Chapters (72)
- TITLE PAGE
- COPYRIGHT PAGE
- DEDICATION
- CONTENTS
- PROLOGUE
- PART I
- CHAPTER 1
- CHAPTER 2
- CHAPTER 3
- CHAPTER 4
- CHAPTER 5
- CHAPTER 6
- CHAPTER 7
- PART II
- CHAPTER 8
- CHAPTER 9
- CHAPTER 10
- CHAPTER 11
- CHAPTER 12
- CHAPTER 13
- CHAPTER 14
- CHAPTER 15
- CHAPTER 16
- CHAPTER 17
- CHAPTER 18
- PART III
- CHAPTER 19
- CHAPTER 20
- CHAPTER 21
- CHAPTER 22
- CHAPTER 23
- CHAPTER 24
- CHAPTER 25
- CHAPTER 26
- CHAPTER 27
- CHAPTER 28
- CHAPTER 29
- CHAPTER 30
- CHAPTER 31
- PART IV
- CHAPTER 32
- CHAPTER 33
- CHAPTER 34
- CHAPTER 35
- CHAPTER 36
- CHAPTER 37
- CHAPTER 38
- CHAPTER 39
- CHAPTER 40
- CHAPTER 41
- PART V
- CHAPTER 42
- CHAPTER 43
- CHAPTER 44
- CHAPTER 45
- CHAPTER 46
- CHAPTER 47
- CHAPTER 48
- CHAPTER 49
- CHAPTER 50
- CHAPTER 51
- CHAPTER 52
- CHAPTER 53
- CHAPTER 54
- CHAPTER 55
- CHAPTER 56
- PART VI
- CHAPTER 57
- CHAPTER 58
- CHAPTER 59
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
“Easy enough. I’ll have them pack the light machine guns and their ammunition in separate bags. One for each helicopter,” said Oleg.
“Good idea. And the more I think about it, make sure everyone packs a separate mission bag with their primary weapon, pistol, ammunition, night vision, and plate carrier gear. If privacy turns out to be a concern at the Branson Airport, we’ll have to kit up in the helicopters.”
“Got it,” said Oleg. “No grenades or heavier stuff?”
“Not if we’re flying in hot,” said Felix. “One unlucky hit and kaboom. Everything that doesn’t go in the personal kits should go into sorted bags for easy access if the mission profile changes. I’m told we’ll have some friendly support at the hangar to watch over anything we don’t take in the helicopters.”
“And some friendly ground support at the site? Radio frequencies for contact and coordination?” said Oleg. “What exactly are we defending here? My guess is an oligarch’s mansion or one of Pichugin’s rich American friends?”
“That was my first guess, but a quick look at the attached maps shows what looks to be some kind of campground or summer retreat,” said Felix.
“What? Like a snazzy summer camp where rich people dump their kids?” said Oleg. “I heard the Ozarks are a popular vacation place, but I didn’t think people like Pichugin sent their children to the United States.”
“To be honest, I don’t know what this is,” said Felix, opening a few attachments.
One was a schematic representation of the camp’s layout and internal roads. Shaped like an X, with four larger buildings and a pool in the center and two square fields a few hundred yards to the north. The four wings of the X appeared to be rows of cabins and longer structures labeled BATHHOUSE. Another contained several photographs of the buildings and cabins. All one-story structures, the cabins built in orderly rows between the trees. The X was simply labeled SITE ZERO.
“Definitely not a camp for rich people,” said Oleg. “Unless this is what they’re into these days. You can never say, right? I mean, they pay twice as much for tattered clothing.”
“Looks abandoned in these pictures,” said Felix, still not sure what to make of it.
The next set of pictures gave him an uneasy feeling. A Google Maps satellite image of the same site without any structures, the location only recognizable by the two rectangular clearings shown in the schematic to the north, labeled as ATHLETIC FIELDS. Only the outline of an X meticulously drawn in the center indicating where the camp should be. He searched the image, finding no indication of the camp, or any roads leading to it. A small icon to the east, at the end of a long cover, was labeled DOCK. Only accessible by water and somehow invisible to Google Maps. Definitely not your run-of-the-mill summer camp.