John-Pierre picked up the remaining self-welding braces. “Time to lock you in the turret, princess. Joe and I will set up a crossfire at this end of the tunnel, leading to the storage room. That should hold them for a while. Hopefully long enough for the Turks to get here."
As they walked up the stairs John-Pierre asked, “If the worst happens, what about the boy?"
“You mean the client,” she replied as they finished climbing the stairs.
“No, I meant the boy."
“You know our orders,” Danielle sighed. “If it comes to that, he's not to be taken alive."
“Is that really necessary?"
“I do as I'm told, John-Pierre,” she said as she placed the self-welding braces inside the crew quarters next to the door. “Will you?"
He set his stack down next to hers and stood up. “That's why you pay me the big bucks,” he replied unceremoniously as he looked across the room at Governor Johnston, sitting on a metal chair next to the boy's bed. His ashen face and panicked eyes told the whole story.
Standing back away from the door, he watched as Danielle pushed it closed and spun the locking lugs into place. He shook his head for a moment, wondering how people such as these could have brought about world peace, and then decided to see what Joe was up to in the engineering level.
* * * *
VIGO WAS THE first to wind his way down the four flights of stairs to the bottom of the elevator shaft. Behind him were Charlie and Anthony. At the second landing, Anthony flipped the VR visor back over his face. There had been no changes or major movements since they entered the center of the complex. He spoke into his mic, “No changes, but keep in mind the sensorbots are a bit slow on the refresh."
He lifted the VR visor, pointed his flashlight at the ceiling and ran the beam from the top of the shaft to the simple open elevator platform at the bottom. All appeared in order and once power was returned they'd use the elevator to bring Russell to the surface. A wave of anger at what De Bono and Johnston were doing to his son and everyone else filled him with rage. He gripped the railing. “Control this, Anthony,” he commanded himself in a whisper as his blood began to boil. “Control this."
* * * *
JOE BOUNDED UP the stairs from engineering level. “Cat, I think I can seal the inner blast door. I've found an old power lead and rerouted it to the breaker box at the end of the accessway tunnel at the storage room. There's no way they can get through that in time."
“Then all we have to do is to sit tight and wait for the Turks to grind them into hamburger."
“That's the plan, Cat."
“But can't we activate it from here?"
“No, the power feed is from the main blast doors topside. I also figured out how they did it."
“How?"
“It didn't make sense till I traced the fail-over circuit. I kept seeing a steady heartbeat from the load regulator that didn't make sense; that is unless someone has hacked our control systems. Man, nobody knew about the fail-over because I personally installed it last week."
“Which means that we've been set up by the same people we're working for,” John-Pierre spat. “But they're already coming down the central stairwell."
“We've got just enough time,” Joe said in a hurried voice. “I've got to go to the end of the tunnel to bypass the load regulator source."
“Let's go."
Joe put a hand on John-Pierre's shoulder. “No my friend, there is no point in both of us exposing ourselves in the tunnel. I'll go alone. You cover me."
John-Pierre quickly tossed the risks through his mind. If he and Joe could set up a cross fire at the control room end of the tunnel, they'd probably be able to hold off the assault team until the door to it was reinforced, which in turn would buy them more time. Given the situation, that would have been his first choice but now things had changed. They'd been betrayed, which meant that Joe's idea to bypass the power on the inner blast door had already been anticipated. Either way, their prospects stunk. “OK, Joe, be quick. I'll cover you from here."
* * * *
ANTHONY FINALLY REACHED the bottom of the staircase and found Vigo and Charlie waiting for him in the storage room. At the far end of the room, a large huge blast door hung open. Closed, it would form a barrier between the interior of the complex and the accessway tunnel to the control room.
Thankfully, the nanobots had not neutralized the control mechanisms controlling the blast door motors; otherwise, the mission would have failed at this very point. As they moved through the storage room, he studied the massive strength of the blast door and felt a sense of relief that Tanya and Henry had helped him to trust LeBlanc.
Anthony flipped his VR visor back over his eyes. He could see from the delayed sensorbots that the merc on the engineering room level had returned to the control room. He pointed his hand directly ahead and whispered. “Go straight ahead to the end of the storage room and turn to our left facing the access tunnel."
The storage room was a clutter of abandoned junk and obsolete equipment, and moving through it was difficult in the dim reddish light.
Anthony hid behind a stack of large barrels in sight of the access tunnel while Vigo and Charlie worked their way to either side of the tunnel and slipped on his VR visor again. “Vigo, we've got one coming through the tunnel our way."
Vigo signaled to Charlie to cover him and raised his assault Heckler 10mm caseless sub-machinegun. In one blurring motion, Vigo rolled down to the floor before the access tunnel entrance and sprayed the small confined area with deadly hollow point rounds.
The burst caught Joe Napolitano in chest. As he fell, he squeezed the trigger of his Uzi spraying a return volley of .45 caliber rounds through the accessway and into the storage room. Crumpled on the floor, frothy red blood began spilling out of Joe's mouth as he tried to roll on his side for another shot. As he strained to lift his Uzi for another shot, the last thing he saw was the intense glow of Vigo's laser pointer as a single, well-aimed round struck between his eyes with a final blinding flash of white light.
Vigo rolled back away from the door and noticed Charlie's pained breathing despite the ringing in his ears from the report of the Uzi. “You OK son?” he whispered out loud.
“Fucking ricochet,” Charlie moaned. “Got me in the leg. Hurts like hell.” Vigo rolled back enough to see that the access way was empty and then rolled the rest of the way to Charlie's side of the door.
“Anthony, cover the tunnel,” he ordered.
Anthony nodded. Positioning himself in a dark shadow cast by two large crates, he drew a bead on the tunnel with his pistol as Vigo examined Charlie's wound. The partially spent bullet had partially sliced the femoral artery in Charlie's right leg and buried itself in his femur, halfway between the hip and the knee. With each beat of Charlie's heart, more of his blood spurted out of the wound. “You took a bad one,” Vigo whispered. “But you'll live. Hold your finger here while I set a tourniquet."
Vigo unfastened his belt and using a piece of steel tubing fashioned a homemade tourniquet above the wound, tightening it until the bleeding finally stopped. He checked his watch for the time and dipping his finger in the pool of blood next to Charlie's leg, used it to write the time on his head. “I got the bleeding stopped for now. Just remember to ease up on this tourniquet for a bit, every twenty minutes if this thing goes long. Can you do that?” He asked.
“No problem,” Charlie replied breathing heavily. “Hey look, Sarge, I can't move but if you'll drag me over by Anthony I can at least give you some cover fire if you need it."
“I'm not sure I want to move you."
“Yeah, well I'm just a worthless lump of shit here. If you move me to someplace useful, at least I'll be a semi-worthless lump of shit."
Vigo held up his hand. “How many fingers am I holding up?"
Charlie squinted his eyes to see through the murky red glow of the emergency lights. “Three."
“OK son. I know you'll do your best,” he said as he prepared to move him.
What John-Pierre could not have known, was that by switching off the emergency lights, he'd also partially blinded LeBlanc's sensorbots such that his catlike movements were now undetectable.
“Vigo,” Anthony said as he finished dragging Charlie to his side. “We've basically lost the sensorbots. The last thing I could see was one figure moving quickly in the control room before I lost him. Is it time to call for backup?"
“Stop thinking like a cop, or I'll shove a donut in your mug,” Vigo hissed. “Now be still.” He flipped up his night vision monocle and let his eyes adjust to the darkness in the tunnel. Scanning quickly from side-to-side to take advantage of his peripheral vision, Vigo could see that the computer displays on the main control room console were still lit. Whoever was left in there had not turned them off, indicating that he or she was working in the dark with night vision assistance. Otherwise, the console displays would have been shut down along with the emergency lights. Whoever was waiting for them still needed a modicum of light and therein was their advantage. Vigo quickly formulated his plan.
“Charlie,” he whispered. “Do you think you can run Anthony's VR headset?"
“Yeah sure,” the young sergeant said with a pained grunt.
“Good. Switch your helmet with Anthony and give him your HK."
“You got it,” Charlie replied as he handed his Heckler 10mm caseless sub-machinegun and a magazine pouch to Anthony and unfastened his chinstrap.
Anthony took the helmet and weapon and went to hand Charlie his pistol. “No; you keep it,” Charlie said refusing the pistol. He patted his holster, “I've got my own."
As Anthony adjusted Charlie's helmet and night vision monocle for his own head, Charlie watched Vigo attach a powerful IR illuminator light to the stock of his HK, capable of casting a bright beam for 200 yards that would be undetectable to an unaided human eye. He unclipped his own IR illuminator, fastened it to Anthony's HK as well and checked the silencer to be sure it was snug and secure. With their gear in order, Vigo had Charlie test his VR headset and microphone. Everything was ready.
“Now here's the drill, ladies,” Vigo said softly. “As soon as we're up alongside the access way I'll take out the emergency lights on this side. No point in us advertising ourselves any more than we need to. After that, we'll move in. Anthony, stay a few feet behind me. When you see me lie down and make a fist, I want you to empty your HK into the computer displays. If you can take them all out, whoever is in there will be operating in the dark. Charlie, once we're close enough to the control room side of the tunnel you should start to get usable images again so keep telling us what you're seeing, no matter what it is."
“Got it,” Charlie replied.
“Follow a few feet behind and when I see your fist, kneel and take out the computer displays,” Anthony added.
“OK, ladies, it's show time."
Vigo and Anthony moved through the storage room out of view of the tunnel and positioned themselves next to the door. Vigo then pulled an aluminum telescoping rod and mirror from his shirt pocket, stretched the rod out to its full one-meter length and snapped a small mirror to the end. He then set the selector of his HK to the single round burst setting and methodically shot out the emergency lamps in the storage room that would backlight them. “Turn on your illuminator Anthony,” he said switching on his own as well. “We're going in Charlie,” he announced.
With Anthony following just behind him, Vigo moved at a quick but methodical pace through the tunnel scanning the control room ahead for any sign of a threat. Three-fourths of the way into the tunnel, the computer displays on the console came into clear view. He laid himself down and, scanned the room ahead one more time, then raised his fist.
Anthony set the selector on his HK to the three round burst setting and with a sequence of well aimed shots took out the computer displays in a shower of glass and sparks, leaving the control devoid of light except for the an occasional lighted button on the shattered console.
The moment the caseless rounds flew through the control room, John-Pierre darted for the spot from where he planned to spring his attack without revealing himself to the attackers in the tunnel, who no doubt were well equipped with night light equipment.
Vigo used hand signals to tell Anthony to remain in position and to cover him. Anthony acknowledged the order with a firm nod and Vigo began crawling through the tunnel until he was half a meter away from the opening. Pushing the extending rod with the mirror past the opening, he began searching the sides and corners of the small control room alongside the accessway wall.
“Sarge,” Charlie whispered into his microphone. “I briefly saw something move. Damn, it was fast! I can't see anything now, so my guess is that he's a level above you. You better stay clear of the stairwell."
Vigo tapped his microphone twice to acknowledge the message, collapsed the rod while folding back the mirror and slipped it back into his pocket. With his left hand free again, he pulled a flash grenade from his web belt and turned his head towards Anthony, signaling him to cover his eyes. Anthony nodded and placed a hand over his eyes and night vision lens as Vigo switched his HK to full automatic.
Vigo estimated the number of steps it would take to cross the interior of the room to a spot under the console, then pulled the pin from the flash grenade with his teeth and threw it as far back into the control room as he could and covered his eyes and night vision lens with his hand. Three second later, the grenade went off with a muted bang filling the control room with a blinding flash of white light. He then jumped to his feet and bolted through the tunnel opening spraying a hail of rounds into the room as he rolled under the console.
“I've got you in the control room,” Vigo could hear Charlie say over his headset. “Still no sign of anyone else."
“Looks like you were right Charlie,” Vigo acknowledged. “He must be on one of the other levels. OK, Anthony, I'll cover the stairwell so move in and keep your eyes peeled."
Anthony moved carefully through the tunnel sweeping the muzzle of his HK back and forth as he stepped through the tunnel into the room, he could hear a swoosh of air from behind and then the deadly pressure of a stick of a cold steel and titanium blade at his throat. Whoever was at the other end of the razor-sharp knife, neither he, nor Vigo, who was now focused on the stairwell leading up to the crew quarters, had seen him coming.
Anthony froze as the knife pressed his throat and he felt the blunt tip of a pistol muzzle slipping under the lower edge of his bulletproof vest, coming to rest against the base of his spine. Totally compromised, he could feel the breath of his attacker on the back of his neck, as he held him within a moment of his life.
John-Pierre leaned closely and whispered in his ear. “Do as I say, and you may just live.” The voice has an unmistakable French accent. It was one of the Euro mercs.
The moment Vigo heard John-Pierre's hushed voice he moved out from under the console and crouched above the broken computer displays with his HK aimed in Anthony's direction. He could see Anthony frozen in place, with a hollow-ground tactical knife to his throat. Using Anthony's own body for cover, the attacker had carefully placed Anthony between himself and the muzzle of Vigo's HK. It was a standoff.
Anthony stood there feeling like a hopeless idiot but knew that if the man wanted to kill him that he would have done so already. “I won't do anything stupid,” Anthony said tensely. “What do you want?"
“Tell your friends to pull back and I'll let you live,” John-Pierre said in a low menacing tone.
Vigo could see that whoever the man with a knife to Anthony's throat was, was holding all the cards now. Instead of acting, he was talking. Perha
ps there was room to maneuver, but not by simply throwing in the towel. “Whoever you are, you're not going to win,” Vigo said in a commanding voice. “But, you can live."
John-Pierre immediately recognized the old familiar voice booming out at him from the dark. “Is that you Colonel Jones, old friend?"
“Durand,” Vigo blurted out. “John-Pierre Durand. What in the hell are you doing here?"
“I could ask the same of you."
John-Pierre had freelanced for Vigo on several covert ops and he knew full well what Vigo could do. From experience, Vigo had come to respect John-Pierre as a dedicated pro whose only interest was his reputation for success, regardless of who hired him. A natural with a knife, he was the deadliest man with a knife he'd ever known. He could kill Anthony in the flick of an eye and perhaps live long enough to kill again. “You know me, John-Pierre. You know I cannot just let you kill him and walk away."
“I do not care about your friend, but I would have to kill you, Colonel."
“So what if I dispense with the formalities and just shoot at the both of you. He's the one wearing a bulletproof vest so odds are he'll be the one to survive. The jig is up, John-Pierre. Let him go and get out of our way and I'll let you walk out of here a free man."
“That would be very foolish of you Colonel. You know I keep a scalpel sharp edge on my knives and this one is so very close to your friend's carotid artery that all it will take is a simple twitch to end his life."
“I'll give you that, but why not just walk out of here a free man? You know I'm good for my word; besides, this is not a sanctioned op. Who is to tell me differently?"
John-Pierre slipped out a menacing laugh. “You, Mr. Apple Pie America, are running an unsanctioned op. My, my, my Colonel, you've gone and become a freelancer. Most interesting. Then you'll also understand that my client is going to pay me a very handsome bonus to stop your little charade. Enough to retire on and live like a gentleman for a change. I'm not about to throw that away so quickly."
During the exchange between Vigo and John-Pierre, Anthony had slowly inched his hand upwards towards Durand's knife hand. In one quick move, he pressed his fingertips against the top of Durand's hand.
Godschild Covenant: Return of Nibiru Page 59