Brad Thor - The Athena Project

This is it , he said as he adjusted his pack. He didn’t want it to have come to this, but he knew there was nothing he could do about it. He was already committed.

Walking across the open space, over the carpet of pine needles, he arrived at the threshold of the cabin and pushed open the door. Vicki Suffolk was waiting for him.

She was sitting on a blanket in the middle of the room with a picnic laid out. The minute he saw her, he knew there was no turning back and his heart began to beat that much faster.

“You found me,” she exclaimed, a smile spreading across her face.

“You led me right to you,” he replied.

She looked at him as he held up the map.

Vicki laughed. “I’m glad to see you have no problem following directions. Did you bring back the listening devices?”

Ben pulled the three phones from the outer pocket of his backpack and walked them over to her. His assignment was almost complete.

“Are you hungry?” she asked.

“I’m sorry, Vicki. I didn’t come for a picnic.”

“Well, what did you come for then?” she asked, leaning back seductively on the blanket.

“Not that either,” he replied. “I’m here to arrest you for espionage.”

“Arrest me?” Victoria Suffolk said. “Ben, what are you talking about?”

“It’s over, Vicki,” he said, showing her his FBI credentials. “Get up.”

“Ben, let’s talk about this.”

Matthews pulled out his Glock and pointed it at her. “Victoria Suffolk, you’re under arrest.”

The young FBI agent moved in to subdue her, and when he did, he was shot twice through the window with a suppressed weapon.

Vicki screamed as Matthews fell backward, both rounds having hit him square in the chest.

“You were supposed to kill him,” said her handler as he stepped through the window into the cabin. “Not sleep with him once more for old times’ sake.”

“What are you doing here?” Vicki demanded.

“I knew you wouldn’t be able to go through with it,” he replied as he kicked Ben’s gun to the side.

“You didn’t even give me a chance.”

“I saw all I needed to see,” he said, gesturing to her picnic.

“Peter,” she replied. “You’re jealous.”

“Shut up and help me drag him outside.”

“I would think a big, strong Russian like you could handle something like this all by yourself.”

He looked at her with contempt. “I’m not Russian, you idiot.”

“But you told me-” she stammered.

“I told you what I needed to tell you to recruit you.”

“So we’re not working for the Russians?”

The man laughed. “No, we’re not. Now help me carry him outside.”

“Not until you tell me what this is all about,” she insisted.

He shook his head. “We’re working for a man named Armen Abressian.”

“Who the hell is Armen Abressian?”

“He’s the man who paid us to pinpoint something very special beneath Denver International Airport.”

Suffolk fixed him with an icy glare. “Is your name even Peter Marcus?”

“No, it’s not,” said Ben as he suddenly rolled over and raised a second Glock that had been hidden beneath his shirt. “His name is Dean Pence.”

The elder FBI agent had his pistol in his hand, but he didn’t point it at Matthews. “Let me guess,” he said. “You had a bulletproof vest in your backpack.”

Ben tapped his chest and nodded. “And on top of everything else, you just added attempted murder of a federal officer.”

Pence laughed. “Probably the least of my problems. How’d you know? How’d you figure it all out?”

“I didn’t know anything,” said Matthews. “At least not until I went to Mumford. That’s when I learned that she had no idea what we were doing. You never spoke with her or anyone else at the Bureau.”

His partner shook his head. “You’re weak, Ben. You couldn’t live with it, could you? You had to unburden yourself and admit your indiscretions.”

“I had to do the right thing.”

“Anybody else would have just enjoyed the sex and kept his mouth shut,” said Pence. “You’re a fool.”

“Drop your weapon, Dean,” Ben ordered.

“And then what? We rot in cells for the rest of our lives? Nobody’s going to conduct an exchange for us. That’s not how the people we work for operate. In fact, we’ll probably be dead before any trial even starts.”

“Don’t be stupid, Dean. Drop your weapon,” Matthews repeated.

“I’m sorry, Ben.”

There was a flash of movement to Ben’s left as Vicki Suffolk dove for her weapon. As she drew it, Matthews was left with no choice. He pulled his trigger twice and watched as she slumped over.

When he spun to re-engage Pence, the elder FBI agent had already reached the cabin door.

Ben heard Carole Mumford yell from outside for him to drop his weapon and then watched, with a twinge of regret, as Pence charged the heavily armed FBI team that was waiting for him and their bullets began to fly.

PREMANTURA

ISTRIAN PENINSULA

CROATIA

Go, go, go,” Casey ordered her teammates as the Russian mobsters began their attack on the front of the compound. All of the alarms and sensors were going off at this point. The hope was that the attack on the front of the compound was so intense that it would hold the focus of Abressian’s men while the women carried out their assignment.

They climbed the rest of the rock and positioned themselves on an almost nonexistent piece of ledge.

“Megan, you’re up,” Casey said.

Rhodes removed a grappling hook and a length of rope from her pack. When she was ready, she swung the rope up and over the wall at a point where she believed it would catch. Pulling on it to make sure the hook had a good grab, she began to climb.

Once she was at the top of the wall, she looked out over the pandemonium raging in the compound. Abressian’s security team, dressed in military-style fatigues, were engaged in a heavy firefight with the Russians. Now was their chance.

Megan unslung the new LaRue OBR rifle she had been issued and signaled the others to come up. She kept each of them covered until they had climbed over the wall and down the other side. Once they were all inside the compound, it was time to move.

They hugged the wall and ran for cover. The sound of the gun battle raged, punctuated by the frequent detonation of grenades fired from launchers beneath the weapons of Mikhailov’s as well as Abressian’s men.

Following Casey, they broke for the church in a single-file stack. Casey watched for anything in front. Cooper and Ericsson handled their exposed left side, and Rhodes kept their backs, or their “six” as it was referred to, clear of any danger.

They pulled up short just before the church and pressed themselves against the wall. There were three guards crouched nearby. Casey signaled for Cooper and Ericsson to take them out. Alex and Julie broke off, their suppressed MP7 submachine guns up and at the ready.

Cooper took out the man nearest them while Ericsson quietly took out the other two. Once that was done, they rejoined the others.

The cords leading from the large generators into the church told them they were exactly where they needed to be.

“Everyone ready?” Casey whispered as they neared the doors. Rhodes, Ericsson, and Cooper all nodded.

“On three,” said Gretchen. “One, two, three!”

She pulled open the doors and the team swept inside. They found themselves in the nave and immediately spread out and took cover.