go from me in the next few hours.”
Bobby Lion and the team from Philadelphia walked as silently as possible through the woods and around to the east side of the village. All this activity was a huge change over Bobby’s past few days of lounging around the NSA facility.
First he and Tamara had raced up the highway from DC to right outside Philly, where they hooked up with Powell and his men at a private airfield. From there, they had flown north to Rutland in a surprisingly luxurious Sikorsky S-92 helicopter. The initial intention had been for only Powell’s people to head up to Everton, but during the flight, Bobby had opened his big, fat mouth and mentioned the specialized gear he had in his bag, and how it might be a good idea if he went with them.
He didn’t regret suggesting it, but there had been moments since they arrived on scene when he questioned his sanity. So far, though, the worst part was the cold.
They were walking across the side of the hills surrounding the valley, right around the midway point to the summit. For the most part, the walking was easy, but occasionally a slope forced them to lean to the side so they wouldn’t lose balance.
After several more minutes, Marcos, the head of the team, motioned ahead at an opening in the dense forest, and made the signal Bobby had learned meant it was time to take another look around.
They stopped just inside the tree line at the top edge of the clearing and took a preliminary look at the town. Bobby was surprised by how close they were now. One of the homes on the outskirts of the village was maybe a hundred yards away, at the base of the hill. He had a sudden urge to turn and run but he held it together.
Marcos caught his eye and nodded, indicating Bobby was up.
With the help of one of the other men, Bobby removed his pack and pulled out the camera. As before, he started off with the small zoom lens and did a sweep of the valley. The man on top of the three-story building was still doing his slow rounds of the roof. One of the others Bobby had spotted earlier was also still in position, standing on a lower roof to the south.
He turned the lens to the north, and stopped. There was a third man, but not the one he’d seen earlier. That man was out of sight on the other side of town.
“Another one,” he whispered.
“Where?” Marcos asked.
Bobby handed him the camera. “Two blocks this side from center. On the roof of the gas station.”