Read Online The Ajax Protocol-7 by Alex Lukeman - Free Book Online

body, when he realized the issue was survival. It was more than knowing it. He'd felt the rightness of it, felt the energy and truth of it ripple through his body, like touching a live wire.
    It wasn't the first time he'd thought about getting killed. It wasn't the first time he'd thought about personal survival either. Hell, he had years of practice surviving in situations where others died. Where he could have died. Knowing that survival was the big issue couldn't make any difference.
    It couldn't be that simple.
    Could it?

 
    CHAPTER 16
     
     
    "I've pinned down the location of the signal that triggered the satellite," Stephanie said. "You're not going to like what I found."
    Elizabeth had made fresh coffee. "It's nice out. Let's have coffee on the patio," she said. The coffee break had become a regular habit, something Elizabeth and Stephanie tried to do every morning about this time.
    They sat down at a painted wicker table. The sun felt good on Stephanie's face.
    "What did you discover?" Elizabeth asked.
    Stephanie said. "The signal that triggered the satellite came from Alaska."
    "Alaska? Where in Alaska?"
    "The middle of nowhere. The Yukon Flats National Wildlife Refuge."
    "Okay. You have my attention. What is a high frequency radio signal doing coming from a wildlife refuge? What's there that could do something like that?"
    "SATWEP."
    "The Satellite Weapons Program?"
    "That's right. The Army runs it in conjunction with DARPA, the Defense Agency Research Projects Agency," Stephanie said. "The Pentagon does love their acronyms, don't they?"
    "But that's the government." There was disbelief in Elizabeth's voice.
    "I said you wouldn't like it," Stephanie said.
    "Are you sure?"
    "Positive. The signal definitely came from there. The signature is unmistakable. There's nothing like it anywhere else on the planet."
    "Steph, you just said someone used a defense agency installation to attack Russia. If Moscow finds out, it's going to make a lot of trouble. It's an act of war."
    "Then this probably isn't something you want to share with Vysotsky," Stephanie said.
    Elizabeth snorted and choked on her coffee.
    "You shouldn't make me laugh when I'm drinking."
    Stephanie said, "I'm glad you think it's funny."
    "It's the way you said it." Elizabeth blotted her lips with a napkin. "I don't think you realize how funny you can be sometimes."
    Stephanie started to say something then changed her mind. Instead she said, "The main SATWEP facility is located near Anchorage, but there's a classified program that uses the same technology in smaller installations and research facilities. They aren't always manned. The signal came from one of those. I've got the GPS coordinates."
    "Where is it?"
    "It's remote. The nearest town is just a wide spot at the end of the road called Circle, around fifty miles south of the Arctic circle. They run a big dog sled race out of there every year. Beyond that, it's all wilderness. The only way in is on foot or by air. "
    Elizabeth sipped her coffee.
    "What do you want to do?" Stephanie asked.
    "I'll send the team in. There could be something on site to give us a lead."
    Stephanie said, "There's bound to be some kind of security, even if it's an unmanned station."
    "We'll treat it as if it were a hostile installation," Elizabeth said.
    Stephanie waited.
    "Normally I would go to the White House on something like this," Elizabeth said, "but I don't trust Edmonds. I don't want to tip our hand or let anyone know what we're doing. We'll use the Gulfstream to transport the team and supplies to Alaska."
    "When do you want them to go?"
    "Right away. I don't think we have a lot of time to stop this. Taking Rice down is a bad sign. We need more intelligence and we need it now. We need evidence. Once we have that, I'll decide the next step. Get the team together and we'll plan the mission."
    "What about the Russians? Are you going to tell them what we've discovered? "
    "Let's see what Nick finds in Alaska before we talk