Ghostwalker 09 - Ruthless Game

them. He had to stretch his range to include them. Both dogs were resistant to the manipulation. He fought for supremacy, ruthless now, aware of time slipping away. They had to be in and out before dawn.
    Phase one complete. Javier. Lucas. You have a go. Good luck.
    Both men slipped into the tunnel and began moving fast, nearly running in an almost crouch. The tunnel was narrow with a low ceiling and no lighting. It was very dark, almost black, but both men had excel ent night vision. There was no hesitation where the tunnel branched off, connecting to the barracks.
    They continued along the main passageway until they came to the entrance.
    Using hand signals, they stood to either side of the door listening for movement inside. A chair creaked. There was a rustle of papers. Lucas pointed to his left. Javier nodded. He laid his hand gently on the door to keep it from making a sound as Lucas pushed the nozzle of a hose just under the door, not enough to go through al the way, but about halfway through the thickness of the door itself. It was enough to fil the room with gas. Both donned masks.
    The idea was to al ow the gas into the room slowly so neither man realized there was a problem. The formula used was one of Jacob’s inventions. They’d long ago dubbed him the “mad scientist” with his laboratory and chemicals. He provided al sorts of fun stuff for them to use when blowing things up or, like this, an odorless gas needed to put the two men to sleep. The gas couldn’t be fast-acting but had to be gradual, so they yawned and grew sleepy, not suspicious. Gradual took precious time.
    Javier counted off the minutes. Time slowed down to a crawl. This kind of combat took nerves of steel. He waited quietly. Lucas didn’t so much as move a muscle. They were both used to living in the shadows of the night, and stil ness was a big part of that. Something heavy hit the ground. There was a grunt, and then silence. Another minute, and the chair creaked and rol ed, hitting the wal with a thump.

    Javier gave the thumbs-up sign but waited another three minutes before cutting the gas to the room. They opened the door with caution. A body lay on the floor only a few feet from dozens of screens. An armory decorated one wal , every kind of weapon that might be needed to defend the Lopez stronghold. A second man was slumped down in his chair, wedged against the wal . They didn’t touch either man as they leaned over the desk to peer into the screens.
    Phase two complete. We’re in control, Javier reported.
    Mack looked at Ethan. You’re up. Those guards are on the lookout. They can’t see you or the tower guards going down.
    I’m on it, Top.
    Ethan crawled on his bel y through the grass. This would be the longest wait. He had to scale al eight towers and one by one, take out the tower guard without detection. The towers were straight up and down with no real finger-or toeholds so even Gideon couldn’t help, and he was the second most adept at climbing.
    Ethan slipped out from cover and began the slow journey to the nearest tower. He crawled across the dirt and grass, out in the open, blending—as did al GhostWalkers—with the terrain. The tower was straight up, and he flexed his fingers, slipped out of his special shoes in order to use his toes as wel .
    Top needed fast, so he’d use both. He had microscopic hairs on his hands and feet, and each of those individual hairs had smal er hairs, or setules, each with a triangular tip. Because of the hundreds of contact points, the setules al owed him to climb nearly any surface without fear of fal ing. He could support 170 times his own weight.
    He went up fast and silent, climbing inside the tower and hovering above until the guard bent toward his coffee mug. He dropped down, inserting the dart quickly and retrieving it nearly in one motion. True to his word, he was fast and efficient, changing attack as needed, but eventual y working his way from tower to tower without detection. The last guard was lifting a pair of binoculars to look at the tower across from him, aware that he couldn’t see any of the other guards. He was reaching for his radio when Ethan darted him, hanging off the edge by only one hand.
    Phase three complete.
    Mack looked around at his team. “Let’s do it. You al know where to go. Get in position and let me know. We can’t mess this one up. We have to make this work.”
    His team flashed him looks that told him they were up for the job, and they