PROJECT SPARTA

CHAPTER 27

Alexandria, VA

2016

Mass confusion and panic were the only injuries sustained by the public from the street side explosion in Dupont Circle. The black SUVs and mercenaries, cleared out as quickly as they had arrived. The press was on-site immediately and, of course, built it up with speculation. It was the second explosion in DC in 24 hours and public paranoia had begun to stir. BNA news was already brewing on the scene, but there was nothing to learn about the tenant of the apartment, for he was a ghost.

Mac was now on the move with Xander. They knew that they needed haven where they could have the time to analyze the evidence hacked from the NSA database. Fortunately, Xander had his own safe house in downtown Alexandria where he often conducted Spartan business. Within thirty minutes of circling back on their routes to ensure they had no tails, they arrived in Old Town Alexandria, a city that had retained much of its charm through antiquity and remained one of the most prominent historic districts in the region.

Mac and Xander entered the apartment to a rush of stale air. It was a neglected studio apartment, with brick walls and large translucent windows. Only the silhouettes of office buildings could be seen through it but enough natural light came through to rely on during the day hours. It had a hand-me-down college dorm couch and a couple of thin mattresses laid out on the floor. Xander opened the window bay to filter out the bottled up months that had been trapped in the confines of the apartment. Mac immediately swung his bags off his shoulder and began assembling a workstation with the three laptops connected to hard drives that he had grabbed on his way out of the door. The small coffee table had transformed from a wobbly old foot prop to a top of the line command center in a matter of minutes. Xander inspected the apartment, looking for a stash of canned foods and old clothes he had planted.

"Nice digs!" Mac said, dripping with sarcasm.

"It's clean of bugs and no one knows it exists... better than I can say about your apartment..." Xander jibed back at him. Mac's neck rotated toward him, his head settled, his face frozen. "Too soon?" Xander asked before surrendering to a fit of laughter.

"When are we going to be able to run this flash drive? Hamal Abadi is our only lead to opening this box. We need to see what Anni pulled on him," Xander explained.

"Let me set up security and then we will be ready."

"Well, how much security have you got to set up?" Xander was eager to see what Anni was able to retrieve. Mac noticed the lack of patience in his tone.

"Do you want this apartment to end up like mine?" Xander conceded the point and remained silent as Mac's fingers tapped a drum roll out on the keyboard. Xander paced through the room mentally reviewing the recent developments in the mission.

"To me it's a no-brainer. Duke disappeared just before Agent Zero surfaced. Do not find the timing of it all curious?"

"Yeah of course I do. But you have to understand we must approach this objectively and exhaust all possibilities before branding Duke a traitor," Xander explained. He went over the phone conversation with Agent Zero in his head over and over again. He was very careful to remain objective in his decision making and investigation as he heard Agent Zero's distorted words repeat.

There's the choice, Xander, will you act on emotion, or reason? I know that conflict is in you.... And I really want to know the answer.

After an hour, Mac's rolling fingers slowed to a stop. He cracked his knuckles and leaned back on the couch as if to signal his completion of the task at hand.