Guardians of Eden by Matt Roberts Page A

hardest.
    With the team so heavily policed, he and Owyn hardly exchanged a word aside from barking instructions at one another on the field. He spent more and more of his time hidden away in his quarters, to the point that the others at HQ grew suspicious of his persistent absence. Sully was the kind of person who needed stability, and if he was taken away from his teammates he wasn’t going to get that. Owyn realised pretty early on that their partnership played a large part in keeping him upbeat, yet now they were far too often separated.
    As for O’Brien, he hadn’t a clue how she’d taken it all. She just coped and carried on as always.
    Everything that happened in the Tajari had been quickly forgotten – confined to the archives like anything else. With the mission having been kept classified, O’Brien, Shaw and Sully were the only ones who knew a thing about it, but they didn’t make much of it. To them it had been nothing out of the ordinary; just another mission.
    ***
    08:00, August 1, 2049 – ISO Orbital Station
    Five weeks to the day after Miller’s arrival he called the team to Operations. Usually he preferred to keep briefings down to a simple handover of files. This would be the first time since Ambrose’ departure that all five members had collected together for mission prep. That gave just a suggestion that this wasn’t a run-of-the-mill assignment. That couldn’t bode well.
    “We don’t have much time to spare so I’ll keep it short,” Miller said once the other four were gathered around the IC. He slotted a drive into the console, replacing the image of Altaris with the facial construction of a man.
    He had slicked black hair with two streaks of white cutting from front to back on either side. His face was ridged with wrinkles, but otherwise he had no visible signs of age – a sure indication of wealth. He had a finely trimmed moustache which ran into a goatee that tipped his pointed jaw. Piercing blue eyes contrasted sharply against his bronzed skin.
    “Javier Rodriguez is an independent weapons contractor for the DPD. He ran a private weapons production business in his native Spain before moving to the US and then Altaris.”
    “ That guy makes the DPD’s shit?” Shaw scoffed.
    Miller ignored him and continued. “Our assignment is to gather information on Rodriguez. Recent reports have revealed inconsistencies in his figures. The DPD suspect he’s been trading with rebels. Our job is to verify those suspicions.” It sounded simple. That meant it wasn’t. “He keeps all of his data off network, the same as us. The only way we can be sure to get to it is directly through him. Sullivan.”
    Sully hopped onto the console and brought up the bird’s eye view of a large estate. The central mansion was surrounded by a pentagon of five small, round towers, and outside the front gate a long gravel path cut through a huge area of vibrant green country gardens.
    Miller allowed a moment for the team to scan the image then resumed his explanation. “Rodriguez’ estate is locked down and under constant high security. Our ticket is a high profile event organised by the DPD. Set to attend is Carl Chambers, a DPD official who has spent the past year working on a secretive weapons development programme. Unsurprisingly, he has garnered the attention of Mr Rodriguez.
    Carter, you’ll be taking Chambers’ place. O’Brien will provide backup, playing the role of his wife, Eliza. Delta Squad will be running surveillance and Sergeant Anderson will also be inside, but extracting the information is your responsibility.”
    “Do we know where we’re going to find this information?” O’Brien asked. “I’d assume Rodriguez’ guards aren’t going to give us much of a chance to look around.”
    “With the server off-grid we haven’t got any way of tracing it from here,” Sully answered. “Once I’m there I’ll be able to scan the building.”
    “Shaw and I will be joining security in order to