“Who is it?”
“We don’t know, but the colonel gave explicit orders to protect all of you. You need to follow me!” the solider said, grabbing Randall’s arm and motioning for the others to follow. They sprinted down the corridor toward the satellite dish.
“Stay here!” the soldier barked, pushing Randall and the others behind heavy office equipment and heading for the exit door. As he reached for the handle, an explosion caved the door inward, knocking him off his feet as shards of metal from the door ripped through his body, slamming his lifeless form to the ground. Three men dressed in battle fatigues rushed through the opening, their assault rifles at the ready.
“Back the other way!” Randall screamed at the group.
As they ran, the intruders rained bullets into the hallway behind them. Bits of wood, metal, and plastic showered the air and littered the ground.
The group raced back past the opening in the exterior wall. Another explosion detonated near the opening just as Gabby ran by, knocking her to the ground.
“Gabby!” Rob screamed, turning to help her. As he did, the gunmen turned the corner and unleashed an unrelenting torrent of bullets. Rob dove for an open door just in time to avoid being ripped apart.
The gunmen closed in on Gabby, who writhed on the ground in pain. The lead man reached her and trained his weapon on her. Gabby looked up defiantly. A sharp cracking sound was followed by the lead man’s head bobbing up and then down. A stream of blood trailed down his face and his body slumped to the ground. The other gunmen spun, training their weapons in the direction of the gunshot blast. They were cut down by a ribbon of metal. Gabby craned her neck to see the source of the gunfire and saw her partner standing at the opening in the wall. He sprinted over by her side.
“Charlie!”
“Let’s get you out of here!” Charlie set down the assault rifle and lifted his friend. “Are you able to walk?”
“Yes!”
Without warning, a camouflaged man entered through the opening in the wall and turned his gun on Gabby. Charlie instinctively threw his body between the gunman and Gabby just as the soldier fired. Charlie’s body shook viciously as the automatic weapon unloaded into him. He collapsed to the floor.
Gabby grabbed Charlie’s weapon and fired at the gunman as he reloaded. Several rounds found their mark and his body slammed against the wall, leaving a crimson streak as he slid to the ground.
Gabby grabbed Charlie, turning him over. “Charlie!”
It was too late; his lifeless eyes stared up at her. She pulled him close to her and cried.
“Gabby, we need to get out of here!” Rob yelled as Randall appeared by his side.
The two men grabbed her and lifted her to her feet as Charlie’s body fell away.
“This way!” Sam yelled down the hallway.
The three sprinted in her direction as the sounds of the battle raged on.
They reached Sam and found John and Jamie trying to extricate someone from a pile of wreckage. As they drew close, they realized that it was Shaw. He was severely injured.
“Rob, Dad, help me try to move this beam!” John yelled.
The three men tried heaving the smashed girder lying across Shaw’s abdomen, but it wouldn’t budge.
Shaw grabbed Randall’s shirt and pulled him within earshot.
“Under my desk, there’s a panel on the right side. Push it. There’s a flash drive with information about Operation Ice Hammer. Take it and read it! Find General Flores. He must know that we failed here! Hurry!” Shaw released his grip, pointing at his desk.
Randall crawled under the desk and groped for the panel. Finding it, he pressed. A section at the bottom of the desk sprang open to reveal the flash drive. Randall secured it in his wallet.
“Desk drawer … keys to my Jeep!” Shaw cried out.
Randall retrieved them, running back to Shaw’s side.
“It’s parked by the satellite dish … go!”
The group exited the room with Randall at the rear.
“Randall!” Shaw called out.
Randall stopped, turning to look at Shaw, who motioned for him. Randall knelt by Shaw’s side, his eyes wide with confusion. Shaw’s breathing was labored as he struggled for oxygen.
“Caroline … remember Caroline.” He pushed Randall away from him and pointed for him to go. Unsure of what Shaw’s cryptic message meant, Randall staggered to the door and turned to face Shaw. The men’s eyes met. Shaw gave a curt nod. Randall looked on helplessly, then left.
One by one, they bolted through the door toward the satellite dish. Reaching a small section of standing wall, they dropped to the ground to take cover. The scene was utter mayhem. Bloodied bodies littered the tiny courtyard, and entire sections of buildings and trailers had collapsed or were missing. What was left of Shaw’s small contingency of soldiers was trying desperately to repel the attackers. They were clearly failing.
“This way!” John yelled, pointing to several vehicles parked in a small clearing.
Randall judged the vehicles to be twenty-five yards from the edge of the satellite building. They would have to traverse the open space to reach them, making them easy targets. Randall grabbed John’s arm. “You wait here with them."
“No way! I’m going to the Jeep, you stay here under cover!”
“Son, I can’t let you. If something happens to me, you’ve got to get everyone else to safety.”
“I’m younger and faster than you; I’ll have a better chance.”
“There’s no way I’m letting you go.”
John was about to speak when he felt a soft touch on his arm. It was Jamie. She looked into his eyes.
“You have to let your dad try.”
John looked at Jamie and then his Dad. The shooting was intensifying. More attackers were closing on the facility.
“Please,” Jamie said
John nodded.
Randall stood, ready to go, but was dragged back to the ground by his son.
“Be careful,” John said.
Randall smiled. “I’ll be right back.”
Randall sprinted for the cars. Lines of tracers danced wildly about his feet as the attackers tried to pepper him with bullets. He moved in quick bursts, changing directions frequently. He was sweating profusely and the smell of smoldering wreckage filled his lungs as he dodged the relentless gunfire.
He closed on the first vehicle parked in the opening, a Yamaha motorcycle. He ran past it, ducking behind it for cover. Next up was Audi A-4 Coupe, but three cars beyond it, Randall saw his target. A silver Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, its convertible top removed.
Randall quickened his pace. He was closing on it when he saw a man pop up from behind several small bushes, just beyond the vehicle. The assailant was holding an assault rifle. Randall slid like a base runner trying to avoid a tag. Several rounds pierced the air above his head.
He rolled under a white Land Rover, emerging from the other side. He couldn’t see the gunman anywhere. The windows of the Land Rover exploded above him.
Randall ducked behind the vehicle and crawled toward its rear, away from the shooter.
The gunman emerged from the brush and strode toward Randall, firing in small bursts. Randall could see the man’s legs and boots from under the vehicle. He was closing on him quickly.
Randall leaped to his feet and dashed for cover behind the Audi, a trail of gunfire following close behind. He knelt next to the side of the vehicle. Seeing the quickly approaching gunman, he rolled onto his back and under the car. The gunman moved closer. Randall crawled on his belly, trying to exit from under the opposite side of the Audi. His belt tugged back. He was caught on something under the car.
The gunman came to a stop by the vehicle and knelt down. He wore a sickening grin as he stared at Randall, his face only inches away. He lowered his gun.
A sudden jackhammer-like sound reverberated and Randall watched in horror as the gunman was ripped from the ground like a rag doll, the earth around him expl
oding in great chunks.
Randall pulled his belt free and slid out the other side of the Audi just in time to see an Apache attack helicopter fly over the compound, heading in the direction of the attacking main force. Reinforcements had arrived.
He sprinted to the Jeep, yanked the door open, and started the car. He jammed his foot on the accelerator and the Jeep lurched forward, smashing the motorcycle out of his way. Randall drove directly toward John and the group, coming to a skidding stop right in front of them.
“Get in!”
Everyone piled into the Wrangler.
“Go!” John yelled.
Randall spun the Jeep back in the direction he had come, driving directly away from Dumond’s men. As he did, a huge explosion materialized from the direction of the helicopter. He glanced over his shoulder in time to see a fireball crashing to the ground. The helicopter had been obliterated. It would be his final memory of Shaw’s ill-fated command post as they escaped down a fire road, away from the complex.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The sound of gunfire had diminished to an occasional popping sound.
The tide of the battle has turned against us.
Shaw danced on the edge of unconsciousness. The world was blurring at the edges as he tried to stave off impending death. He no longer felt the weight of the great iron beam that was resting on his mid-section—a sure sign that his senses were failing. He had lost a great deal of blood and knew his time was limited.
Two figures appeared at the doorway to his office. He didn’t recognize the first, but immediately knew the second.
“Fredericks … you son of a bitch … I’ll …”
“You’re not going to do anything but bleed to death.”
“Where is the information you’ve been hiding from Randall?” the second figure asked Shaw.
“Who … the hell … are you?” Shaw asked, his vision obscured by his condition and a ribbon of blood flowing freely from a gash on his head.
The stranger knelt down next to him.
“I’m Francis Dumond.”
“Dumond … I’ve heard of you.” Shaw snorted.
Fredericks began rummaging through Shaw’s desk.
“You won’t find it there.” Shaw said, drifting in and out of consciousness.
“What do you mean?” Dumond asked.
“The flash drive is gone. And so are your chances of finding the base,” Shaw snarled, his lips parting into a grin.
“Where is it, Colonel?” Dumond snapped.
Shaw was fading quickly. Dumond grasped his face and shook until he opened his eyes. “Where is the flash drive?”
“I gave it to them,” Shaw replied.
“To who? Randall?”
Shaw smiled again, his eyelids sliding shut.
He was slipping away quickly, but he heard Dumond and Fredericks conversing as they walked out of his office.
“What do we do now?” Fredericks asked.
“We find Randall and his brood, and this time, I intend to finish the job I started in Peru.”
Chapter Thirty
The boat gently bobbed in the water, following the rhythmic ebb and flow of the currents. After escaping from Shaw’s base, the group had driven directly to Rob’s boat. They had set out to sea and Rob had dropped anchor in Hamilton Harbor hoping to be lost amongst the throngs of other small vessels docked nearby. The sun was almost directly overhead as the morning gave way to afternoon.
The group sat hunched around the small screen of Rob’s laptop, anxiously waiting to discover what information they would find on Shaw’s flash drive. Randall sat directly in front of the computer, his hand hovering nervously over the trackpad, ready to click open the files his former enemy had so carefully guarded. As he waited, Randall couldn’t help but consider how quickly fortunes could change. In a matter of minutes, Shaw had gone from being his kidnapper to entrusting him with his life’s work.
The computer whirred to life and Randall wasted no time inserting the flash drive into the USB port. He discovered a single folder named Operation Ice Hammer, just as Shaw had described. He clicked on it. The file was password protected.
“Great, what do we do now?” Rob said.
At first, Randall stared at the screen in disbelief. To come this close and not be able to read the files was overwhelming. Then he remembered Shaw’s final words to him.
“Wait, I think I know the password.” Randall typed the word “Caroline” into the computer. The computer sprang to life as the folder opened, revealing two files. The first was a word document, the second a video. Randall chose the video first. After an interminable wait, the video finished loading and began to play.
A handsome man with a thick mop of sandy blond hair and piercing blue eyes appeared on the screen wearing a wetsuit unzipped and folded down to his abdomen. He was thin and wiry with a face that would have looked at home on the cover of a fashion magazine.
My name is Dr. Charles Vernon, and this video is classified Top Secret by the Department of Defense, requiring appropriate security clearance to allow viewing. The information I’m about to share is the result of over six years of research by my team, which culminated with the discovery made on March 3, 2017 in the Sistema Sac Actun underwater cavern. The cave system is situated along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula with passages to the north and west of the village of Tulum. Out of respect for the contents of the discovery, we refer to it as La Caverna de la Piedra de Rosetta Cósmica, The Cavern of the Cosmic Rosetta Stone.
After a comprehensive review of the literature retrieved at Roswell, we felt certain that this was the location spelled out in the translated material. My partner, Dr. Bill Kim, and I made initial dives on the site beginning in July, 2016, but we were unable to confirm the exact location of the cavern until March of the following year. That was when Dr. Kim discovered the cavern with the same writing uncovered in the wreckage. Although some of the symbols were undecipherable, we were able to read enough of the message to determine that the tablets in question were located in a previously undiscovered cavity running perpendicular to the cavern with the writing.
Our team found a small fissure located deeper within the cavern with the writing and was able to fit a small hand-held submersible with a nose-mounted camera into the opening. The submersible was able to confirm the existence of La Caverna de la Piedra de Rosetta Cósmica.
Bill took a team back in the following day and was able to get into the fissure to look for the tablet. Sadly, before he was able to recover it, the cavern suffered a massive cave-in, trapping Bill. We discussed using explosives to create a big enough opening to get him out, but it was determined that the area was already too unstable and that the use of such a charge would further endanger Bill’s life, as well as the lives of others. We then attempted to clear the debris manually, but another diver was seriously injured during a secondary collapse. After multiple delays, we were finally able to remove enough debris to reinsert our smallest submersible unit. Unfortunately, Bill didn’t make it. We were forced to terminate retrieval operations to get our injured diver to a medical facility.
A special rigging system is being built to provide support within the cavern for a second expedition and additional heavy underwater equipment and greater manpower will be utilized to retrieve Bill’s body. We estimate it will take six to nine months before we will be able to return to the site, but at the moment, we’re all struggling with the loss of our good friend. Bill was not only a wonderfully talented scientist, he was also a great friend to all of us and he will be dearly missed.
The video continued with Charles looking down, placing his hand on his head. He was clearly shaken at the loss of his colleague. A moment later, the video ended. Everyone stood in silence trying to grasp the enormity of what they had just heard.
“This is impossible,” Rob said. “Charles and Bill died in 2011 testing a new deep water submersible in the Marianas Trench. The submersible was utilizing a new, low friction propulsion s
ystem. According to the report I read, they had successfully passed below the seventeen-thousand-foot mark when they reported mechanical trouble, then the system suffered a catastrophic failure.”
“Jesus, what happened to them?” John asked.
“The crew of the command ship reported that they maintained contact for another thirty-eight minutes as the submersible sank below nineteen-thousand feet. Then they heard the sound of the outer hull failing as Bill and Charles tried to restart the system. A full search and rescue mission was launched but they were unable to locate anything. It was assumed that the submersible suffered a complete hull breach and took Bill and Charles to the bottom of the trench.”
“So you think it was all just a ploy so they could disappear to work on this?” Randall said, pointing a thumb at the computer screen.
“I dunno, I guess it was.”
“Let’s take a look at the other file,” Randall said, clicking on the second document.
The contents of the Word file were startling.
The file explained the existence of a secret underground military facility in Dulce, New Mexico, which was the headquarters for Operation Ice Hammer. Randall’s blood ran cold as he read the name of the commander of the base.
“Am I reading this correctly?” Rob asked.
“I’m afraid you are,” Randall replied.
“So I guess we know where to find General Flores.”
“So what’s next?” John asked.
After a moment of thought, Randall spoke. “John, you, Gabby, and Sam head to New Mexico to speak with General Flores. We need to find out exactly what Operation Ice Hammer entails and how it relates to what’s happening to Jamie.”
“Do you really think they’ll talk to us?” John asked.
“The only way to find out is to go. I’m sure they know by now that their base was destroyed and Shaw was lost. If they ask for proof that we’re working with Shaw, show them these files and tell them his password.”
“What are you, Rob, and Jamie going to do?”
The Bermuda Connection (A Nick Randall Novel Book 2) Page 13