“They’re alive!”
“Who’s alive?”
“Coulson and a few survivors from the Barracuda,” the young man clarified.
“But that’s just not possible…” Preston let his words hang in the air. Of course, no one else knew about the Tomahawk and its nuclear warhead.
Nobody could survive that.
“Has it been verified?” Preston enquired, hoping it was all a mistake.
“Yes, sir. It’s an authenticated message from the Barracuda’s captain. Only he has that authentication code.”
“And there’s been no… other report from down there?”
“No sir. Should there have been?”
“That’ll be all.” Preston waved his hand absently dismissing the man.
Chapter 73
Jack had left the science brigade and the two Barracuda officers alongside the generators with Sam. It was the warmest place for them to hunker down until help arrived. They had blankets and Sam was cocooned in a bundle of old German pea coats to keep him warm. He’d lost a lot of blood but seemed to be stable, for the moment.
Jack closed his eyes and rubbed his fingers over his stubble. He couldn’t remember when he’d last shaved. Or slept. Or eaten. The concrete of the bunker was cold and hard against his back, but he was too fatigued to move, opting instead to enjoy a moments peace and look down at the nearby U-Boat getting lower in the water my the minute.
His body ached all over and the head-butt he’d given Muller had come up in a nasty lump on his scalp. Maybe that accounted for the cracking headache he was trying to deal with.
As a soldier, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been in the field without a weapon. Muller had stripped him of his LWRC and his handguns. All he had was the vintage mini Fairbairn-Sykes commando dagger he’d been given as a gift by a British agent he’d once saved from beheading by extremists in Syria. The man was an ex SAS commando and an avid collector old militaria. The dagger might be old, but the 2 inch blade had been honed to a fine edge by Jack during the long flight from Pine Gap.
His hand felt for the slim and unobtrusive handle tucked inside a concealed belt sheath and he felt strangely comforted. There was no reason to not feel comfortable, the enemy had been dealt a savage blow by, ironically, their own torpedo.
Schlick. Schlick.
Fuck, not again.
That was Jack’s only thought as he turned to look over his shoulder. He half expected to see Leah with her gun bearing down on him. Again. Maybe she’d had a change of heart and didn’t get aboard the Barracuda.
He was even more surprised when he saw it was Muller. The man was like The Terminator. Indestructible.
Well, almost. Half an ear had been torn away and a flap of scalp hung over the wound like a grotesque comb over. There wasn’t time to figure out how he’d escaped the crippled sub.
Jack’s hand went intuitively to his empty holster.
“No point reaching for your weapon, Jack.” Muller sounded cocky.
Muller was soaking wet. Jack assumed he’d survived the sub implosion somehow and slithered out of the water onto the dock behind Jack.
Coulson kicked himself in the butt for letting his guard down. He should have known better.
“Lights out Jack.” Muller smiled a cruel smile that never touched his cold, hateful eyes.
Click.
That’s when Jack remembered what was clawing at his subconscious when he first saw they were using H&K MP7 machine pistols. They weren’t used in polar climates for a reason — they froze up if they got too cold. Or too wet. Muller’s weapon had now been exposed to both conditions.
If Muller had done his homework and read the LWRC brochure, he would have known that their nickel-boron coated bolts resisted corrosion and had permanent lubricity. They fired without fail even under the most extreme conditions.
“Should have bought American made, you Nazi son-of-a-bitch.”
With blinding speed and the advantage of Muller being caught unprepared, Jack whipped out the tiny commando blade from his belt and jammed it with all his strength into Muller’s inner thigh.
Muller stood, unmoved and began to smile at Jack’s wasted opportunity.
“That’ll leave a scar,” Muller sniggered. “Ouch,” he mocked.
Now it was Jack’s turn to smile.
He pulled the knife out of the wound in a slicing motion, severing Muller’s femoral artery.
Muller collapsed and bled out in less than a minute, staring at Jack in utter disbelief until his eyes closed for the last time.
Jack wiped the knife clean on Muller’s soaking wet tunic and placed it back in the sheath before limping his way back to the rest of the survivors.
Chapter 74
A rich smell of old leather and polished mahogany filled the dimly lit room giving it a somber atmosphere.
J. Clifford Barnes stood at one end of the room while the other occupants sat around the long table, comfortable in their aged-leather chairs. His eyes were averted respectfully. Or perhaps fearfully.
“You have failed us.” The tone of the heavily accented voice at the head of the table suggested it was a statement of fact and not a matter for debate.
Barnes remained silent.
“I want every effort made, regardless of cost, to recover the Xerum 525 canister from the wreck. Die Glocke we can rebuild, but the Xerum is irreplaceable. I will not tolerate another failure.”
The general’s hand rested threateningly on the Vis 35 pistol holstered on his belt, the only weapon he’d brought back with him.
“Yes, Herr General.”
“We are about to continue the war on a new front. In the meantime, you have your orders.”
Barnes knew he was being dismissed and spun on his heel to exit the gloomy room as quickly as he was able.
“Barnes!” The general snapped, bringing Barnes’ speedy exit to a halt.
“Yes, Herr General?” he asked meekly, not wanting to incur the wrath of the old man at the head of the table.
“Heil Hitler.” The man’s arm extended in a crisp salute the rest of the world had not seen in a very long time.
Chapter 75
The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is an astonishing feat of engineering by present day standards, but more so considering that it was built during the height of the Cold War in the 1960’s.
More than a mile inside a solid granite mountain, protected from the effects of a direct nuclear strike and EMP pulses by a series of 23 ton blast doors, the U.S. military’s ‘doomsday’ nuclear bunker is a hollowed out granite mountain housing multi-story buildings mounted on earthquake resistant springs, lakes filled with fresh drinking water and diesel fuel and all the systems needed to independently command America’s defense networks.
The entrance to the complex has gained Hollywood star status through Terminator, Stargate, Independence Day and a host of other movies and TV series. And it was that fame, above all, that captured Juan’s imagination as the matt black armored personnel carrier rounded the final bend in the high altitude crawl up the winding mountain road.