Page 74 of Undercover Infidel
“You’ll coordinate from here,” I replied. “Your expertise in neural interfaces means you can guide us once we’re inside. If we encounter technical obstacles, we’ll need your knowledge.”
She accepted this with a short nod, though something flickered behind her eyes—something I didn’t like. I pressed on anyway.
“Once inside, our primary objective is to reach the central laboratory and disable the neural interface,” I continued. “Secondary objective is Orlov himself. Questions?”
No one spoke. The gravity of our mission had sobered all of us.
“Departure in thirty minutes,” I concluded. “Gear up.”
As the team dispersed to make the final preparations, Lex stayed behind, her fingers tracing the facility layout on the display.
“We’re missing something,” she murmured, too low for the others to hear.
I leaned closer. “What do you mean?”
“The intelligence is too clean, too complete.” Her brow furrowed. “It’s as if someone wanted us to have this information.”
“A trap?”
“Or a test.” She met my gaze, her dark eyes reflecting my own concerns. “Either way, we need to proceed.”
I touched her arm gently. “Stay close to me in there.”
“Roger that,” she replied, the two words carrying a weight beyond their syllables.
As darkness cloaked our approach,we moved toward Orlov’s compound. Our team split into three groups, each taking different entry points to minimize the detection risk. Tactical vests equipped with limited comms kept us connected as we penetrated the outer perimeter.
Lex moved beside me, her breathing steady despite the tension.
“In position,” Tag’s voice murmured through my earpiece.
“East team ready,” cameBennett’s confirmation.
I glanced at Lex, who gave a brief affirmative gesture. “West team proceeding,” I responded. “Execute on my mark.”
The facility loomed ahead, its security more fortified than our previous infiltration had revealed. New motion sensors dotted the fence line, and additional guards patrolled in tighter rotations. Orlov had clearly anticipated our return.
“Three…two…one…mark,” I whispered.
We breached the perimeter simultaneously, our coordinated approach designed to overwhelm their security response. For precious seconds, everything proceeded according to plan—until floodlights blazed to life across the compound.
“They were waiting for us,” Lex hissed as guards emerged from concealed positions.
Gunfire erupted from multiple directions. Not random suppression—targeted shots from trained personnel who knew exactly where we’d be. Our plan had been compromised.
“Fall back to the secondary positions,” I ordered through the comms, pulling Lex behind a storage container as bullets peppered the ground where we’d stood.
No response came through the channel. Either our comms had been jammed, or the others couldn’t reply. Either way, we were isolated.
“We need to reach the main laboratory,” Lex said, checking her weapon.
“No doubt they’ve accelerated the timeline.”
More guards converged on our position, forcing us to retreat farther from our planned route. Each exchange of gunfire drove us deeper into the facility and farther from the area where Orlov would be conducting his demonstration.
“This way,” I urged, spotting the maintenance access we used yesterday.
We slipped through the narrow passage, the sounds of pursuit temporarily fading behind us.
