"It doesn't look like a top secret research laboratory," said Agent 98.
"And that would be a good thing," said Adam sarcastically. Only he and Hannah knew this was a red herring. The other five agents had been told that this was the first of three locations. In fact this extra one had been set up entirely as a trap for Arthur and the CIA - the only way anybody could know about this location was if the Americans had gleaned the information from Arthur in some way.
It was a perfectly harmless research lab specialising in shampoo and deodorant. The staff within had been told that their location was being used as a practice ground for trainee surveillance and to carry on regardless.
There was no need for T14 to enter the buildings, merely to make themselves inconspicuous and see if anyone came nosing around. The other five agents had been told that there was a tip off that somebody else was doing surveillance and that their job was to catch them at it. It was sort of true.
For more than an hour nothing happened. The team were parked in two delivery vans, one at the front entrance and one at the rear. Through tiny holes they watched the surrounding area with cameras and various scanners and sensors.
Adam's mind was beginning to wander when Hannah's voice came through the radio.
"37?"
"Yes," he replied, immediately regaining his focus.
"Do you have anything there?" she asked.
Adam surveyed the various monitors and pieces of equipment. He looked at the other agents, who all shrugged in turn.
"Nothing here. You?"
"Maybe. Binoculars, eight hundred yards away. It's a fairly large wooded area so it may be a bird watcher or something, but they've been fixed in this direction for three minutes and counting."
"Can you zoom in any further?" asked Adam.
"Already at maximum," replied Hannah, "It's also quite windy so the motion sensors can't pick up anything among all the foliage. Could be one person, could be a dozen."
"Or it could be a trap to deflect us from an attack from the front," mused Adam. "I think I'll take a look, keep me posted."
He picked up a small headset mic.
"Patch all comms through to this," he said, putting it on.
"Done."
He put on a long coat, placing a handgun in each pocket.
"Keep me in vision and let me know of anything suspicious immediately."
"Yes, sir," nodded one of the agents.
Adam left the van and walked through the car park. This side of the building was near a road with no place for concealment. The only way to covertly watch the buildings from the front would be with a similar vehicle to theirs. He walked the length of the road twice and saw nothing but a few parked cars and an old woman dragging a poodle along.
Beyond a patch of grass was a row of houses, but trees prevented anyone getting a good view of the laboratory from there. He was about to return to the surveillance van when Hannah's voice came through.
"Those binoculars haven't moved for ten minutes, they have to be watching the building. How about I get out of the van and prowl around with a machine gun, see if that gets a reaction?"
"No," said Adam, "there are plenty of rifles with a range of eight hundred yards, you'd be a sitting duck. There's nothing out front, no place at all for concealment. Okay, 98 come and pick me up. Hannah, send me the grid reference of those binoculars."
"Will do."
A minute later the van pulled up and Adam got into the passenger seat. He pulled up a map on his phone and marked the grid reference Hannah gave him.
"We'll pull up four hundred yards before that and scan the area. They may have a vehicle occupied in there as well, we don't want to drive straight into it."
Ten minutes later they pulled up on a dirt road.
"Well," said Adam, "what do we have?"
"Sensors show only one motor vehicle in the entire woods," said 94, "we're just training the camera on it now."
Adam and 98 looked at a flip up screen mounted on the dashboard. A car came into focus.
"Zoom in as tight as you can," said Adam.
The image of the car enlarged, until a man could be seen standing next to it smoking a cigarette.
"Heat scanners show no other occupants of vehicle," said 94. "The only other people within scanner range are two people with the binoculars."
"Are you getting this, Hannah?"
"Yes, it's obviously just a scouting party, not an assault squad or anything. What do we do?"
"I'd better phone the director."
Adam pushed a few buttons on his phone and took off his headset mic.
"It appears they've sprung the trap."
"Immediate danger?" said White.
"No, looks like a low key surveillance job. Just three of them, one car and a pair of binoculars. They may have heavy duty weapons and explosives in the car, of course, but the one we're looking at next to the car doesn't look very threatening."
"Neither do you," said White, "but I know better."
"Yes, sir," said Adam, blushing. "Anyway, shall we bring them in? They've been watching the place for twenty minutes now, there can't be any innocent explanation."
"I agree. How far is the car from the other two?"
"Half a mile."
"Okay, capture the one with the car and make sure he doesn't communicate with the others. Search the car and get back to me."
"Yes, sir."
Adam put down his phone.
"Hannah. As soon as you hear us capture the car, come and join us."
"Okay, good luck."
"Right," said Adam to 98, "you stay here and record everything you can."
He got out of the van and went around to the back where the other two agents were already checking their weapons.
"Now listen, this is your first proper mission. We are not here to kill these people, we're to capture them with the minimum of fuss. If you see them going for a weapon, shoot them once in the leg. Understood?"
They both nodded excitedly.
"Stay in there until my signal."
Adam walked around to the front of the van and got back in.
"Let the handbrake off and slowly go another two hundred yards down the track."
98 nodded and did as instructed.
"Okay, that's close enough," he said a minute later.
"Hannah, let me know if those binoculars move an inch."
"Will do."
"94, 96, time to go."
The three agents walked slowly down the dirt road, keeping an eye out for anyone innocently walking in the woods.
As they got to within fifty yards of the car, Adam did up his coat to hide the rifle slung over his shoulder. He still had the two handguns in his pocket. He checked both of them and then put them back, placing his hands gently on the trigger of both.
"I'm going to go and ask him the time and try to take him on my own. Any struggle you two come running, and I mean running, and disable him as quickly as possible."
Adam crept quietly through the woods, keeping off the road. He got to within fifteen yards of the car. He saw the man take out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. Making use of the few seconds of distraction, he walked briskly out onto the path and towards the man.
"Excuse me," he said, just as the man lit his cigarette, and maintaining his brisk pace towards the car, "I've got myself a bit lost. Do you have the time on you?"
The man looked slightly flustered as he put his lighter in his trouser pocket and rolled up his sleeve to look at his watch.
"Ten past three," he said in a strange accent that didn't sound at all natural.
"They don't train them like they used to," thought Adam as he surreptitiously looked inside the car.
"I was going to do some bird watching, but I seem to have forgotten my binoculars." he said, closely watching the man's face and hands. "Have you got yours with you?"
His reactions were slow, but all too predictable. Adam had plenty of time to knock the gun from his hand while it was still halfway inside his jacket, and take his own gun from his jacket pocket and point it at the man's head.
He threw him roughly against the bonnet and handcuffed him.
96 and 94 ran up.
"Well done, sir," said 96.
"Never mind that, tell 98 and 61 to get here now."
Even at a brisk trot, and assuming they were a lot fitter than this guy, it would take the two with the binoculars at least six minutes to get back to their car, more probably ten.
"Who are you?" demanded Adam. The man said nothing. "Search the car," he said, taking the keys from the man's pocket and throwing them to 94.
"Hand gun and boxes of ammo in the glove box," said 96.
Adam searched the man fully.
"Handguns and no ID, that's not a typical bird watcher."
The man remained silent and expressionless.
98 pulled up in the van and Adam pushed the man towards him.
"Put him in the back and keep an eye on him. If he makes a fuss, shoot him in the leg."
Something about Adam's unnaturally calm expression clearly unnerved the man, and his eyes betrayed considerable panic as he was lead away.
Adam checked his watch. Five minutes.
"Come on, get that boot open."
96 unlocked the boot.
"Shit! These guys mean business."
Adam glanced over the assortment of machine guns, detonators, and even a small grenade launcher.
"That's a lot of equipment for three men," he said. "Okay, lock the car."
Aware that the other two men may be on their way back any minute, may be using their binoculars to check their route, and may have taken a few items from the boot before leaving, he didn't want to hang around in the open.
"Reverse the van four hundred yards and get 61 and her team down here on the double," he said to 98. "96, you stay with me." He took a pair of binoculars from the van and hung them around his neck.
As the van pulled away, 37 and 96 took positions behind trees about fifty yards from the car.
"Hannah, how long?"
"There's a bit of traffic, we should be at the car in six minutes."
"Stop when you see our van and all three of you proceed on foot. 98 and 94 have one suspect in custody and I need you here for the other two. Their car contained quite an arsenal, including a grenade launcher, fuck knows what they may have with them. Phone White and update him and get here as soon as you can."
"98, all good with you?"
"Yes, sir, just pulling up now."
"Everyone maintain comms silence unless absolutely necessary until my next order. I don't want any distractions if we have to take these two on our own."
He raised his binoculars, taking the chance that this would signal the returning men.
"No sign of them yet," he whispered.
A few minutes later he caught a glimpse of them walking through the woods, just as he heard Hannah whisper that she was approaching.
"They're on their way," he said, "be ready for anything. They should reach the car in about three minutes."
He put the binoculars down on the ground.
"Keep your eyes on that path beyond the car, 96."
96 nodded.
Adam ran back to meet Hannah and the other two agents.
"I need you to be in position to take them out if necessary," he said to Hannah. "We have the other one, he'll talk eventually. The gear these guys are carrying they're no angels, that means we are authorised to use lethal force if necessary. If they fire at us or go to open the boot, kill them."
Hannah nodded. She quickly choose a position and cleared some leaves and twigs away before lying down on the ground. Her trusty rifle was already assembled so she just had to fit the small tripod and adjust the site.
"89, 87 you take position here and be ready to back me up."
Adam moved further into the woods and crept his way towards the car. If they hid behind it, he needed to be close enough to get to them within seconds and surprise them.
They didn't have long to wait before the men emerged from a clearing and stood looking at the car.
Adam was close enough to hear their conversation.
"Oh god, I bet he's off in the woods having a piss," said one of them irritably. "I told you he was useless."
The other sighed and took a spare set of keys from his pocket.
"Hannah," whispered Adam as quietly as possible, "if that one takes a weapon from the boot shoot him instantly and I'll disarm the other one."
"Okay," she whispered in return.
The man with the keys checked the doors and found them locked. He walked towards the boot. The other man looked around and produced a handgun from his waistband. The gun was fitted with a silencer.
"These are more professional," thought Adam, focusing his attention on the man and preparing to rush him.
Hannah steadied herself as the first man opened the boot. He reached in and for a frustrating few seconds she couldn't see what he was doing. Then he turned away from the boot holding a machine gun. As he slammed a magazine into place, Hannah gently squeezed the trigger.
The bullet ripped it's way through his collar bone with such force it knocked him around a hundred and eighty degrees before he slumped to the ground, still clutching the machine gun.
"Cover the injured man," hissed Hannah into her mic as she let go of the rifle and pulled a Kalashnikov from her backpack.
The shot and the cry of his colleague distracted the other man, who turned in amazement to see what was happening. This allowed Adam to get up from his hiding place and run towards him.
"Drop the weapon," he shouted, aiming his handgun squarely at the man's chest.
The man instinctively turned and raised his gun at Adam.
Before Adam could pull the trigger the man jerked in the air and blood sprayed from his chest like an exploding colander. He fell backwards, dropping the gun.
Adam glanced around to see Hannah running towards him.
"Check on the other one," he said, marching towards the felled man.
Before she could react several more shots rang out.
Adam and Hannah instinctively hit the ground.
"Sorry, that was me," shouted 87, so loudly that his voice distorted in their headsets.
Hannah rolled over to see that the man she had shot first was now a bloody mess.
"Don't shout into these things, you could perforate our eardrums," she said.
"Sorry," he said quietly. "He was turning around towards you and he had the gun in his hand."
"Well done," said Adam, getting up from the ground. "Come on, let's get out of here before the noise attracts any members of the public. 98 drive down here as quickly as possible."
"Yes, sir."
Adam checked the men, they were both dead.
"I'll drive the car back to headquarters, see what forensics can find," he said, locking the boot and pocketing the keys.
"Put the bodies in the van and I want two people guarding the other one, he's our only lead now."
They began clearing the scene as quickly as possible while Adam phoned White.
"They weren't out for a picnic," he said, "they had a grenade launcher. They may have been planning to attack the lab. You'd better inform the local police in case they send anyone else to do the job." He heard sirens in the distance. "And could you do that very quickly, we're about to have them on the scene."
He put his phone away and helped to get the bodies into the van.
The sound of sirens died away after a couple of minutes, but a police car arrived shortly afterwards.
Adam took out his ID.
"We know the situation," said one of the officers, stepping out of the car, "anything we can do?"
"Pretend this never happened," said Adam. "We have to get going now, but if you could clear up the bullets and wash away the blood that would be a big help." He took out his phone and pulled up the map with the grid reference he'd marked. "Do you know this area," he said, showing the officer the phone.
"Yes, it's just down there," he replied, pointing to the path through the clearing.
"If you could check out that area and bag anything you find. Two of our suspects spent some time there with binoculars, any forensic evidence could be useful."
"What were they watching?"
"Nothing, as it turned out. They were wasting their time."
Adam turned the car around and followed the two vans back up the road.