Within three minutes Beasley gave the signal. Jenkins led Hume out of the truck, and they rushed up a dirt road and reached the chain-link fence crowned with barbed wire. Beyond stood the transformer station, rising out of the ground like the exposed bowels of some slain electronic beast, poles like intestines, cables and wires like arteries and veins spanning the gaps between large metal organs.

Brown had already cut the lock on the gate, so Jenkins followed Hume inside.

A schematic of the entire transformer station with its switching, connection, and control equipment was already being displayed in their HUDs, and the two of them got to work, first setting up the small and carefully placed charge that would trip the breakers and cut the power to the castle and the surrounding area, then rigging up the larger charges to destroy the entire transformer station and darken an even larger portion of the province.

Meanwhile, Jenkins knew that Beasley and Hume were relieved to lighten their equipment packs. They had been carrying the team's Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (SUGV), a tracked recon robot equipped with thermal infrared and digital cameras, along with a loudspeaker system. After opening the bot's waterproof packing, they began assembly. The SUGV was barely larger than a kid's radio-controlled tank, with rubberized tracks supporting the folding camera neck. Although armed only with smoke grenades to delay an oncoming adversary, the SUGV would stand watch over the transformer station and ensure that no one could tamper with the charges. Beasley controlled the bot and would be automatically alerted should it detect movement, heat sources, or any other signs of entry within its target discrimination hemisphere, which was adjustable by the operator.

When Jenkins and Hume were finished with their charges, the SUGV was already powered up and online, and any member of the team could call up its camera images in their HUDs. Jenkins did so and glimpsed panning images of the fence line, as captured by the bot.

Brown slipped a brand-new lock on the gate, one nearly identical to the original, while Beasley used the wireless handheld controller to position the robot into a cover position beside two large poles where it could still maintain good surveillance. Once they got out of range, commands to the robot would then be routed through the network, although the SUGV would respond more slowly because of the satellite delay.

From start to finish the entire operation took 19.45 minutes, and Beasley signaled the captain that they were leaving the area and heading for the castle.

"We'll cut the power on your order, sir," he added.

Back inside the truck, Jenkins removed his Cross-Com earpiece/monocle and tugged off his balaclava to palm sweat from his face and massage his tired eyes.

"You all right, Bo?" asked Hume.

"Yeah, why?"

"You just look tired."

"I'm not. Let's get up there and get this done."

Mitchell took a deep breath. "Here we go."