Chapter 66 - The Architect 2/3

After only a few hours of driving he was nearing his destination. He hid his car on a hill to overlook the wall of the compound and had a view of the front area of the mansion. Preparing it for a quick extraction if needed.

He moved toward the compound avoiding the patrols as he moved. The stationary guard's were mostly sleeping so they were easy to sneak past. Climbing over the compound's wall only took him a moment with his ability to freely scale vertical walls. He could do it quietly now as well thanks to his training from Paine.

His all black clothes along with his silver skull mask helped him remain stealthy as he moved to the mansion. There were no patrols moving within the compound while the guard's were seated, slumped and sleeping. It was early in the morning, between midnight and before first light which is when security was the most relaxed and vulnerable in most places.

He easily picked a lock on a side door. Then once inside he made his way inside he stuck to the shadows to avoid any cameras he could see. He eventually arrived at his first destination, the entrance to the basement which was located near the kitchen.

Inside the basement was a staircase which led down to a metal door that had a keypad off to one side. Ethan quickly typed in the codes he retrieved beforehand from his research. On the third code he imputed the door opened. The door opened with a noise of air escaping and the overwhelming smell of gunpowder was exposed.

Ethan pulled open the door all of the way and moved inside the secure metal bunker. What he found was an impressive array of explosives and collection of chemicals. He moved over to a sole computer where The Architect clearly worked on everything and likely kept his notes.

It only took him a moment to hack onto the computer; it was not very secure. Ethan stole all the computer data by downloading it onto a harddrive he brought. This computer was not connected to the internet, it was rare but if certain components were removed it would be possible. Having knowledge of bomb's meant he would likely know how to build a computer without an internet connection but he might not know how to secure it, which he clearly did not. The golden piece of information he found was that he kept his and his fellow rogue agents' identities as a bargaining chip or possibly blackmail. He got everything from The Architect's specialty explosives to the blackmail material he was holding over others.

Ethan also finally learned his original name. Bart Reyes, he was from an immigrant family. The cover name he has been going by now is Barry Raines, surprisingly similar to his original. He also found that he was more involved with the CIA than he originally thought.

It appears that Bart was acting as a go-between for terrorists and the CIA. He was also taking payoffs and smuggling their people into foreign nations. There was even an undercover agent hidden in this building. Bart only knew of their existence, not who they were. It appears his contact or mole in the CIA was not too high up on the chain of command.

Once he was done obtaining all the information he wiped the computer, deleting everything so it could not be retrieved or downloaded again. Then he handpicked a few explosives that would work for his plan and moved out of the basement. He moved up the stairs and placed an explosive above the door entrance on the basement side, out of sight of anyone. Then as he moved through the first floor he planted a few more explosives near the supports of the building.

Next he moved up to the second floor, there were a few indoor balconies so he just climbed up the wall instead of using the stairs. Then made his way down the halls there were only two, one going in each direction. The first hall he easily found an out of the way place and planted an explosive. Then after planting the second explosive on the other end of the hall he slowly opened a window that was at the end of the hall.

Creak!

He spun around quickly pulling out a knife he had hidden on him. But all he saw was the young woman peeking out of the door that she only cracked open. The woman was wearing degrading clothing and had bruises visible on her body and face.

Ethan raised his hand to where his mask had a skeleton jaw. Motioning for her to be quiet then he opened the window completely and slipped out of the window. Once on the outside of the building he climbed up the side of the mansion.

When he was on the roof he moved over to a central point where there was not much structural support and planted a fire bomb explosive. Then he looked around the compound, finding the security shack's location.

Ethan slipped easily down the side of the building and moved to the security shack. Opening the door he found the security guard was sleeping on the job. But it was a good thing he was, this compound was rigged up more than he originally thought.

The camera's likely spotted him at list seven different times from what he could see. He ignored the guard and quietly typed on a keyboard. Erasing all of the footage for the past four hours. Then he moved over to the weapon cabinet and quietly took out a sniper rifle. It was a Barrett sniper rifle, it would blow a person's head off. He then took a single clip and made certain it would work and was functional.

Ethan moved out of the shack and made his way out of the compound. Then he made his way up a nearby hill where he had stashed the truck he had stolen. Which is where he hit his first snag.

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It had taken Natasha over a week to get in as The Architect's financial advisor. Once she was on the compound she was able to easily investigate the comings and goings of the terrorist for hire. She also quickly realized that Barry Raines was a total scumbag, he took on terrorists for hire work for the thrill.

He did not need the money, his smuggling operation was pulling in an alarming rate of profit. Spending only some of it on paying off the local police. The Central Intelligence Agencies pet project really knew how to live like scum.

Natasha frowned as she climbed out of the bed she was given. The head security guard she had seduced was still sound asleep. She already had the code she needed from him for The Architect's private workspace. But she planned to go tomorrow, not tonight.

She should not have been woken up. As she climbed out of bed she pulled on a loose fitting pair of clothes. She then opened the door and saw one of the sex slaves, her chain going to a bedroom across from Natasha's own, was looking out of a window. Natasha was annoyed internally as she saw the abuse the young girl had gone through, but externally she frowned and whispered, "what are you doing?"

The young girl flinched and with a look of terror she then spoke in Arabic from her dialect Natasha figured she was from somewhere in Egypt, "looking for the living dead man."

Natasha now frowned both internally and externally, "living dead man?"

The girl nodded, "yes. He was alive but was wearing a skeleton. He moved so quietly I thought he was just a dead person."

Now Natasha knew something was wrong. But as she moved forward to look out the window she spotted something tucked away. Hidden in a place she would not have noticed unless she went closer to the window. An explosive was tucked in by the wall. A blinking red light indicating it was active.

Someone had broken in and they were clearly here to cause trouble.

BOOM!

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Ethan quietly set down the Barrett he had stolen as the patrol guards were looking over his stolen truck. They had yet to call it in, so they probably arrived less than a minute before he did. He moved forward quickly, kicking out the legs from under the one on the right.

The other one yelped in surprise in french. But Ethan struck the man's jaw quickly. Causing the man's head to snap back and for him to go unconscious. The first one was still disoriented from being knocked down.

Ethan quickly moved to him and slammed his head against the vehicle he had stolen. He went down like a bag of bricks. He grabbed both by the collar and moved them over to the bush he had hidden the barrett sniper.

He then grabbed one of the guard's pistols and some clips. He tossed them into his duffle bag that was sitting on his passenger seat. He then climbed onto the bed of the truck and aimed the rifle towards the entrance. Pulling out two trigger devices, one was connected to the fire bomb on the roof the other was connected to the bombs that would blow up the mansion. He set them down on the roof of the truck as he was using it to steady his shots for the bipod on the sniper.

After a few seconds he was confident he was ready. So he picked up one of the trigger devices and flicked the switch.

BOOM!

An explosion shook the air. A ball of fire appeared on the roof of the mansion. With molten flammable liquids being tossed across the roof. It only took a moment before the entire compound was moving into action. The guards that were patrolling raced toward the entrance of the compound. To move inside to figure out what was occurring.

The guards inside of the compound were scrambling, evacuating the building as the fire spread. Ethan ignored the noises of panic as he started moving the sight through the crowd looking for his target. He saw the guards stand around in confusion, then all of the sex slaves and civilians that were in the building escaped. It looked like one of the guards and another woman were rushing them all out.

Then he spotted his target, Bart Reyes. He walked out in a bathrobe. He was yelling at his men as he looked around. The fire had now spread across the entire roof now. As well there were no more people leaving the building. So it appeared to have been evacuated.

Ethan picked up the second trigger and flicked the switch. Another explosion rocked the area. Throwing all of the people in the area on their ass. Now Bart Reyes was stunned for a moment before he jumped up and began screaming. He was clearly pissed, but he was not pissed for long.

BANG!

Ethan's whole body shook as the Barrett sniper fired. His shoulder twinged in pain for a moment as he kept the sniper steady. Through the scope he watched as Bart Reyes' head exploded in a burst of bloody mist.

He had four more shots in the clip. He looked around for his next target and spotted the head of security, he was quite vocal. Ethan recognized him from his research, a former Mossad operative that went rogue. He was quite dirty, got his hands in all sorts of avenues of crime. He could easily take over The Architect's businesses.

Ethan aimed and fired.

BANG!

His head disappeared as well. Now all of the guards were ducking for cover. As he moved the scope around the crowd he stopped for a moment on another person. A certain redhead caught his attention. It was time to disappear.

Ethan put the Barrett sniper in the bed of the trunk and jumped down. He opened the truck door and jumped in. He then started it up, keeping the lights off so he would avoid attention. He then quickly drove away.