But what in the hell did he intend to do with it?
“Your silence tells me you know what that is.” Muller seemed to read Jack’s mind. “We’re carrying HE rounds, in case you’re wondering.”
“It’s a one shot breech loader. Even with High Explosive rounds, you can’t take us both out with that,” Jack retorted. You might blow one of us into a shower of body parts, but before your man reloads, whichever of us survives will take him out.”
“Of that, I have no doubt. But neither of you two are the target.”
The man swiveled and turned his grenade launcher to the Barracuda.
“You’re not going to make much of a dent with that,” Jack sneered.
“One HE grenade in the main ballast tank and it will take in enough water to begin submerging the sub. Even if they blow the other tanks, just one filled with seawater will take her down. Whoever is still on board will die in a steel coffin. Eventually.”
“Sam?” Jack thought Muller was bluffing.
Sam emerged from behind the sail with his hands raised. “He might be right. I’m not going to chance it.”
Jack managed to slither his way out from under his human shield and stood with hands raised.
Muller led his men down on to the deck of the U-Boat and across the dock to where Jack stood. Two of them broke formation to keep weapons on Sam.
Karl Muller towered over Jack and he got right in his face to intimidate him. Jack showed not the slightest concern at the man’s size or the raw power he seemed to exude. He was one tough unit, that was for sure.
But Jack had come up against his kind before. He suspected this time would be no different, in the end.
Looking around at his fallen team, Muller stuck his finger in Jack’s face, “You? You did all this?”
Jack shrugged. “It was fun while it lasted.”
He never saw the punch coming. That was a first for Jack. He always saw it coming. His combat ready eyes would pick up anything from a slight shift in balance or the lowering of one shoulder ready to pop an uppercut. But this time, he was completely blindsided by the gigantic man who moved with unparalleled speed.
Everything went dark and Jack hit the ground before he knew what, or who, hit him.
Chapter 44
Snakes of flexible linear demolition charge entwined with ‘det-cord’ formed a silhouette charge on the oversized bulkhead hatch designed to blow the welded seam of the door without damaging the contents of the compartment.
Muller handled the demolition charges himself, not trusting the work to anyone else, given the stakes. He considered himself something of an expert when it came to breach charges using C4 and detonation cord. He hoped he had the combination right this time, not wanting to risk damage to the contents of the chamber.
Blasting caps and time fuses were pushed into both ends of the linear charge, ready to be initiated. Muller would have just enough time to take cover behind one of the many flood compartment hatches before the door blew.
Once the main hatch was blown, his men would be able to unload The Bell through the angled torpedo loading hatch in the deck. After all, that’s how they got it in there in the first place, over 70 years ago.
When it finally saw the light of day, he could contact Barnes and have him organize the next phase of the operation. From what he’d been told, the device wouldn’t leave this facility. Generators, habitat pods and laboratory equipment would be shipped to the base. Once recommissioned as the original engineers intended during the final days of the war, quantum physicists and an assortment of other scientists would descend on the base and begin working on The Bell, fine tuning its operation to produce more stable and accurate results than had been achieved with the limited technology available during the war years and their limited understanding of quantum mechanics at the time.
They were so close.
It was time to blast the hatch. What had possessed someone to weld it closed in the first place? It didn’t matter now. Soon nothing would matter but a victorious Third Reich at the end of the war. The British, Americans and Russians would be crushed by the superiority of the German forces once The Bell was operational.
“Heil Hitler,” he said proudly as he initiated the time fuses and dashed to the nearest bulkhead for shelter from the blast.
Chapter 45
The sound of voices slowly penetrated through the fog swirling in Jack’s head. That had to mean he was still alive. As he opened his eyes, he became aware of his surroundings. For reasons he couldn’t fathom, he was lying on a dining table in the crew’s mess. He tried to move but couldn’t. Sharp plastic cuffs cut into his flesh when he tried to sit up. They’d cuffed him. Good and tight, too. He could feel his flesh swelling in his hands and feet. They were taking no chances. Who could blame them. He’d do the same in their position.
As his eyes adjusted to the harsh light, he could see Captain Jameson, the XO, Durand, the two nerdy scientists and the very pleasant face of Leah, the Oceanographer all sitting at an adjacent table. None of them were cuffed, he noticed.
“Where’s Sam?” he rasped, his throat so dry it hurt to swallow.
Captain Jameson answered him, “They’ve taken him to the U-Boat. Apparently, thanks to you, Muller’s found himself somewhat shorthanded when it comes to men to do the heavy lifting.”
The effects of the knockout punch began to fade and Jack noticed there were two guards in the room with them, guns trained on him. Like the professionals they were, they had positioned themselves at 12 o’clock and 7 o’clock so they wouldn’t shoot each other in the crossfire should they need to open fire on the prisoners.
Yet again, Jack had to give kudos to the skill of these men and the thorough training they’d obviously received. They were as good as any he’d encountered, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have weaknesses. The turkey shoot out in the bunker proved that quite convincingly when Jack took down most of Muller’s men.
A soft hand brushed a few strands of hair from his forehead. Leah’s face hovered over him.
“You must have really pissed their boss off,” she observed, indicating the two sentries.
“Yeah, he’s built like a tank. And damn fast for his size, too.” Jack winced. It hurt to talk.
She brought a tumbler of water from the other table to where Jack lay.
Click.
One of their guards thumbed his safety off and brought his sight to bear on Leah.
She held up the glass. “It’s just water.”
The man nodded but his unwavering gaze followed Leah’s every movement.
“Were you able to make contact with anyone while you were out there?”
“We didn’t make it very far. Besides, we need to get to the ice with a radio or sat phone before we can raise an alert,” Jack explained.
Leah looked wide eyed and alarmed. “So nobody knows we’re here? Nobody is coming to help?” Her hand trembled, puddling water all over Jack’s chest.
“Jameson says PACOM will raise an alarm soon. That’s the best we can hope for, I’m afraid.”
“I hope they do. I’m not sure these guys have a game plan that includes keeping prisoners,” Leah ventured to say aloud what she’d heard Jameson and Durand whispering to each other while Jack was unconscious. “Besides, even if the navy raised the alarm, they have no idea where we are. It was only my experimental sonar tech that found this base and the access tunnel in the first place. I doubt they’ll ever find us.”