Thank goodness that Levont was a point man, he took the lead naturally. Which was fortunate because Davidson wasn’t sure if he could open the hatch on his own.
Red lights swirled as Levont followed the direction on the placard to prepare the chamber for opening. Even a blind man couldn’t accidently open the shuttle up to the vacuum of space.
“Davidson, are you alright?” Stark asked in his ear.
“Yah, sure,” he responded.
“We are showing a build up of carbon dioxide in your blood which could be dangerous once you are outside the confines of the shuttle.”
Most people hyperventilated when they were nervous. Due to his training, Davidson’ response was exactly the opposite. He tended to hold his breath. A silent tell.
He let out a long slow breath, then took in a full lung full of air. It wouldn’t take much to bring his blood gases back into regulation. “I’ll watch it,” he promised.
Levont gave a nod and hit the big red button next to the door. It opened and Davidson could feel the rush of air as the vacuum cleared the room of all oxygen. He had to still his mind from panicking. If anything happened to his suit, it was all over.
Not being used to feeling this vulnerable and out of control, Davidson felt his world tilt to the side. He had to lash out an arm to keep him from listing into the wall.
“Breathe,” Stark said in his ear. It wasn’t a reprimand or a criticism. It was just a very wise suggestion. One that Davidson gave on a regular basis. Funny how all that training flew out the window when it was you.
Davidson took another breath and felt his body right itself.
“One giant leap for mankind, right?” Levont said with that Cheshire cat grin as he pushed off the ledge and flew into space.
“Wahoo! Off the freaking hook, people!” Levont laughed. “We’ve got the best freaking job in the world! And out of it!”
The man’s laughter was infectious. Davidson took comfort in it as he inched his way to the door. How bad could it be if Levont was belly laughing and doing his best impression of Michael Jackson doing the moonwalk.
A smile really did help regulate his breathing. Davidson took another breath as he stepped off the ledge. No amount of preparation could really make you ready for what walking in space felt like. Actually it didn’t feel like anything. It felt like you’d left your body and it was your soul doing the walking.
Was this what Heaven was going to feel like?
Then Levont pulled out his power drill and revved it. “Ready to reek some havoc?”
* * *
Stark monitored their space walk carefully with a special eye on Davidson’s vital signs. The guy was usually so stoic. So perfect. Nice to know the man was human and actually could show some anxiety.
Although now that he was out there and the task was at hand, Davidson had settled into a routine. His blood gases had stabilized and his breathing rate had plateaued.
Begrudgingly, Stark had to give it to the sniper. He talked the talk and not only walked the walk, but spacewalked the spacewalk. Even terrified out of his mind, Davidson did his job. Stark had access to the private’s entire medical history, including the diagnosis that nearly derailed the sniper’s career.
Agoraphobia was rare enough, but the form that Davidson had? It was less than one in ten million. The man would never be taking Bunny for a walk along the beach, that was for sure.
That was unfair, Stark reminded himself. For Davidson that vast, endless ocean was as terrifying to him as spiders were to arachnophobes. Stark could relate. His fear was hyenas. They just freaked him out. They didn’t even have a name for his fear given that it was so rare.
Could he go do his job if he had to walk through a pack of hyenas? Stark doubted it.
“Look for the blue screw head,” his mother instructed Levont.
“Yah, a little hard with all of these antennas,” the man responded. “Can I break some of them off?”
“No,” Stark replied. “We fear there might be anti-tampering counter-measures.”
“Great,” Levont sighed. “Let me see if I can shimmy in.”
Stark watched the six screens that captured all of the video feeds from the shuttle and the in-suit cameras. The world-ending satellite was right there. Right there. So close, yet in order to deactivate it without blowing up Levont and Davidson was going to take some doing.
“Not sure I can reach it,” Levont stated.
It did look like a tight fit.
“Any other entry point?” Davidson asked.
Stark’s mother shook her head. “If we are going to move the satellite and avoid booby-traps, that is the panel we need to get into.”
Silence hung in the air as everyone realized there was just no way to pop that screw off without removing some of the porcupine-like antennae spikes. Which meant for each one, Levont could be blown to bits.
“Alright, let’s get this over with,” Levont said, putting his hand one of the metal rods.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Lopez stated as he come over from the shuttle.
“Dude, what are you doing? You are supposed to be in the shuttle as our back-up plan?” Levont asked.
Lopez snorted. “Right, like I’m going to tell Ricky I was in space but didn’t space walk… or Space Gangham-style.”
The corporal then began doing the dance, in space.
“We better be getting this on film,” Lopez commented. “Because this is going to go viral on YouTube.”
* * *
Davidson knew that the corporal was as aware as he was that any video they took right now would never end up on YouTube, as a matter of fact this mission probably wouldn’t be declassified until Ricky Jr. was an old, old man. As a matter of fact, it might not be until Ricky the third or Ricky the fourth until someone outside the Pentagon saw this show.
Which really was too bad, because Lopez, even in zero gravity had the moves.
Levont was floating off, held only by his umbilicus line as he clapped.
So glad someone was having fun. Davidson’s fear came in waves, building behind his eyes, then cresting over his body, gripping it with an iron fist. If he focused on the satellite, he did better, but looking at the vast expanse of space behind Lopez, that was when it hit the hardest.
Wait.
“Lopez, where is your umbilical?” Davidson asked, feeling a sense of panic well.
“Oh please, those are for amateurs,” Lopez snorted as he turned to give them another angle of his dance.
Davidson might have been insulted by that, but apparently Lopez was a natural at this space walking, or in this case, dancing.
“Besides, I had to bring you this,” Lopez said then handed over Davidson’s sniper rifle.
Davidson pushed off the satellite to grab the weapon. “What’s this for?”
To be honest, he’d felt a little lost without the rifle. Snipers and their weapons bonded. It was hard to explain to most people how your soul could seep into an inanimate object, but it was true. His rifle and he were one. He could feel his breathing ease up as he held the metal stock.
“Come on, like you can’t hit that little panel from the side without hitting the antennae?”
Davidson eyed the panel then his rifle. Why hadn’t he thought of that? A bullet was a hell of lot thinner than Levont.
“Are you insane?” Stark blurted into their headsets.
“Yes, I believe we are,” Lopez said, his hand overhead, making the lassoing motion.
“I’m going to need to get into position,” Davidson stated, pulling on his umbilicus to draw him closer to the shuttle. This was going to have to be a precision hit.
“You do realize if your bullet goes more a half inch into the casing, not only might you trigger the countermeasures, but you might destroy the very controls we need to deactivate the satellite?”
Davidson let Lopez roll his eyes for him. Stark was a bit of a worry wart.
With his rifle in hand, Davidson’s breathing leveled out. He to
ok in his first concentrated breath, then another, driving his heart rate down. As impossible as it seemed your pulse could throw off a delicate shot like this. He studied the satellite through the scope, concentrating on the edge of the blue screw.
He had to hit it at a shallow angle, knocking the panel off, without the bullet going deeper into the satellite. That was kind of a big deal. Enough of a big deal that Lopez stopped dancing and watched.
Davidson lined up his shot, stabilizing the butt of the rifle against his shoulder. Just because they were in space, didn’t mean there wouldn’t be a kick.
Taking another breath, he bottomed out his expiration, emptying his lungs of air, giving himself the best possible stabilization.
Then he pulled the trigger. He was thrown back, hitting the side of the shuttle as a plume of smoke drifted out of his rifle. It was so odd. The smoke instead of curling, moved in a circular outward throbbing globe.
“He did it!” Lopez yelled, pointing.
Sure enough the panel was off, with just a scorch mark across the metal surface of the satellite, but no other damage.
* * *
Bunny felt like crying. She’d been so worried she didn’t even realize that she had tears welling in her eyes. She was watching the feed from the shuttle.
“He’s really as good as his rep…” Malvern stated.
She swallowed back her tears. “Yes, he is.”
Malvern smiled. “Good to know.”
They were winging their way east across the Atlantic, heading for Greece.
“Time to tell me why we are heading to Athens?” Malvern asked.
Bunny bit her lip. “Not really,” she responded as she watched Davidson make his way to the satellite and put his skinny arm in between the bristly antennae and key in the codes that Stark’s mother were feeding him. Things seemed to be going better on that front.
“At some point, I am going to need to know,” Malvern stated.
He wasn’t being unreasonable. As a matter of fact she thought that Brandt would have wanted more information before flying halfway around the world.
She sighed. “I’m afraid it’s just a hunch.”
Malvern snorted in a rather cute way. “I believe this whole mission has been predicated upon hunches.”
Bunny’s eyes flickered down to watch Davidson enter in the codes. All of the satellite’s red lights flickered off. It looked like he had deactivated the satellite. Funny, if Liza hadn’t been kidnapped by the Righteous they never would have found the satellite in time. Or if Lopez hadn’t insisted they go to the Vudon priestess.
Okay, so maybe her hunch wasn’t such a long shot.
“There is a small, but very influential sect of Jews in Greece, known only as the Past, Present and the Future who are considered modern oracles by some.”
“Haven’t heard of them,” Malvern replied.
“Not surprising unless you are deep in the historical religious academic community,” Bunny responded. “There are only seventeen of them. And they only put out a paper every seven years, but damn they have been accurate in calling some of the largest religious events for the past decade. They predicted Hitler, the onset of jihadism, etc.”
“And what does that have to do with our mission?”
“Back in the basement when Baasha was describing the satellite’s purpose, I remembered a quote from the PPFs that was published a few years ago about fire from the sky that could only be stopped by the non-Righteous. At the time I thought is was an odd quote, but now,” Bunny said, nodding to the screen where Davidson was finishing up with the satellite. “Now it makes a little more sense.”
“You think they are aware of the Righteous?” Malvern asked.
Bunny nodded. “They knew of the Knot and the Disciples.”
“If they know all this why, don’t they raise the warning?”
“Because,” Bunny explained. “That’s not what they do. Plus over three quarters of their ‘predictions’ never come true. About a dozen debunkers have claimed to prove they are fake, but then every once in a while they hit the nail on the proverbial head.”
Malvern nodded. “So we are going to Greece to see if they might know more about the Righteous and their end game?”
“Exactly. They must have a back up plan if the satellite fails and I for one would like to know what it is before it’s put into motion.”
Before Malvern could respond a loud, harsh alarm went off. Not on the jet, but up in space.
The satellite which for a few moments was just a dead gleaming ball of metal suddenly lit up like an evil Christmas tree.
CHAPTER 11
Stark tried to ignore the string of Spanish curses that Lopez was unleashing as he tried to determine the source of the alarm.
“We must have missed a challenge code in there,” his mother admitted. “Damn, I really thought we’d caught them all.”
But apparently they hadn’t as a large countdown clock showed up, ticking off the seconds. They had less than three minutes to determine what to do next.
“Get out of there,” Stark’s mother shouted.
“What’s going on?” Davidson asked.
If only Stark knew for sure. All he knew was that they were screwed.
“She’s right, get back to the shuttle ASAP.”
“Is there anything I can shoot out?” Davidson asked. Always the sniper.
“I doubt it,” Stark stated. The entire satellite was activated now. There was no one component that could take out the entire thing.
“We’ve got a good news, bad news situation,” his mother stated.
“Good news?” Lopez asked.
“That is a self-destruct counting down so it will demolish itself.”
“And the bad is that it is going to take us out?” Davidson stated.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Stark replied.
* * *
“Bullshit,” Lopez spat out. “I can get us out of here in time.”
But Lopez didn’t have an umbilical and was still pretty far away from the shuttle. Then Davidson had an idea. He pushed off the satellite, heading away from the shuttle, entrapping Lopez in his umbilical.
“Genius!” Lopez yelled, walking his way down the cord.
“Oh no,” Davidson said. “It is so much cooler than that.”
He could see Lopez’s eyebrow go up through his glass in his helmet.
“Levont help me out,” Davidson said, jiggling the cord. Levont seemed to understand exactly what Davidson was talking about. While it might seem an indulgence, it would get Lopez into the shuttle first which they needed since he was the one they needed to fire up the engines to get them out of here.
“One. Two. Three,” Davidson yelled, then at exactly the same moment, Levont and Davidson pulled on the cord, flinging Lopez forward and straight through the shuttle’s open bay doors.
“Ye-haw!” Lopez cried out as he crashed into a wall. “Space sling shot. I love it!”
Now it was time for Levont and Davidson to do the slow, hand-over-hand method to get back to the space shuttle. But at least they had given Lopez the ride of his life.
Within moments the shuttle’s engines glowed red, getting ready to get them the hell out of dodge.
“Sixty seconds left,” Stark announced.
Like Davidson didn’t already have a metronome going on in his head. It was actually fifty nine seconds. He made it to the shuttle, however the door was shut. Lopez had to shut it to build up pressure before the inner door could be opened. It was on a fifteen second delay.
Davidson gulped as the moments passed by. Finally the doors whooshed open and he pushed off the metal siding, gliding inside the bay. Levont was right next to him as he hit the pressurized controls. The doors slammed shut again as air was pumped into the bay.
Neither of them waited for the light to turn green as they started stripping off their suits. By the time they were out, the air pressure was back to normal.
“That was close,” Stark said.
/> Close, but they made it. Opening the inner door, they both pushed off, sailing through the hallway, heading toward the flight deck. The shuttle already shook from the power of the engines.
“Thirty seconds!” Stark announced like a self-appointed town crier.
They made it to the flight deck stairs just as Lopez fired up the engines. “I’d get strapped in!”
“Twenty seconds!” Stark yelled.
There was only so fast you could go in zero gravity. Davidson climbed up the metal run stairs, shoving as hard as he could to propel himself upward. He made the flight deck just as Levont floated past him to the pilot’s seat.
Where was that damn bungee cord?
“Ten!”
He found it floating by his head. Shoving himself down, Davidson wrapped the bungee around his waist and secured it just before Lopez punched the engines. Like punched.
Davidson was thrown back into the wall as the shuttle surged forward.
“You are going to burn out the engines,” Stark warned.
“Yes, well, better than burning us out,” Lopez retorted.
“Five. Four. Three. Two. One,” Stark’s mother countdown.
The explosion from the satellite caught them in the tail end and threw them head over tail toward the earth. Lopez swore under this breath as he tried to get the shuttle under control.
“You are about to hit the atmosphere in seven seconds.”
“Yah, like I didn’t notice that,” Lopez said.
Davidson could see through the window the glowing edge of the atmosphere. If they hit that bright band at the wrong angle, they themselves would explode.
Lopez finally got the shuttle level as they hurled toward their home planet. “Hang on, this is going to be rough!”
He wasn’t exaggerating. The shuttle rumbled and screamed as they pierced the stratosphere barrier. Fire lit up along their hull, flames licking at the windows.
“You’ve lost eighteen percent of your outer shell,” Stark announced.
Maybe they should tell the techie to only announce good stats from now on. That certainly would shut the guy up.
Davidson could feel the vibrations down to his bone marrow as they streaked through the upper atmosphere, their vessel on fire. Metal screeched as tiles popped off the nose. This wasn’t going well. He hoped that Bunny knew that he cared.
Bull's Eye Sniper Chronicles Collection (The Second Cycle of the Betrayed Series) Page 14