Chapter 17

Mason and Bridges creep through the wintery terrain using the snow dunes as cover. The Titan Armor they wear mimics the color of the snow further camouflaging them. They blend in so well with their surrounding environment they can probably walk out in the open and straight into the side entrance unnoticed. Mason is tempted to try just that, but it is Bridges that reminds him of Nash’s orders not to push anything to the limits. The suits allow both men to traverse the land quickly and efficiently slowly down only to observe a guard to ensure there is no radio communication and to eliminate him. Killing isn’t something either man would condone outside a war-like setting, but when it comes to the enemy and leaving your back exposed to them, neither man gives it a second thought.

Once the door to the east entrance is in sight they hunker down behind a dune and wait. They run into a total of eight guards in the last hundred yards to the facility, but are taken back by the fact they see no one guarding the entrance itself. Something doesn’t settle in Bridges gut at that moment. “Why have guards out there,” he says pointing in the direction they just came from, “but not have any at the door?”