Chapter 4: Skyport Alpha
A blinding flash of lightning illuminated the industrial skyline of Skyport Alpha. Rain poured down in sheets, bouncing off the steel shipping containers and the reinforced perimeter fence that encircled the private runway.
High above the perimeter, two automated defense turrets mounted on steel towers scanned the perimeter with infrared lasers, their dual .50 caliber barrels tracking back and forth in rhythmic sweeps.
At the edge of the tree line, fifty yards from the northern fence, Logan and Bear lay prone in the mud, shrouded in specialized thermal-camo cloaks. Behind them, inside a blacked-out van, Maya and Samira were tapped into the facility’s power grid.
“Maya, talk to me,” Logan whispered into his comms headset.
“I’ve bypassed their outer perimeter cameras,” Maya’s voice crackled through his earpiece. “But those automated turrets are running on an isolated, local server inside the main hangar. The second you cut that fence, those guns will chew you to pieces.”
“Samira, can you spoof the thermal sensors?” Logan asked.
“I’m on it,” Samira replied, tapping rapidly into a handheld satellite array. “I’m feeding the turret AI a loop of ambient rainwater patterns. You have a ninety-second blind spot. Go!”
“Move!” Logan barked.
Logan and Bear popped up from the mud, sprinting across the open tarmac like shadows. Bear moved with surprising speed despite his prosthetic leg, carrying a heavy breaching kit and a suppressed submachine gun.
They reached the perimeter fence. Bear applied a chemical thermite strip along the chain links. A hiss of white-hot light burned through the steel in seconds. They slipped through the gap just as the automated turret above them swept its laser back across the sector.
“Inside,” Logan whispered, pressing his back against the wall of the primary logistics hangar.
Above them, the sky thundered as Halloway’s Sikorsky helicopter descended onto the center pad of the runway.
Through the pouring rain, Logan saw Halloway step out of the cabin under the cover of three umbrella-wielding guards, carrying his black armored briefcase. He rushed straight toward the heavily guarded glass doors of the facility’s Central Command Center.
“He’s moving to the server room,” Logan said into his comms. “Bear, set the perimeter charges on their backup generators. If this goes sideways, I want this facility dark.”
“Copy that, Alpha-One,” Bear grunted, melting into the shadows toward the power sub-station.
Logan moved silently along the exterior wall of the main server building. He reached a side service entry, pulled a fiber-optic camera wire from his vest, and slid it beneath the door gap.
Inside, four Vanguard mercenaries armed with HK416 rifles were stationed in a kill-box formation, their weapons pointed directly at the doorway.
Logan smiled faintly under his tactical mask. Predictable.
He reached into his pouch, pulled out a magnetized breaching charge, and attached it to the door hinges. Then he pulled a non-lethal flash-smoke canister.
BOOM!
The door blew inward with violent force. Before the guards could clear the smoke, Logan rolled through the blown-out frame, coming up on one knee.
THWIP-THWIP. THWIP-THWIP.
Logan fired with terrifying efficiency. Four shots, four center-mass hits before the guards could even adjust their aim. The mercenaries slumped to the floor. Logan didn’t pause; he grabbed one of their access keycards, swiped it through the elevator panel leading down to the underground server vault, and stepped inside.
As the elevator doors closed, the floor numbers began to descend.
Floor -1. Floor -2.
The elevator jolted to a sudden halt. The lights flickered and died, plunging the car into pitch darkness.
Over the intercom speaker, General Halloway’s voice echoed, distorted and laughing.
“Did you really think it would be that easy, Logan?” Halloway’s voice mocked. “I saw you on the security feed the second you crossed the perimeter. You’re a ghost, Logan, but ghosts belong in the ground.”
Suddenly, the ceiling hatch of the elevator was torn open with a screech of tearing metal. A heavy tear-gas canister dropped into the small car, spewing thick, burning white chemical smoke.
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