Free The Paris Protection by Bryan Devore Page B

was. But we will use surprise and deception and strategy to destroy them. They will not be prepared for our maneuvers!”
    The tunnel filled with cheering.
    Maximilian stepped up onto a large fallen stone from the underground ruins and placed a hand on the rock wall for balance. “You all know your roles. And like Hannibal, I will be right in the middle of the battle, fighting with you!”
    The men cheered again.
    He stepped back down and knelt behind the protruding rocks of the tunnel’s right angle. He looked at his watch: ten seconds from detonation. He closed his eyes and smiled.
    The exploding C-4 split the air like a thunderclap. A gust of stale, dusty air brushed past him through the tunnel. He could smell a trace of chlorine, and when he opened his eyes, a blue haze glowed in his headlamp beam.
    “A perfect cut, General,” Mozgovoy shouted at him out of the cloud of rock dust.
    The shaped charge had blown through the building’s outer concrete foundation. 
    His army had been well trained in what to do after the explosion. Before the cloud of concrete dust had settled, the line of men was already rushing through the breach, into the upper sewer tunnels. And these would lead them to the outer wall of the hotel’s basement corridors.

15
     
     
     
     
    SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE JOHN Alexander raised a finger to his earpiece and said into his wristband, “Please repeat that.”
    “Sir,” the voice said, “we’ve just received a vibration hit on the EK-one.”
    “What’s the magnitude?”
    “Zero point two. Lasted zero-point-four seconds.”
    John knew that any earthquake would be at least 0.6 in magnitude if the epicenter was within a few miles. But Paris had no known fault lines in or around the city. The closest subway station to the hotel was far away—one of the reasons the Secret Service had selected this hotel. It shouldn’t put out even a 0.1-magnitude vibration unless a crash happened on the tracks. The advance team had scouted the tunnels under the hotel, and because of the sealed passageways, he had determined a low risk of unauthorized access near the hotel. Thus, they had installed EK-1 seismometers in a perimeter along the basement, to serve as an early-warning system beyond the hotel’s secured area. John had agents in the basement, monitoring the devices.
    Agent David Stone looked at him with raised eyebrows. The other agents would also have heard every word over the comms. John turned away and stood by the narrow floor-to-ceiling window at the edge of the antechamber. The snow was falling thicker than a half hour earlier. The clumped white flakes turned to slushy drops after hitting the glass pane. He looked out at the blurred city lights, studying the horizon as if he might discern a threat somewhere out there, coming this way.
    The EK-1 readings didn’t make much sense. Advance team agents with their bomb dogs had been sweeping every inch of the hotel, surrounding buildings, and sewer systems twice a day for the past week, and every four hours since the president arrived in Paris, so a bomb seemed unlikely. 
    “Agent Perez,” John said into his wrist microphone. “I want you and the other agents down there to check out the northeast corner of the basement where the first EK-one hit registered. I’ll have HQ analyze the magnitude data and give us a better idea what might have caused it.”
    “Yes sir. On our way to check out the area now.”
    John nodded as he thought about the possibilities. He had trained agents to trust their instincts because they were often subconscious reactions formed by past training and experience. He had never seen an EK-1 detection like this before, and it had him concerned. He flipped his radio to the wider U.S. military channel so he could talk to the HMX-1 White House Liaison Officer. “Please prep a White Top for possible exec lift of POTUS.”
    “A White Top is currently prepped, warmed, and ready for flight,” the Marine attaché