“Good morning, Sergeant, I am part of General Abashell’s team. He is expecting me.” They all knew the reputation of the general, and immediately set to locating him. The man was a legend, but more than that he was a veritable asshole and known for his furious temper. They didn’t even know he was here, but in the confusion after the attack, every unit in the vicinity had responded. It had been a mess, but they had secured the area. It was a little late, perhaps, as the cat was out of the bag, so to speak, in fact, six of them were, but there were ten more HATF-VI on the base, and they did not intend to lose track of any more of them.

As various junior officers inside the complex scrambled to locate a general that wasn’t even on-site, Preeti feigned impatience, eventually stepping up to the guard and saying, “Well, have you found him yet?”

The guard shook his head and was about to speak when she carried on, “Incompetent man, find him and tell him that his daughter Sowmya is here.”

The man balked. The only person more feared than General Abashell was his daughter. She implicitly carried with her all the power of her formidable father, and was not without considerable military experience and standing herself. Waiting a moment, she assessed the affect she’d had on the poor man and then said, “Fool, I will find him myself.” and she pushed passed him into the inner base.

On any other day the guard would have known which senior officers were and were not on-site and no amount of posturing would have convinced him otherwise. But this was no ordinary day, and the guard post, in fact the entire inner perimeter, had only been reestablished a few hours ago. So Preeti’s practiced impudence overrode the guards’ hastily given orders and they looked after her with a mix of fear, shock, and confusion as she walked into the silo complex.

Unknown to her, the man Preeti truly sought was actually watching her. She was regularly updating the AIs with her position when she could so Shahim had known she was coming from miles away. And now here she was. He was also dressed in a Pakistani army uniform, and also speaking either perfect Iranian or Urdu as circumstances required, so he had managed to blend in with the soldiers as they arrived to defend the base. Now he stood with his back to the small lantern that his guard troop was using while manning the inner perimeter not far from the checkpoint. Silhouetted against the lamp, he watched Agent Preeti head to the bunkers and smiled. While the satellites still roamed overhead, he could do nothing. But thanks to him there was now a yawning gap in those satellites and it was fast approaching.