Free The Ajax Protocol-7 by Alex Lukeman Page B

Newhouse parked. They got out and unloaded the duffle bags with their gear.
    "What time you want me to pick you up?"
    "0600," Nick said.
    "Works for me. Good to see you, Ronnie."
    Newhouse got back in his truck and drove off. The night air was cool but not cold. This time of the year, temperatures didn't drop much below 50 at night. It would be warm during the day. Winter didn't move in here until September. It would be colder farther north, but the temperatures would still be bearable.
    They checked in. Newhouse had reserved two rooms next to each other. Nick and Selena took one, Ronnie the other.
    "Get some sleep," Nick said to Ronnie. "We'll need it."
    The room was like a time trip from the 60s. It had two beds with quilted covers. A cheap print of red and yellow flowers in a brown vase hung over the headboard. A table lamp and night stand sat between the beds. A small TV was bolted to the wall. The narrow bathroom featured a toilet, a stand up shower stall and curtain. The rings on the curtain were rusty. The sink stood on thin chrome legs and was square and small. A small, wrapped bar of soap, a spotted water glass and two thin towels completed the amenities.
    The outside wall was made of cinder blocks painted white. A heater and A/C unit sat in the front wall under a wide picture window. Nick pulled the drapes closed and turned on the heat. The unit rattled. Lukewarm air rushed out.
    "Not the Taj Mahal," Nick said. He sat on one of the beds. The mattress sagged.
    "I've never been to Alaska," Selena said. "I'm looking forward to hiking into the forest."
    "I did a survival course here when I was in Recon," Nick said. "It's beautiful but it can kill you if you're not careful. Where we're going, it might as well be 1898."
    "This was gold rush country, wasn't it?"
    "Yep. Circle was an important town, back then."
    "I suppose if you want to hide a secret installation this is as good a place as any to do it."
    "Secret from the public, anyway. Any enemy worth his salt has to know exactly where it is."
    "It doesn't seem like anyone can hide much of anything these days," Selena said. "Not with the kind of technology governments have now."
    "Yeah. A brave new world." Nick stood up. "Better lay our gear out for the morning so we don't have to fumble around with it."
    They spent the next minutes sorting out what they'd need. Woodland camouflage uniforms with no markings. Hiking boots, soft brimmed hats. Knives, their pistols and MP-5s. A GPS and compass. Nick hoped they wouldn't need the guns. The knives were handy for many things.
    Each back pack held rations, extra ammo, first aid kit and a survival pack. They could live off the land for weeks if they had to. Nick didn't think that was going to happen. It was old habit to be prepared.
    "I'm going to take a shower," Selena said. She undressed and walked naked into the bathroom. Nick watched her and felt himself getting aroused. False modesty wasn't one of Selena's faults. He heard the water running and thought about how he missed holding her at night.
    After a while she came out, pink and clean, toweling her hair. A cloud of steam followed her into the room.
    "Your turn," she said. She smiled at him. "It's small, but the water's hot."
    He used the toilet and stepped into the stall. She was right, it was small. The water felt good. Some of the tension went out of his shoulders as the hot stream beat down on him. 
    He dried off and went back into the room with a towel wrapped around his waist. Selena was already in one of the beds. They hadn't spent a night together in the same bed for months.
    Nick walked over and sat down on the edge of her bed. The mattress sagged under his weight.
    "I've been thinking," he said.
    Selena lay back against her pillow and rested her head on her arm.
    "About what?"
    "About us."
    "It hasn't been easy," she said, "has it?"
    "It seems like things keep getting in the way," he said. "The nightmares. The work we do. Every time we start getting close,