PROJECT SPARTA

CHAPTER 6

Northern Virginia

2010

Young Xander Whitt sat in the passenger seat of Hardy's Black Suburban and stared at the yellow dashes passing by as his mind traveled the road ahead. The four hour drive had been silent, except the country radio station Hardy played.

"Why do you want young recruits?" After hours of driving, Xander had not spoken. Hardy was caught in the middle of humming a Garth Brooks ballad.

"Do you know what the average age of the terrorists who high-jacked the planes during 9/11 was? 24.6. Our enemy is getting younger. They are indoctrinated as teenagers over there; we need a new kind of soldier..." Hardy explained.

"Xander, you are going to be living at our facility for the full nine months of the program. After you have completed your training you will immediately be deployed into active service... Granted that you progress well of course," Hardy explained.

They rumbled down a back road and pulled up to an unlabeled, high security gate. Hardy pulled the car into park and dismounted the Suburban's driver seat. He approached a scanner and flashed an access card which opened the first gate.

"No guards?" Xander asked.

"If we had guards, they would have to know that we exist..." Hardy stated as a matter of fact.

As the high gate opened, a ramp opened up that led them to a subterranean level. The Suburban descended into the depths through the underground tunnel. The tunnel was dimly lit with different metal doors on either side leading to only what one could imagine. They had been traveling down a steady decline for some time such that it quickly became apparent to Xander that he would be living deep underground. He noticed a number of passages jutting off of the main tunnel.

"There are a lot of tunnels here." Xander stated the obvious, wondering of the mysteries that lay down the other passages.

"There are more tunnel systems here than you could believe. Tunnels within tunnels, facilities within facilities, secrets within secrets. The Spartans will be the innermost egg within the Russian doll, Xander."

They came to a garage door with the one word stamped on it as if it were a cargo crate. SPARTA. Hardy parked outside of it and got out again. He approached a panel on the wall that opened at the scanning of his access card. It revealed an eye scanner that Hardy stared into until it opened the door. The garage door then opened and amazement struck Xander still as Hardy climbed back into the Suburban. Xander's gaze held on the facility before him as they drove forward. His eyes dried out from the prolonged stare, so much so that he had to rub them.

"Welcome to Sparta... We call this place 'the Compound'..."

Before them was a massive training facility. It measured at ten football fields by five. Hardy parked the Suburban at the entrance. They both got out and Xander couldn't believe what was before him. The ceiling was at least ten stories high, he could not fathom how far underground they had to be. At the apex of the dome was an oculus window to the outside world. Natural light funneled in and illuminated a circle of the training grounds. There was an apparent layout to the Compound, an Armory, fitness center, library, and even a forest. Full size trees covered the area, while a small creek ran through it and emptied out into a pond. The area was so large that one could forget that it was all connected in one massive hangar.

Hardy escorted Xander across the Compound, down a walking path, lined with street lights and park trees that branched off to the different buildings scattered throughout.