“Why’s it doing it now and not when we got here?” Monica asked.
“Because Horus was told not to do so until you learned who Horus was.”
They were standing in the hallway.
“Tell Horus you want to go to your room,” Issaack said.
“Horus, I want to go to my room.”
On the floor in front of Monica in the center of a tile was a green arrow with the shaft bearing the word
“Now just start walking,” Issaack said and Monica did, and the arrow preceded her always leaping to the tile in front of her. When she reached the first corridor the arrow turned sideways so it read
“What’z wrong with zis computer?” Ramiro said.
‘Nothing,” Issaack replied, “but it is obvious that you haven’t been invited.”
Ramiro scowled and said, “Horuz, I want to go to my room.” The proper arrow appeared on the floor in front of him and he started following it, but the arrow didn’t turn left at the first corridor. However, he did, and the arrow disappeared.
“Horuz, I want to go to my room.”
Nothing appeared on the floor in front of him. Frustrated he turned around and there on the tile in the middle of the corridor was
In one of the servers that Horus had labeled “Security,” Horus entered the word “Esteves.”
Chapter 18
It was 02:03:57 early the following morning when the former Brazilian military troop carrier entered the air space above São Rochelle. It was at this precise second that the first man stepped out of the plane followed quickly by a second, then a third, a fourth and continuing until ten had left the aircraft. The airplane continued on making a 180º-turn and coming back over the island and thirty more men stepped out. The first ten men were supposed to land on the south side of Montanha da Cratera or Vulcan’s Forge as it was currently known and the next thirty within the volcano’s crater, ten of them on the roof of Vulcan’s Roost. Thirty-nine of these men achieved their goal. However, the chute of the fortieth, who was really number six of the first ten men, failed to open and streamed above his head as he plummeted screaming until the air left his lungs and he died, a thousand feet above the island, his body crashing into the westernmost limbs of a kapok in the island’s small rain forest. There the body hung having not made it to the ground, at least not that day, and in the future would became sustenance for a starving panther. As planned, twenty of the invaders, for that is what they were, made their landing on the crater’s floor east of Vulcan’s Roost, the other ten on the roof of Vulcan’s Roost.
In all three groups, chutes were quickly gathered and put out of the way. Weapons were released from bindings and the men gathered in preassigned groups of five, one with only four, on the side of the mountain. The leader of each unit (which could properly be called a fireteam although these men were no longer military, but all had been so, although not in the same country’s forces) checked his watch and then led his unit to their proper position.
On the side of the mountain, the two units converged on opposite sides of the metal gate, the main purpose of which was purported to be to prevent any of the predators – who were not yet on the island – from getting into the volcano’s crater. One man of each unit prepared to plant plastic explosives on the hinges of the massive gates to blow them off and permit entrance. Fortunately each unit had two men with this responsibility just in case what had come to pass happened because the dead man was one of the two in his unit who carried the explosives. However, when they got to the gates, they found them open. After all there were no predators on the island and there was, up until the first of these men set foot on the island, no one hostile to those in Vulcan’s Roost.
The two unit leaders conferred and motioned for the men to follow them into the quarter-mile-long tunnel. The two leaders were Comandante Pedro Lopez who was second in command of the invasion force and Sergeant Franco Delgado who was the leader of Squad Bueno which had been broken into the two units. All were wearing night vision goggles, but the best of night vision googles, the best of eyes in the bright daylight if that is what it would have been, would not have identified the three ten-foot-wide metal covers as dangerous. The first two were ten feet apart, the first fifteen feet into the tunnel. The third was just five feet beyond the second. When four of the five men of the lead unit were on the second cover and the last two of the second unit were on the first, the two-piece hinged covers opened. The six ill-fated men plunged ten feet to the bottom of the pit. The floor was studded with one-foot long metal nails set one foot apart. None of the men survived the fall. At least not for very long. The fifth man of the first unit was Comandante Lopez and he had just stepped off the cover as the fourth man of the unit stepped onto it. Sergeant Franco Delgado was just behind the fifth man of the first unit and in two more steps he would have been on that steel cover.
Of the three remaining, only one of them attempted to leap the chasm and that was going back toward the gate. Had he made the jump, he would then have encountered a closed gate. But he acted on impulse. Had he taken time to look at the situation, he would have realized the futility of his attempt. The two who survived were Comandante Pedro Lopez and Sergeant Franco Delgado. They didn’t survive because they were officers because Horus didn’t know who the men were only that they were invaders and he was just maximizing his kill numbers. Comandante Lopez made a call to the General Matias Gutierrez, the invasion’s leader who was one of the twenty who landed east of Vulcan’s Roost. The General sent two of his group into the tunnel with a rope, stakes and a hammer. It took three quarters of an hour, but four men came out of the tunnel. These four were fortunate that Horus didn’t spring any more of his traps, but his thought at this time was to keep some things in reserve.
Horus thought eight down and at this point had no idea how many there were.
The invaders had first been confirmed when the ill-fated parachutist crashed into the rain forest and sent birds flying into the air and green monkeys scurrying away. This noise was unusual, and Horus sent one of his drones to investigate. He had been testing the drones for several weeks and had one of them sitting on a large branch of a kapok not far from the one fate had chosen for the parachutist Diego Sanchez. The problem Horus had was that he could not see the video which was being sent back and needed help in that respect and, because of the emergency that he felt this was, he woke both Issaack and Siegfried. They were in the computer room within ten minutes looking at the video of the man hanging in the parachute harness obviously armed and, despite the fact that he was dead, that meant no good. The emergency response team of Symon Scheetz, Stefaan Declercq, Hansel, Gretel and Carmen Domingo were roused and told the nature of the emergency. Dressing and arming themselves appropriately, they were in assigned positions within ten minutes of being awoken. Simultaneously with this alarm being raised, other drones were dispatched around the area and they provided video as chutists landed east of Vulcan’s Roost and when the first set of feet touched the roof of Vulcan’s Roost. The doors of all of the Billionaire Bundle were locked to prevent them from coming out of the safety of their rooms. These rooms were on the inside of the building with one wall facing on a small atrium, the roof of which could be opened when it rained to water the plants in the atrium and otherwise remained closed. If someone wanted to blow them they could but, point of fact - the invaders didn’t have a floor plan of Vulcan’s Roost and consequently did not know where any of the occupants’ rooms were – especially that of the man who had organized and financed the invasion: Ramiro Esteves. They were truly going hit or miss.
The one room that the invaders had a fair idea as being important was the room housing Horus, although all they knew for certain was that it was supposed to be the most important room in the complex. So one of the two units that had landed on the roof was simply going to the center of the complex to set one of the charges. This was not an easy thing to do on a flat surface and if they had known how thick that surface was and what it was made of, they would have given up without trying. But they didn’t know, and they did try. They used a shaped charge or the best version of a shaped charge that might work on a surface such as they had. The other unit was to try to make access by blowing one of the four skylights they could see protruding above the otherwise flat roof.
While the groups on the roof were preparing their charges, the forces inside were hurrying to their posts. It wasn’t a big defensive force: Hansel and Gretel, Symon Sheetz, Stefan Declercq, Carmen Domingo, Issaack, and Siegfried. But then, they were actually not expecting an invasion or at least an invasion of this type. Of the seven, the first four were as proficient in warfare as any of the men outside and the other three had been taught to fire a weapon and were decent but not deadly. In the kitchen, Carmen was a force to be reckoned with but on the firing range she came in a distant seventh. However, all had known – at least suspected – that an incident like this was probable although not considered definite. But the size of the force, the method of attack, and the timing of the invasion had not been. The knowledge was really a best guesstimate by Horus who had told Issaack that he didn’t trust Esteves – “He smells greedy,” which is a strange way for something which cannot smell to put its feelings into words. And the defenses – especially in the tunnel – were all of Horus’s design. If they had known for certain who the head conspirator was, they would have gone straight for him or her. They were certain that the leader was one of the Bundle which was now an eight pack rather than a seven pack because of the introduction of Siegfried, who was not a billionaire – at least not yet – and was riding Issaack’s coat tails but – at least so far – no one had questioned his inclusion. Nobody asked Horus who would have replied “The Bundle size is nine.”
Siegfried had only one duty and that was to guard Horus. So when the first two charges went off almost above his head, Siegfried jumped and, had he not taken a minute to relieve himself earlier, he would have had wet pants.
Chapter 19
Of the two shaped charges set off on the roof only one was successful, possibly because of faulty material or maybe a better shaped charge. As a result, a hole appeared in one of the atrium roofs. Had Issaack and Siegfried believed that an invasion was really likely, they would have put better glass in the atrium windows. The explosion had awoken Monica who had rushed to her door screaming, Bundle card in hand, only to find the door unresponsive to her efforts to open it.
“Horus, let me out!,” she screamed.
“You’re safer in there, Ms. Bartlett” she heard and then there was silence because Horus was busy with something that he at that time didn’t completely understand. Actually he didn’t understand much about warfare at all. If he had been a West Point plebe, he would have only been ready for his first term warfare finals.
So Monica turned around just as the plastic charge affixed to her window wall blew showering her with pieces of glass pellets, none of which were sharp. Naturally she screamed again and by the time the screaming was over she was in the hands of two of the evilest looking creatures she would ever want to see. They really were decent looking men but with war paint and night vision goggles, they looked like Martians or at least her idea of what a Martian would look like. She knew that she was no match for them and so she did what femme fatales don’t often do best – she fainted. The two invaders carried her out through the window, handed her up to their compatriots on roof, and then went back into her room to see if they could open the door but they couldn’t. On the roof, the unit’s leader let General Gutierrez know that he had been fortunate and captured the number one rated person on their “to be captured” list.
As the previous two episodes were being carried out, the other two squads of eight plus their sergeants, broke into four fire teams and took position, one on each side of the basically rectangular building and they were the best prepared of the bunch with RPGs. The problem with those weapons was the extensive damage that would be done to the building and their orders had been “Only as a last resort.” Hence they were poised and ready and waiting for such an event as had just happened.
With Monica Bartlett safely in his hands now recovered from her “swoon” and mad as a wet hen, her hands were bound with flexi-cuffs, General Gutierrez made his move. Using a bullhorn, he said, “Izzaack Kincaid. This is General Matias Gutierrez. We have Monica Bartlett. Either you ca•pitz•cu•late – give up – or she dies. You have sixty seconds. I push the button on this watch stop. When the alarm it goes off, so does the gun being pointed at her pretty head. No more Monica Bartlett and then we blow holes in the building and kills you all.”
Inside Issaack and Siegfried agreed and passed the word to their small defensive force and they vanished virtually into the woodwork – at least their weapons did – and they stood with empty hands visible.
“The clock is at thirty. Twenty-nine ...”
“Horus, the game is in your hands.”
“I understand,” Horus said and the four doors in the middle of the four outside walls of Vulcan’s Roost opened and the invaders moved inside.
Ten minutes later, and Issaack and Siegfried were confronted by Ramiro Esteves. “Mr. Kincaid, you failed to accept a simple modification to my program and you left me no choice.”
Siegfried looked at Issaack and mouthed “my program?”
“But, to be honezt – which is not zomething I do very much – I would have done zis anyway because zis izland iz ze perfect place from which to run my operationz.”
“So what’s going to happen?”
“Oh, we will proceed az planned with ze one addition that I had dezired. I am zinking that it would be good for you to be in ze mix.”
“No, not me nor any of my people.”
“Really? I zink so.”
“Well, are you ready for the consequences?”
“What are zese consequinces?”
“Horus, show him.”
Immediately the building went dark, all the doors closed, and the movement of fresh air ceased.
“Nobody move,” Issaack said to his force, “and don’t let any of your men do anything either, Ramiro. Horus, lights and air.”
And the lights and air came back on.
“You see, here Horus controls everything. Without him, you have no power, no water, no way to watch the debacle you are orchestrating. Your only way out would by climbing the volcano’s walls or by helicopter. I have told Horus that he is to cooperate with you and do as you request as long as none of my people are molested in any way. Those people are: Symon Sheetz, Stefan Declercq, Carmen Domingo, Hansel, Gretel, Monica Bartlett, Gloria Mitchell, Emerson, Siegfried and myself. I would include Phil and Harvey Gladstone, but they may be on your team.”
“Zey are notz on my team az you zay.”
“Then I include them. You are to carry your card, and we will make one for each of your men. They must carry these. If they don’t, Horus will go dark and I or Siegfried are the only ones who can bring him back. If Horus senses duress on the part of any of the people I have named, he will go dark.”
“I do not like zez card thing.”
“Tough shit. It’s a requirement. Think of it this way. If something happens to one of your men at the other end of the island, how will you know?”
Ramiro gave it some thought and then capitulated.
“Okay, I agreez.”
“Horus, have you been listening?”
“Yes.”
“Do you understand the rules.”
Of course, I do. I made them. “Yes.”
“There is your answer, Ramiro. Now let
my people go.” Because the game is afoot.
The cards were the first thing to be made and issued. They simply read “Soldado” (Portuguese for “Soldier”) followed by the number 1-40. It didn’t matter who had what card, because Horus would figure out the person’s importance by their actions. The card for “Soldado 40” was never given because his was the body in the tree and it was never found – at least not by any human on the island at that time. “Soldado 1” naturally went to General Matias Gutierrez. Numbers 33-39 went to the seven men who died in the tunnel.
The first item on the invaders’ agenda was to get the bodies out of the pits and into body bags along with a card. Ramiro had called in a chopper to take the bodies back to his ranch in the outlands of Brazil. Once the bodies were out, the pits were flushed with a fire hose. There were such hoses located at each end and one halfway through the tunnel – the water drained from the pits through holes in the floor. Everything that could be thought of had been thought of in the design of the facility. With the pits clean, Horus raised the panels and locked them.
Ramiro posted two guards inside and one outside the one door he permitted to be opened, one guard on each of the other three sides and in front of the computer center. This last to be certain that no one except Siegfried and Issaack entered the room. No need to place a guard inside the computer center because Issaack and Siegfried communicated with Horus orally no matter where they were in the complex and Horus kept them up to date on the activities of the invaders. Three guards were posted at the tunnel gate. They were told to tell Horus to open and close the gate when necessary although Horus didn’t need to be told. The invading force took over the village at the bottom of the hill, vacant now because there were no workers. By eight o’clock in the morning following the invasion everything was beginning to settle into the two camps. Day 2 of the Billionaire Bundle’s stay on São Rochelle was not off to the auspicious day it was supposed to have been.
Predator Island Page 17