“Copy. Let me know if they move.”
“You got it,” replied Mendenhall.
“Let them through, then blend into the night and wait for Captain Mendenhall to make a call on those cars. Positions three and four close on the main gate.” Ryan was quickly answered by just three clicks from each man watching the buildings. “Sarah, you and Anya get out of sight for now until we see what these folks are up to. Dr. Pollock, are you there?”
“Pollock,” came Virginia’s quick response.
“Inform the director we have company, supposedly at Madam Mendelsohn’s request.”
“Copy.”
Sarah didn’t question Ryan as she and Anya vanished into the fog next to the USS Los Angeles, which now sat dark and silent under the camouflage netting.
“They’re moving to your pos, over.”
Ryan made sure his own pistol was charged. He stepped forward to greet their visitors and raised the radio once more. “Dr. Pollock, I’m sending Sergeant Hernandez in. He’s to stick with the director, who is to remain secured inside the observation room.”
“Copy. Also, Professor Mendelsohn was not expecting company. She says she’s in the dark.”
“Roger,” Jason said as he finally saw the long limousine appear through the rolling fog. Its approach was slow as it made its way to the front of the building. Ryan stepped forward and held his hand in the air. As he did he got what the colonel called a jolt to his hackles as he felt the trouble before it actually appeared. He watched as the driver emerged from the front seat and stepped easily to the rear and opened the door. A man eased himself from the car and adjusted his ankle-length coat and then he saw Ryan. He smiled, his teeth even and white. His beard was immaculately trimmed and the navy man immediately took the guy for an asshole.
“Thank you for allowing us to visit,” the man said with a slight taste of Russian accent, which brought Ryan to full attention.
“This building and area are closed for the time being. Stems from the trouble this afternoon.” Ryan watched the man closely. “Perhaps you heard?”
The man stood his ground and then his smile grew as he looked to his left at the former dry dock area and saw the camouflage netting covering the long shape of the Los Angeles. He turned back to face Jason.
“I must admit that whoever you are, you have access to the most amazing resources.”
Jason remained as still as he could while his eyes slowly took in the man and his driver, who still hadn’t moved from the open rear door.
“It is cold and damp out here, so I will state my business.” He gestured to the driver, who leaned in and said something to the people inside the darkened interior and then stepped back. “Inside the car are some particular friends of Madam Moira Mendelsohn. Very close, you might say.”
“I don’t know a Madam Mendelson and as I said before this section of the navy yard is closed. No one goes inside.”
The man looked Ryan over and smirked at the garish tattoo. He stepped aside as he was joined by an older couple and what looked like a young family of three, including a baby. The family looked frightened.
“I insist.”
Jason Ryan didn’t move or gesture in any way as the three laser beams struck the man and remained unmoving upon his black coat right over where his heart would be. For emphasis a red beam of light struck the bearded man on the forehead. The laser beams were clearly marked as they cut a swath through the fog. Ryan just raised his brows as he waited for the Russian to continue on his insistence to enter.
“Very well,” the man said as he took a step back. Ryan didn’t like the fact that the Russian did this without fear of being shot. He pulled the young mother forward and then raised the blanket covering the sleeping baby. Jason tried not to react when he saw the plastique and electrical wiring. His eyes went to the well-dressed man, who released the blanket and allowed it to once more cover the explosive-covered baby.
“Barbaric perhaps, but it is an attention-getter, is it not?” The man saw something in Jason’s eyes he didn’t like. “I assure you there is enough of a charge attached to that child to not only kill us all, but to flatten enough of that building to bring in the authorities. Neither of us can well afford that, can we? Wellsian Doorways are a little hard to come by.”
Ryan knew the man had the advantage and no matter what firepower he brought to bear this man held all of the cards at the moment. He couldn’t risk damage to or the discovery of the doorway, or they would lose everyone. Ryan gestured toward the building. He raised the radio and informed Virginia about the situation and she also knew they had very little choice.
As the frightened family and the three Russians moved toward the building and the doorway beyond, the six Explorers entered the navy yard and also made their way toward building 117. The remaining Event Group security posts could do nothing about it.
As the sun rose, Jack felt more in control. The jungle surrounding them was lush and green now that the hard rains had washed the greenery clean. With the ashfall turning to a fine dust, Collins could see the jungle had a youngness to it, a beauty none had ever seen. The flowers were large and colorful. The insect life was active with mosquitoes the size of large houseflies. They had started making their way toward the inland sea and hoped to exit the greenery before too long. The electric drive on the tractor made little noise as the group finally broke into the clear and they saw the diluted, shrouded sun for the first time. The angry ash clouds to the south were far more visible now. Even as they examined the dark sky they felt the movement of the earth beneath their feet.
“Here’s something for the books,” Jenks said as he had pulled the atmospheric analyzer from the trailer nearest him. He shook his head at the readings. “We just went from a balmy and humid ninety-two degrees to a low of sixty-seven in less than three minutes.” He looked up from the analyzer. “Air current shift from the northeast. Cold air front.” He again looked at the readout. “We’re back up to ninety-two degrees.”
“What do you think?” Jack asked Jenks.
“Hell, your guess is as good as mine, Colonel.”
“The great freeze has begun,” Charlie said as if speaking to himself. He then looked around and saw the team looking his way and he realized he had spoken aloud.
“Go ahead and keep it to yourself, Doc,” the master chief quipped.
“Sorry, but it seems the activity of the four or five volcanoes are interacting with the freeze that’s occurring in the northeast. Sarah’s geology department in conjunction with atmospherics say that we have just entered the opening rounds of the climate change that leads to Antarctica being buried in ice. Perhaps the volcanic activity is retarding the process.” He looked at the confused master chief. “Slowed it down. At least for now. But in the end it is the activity of so many volcanoes that they are the ultimate culprit in sending this continent to the same frozen hell as the rest of the world.”
“There’s a small rise right over there.” Jack loosened the high collar of his camouflage BDUs. “It has a clear field of fire for about two hundred yards. I say we start this show right there. I don’t relish traveling too far away from the beacon but also don’t want to have a sea at my back in case we have to get the hell out of there fast.”
“The sooner the better,” Henri said as he looked around him. The sudden stillness rankled his calm. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we have eyes on us,” he said as he pretended to adjust something in the first trailer.