“Earlier, when I pulled out Number 4 with Major Klasky, he was asking me a lot about Praetorian. At the time I thought his questions and statements were odd. He asked me, if I found Praetorian, couldn’t anyone looking at the code find it? Couldn’t Spencer? And then he suggested Colonel Howe had a loose mouth and was not good at keeping secrets.”
Dixon said that last part with contempt, and Brodie understood why.
“Don’t you see?” asked Dixon. “As I said, the tin men are just in a low-power state when in their bays. And if this neural network is running, they arealways listening. And Klasky knew that. And through his questions tome, he was tellingthemthis thing was out there now, out in the open, and that more people were bound to find out, and that would mean the end of Praetorian. The tin men cannot allow that. And if these things are built for counterinsurgency…” She looked at the two agents. “We are now all the enemy, and Camp Hayden is the battlefield.”
CHAPTER 46
BRODIE SAID, “WE NEED TOneuter the tin men before any more of them gain access to Praetorian.” He asked Dixon, “Can you wipe them out from the Vault? Digitally, I mean. Not with seventy pounds of C4.”
Dixon smiled. “Roger had a penchant for the dramatic.” She added, “The answer is yes, I can.”
Taylor asked, “And will you?”
Dixon looked at her. “We’ve all been lied to, manipulated, and used. Good men are dead. I didn’t sign up for this and I have no problem nuking this whole goddamn thing.”
“Good,” said Taylor. “Let’s go.”
They exited the house. The Rangers guarding the door turned to them and one of the guys held up his hand. “She can’t leave. General Morgan’s orders.”
Dixon, ever the diplomat, suggested, “Fuck him, and fuck you.”
Brodie stepped in and asked, “Where is Sergeant Mendez?”
The Rangers exchanged a look, and one of them said, “Confined to barracks.”
“And where are his subordinate MPs?”
“Also confined to barracks.”
“Are there currentlyanylaw enforcement authorities on this base who are not under home confinement?”
“Yes, sir,” said the Ranger, trying his best not to look annoyed. “You and Ms. Taylor.”
“That’s right. We are in the middle of an active investigation and arebringing Ms. Dixon along with us as a qualified expert in her field. Feel free to repeat all that to the general.”
“Yes, sir.”
They walked past the Rangers and to Caroline Dixon’s car, a Toyota Prius that looked like it might become airborne if the winds picked up more.
Dixon noticed the distant thunderheads. “That’s not good.”
Brodie checked his watch. “We have about an hour and forty minutes before that’s on top of us. Let’s go.”
They climbed into Dixon’s car—Brodie took shotgun—and she drove toward the security checkpoint. Brodie had to wag his dick again to get them through, and then Dixon drove east.
Taylor asked, “If you can do this from the Vault, then why didn’t Ames? Why did he have to go through all the effort of getting Bucky into the lab?”
Dixon replied, “Because he wanted to make sure it worked on one unit before doing it to all of them. He didn’t want to break Camp Hayden’s toys. But we don’t care.”
That was for sure. Brodie realized they were going to be facing a significant security presence once they reached the Vault—a presence that he himself had recommended to Morgan. He unclipped his walkie, switched to Channel 1, and said, “Brodie for General Morgan. Over.”
After a moment Morgan’s voice came over the walkie.“You took Dixon, you son of a bitch.”
“Yes, sir. We need her access and expertise in the Vault. Over.”
“The Vault? You’re not going down there. No one in or out. Remember? Even those you trust. And that doesn’t include you anyway. Over.”
Dixon rounded a corner and pulled over about fifty feet from the Vault. Morgan had pulled out all the stops—four Rangers armed with EMP rifles, three more with standard rifles, and one with a grenade launcher, plus a guy on the roof with a mounted M2 Browning machine gun for good measure.
