Conspiracy of Fire

by Tony Bulmer

  Travelling at full speed now, Karyn surveyed the horizon for signs of land. For over an

  hour she saw nothing but ocean, then finally rising from the far horizon, she saw an awe inspiring sight, dark grey spires aligned like cathedrals of death in a vast ocean bound city. Karyn gave a low chuckle. The shapes on the horizon were a US Navy carrier strike group and she was heading right for it. The Navy had been scrutinizing her from beyond the edge of the horizon. It could be no accident that they were here. They were watching, waiting, preparing for an event of great moment.

  Karyn sped forward, her course deviating slightly to starboard, it hardly mattered now—the Navy were waiting to meet her. Karyn’s jaw tightened. No doubt Senegar was involved. It all made perfect sense. The manipulative bastard had been using her as bait to draw fire. He hadn‘t figured she would get this far. The tightness turned quickly to anger, the play with the Navy could only mean one thing—her pops was behind this somewhere, hovering over her life, like some wizened old vulture. The old man had some kind of nerve thinking his magnanimity would be appreciated.

  Senegar was fast friends with the Admiral, although he had never told her. Karyn had known for years. She had seen the signs, low-­‐grade intel’ piling up in the form of unguarded comments slipped into conversation, forbidden details concerning her past that could never have been gleaned without inside knowledge. Hell, the Admiral and Senegar were probably laughing it up at this very minute, swilling Scotch and slapping each other on the back, thinking their clever little scheme to involve her in this bullshit mission had paid off. They had cheated her—used her—palmed

  her off with some bullshit decoy gig, while they saved the prime-­‐cut entrées for themselves. Karyn’s hands tightened hard against the wheel. There was no way in hell that Senegar was going to get away with this. He had torn her away from Carly, interceded in her mission as protector and guardian angel and to what end? If America, the country she loved, was in danger Karyn knew she just couldn’t rest until those who were responsible were defeated. But simple defeat would not be enough, the demons inside her would never allow that—she would have to seek out those enemies personally and watch them die.

  The helicopters were coming out to greet her now. The men with guns would be watching, analyzing every nuanced move that she made. No doubt they would have been fully briefed, regarding just who they were dealing with. They would come to greet her with the hand of

  friendship extended, but they would have the iron-­‐ gauntlet of violence coiled ready to destroy her, if the need arose. Karyn breathed deep. She eased back on the throttle and awaited the arrival of the helicopters. Soon they would be here, heavily armed men in fatigues rappelling aboard. The mission had taken an unexpected turn, but that was OK. She was Lieutenant Commander Karyn Kane, of the Office of Naval Intelligence, at least she had been until she joined the Agency. Now she was in control, total control—

  62

  Hawaii Rear Admiral Paddy Williams, commander of Carrier Strike Group Nine was waiting for Karyn in is office aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Regan. Karyn had known him since he was executive officer on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. Williams was a friend of her father’s and despite his wide jawed smile and sparkling eyes, he was a dangerous and highly decorated warrior, who’s hard bitten reputation went before him like a thirty foot battering ram. Williams was leaning against the front of his desk when the marines showed her in. He rose up quickly to greet her and grasped her hand in his. He had a grip like a pipe wrench.

  “Good to see you Karyn, I am flattered that you would even think of visiting us after all this time.”

  “Cut the bullshit Paddy, we both know the Admiral is behind this, so let’s not beat around the bush. I have a busy afternoon and a list of things to do like you wouldn’t believe.

  Williams narrowed his eyes but the grin remained static.

  “I have a situation I need to take care of,” said Karyn by way of explanation.

  “I have been fully appraised of the situation, Karyn.” He lingered over the syllables in her name like he was talking to an errant teenager. “And you can rest assured that we have that situation in hand.”

  “I am sure you do Paddy, but I want in.”

  Paddy Williams looked at his watch, “Your timing is most fortuitous Karyn. As I understand it, there is going to be a quite horrible industrial accident on the Big Island. Luckily, we are well placed to avert the worst of it, although I am sorry to tell you there is no provision for your further involvement in this affair.”

  “Industrial accident huh? That’s real clever. Who thought that one up Senegar or my father?”

  Williams pursed his lips and gave her a pained look, “Never much of a team player, were you Karyn? I bet those number crunchers in Washington just love you don’t they?”

  “I want in Paddy, so don’t give me the bullshit runaround.”

  Williams nodded sagely. “So you better get kitted out and find your way to the flight deck on the hurry up. DEVGRU are shipping out in 13 minutes and counting.

  “I have Intel that there is going to be a level nine event,” said Karyn.

  Williams just looked at her with sparkling eyes. “We have Black Squadron onsite already. Gold Squadron are securing the area, and you and the boys are going to land right in their laps. So, I think you can relax Karyn, the delightful Mr. Tao and his friends are about find out what the United States of America thinks of subversives.”

  Karyn curled a lip, “How long have you known about this Paddy?”

  “Long enough my dear, now hurry along, and don’t forget to say hello to your father for me.”

  Karyn balled her fists. “I haven’t seen him in a while. But you know that, don’t you Paddy?”

  “I know that the sooner you get out of my

  sight, the happier I will be,” Paddy Williams flipped

  the wink to the Marine sergeant who was standing

  beside the door, and he came to attention smartly.

  “Get Ms. Kane off my ship would you sergeant,

  expedited delivery please.”

  “Sir. Yes sir.” Barked the marine, and made

  a flamboyant about face. Karyn followed him out.

  At the door she turned and flipped the Rear

  Admiral a pistol fingers salute. “See you around

  Paddy, ”she said. Paddy Williams sat back on his

  desk, folded his arms and watched her go, his rictus

  smile cut wide to the ears.

  As the squadron of SH-­‐60F Ocean Hawks

  rode in over the Big Island, the twin peaks of

  Mauna Loa and Kilauea loomed out of the volcanic

  mist. In the far distance, the disembodied peak of

  Mauna Kea rose even higher, like some prehistoric

  monster rearing up from the swamp. As the

  helicopters sank through the steaming clouds, a

  broken landscape of
blackened volcanic rocks

  stretched out below, like some hideous alien

  landscape. Karyn felt a cold shudder run over her—

  visions of Afghanistan flashing back rapid fire—

  shrunken bearded faces with cold hard eyes, filthy-­‐

  faced children in rags, with bombs and assault

  rifles, emaciated animals and women running

  scared. Karyn fingered her Sig, she had it strapped

  across her chest in a military style holster, so she

  could reach it out fast when she needed it. She

  found the weapons presence reassuring, a constant

  reminder that all enemies would fall before her.

  The helicopter made a steep approach, cutting

  down through the cloud base. And there it was, rising-­‐up from the mountainside The Complex the grand headquarters of Deng Tao’s geothermal dream. Decked out in razor edged chrome and polar white, the place looked ghostly against the black landscape, dominating the valley like some monstrous nuclear test facility. Who knew what horrors lay inside, thought Karyn. The place had the vibe of evil, a weird and unsettling sense of ancient energy pulsing out from its very core.

  The helicopter made a wide, stomach churning turn, coming in fast and low over the wire of the compound. The powerful wash of the rotor blades sending a dust storm rising high into the air. Karyn wrapped her camouflage scarf tight against her face and pulled her goggles down. Then, she broke open the door and leapt out before the wheels of the chopper settled into the dust. She set off at a run, heading for the main building. She knew the SEALs would have her back. She saw them fanning out on all sides, taking charge of the compound. There was a sudden crackle of gunfire, bullets zipped overhead cutting past like hammer blows, then bouncing away down the broken mountainside. Karyn had her pistol out already, but the SEALs were on top of things. As she neared the buildings, a furious barrage of covering fire broke out all around her. And the pristine buildings began to disintegrate as a firestorm of bullets cut into them. The glass doors Karyn was heading for exploded into a million broken shards and shrapnel scythed through the air, as Karyn kicked her way in through the shattered windows

  Inside the building, there was

  pandemonium. White suited employees were

  running in all directions, some of them had rifles; others, who looked like they might well be scientists or engineers, cowered down, seeking cover where ever they could find it. Karyn ran through the melee, as a pulsing cacophony of alarm bells sounded out around her. She needed to find the control room that operated the power station. She moved deeper into the building, her boots pounding down the hard corridors, as she searched franticly for the buildings nerve centre.

  Running ever faster, Karyn bounced through a set of swing shut fire doors marked danger no entry. She came face to face with a white suited guard in steel helmet. Surprised, he swung his AK-­‐47 towards her, but Karyn caught the barrel in one hand and issued a lethal backhanded blow to the man’s neck. Without stopping, she popped him twice—two quick shots centre mass to make sure he stayed down.

  Looking about now, she knew she was getting close to her destination; the cavernous room she had just entered was filled with industrial gage pipes and giant chemical storage tanks marked with toxic hazard signs.. No wonder Deng Tao had needed pay off the governor, thought Karyn; this place had enough toxic chemicals stockpiled to start an apocalypse—and this lethal storehouse of toxic ooze was balanced on the precipitous slopes of the most active volcano in the world. If Kilauea went into melt down, the whole plant would melt down with it, creating an environmental catastrophe.

  Hurrying onwards, with even greater urgency, Karyn heard the crackle of gunfire drawing in behind her. She had to find the control

  room and soon, if she didn’t, whoever was running this place might decide to open the valves on the tanks, unleashing a cocktail of toxic ooze—or worse. As she pounded through the giant storage hanger Karyn noticed a glass-­‐fronted observation deck hanging high in the ceiling at the far end of the vast hall—that was the control room—it had to be.

  Seconds later, Karyn was nearing the top of a steel staircase that led to the glass fronted gantry. At the top of the final landing she found a doorway with a keypad security panel. The door was marked Strictly No Admittance. Karyn reached out and turned the handle slowly. The door was locked. She stood back at a right angle, shot out the lock, then kicked the door open and barged through the opening with her gun raised high.

  Brad Verner raised his hands and said sheepishly, “Hi Karyn, how are you doing?” Ted Congo was stood right next to him in a garish Tikki themed Hawaiian shirt. He didn’t raise his hands, just stood there with a sneer on his face.

  Karyn looked at them, then said, “Both of you, step away from that control panel, and do it slow.”

  “You are too late. I have initialized the startup sequence already Karyn,” said Verner. He sounded cheerful, like he didn’t have a care in the world.

  “What do you mean start up sequence?” asked Karyn her voice cold and deadly.

  “It really is quite fascinating, on top of the advances I have made in geothermal efficiency, the mathematics involved are my greatest

  achievement—you are certainly looking at the

  winner of the next Nobel Prize, so it is a proud moment indeed.”

  Karyn kept her gun leveled, gently moving it back and forth between the two men. “I don’t give a shit about mathematics or anything else Verner, What I want to know is what in the hell you have initialized and how do we stop it?”

  “Oh, you can’t stop the initialization process. That would be very dangerous.”

  “What do you mean dangerous?”

  “Right now, a superheated mixture of highly volatile chemicals is passing close to the volcanic magma at the very core of the Island. That energy will be recirculated and converted into electrical energy. If you cut off the process now it will lead to… a catastrophic explosion that will most likely blow the entire Island out of the water.”

  “Smooth work Verner, you are some kind of genius aren’t you? So tell me what happens if this cockamamie fun house you have created keeps chugging along?”

  “Well, there will be certain deleterious effects naturally, but it’s not all bad news.”

  “I am real pleased to hear that. Now explain to me just exactly what you mean by that, because I have had a real tiresome couple of days and if you don’t lay out what is going on in simple terms, I am liable to blow a hole in your head just for the sheer hell of it—know what I mean Einstein?”

  Verner gave her a tight, superior look then said, “I calculate that there will be a substantial movement in the Hilina fault system, a correction caused by the back flow of superheated volcanic gasses. Naturally, such a movement will create a seismic event in excess of magnitude nine and the

  oceanic displacement will create a Megatsunami
that will reach across the entire Pacific Rim.

  Karyn held the gun steady.

  Congo gave a chuckle, “That’s right Kane, you have failed. There is going to be a big wave 1,000 feet high at least. There is nothing you can do to stop it.”

  “But people will be killed,” said Karyn quietly. “Thousands of people. Are you insane?”

  “Humanity is a disease that is destroying the planet,” said Verner. “Deng Tao tells us that it is time for the new age of man and he is quite right. There are far too many people on the planet. What we need is a mass extinction, so the rest of us might be saved and move forward into a higher more forward thinking kind of society.”

  “But your parents, they live in Seattle, a tidal wave that big will wipe out every city on the western sea board.”

  “My parents are dead,” said Verner, his voice matter-­‐of-­‐fact.

  “Dead, how do you know?” asked Karyn.

  “He killed them,” said Congo impatiently.

  Brad Verner shrugged. “I had to. They found out about my little weakness—they would have spoiled everything if I had let them, spread their malicious little stories.”

  Karyn frowned, “You killed your parents, you goddamn freak?”

  “His pretty little girl friends too,” said Congo with a chuckle. “Because what Brad here is trying to tell you is that he is a degenerate corpse-­‐ grinding necrophiliac, who can’t get his jollies unless he is loving on the dear departed. Ain’t that right Brad?”