"Does satellite give us any visuals?" Deacon asked.
"I'm running a cross-comparison now with facial recognition. But this is the clincher." Dante used the keyboard to zoom in on the screen on the left. The men had looked like ants from a distance, but the closer they got the more he could see what Dante was talking about.
"Automatic weapons," Elias said. "Definitely something in those warehouses that is worth protecting."
Deacon stared at the screens and started running scenarios through his head. It would be an almost impossible mission.
"We're one man short." Axel read his mind.
"No you're not," Levi said, coming into the room. "I'm more than field ready. You all know it. I'm tired of being kept here like a prisoner on her orders. She might as well have let me die."
"You're right," Deacon said, not caring that Eve would probably be pissed.
He wasn't sure why exactly Eve was holding Levi back, but it was almost as if it were some kind of punishment-the way she forced him into testing and recovery early, only to have him do grunt work when he was as well trained and operational as anyone on the team.
"We need to move in tonight," he said. "The way traffic has picked up on-site makes me think they're getting ready to roll out. They'll need time to drive to their destinations. What's happening this weekend?"
"The United Nations summit is the big one," Axel said. "But it's concentrated in New York. It's scheduled to start Sunday and finish up Monday. It's also the anniversary of 9/11. There are several large memorial services and concerts planned from state to state, and they're expecting attendance to be in the thousands. Most of them have been turned into fundraisers for families of fallen officers and members of the fire department, so they're all-day events."
"That has potential," Deacon commented. "And it seems like something a man with Egorov's ego might attempt. To wipe out the events of 9/11 with his own day of terror."
"It's also the start of the NFL season," Axel added. "Twenty-six teams playing around the country to sold-out stadiums."
"Twenty-six teams," Deacon said. "Thirteen stadiums. Thirteen trucks in those warehouses."
"If that's where they're going, they'll need to pull out within thirty-six hours," Elias said. "There are rules and regulations for when things from visiting teams have to be delivered to the stadiums."
"What's the projected casualty count?" Deacon asked.
Axel pulled up the data. "If they hit every major NFL stadium in America with sold-out crowds, you're looking at a potential casualty rate of close to a million people."
"Jesus," Elias said. "Catastrophic."
"Right, and it doesn't change the fact that there are still only five of us to stop all those trucks from leaving the warehouses."
"I guess I'm not completely understanding," Tess finally said. "The five of you are planning to invade these warehouses, with armed guards, and stop thirteen trucks from leaving the grounds that are supposedly all carrying a chemical weapon that kills almost instantly?"
"That pretty much covers it." Elias grinned. "Crazy, huh?"
"It's insane," she said incredulously.
"Five is all we need," Deacon told her. "A highly skilled five-man team can take down an entire army if it's done right."
"And what exactly is the right way to do it?" she asked.
The men all stared at her silently.
Tess nodded. "Yep. That's what I thought."
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
There was no relief from a Texas summer, not even at three in the morning. The heat was thick with humidity, and there was only a sliver of moon and a sprinkle of stars in the black sky. The lake was black and still, not a ripple since there wasn't a breeze.
It had taken twenty-four hours of planning and preparation. To make sure The Shadow knew of their equipment needs and the possible cleanup opportunities. They had four days until the world as they knew it would virtually end.
Deacon felt the vibrations of the stealth Black Hawk helicopter in the air before he heard the buzz of the rotor blades, and he watched as it touched down in the middle of the grassy field near the lake. He looked back toward the hidden entrance of the tunnel, thinking about Tess still curled up in bed, content as a cat. More than the memory of the way she looked, it was what she'd said as he'd leaned down to kiss her good-bye.
"I love you."