Page 38 of Her Selfless Warrior (Omega Sky)
He did another comprehensive scan, checking to see if there was anything else of interest, but he didn’t come up with anything, and there were definitely no heat signatures. On the west wall, there were three doors. It looked like the whole back wall was nothing but offices. He had to hope that Ryker would be able to tell him what was in there. He reported his findings, knowing that Gideon was keeping track of everything.
“Ryker, are you able to see into the rooms behind the closed doors on the west side?” Kostya asked.
“I have two windows with offices, but for your third door, there isn’t a window. Maybe it’s a bathroom or closet.”
“Could be. I didn’t get any heat signatures.” Kostya said.
“Me neither,” Ryker concurred.
Kostya headed toward the east side of the building where he would meet up with Ryker.
“Mateo, Nolan, what did you find?” Kostya asked.
“I see nothing but cubicles from where I’m standing, no people,” Mateo reported.
“Matt, it’s different on this side,” Nolan explained. “I’ve got two people in the cubicles. They’re hunched over clicking away. From the way they’re concentrating, I’d say we could waltz right in and do a tap dance and they wouldn’t notice.”
“Techno-geeks like Gideon, huh?” Ryker chuckled.
“Sure, try to sneak up on me sometime, I dare you,” Gideon responded.
“Ryker, did you see anything else?” Kostya asked as Ryker stomped through the high snow up to him. “Besides what I told you, there was also a door on the northeast side of the building. It was locked.”
“Are you getting all of this, Gideon?”
“Yep, I’m plugging it all into the diagram,” his second-in-command assured him.
“Okay. Mateo and Nolan, head on over to the big building and meet up with the others. Ryker and I will check out the third outbuilding.”
Kostya knew it was southeast, but visibility was still not worth a damn so he pulled out the muPS device and pinged where the third outbuilding was, just to double-check. As soon as he did, he motioned for Ryker to follow him. It was now three in the morning in the middle of the blizzard—all in all, theyshouldbe safe from any Russians patrolling the area, but Kostya never counted onshoulds.
“Any sign of life?” he queried his team.
Everybody responded in the negative, but Nolan had more to say. “But that doesn’t mean anything, Boss. I can barely see Mateo and he’s a meter away from me.”
“And today’s pessimist award goes to Nolan O’Rourke,” Ryker quipped.
“That is a highly coveted award since it normally goes to our lieutenant.” Kostya could hear the smile in Gideon’s voice.
“Can it, all of you. What’s the word on those tanks? Do you have them ready to blow?” Kostya wanted to know.
“Finished those, now working on Gideon’s toy. Needed to make sure that the placement was just right,” Linc answered.
Lincoln was good, but Kostya would have felt better if Nolan was setting the charges. It was like Nolan O’Rourke had been born to do demolitions. He had a gift.
“Sebastian and I have checked things out while Linc’s been playing with Play-Doh. There’s no sign of people,” Landon said.
“Of course, any tracks would have been snowed under in five minutes,” Sebastian said dryly.
“I’m done. Let’s get a move on and check out the big building. If everyone else is coming up empty-handed, we’re going to have all the fun.” Kostya smiled when he heard Linc’s easygoing chatter; it meant he was confident in what he’d done with the Semtex.
“Gideon, are you positive that the big building is nothing but a square?” Kostya asked as he looked once again at the sketch that Gideon had sent to each of them.
“Yeah, I’ve triple-checked it since I sent it. They weren’t trying to win any architectural awards, that’s for sure.”
“Hold on, Lincoln. Let Ryker and I check out the last outbuilding before you get all excited about tackling the main building. For all we know this last one is the barracks and armory and it will take you all out.”
“And our leader takes back the pessimism award away from Nolan O’Rourke,” Lincoln chuckled.
