by Nick Carter
"Goddamnit…"
Carter led Tieggs away, well out of earshot of the other two men. "Now listen to me. Bob. We're going over there this morning to take care of it. It's not something you can do, nor is it something you could help with. But the governor is involved in this up to his ears. I think there's a very good chance he's working for the Chinese Communists."
"The Chinese Com…?"
"That's right. His wife may be working for them as well."
Tieggs did not want to believe it.
"She was with me over there. But I think she's back here. The governor and some of his people are going to fly over to the island this morning. While they 're gone, I want you to snoop around. See if his wife is still here."
"I don't understand any of this," Tieggs said. "But I'll do as you say, Nick."
"But be careful, Bob," Carter said. "These people are not fooling around."
Twelve
It was close to eleven in the morning by the time the Starfish slipped her dock lines and moved out toward the breakwater protecting the Hiva Faui harbor. The wind had calmed considerably, although the sky was still heavily overcast, and occasionally it would rain very hard for a few minutes, cutting visibility to near zero.
Nick Carter had gone over, in great detail, exactly what he wanted to do. Captain Petti agreed in principle, with one caution.
"We're going to be watching for the other sub," he said.
"I understand," Carter said, looking up from the sketch of the sub pen he had drawn.
They were gathered in the situation room just below the bridge in the conning tower. They were on red operational lights. Everyone looked like a Halloween ghoul.
"If they show up, or if the sub you say was unloading in the pen comes out, we're bugging out. We'll have to stand by until we can get some definitive orders one way or the other."
"I understand that too, Captain," Carter said. "Just get me there. Ill do the rest."
Carter's plan had been a simple one. They would approach the island from the sub pen side. Carter, wearing scuba gear, would slip out of the Starfish from an underwater hatch. With him he would carry enough explosives to destroy the sub inside the pen and hopefully the cavern itself. Meanwhile, the Starfish would proceed to the far side of the island where a shore party would go inland to seek out and destroy the dish antenna and the projection equipment in the amphitheater. Carter had pinpointed both sites on a chart.
A burly lieutenant who had been standing in the background stepped forward. His voice matched his appearance.
"Begging the captain's pardon, but my people are ready. We would like to go on this with Mr. Carter."
Carter looked at him. His name was Jakes. "I'm taking no one with me, Lieutenant."
"Begging your pardon, sir. But aboard this boat that's not your decision. Besides, you couldn't carry enough explosives to be one-hundred-percent certain you'd destroy their operation."
Captain Petti looked at him. "You understand we might have to leave you, Paul?"
"Aye-aye, sir."
"How about your people? Any volunteers?"
Jakes grinned. "Hell, sir, we had to draw lots to see who'd come with me… there'll only be one other. It was the only way I could hold down the fights. They all wanted in on it."
"Carter?" the captain said, looking at Carter. He was giving him a choice.
Carter turned to the lieutenant. "Can you swim?"
"A little, sir," Jakes said, his grin widening.
"I can't, so I'd better have you along."
"Yes. sir!"
They did not bother submerging for the short trip across to Natu Faui, nor did they run at their full speed of nearly sixty knots. Officially they were only capable of forty-five knots, and they kept to that speed.
Carter described the area to the west of the cavern where he had picked up the outrigger canoe. If all went well, the Starfish would rendezvous there exactly ninety minutes from the time Carter, Jakes, and his one crewman entered the water. They would all be working on a very tight timetable. Less could go wrong that way.
"This is incredible, Carter," Captain Petti said. "But not surprising, considering everything else that's been happening lately."
"And that's just the half of it," Carter said not unkindly.
"I know. Good luck."
"Thanks."
Carter went with Jakes below to the UDT operations room, where he was introduced to a wiry kid from Minnesota who knew all there was to know about demolitions. His name was Arte Haikkinen, third-generation Finnish.
They donned their wet suits and scuba gear, and Jakes explained the operation of the demolitions they would carry, as well as the operation of the wet room from which they would be leaving the sub.
"On our signal, the captain will order the boat slowed, but there'll still be a hell of a current. Go with it. Don't even try to fight it. You might wind up with a broken back."
"They'll be watching us pretty closely," Haikkinen volunteered.
"Right. As we pass by the opening to their sub pen, they'll be watching us real close. We're getting off a mile before that."
"Any questions, or are we all straight?" Jakes asked.
"Are we going to stand here and talk about it, or are we going?" Carter asked.
They checked each other's gear, strapped on the explosives, and the amber light over the wet room flicked on. Jakes picked up the phone. "We're ready," he said, then hung up.
They entered the wet room, which was not much larger than a telephone booth, dogged the hatch, and flooded it. The bottom hatch dropped open automatically, but Jakes held them from going until the amber light above the door flicked to green, then he shoved Haikkinen down.
Before he could turn around, Carter shoved himself powerfully through the hatch. He had done this more than once before, so he was prepared for the tremendous shock of the very fast current that instantly swept him down and away from the sub.
Within a few moments Jakes was overhead, and Haikkinen was at his side. They made sure they were all right, then headed off to the east, the submarine already far out of sight.
The water was warm. They were at about forty feet, so they were far below the wind and waves on the surface. And although he was tired, Carter found himself falling into an easy, relaxed rhythm that seemed effortless yet ate up the distance.
They closed with the shore and allowed the incoming tide to help them along, finally coming to what appeared to be the opening to the cavern.
Carter motioned for Jakes and Haikkinen to remain submerged while he rose to the surface well within the cavern.
His head broke the surface, and he was looking directly into the eyes of a man standing on the catwalk. Carter didn't move, and a second or two later the soldier flipped his cigarette into the water and turned around. He had not seen a thing!
Slowly Carter let a little air out of his buoyancy control vest, and he sank beneath the surface. They were in the right cavern. Jakes's navigation had been perfect.
It was much deeper in the channel that ran into the center of the sub pen. At one point they were seventy-five feet down, and still they had not reached the bottom.
They started up after Carter felt they were well beneath the wall and probably a bit to the west.
Twenty feet from the surface they could see lights above, and a little farther to the west, the hulk of the submarine.
Carter stopped Jakes and Haikkinen and pointed toward the sub. They both nodded.
Quickly they angled upward until they were directly beneath the keel of the huge nuclear sub. Jakes motioned for them to remain where they were, and he worked his way aft to the rudders.
A minute or so later Jakes was back. He did not have his pack of explosives with him. Haikkinen worked his way forward and up the side of the hull to a series of what appeared to be vents. They were probably in the vicinity of the sub's nuclear reactor. After the explosion, whether or not the cavern was destroyed, it would be radioactive for years to come.
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He attached the package of high explosives to the side of the sub, swam back to Carter and Jakes, then they all headed back to the bow, where they slowly and carefully surfaced.
The mound of supplies that had been piled on the dock was gone. There were no soldiers in sight. Only the harsh overhead lights illuminated the scene.
The installation was probably on alert because of the presence of the U.S. submarine. The troops would all be at battle stations.
Carter suspected the only ways out of this place were by submarine or through the passageway to the catwalk and from there to the cliffs.
He thought about the young Chinese men manning their electronic surveillance instruments deep within the bowels of the hillside. When the sub blew out here, they wouldn't have a chance.
But then they had not given the natives a chance. Nor had they shown any mercy to the civilian employees at the satellite receiving station on Hiva Faui.
"What's the matter, Carter?" Jakes asked.
"Wait here," Carter said, and he swam around the bow, wriggled out of his scuba gear, and climbed up on the dock.
"Carter… Carter… get back here," Jakes whispered urgently.
Carter looked down at him. "Give me five minutes. If I'm not back by then, get the hell out of here."
He slung the explosives over his shoulder, and with his Luger in hand he crossed the dock and scrambled up the stairs that led to the operations room.
At the top he kept low, below the level of the large plate glass windows, until he made it to the door.
Carefully he straightened up so that he could just see inside the room. There were several consoles of electronic equipment along one wall, and along the other were a couch and chairs, and a couple of tables. But there was no one inside.
Carter got up, opened the door, and slipped inside.
It was very quiet in the room. He stood for several moments holding his breath, listening to the sounds of running machinery elsewhere in the installation.
There was a noise outside on the steps. Carter spun around and dropped below the windows, the safety of his Luger off.
He was pressed up against the wall a few feet away from the door. If anyone came through, he would have a clear shot.
The door opened slightly, and a second later Jakes slipped into the room. Carter almost shot him before he realized who it was. A moment later Haikkinen came in.
Jakes had started to turn when he saw Carter crouched against the wall.
"Christ," he whispered.
Carter got up. Both men had gotten rid of their scuba gear. Jakes was armed with a.45 automatic, as was Haikkinen. They had not planned on surfacing, so had not brought anything other than handguns with them.
"What the hell are you doing here, Jakes?"
"I might ask you the same, sir. But I think I know."
"Then get the hell out of here."
"We're in this together, sir," Haikkinen said. "Besides, I 'd just as soon place the charges. I think I might be able to do a better job."
Carter handed over the satchel, then looked at his watch. It was a little past 12:30. They had less than twenty minutes to finish here and get away before the charges on the sub went off.
"Along the west side of the dock there's a catwalk that leads to the outside. There's a guard there… I saw only one, but there may be others. There's a path up the cliff face. From there you can get inland and back to the west to the beach."
Jakes and Haikkinen both nodded. Carter turned and hurried across the room to a door set between two equipment consoles.
Before he eased the door open, he stuck his Luger into the waistband of his wet suit and pulled out his stiletto and a small gas bomb.
A soldier stood just on the other side. Carter eased the door closed, motioned for Jakes and Haikkinen to stand aside, then knocked on the door.
A moment later it opened, and the soldier looked at Carter, startled. Carter grabbed the man and pulled him through, burying the stiletto to its haft between his ribs on his left side, then slashing left and right.
The soldier never uttered a sound as he collapsed, blood gushing from his side.
Haikkinen pulled him aside and stuffed his body behind one of the equipment consoles as Carter again opened the door. On the other side was a wide balcony than overlooked a vast, equipment-filled cavern. Dozens of technicians were seated at electronic consoles, talking on microphones, adjusting controls, taking measurements from radar screens, or marking tracks on a number of transparent plotting boards. It was very reminiscent of the NASA control center at Houston.
He eased back and closed the door.
"No way in?" Jakes asked.
Carter shook his head. "It's a balcony that overlooks a big control center." He motioned for Haikkinen to take a look.
"What do you want to do?" Jakes asked.
"We'd never get down there undetected," Carter said.
Haikkinen closed the door. He looked rattled. "That's a major operation down there. This has to be one of their bigger bases outside their own country."
Carter looked at his watch again. They were coming up on fifteen minutes. "Can you rig the satchel to blow in fifteen or twenty seconds?"
Haikkinen shook his head. "Wouldn't give us much time to place it and then get away…" he began, but then he stopped, understanding dawning in his eyes.
"What?" Jakes asked.
The charges on the sub are set to go off in less than fifteen minutes," Carter explained. "We'll set this satchel for fifteen seconds, open the door, lob it in the middle of the room, and then get the hell out of here. By the time they get it all sorted out and try to get the sub out of here, those charges will blow."
"It's your ball game, sir. But it sounds good to me," Jakes said.
Haikkinen was crouched on the floor next to the open satchel adjusting something inside.
It only took him a second or two, and when he was finished he closed the satchel and stood up. A single bare wire stuck out from the flap on each side.
"Connect the wires and we have twenty seconds," Haikkinen said.
Carter sheathed his stiletto, stuffed the gas bomb into his waistband, then pulled out his Luger.
He looked at his watch. Thirteen and a half minutes to go. He took the satchel from Haikkinen.
"You get the door," he said to Jakes.
Jakes nodded and stepped to the door.
Carter turned to Haikkinen. "Ready?"
The young man nodded.
"Do it," Carter said.
Haikkinen quickly connected the wires. Jakes started to open the door when someone burst into the room from the outer balcony.
Carter spun around, bringing up his Luger, as two crewmen from the Chinese sub came in. He fired twice, hitting them both. Then he spun back.
"Now!" he shouted.
Jakes yanked open the door, and Carter stepped onto the balcony, heads below turning up to him. Someone was shouting something. And a siren began to wail as he swung the heavy satchel over his head and let it go, the bag arcing high out over the room.
He turned and raced back to the operations room. Jakes and Haikkinen were at the outer door, firing down toward the sub.
Carter pulled out his gas bomb, thumbed the trigger, and tossed it over Jakes's shoulder, out the open door, and down onto the dock.
The gas was effective immediately.
Haikkinen fired another shot, and all three of them scrambled out the door, along the balcony, and down the stairs.
Halfway down, a tremendous explosion shook the entire hillside, partially collapsing the balcony above them, sending shards of glass blowing straight out across the water, and bringing rocks and dirt down from the ceiling.
Crewmen were scrambling out of the submarine as Haikkinen and Jakes hit the dock, and they opened fire.
Haikkinen went down, the back of his head blown off, and Jakes was slammed to the left over a pile of boulders.
Carter, still on the stairs, dropped to a half crouch an
d fired four shots in quick succession, hitting at least three of the crewmen. The others ducked back into the boat.
Carter leaped down the last couple of stairs, grabbed Jakes's arm, and pulled him to his feet.
"Arte!" Jakes shouted.
"He's dead," Carter said, racing as fast as he could with Jakes down the dock and up onto the catwalk.
Several more shots were fired at them from the sub, but Carter kept going.
The catwalk ended at a thick metal door in the rock wall above the water. Just as they reached the door, it opened.
Carter raised his Luger and fired point-blank into the face of the guard who had been standing outside when they had swum in.
The guard was thrown backward by the force of the 9mm slug hitting his cheek just below his left eye.
His legs were still twitching as Carter dragged Jakes over his body and along the catwalk.
Halfway along the catwalk, the wind and blowing water funneling into the cavern, a shot ricocheted off the walkway. A moment later, as Carter turned back with his own gun, two shots thudded into Jakes's body.
Carter fired three shots in quick succession, and then the firing pin snapped on an empty chamber.
He raced the rest of the way down the catwalk and around the corner beneath the overhang, where he laid Jakes down. He pulled out another clip and reloaded the Luger, then bent down to check on Jakes.
The man was dead. He had taken two rounds in his back. One had evidently penetrated a lung, the other had pierced his heart.
Carter looked at his watch. He had nine minutes before the other two charges attached to the sub went off.
Someone was on the path above!
Carter ducked around the overhang in time to see a half-dozen Chinese men hurrying down the path.
He stepped out into the open and fired four shots in rapid succession up the path.
At least three of the soldiers went down.
Carter ducked back. They would pin him down here until it was too late.
"Sorry, Paul," Carter said, looking down at Jakes's body. He pushed the dead seaman over the edge, then shoved his Luger into his waistband and jumped into the channel.
The waves were very strong, but he was just at the edge of the tidal race into the cavern, so he was able to swim out past the rocks and around toward the west.