Exit Alpha

by Clinton Smith

  ‘Well?’ Vanqua said. ‘Where will we start first?’

  His gut turned over. He knew it was the end, either way. He hadn’t been issued with one of Rhonda’s cyanide capsules or the easier to hide sheathed curare-coated needles. He felt he might disgrace himself. He said, ‘I don’t know a thing.’

  The sound of a chopper, a big one, coming fast. Murchison shot a look at Vanqua. ‘Us?’

  ‘No.’

  Startled looks.

  An act? An elaborate deception for his benefit? Otherwise, why cover the windows?

  Vanqua said, ‘Get out there.’

  Murchison and the others dashed outside.

  The thing hovering now. It sounded huge — a heavy lifter.

  Cain said, ‘Is this to impress me?’

  The listening Vanqua didn’t respond.

  ‘Why the hell did you wreck EXIT, you small-minded, dopey shit?’

  Vanqua struck him hard across the face.

  Automatic fire.

  The surgeon pulled out a Browning high power, hurried from the room.

  Cain sat — alone, cold, frightened, puzzled — licking blood from his split lip.

  The slapping, whining monster went away.

  Sporadic firing.

  Then nothing.

  He sat.

  And sat.

  At last, the verandah creaked.

  Men burst into the room from both doors, ripped the plastic off the windows, switched off the lamp. They wore black body armour, face masks and sprouted MP5s.

  Then Rhonda walked in, holding Vanqua’s Browning. Creased dress, dirty nails, straggly hair. She turned to the shock troops. ‘Untie him.’

  One unsheathed a knife and cut the tapes.

  ‘Ron?’

  Was it her — or a magnificent duplicate? Had they staged this to get him to talk?

  She said, ‘Thank God you’re still with us. You know the drill.’

  Christ. She wanted him to verify? He’d bloody make this good.

  She waited, scratched under her breast.

  He dragged his wits together. ‘Okay. Who said, “Except at Wydecombe Fair in my youth I never saw anything so bad as Pinafore”?’

  ‘Disraeli. Proving that the cleverest of men can be utterly wrong.’

  The answer astonished him. No duplicate could have known that. But he wasn’t quite convinced. He stumbled closer to her, stared. My God, she was the image. He dredged his mind for the most obscure G and S anecdote she’d told him. ‘Sullivan said to someone, “Another week’s rehearsing with WSG and I should have gone raving mad. I had already ordered . . .” Complete the sentence.’

  ‘”. . . some straw for my hair.” Yes, it’s me.’

  ‘Ronnie? Christ.’ He hugged her, felt her big arms enfold him. ‘What . . . ?’

  ‘Long story, dear heart.’ She pushed him gently back and handed him the pistol. ‘For political reasons, as you’re the only good guy around with a Blue Card, I need you to do unto others. They’re outside.’

  He followed her onto the verandah. Three surgeons were flat on the drive, flies already crawling on their faces. There were three more alive, huddled on the ground — Vanqua, Murchison and a third man.

  Murchison cradled a shattered arm. Blood trickled between his fingers. Vanqua looked unharmed but stunned. The third man rocked with pain, hugging his shredded thigh and knee.

  Cain stood in his underpants, blood running down his chin, the classic double-action pistol a familiar tool in his hand. He looked back inquiringly at Rhonda.

  She nodded. ‘The three, if you don’t mind.’

  He cocked the hammer and walked two paces from the group, aimed at the surgeon he didn’t know, put a single 9mm round through his brain. Flecks splattered Murchison’s shoulder.

  As the man toppled he turned the gun on Murchison. ‘For Rehana.’ He shot him in the balls. As Murchison sagged forward, grabbing his crotch, Cain plugged him in the top of the head.

  Vanqua, next in line, raised his hand in front of the gun, called to Rhonda, ‘How did you do this?’

  ‘If we can duplicate world leaders, why not department heads? We had your measure long before you knew.’

  ‘That woman was a duplicate?’

  ‘A brave one. She bought me time. Now certain governments have seen reason and I’ve blackmailed people, pulled strings. Department D never shut down. You only thought it had.’

  He stared at the slit-eyed troopers. ‘And where did you scrape up this circus?’

  ‘CIA contra deal.’

  ‘So much for edicts. What did you give them?’

  ‘Stern.’

  ‘You sick deviate. You destroyed the human race — for this?’

  ‘Is your arse cleaner? What about your motive?’

  ‘You still don’t know?’ His look of hatred. ‘My sister. You corrupted her.’

  Rhonda’s eyes slowly widened.

  Cain didn’t understand.

  A terrible sorrow contorted the surgeon’s face. His voice when it came was agonised. ‘See it now?’

  ‘You’re . . . Etta’s brother?’

  ‘You pervert. I damn . . . you . . . to . . . Hell.’

  Rhonda’s face crumpled and she half turned away. ‘My God.’

  ‘She killed herself — because she had principles. And what she did with you revolted her.’

  ‘Bull. She was so desperately young she just didn’t give herself time to come to terms with her own . . .’

  ‘Perverted bitch. She killed herself from shame.’

  Rhonda grimaced. ‘You’d never understand.’ She nodded to Cain.

  He couldn’t know all that was between them and didn’t much care. He said, ‘This is for Hunt.’ He shot Vanqua cleanly, walked clear.

  The squad called the chopper in and the ungainly Sea King landed in his back paddock and shut down. While the troopers unfurled body bags, cleaned the site and loaded the evidence, he sat on the verandah with Rhonda and talked it through. Her expression was almost tragic and she seemed drained by some sadness beyond tears. Eventually, in a low, flat voice, she tried to convince him to return. ‘I’m back running the whole catastrophe. Rebuilding’s the problem. We’ve lost so many people. There’s no Pat any more. I need you, Ray.’

  ‘I’m thrilled for you. But no.’

  ‘Please come back. I can’t run the fucking world by myself.’

  ‘I’ve had it, Ron. Been years in the front line. I’m not a killing machine. Too old and wrecked now. After this last lot, I’m junk.’

  ‘Things got so grim, there was no way to back you up. As for Karen . . .’

  ‘You should have seen her. She was fantastic at the end.’

  ‘Don’t.’ She screwed up her face.

  ‘We couldn’t have made it without her. And she thought you were wonderful — like all of us do. She cared for you, Ron.’

  ‘Don’t, love. Please.’ She turned her head away. ‘Been an . . . absolute bugger of a day.’

  The troop commander was at the bottom of the steps. ‘Area cleaned. Cleared for departure, ma’am. Your call.’

  They stood up but Rhonda didn’t go, immobilised by some inner anguish. She glared at the weathered floor planks, yanked a skirt-fold from her rump, muttered, ‘Most dangerous thing in the world.’

  Cain glanced at the puzzled squad commander, turned back to the woman, said gently, ‘Ronnie. Better disappear this outfit before the town arrives.’

  A tight-lipped nod.

  He took her arm and walked her around the back of the house. Her inner turmoil was so great she let him lead her like a child.

  She gave him a ferocious rib-cracking hug, then lumbered toward the waiting chopper.

  He called, ‘Dentists forever.’

  She waved but didn’t turn around.

  EPILOGUE

  Cain’s health has improved but he still limps. The cache of weapons is unused. He still potters around the property for part of the year, watches the sunset from the verandah, sometimes
recalling those who died.

  Mostly he travels — expensively, extensively. His relationships come and go.

  Rhonda’s brazen smoodging got him back to Beta part-time where he remains stubbornly emeritus and is regarded by the staff as a god. He’s helped arrange several strategic deaths and substitutions in world leaders, has befriended Princess Di, is sad she won’t see her children again. EXIT Alpha has been recommissioned but he hasn’t gone back down.

  Rhonda is still cryptic about Stern but Cain suspects the scientist developed a mass-sterilisation virus which the CIA is keeping in reserve.

  He’s considered publishing the pope’s manuscript and sending copies to the Vatican. While he frets over what to do with it, he does his best to live as John taught.

  Often he remembers the ice — the light, space, solitude, silence — the tumultuous events that are a legend at EXIT now.

  His future? Each breath is enough.

  An exile only has today.

  GLOSSARY

  70 Clifton: Address of the fortress-like Bhutto family residence in Karachi at the time of the story.

  AC plasma: A high-resolution flat-panel display screen.

  AKR: Carbine version of the Russian AK–47 assault rifle — a stubby sub-machine-gun.

  ANARE: Australian national Antarctic research expeditions.

  Anhedonia: Inability to enjoy oneself.

  APU: Auxiliary power unit. Used to drive aircraft systems when main engines are shut down.

  AR–80: Assault rifle made in Singapore.

  ARA: Airborne radar approach.

  ASAP: As soon as possible.

  AVIOX: Oxygen equipment.

  AWAC: Airborne warning and control system.

  Ball: Aircraft carrier’s optical landing system. The Fresnel lens emits a light-beam that tells the pilot whether his approach is high or low.

  BDA9: Belgian-made automatic pistol.

  Bingo: The predetermined amount of fuel needed to return to the place of origin at the same speed. Exceed that fuel level and there is not enough fuel to return and land at the take-off point. On a carrier, landing may require three passes and fuel budgeting is critical.

  Bivvy bag: An outdoor sleeping bag.

  Blizz line: Hand-lines provided as guidance between buildings or areas in Antarctica, for use during blizzards. A blizzard is classified as a wind greater than 35 knots.

  Bolter: When an aircraft lands on a carrier for the arrested recovery or ‘trap’ it approaches slightly above stall-speed. As the plane hits the deck, the pilot applies full power as he could ‘bolter’ or fail to catch with the tail hook one of four arresting wires stretched across the deck. If these are missed, there is power to get airborne and go around again.

  Boron shield: Light-weight armoured shielding — protects against high explosive or armour-piercing projectiles.

  C–2A: Carrier based greyhound aircraft — same basic airframe as the E–2C but used as a workhorse for transporting spare parts, mail and personnel. A COD.

  C–130: The Hercules medium-range high-wing military transport aircraft — powered by four turboprop engines.

  CATCC: Carrier Air Traffic Control Centre.

  Cavitation: A high-velocity bullet may cause a small entry wound but transfers its momentum to surrounding tissues when in the body. The shock-wave pulsations cause great internal damage — up to 40 times missile diameter. This is the area of cavitation.

  CentCom: President Carter’s Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) later became CentCom or Central Command.

  CIS: Commonwealth of Independent States.

  COD: Carrier on-board delivery. Applied to the greyhound C–2A aircraft.

  Comms: Communications.

  Comms op: A possibly covert communications mission.

  COMOPS: Command operations.

  Condition Blue: Some forces use colours to designate degrees of readiness. Condition Red. Condition Black. And so on.

  Condition One: McMurdo weather classification. Three: normal. Two: caution. One: danger.

  Conflag: A fire station.

  CT: Computerised tomography.

  CV: A conventionally-powered American aircraft carrier.

  CVBG: Carrier battle group.

  CVN: A nuclear-powered carrier.

  DOP: Director of Photography.

  E–2C: The ‘Hawkeye’ carrier-based Grumman early warning aircraft. A mini-AWAC. A large round radar dish mounted on its upper fuselage provides the ‘eye in the sky’ for a carrier battle group (CVBG).

  EPIRB: Emergency position-indicating radar beacon.

  F–14: The Tomcat fighter — a two-seat supersonic interceptor with ‘attack capability’.

  Fentanyl: A drug that can cause muscle rigidity and stop respiration.

  Finnified: Finnified snow is snow crystallised with ice — resembles loose gravel.

  FLIR: Forward-looking infra-red. An aid to night navigation. Can provide a real-time thermal image of approaching terrain.

  FOD: Foreign object debris (and damage) — a constant concern with aircraft. A forgotten spanner, stray washer or nut can disastrously damage aircraft systems.

  GCA: Ground-control approach.

  GE: General Electric.

  GIGN: The Groupe d’Intervention de Gendarmerie Nationale — French special forces.

  GPS: Global positioning system — the satellite-based

  navaid.

  Guard skin doubler: A strengthened strip in the C–130 fuselage in line with the prop arc. A broken prop will come through the fuselage as crashes have proved.

  Hagglunds: A Swedish-made tracked all-terrain vehicle used in Antarctica. Twin cabin design.

  Hangar queen: A problem aircraft that spends most of its time out of service. Often gets cannibalised for parts to support flight schedules of other planes.

  Hawkeye: The C–2A aircraft.

  HF: High frequency.

  Hornet: The F/A–18 fighter aircraft (US Navy/Marine Corps designation).

  Huffers: Engine-starting equipment.

  Hypnagogic jerk: A bodily start experienced shortly before going to sleep.

  ICU: Intensive care unit.

  Ingram: A basic but robust submachine-gun.

  INS: Inertial navigation system. Independent of external references.

  IR: Infra-red.

  JATO: Jet-assisted take-off. In fact, rocket-assisted, so a misnomer, and now termed ATO. The C–130 mounted eight JATO bottles, four on each side forward of the jump doors.

  Joker: Joker is the fuel state above Bingo that would allow successful disengagement from an air-combat manoeuvre.

  JP8: Primary fuel used in Antarctica — aviation fuel oil similar to diesel.

  Karabiner: A strong metal oval with a spring-loaded gate in one side. An essential tool for rope work.

  Kevlar: A light, immensely tough carbon fibre fabric used as body armour by special forces. Effective against most bullets including high velocity rounds.

  Komitet: KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti).

  Lats: Bodybuilder’s cant for the latissimus dorsi muscle.

  Lollywood: Pakistan’s equivalent to Bollywood.

  LSO: The Landing Signals Officer or ‘air boss’ on a carrier.

  M249: Bipod-mounted 5.56mm Belgian light machine gun. Mag or belt-fed.

  M–4: 9mm Spectre submachine-gun.

  MDR: Motion detection radar — detects movement through masonry walls and other non-metal barriers.

  Melt bell: Some polar bases need to make water from ice. A heated metal bell-shaped object lowered into the ice forms a cavern with water at the bottom.

  Mossad: Israel’s central institute for intelligence and security.

  MP5: Reliable and accurate Heckler & Koch sub-machine-gun.

  MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging.

  MSA: Minimum safe altitude.

  Myonecrosis: Death of muscle tissue.

  N–1: Gyro compass used at the time in C–130s. Two were fitted.

  NFOs: The back-end bo
ys in the ‘tube’ of an E–2C. (CICO: Combat Information Centre Officer, ACO: Air Control Officer, RO: Radar Operator.)

  Nicad: Nickel cadmium.

  Nip: Frost nip. A mild version of frostbite.

  NM: Nautical miles.

  NSWC: Naval Special Warfare Center, Coronado, CA.

  NVG: Night vision goggle(s).

  OAE: ‘Old Antarctic explorer’. Term for repeat visitors.

  Omega: Long-range hyperbolic radio navigation aid.

  Pak One: The plane in which President Zia of Pakistan and the cream of his military staff died when it inexplicably crashed.

  PAR: Precision approach radar.

  Parabellum: A German term meaning ‘for war’. Used to distinguish 9mm Parabellum cartridges from 9mm short.

  PDW: Personal defence weapon. A conveniently stowed and handled sub-compact used as a subsidiary weapon, for instance by tank crews.

  PIM: Point and intended movement.

  Pri-Fly: Primary flight control on a CV.

  Prusiks: Loops of thin rope which, when secured around a standing line, provide a moveable purchase or stirrup. Used in pairs. Now supplanted by jumars — mechanical devices with a gripping and releasing action.

  PSI: Pounds per square inch.

  PSM: A small, handy 5.45mm pistol first issued to Soviet Spetsnaz units. Its bottle-nosed cartridge has remarkable penetrative ability.

  Radalt: Radar altimeter.

  Ripped: Body-builders attempt to reduce as much body fat as possible before a contest so that muscles become more defined. The result is called being ‘ripped’.

  RPM: Usually revs-per-minute. But rounds-per-minute applied to weapons.

  SAR: Not search-and-rescue but a compact assault rifle made in Singapore.

  Sastrugi: Windblown and scoured snow and ice ridges.

  SATCOM: Fleet satellite communications. More properly FLTSATCOM.

  Sedia gestatoria: A portable papal throne carried on the shoulders of 12 footmen.

  Shear-load: The force a body can sustain before shearing.

  SIG-Sauer: Swiss handgun noted for excellent manufacture and extreme reliability.

  Sikorsky S–76: Large commercial twin-turbine helicopter.

  Sitrep: Situation report.

  Sked: Scheduled radio contact.

  Slot: Crevasse. Also known as a crack. A vehicle is ‘slotted’ if driven into a crack. Cracks are often invisible due to snow cover.