Precipice: V Plague Book 9

by Dirk Patton

“I’m thinking I can use the tunnels to get to the edge of town and slip away from the Russians. And you should come with me,” I said.

  “Fuck that,” he snorted. “Got food, water, power and shelter right here. And I’m too goddamn old to be out running around the countryside. Think I’ll stay put.”

  I nodded, understanding his sentiment. He was surviving, but that was all he was doing. There was no doubt that the infection of his family had taken away whatever reasons he had for living. Now it was just surviving, one day at a time, until he either drank himself to death or couldn’t take it any longer and finally decided to eat his shotgun’s barrel.

  “Will you show me the tunnels?” I asked.

  He watched me for a long moment, squinting through blue cigarette smoke that curled towards the ceiling before being whisked away by the air filtration system. Finally nodding, he crushed the butt out in the remains of his breakfast and stood up. I pulled my boots on, lacing them tight, then followed him into the pantry.

  The back wall was covered by a large rack of shelves, stacked full of supplies. The shiny chrome vault door I’d seen the previous evening was set into this wall, partially hidden by supplies. Reaching out he grabbed one of the vertical braces on the shelving and tugged. The whole unit was attached to a hinge at the far end and smoothly swung away from the wall.

  “We’d better check before opening the door,” he said, pausing as he reached for the locking wheel.

  Leading the way to the surveillance room, he took a seat and began working on the keyboards. The monitors changed view, one at a time, and I was surprised to see night vision enhanced images of what were clearly smooth sided, concrete lined tunnels. He clicked around for several minutes, not finding movement in any of the images.

  “Just how many cameras do you have?” I asked.

  “Enough to see what I need to see,” he replied cryptically. “Here. Keep watching.”

  He kept clicking away and began rotating through street views of different areas of town. In many of them I could see Russian foot and vehicle patrols moving about as they continued to search for me. This was an incredibly impressive setup he had.

  “Titus,” I said carefully. “I mean no disrespect, but you and this whole setup don’t seem to go together. This is pretty sophisticated and again, no disrespect, but you’re more the type to be holed up in a cabin in the mountains with a rifle.”

  He stopped what he was doing and swiveled the office chair so he was looking up at me.

  “Was my son-in-law put the whole thing together,” he said. “I paid the bills, but he designed it all. Started work on it about eight years ago.”

  “You just paid the bills? How’d he convince you to spend the money?”

  “He was in the Air Force. Worked in intelligence at the base. About ten years ago, a few years after 9/11, he comes to me one night and says he’s scared to death. Says there’s some really bad shit being worked on by our enemies and we need to be prepared. Wouldn’t give me details, but he’d been married to my girl for a while by then and I’d gotten to know him pretty well.

  “He wasn’t the nervous type and didn’t get scared easy. If there was something coming bad enough to worry him, well, I got more money than I could spend so we talked about it for a bit. Couple of days later he brings me all these plans for a bunker and they’re marked “Top Secret” with Air Force stamps all over them.”

  “It took him a while, but he modified them to work for this place, then it was up to me to find the contractors and get to work. Never really thought anything would happen that we’d need it, but my daughter got pregnant so it was for my grandson too.”

  “What happened to your son-in-law?” I asked.

  “Don’t know,” he said, lighting a cigarette. “He was at the Pentagon for some conference when the attacks happened. Never saw him or heard from him after.”

  I nodded, glad I’d asked. Not that finding Titus and the shelter wasn’t a godsend, but it was almost too good to be true. At least now I had an explanation for why it was here.

  “Let’s go look at those tunnels,” he said, getting to his feet.

  33

  The small airport Martinez had found was on the western slope of the Cascades, hidden deep in an evergreen forest. There was one runway, just long enough to accommodate small planes, and no hangar or control tower. But there was fuel and even though they didn’t have an immediate destination she set to work topping off the Hind’s tanks as soon as they landed.

  Helicopter full and ready to go, she settled down in the cockpit with Irina to monitor Russian radio traffic. Colonel Crawford, Scott and Igor took up perimeter positions to stand guard. Johnnie Ray’s mouth was taped over again and he was restrained inside the aircraft with Rachel, Martinez and Irina keeping an eye on him. Katie and Dog paced in the dark.

  Dog was improving and had only a slight limp as he stuck to her heels. He still had a lot of healing to go, but was well on his way. Katie was exhausted but couldn’t slow her racing mind. Anger and sadness battled inside her to be the dominant emotion.

  On reflection she wasn’t a bit surprised that John had surrendered so she could escape, but that didn’t ease her pain. He’d always been very protective of her, even though he would be the first to say she was more than capable of taking care of herself. They’d had some issues over this when they first married. Katie had felt like he didn’t think she could handle problems as well as he could, but as time passed she realized that wasn’t the case.

  John was just one of those people who took care of the ones he loved. She’d watched him treat team mates the same way, and finally accepted that she had married a great big protective mother hen. A mother hen that could and would break bones and shred flesh, or sacrifice himself, to make sure she was safe.

  A friend of hers, who was a psychologist for the Agency, had tried to explain John’s behavior, but she didn’t care. All she knew was that she always felt safe with him and he really did listen to her and trust her. He just had a funny way of showing it, and that had taken some getting used to.

  “You OK?”

  Katie nearly screamed she was so surprised when Rachel suddenly spoke from the darkness. Dog wagged his tail and bumped Rachel’s hand with his nose, looking for some affection.

  “Sorry,” Rachel laughed. “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “That’s alright,” Katie said, letting out a big breath and resuming her walk. Rachel fell in with her, Dog taking up station between them. “I was just thinking about John.”

  “If anyone can get out of this, it’s him,” Rachel said, trying to sound confident.

  “I know that,” Katie said, wiping a tear of frustration off her cheek. “I know what he can do if he has a chance. I’m hoping that’s why they haven’t brought him here yet. It’s just that the odds are really stacked against him.”

  They had reached the far end of the runway and nodding at Igor, turned and began retracing their steps.

  “How are you doing with all this?” Katie asked a few minutes later.

  “I’m worried about him, but I’ve seen him pull off some pretty amazing things.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Katie said, turning to look at the dark silhouette next to her. “I’m talking about how you feel about him. I’ve had some bitchy moments, I know that, and they haven’t exactly been fair to you. I do know what you’ve done for him, for us, and what you mean to him. And you’re in love with him. I can see that. So how are you doing with everything.”

  They walked the length of the runway and nodded at Scott, turning and heading the other direction before Rachel spoke.

  “It is what it is,” she said with a note of sadness in her voice. “Yes, I love him. I’m not going to lie to you about that. But from the day I met him all he’s wanted was to get back to you. You have his heart, and you always will. This isn’t high school. I’ll survive.”

  They kept walking, each of them quiet as they contemplated what Rachel had just sa
id. Katie reached out in the dark and took her hand, squeezing it gently. She held Rachel’s hand for a few moments as they walked then gave it another squeeze before letting go.

  They were on the third circuit of the small airfield, Dog faithfully sticking close, when Rachel paused and tilted her face up towards the night sky. She was sure she’d heard something that sounded like an engine, but the sound was gone.

  “What?” Katie whispered, bringing her rifle up and clicking off the safety.

  “Don’t know,” Rachel whispered back.

  She stood there for a few moments, listening hard. Katie watched her intently, moving with her when she turned to face south when the noise appeared again.

  This time it didn’t fade away, growing steadily stronger. An approaching aircraft! This time Katie heard it as well. Turning, they began running towards the helicopter, nearly bumping into Colonel Crawford in the dark.

  “There’s a plane coming,” Rachel said as they adjusted their course to run at his side.

  “Heard it,” Crawford said as they pounded up to the Hind.

  Martinez had been in the cockpit, talking softly with Irina while they kept an eye on Johnnie Ray, and hadn’t heard the approaching danger.

  “Aircraft inbound!” Crawford shouted when they were close enough for her to hear.

  From two other directions, Scott and Igor pounded their way across the tarmac. Before any of them reached the Hind, Martinez hit the starters for the engines. They whined, then the massive power plants roared to life and the rotor began to slowly turn. The Hind was formidable in the air, but a sitting duck on the tarmac.

  No one had reached the helicopter when small arms fire began coming from several directions. It was all directed at the Hind, bullets pinging off the armored hull.

  “Down!” Crawford shouted, dropping to his belly with an arm around each of the women’s shoulders to pull them to the ground with him. Rachel scooped Dog against her as Katie looked through the night vision scope on her rifle for a target.

  The Colonel was already firing at the tree line along the north edge of the runway and she turned to scan the southern edge. Seeing movement, she began firing without bothering to identify who or what she was shooting at.

  Scott and Igor had been at either end of the airport and had started running to the helicopter when they’d heard the inbound aircraft. Now, they too were on their bellies, firing into the trees.

  Martinez saw what was happening and knew she could be of much more value in the air, bringing the helicopter’s cannons and rockets into the battle. The engines roared as she pulled back on the collective and lifted off the runway, reacting instantly to a missile that suddenly appeared from the darkness.

  She tilted the big helicopter on its axis, feeding in power and the missile streaked down the side of the aircraft, missing it by mere inches. Continuing the turn, she battled the turbulence caused by the shockwave when the missile struck the runway and detonated with a thunderous explosion.

  Even though the Hind was still unstable in the air and she was fighting for control, three missiles rippled out of their pod and streaked away towards where the attack had come from. As the helicopter struggled, clawing for altitude, the firing from the tree lines intensified.

  Martinez turned the machine and the auto canon spoke, firing continuously as she pivoted to rake the northern tree line. She was firing HE rounds and the dark forest lit up and thick tree trunks were shattered all along the edge of the runway.

  “Move!” Crawford shouted, leaping to his feet and running directly towards the destruction.

  Katie and Rachel jumped up to follow, both of them hesitating when Dog turned and raced down the runway. Looking to where he was headed they could just make out Scott, writhing in pain. Without a second’s thought, both of them turned and followed Dog.

  The Hind had stabilized and gained altitude. Martinez was spinning it around to open fire on the southern tree line when a pair of missiles streaked in. She avoided the first one by dropping the nose and lifting the rear until the helo was oriented almost vertically, but the second one impacted the tail rotor, shearing it and most of the back section of the aircraft off.

  The main body of the Hind went into an uncontrollable spin, pivoting around the main rotor. It quickly began to spin faster and faster as the nose tipped over and the crippled machine crashed onto the runway. Katie and Rachel came to a stop, staring in horror at the crash.

  They had lost sight of Dog. Didn’t know if he’d been caught in the debris from the missile strike and subsequent crash. Katie looked around, not seeing Crawford or Igor.

  “We have to go!” She grabbed Rachel’s arm and began pulling her towards the northern tree line.

  They had only taken a couple of steps when a Mi-28 Havoc attack helicopter screamed overhead, shredding the tarmac between them and the forest with canon shells. A second helicopter was right behind and came to a hover, facing them a few feet off the ground, blocking their escape route.

  Russian soldiers began emerging from the forest behind them, racing forward with their rifles trained on the two women. Several of them headed for the downed Hind which surprisingly hadn’t burst into flames. Fear clutching her heart, Katie raised her hands as she and Rachel were quickly surrounded.

  34

  Colonel Crawford and Igor sheltered behind the massive trunk of a Hemlock tree that had been shattered by Martinez’ rocket fire. They watched as over fifty Russian ground troops poured onto the runway and captured Katie and Rachel. A group of them was at the helicopter, trying to find a way inside the damaged hull, half a dozen more surrounding Scott who appeared to have taken at least one round to his left leg.

  He shifted his gaze when Igor bumped his shoulder and pointed. It was hard to see in the darkness, so Crawford looked through his rifle’s night vision scope. Dog stood on the edge of the runway, turning his head as he watched his people being stripped of their weapons and herded into a group. He lowered his head and began stalking forward, but paused when Igor whistled in a good imitation of a night bird.

  Dog turned his head and looked in their direction, but remained poised to go battle the Russians. Igor whistled a second time, then very softly called Dog’s name. There was a lot of noise from the two Havoc’s that were supporting the ground troops, but Dog must have heard him and recognized the voice. Moments later he pushed through the debris from shredded trees and stuck his nose against Igor’s arm.

  One of the soldiers working on the crash succeeded in forcing the side door open. He shouted his success to the surrounding men, then his head snapped back when a shot from within the hulk rang out. His body toppled backwards and the two men who had been behind him stepped to either side of the door and raised their rifles.

  One of them fired a long burst into the troop compartment, then began shouting. He seemed to be yelling at someone inside the wreck. A dozen more men ran over and lights came on as they tried to see in through the wind screen. The man continued to scream orders and eventually a head emerged from the open door.

  Irina’s blonde hair immediately identified her and she was quickly grabbed and jerked out and onto the tarmac where she was forced to lie on her stomach as she was roughly searched. More screaming and a minute later Martinez poked her head up. She too was pulled out, but as she was going down onto the tarmac she twisted and brought both hands up.

  In the blink of an eye three Russians were down and dying from her blades, then she was clubbed into unconsciousness from behind. The soldiers were pissed now and one of them started to kick her inert form before being stopped by a Sergeant. Nodding, he settled for ripping Martinez’ clothes off as he searched for more weapons. Quickly she was wearing nothing other than a pair of pants. Even her boots had been taken, a knife in each justifying the invasive search.

  Her pants were opened and pulled to her knees as they continued to search, but no further weapons were found. They left her sprawled on the runway, unconscious and with absolutely no concern f
or her modesty.

  Scott was marched up to where the two women were being watched and though Crawford couldn’t hear it he saw the grunt of pain when a bandage was pulled tight around his bleeding thigh. While the soldier’s attention was on Scott, Irina slowly worked Martinez’ pants back into place and draped her shirt over her bare chest.

  Katie and Rachel were walked over and subjected to the same rough search. There wasn’t a single area of either woman’s body that wasn’t thoroughly checked for weapons.

  “Have you seen Johnnie Ray?” Crawford mumbled to Igor in Russian.

  “Nyet.”

  “Probably that long burst into the troop compartment was for him,” Crawford mused, Igor nodding in agreement as he rubbed Dog’s ears.

  With all the prisoners in one location and under heavy guard, the Sergeant who had stopped the soldier from kicking Martinez raised a radio to his mouth and spoke a few brief words. The pitch of the sound of the Havocs changed as they moved into a wider orbit and a minute later a Mi-24 hove into view and touched down a safe distance from the wreckage.

  The troop compartment door opened and a tall, thin man wearing the uniform of a Spetsnaz Major stepped to the ground. He strode across the tarmac, coming to a stop in front of the small group, looking them over carefully. Katie and Rachel had been forced to sit on the tarmac and had to crank their heads way back to see the man’s face.

  “I am Major Pavel Buzinsky. Which of you is the wife of Major John Chase?” He asked, eyes flicking across each woman that was on the ground in front of him. “You can tell me now and I’ll spare the rest. If you make me wait until his file arrives, I will kill each of you.”

  His voice was deep and he spoke English with just a trace of what sounded like an upper class British accent. He stood perfectly immobile, hands clasped behind his back and nothing other than his eyes moving as he looked at each of his prisoners.

  Katie hesitated. She would identify herself if it would save the others, but she didn’t believe the man. He only wanted her. Once he had what he was after the others would be forfeit. Did she take a chance that there wasn’t a photo of her in the file the Russians had kept on John? It was certainly possible that a shot of her was in there, but then why didn’t the Russian Major already have it?