Iron Triangle: A Jackson Pike Novel (Book One of The Iron Triangle Series) Read Free Page A

empty guardhouse.
    He flashed the halogen headlights and the driver of the
yellow box truck, which was innocently painted to resemble a Penske rental
vehicle, responded.
    The truck rumbled through the open door of the warehouse and
into the interior of the facility towards the largest store of Ethylene and
Sulfur Dioxide on the eastern seaboard.
    Mohammed stepped on the brake of the sports car as the
yellow truck came to a full stop near a large bank of chemical storage drums
inside of the vast warehouse. If he recalled correctly, the Ethylene was stored
in this location, with the Sulfur Dioxide three rows further down the same
storage rack.
    He sat with an air of quiet satisfaction as he watched the
practiced efficiency of his men and shifted the expensive German sports car
into park.
    He glanced to his right and looked at Susan as he pulled the
parking brake, reviewing the interrogation in his mind.
    He was sure she had told him everything. But he had to hand
it to her, she could take a beating.
    She would likely have made a better operator than she had an
administrator.
    He sighed. It was a shame he had to kill her.
    He opened the driver's side door and stepped for the first
time onto the hard concrete of the warehouse floor, smoothing the wrinkles out
of his custom made suit as he stepped around the hood of the vehicle.
    When he reached the passenger side door, Mohammed tugged it
open and dragged his captive free of the vehicle.
    Impressive, he thought as he pulled her towards a nearby
folding metal chair. She displayed not a hint of fear.
    It was a shame that he would have to kill her.
    She definitelywould
have made an excellent operator.

 

Chapter 4:
    4:47 PM- Friday,
September 8 th
    Sumner, VA
    Jackson smiled beneath the visor of his jet-black helmet as
he ruthlessly accelerated his black Harley motorcycle through the streets of
Sumner and onto the interstate. It was 25 miles to the interstate exit for his
now ex-employer.
    For the normal driver, it would have taken about a half an
hour to make the trip from door to door.
    Jackson finally decelerated as he arrived at the interstate
exit for Chemical Drive, the rural two lane highway that led over the Sumner
River to Carmike Chemical.
    It had been 17 minutes since his bike had first growled to
life.
    Jackson rode down the tree lined service road to Carmike
Chemical; passing over the company owned and maintained steel bridge that
spanned the Sumner River, a wide stretch of his town's namesake that split the
interstate from the chemical distribution facility.
    His smile broadened as usual when he crossed the bridge. The
soft greens of the late summer woods and the afternoon sunshine glinting from
the algae colored water of the river always put him in good spirits.
    Today, a soft Chesapeake breeze carried the smell of the
ocean as Jackson twisted the throttle of the sport bike, accelerating towards
the chemical distribution center.
    A dilapidated barbed wire fence and a simple white sign
which bore the internationally known Carmike Industries logo were the only
indications to the uninformed passerby that this was an entrance to a Carmike
Industries' property.
    The non-descript nature of the facility was no mistake.
Carmike Industries was notorious for their secretive corporate culture. In
fact, the corporation's profitability and continued success depended on this
secrecy.
    Jackson rode past the Carmike Sign, making a right towards
the small white guard house that stood before Carmike Chemical, a subsidiary of
the publicly traded Carmike Industries, and until this morning, Jackson's
employer.
    Carmike Industries, unlike this relatively small chemical
company that carried the Carmike name was a major conglomerate. It was an
organization whose component companies were involved in everything from
industrial chemical manufacture, supply and storage to the design and assembly
of 21 st century military hardware.
    At its core, however, Carmike Industries had always been