The Ties That Bind r5-4

by Cliff Ryder

  He felt the other sub ram him at nearly full speed and he heard the sound of bending metal.

  The controls suddenly felt sluggish in his hands.

  The computer was flashing repair warnings all over his screen. His right wing had been damaged, and he didn't have nearly the maneuverability he really needed in a fight. He could go up or down, forward or back, but he could only turn to the left.

  "Marvelous," he said. He yanked on the controls with all his strength and revved the engines, causing the Scorpion to spin to the left while ascending toward the surface.

  "Target acquired," the computer said. Then it corrected, "Target lost."

  "Oh, shut up," he said. "Minigun, fire!"

  The computer may not have understood the "shut up," but thankfully, it did open fire. As he spun, the other minisub came briefly into view and he saw the .50-caliber slugs slam into its view screen and burst through it, killing its operator instantly. The slugs must have damaged his controls, as well, because it veered wildly, then began to sink as the engines failed and water poured into the open cavity.

  He pulled once more on the controls, feeling a bit dizzy, and allowed the Scorpion to continue its ascent. He eased into the cavern, and managed to get the three-dimensional radar working again. Jesse and Tina were still holding their own and he breathed a sigh of relief.

  He guided the wounded Scorpion into the minisub docking bay nearest to them, but when he tried to rotate the arms and have it climb out of the water, the computer said, "System failure. Retractable land arms unavailable."

  "Well, so much for clearing the area with the .50-caliber," Jason said. He moved to the top hatch and opened it, then ducked back down as a shot ricocheted off the metal hatch door.

  "It's me, damn it," he yelled at Jesse, who'd seen someone out of the corner of his eye and was in full instinct mode.

  "Come ahead," his brother yelled back.

  He climbed out and ran for their position, dragging his gear bag with him and zigzagging among the boxes and crates to narrowly avoid being shot.

  "You're alive!" Tina said, throwing her arms around him.

  "Ouch," he gasped.

  She held him at arm's length. "You're hurt," she said. "How bad?"

  "Bad enough that hugging is really out of the question right now," he said. He looked around and realized where they had positioned themselves. Their backs were to the wall on one side and the water on the other, barricaded behind a large stack of crates. They were cornered.

  He looked down at the crates Tina and Jesse were using to kneel on. "I know I said to sit on the nukes, but I didn't mean it quite so literally," he added.

  "What are you talking about?" Tina asked, ducking down between shots.

  "That crate that you're kneeling on holds a nuclear warhead," he replied.

  Tina stared accusingly at Jesse.

  "Hey," he said. "All I knew was they were in this room. I didn't know you were going to choose one as your personal sofa, but it's as good a place as any to die."

  Jason peered over the boxes and saw that the guards were getting closer and closer to their position. They were also shooting more rapidly, forcing all of them to stay under cover rather than shoot back.

  If they didn't do something fast, the front door wasn't going to be an option at all — and they needed to get out. There were still two nuclear warheads to get rid of, as well as Feng Li and Boris to deal with.

  He moved closer to Jesse, leaning in so he wouldn't have to shout. "Is there another way out of here?" he asked.

  His brother shook his head. "Just the way we came in from upstairs and the water — neither of which look like a great option at the moment."

  "We've got to get rid of the nukes and get out of here," he said.

  "I'm all ears," Jesse replied. He peered around one end of the crate stack and fired off a round. A man screamed in pain. "There's one less to deal with anyway."

  Jason thought rapidly, then an idea came to him. It wasn't perfect, but it would do for now. "How deep is the water here in the cavern?"

  Jesse shrugged. "It goes down a ways," he said. "Maybe two or three hundred feet. It's a long way — I can tell you that."

  "Perfect," Jason said. "Do you have any of those smoke grenades left?"

  "A couple," he replied, handing him one. "Why?"

  "Good," Jason said. He opened his bag and pulled out the sniper rifle, popping in a new clip and switching it to full auto. "When I tell you, give Tina and I some covering fire, okay?"

  "It's your show, man," Jesse said. "Run it the way you want."

  Jason didn't bother with any additional explanations. He moved back to Tina and gave her a gentle shove off her perch. "Hey!" she said, landing on her butt. "That's my nuclear couch!"

  "Funny," he replied dryly. "Grab an end and get ready."

  She grabbed the crate handles on her end and Jason pulled the pin on the grenade, then counted off almost every second the fuse had before he tossed it overhead to land on the other side of their crate pile. Smoke began to billow upward, filling the air and making it hard to see more than a few feet at best.

  "Now," he said, and Jesse peered around the corner and fired off a quick burst. To Tina, Jason said, "Lift!"

  She did and between them, they dragged the crate along the ground, and Jason thanked God that it wasn't the full rocket, but just the warhead itself. They were barely able to lift it as it was. He guided them toward the docking bay where he'd left the Scorpion.

  Nearby, Jesse continue to fire off 3-round bursts, and between that and the smoke, the guards were keeping their heads down pretty well.

  "No time for anything fancy," he grunted. "Push it into the water."

  "The water?" she said. "Won't it sink?"

  "That's the general idea," he said.

  They both moved to one side of the crate and shoved it into the water. The container was airtight, but the pure weight and density of it caused it to sink quickly out of sight.

  The air began to clear and bullets began to fly closer to the Scorpion, pinging metal and forcing Jason and Tina to dive back to their makeshift cover. "Drop that last smoker on 'em!" he shouted at Jesse.

  Jesse used his last grenade and once again, smoke billowed out.

  "Let's get this last one moved," he said, feeling every muscle in his body cry out in protest. He didn't mind the bumps and bruises, but the bullet graze on his arm was stinging like a bitch and was still bleeding. He knew for a fact that he had a least one cracked rib and the others were badly bruised. Thinking on it, he wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he had other injuries he hadn't even noticed yet.

  Tina helped him move the last crate over to the water and shove it in. It sank as rapidly as the first one, and Jesse did his part by continuing to keep them covered with short bursts. They dived back behind the crates just as the smoke began to clear again and Jesse loaded a fresh clip into the rifle.

  "Okay, the nukes are taken care of, at least for now," Jason said. "It's time we got out of here."

  "You won't get any argument from me," Tina said. "Just tell us how."

  "We can use the Claymores," Jesse said. "As they start getting closer, they're going to bottleneck some. I've been saving them for last."

  "Good call," Jason said. "But we've got to get them in closer, so it's time to do a little acting."

  "Acting?" they both said.

  "You'll see," Jason replied. "Where do you have the switches for the Claymores?"

  Jesse shoved one crate to the right, and Jason could see all the lead lines running to a set of four switches. "The whole area in front of us is covered by the arc," he said.

  "Okay," he said. "Tina, when they fire their next barrage, I want you to let out a scream, and, Jesse, I want you to start cursing. Keep your hands on those switches and wait for my signal."

  They both nodded and Jason took the rifle back from his brother and put it to his shoulder. There was no point in wasting shots. He peered through the scope and looke
d for someone of rank. He finally found the man, talking rapidly into a microphone.

  He exhaled and took the shot, then cursed as it went wide, only hitting the man in the shoulder. "The damn scope is off," he muttered. It must have gotten knocked around some. Still, the man went down, cursing, and Jason heard him order the others to open fire.

  He dived back down just as the barrage hit. Tina took a deep breath and screamed while Jesse began to curse like a sailor on shore leave. Both of them were quite convincing.

  "Now," he whispered. "Be silent."

  Both of them went quiet.

  "I think we got 'em, sir," one of the guards yelled.

  "Move in and check it out," the wounded officer called. "Nice and easy."

  Jason found a space between the crates and eased the barrel of the rifle through it, adjusting the scope slightly once it was in place. The sound of cautious steps approaching could be heard.

  "Hold," he whispered.

  He sighted in on the man farthest away.

  "Hold," he repeated, his words barely a whisper.

  The guards moved closer and were now inside the Claymores' arcs.

  "Ready," he said, his finger tightening on the trigger.

  "Now!" he shouted, his shot taking the guard in the chest.

  Jesse pressed down on the switches and the Claymores went off with loud whuffing sounds, followed by the screams of dying and injured men as shrapnel filled the air.

  Jason used the cover of the crates and the confusion to continue taking shots, piling up the bodies behind them, even as they turned and tried to escape. As his brother had predicted, there was a bottleneck and the men went down easily.

  The way ahead was all but clear, and Jason gestured for them to follow as he stepped around the crates and began the cold process of finishing off the injured. They couldn't risk having one of them creep up behind them.

  Both Tina and Jesse seemed appalled at the carnage they'd wrought, even more so as Jason gunned down a young soldier trying to crawl away.

  "Why?" she asked him. "Why?"

  "Because to leave them alive puts all of us at risk," he said.

  The words had no sooner left his mouth than a nearby rifle sounded and Jesse went down, cursing for real as his blood began to flow.

  21

  "Jesse!" Tina cried out, rushing to his side.

  Feeling a wave of cold wash over him, Jason tracked the source of the shot without thought and fired in the space of a heartbeat or two. The guard he'd wounded earlier had propped himself up against a crate and waited for them, much as they had waited for his men.

  Jason's shot took him in the heart, killing him instantly.

  He scanned the area for any other dangers and, seeing none, turned back to his brother. "How bad?" he asked, kneeling down.

  "I'm okay," Jesse said. He held up his left hand, which was bleeding profusely. "It passed right through me."

  "Yeah, and took several bones with it," Jason said. He pulled out his knife and cut a long strip away from his shirt. "It's a good thing you're right-handed."

  "It's a good thing he's not dead," Tina snapped.

  There was an unspoken accusation in her voice, as if Jason had done something wrong. He could feel the waves of anger coming off her.

  Jason didn't respond to her tone, but nodded his head in agreement, then wrapped the hand carefully. "This is going to require a lot more medical care than we can give it here," he said. "Try not to bump it on anything — it will hurt like hell if you do."

  "Can we get out of here now?" Tina asked.

  Jason got to his feet and helped Jesse to his, holding him steady while he caught his breath and his balance returned. A nearby guard had a canteen on his belt and Jason took it, pulled the cap and handed it to his brother. "Take a drink. You can go into shock later if you feel like it," he said. "Right now, you've got to stay focused."

  "How can you be so cold?" Tina asked. "Look around you!"

  The high-tension wire inside him frayed a little bit and he turned on her. "You don't get it, do you? You were an analyst and it wasn't real to you. You do all those translations, but they don't connect to what happens if you pass on certain information. This is my life. This is what I do. I kill people, Tina, bad people who will hurt others for pay or power or even those just stupid enough to work for those kind of people. And if I don't do it just right, people die — but the wrong ones."

  He jabbed a finger in her direction. "You've switched back and forth between treating me like a schoolboy to treating me like a lover to being my partner and back again, but, Tina, this is who I am. Now, I'm getting you two out of here, then I'm going to hunt down Feng Li and put an end to all this once and for all. Until then, I'd appreciate it if you'd do less talking and more shooting!"

  Even as he finished his sentence, he raised the rifle once more and fired it over her shoulder, his shot taking a guard in the back who'd been trying to sneak away.

  "Is that understood?" he finished.

  Her sullen glare was frosty, but she nodded. "Yes, sir," she said.

  "Good," he replied. "Now let's get moving."

  They met little resistance on their way to the stairs leading out of the cabin, and as they reached it, Jason noted a large crate marked Phosphorus Grenades. He stopped and pried open the lid using his knife. "These will do nicely," he said.

  "What do you have in mind?" Jesse asked.

  "A lot of these crates are wood," Jason said. "Phosphorus burns real hot. We'll toss a few of these in here before we go, and with all the ammunition and the fuel, all of this will be so much useless ash in a few hours."

  "Sounds good," Jesse said.

  They each took three, with Jesse using his teeth to pull the pins. They tossed them in random directions, and as they turned up the stairs, the bright glare of the burning chemical lit the cavern behind them. The crackle of flames and heat was already starting by the time they reached the main floor of the Quonset building.

  "Head for the front," Jason said. "I'll take point, just in case we run into any more guards."

  Tina chuckled dryly. "I'm pretty sure you've killed just about everyone," she said. "What's your body count for the day?"

  Gritting his teeth at her jibe, he moved forward, his eyes searching the darkness for any sign of a guard who might stand between them and freedom. They reached the door without incident.

  "Must have sent pretty much everyone they had on hand down there," Jesse said.

  "Guess so," Jason replied. He eased open the door to the icy air of night and they stepped out, moving past a truck and in the direction of where Tina said they'd left the SUV.

  As they cleared the back bumper, a heavy gust of wind passed over them, and Jason turned to see the Asp landing next to the building. In the copilot seat was his old friend Boris, and at the controls was an Asian man that he assumed was the infamous Feng Li.

  "Well, well," he said. "I guess I won't have to go hunting for him after all."

  Feng Li shut down the silent, twirling blades, but his eyes never left Jason's. Boris climbed out of one side, while his boss climbed out of the other.

  "Maybe live to fight another day," Jesse suggested. "You can't take them both and I'm not exactly a hundred percent myself."

  "Let's run for it," Tina said. "You can hunt him down later with a…a flamethrower or something."

  Jason shook his head. "The Asp was part of my mission, too," he said. "And there may never be as good a time as this one to take him out."

  Tina tugged at his hand. "Please, Jason, let's just go."

  "She's right, brother," Jesse said. "We've done enough for one day."

  "You two have, anyway," Jason said. "Get in the SUV and get out of here." He pulled his hand out of Tina's. "I have to stay."

  "Have you lost your mind?" Tina asked. "You're already wounded, exhausted, and those two are as fresh as daisies. What am I supposed to tell Denny if he kills you? That I stood aside and let it happen?"

  Jason grinned
down at her. "He won't," he said. "Now get going."

  He turned away from them and walked toward the Asp. As he did, Feng Li and Boris moved as well. The moonlight was bright enough to light up the area almost as well as stadium lights. It was a beautiful night — cold and the air was clear and clean. He felt alive, his nerves tingling with anticipation and, he admitted to himself, no small amount of fear. Feng Li had a reputation and he'd already seen what Boris could do.

  It was time to show them what he could do.

  He heard the crunch of shoes on the snow behind him and glanced backward to see Tina and Jesse walking in his wake. He stopped and turned. "I thought I told you two to go," he said. "Get out of here and get to safety."

  "What is it you say?" Jesse asked. "The mission comes first, right? I didn't go through all this just to quit five yards before the finish line."

  "Neither did I," Tina said. "We'll see it through with you."

  He looked at both of them carefully, then nodded once. "Tina, you stay out of it." And before she could object, he said. "I mean it. I'm going to try to take Boris out of the picture first, then Feng Li. Keep him off me as long as you can, Jesse."

  "He doesn't look all that scary to me," he said.

  "Trust me," Jason said. "You'll have your hands full. Try to keep moving and don't let him get close. There won't be any weapons. This is…personal now."

  "I thought it was the mission," Tina said.

  "It is," he replied. "Sometimes, the mission is personal. It has to be."

  He turned back around and said, "Let's go."

  The three of them started walking forward once more. The tundra grass and the frozen snow crunched beneath their feet, and their breath steamed in the air.

  Jason wondered if he would die, if the others would, then put it all away. All of the feelings and emotions that could distract him from what he had to do.

  So that Boris and Feng Li had to die so the world — the world of those he cared for, and the world of those who deserved to be safe — would be safe again.