Lieutenant Acor joined the two SEALs, looking briefly around the corner before pulling back. “Arrington,” Acor said, and the fourth SEAL in his fire team joined them.
Acor tapped his and Arrington’s chest, then pointed across the tunnel. Acor and Arrington would go long, stepping out past Mendelson and Lee so all four SEALs could engage the Russians at once.
While they waited for the Russian column to advance closer, Acor changed channels and spoke into his headset, but there was no answer. McNeil and the other SEALs were too deep underground.
When the control room door failed to open, the SEALs shifted to their backup plan. McNeil sent another fire team down the corridor to the corner, mirroring the fire team positioned behind them, monitoring the approaches from both directions.
Two breachers stepped forward, pulling blocks of C-4 from their backpacks. As they attached the C-4 to the entrance doors, shots were fired at both ends of the corridor. Reports streamed over Harrison’s headset from both fire teams. Russian soldiers were advancing down both corridors. McNeil sent the remaining SEALs to the corners, split evenly on each side, retaining only Harrison, Senior Chief Stone, and the two breachers.
They were caught between two opposing forces. Even worse, they couldn’t blow the doors to the control center without pulling back around one of the corners, where the Russians were advancing. The amount of C-4 it would take to blow open the heavily fortified doors would kill anyone in the immediate corridor. As Harrison and McNeil evaluated their dilemma, explosions occurred first at one corner, then the other.
SEALs tumbled through the air, blown backward by the explosions. The Russians had launched or thrown grenades. As the smoke cleared, seriously injured SEALs were pulled to safety. Others scrambled back toward the corners, trading fire with the Russians and targeting anyone who exposed themselves, attempting to launch or throw additional grenades.
A few Russians learned the hard way, dropped to the floor when they stepped out, their grenades detonating nearby. Others tried to heave them from around corners, but the grenades landed short and skidded down the floor, stopped by ceiling debris from the earlier blast, detonating harmlessly between the two forces. The SEALs had halted the Russians, creating a temporary stalemate, but they were trapped and would eventually run out of ammunition.
They needed another way out. McNeil tried the Zaslon radio, but there was nothing but static. They were too far underground. Harrison examined the four elevators opposite the control center doors. Based on the floor indications, all four were at the main lobby level of the building. He was loath to use one, but also didn’t want one to open behind them, full of Russian soldiers. He pressed the Up button, hoping to pull each elevator down to their level and lock it in place, but none moved. The red L glowed from the indicator panels. The Russians had beat them to it, locking the elevators above them.
Another idea occurred to Harrison. The security center, which controlled the codes to the security locks, was on the third floor underground. If Harrison could gain access to an elevator shaft, he could climb up to the third floor and attempt to enter the security center, forcing personnel to open the National Defense Control Center doors from there. He explained the plan to McNeil, who directed him and Senior Chief Stone to proceed.
Harrison requested C-4 and associated detonating equipment from a breacher, which he placed in his backpack, except for the detonator cord snips, which he jammed into the elevator door seam. Stone did the same and the two men pried the doors open. They peered into the dark shaft. On the right side was a metal maintenance ladder attached to the wall that ascended into darkness, but there was no easy way to get to it. Harrison took his backpack off, then went in first. He worked his way around the entrance, his back to the elevator doors, his heels on a small ledge. When he could advance no farther, he leapt for the ladder.
His hands slipped down two rungs before grabbing hold. Stone tossed him his backpack, then Harrison climbed a few feet, making way for Stone, who accomplished the same feat. The two men began their climb, which Harrison figured was about a thousand feet. The light faded and both SEALs lowered their night vision goggles into place. They passed no exits for a while, then reached a set of doors with the number 5 painted on them. They continued up two more levels, stopping when they reached the third level underground. Exiting the elevator shaft would be more difficult than entering, however.
They couldn’t jump from the ladder onto the door ledge. Instead, Harrison grabbed the nearest elevator cable and swung to one closer to the door. From there, he gained a foothold on the narrow door ledge, then pushed himself to an upright position against the door. He worked his way to the other side as Stone followed, and the two men were soon standing with the door seam between them.
They repeated the process with the detonator snips, but more carefully this time. They didn’t have much leverage and if they fell backward, it’d be a long drop to their deaths. They gained a finger hold, then slowly pried the doors apart, flooding the elevator shaft with light. After lifting up their night vision goggles and retrieving their MP7s, they peered past the doorway into the corridor. It was empty.
After stepping into the hallway, Harrison checked the schematics again, then led the way to the security center. When they reached the last intersection, they halted and Harrison peered around the corner. Down the hallway was the door to the security center. A badge panel was affixed to the wall and a camera was mounted above the door. Harrison took aim at the camera and fired his MP7, destroying the camera with a single round. With so many cameras in the facility, hopefully it would take a while for someone to realize this one wasn’t working and even longer to investigate.
Harrison moved swiftly toward the door and swiped his security card. The light remained red. He tried again and it still glowed red.
Senior Chief Stone tried his card, to no avail. It looked like their security cards were now worthless.
Harrison examined the door, evaluating where to place the C-4. The door was heavily reinforced and he had no idea if the amount of C-4 he’d brought with him would do the job. As he evaluated his options, an alternative came to mind.
He pulled out the building schematic again and examined the ventilation system. There was a duct running overhead down the corridor, with a branch entering the security room.
Senior Chief Stone said, “We can’t fit. The duct’s too small.”
“We can’t,” Harrison said, “but Christine might.”
They were on the same floor as Christine. Harrison examined the schematic again, recalling the Zaslon operator saying she’d be in either the cell block, the standard interrogation rooms, or chemical interrogation room. He decided to check the cell block first.
They moved swiftly down the hallway, entering the prisoner cell section. There were small windows in each door, and Harrison peered through each one as they passed by. They were empty. They swept by the normal interrogation rooms, which were also empty. That left one place. The SEALs approached the door and peered through the window. The faint light entering the room from the hallway illuminated a woman in bed.
Both SEALs entered the room and Harrison turned on the light, revealing Christine strapped to a bed, with the contents of an IV bag dripping into her arm. Her eyes fluttered open and she turned away from the harsh overhead lights while her eyes adjusted. Both SEALs stopped beside her bed, and Stone unstrapped her ankles as Harrison examined the IV bag. There was no telling what was inside. He removed the needle from her arm and she turned toward him. Her eyes met his and several emotions played across her face as he unfastened her wrist straps.