“And the landing gear, gents?” Lucky continued.
“Speaking of the landing bogeys,” said Jake, scanning the flashing lights of his console, “I hate to be the bearer of additional bad news, but I’m afraid that the two body gears have been ripped off their hinges.”
Coach turned his head and addressed Jake directly.
“We certainly don’t need any additional bad news, Lasky, and I hope that’s the end of it.”
“Actually, sir, it’s not,” said Jake with an uneasy grimace.
“We’ve also lost our primary and secondary braking systems. But at least we’re still in the air.”
“I’m very grateful for that fact. Lieutenant,” replied Coach before briefly scanning the faces of the flight deck’s other occupants.
“And now I have only a single question for each one of you. Where in the world can we possibly land this big lady with half of our landing gear ripped off, a minimum of hydraulic power, severely damaged flying controls, no primary or secondary braking systems, and a crazed group of maniacs in the back who want nothing less than to kill us and overthrow our elected government?”
Chapter 57
“Tire in the hole!”
Thomas wasted little time reacting to Sergeant Reed’s warning, and he alertly ducked down behind a shoulder-high, elongated limestone shelf, alongside Ted Callahan, Ranger Glickman, and Captain Christian.
There was a deafening, gut-wrenching blast as the last of the bangalores detonated. Even though they were a good three hundred yards from the blast itself, debris still peppered off the pockmarked face of the ledge they hid behind.
“All clear!” yelled Reed, this being all Thomas and the others had to hear to leave their shelter and head toward the blast site.
As expected, the bangalore had cleared the last of the obstacles leading to the cave — a hastily em placed double-coiled strand of extremely sharp concertina wire, which had been booby trapped with claymores. Sergeant Reed had already picked his way through the breach, and they joined him in front of a section of locked, chain-link fence.
“And that’s where our trail of footprints is headed,” he told them, pointing to the fence’s far side.
The oval-shaped entrance of the cave could be seen from here. A protective barrier of iron bars extended from the irregular limestone ceiling to the rock floor. Several feet beyond this barrier, blocking the entrance itself, was a sealed doorway constructed of tempered steel.
“We can cut through this fence with wire cutters and use plastic explosives to penetrate the bars,” said Reed, who scanned the remaining barrier with his flashlight.
“That inner vault, though, could be the showstopper. Our best bet appears to be to hit those side hinges with our remaining hundred pounds of C-4.”
“You know, there’s a secondary entrance to this cave system,” remarked Jody Glickman.
“It’s on the other side of the hill, and we use it to count the cavern’s population of endangered Indiana bats.”
“Then you’ve actually seen the abandoned underground command post?” asked Thomas.
Glickman answered while shaking her head no.
“The cave system beneath Tater is immense, and my explorations have been limited to the cavern where the main bat population is located.
But I’m almost sure we’ll be able to access the portion of the cave where the government facility was supposedly situated.”
“Ranger, me and my MPs would be willing to join you there to learn this fact for certain,” offered Jay Christian.
“And you can count me in,” Thomas added.
“I’ll stay here with Sergeant Reed and his Sappers,” said Callahan, who looked at his watch and added an urgent “Let’s do it!”
Chapter 58
“Hell’s fucking bells. Chief. Do you mean to say there’s still no answer to our page?”
There was fear in the communications specialist’s eyes as he met the intense gaze of Dick Mariano and curtly replied, “That’s affirmative, sir.”
“That sniveling, ass-licking beaurocrat!” exclaimed Mariano, who allowed himself one last look at the Op Center’s digital clock before venting his anger on the five BDUclad, green-faced commandos standing beside him.
“It’s another goat fuck, com padres A goddamn, motherfucking goat fuck! You’d think we’d know better than to trust another pencil-dicked politician. But no, we allowed ourselves to be stroked by Admiral Spit and Polish Warner, and swallowed the line of the kingpin bureaucrat of them all — that smooth-talking, sniveling idiot Pierce!”
“Maybe there’s been some unexpected delay in getting Yankee Hotel implemented. Skipper, and that’s why the warheads have yet to fall,” offered Doc, who had a much better understanding of nature than of the complicated world of man.
“No, Doc,” said Mariano.
“I bet Yankee Hotel was nothing but a scam, most probably to light a fire under our asses to track down the VP for them, and now we’re the fucking shills.”
“I say let’s complete the job we’ve been sent here to do, and kill Chapman,” suggested Richy.
“We can still access the river, and those faggot Sappers will never know where the hell we disappeared to.”
Mariano looked at Richy, and nodded supportively. ““Compadre, I believe we’ll do just that. Since it’s obvious we’ve been cut out of the loop, it’s time to cut our losses and run while we still have our dicks.”
A reverberating explosion sounded in the near distance. Doc looked out into the cavern’s dark recesses and queried hopefully, “Could that be Yankee Hotel?”
Mariano’s two-way activated, and the frantic voice of their sentry broke from the speaker.
“It’s the Sappers, Skipper! They’ve breached the outer perimeter, and it looks like they’re coming in!”
“Damn those pesky gee ks cursed Mariano.
“Doc, take your boys and see what you can do about denying them further access.
And, you come with me. It’s time to pay our prisoners a visit, and then get the hell outta this stinking hole.”
Chapter 59
Trent Warner had been in the forward entry area, at the base of the stairway leading to the flight deck, when Nightwatch unexpectedly fell from the sky and began its harrowing, out-of-control spiral dive into oblivion. He found himself violently flung forward, and a tenuous hold on a secured food-service cart kept him from being thrown to the deck like the others in his party.
During the terrifying free fall that followed, his entire life seemed to pass before his horrified eyes: those exciting days of his early Navy career, his first submarine ride while only a midshipman, his initial meeting with the legendary Hyman Rickover.
Then to have sacrificed the best years of his life helping to win the Cold War, only to die with his lifework so close to fruition, was the ultimate tragedy.
Yet, as if he were a condemned man with a last-minute pardon, destiny had another fate in store for him, which came to pass when Nightwatch miraculously pulled out of its dive and achieved level flight. Warner ignored the spilled food that stained his flight suit; and, ever thankful to still be alive, he made his way back to Operations to assess the damages.
He found it in shambles. Overturned equipment and fallen personnel lay scattered everywhere, with the compartment itself lit eerily in the dim red emergency lighting.