“Come on, show yourself,” said Cardinal to himself as he watched the ground behind the farm. Unlike his opponents, Cardinal was used to waiting. They would show themselves… they always did and when they did, he intended to make them pay for what had happened to the helpless local police.
49
Mitchell ducked behind the generator Sam was using for cover just as a burst of automatic gunfire struck the machine. Sparks flew as the rounds easily punctured the outer shell of the generator. A second later, it coughed and spluttered loudly before shutting down. More lights in the middle of the cavern switched off, plunging the area into darkness.
“What took you so long?” Sam asked Mitchell.
“I had to take care of some goons first.”
Sliding to a halt, Atsuko joined Mitchell and Sam.
“What the hell are you doing here?” said Mitchell angrily to Atsuko.
“Do you know how to disarm the bomb, Mister Mitchell?” replied Atsuko.
“No.”
“Well, I do. I helped with some of the upgrades to the device while I was in Mongolia.”
“Do we still have time?” asked Sam
Atsuko nodded. “If we hurry I think we can stop it.”
“Can you get us to the bomb without being seen?” Mitchell asked Sam.
“Not a problem. There’s a narrow tunnel back around the rocky area the North Koreans are fighting from. It comes out a few meters shy of the derrick.”
“Okay then, lead on,” said Mitchell.
Turning on her heels, Sam pointed into the dark.
“As for you, Miss Satomi,” said Mitchell, “stay behind me and no heroics. Understand?”
Atsuko nodded.
With Sam in the lead, they made their way as best they could through the narrow and winding tunnel; all the while aware that time was slipping away.
A couple of minutes passed before they finally emerged from the passageway. Just as Sam had described, the rig was barely ten meters away. From where he was, Mitchell could see Cypher still furiously typing away on his laptop, seemingly oblivious to the gun battle still raging around him. Finally, finishing what he was doing, Cypher removed the memory stick, placed it in a pocket, and closed his laptop. Mitchell had to give it to him — Cypher was one cool customer.
“Now what?” asked Sam quietly, over her shoulder.
“We need that memory stick,” replied Atsuko.
Mitchell brought his carbine up to his shoulder and took aim at Cypher’s head. He was about to take up the slack on the trigger when Atsuko inexplicably stood up and deliberately walked in front of Mitchell, blocking his shot.
“Gabriel, are you going to leave without me?” said Atsuko as she stepped out of the shadows and slowly walked toward Cypher.
“Damn it,” snapped Mitchell, lowering his weapon.
“What are we going to do?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know. Whatever she’s up to, I hope she does it fast. We’re running out of time.”
Cypher smiled as Atsuko emerged from the dark. “Ah, my dear, Atsuko, I somehow knew you would be here at the end.”
Sensing something amiss, Tara drew a pistol from behind her back and moved over beside Cypher. Behind her, two of Cypher’s men took up positions to cover them both. Tara’s instincts told her that Atsuko couldn’t possibly be alone. There had to be others hiding somewhere in the shadows. Quickly glancing down at her watch, she realized that their helicopter should be landing behind Farragut’s farm in the next couple of minutes.
It was time to go.
She saw that a stalemate had fallen over the cavern. What was left of the Koreans were pinned behind their rocks, while Cypher’s surviving men still held the stairs and the only way out.
Atsuko stopped a meter shy of Cypher and looked into his cold blue eyes, trying to see if there was even a hint of emotion hidden behind them for her. With a weak smile on her face, she said, “Gabriel, after all we’ve been through, aren’t you the slightest bit happy to see me still alive?”
“To be honest, I am. I deeply regretted ordering your death.”
Atsuko held out her right hand and walked closer.
Tara placed her hand on Cypher’s shoulder. “Sir, forget her. We have to leave.”
For a moment, Cypher didn’t know how he felt about Atsuko. Slowly, he reached out for her hand.
Like a trap being sprung, Atsuko grabbed hold of Cypher’s hand as she snapped the handcuff closed on his wrist.
Horror filled Cypher’s face as he looked down at the cuffs on both of their wrists, binding them together.
“Together forever, my love,” said Atsuko, looking up into Cypher’s face.
“Get her off me,” shrieked Cypher.
Tara moved over beside Cypher and dug into her pocket for a spare key. She never found it.
With a loud snap that echoed through the dark, Mitchell brought her down with a shot to the head. “Good riddance,” he said to himself.
Throwing herself at Cypher, Atsuko knocked him off his feet; together they tumbled to the ground just as Cypher’s men opened fire.
Bullets snapped through the air just above Mitchell’s head. He took aim and dropped one of the guards. The other man had had enough. He tossed his rifle aside and ran for the stairs, only to be cut down by one of Hwan’s men.
Dashing out from their hiding spot, Mitchell and Sam raced over to Atsuko. They moved behind a trolley filled with rocks. Sam took cover to guard Mitchell and Atsuko while they dealt with Cypher.
Atsuko reached inside Cypher’s jacket and retrieved the memory stick. With a smile on her face, she stood up, pulling Cypher with her. Moving over by the closed laptop, she placed the memory stick in the computer, opened it, and then waited for the computer to ask for the password.
The fight spluttered out. Only the odd single shot rang out as both sides, unsure of what to do next, waited.
“You cannot stop what is about to happen. There isn’t enough time left,” said Cypher to Atsuko.
“I can try,” said Atsuko as she typed in her password. The computer rejected it. She tried again, but the computer wouldn’t let her in. He had changed his password after she had escaped from Matua Island.
Mitchell jammed the barrel of his carbine into Cypher’s skull. “The password… give it to her.”
With a look of pure hate in his eyes, Cypher glared over at Mitchell.
“Do it!” snapped Mitchell.
“Dragon’s breath, all one word,” mumbled Cypher.
Hurriedly typing the password in, a second later, a countdown clock filled the screen. They had less than three minutes until the bomb went off.
Mitchell knew that even if they made a run for it they wouldn’t make it far enough away from the blast site. Atsuko had to stop the detonation. All their lives were in her hands.
“Can you stop it?” asked Mitchell.
“No, it’s too late for that. All I can do is try and lessen its destructive power by focusing its energy below us. I’d get out of here if I were you,” replied Atsuko as she typed away on the laptop, trying to reprogram the tectonic device two hundred meters below their feet.
Mitchell looked over to where the North Koreans were taking cover. “Colonel, are you still with us?” called out Mitchell.
“I am,” replied Hwan.
“Good. Make your way over by the derrick and be fast about it. We don’t have much time left.”
Less than a minute later, Hwan, his head bandaged in a bloodstained shirt, stood in front of Mitchell. When he saw Cypher standing beside Atsuko with a dejected look on his face, Hwan grinned. “What do you want?”
“In about ninety seconds the bomb is going to go off. There’s no way to stop it. If you and your men don’t get to the surface by then, you’re going to die down here.”