Not long after, a call came to Reacher's cell phone. The person on the other end not only confidently stated they could arrive before 3:00, but also provided additional intelligence.
The so-called R&D facility before them, heavily guarded by armed security, was actually the data center of "New Era Technology," dozens of times larger than the computer room in the basement of headquarters.
Jack suddenly realized why the hard drives they'd previously recovered contained only a bunch of business documents and no R&D-related information; it turned out all the research data was stored here.
Lavoie's bodyguards promised they would fix the power distribution equipment and shut down the entire facility, but they didn't disclose the method, saying only that they would know when the time came.
After agreeing on a time for action, the call ended, and everyone once again pondered the satellite images.
This type of data center would have numerous UPS power supplies and emergency generators. A power outage could provide external lighting, but within minutes, the emergency generators would kick in, automatically turning on the emergency lights inside the building.
Using night vision goggles to bully people in the dark was out of the question, but this time, they had enough stun grenades, and a gradual cleanup would minimize the chance of casualties.
But with hostages, the longer they delay, the greater the chance they'll be in danger, creating a dilemma.
Advancing too quickly could result in unnecessary casualties, while advancing too slowly could put Reacher in danger. After all, he's just a muscleman, not an invulnerable superman.
Jack frowned in thought as he used O'Donnell's switchblade to pierce the heel of Reacher's combat boots and insert the locator and lock wire.
"Clay and I can advance as quickly as possible, but the gate is too far from the inner buildings. Trying to cross such a long, open area would make us sitting ducks."
Danny examined the satellite image, then used his binoculars to scan the distant factory buildings, finally settling on the southern gate. "So, all we have to do is get you into the largest building in the middle as quickly as possible, right?"
Just after 2 a.m., an AS332 Super Puma helicopter slowly landed on the tarmac. Its massive blades slowly stopped spinning as its engines shut down.
Two security guards approached, seemingly greeting the pilot with familiarity, and took him to rest. It was obvious that this plane was coming to pick up Lanston for a trade.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Negley was trying to persuade him one last time.
"Are you sure you want to go in alone? Think about what Franz, Sanchez, and Orozco went through: handcuffs, torture, beatings. Even if Lanston didn't kill you right away, he would have tortured you in every way possible."
"I have my best soldiers to protect me, don't I?" Reacher looked at the remaining three special investigators with a burning gaze, and finally cast his gaze on Jack.
"Take care of them for me."
"Take care of yourself first." Jack patted his shoulder unhappily and secretly gave him a healing buff.
There was still more than half an hour before the operation began. With Reacher's physique, he should be able to withstand it, right? The large man's insistence on venturing into this dangerous place alone wasn't entirely meaningless. With his appearance, the electrified iron gate slowly swung open, and five or six gunmen, looking nervous, surrounded him.
The number of armed guards patrolling the perimeter suddenly dropped by nearly a third, especially toward the main gate, where almost no one was paying attention. Seizing this opportunity, several figures vanished in the darkness, disappearing into the brush by the roadside.
"I see Lanston," Negley's gritted voice echoed over the channel.
"Don't be stupid, Negley. There are at least six guns pointed at Reacher right now." She could see Jack, and so could she. As a rolling shutter slowly rose, an old face that struck Jack as familiar appeared through the telescope.
He hadn't noticed it before when he'd seen the profile photo, but now that he saw him in person, certain memories of his past life stirred.
The T1000 from the second Terminator film was a childhood memory. The once indestructible liquid metal robot, now a decrepit figure, still gave him goosebumps.
He watched as the group, like they were facing a formidable enemy, escorted Reacher into the factory building. Even though they couldn't see or hear anything from outside, every second felt like seconds.
As the saying goes, invisible imagination is the most deadly. As the time ticked by, even Jack, who always believed in the protagonist's aura, became restless.
"Signal received, laser beam activated," Jubal's voice came over the channel. Jack breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at his watch. It was exactly 2:55.
One minute passed, then another. At 2:57, a low engine roar could be heard from the sky. Jack picked up his binoculars and looked at the gray sky.
Amidst the barely visible starlit night sky, a flash of red navigation lights flashed—the anti-collision lights on the tail of a twin-engine propeller plane.
With a gentle flap of its wings, the plane deftly vanished into the clouds. But Jack's focus wasn't on the plane itself, but on the three paragliders slowly opening in its wake.
"Nigley, go!" Jack commanded, and Black Sister, unable to contain herself, immediately pulled the trigger.
After a few pops of champagne, Nigley reported, "Northern guards cleared, landing field cleared."
"It's our turn, guys! Alice, give us some music!" Danny roared excitedly, slamming the accelerator. What's the fastest way
to
break through a multi-ton gate made of bars the thickness of an average man's arm?
Danny's idea was to find a classic American long-nose semi-trailer truck with sufficient capacity and power to ram it through.
The command vehicle of the Most Wanted Criminals Team was modified by the Mattmann Company using the Freightliner MT-55 truck chassis, so it is not incapable of this task.
The problem was that the equipment on the vehicle was far more expensive than the vehicle itself. So even though the lights were on and the speakers were blasting music at full volume, they only served as a distant atmosphere.
Danny had found a Peterbilt 389 semi-trailer tractor with a classic dog-nose design and a large container on the back.
This American truck has long been ingrained in everyone's minds; it served as the prototype for Optimus Prime in the early Transformers films.
When an Optimus Prime, at full throttle and flashing blinding headlights, hurtles towards you, the natural reaction is to run.
The four armed guards, who had been guarding the gate, were frightened and fled in all directions. The next moment, the Optimus Prime rammed into them head-on.
With a startling roar, the Optimus Prime's front shattered, sending the multi-ton gate flying high before landing heavily on the ground, a trail of sparks.
Yet the gate faithfully fulfilled its mission. Even a heavily loaded tractor-trailer would have been hard hit by such a violent impact.
A puff of white steam erupted from the mangled front of the truck before it lost power. Inertia sent the entire vehicle, along with the trailer behind it, hurtling forward a few dozen meters before grinding to a halt.
"Fuck!"
"What's going on?"
"Go to hell, you bastard!"
A guard pulled the trigger and fired a volley of bullets at the truck's cab, sending sparks flying off the hull.
"Stop, you idiot." A guard, seemingly the lead guard, worried about dangerous goods inside, stopped the man's pointless outburst and pointed at another man.
"Mark, go outside and see what's going on with that car over there?" He pointed toward the command vehicle parked on the roadside, blaring "Fortunate Son."
"Some people are born to fly the flag, the red star, white stripe, and blue bar.
When the band plays
'Hail to the Commander,' they point their cannons at you, Lord!
That's not me, that's not me.
"I'm not the senator's son."
"Damn it, why did Alice choose that song? It's so unlucky!" Danny, a former Marine who had never served in Vietnam, grumbled as he cautiously leaned forward from the back seat of the truck's cab.
His eyes were fixed on his watch, his right hand on a switch.
"Bang!" A small explosion echoed, plunging the entire facility into darkness. The emergency lights flickered on.
With a humming sound, the internal emergency power supply was restored, restoring some illumination to the factory. However, the emergency generators weren't enough to illuminate the exterior, leaving the building in a stark darkness.
"Move!" Hearing Jack's command over the team chat, Danny pulled the switch hard. With a pneumatic sound, the rear door of the truck slowly swung upward.
Before the several armed security guards surrounding the decommissioned "Optimus Prime" could react, a muscular sports car, all black except for a streak of eerie scarlet light emanating from the hood, catapulted out of the cabin.
The Pontiac Firebird landed lightly on the ground, its 1,000-horsepower V8 engine, expensively modified by Jack, roaring with an unprecedented roar.
Amidst the piercing sound of grinding tires, the Firebird drifted in place. Jack controlled the steering wheel with his left hand, his Noveske N4 rifle resting on the window and his left arm, firing in full-automatic mode.
Clay, sitting in the passenger seat, also held a Noveske N4, his lips curling more uncontrollably as he pulled the trigger than the muzzle of the gun itself.
Experiencing this Hollywood blockbuster entrance firsthand, Clay felt that leaving Team B wasn't such a difficult decision.
It was a slight pity that, over the Firebird's dragon-like roar and the piercing creak of grinding tires, the silenced Noveske N4 gunfire was barely audible.
Accompanied by the faint flashes of gunfire, several armed security guards surrounding the truck screamed and fell to the ground.
The only thing unaffected by this bizarre sound and light show was probably the rhythmic sound of the Barrett M82A1 gunfire from a distance.
(End of this chapter)