C7 Chapter Seven

After letting the medics give him a quick once over and being assured that nothing was unduly sprained or broken, Cade left the med trailer and made his way over to the forty-five foot mobile command center that Mason and his crew were using as a base of operations.

While he hadn’t been inside this particular model before, he was certainly familiar with such vehicles. He’d used them often during his days on the Boston Special Tactics and Operations team and even a handful of times since joining the Order. While he personally preferred working out of the open tailgate of his team’s SUV, he could understand the need for them on a prolonged op like this. This particular model was built on a Freightliner chassis and came equipped with a 450hp diesel engine. It had workstations for eight and seating for eleven. In a pinch, the conference room could hold fifteen, though quarters would be tight. Interior electronics were powered by a 20-kilowatt generator and included satellite TV receivers, video surveillance cameras mounted externally on a thirty-foot telescoping mast, UHF and VHF radios, mobile data computers, and other related communications and surveillance equipment, all of which were secured against intrusion.

The center was also equipped with a twelve-foot glide room, which was currently extended. Two of Mason’s men were monitoring video feeds on the workstations set up inside the room and Cade was tempted to ask them what they had seen during the helicopter incident, but the knowledge that the storm hadn’t shown up on radar and therefore probably wouldn’t show up on video kept him from doing so.

Cade moved to the rear of the vehicle, where the conference table had been folded up and put away, creating an open space large enough to hold Mason’s senior officers and the men from Echo’s two squads.

Each squad consisted of four men, every one of whom had been cross-trained in a number of different specialties. First squad, led by Sergeant Manny Ortega, included Corporal Phil Davis, Private Marco Chen and Private Joe Callavecchio. Cade’s own squad, the command unit, included Master Sergeant Riley, Sergeant Flynn, and Sergeant Duncan. They were the best of the best and if anyone could handle the problem in front of them, Cade was confident they were the right team to do so.

Before leaving the commandery each of the men had received detailed briefing folders that described the mission parameters, objectives, and logistics. They were professionals and so Cade didn’t intend to spend too much time going over those details unless there were specific questions. He had one goal for this briefing and one goal only – to be certain each and every one of them understood the sheer ferocity and power of what they were about to face.

It was time to get to work.

“All right. Listen up,” said Cade, stepping up to the podium and looking out over the group. “By now you’ve all had a chance to study the mission parameters and the rules of engagement. I’ve no doubt that you will perform in your usual exemplary manner. I wanted to take a moment, however, and give you an idea of what we’re up against.”

Behind him the plasma screen came to life. “What you are about to see are the last few minutes of footage that was recovered from Corporal Jackson’s helmet cam after the failed incursion into the lower levels of the base. I think you will find it worth your time.”

The video was full of interference, both from whatever was disrupting communications inside the perimeter of the base and from the poor lighting conditions in the room itself. The camera was close to the floor, shooting upward, and it was clear from its erratic motion that Jackson had been injured by this time and was probably rolling around in agony. He couldn’t have been aware the camera was still recording, for there was no conscious effort to point the lens at the action unfolding around him and it didn’t stay in one position for more than a few seconds at a time. None of that really mattered, however, for Cade was only interested in a single segment and when he got to it he froze the screen.

The camera had caught one of Jackson’s squad members standing on the other side of the room, firing at something off-screen. The man was too far away to tell who it was, but there was no mistaking the fact that he was screaming at the top of his lungs; they could be heard on the audio feed even over the sound of all the gunfire.

“Watch closely,” said Cade, and he gave the signal for the tape to roll again.

As the men watched, something rushed onto camera from the left side of the screen, enveloped the knight in a shadowy embrace, and disappeared again almost as fast as it had appeared.

Except this time it didn’t go alone.

It took the soldier with it.

Cade let them watch it once through and then took them through it a second time on a frame by frame basis. It didn’t do much good; they didn’t get any further details at that speed than the former. It was as if the shadow was only that, a shadow, and it had no physical substance for the camera to lock onto. Yet that couldn’t be right, for it took more than a shadow to carry off a 200 pound soldier in full combat gear, particularly while being pumped full of lead from the machine pistol the soldier was carrying.

Silence had descended on the room by the time Cade stopped the footage.

“We’ve been through it backwards and forwards, three different ways from Sunday. And I have to be honest with you; we don’t have a clue what it is. We’ve got several people doing an extensive search of the Order’s physical archives, looking for clues, but the online database held nothing that could help us and I’m not holding my breath waiting for a miracle.

“We’ll be going into unexplored territory and facing an unknown foe. Communications will probably be erratic and we won’t be able to call for reinforcements if things go to hell.” Cade held them all with his gaze, and then let a grin spread slowly across his face, putting a bit of jocularity into his voice at the same time. “But if it was going to be a cakewalk, they wouldn’t need us.”

That got a rousing cheer out of the men from Echo. When things got bad, the Order called in the troops. When the troops couldn’t handle it, they called in the Elite Strike Teams. The best of those was Echo.

Cade turned to face Flynn. “How long will it take you to get NOMAD ready?”

The sergeant didn’t even have to think about it. “Half-an-hour to prep the main systems, another forty-five minutes to fit the weapons platforms. Call it an hour and a half to be safe, maybe less if things go smoothly.”

“Good enough.” Cade addressed the group once more. “We’ll use NOMAD to do an initial search of the location and then, if it seems clear, we’ll go in ourselves. The command squad will lead, with first squad in close support. Any questions?”

There weren’t any and so the team was dismissed to begin their preparations. Duncan had heard of the Order’s unmanned vehicles systems but had never worked with one personally and so he asked to tag along with Flynn during the system prep. The other sergeant was only too glad to have a second pair of hands for the task ahead.

The Near-autonomous Observation and Mobile Armament Delivery system, or NOMAD for short, was one of the best operational robotic systems to hit the major military markets during the last three years and the Order had managed to acquire several of them. Built on a rectangular base, it was small enough to maneuver through confined spaces of less than a meter in width and could make a neutral turn in just under a meter and a half. Its reinforced treads allowed it to manage trenches, curbs, or stairs with equal efficiency and its meter-high rotating turret provided the perfect platform for both two-way audio and multiple optical systems. The vehicle’s top speed was just over five kilometers per hour.

Duncan and Flynn spent the better part of an hour prepping and testing the main control systems, assuring that all of the basic movement commands could be carried out without difficulty. NOMAD could be controlled through a cable, fiber optic, or radio system, with a complete range of up to 1,000 meters, providing plenty of distance to assure the safety of the operator. For today’s mission, they were going to be using the fiber optic system, as Mason had mentioned the interruption of the radio communications from the first team and they did not want a repeat of that situation. Once they had tested the motion systems, they moved on to the vehicle’s sensors, cycling the optics through visual, infrared and ultraviolet spectrums. Everything checked out fine.

NOMAD sported a fully-articulated arm that could be extended up to six meters in length and rotated a complete 360 degrees. The arm ended in two pincher claws for grasping and lifting objects weighing up to 150kg. Seven weapons mounts were also available and it was to these that Flynn next turned his attention. While Duncan continued practicing with the control systems, Flynn radioed Cade and then spent several moments discussing the firepower options. They would be infiltrating a closed structure and had no real idea of what to expect by way of opposition, so they finally settled on a diverse payload that would cover as many options as possible, yet not cause extensive damage to the structure around it should firepower prove to be necessary.

After seeing that video, no one doubted that it would.

The only question was whether it would have any effect.