Jack exchanged looks with the others. They had come to get answers, but these two very strange people had turned the tables on them somehow and now they had guessed at one of the world’s foremost secrets.
Rothman looked at Martha and seemed happy. They stared at each other for the longest time and then Rothman turned and looked the men over.
“Do not worry, Colonel. Martha and I can keep a secret as well as anyone in the world.”
Jack watched as Martha covered her mouth and he would have sworn that she chuckled at Rothman’s small joke.
“Our time is short and Martha and I have wasted a lot of it because we do not normally interfere with the affairs of your … well, the affairs of the world. I think, though, and I’m sure Martha would agree, that you may just be the people who could assist us.”
“Colonel, it’s not just a coincidence that you and we have been thrown together. The situation in the world is dire and we believe we know who is behind it. I speak of the actions in Korea and the murders here; they are tied together,” Martha said.
Jack was beginning to feel as though he had stepped down the rabbit hole. He looked at Carl, who was looking at Martha as if she were an alien.
Collins was about to ask just what in the world these two were talking about when a servant stepped into the den through the sliding doors and approached Martha. He watched as a concerned look crossed her face. She thanked the man and then excused him. She looked closely at Jack, then she stood and made her way to the small desk and removed the phone there and placed it on the center of the tabletop. Jack saw a flashing light, which meant that someone was on hold. Martha sat back and looked at their guests.
“It seems we have a call, Colonel. A gentleman has asked to speak to you, Carmichael, and me.”
“Don’t tell me the director has learned we took the plane already,” Everett said, half joking, as he stood and went to the large window that looked out on the pool in the back. He gestured for Mendenhall and Ryan to cover the other windows.
“I assure you men that this property is well guarded,” Rothman said as he watched the three men at the windows.
“Nothing personal, sir, but we have already discussed the shortfalls of your security arrangements, and I’m sorry to inform you they are sorely lacking.”
Rothman looked from Everett to Jack and nodded.
Martha reached out and placed the call into conference mode by pushing the flashing button.
“Hello,” she said as if the call were anything but unusual.
“I assume I am speaking with Martha Laughlin?”
“I don’t believe I recognize your voice.”
“That is not a concern at the moment, Miss Laughlin. I take it I am being listened to by Carmichael Rothman and a Colonel Jack Collins?”
The three remained silent as Jack quickly glanced at Everett, who stood to the side of the window frame. He shook his head to indicate that the yard was clear. Jack did the same with Mendenhall and Ryan, who had a view of the front. They had the same answer.
“Your silence is answer enough. There is no need to tell you who I am. That does not matter. What does matter is that individually you three are bothersome, but together you are a threat. Colonel Collins, I do not know whom it is you work for, but as of this moment you will not interfere with me again. I suspect it was you and the three men you have with you that played the role of hero in Ethiopia. Well, I am here to tell you that such actions have an equal and far harsher reaction. This is a lesson I’m sure you have learned in the past few days.”
“Something tells me you’re not the type to carry threats out yourself. By the sound of your voice, I assume you order others to do the dangerous stuff while you manicure your nails and watch.”
Martha and Carmichael watched Collins silently.
“Very good, Colonel. Your wit in times of stress tells me you are a man used to danger. The real point here is that I have the power to do it, as the body count of your people has clearly shown. Now, Carmichael and Martha, I believe you to be the last of our brothers and sisters. Mr. Keeler failed as his father and brother before him to protect that which was not his, nor yours. You may eventually guess at my identity and that is fine. I do, however, know yours. You and your kind have always been sorely lacking in strength and you are no exception. Your forefathers should have remained with us, because as a split entity, you have no spine.”
“We are aware of what you are doing and now have the spine to tell the world about you. We may have been weak in the past and allowed you certain liberties in regard to world affairs. Now that it only Martha and myself left, what the hell, we are letting the world finally know about you and your people and all the misery you have caused throughout history.”
“Your story should make very interesting fodder, Mr. Rothman. Far more interesting is the fact that I would have looked forward to your explanation as to why you and your kind allowed it to happen without helping those poor, poor people throughout history. You and that bitch beside you deserve to die with the colonel and his backward monkey-people.”
“Hey!” Ryan said from his place at the front window. “Monkey-people?”
“Good-bye … Oh, one last item, Colonel. Tell your men at the windows to duck.”
The line went dead just as the windows on every wall in the den exploded inward in a hail of bullets. Jack threw himself to the floor, crawled quickly to Martha, and pulled her roughly out of her chair. Mendenhall duckwalked from his spot at the now-nonexistent front window, pulled Carmichael from his chair, and then covered him with his body.
“I think you pissed him off, Jack,” Everett said as he fired three quick rounds out the window frame and then pulled back.
“That’s what monkeys do,” Collins said as he looked at Martha. More bullets flew through the windows and slammed into the expensive paneling. “We need a not-too-obvious way out of here.”
“There is a passage that Carmichael uses to reach his helicopter at the back of the property. It’s through the basement, but the electric car is on tracks and only carries two people at a time,” she said, as something hit the table and thumped to the floor.
Jack looked until he found the object and then decided very quickly that he had no time to dispose of it. Suddenly Ryan was there; he picked up the grenade and threw it out the window, barely missing Everett’s head. They heard the crump of the grenade as it went off in the pool.
“Colonel, this place has too many holes in it; maybe we should move someplace else,” Ryan said as he hit the floor next to Jack.
“As I said, you’re learning, Ryan. Come on, we’re heading for the basement. Help Mendenhall with Rothman. Swabby, we need cover fire now!”
Everett fired six quick shots out the window and then turned and fired five more out the window that Ryan had been covering. He heard someone outside cry out in pain and then was quickly rewarded with a hundred return rounds slamming into the walls and artwork around them.
“Go, Jack!” Carl shouted as he quickly placed another clip into his Beretta and repeated the same sequence of cover fire.
Collins pulled Martha to her feet and ran to the double doors of the den. He opened the doors and went into the long hallway. He slammed Martha against the wall and waited for Ryan and Mendenhall to get Rothman out of the den.
“Get the hell out of there, Carl!” Collins ordered. “Lead the way, Ms. Laughlin.”
Jack fell in right behind the older but agile woman as she went from the hallway into a large kitchen. Ryan, Will, and Rothman caught up through the swinging doors and then Ryan turned and held the door for Everett, who fired three times at an unseen entity behind him.
“At least ten, maybe more, Jack, and they’re hot on our ass,” Everett shouted and then quickly fired five times through the swinging doors. Another yelp of pain and then blood ran underneath the door. “Not bad for monkeys, huh?”
“This way,” Martha said as she pulled open the door leading to the basement.
J
ack pushed Will and Rothman ahead, and then Ryan quickly went by and down the stairs just as Everett ducked and the swinging door above him jerked as ten bullets punched through the wood.
“These guys are getting serious, Jack.”
Collins fired his entire clip through the splintered doorway and then pulled Everett after him.
Once in the spacious basement, they heard the attacking force above them as they moved about. It was only a second later when they heard several objects bouncing down the stairs. Collins and the others ducked quickly behind one of the reinforced concrete walls as the three grenades detonated. Shrapnel spread out in a deadly arc and punctured everything exposed in the basement.
“It’s right there. There’s a small landing; the tracks and car are there behind that steel door,” Martha said as she pointed.
“Carl, move in and check it out and make sure these guys didn’t come across that little bit of information, too.”
“Right,” Everett said as he moved to the door and quickly opened it. He jumped out and made ready his response, but there was no fire. “It’s just stairs, Jack.”
“Get going, all of you. Mr. Ryan, assist the lady.”
The others quickly made for the door and the stairs beyond. Jack waited one minute and then turned and followed.
A moment later, they found themselves a hundred feet down in the earth, staring at a small electric car that sat on tracks. The small tracks led upward and they saw light illuminating the tracks.
“Okay, Ms. Laughlin, you and Mr. Rothman get moving. We will cover you for as long as we can. But pretty soon these guys are going to smarten up and cut the power, so send that thing right back here.” Jack looked at the locked door, just waiting for a satchel charge to blow it inward. “If for any reason we get separated, you have got to tell your story, either at the White House, where my director is—his name is Compton—or out at Nellis Air Force Base. If that’s the case—”
“If that’s the case, I know the base commander there. I got him appointed to the Academy,” Rothman said.
“That’s nice,” Everett said as he pulled Rothman to the small cart.
The four men watched as the two old people moved off in the electric cart. Martha turned and Jack would have sworn she mouthed the words, I’m sorry.
Several explosions sounded through the steel door as the assault on the basement began in earnest. Dirt settled onto them from the tunnel above and around them.
Jack looked closely at the incline of the small tracks as they disappeared into the distance. Then he made a decision.
“Look, I don’t feel like waiting here for our company to just drop in. Let’s make this more expensive for them and head up toward the surface. Maybe we can pick a few off.”
“I’m for that,” Everett said as he caught a clip of ammunition from Mendenhall.
“Then let’s catch the number nine, boys. Will, lead the way.”
As they started out, they heard the first real explosion against the steel door. Jack motioned to Everett to catch up with Mendenhall and Ryan.
“Dammit, that’s enough! Let me take the risks once in a while.”
“That’s an order, swabby. Now move it.”
As Everett obeyed, Jack hunkered low and waited. He did not have to do so for long. He heard whispered orders as the attackers made it through the steel door. He cocked his head to listen. Jack knew that he was high enough on the incline of tracks that he was not seen. He would have to make that advantage count. The first four men came into view. They wore black Nomex and covered like professionals—two men forward, two squatting and covering. He waited for the optimal shot.
As the first two went low to cover the second, Collins aimed and fired at the two, who had just stood to run. He fired four times. Both men crumpled and fell onto the tracks. Then he adjusted and fired at the kneeling men before they knew what was coming. Two shots apiece. But this time only one man fell. The other, on the right, was only wounded and he nearly made Jack pay for missing. On full automatic, the man fired as he fell backward. The bullets hit the metal track to Jack’s front and then stitched their way up into the concrete wall of the tunnel.
“Dammit!” Jack said as he quickly recovered and took hurried aim and fired. His rounds caught the man in the thigh and then the stomach. He was rewarded by the view of the man dropping his weapon and letting out a sigh.
Suddenly more men appeared and this time they let their automatic rifles do the covering. Bullets started hitting everywhere and Jack knew that he did have a chance to get off any return fire.
Everett had caught up with Mendenhall and Ryan just as the firing below began.
“Dammit. You two get to the top and find the damn light switch. These guys are well-equipped enough that they probably have night-vision gear.” He looked at his watch. “Give me exactly three minutes and then hit the lights. Thirty seconds later, turn them on again. Got that?”
“What if there’s no switch at this end?” Ryan asked.
“Then you may be moving up in rank real quick.”
“Really!” Ryan said with all the false levity he could muster.
Jack knew that he was in trouble. He would stop for a split second and then fire blindly, hoping to hit one of the assailants with a ricochet. Then he would run, stop, and do the same again.
As he turned a third time, the lights went out.
“Oh, oh,” he said to himself.
As he strained to listen, he remained perfectly still. He could hear quiet orders being voiced by whoever was in charge; he also heard the noise of men as they shuffled around in the darkness. He aimed toward some of that noise but held his fire, hoping that his eyes would adjust to the sudden darkness.
The withering fire opened up right at Jack’s position. Chunks of concrete flew and struck him as he tried to back off on his stomach. The assault was too accurate for men blinded by darkness; they had to have night-vision goggles. Which he knew spelled disaster for him.
Above the din of exploding rounds, Jack heard a familiar voice.
“Stay down, Jack, and be ready!”
Suddenly, the lighting in the tunnel came to glaring life. The men in black Nomex screamed out as the brightness struck their eyes after being enhanced a thousandfold by the ambient light devices. Men fought as the tried to raise the single-lens goggles.
Everett, who was only ten feet from Jack, opened fire with deadly accuracy. Jack didn’t hesitate as he sighted and added his 9-millimeter to the fray, hitting screaming men in their chests, faces, and arms. The two military men had caught each of their supposed killers in the open.
Three men turned and ran back the way they had come, but the rest would never return to the man who had ordered them to Rothman’s house.
When it was over, Jack stood and hurriedly replaced his spent clip. He scanned the area around him and then looked at Everett.
“When in the hell are you going to follow orders, Captain?”
“Maybe when you start giving me orders that make sense by allowing me to assume some of the risk, Jack.”
“Okay, Captain,” he said, letting a smile finally crease his tanned face. “That wasn’t a bad makeshift plan, by the way. Especially since we didn’t know if they had night-vision gear. Also the part of the plan where you assumed Ryan would find the right switch for the lights.”
“Nah, I knew he would just hit them all; the odds were with us.”
Collins stared at the empty cart and the open door. Mendenhall and Ryan stood next to it and they did not look happy.
“The helicopter?” Jack asked.
“Gone,” answered Ryan.
“Maybe that bad guy on the phone had a point about those two, Jack,” Everett said. “I mean, leaving us to fend off the wolves while they run is not the makings of people with a whole lot of character.”
Jack grimaced and then looked at the others.
“Well, we learned a few things. Let’s go home and see what comes of it. We’ll call the locals a
nd use Europa to see if we can pin some names to the Virginia hospitality down in the tunnel.”
“Yeah, we learned a few things all right, like not to trust anyone over fifty,” Ryan mumbled as he turned and left.
9
EVENT GROUP CENTER
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, NEVADA
Sarah had been on a conference call with Bell Labs for four hours and had even awakened the chief design engineer for Bose. She had to run some questions by the chief engineers of both facilities after Niles Compton, in Washington, had pulled some powerful strings and cleared the way for her to speak directly to the labs. When she was done with her questions, the Group’s Engineering Department ran her theory in model form on Europa.
With some success in the theory end of things, they needed an actual working model to prove it sound. They set up a mechanical model inside one of the many workshops of the complex. They had engineered two sandstone slabs, each eight inches thick, and it was these strange items that the Earth-Sciences team was currently examining as the communications division hurriedly set up their equipment to be used in the experiment.
“I don’t get what you’re suggesting, Sarah,” said the young doctor from Virginia Tech. He looked over at a room monitor and into the face of Niles Compton, who was on the line from the White House subbasement, where he had set up shop with the new science adviser to the president.
“I think I do, and if she can pull this off, we have at least a theory to advance to the Russians and Chinese, and maybe, just maybe, they can convince the Koreans,” Niles said from Washington.
“The key here is our naval-communications gear.” Sarah nodded at the com techs and they gave her a thumbs-up.
The summoned scientists and engineering personnel assigned to the earthquake investigation stood around the lab, and all were wearing goggles. Most shook their heads in doubt at what Sarah was trying to do. Most of them had heard of sound as an impact carrier, but few believed that it could actually be used in real-world situations. As they watched the final connections being made, each was handed a pair of earphones and earplugs. They were instructed by the communications men—an army sergeant and a navy signals man—to insert the ear-canal plugs first and then place the headphones over them.
Ancients: An Event Group Thriller Page 22