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“About three klicks that way on the winding roads.” Wren pointed to the northeast.
Zack knew of the Lourdes Signals Intelligence Station, the largest SIGINT facility the Soviets ever built outside their own territory.
Gareth said, “Fifteen hundred East Bloc and Cuban spooks worked there at its heyday, but it closed in 2002 and was eventually turned into a research university. Anton’s labs are there on the campus.”
“So,” Zack asked, “what is this place?”
“The Soviets also built a massive blastproof building near the station to be used as dormitories for the Russian spies and techs who worked there, and that’s what this is.” He smiled. “Although a multibillionaire can be forgiven for tidying the place up a bit.”
“Yeah, just a bit,” Zack said, looking around at the beautiful grounds, well landscaped with fruit trees, stone walkways, and outdoor lighting. But he still couldn’t process the scene. “Are you saying Hinton lives here?”
“When he’s in Cuba, yes. And now you do, too. He brought in the best architects and interior designers from Europe. Every creature comfort you can imagine. Twenty-six bedrooms, twenty bathrooms, four kitchens. A cigar bar and a grocery store, underground parking.”
“Is this the only entrance?”
Wren shook his head. “No. There are entrances on each compass point.” Wren stepped up to the iron blastproof doors and knocked on them to make a point. “All the doors are fifty centimeters thick. He’s bloody secure when he’s locked inside, as I’m sure you will agree.”
“Weirdly secure for a civilian,” Zack replied.
Wren shrugged. “What civilian needs ex-CIA and SAS guys guarding him?”
“Fair point. Still…” Zack put his own hand on the wall next to the door. “What’s Hinton’s relationship with the Cuban government?”
“He’s a taxpayer,” Wren replied. “That’s it.”
Zack cocked his head. “That’s it?”
Now the Englishman put his hands up in surrender. “It’s not really a tax in the literal sense. It’s more like a bribe. Anton wanted a place where he could run things the way he wanted to run them. The government here takes his money, gives him support and electricity and incredible autonomy. They even give him personal military personnel for his protection.”
Zack looked at the security men standing back by all the vehicles. “These dudes are government issue?”
Wren nodded. “Three tiers of security. The men you saw at the entrance? They’re regular army troops. There’s a garrison close by with three companies of infantry just for our security.” He nodded to the plainclothes men who had made up the security force of the motorcade. “These guys, on the other hand, are all civilians, but they’re also all former Avispas Negras.”
“What’s that?”
“Black Wasps.”
Hightower raised an eyebrow because he was familiar with the name. “Cuban army special forces?”
“That’s right. They’re not SEAL Team Six. They’re definitely not SAS, but these blokes have impressed me with their professionalism. Anton pays the Cuban government for the regular forces, but he also pays these guys extra under the table. We like to think we’re promoting capitalism.”
“And what’s the third tier?”
“Active-duty Black Wasps. They’re inside the fence running patrols, but they don’t go inside. The Cuban military isn’t allowed inside any of the Hinton buildings, that’s an order from Anton himself, but they provide perimeter security. Only the retired special ops guys who we’ve hired full-time go inside.”
The door opened slowly, revealing a middle-aged security man wearing a lime green guayabera. “Buenas tardes,” he said to Zack and Wren.
“Buenas tardes, Gustavo,” Wren replied, and then he took Zack by the arm and led him out of the doorway as the entourage from the airport began bringing Anton’s luggage inside.
Zack looked to Wren. “That guy?”
“Former Black Wasp major. He works for you now.”
Kimmie Lin passed them by, but she addressed Wren as she did so. In a slightly annoyed whisper she said, “Anton’s insisting on going to the lab tomorrow.”
Wren matched Lin’s tone of disquiet. “Of course he is.” The Asian woman entered the cavernous hallway in front of them, and the two men followed.
From the outside it appeared the building was at least three stories tall, but once through the door Zack looked up to see it was actually only a single story aboveground, the walls reaching up forty feet to the hardened concrete ceiling above.
