“I was there,” I said.

  “Very well,” she replied. “Camera two shows the trails from the southeast up to what appears to be an entryway. There’s a flat surface here that runs maybe a hundred meters. It’s gentle and sloping, providing for helicopter access. It’s maybe four miles from the hangar. In between is a labyrinth of mines.”

  “I was there, too,” I said.

  “Well, then, maybe you should be briefing yourself?”

  I looked at her and nodded. “You’re doing great. Thank you.”

  “On the very north side, about five miles from the helicopter entrance and another six or so from the hangar, here at the apex, you’ve got a thermal anomaly. There’s a large house on the hilltop here, and our ground penetrating radar shows a network of tunnels that lead to this building. We can’t see into the building or beneath it. Maybe there’s concrete and lead lining, like an underground nuclear shelter. Whatever it is, there appears to be a connection to all three of the locations.”

  She overlaid a rough drawing that looked like a peace sign.

  “Here in the middle is the mountain top. The line terminating in the north is our unknown house. The line terminating in the west is the hangar. And the line terminating in the east is the helicopter landing zone.”

  “I see that,” I said. My mind was churning. I was attempting to bleed out all the emotions I was feeling from having my kids locked in a tunnel to having my team in that same location to learning that Blanc was my half uncle and now knowing that this was all my father’s idea. The only thing that mattered now was my ability to see the battlefield geometry that Ruddy was showing me.

  “Here,” she said, pointing at a ravine that bisected the path to the north building. “This is a possible point of entry. Our drone has imaged a possible weak point there. Some explosives. Block to the south. Move north. This is what I was telling you earlier.”

  “Yes. Your plan in the plane was a high concept of this,” I said. “And you’ve confirmed it with the drones. Do you know what’s in there?”

  “I know enough that they are hyperloops. Trains that levitate on magnets and travel the speed of sound using suction and other physics. If we get in there, the possibility exists that we could be run over in a nanosecond. Even if he’s not using it to move people or equipment, he could use it as a weapon. Breaching the tube could cause a change in pressure like when an airplane is at altitude and a section rips off. You know, like in the movies.”

  I thought about Ruddy’s comments. I needed an engineer. But first I asked her, “Is there a way to disable the entire system? Depressurize it? Make it so the train can’t move?”

  “I think that’s our next task. Figure that out.”

  I turned to Maximillian, who had been silently watching and listening, and said, “Sketch out a diagram so that we can do a team rock drill and go through the motions. We will need drone coverage, explosives, an overwatch team, an assault team, and a breaching team. Do we have an engineer that knows about hyperloops?”

  “Is that all?” Maximillian quipped.

  “Probably not, but it’s a start,” I said. “Sometimes saving the world requires saving your world first. If Drewson is doing everything he is accusing Blanc of, and he has access to the president, then he could potentially create the global security state he has been warning about.”

  “Save your people first, General, and the ship will right itself, correct?”

  “Exactly. By the way. Who are the guys in the back with the shaved heads?”

  Maximillian shrugged. “We were low on personnel. Monsieur Blanc recommended them. They are a new addition. Highly trained, though, I’m told.”

  I nodded, something scratching at the back of my mind.

  “I studied engineering in university, sir,” Ruddy said, picking up where we left off. “I know what a hyperloop is. It’s a train that operates friction free. It uses magnets to propel the train forward at speeds up to eleven hundred kilometers per hour, or in American English, that’s seven hundred miles per hour. Force equals mass times acceleration and all that good stuff. The air pressure is lowered to decrease friction, and sometimes there’s a ducted turbine fan. If that’s the case, if we disable one of the magnets, there should be no ability to pull from one end to the other.”

  “Where are the magnets?”

  “On the rail and on the train. They pull the train forward. The entire thing is vacuum sealed. No wind resistance. No friction. Just go Mach one pulled by suction and magnets.”

  “How does it stop?” I asked.

  “Everything that makes it go, makes it slow down and stop. It’s magnetic levitation technology in a tube, like the high-speed rail in Japan, but with no friction and no wind resistance. That’s all it is.”

  “With a vacuum, I’m assuming the car has an oxygen flow. We didn’t seem to have any problem when we were in it briefly,” I said.

  “Yes. Oxygen tanks, so that’s a vulnerability to anyone riding in it. If we’re dealing with the hostages trapped in one of the rail pods, that could be an issue.”

  “That’s what it sounds like,” I said, recalling my conversation with Mahegan.

  “I’ve focused the drone on this spot right here about a half mile from the building on the north apex of the triangle,” Ruddy said.

  “Thermal is showing more resolution there,” I said.

  “Two reasons, I believe. First, it’s an exposed portion of the hyperloop vacuum tube, but it’s disguised to look as if it is underground. My guess is that the straight line that this thing must take necessitated a short external span. See the pylons here and here,” Ruddy said. She used a laser pointer to draw little red circles around two areas that upon close inspection were circular support beams.

  “The thermal gets past the thin superstructure Drewson built over this to make it blend in with the terrain.”

  “What’s the second thing?” I asked.

  “This dark spot right here?” She moved the pointer to the right to a section of the rail tube in between the exposed area she just highlighted and the building she mentioned earlier. “Thermal is picking up a lot of heat. As if a lot of bodies might be tightly packed in there.”

  I nodded, understanding the predicament.

  “The vacuum creates a seal and if the tube is punctured, it’s like getting sucked out of an airplane. The pressure pulls you.”

  “Exactly,” Ruddy replied. “And the shockwave of air barrels through the tube at Mach one until the atmospheric pressure is normalized inside the tube.”

  “If he doesn’t blow them up, Drewson can shut down their oxygen and leave them there to die,” I said.

  “To use them as bargaining chips with Blanc seems to be his play, sir,” she said. “If they die, they’re no good to him. But, yes, he could do that.”

  Her frank assessment startled me, but she was right.

  “What’s the solution?” I asked.

  “Best commanders modify the plan based upon new intelligence. We didn’t know this coming in. The question is, what happens if we intentionally depressurize the system? Land the plane so to speak. At altitude, the pressure around the plane is fatal. On the ground, it’s equalized. How do we get the equivalent of the tube and pod being on the ground? If we can do that, I think the car just stays where it is and Drewson loses control.”

  “Makes sense. There has to be some engineering in there that modulates pressure.”

  “We’re looking for that,” Maximillian said. “The control room. Seems there is one at each apex.”

  “So if we focus somewhere other than the north apex to depressurize the system, that could also serve as a ruse or feint.”

  “I like it,” Maximillian said.

  I turned to Ruddy and asked, “What communications infrastructure do we see on the north apex?”

  She moved the laser pointer to a series of antennae that were poking up from a mountain ridge, lights blinking in the darkness.

  “This is the cell tower that Mahegan last called you from. I’m thinking he had a few seconds of reception as Drewson’s engineer slowed the pod to be positioned where we believe it to be.”

  “That would be a second indicator that my people are where you believe they are, the first being the thermal signature.”

  “Precisely, sir. You’re pretty good at this, if I might say so,” Ruddy remarked.

  “Talk to me about good when we’ve got everyone safely out of the tube,” I said.

  “Very well. So, what’s the plan?”

  I turned to Maximillian. I wasn’t his commander nor was he mine. I had lived by the leadership maxim, though, that when there was an opportunity to be in charge, then do so.

  “I think that’s it. Break into two teams. One goes to the southeast apex and attempts to depressurize the tube. One goes to the north apex to get into the tube or breach it after it’s been depressurized.”

  “Better than what we had going in,” Maximillian said.

  “Can we get Blanc and Evelyn on the video?” I asked.

  After a minute of Ruddy punching buttons with her fingers, a split screen showed Blanc in New York and Evelyn on an airplane.”

  “Do we have a plan?” Blanc asked.

  “I think so,” I said.

  “I’ve put some thought into this, Garrett. I can cede much of my ecosystem to Drewson if he agrees to let everyone go.”

  “I think if you can do that, you should. How many billions do you need?” I asked.

  “My point exactly. It’s not really the money, but the technology and the ability to shape the future of mankind. That’s what this is all about. Drewson has been rather unsuccessful other than that one Bitcoin bet, and everything else he has tried hasn’t gotten traction. So, I recommend a two-pronged strategy: I’ll negotiate with Drewson and you … do what muddy boots generals do. You’ve got our best with Sharpstone. What other resources do you need?”

  “We need an engineer to tell us how to breach the hyperloop. Mahegan said all my people are in the hyperloop pod trapped in the tube.”

  Blanc winced. “Breaching the hyperloop is quite impossible.”

  “Our plan is to depressurize the system and then breach the tube.”

  “That’s a very complicated process. I’m an engineer. I’ve designed these things. I have teams of engineers working on projects in Dubai and Mumbai.”

  “Can you get one of your geniuses to walk us through how to do this?”

  “I’m the best genius you’ve got,” Blanc said. “In addition to computer science, I have degrees in advanced thermofluidic dynamics as well as physics and space studies. I’ll be your guide, but I have to tell you, if you breach without depressurizing the entire vacuum, the entire tube will implode with a destructive force beyond comprehension. A wall of air the weight of an elephant will barrel through the tube at Mach one. Everything and everyone in the tube will be crushed beyond recognition. There is no margin for error.”

  I swallowed hard, nodding.

  “No margin,” I said. Then, “Last question. Can you jam Drewson’s intelligence collection operation?”

  “We can try. He’s pretty good but we have been sparring with his satellites in space.”

  “If you can block his eyes and ears, we can get into the control room and depressurize the system. Then it’s a simple breaching operation and jackpot retrieval.”

  “No margin, but you have all the jamming support you need from me,” Blanc said. “Meanwhile, I’m calling Drewson to negotiate this thing.”

  “Garrett,” Evelyn said. “Be careful.”

  The worry in the lines etched around her eyes was well founded.

  25

  WE MOVED FROM THE cabin several miles from the north apex building in two teams. Maximillian led the south apex team that was to take over the control station and slowly depressurize the system. I led the north apex team. Our mission was to breach the tube once depressurized and retrieve everyone.

  By my side in the back of the Land Rover was Jacques Desmond, who asked me to call him “JD.” He was a six-and-a-half-foot-tall Nigerian who looked like he spent the bulk of his time in the free weight section of the gym.

  “Legion?” I asked him.

  “Seven years,” he replied, looking through his window to the left.

  “Combat?”

  He smirked.

  “Mon général, Max would not give you an inexperienced team leader. He reports directly to Ms. Champollion. We can’t have you dying on us.”

  He looked at me and smiled, then nodded.

  “I’ll do my best to make you guys look good,” I said.

  “From what I hear, you won’t have to try too hard.”

  I nodded and he looked away.

  Because I had not been able to reach any of my people on the phone, I assumed by the heat signatures Ruddy had shown me that they were all in one place in the pod still stuck in the tube.

  The question no one had asked was, did the hyperloop malfunction, making the stoppage a legitimate issue, meaning Drewson wasn’t doing anything untoward to my charges? I didn’t have the time to fully examine that question, but as we bounced across the frozen trails, I saw my phone light up with the number from which Drewson had called before.

  If Blanc was jamming communications, somehow Drewson had found a workaround.

  I had debated shutting off my phone and going in blind, but on the possibility that Mahegan or Reagan might call me, I’d kept it on with the full knowledge that, because he knew I was coming for him, Drewson most likely would be able to geolocate me. I let the call go through to a voicemail box that wasn’t established. Thoughts circled through my mind, though. Had Mahegan, Hobart, or Van Dreeves overtaken Drewson and used his phone to call? Had Misha hacked into Drewson’s phone and was she trying to contact me? There were so many possibilities. I had a hard time believing that any of my team had been sitting passively waiting for something to happen.

  That was the real variable that could create a dynamic situation at the objective. No doubt if they were locked in the pod within the pressurized tube, they knew the consequences of breaking the seal.

  Instant death.

  The temperature was in the low twenties and the wind blew snow sideways across our windshield. At my urging, Ruddy had chosen to stay in the command center and relay communications despite her desire to be on the objective. We reached our primary position about two kilometers from where we suspected the pod was and pulled to a three-vehicle herringbone on either side of the road. We were in a swale with a dry riverbed to our front, high ground behind us and on both sides, but the land to our front was lower than our position, so we had good visibility of the north apex building.

  Through the thermal goggles, the chimney glowed hot with a smoking wood fire. Ruddy radioed from the basecamp.

  “Dagger Six, this is Sharp Base,” she said. I had never told her my call sign but it probably wasn’t a challenge to figure it out.

  “Go,” I said.

  “South team on station. Eyes tell us there is movement on the ridge above them. We also have movement at north apex house. Two SUVs arrived. Eight commandos. Big guys. Long guns.”

  “Air support?” I asked.

  “Two drones in orbit at your command,” she replied.

  “Roger. Anything identifiable?”

  “Negative,” she said.

  While I knew that it was unlikely that Mahegan, Hobart, Van Dreeves, Matt Garrett, Jeremy West, Zion Black, and Patch Owens were in those SUVs, I couldn’t discount the possibility. The video feeds were intelligence through a soda straw, giving the viewer a grainy image where they could count people and see weapons, but that was about it. More than likely, this was an Optimus team moving to secure the north end of the hyperloop.

  “Taking fire,” JD said.

  “Roger,” I replied. He knew what to do and didn’t need any direction from me.

  The crack of machine-gun fire sang through the valley. Ruddy shared the drone video to my tablet, so I was able to watch the ten-man squad take cover. I didn’t recognize any of the people at the north apex house, but still. Erring on the side of caution, I didn’t give the order to fire.

  “Let’s move on foot to the house and work our way down the tube from there. Maybe there’s a control room at that end, as well. In fact, I’ll be surprised if there isn’t.”

  “Oui,” JD said. He was poised at the prospect of attacking into the teeth of a heavily defended area.

  We moved from the vehicles and were a six-man group picking our way through the icy cliffs of this rugged terrain. After ten minutes of walking, Maximillian’s voice coughed into our earpieces.

  “South secure!”

  “Roger. Charlie Mike,” I said.

  “You’ve got two vehicles approaching south apex,” Ruddy said. “Shoot?”

  “Are we positive it isn’t my people?” I asked.

  “Negative. No positive identity,” she replied.

  “No fire,” I replied.

  Like so many times in combat, the decision to shoot was complex. Without having positive identification, I couldn’t order to engage the vehicles. What if it were my children and colleagues? In my gut, I knew it wasn’t. But still.

  “Understand. Do not engage until positive ID,” Ruddy said.

  We took a knee about two hundred meters from the north apex station. JD did an excellent job of managing the flow of the team.

  “High ground,” he whispered into his throat microphone.

  “Roger.”

  We moved to the north about a hundred meters from the trail the two vehicles had used to move to what was clearly a lodge. Lying behind a large piece of granite, I studied the objective. It was an alpine chalet with steep roof angles and cedar planks. Large rectangular windows ran floor to ceiling, though I imagined the glass was bulletproof. The entire valley fell away behind the chalet and then rose again where Drewson’s main operation seemed to be located.

  Was this Drewson’s living quarters? Had we stumbled onto his hideout? Was his Zebra team holed up here? If the hyperloop could get from here to the other side of the mountain twenty miles away in five minutes, any of those options were possible.