“Let’s hope he does or we might be witnessing the beginning of the next world war.”
Julia didn’t respond.
“Get everyone to the plane, Julia. Now.”
84
STATIONED IN ANOTHER SECURITY CONTROL room, this time at the Zhangjiakou base, Commander Li scanned the cameras intently with a new set of security officers. The President had informed him this was the only other location with a control room similar to that at Tsinghua University and would be the next point of attack. He had stopped short of telling Li what the rooms controlled, and Li was very curious to understand why they were so important. He had uncomfortably accepted the President’s hypothesis and traveled immediately here to await the demon. Li never accepted anything blindly, it was not in his nature. His job was to doubt everything and everyone. So he was thrilled to have confirmation by way of the ongoing onslaught and destruction and to be back in the hunt for what was becoming his nemesis.
Immediately after his phone call with the President a few hours back at the university, he had taken a military helicopter to the Zhangjiakou facility, oriented himself with the security personnel and set up his vantage point.
The President had not given Li control of the facility, but he had given him the authority to direct troops to attack suspected infiltrators. The scorched earth directive meant Li could direct troops to shoot their own if the need be. There were not to be any chances taken, and they were to err on the side of certainty, just the way Li liked it.
A horrid one lipped smile fissured on Li’s face as he saw a man in a flight suit approach one of the vehicle fires from the direction of the blown exterior door. Li watched him hand a fire extinguisher off to another soldier and then continue to one of the interior doors.
Li asked the men in the room with him, “Where does that door go?”
“That leads to the main corridor to access the locker rooms, senior offices—” one of the officers replied as he was cutoff by Li.
“Get me a camera feed in that corridor, that man in the flight suit, get eyes on him, DON’T LOSE HIM!”
85
SO FAR SO GOOD, SAM thought. No-one had given him a second look so far, but now inside the inner rooms, it was only a matter of time, and he needed to blend in better. About 10 feet past the initial door he joined up with a larger corridor which ran left and right. He randomly selected the right and after a couple of doors found what appeared to be a locker room or bathroom. Sam ducked inside where a couple men were rushing to get ready in various states of dress. As luck would have it this was a locker room.
DAY 20
86
“GET ME A VISUAL IN that room!” Li directed as they watched Sam leave the corridor into another room.
“That’s the locker room, sir, we don’t have cameras in there,” the younger of the two officers replied.
Li slammed his fist on the table. “Shit! I’m starting to really dislike this motherfucker! Okay, we have to follow every person that comes out of that room. Or…we could shoot everyone who comes out…”
The two officers in the room with Li looked sidelong at him to confirm his last comment wasn’t serious, but Li was contemplating it as a viable option. After all, there was a scorched earth protocol in place. He quickly determined the quarters were too cramped in the hallway to guarantee enough separation to avoid any of the demon’s body swapping tricks. He had been burned by that one already. No, this time it was going to be different and he had the perfect fallback plan if it all went to shit again.
87
SAM QUICKLY SPOTTED A SOLDIER who had just finished getting dressed and was closing his locker. He walked directly up to the soldier, transferred, and walked right back out into the corridor in his new host. Sam hadn’t been in the locker more than 15 seconds and had left the copilot staring confusedly at the lockers, not sure what had just happened.
Sam had not had any intel on this base and was relieved to get the lay of the land via his new host. He could see there was an elevator and stairwell near the end of the corridor if he took a left out of the locker room. The senior officers’ department was also at that end of the corridor.
The base and surrounding area’s defensive readiness and scorched earth directive made Sam hesitant to charge into the data center as he had done at Tsinghua, but how else could he disable the operation center? Coming out of the locker room, his thought was interrupted as he accidentally bumped into another officer in the hallway with whom he was apparently friendly. “Jung, c’mon we have to fuel up the heli’s,” the man said.
Without a plan, Sam followed his colleague. Probing, he came up with his name: Huang. Huang was a mechanic, the same as Sam’s current host, hence the source of the friendly connection. Back in the main open area some of the fires had been put out and some were still being worked on. He followed Huang to the largest open area where a few helicopters sat along with a number of soldiers doing various tasks. Like any military base operating at heightened awareness, the place was busy with lots of activity; everybody seemed to have something to do.
Someone directed Huang to fuel up the helicopter in Bay 4, and Sam the helicopter in Bay 2. Sam noted the helicopters had typical skids and also retractable wheels so they could be rolled in and out of the hanger. The bays were about 20 feet wide and each of the helicopter's rotors were strapped down inline with the tail to minimize space requirements.
Sam integrated deeply with his host to access his knowledge to perform his task as quickly as possible. The fleeting thought passed his mind: if he ever got out of this mission, he had any number of careers he could take on. IF he got home, that would be a nice thing to figure out.
The refueling hose was coiled on a horizontal reel next to the fuel pump between helicopter bays 1 and 2. Sam grabbed the business end of the hose and pulled it into the bay where he connected it to the fuel orifice on the left side of the helicopter. Once secured, he walked back and flipped the fuel pump switch to turn it on. The hose jumped slightly as the fuel began to flow.
With an excuse to stand idle waiting for the tank to fill, Sam pondered again how he might get into the basement. Surely they have more contingencies in place in line with all the other defensive measures. Likely that whole floor was locked down and they weren’t allowing anyone in or out. Was there a way to disable the op center without actually entering it? Too bad he couldn't just roll a big bomb down the stairwell and collapse the whole floor in on itself. No doubt this was one of the reasons they built this military facility inside the mountain, and the data center itself down inside its belly.
A beep and flashing light from the fuel indicator brought Sam out of his contemplation. He turned off the pump and went back to disconnect the hose. One thing that did seem to make sense was the more confusion and mayhem the better. Keeping everyone occupied and worried about other things could only work in Sam's favor. The distracting fires had probably saved his life earlier when he lay unconscious.
Looking down at the hose in his hand and then past it, he saw a recessed well underneath the helicopter. This was where the mechanics descended six feet or so to access the underside of the craft. Hmmm, Sam had an idea.
After a quick look around to verify nobody was nearby he leaned down and placed the end of the hose a foot down the steps into the pit. He walked back and turned the fuel pump on again and heard the sound of rushing fuel cascading down the steps into the pit. He could smell the fumes immediately even from this distance; surely somebody would notice this soon and he needed to be absent when they did. Walking over to the pit he verified the fuel was filling up the basin and immediately his eyes started watering and his lungs burning. In addition to being hit by the fumes he was also hit by an idea of how he could handle the operations center.
88
SAM COULD SEE A COUPLE of soldiers looking around, having caught the scent. He didn’t have much longer before people were going to start looking for the source. He needed an ignition device. Everyone in China seemed t
o be a smoker but as luck would have it, Sam’s host was not. He saw a welding torch one bay over; it could work but wasn’t ideal. Scanning the area, sure enough, he saw a pack of cigarettes with a Zippo lighter resting on a cabinet near the welding torch. He walked past and grabbed the Zippo nonchalantly, then took a right turn away from the helicopter bays back into the pseudo corridor between the main columns on the side of the large room where the black skid marks from the exterior door marked the floor.
Worried that the noxious fumes would ignite even from a distance, Sam took cover behind one of the thick columns. Sam held his breath and closed his eyes as he turned the flint wheel to light the Zippo. Nothing happened, and he opened his eyes to the lighter’s burning flame. Keeping the Zippo lit, he peered around the column and lobbed the lighter underhanded toward the pit of fuel. It landed just short and slid across the smooth concrete surface. When it was within a couple of feet of the pit edge, the fumes caught.
89
THE EXPLOSION WAS MASSIVE, AND the giant column at his back vibrated as pieces of debris and tools went flying past, ricocheting off the other columns. Sam heard another massive explosion as a chain of events seemed to have been put into action. An alarm began blaring and everyone rushed toward the new problem. Sam walked back toward the inner core doors, opposite the flood of soldiers rushing towards the hangar.
His distraction was working better than he had hoped. Looking over his shoulder he could see multiple helicopters now burning.
Shelves and cabinets full of tools lined the wall between the doors leading to the inner sanctum. For the next part of his plan, Sam needed to find a large wrench. Scanning the area, Sam soon found what he was looking for, a six-inch capacity adjustable wrench 3 feet in length and weighing 15 pounds. This was a big beast, more than adequate for his needs. Hefting it over his shoulder, he reentered the corridor he had taken to the locker room earlier. This time he turned left toward the stairwell and officers’ department. Emergency lights flashed and the fire alarm blared in this area as well. People rushed mostly in the direction where he had come from. Probing Jung’s mind, he saw that the stairwell connected the floor he was on with three lower levels. The floor immediately below contained equipment storage, the mess hall and the main kitchen. The floor below that was mainly sleeping quarters for the soldiers and the bottom floor was the data and operations centers where he needed to be.
Sam located the stair door and as he entered, a few people pushed past him exiting to join the fray. Unsure what to expect Sam took it as a good sign people were using the stairs. At least he knew these top floors were safe due to the ongoing traffic, but he was going to have to go down to the bottom level where he wasn't sure what to expect. He quickly descended to the third, then the second floor, slowing his pace as he turned the corner towards the basement. He peeked quickly around the corner and didn't see anything or anyone posted there, all he saw was the bottom of the stairwell and a closed door. He had expected some sort of line of defense at this level. Sam tentatively descended the final flight, then paused a moment to listen.
Besides the distant footfalls above him, the stairwell was silent. Sam started to adjust the wrench and walked over to the fire protection standpipe in the corner where the hose valve connection and shutoff were. These valve connections were on each stair landing to be used to connect hoses to fight fires when necessary. He could have opened the valve to start the water running but that would be easily turned off and defeat his purpose. Sam tested the fit of the wrench on the valve assembly and tightened it up a little bit. Once secured, Sam gave the wrench a few forceful pushes with his entire body weight until he felt the valve start to turn. The pressure of the water made it difficult to rotate and on the final turn the water pressure shot the valve off and water started to pour into the stairwell.
Sam couldn’t have been happier that he had ended up in a mechanic's body as his mind was full of useful information about the facility. Jung knew each of these valves would allow 250 gallons per minute to flow. Jung also knew that the elevator sump pit on the bottom level and the emergency sump pit in the data center itself was designed to remove water that seeped in, but would not be able to keep up with these flow rates.
Two hundred fifty was a lot but it would still take a long time to accomplish what Sam needed done. He rushed back upstairs, grabbed the wrench, on the way to the next valve. Sam repeated the valve removal on the 2nd floor allowing another torrent of water to surge down the stairs. Bending over to pick up the wrench to continue to the next floor Sam was surprised as the stair door flew open nearly hitting him in the ass. A soldier, probably on his way up to help fight the fires, cried out in surprise when he saw the water rushing down the stairs.
“Hey you, help me get this valve on to stop this water!” Jung directed.
Without question, the soldier went to grab the valve and as he bent over, Sam brought the 15 pounds of steel wrench up as fast as he could, connecting it with the interloper’s head. The soldier was unconscious before he hit the ground and fell backwards, bumping his way down the steps before coming to rest on the next landing. Water splashed as it hit the man’s body, then, finding alternate pathways sluiced past the new barrier.
Sam rushed down the steps and pushed the man around the corner so he would be out of sight of anyone else who came through the door.
He quickly returned to his task and removed the third and fourth floor valves as well and threw them all down the steps, landing at the bottom, so they would not be easily retrieved.
90
CAPTAIN ELKS LOOKED OUT HIS F35 cockpit at his wingman. They were maintaining radio silence and exchanged a thumbs up.
Comms were silent but the F35’s stealthy radar was busy and indicated they had entered North Korean airspace, no longer over the water. Their advanced radar technology was practically invisible to the enemy, the same as the plane.
But practically didn't mean impossible; they needed to be on their toes for the rest of the mission.
This was the midpoint of their flight to the Zhangjiakou target facility, one hour to go. The flight plan prioritized the shortest route to target taking them briefly over the northeastern tip of North Korea before entering China’s airspace.
Elks thoughts turned to their B2 brethren two hours behind their squadron and their game changing payload. He desperately hoped they would be able to disable the target with their conventional bombs.
Covert air strikes in enemy territory were one thing, but the use of nuclear weapons could start a war that nobody would win.
91
ALTHOUGH THEY DIDN'T UNDERSTAND WHY, the soldiers on the data center level of the facility had been ordered hours earlier to create waist high fortifications using sandbags at either end of the corridor. The corridor was 200 feet long and was the only connection between the elevator and stairwell entrances to access this level and the data center. There were doors at each end of the corridor which allowed access to the data center itself.
The soldiers were instructed to kill anyone who came out of the elevator or stairwell doors or approached to within 20 feet of the elevator or stairwell doors on their side.
Strategically they were in compromised positions as they had a direct crossfire if they were to shoot straight down the corridor. These were, however, the best defenses that could be installed on this level and they had done as directed.
The elevator access to this level had been disabled so the two stairwells were the only potential points of entrance. At first the soldiers watched these doors diligently for any movement, but as the hours passed, their attention waned. As such, it took a couple minutes longer than it should have for anyone to notice the water seeping out from the stairwell door near the elevator.
One of the soldiers animatedly sounded the alarm as he saw the growing puddle of water on the floor. It was the first test of their directive and he had to be reminded by his superior they could not go to investigate the source as their colleagues would be forced to sh
oot once they were within 20 feet of the door. Instead they radioed up, reporting the incident and waited for further direction, as their anxious eyes watched the water rise higher and higher.
92
LI’S ADRENALINE BEGAN TO FLOW again hearing reports of water coming out of the stairwell into the basement corridor.
“This must be him. Send five armed men into the stairwell, starting at the top, working to the bottom, killing anything and anyone they see,” Li commanded one of the officers in the room with him.
93
WITH ALL VALVES OPEN, SAM made his way back down the stairs and was surprised to find that the bottom level was filling up with water. He wanted the water to flow out into the corridor and flood the basement. Stairwells were paths for occupants to leave their floor and exit the overall structure. The direction of travel to exit the basement floor was up, to the top floor. This meant all the lower-level doors swung inward in line with the path of egress. So instead of the water pushing the door open, it was pushing it closed, and in the five minutes or so it had taken him to remove all the valves on the upper floors the water had risen halfway to the ceiling.
Sam waded in and grabbed hold of the door handle, putting his feet against the wall. He tried to pull the door open, but the weight of the water was too much and it wouldn't budge. Damn!
The Slip Page 20