Part 1

The silent alarm was going off on his smart watch. As he turns it off, he starts to open the window on his tent. Outside, it is still snowing and the wind is still beating the sides of the tent. David closed the window back up and looked at his pocket calendar. He asks himself, Five days? How long will this weather keep going like this?

He puts his calendar away and pulls out his tablet. Thankfully, his boss had given him a portable charger that recharges itself through body heat. David checks for any messages from his boss or specialists. Only one comes up:

David,

We have been keeping track of the weather patterns in the area. It appears the snow storms will not let up for another week. However, you have a small window coming up in a few hours. You will only have one hour to pack up and make it to the back door of that bunker. Let us know when you have the information.

Chris

David looks at the message was sent and then checks his watch. He still has about an hour before the window. In the meantime, he eats one of his ready-to-eat meals (MREs) and pack up everything inside the tent into his assault pack.

As soon as the storm lets up, David crawls out of the tent and quickly packs it up and carries it back to the cache that Bruce, the equipment specialist, had made two weeks prior. David covers it up and checks his compass. He is about one click south of the bunker and he sets a timer on his watch, carefully taking in the time spent breaking down the tent.

David starts walking up the mountain path that Chris said would lead him straight to the backside of the bunker. Halfway through his trek, the path becomes no more than a ledge along a cliff. As he approaches the cliff, he reaches around his back and pulls two ice picks out of his pack.

David swings the first pick into the rocky mountain side and gives it a small tug. It doesn't budge so he takes a small step and swings the other pick which gets buried into the mountain just like the first one. He starts to move along the cliff side slowly so that he doesn't fall, what looks to him like, over 200 feet to the rocky bottom.

Once he reaches the other side, he steps away from the cliff and onto the mountain slope.

He puts his ice picks back into his pack as he surveys the beautiful Swiss mountain range. He checks his compass ad takes off in the direction of the bunker. While hiking up the snow-covered mountain side, he recalls how he ended up where he is.

*******************************

Just a week ago, David was at his two-story home in Dallas, Texas. He had just finished his daily workout in his private gym, when his phone started to ring.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Dad, where are you at?" his daughter asked.

"Oh shit! I am so sorry Kaity, I just lost track of time. I am on my way right now."

"Ha-ha. OK dad. I will see you in about 10 minutes?"

"Sure, thing sweetie."

"OK. Bye, I love you."

"Bye, I love you too."

David had completely forgotten about picking up Kaity at 3 o'clock from school. He quickly changed from his workout cloths to jeans and a t-shirt. He ran outside and jumped into his '05 Chevrolet Silverado and took off toward the school.

As he arrives, he spots his 15-year-old daughter sitting on the front steps laughing with her friends. He realizes that his phone is going off and answers it just as Kaity gets in and realizes it is Mike who is calling.

"David. We have another lead, but we need to get you on a plane tonight."

"What time does it leave?"

"2100. Will that give you plenty of time to spend some time with Kaity and take her to Allison's?"

"Yes sir. I will be there.

"Good. You are going to Bauma, Switzerland. So, you better dress warm. Bruce has already sent you some essentials. They should be arriving on your doorstep within the hour."

"Thank you, sir. Will there be a mission brief on the plane?"

"Yes. It is a private jet, so we will have a web conference set up."

"OK. See you then."

As he hangs up the phone, Kaity asks him what is going on and David explains that he must go to work tonight. For all Kaity and her mom, Allison, knows, David is an overseas salesman. Kaity agrees to go to her mom's house early, but she wants to spend time with her Dad for a while first.

"What would you like to do?" asks David.

"Hmmm. I want to kick your butt in some Call of Duty," Kaity says with a grin.

"Oh, you are so on."

****************************

After walking for about twenty minutes, he arrives at the fence that surrounds the bunker. He surveys the ten-foot tall fence and the area. David takes a quick glance at his watch and realizes that he only has ten minutes before the snow storm settles back in. He quickly climbs over the fence and darts toward the bunker. There hasn't been any signs of guards or security from what he can tell.

As he gets closer to the bunker, David spots a single guard near his infiltration point. He quickly lays down to avoid being spotted. He pulls out the HK45 pistol given to him by Bruce when he first joined the Talons. He pulls the HK45 up and puts a well-placed shot in the guard's chest. David puts the gun back into its holster and runs over to the guard. He quickly searches the guard and finds a keycard.

He swipes the card and he hears a soft click; he opens the door and then pulls in the guard's body. As the door shuts behind him, he puts on his night vision goggles and realizes that he is standing at the end of a long hallway with a small alcove on the right side about halfway down. He picks up the body and carries it down to the alcove and sets it down behind a filing cabinet.

As soon as the body slumps to the floor, David hears the door at the other end of the hall open. He peeks around the corner and spots two guards walking right towards him. He presses himself flat against the back of the filing cabinet just as the guards come within ear shot.

"I thought Mr. Maverik would have left by now."

"He isn't scheduled to leave until 17:00. So, for now we have to double security."

"This is our most remote safe house in Europe. Who would dare try and look for it?"

"I don't know, but Mr. Maverik is the one who is concerned."

As the guards pass through the door that David just came through, he asks himself, Why is Maverik here? He quickly pulls out his tablet and sends Mike an encrypted message stating that Maverik is in the bunker and has double security.

A few moments later, Kyle replies with a message that states:

Proceed as planned. ROE (Rules of Engagement) have not changed.

David quickly puts the tablet back and peers back into the hall. There is no sign of movement from either side. He swiftly moves down the hall to the door the guards came from. As he slowly cracks the door open, he spots a stairwell leading further down into the bunker. He slowly opens the door enough for himself to squeeze through and closes it behind him until her hears the soft click of the latch.

He walks over to the railing and looks down to see a three-story drop. He steps back and opens his tablet back up to examine the schematics of the building provided to him and he sees that there are two doors: one halfway down the stairs and one at the bottom. He puts the tablet back and moves back to the railing. As he looks down the stairwell, David spots a single guard pacing in front of the first door.

He realizes that the stairs run along the wall, but there is a spot that runs right above where the guard is pacing. He slowly moves down the stairs while keeping an eye on the guard. Once he is right above the guard, David moves over to the railing and climbs over. He stands there waiting for the guard to pass back underneath him. As the guard starts moving back the other way, David drops down on top of the guard's head with a loud thud and the guard falls to the ground unconscious.

David pulls the guard over to the wall and lays him down along it and curls him up to make him look like he fell asleep on the job. He moves over to the door and presses his ear against it and hears nothing but silence. He slowly opens the door and moves into the room. As he closes the door, he starts to hear voices coming from behind another door.

He puts his goggles back on and looks around the room. He realizes that he is in the cafeteria with a door to his left and right. The door to his left is open and looks like a janitor's closet. He closes his eyes and listens to the voices. He realizes that they are coming from the room to his right. He silently moves over to the door and presses his ear against it.

"Do we have the supplies?

"Yes sir. They arrived just this morning. Everything is accounted for except for one crate."

"Which crate is missing?"

"The one holding the ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) launch codes."

"Where is it?!"

"I am not sure sir. The crew said that it is probably back at the warehouse."

"Well there is no time to lose. We need that crate here asap."

David quickly backs away from the door as hears the two walking in his direction and runs into the janitor's closet. As he enters the closet, he rounds the corner and pushes himself flat against the wall. He hears the footsteps from the two men walking toward the door leading to the stairwell. All he can do is hope that they do not see the guards body slumped over.

As he hears the door shut, he hears one of the men trying to wake up the guard.

"Wake up you piece of shit! You know not to be sleeping on the job!"

"Sorry sir. I don't know what happened. I guess I didn't sleep very good last night."

"Well, I better not catch you sleeping again. Now come on. We need to go to the warehouse."

David leaned out of the closet enough to hear the three men walking down the stairs. He quickly opens his tablet to find that he no longer has a signal due to how deep in the bunker he is. He puts it away and runs for the door. As he opens the door, he hears another door somewhere below him shut. He listens for a moment. Nothing.

He runs back up the stairs and through the door to the original hallway. He takes off sprinting down the hall for the backdoor when suddenly the door swings open to the two guards he had heard earlier. Both guards had their guns at the ready and took aim at David. David quickly jumped into the alcove just as the guards opened fire. David pulled out his pistol and cornershot attachment and puts them together. He hears the guards moving towards him.

He uses the attachment to maneuver the pistol around the corner without exposing himself. He puts the first round in the head of the first guard. The second opens fire and David pulls the gun back. He lays down the weapon and pulls out his tactical knife and holds it at the ready. Just as the guard comes around the corner, David plunges the knife into the guards' arm and falls on top of him.

While the guard tries to throw David off, David hits him in the face and moves his legs onto the guards' arms and sits on his belly. David asks, "Where is the warehouse?"

"I will never tell you!"

David pulls the knife out and places it across the man's throat. "I am going to ask you one more time! Where is the warehouse?!"

"It's in an abandoned brick manufacturing plant just outside of Zurich to the southeast! Just please don't kill me! My son just started school."

"Thank you," says David just as he slams his fist one more time into the guards' face, knocking him out cold. David gets up and runs out the door into the blizzard. He runs for the fence as fast as his legs will carry him. As he jumps the fence, he hears alarms going off at the bunker. They must have found the body, he thinks. He runs back toward the cliff and stops about half way to look at his tablet. He finds the email from Chris telling him that about half a click to the west is a snow mobile for exfil.

After walking through the whiteout for about thirty minutes, he finally reaches the snowmobile. David opens his tablet to find the coordinates for the safehouse and punches them in. The snowmobile is a little hard to start, being as it has been sitting here for about a week, but David finally gets the engine to turn over and he starts heading for the warehouse which is 30 miles away.

******************

As David gets within two miles of the warehouse, he parks the snowmobile in an abandoned barn and starts jogging. After ten minutes, he finally reaches the outskirts of the manufacturing plant. David pulls out his binoculars and scans the area for signs of movement and security. He doesn't see any signs of security, but he does see some people moving near the main office building.

He zooms in and counts ten guards, all armed with AK-47s. David puts his binoculars away and pulls the tablet out. He dims the brightness so that he won't be detected. He quickly types a message to Mike:

Mike,

I have already left the bunker. I heard two. guards talking about a shipment that had arrived at the bunker. One crate was missing, but I received some intel that it is in a warehouse at the old brick plant outside of Zurich. It contains launch codes for an ICBM. I am already here to get more intel on the operation. I will let

you know what I find out.

David

He puts the tablet back in his pack after he verifies that the message sent. He starts moving toward the office building when he spots a small SUV pulling up to it. He lays down and puts on his goggles and spots only one guard get out and walk into the building. He stands up and quickly sprints towards the SUV, using the cover of old machinery as cover. As he gets near the SUV, he can hear guards talking back and forth about drinking, their families and other random things.

He quietly moves alongside the SUV toward the passenger door. He peaks through the window and finds it empty. He opens the door and searches the glove compartment for any evidence and finds nothing. He closes the door and moves closer to the building. He looks through a small window and spots a map of the complex on the wall. He quickly looks it over and spots the only standing warehouse in the complex. It seems to be southwest of where he is.

David crouches back down and pulls out his compass to get his bearings. He starts moving toward the warehouse when he spots a small convoy of SUVs rolling into the complex from the north. He quickly sprints across the complex, maneuvering around the old machines and demolished buildings. He reaches the warehouse just as the convoy gets to the office building. He says to himself, I need to hurry and find that crate before they arrive.

David runs over to the door and squeezes through the small opening then pulls it shut. He puts his night vision goggles back on and scans the area for movement and crates. Although, he doesn't see anyone else inside, he spots a few dozen crates along the first floor and three stacks of four crates on the second floor in a corner, along with huge stacks of bricks everywhere. He opens his tablet to check for messages and finds a new one from Mike:

David,

Good job on finding the intel and nice call on heading to Zurich. Onceyou find the package, secure it. Logan will be waiting for you at the airport in Kloten.

Mike

David puts the tablet away and goes to work, opening all crates as quick as he can. After not finding anything in the crates on the first floor, David moves to the second. As he is finishing the second stack, he hears the convoy pull up just outside. He quickly runs behind a stack of bricks just as the door opens and five guards step through.

"Which one is the correct crate?"

"I have no idea. All I know is Jackson said it was in here about an hour ago when he checked."

A sixth person walks through the door and says, "Stop standing around and find it! The Hornets are probably already on their way to the bunker to pick it up!"

"Yes sir, Mr. Maverik!"

The Hornets? What does a Romanian mafia want with ICBM launch codes? Unless, David says to himself. While the guards a rummaging through the crates downstairs, David starts going through the last stack of crates and finds the launch codes inside a briefcase in the bottom crate. He takes the papers and puts them into his assault pack and puts everything back. As he moves back behind the bricks, he hears the guards finishing downstairs.

"It's not here sir. We have looked through all of the crates."

"Damn it!" yells Mr. Maverik. "We need those codes! Wait. Look up there. On the second floor, in the corner. Check those crates really quick."

"On it sir."

David hears the guard moving directly toward his position. I need to act fast before he spots me. David pulls out two smoke grenades and tosses one toward the guard on the second floor and the other to everyone downstairs. He hears the pop and all the guards scrambling and coughing. David quickly switches his goggles to thermal vision and jumps the railing. He runs right past Mr. Maverik and jumps into the nearest SUV.

He hears Mr. Maverik on the vehicles radio system, "There was someone here! He has the codes and took one of the SUVs! Stop him!"

David spots dozens of guards coming out of the office building and jumping onto motorcycles and into other SUVs. David maneuvers around them with ease, but now they are chasing him right into Zurich. David quickly notices that there are plenty of other SUVs just like the one he is driving. So, he pushes down on the accelerator until he can't push it down any further. He is having to watch his driving because one wrong move and he will go back to Dallas in a body bag.

After driving for about twenty minutes, David spots a small parking lot full of SUVs just like his. He looks in the rearview mirror and doesn't see anyone at all. He pulls into the lot and quickly jumps out and sprints over to another one and jumps in, but instead of starting it up, he waits. A few seconds later, here comes Mr. Maverik's men, but they just keep driving down the road. David pulls out his GPS and punches in the coordinates for the airport. He is only five miles away.

David pulls out of the parking lot and drives slowly, so that he doesn't attract attention to himself. After driving for about ten minutes, he can finally see the airport and without being followed. As he is about to pull into the parking lot, he notices several SUVs parked by the main gate with guards checking everyone's luggage and passports. David just keeps driving and pulls out a prepaid phone from is pack and punches in Logan's number.

"Logan. Where are you at?" David asks.

"David? I am sitting by terminal 12 waiting on you."

"What plane are you in?"

"I'm in the Osprey. Why?"

"I'm going need a quick getaway."

"On it. Which way are you coming from?"

"The north side of the airport."

"Roger. See you in a bit."

David hangs up and keeps driving. He finds the service ramp that will take him toward Lufingin. He quickly turns left and drives straight for the northside of the airport. David drives through the field between him and the airstrip and spots Logan's Osprey pulling onto the tarmac facing south. David opens the throttle and speeds down the tarmac toward the Osprey when he realizes that Mr. Maverik's men have spotted him and are in pursuit. As Logan drops the ramp, David is hit by one of the SUVs and thrown onto the opposite runway. David looks up and spots a Boeing 747 about to land. He quickly jerks his wheel back to the right and up onto the correct runway.

Mr. Maverik's men have now pulled out different types of assault rifles and have opened fire on David's SUV. David slams into the side of the vehicle to his right and sends them off into the field. He soon realizes that he is almost out of runway. He guns the motor and finally makes it to the ramp of the Osprey, but as he starts to climb up into the plane, he is hit from behind by another SUV and both are sent flying into the plane. David and the other driver get out of their respective vehicles just as they go rolling down the ramp to the Earth below.

David stands up and takes up his fighting stance just the other driver stands up. David runs toward the driver and tackles him to the floor, but his moment causes him to overshoot his target and slide toward the ramp. As David tries to get back up, the driver slams his boot onto David's back and pins him down.

"Where are the launch codes?" he asks.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Bullshit!" He flips David over and punches him in the face. "Where are they?!"

"Up your ass!"

The driver pulls out a pistol and places it inches from David's head. "Now you are going tell me where the codes are or I'm going to put a bullet through your skull."

"I would rather die than give them to you."

"So be it!"

David closes his eyes and remembers Kaity growing up and all the good times he has had with her. Bang! David opens his eyes and sees a hole in the middle of the driver's forehead. He throws the driver off and watches his lifeless body plummet toward the ground. He turns around and sees Logan standing there with his Colt .45 in his hands.

"Thanks Logan," he says.

"No problem. Now let's get you home. Mike is on the headset waiting to talk to you."

David watches Logan head toward the cockpit and shut the ramp. As soon as the ramp shuts completely, he walks over to the headset on the wall and puts it on.

"Mike?"

"Ah, David. It's good to hear from you. Did you get the codes?"

"Yes sir. And I found out that they were being sold to the Romanian mafia."

"The Hornets? What could they possibly want with launch for an ICBM?"

"I'm not sure sir, but I do know that there have been rising tensions between them and the Romanian government."

"You don't suppose…."

"I don't know."

"Well, we will deal with this another time. For now, let's get you home. I'm sure you want to relax after what you have went through in the last week."

"No doubt sir."

"By the way, Kaity tried calling you and left you a voicemail. She said you owe her a rematch as soon as you get back."

"I wonder why?"

"She said something about you cheated by screen watching."

"Oh whatever. I will show her whose boss at that game."

"I'll talk to you in a few days."

"Yes sir. Over and out."