This convenience eliminated the need to run wires through their clothing, which became problematic if they had to shed outfits. The CIA had express-mailed the gear to Viktor when it became apparent that the Solntsevskaya Bratva wasn’t familiar with the technology. Based on what Misha had seen, they didn’t seem to be big on technology at all. It was clear that they had outsourced the assembly of the computer network he had used in their warehouse. Nobody could answer a single question about it.
Gosha arrived at the door, which he had jammed open with a small backpack. He carried a similar submachine gun under his brown leather jacket, the suppressor visible along his right thigh.
“Can you bring that bag?” Misha said.
Gosha removed the bag, and the door pneumatically hissed behind them. He tossed the backpack over the security counter to Misha, who had just kicked the dead guard out of the chair. He barely caught it, giving him a momentary scare.
“Take it easy with this shit,” Misha said.
“Nothing that can break,” Gosha replied.
“I’m not worried about it breaking.”
While Gosha guarded Belyakov, Misha set about the task of disabling the security systems relevant to their mission. He had already embedded a Trojan horse virus that would allow him to access the full security suite from any computer hooked into Vektor’s intranet. He traded the bloodied chair for the one used by the other guard and started typing. Within thirty seconds, he had accessed one of the subdirectories and activated the backdoor entry.
He now had complete, unfettered access to every system except for the self-destruct protocol. He started by deactivating the motion-and pressure-activated lights along the triple-layered perimeter fence near the assault team.
“Yuri, this is Misha. You are clear to breach the perimeter fences.”
“Roger. Assault team moving.”
Next, he proceed in a logical order to disable every security system that could lead to the assault team’s detection as they broke into Building Number Five, which was connected to Building Number Six by a windowless, above-ground, reinforced hallway. He was mainly concerned with the motion-activated lights. Lights tripped by the assault team might attract security to the area, where they were sure to discover a broken window. All of the other systems triggered an alert in the main security station, where nobody would see them.
Chapter 48
Richard Farrington (“Yuri”) held the breach in the chain-link fence open for Sevastyan Bazin (“Seva”), the team’s demolitions expert. Once Seva had squeezed through, he released the fence and attached gray zip-ties at several points along the cut, pulling them tight and trimming the loose ends. From a distance, the section would look perfectly intact to one of the highly infrequent roving patrols. Up close was a different story, but they didn’t plan to be around long enough for that to be a problem. Finished with his handiwork, he turned and located the team through his Russian made PN-9K night vision goggles. They were huddled at the corner of Building Five, scanning the darkness between the inner fence and buildings. He arrived at the corner after a dead sprint and positioned himself behind Grisha, taking a moment to catch his breath.
“Anything?” he whispered.
Grisha shook his head. Farrington leaned over him and examined Building Six. Windowless for the first two of four stories, the target building showed no signs of life through his night vision goggles. The front of the building was attached to the concrete enclosed tunnel that connected it to Building Five. There were no more buildings beyond Building Six. The Virology complex was configured as a series of six connected buildings. Each consecutive building represented a higher level of security, providing a simple, progressive security arrangement. An employee cleared to work in Building Five could access areas appropriate to their duties anywhere between the main security station and the entrance to the access tunnel leading to Building Six.
Likewise, in order to ultimately reach Building Five, that employee would have to pass through each consecutive building in numeric order, forward or backward. Each building was separated by one of these enclosed tunnels, protected by security card readers. The system kept track of their security card use and verified that no security point was skipped. Employees authorized to work in Building Six had to endure additional security measures.
A manned security station in the lobby of Building Six monitored the entrance to the tunnel, actively granting or denying access. The door leading into the tunnel from Building Five was constructed of bullet-resistant, shatterproof glass surrounded by a thin, reinforced metal frame, allowing the security station to visually verify that only one person stood in the card reader vestibule, without relying on security cameras. The cameras were mainly utilized to match the identity of the security card user with their Vektor profile.
The final measure only compounded their problem. Building Six’s security system included a few cutouts from the main security program. Most important, the alarm system was independent, sounding directly at the Vektor Quick Reaction Station (QRS) and alerting mobile patrols via electronic tablet. This added security feature posed a challenge for his team. Misha could disable the cameras and the door, but there was nothing he could do within the security system to hamper the guards’ own vision. The sight of armed men huddled outside of the tunnel would guarantee the quick arrival of at least a dozen ex-special forces security contractors, which is why he had been more than happy to include the breathing version of Arkady Belyakov in the most updated plan.
“Misha, confirm that the alarms for Building Five are disabled,” he whispered.
“All security features through Building Five have been deactivated, with the exception of the cameras outside of the access hallway.”
“Good work. We’re accessing Building Five. Send Gosha and Belyakov.”
“Understood. Gosha is en route.”
Yuri patted Grisha on the back and went to work on the nearest ground-floor window with Seva.
Dressed in one of the custom-fitted Vektor security uniforms provided by the mafiya, Gosha peered through the security station’s front window into the parking lot, checking for any signs of a roving security patrol. Bratva surveillance confirmed that the roving patrols occasionally checked on the main station, peering through the door. If they arrived and found one guard on duty instead of two, they might access the station and investigate, which would put Misha in a tough situation. They had hastily cleaned the walls of obvious bloodstains visible from the door and changed into the Vektor security uniform provided by the mafiya, but the room wouldn’t stand up to the most cursory inspection by anyone approaching the security counter.
They had dragged the bodies into the security vault located behind the counter, but there was no way they could adequately clean the sheer volume of blood that had pumped onto the black-and-white checkered linoleum floor behind them without dragging in janitorial gear. They wouldn’t be in place at Vektor long enough to justify a tidy wipe down. Any curious security officers that decided to step inside the lobby would join the pile of bodies in the vault.