Page 37 of Her Selfless Warrior (Omega Sky)
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“No sign of tracks,”Linc reported.
Ryker swept his glove over his goggles so he could peer at Kostya.
“That’s because they’re not dumb enough to be out playing in the snow at the butt-crack of dawn,” Ryker said.
Kostya nodded in agreement. “Go in slow, men, we have time. I want to take this nice and easy, no mistakes. Give reports as soon as you get to a building or one of the vehicles.”
He listened for everyone’s agreement before he and Ryker started forward.
Kostya held back and let Ryker take point. His man’s lean-muscled body ate up the distance and they were soon at the first outbuilding.
“Team, hold up.”
“What is it?” Gideon asked.
“This outbuilding is made out of cement blocks. Does anyone else have eyes on any of the buildings? Are you close enough to see what kind of building material was used?”
“We’re not close enough,” Linc reported. “But besides the tanks, I’ve got one humongous two-sectioned tracked truck. And when I say humongous, I’m talking Hulk-sized. Lieutenant, if you’re saying the buildings were made out of cement blocks, trucks like this sure as hell could have hauled them in.”
“Do you think this could be a Vityaz?” Gideon asked. Kostya could hear the excitement in his second-in-command’s voice. Shit, his man was geeking out again.
“Gideon, I don’t know what the fuck a Vityaz is,” Lincoln answered. “But if it is an all-terrain vehicle that looks like it might even have amphibious capabilities, this might be your guy.”
“Shhieeeyt!”
Yep, new tech did it for Gideon Smith every damn time.
“Kostya, what’s the significance of the cement blocks?” Gideon asked.
“It would be a pain in the ass to haul in. Normally in this part of the world, everything is built with wood. This is some heavy-duty protection.”
“You would have thought that being in the middle of butt-fuck-nowhere would have been protection enough,” Linc said. “And hell, building an electric fence would have been far easier.”
“Or maybe it’s more about keeping something in,” Kostya said slowly. He didn’t like this. What were they hiding?
“Way to shit all over a sunny day, Boss.” Gideon sighed into his microphone. Kostya heard the others laugh.
“We’re at an outbuilding,” Nolan reported. “Mateo and I will check out all sides and report what we find.”
“We’re here at the vehicles,” Seb reported. “We’re going to check them all out and report back.”
“Take pictures and send them to me,” Gideon told them. “I want to know what we’re up against.”
“Why not just disable them now?” Nolan asked.
“Boss?” Sebastian queried.
“I would love to, but there’s no way to do it quietly. Set the charge so we’re set up to take them out at a moment’s notice. As for the new love in Gideon’s life, the Vityaz set something up that you can easily take off. My gut’s telling me we might need it later.”
“Roger that.”
Kostya tilted his head toward the outbuilding he and Ryker were coming up to and his man immediately moved to the left to scout out the north side of the building. They’d meet up on the east side.
As Kostya went around the south side it was easy to see that whoever built the place wasn’t much for aesthetics. All the windows were close to the roofline. They were only to let in some light, not for the occupants to enjoy the view. Normally, it would be tough for somebody from the outside to peek into, but they didn’t take into consideration that someone would be standing on days and days of snow accumulation, which made it easy for Kostya to peer inside.
With his arctic camouflage and the snow pouring down behind him, he wasn’t too worried about taking a peek in the window, but he was still very careful when he did lift his head to peek in. It was all in shadows inside the building. Still, he was able to make out some things, and from what he could see it looked like one of those cleanroom laboratories. He looked closer, trying to determine if they were creating pharmaceuticals or computer chips. Kostya found his answer in the corner; there were a bunch of vials beneath what looked like eyedroppers. Yep, this was definitelynotcomputer chips.
