“And how long would that take?”
“A minimum of three hours. We would have to shut down the computer completely which would shut down all facilities – water, electricity, ...”
“You have battery backup,” Esteves said. “You told me.”
“Yes, but there would be no control. The lights will be on, the ventilation systems will be working, water will be accessible, but there will be no control. After the memory has been erased, we have to load the management program. That will take at least an hour and then it needs to be tested.”
“Why?” Esteves said.
“Because it has never been used. There are always errors,” Siegfried said.
“Even the best programmers make errors,” Issaack said.
“We will wait until daylight then,” Esteves said. “But now we take care of the big problems.” He pointed at Declercq and Gretel.
“Take them out and shoot them. And take the rest along to see what happens when they try to overthrow Ramiro Esteves.”
Comandante Lopez went to the door and issued an order. The two soldados in the room motioned to the two sentenced to die that they should get up.
“A little difficult to do with our hands and feet bound,” Declercq said.
“Where are you going to take them?” Issaack said.
“Outside. In front of the tunnel.”
“How are we going to see what happens?”
Esteves looked at him. “Your eyes.”
“It’s dark.”
“We use the drones like you did,” Comandante Lopez said.
“We have no control for the drones.”
“Ze computer,” said Ramiro
“You made us remove the controller,” Siegfried said.
“Put it back juzt to control the dronez.”
“Can’t do that,” Issaack said. “If you want just drone control, it would take about twenty-four hours to modify the program.”
“You’re lying,” Ramiro said.
“No, he’s not,” Siegfried said. “It is not a simple program.”
Waldo chimed in. “That program is not an ordinary program. That’s artificial intelligence and the code consists of at least ten thousand pages of code.”
“Anyone elze wantz to add anything?” Ramiro asked.
Nobody said anything.
“Okay,” Ramiro said. “If anything elze happenz that that Horuz guy doez, you three” and he pointed at Waldo, Issaack and Siegfried, “will join thoze two” and he pointed at Declercq and Gretel.
“Well,” Issaack said standing up and gesturing at Siegfried, “we better get at it”, and started moving toward the door.
Comandante Lopez issued an order out the door and Issaack and Siegfried were escorted by a soldado in front and one behind to the computer room whose door, as all the doors in the complex, stood open. Both men stepped to keyboards and started typing meaningless lines of code except for the first one that Issaack wrote that activated Horus and issued some suggestions.
After ten minutes, they finished their charade knowing that going any longer would be pointless and only aggravate Ramiro.
“That’s it,” Issaack said, as both men hit the return key sending ten minutes worth of meaningless code to the trash. Immediately all doors closed, and the lights blinked, and ones not needed stayed off.
The first thing that Horus did was to contact Gerallt.
It was twenty minutes later that Declercq and Gretel were escorted out the south door of Vulcan’s Roost to a place against the crater wall in an area illuminated by four drones. The rest of the Bundle group were escorted out and stood, their backs against the south wall of Vulcan’s Roost. Four soldados marched from the east side of Vulcan’s Roost and took places between the Bundle and the crater wall, two designated for each of the doomed. There were no blanks in any of the rifles. Ramiro wanted the AK-47s to be set on auto but had been argued out of that by The General and Comandante Lopez, who were standing at the west end of the firing squad.
“We will dispense with the blindfolds, last words, and cigarettes,” Ramiro said. He turned to General Matias Gutierrez. “General, do the honors.”
General Matias Gutierrez took four steps forward, standing to the right of the firing squad and turned facing them. “Ready on the right. Ready on the left. Ready on the firing line,” the words extremely inappropriate for this event but he always had been a showboat. “Ready, aim,...”
One shot rang outshot rang out. General Matias Gutierrez fell to the ground.
Ramiro Esteves dropped to the ground.
The lights went off.
Chapter 37
After Horus’s call for help, Gerallt and Monica had raced to the crater entrance of the lava tube. There was scarcely room for both of them, but they made do with Monica lying more out of the tube than in it. By agreement Monica had the General in her sights and Gerallt, Esteves. Since Monica didn’t have an earbub, Gerallt relayed what was happening to her. Understanding the difficulty, Horus anticipated the count and told Gerallt to shoot on “Ready.” Gerallt then said, “Shoot.”
As soon as they squeezed their triggers, Gerallt said, “Coc y gath (fuck off).”
“What?” Monica said, her weapon now useless in the dark without an infrared scope.
“This thing jammed.”
“What do we do now?”
“Wait.” Gerallt heard in his earbud and they waited.
As soon as the lights went out, Declercq and Gretel turned and ran for the tunnel, their arms fastened behind them with flexi-cuffs. They heard a commotion behind them as shots rang out but none were close. Fortunately it wasn’t pitch black and they could see the mouth of the tunnel and made it safely inside without any shots being fired.
“They’ll be after us quickly,” Declercq said as there was a whirring sound that passed them.
“I’ll turn on some light in a minute,” came Horus’s voice from the drone. “Keep running for the other end.”
When the Bundle had come out of Vulcan’s Roost to watch the executions, Gloria went to the left, preceded by a soldado, Carmen, Harvey Gladstone and Siegfried, followed her, Issaack went to the right preceded by a soldado and followed by Waldo and Phil who stopped as soon as they had exited the building. Behind Phil and just inside Vulcan’s Roost, stood another soldado. This was Ramiro’s order because he was not taking any chances that one of them might get away. As soon as the lights went off, Phil and Siegfried turned around and pushed the surprised soldado back further into the building, followed immediately by Waldo, Issaack, Harvey Gladstone and Gloria. As soon as the last of them was through the doorway, the door closed, the windows darkened, and lights went on. Phil and Siegfried had pushed the surprised soldado against the wall and Waldo and Harvey Gladstone helped to subdue him quickly. Phil had control of the soldado’s AK-47.
“You speak English?”
“A little,” replied Sargento (Sergeant) Franco Delgado, el Pelotón (Squad) Bueno.
“You do what we tell you and you’ll live. Understand?”
“Si,” the Sargento said.
Phil pointed to the floor.
“See that?”
The tile was showed a red “Soldado”.
“Si.”
“Follow it,” and as the “Soldado” jumped to the next tile, Phil prodded the soldado. While this little exchange had been going on, Horus gave instructions over the intercom system and the other five Bundle members had left following other tiles leading to the place that Horus thought would be safest for each of them. As they moved away from the doorway, the lights went off.
Outside there was confusion for a few moments as the invading solders struggled to get their night vision googles out of their packets where they had put them after entering Vulcan’s Roost when the Bundle had capitulated. Ramiro was screaming for them to get Declercq and Gretel as well as the rest of the bundle. He looked pretty disheveled with the dust from the crater floor all over his white suit and hair from when he had dropp
ed when Monica had fired her AK-47 killing General Matias Gutierrez.
“Sir,” Comandante Lopez said trying to control the anger that he was feeling, “Let me take care of the situation. It is best that you stay out of the way for now.”
“Okay but get those two wherever they went and get into that building.”
“That’s my plan, Sir.” Lopez turned to Teniente (Lieutenant) Lautaro Zapatero. “Take a three-man team and go up to that lava tube and get those people. Dead or alive, I don’t care.”
To Teniente Diego Alejandro Velazquez, he said, “Take a two-man team into the tunnel in case that’s where they went. If you don’t find them, see if you can get through the gates.”
To Sargento Garcia Marques, el Pelotón (Squad) Alberto, “surround this place and don’t let anyone out. If you can get in do so and let me know. Keep your men in pairs. Keep a fire team here.”
“Sorry, Sir,” replied Sargento Garcia Marques having kept careful watch on the people not assigned, “but there are only six of us left, counting you and it will take eight to guard the building as you said.”
“Oh, right. Put a man on the east, south, west and north doors. You and the other search for weak spots.”
Then to Ramiro, “It is best for the time being, if you get in the tunnel.”
“Just get those people. Dead or alive I don’t care,” Esteves said. “They’re going to die anyway.”
All this conversation, although in Spanish, was picked up by one of the drones which had settled above the south doorway as soon as the lights were turned off. There were two drones sitting on the edge of each side with video and sound. Issaack was in the auditorium watching and listening while Waldo and Phil were in the drone lab making changes to the drones. Harvey Gladstone had followed the soldado to the jail where he had secured him and was standing watch and feeling very macho. Gloria and Carmen had armed themselves. Gloria was standing near the south side door and Carmen near the north side door.
The Tunnel Chase Team led by Teniente Diego Alejandro Velazquez moved quickly into the tunnel chasing Declercq and Gretel at double time. Ahead of them, Declercq and Gretel had been running and reached the trap area finding the traps closed and the gate open.
“One of you go to the dead man and get a knife or something to cut your flexi-cuffs. The other I need here to clear the traps,” Horus said via the drone which provided low level light for them to see as they ran. He didn’t want to turn the tunnel lights on to aid pursuit that he knew was coming.
“I’ll get the knife,” Gretel said and headed for the dead man, whose body had been untouched. Horus had used Deva’s drone to drive him up the mountain where he had settled to sleep.
“Move to the gate end of the boards of the innermost trap, Declercq,” Horus instructed him, “and move them so the ends are on the metal.”
Declercq did this by sitting down on the gate side of the trap and pushing the boards with his feet. Then he walked across to the tunnel side of the trap and Horus opened the trap’s doors. The end of the boards on the metal dropped into the pit but the boards were still standing blocking the trap’s doors from closing. Declercq used his feet to push them sideways so they fell. Horus then closed the trap’s doors and Declercq crossed over and Horus opened the trap’s doors. At this time Gretel returned with a Ka-Bar held in her hands which were now in front of her. Despite her size, she was agile enough to be able to move her arms under her feet. She was quickly able to free Declercq who did the same for her. Then while he started removing the boards from the rest of the traps and carrying them to the tunnel’s entrance, Gretel returned to the dead man, and got his AK-47 and ammunition. They barely had time to set the boards up, lying on the narrow side with the faces together for a thicker cover when the Tunnel Chase Team arrived.
When they were within firing range, Gretel, the marksman of the two, quickly downed the two non-com soldados. With the traps open, Teniente Diego Alejandro Velazquez realized there was nothing he could do but didn’t leave and set up using the bodies of his two men for cover. And so there was a Mexican standoff.
Chapter 38
“Gerallt.”
“Yes, Horus.”
“They are sending four men up there after you.”
“Okay, what else?”
“Declercq and Gretel ran into the tunnel. There is a three-man team after them but they’ll make it to the other end first and be safe.”
“Are they armed?”
“No, but there is a dead invader there with his arms.”
“I don’t think we can handle four men, at least in here. There’s little cover and our ammunition is limited.”
“How fit are you?”
“Well, I was doing nothing for several weeks but have been busy for a few days and doing okay.”
“What about Monica?”
Gerallt relayed the question. “I work out every day. Have to in my business.”
Horus then told Gerallt, “Go up through your tree exit and get to the encampment. You’ll have to evade the animals but I’ll let you know where they are. Based on my count there is nobody left in the encampment. Each of you can drive a truck to the tunnel. There you’ll pick up Declercq and Gretel. Come back through the tunnel driving the remains of that chase team in front of you. At the same time, we’ll mount an attack from inside.”
“Anyway to lure that typsyn (idiot) Esteves inside?”
“Probably when you come charging out of the tunnel. Especially if we cut down their forces by some surprise attacks I have in mind.”
“I don’t think it would be a good idea to put a bomb in the tunnel because it could interfere with that water spout and who knows what it will do but I’ll try to do something on this end.”
“Fine, then I’ll leave you two to it.”
“Harvey?” Horus asked
“Yes?”
“Do you know how to use a gun?”
“What kind?”
“AK-47.”
“No.”
“I can,” Gloria said. “Well, I have shot something like that before. Who do I have to kill? Esteves?”
“No. Harvey, you stay guarding the prisoner. You can handle the pistol he had, right?”
“Gloria showed me how. Point and shoot.”
“You shouldn’t need to do anything and I will alert you if the sergeant makes a move to escape.”
“How can I help?” Gloria asked.
Carmen stopped close to the door on the north side of Vulcan’s Roost. It was a double door but could open just one side or both. Gloria stopped eight feet down the hall as protection. They had “flipped a coin” and Carmen had won. Besides, she had taken more recent firearm training.
“Get ready. Remember, just one short burst,” Horus said.
“I know,” Carmen replied.
“Five … four … three … two … one …”
What would have been zero was washed out by the burst of fire from her AK-47 as the door slid open just a crack and then closed. She move quickly to the right about eight feet and stood facing Gloria.
“One down,” Horus said. “He doesn't appear to be moving.”
“Where next?” Gloria asked.
“Let’s go to the south side.”
Gerallt and Monica hurried back down the lava tube. When they crossed the hole in the floor, Gerallt pulled the ladder and carried it with them to the base of the strangler fig tree hole where he left it. Then Monica climbed up first with Gerallt following but pausing just below the top of the hole to plant the explosive with a trigger wire just above one of the steps. He got out of the hole to complete the installation which involved cutting the rope below the step with the trigger wire. The rope was almost cut through. It required the weight of someone climbing the ladder to break it and pull the trigger wire.
Then he led Monica through the rainforest heading east. Shortly he stopped and whispered to Monica, “That cat that saved my life in the tube is here eating something.” He pointed and she looked and saw
Hyma at the base of a tree eating a green monkey.
“That’s the caracal,” whispered Monica. “But look.”
She pointed to the right and he saw the tiger poised to spring at the caracal.
Without hesitation, Gerallt issued a shrill whistle. The caracal bounded up the tree and Cleopatra turned and ran. Gerallt looked up the tree where the caracal had gone. She was sitting on a limb high up looking at him. He raised his hand.
“Debt paid, my feline friend,” he said. Then to Monica, “Horus forgot to tell us about those two.”
“I did not,” Horus said. “They were not any threat to you and you’re smart enough to have spotted them. Besides, they weren’t close enough to have pounced on you.”
Horus told them that the way along the base of Vulcan’s Forge was clear of animals and they proceeded at a jog across the opening. About halfway across there was an explosion.
“Sounds like your trap worked,” Monica said as they ran.
“I figured that there are only two entrances now. Wonder if the ladder got destroyed?”
Teniente Lautaro Zapatero had chosen Los Tres A-migos as his fire team. He led them up the hill and into the lava tube. Despite his age, he was a better soldier than General Gutierrez and Comandante Lopez. He had no fear and was very combat aware. Inside the tube, all four used their night vision goggles. He led the way taking the left wall with Axel Martin behind him and Alejandro González followed by Agustin López moving along the right wall but several feet further back. They stopped when they came to the hole. Teniente Zapatero removed all his combat gear and had Alejandro shine a light on the other side of the hole figuring that if anyone was lying in wait, they would have fired by now. Then he went back about ten paces and ran and jumped and easily made it across. Each of the other three tossed him their equipment including his own and then one-by-one made the jump as he had with him offering them help on landing. Alejandro was next and he made the jump easily while Axel held the light. Agustin was next and then Axel. Almost always last in physical drills, this time he did not fail although he had said a Hail Mary while waiting and crossed himself. After getting their gear back on, the four continued down the tube as before. Teniente Zapatero held his hand up to stop when the light from the strangler fig hole became evident. He moved carefully ahead, Axel trailing by a good ten feet and Alejandro in line with him on the other side. When Teniente Zapatero confirmed no one was around, the four of them gathered at the base of the ladder.
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