They entered the ship silently.
Each man had a job. Although they were marines, they had spent enough life aboard ship to know what was expected. Two men were in the engine room, feeding coal to the furnace. The other six manned three of the cannons. Harriet took the quarterdeck.
It would take about thirty minutes to fire up the engine, stoking its flames until there was enough power to start the gold's quantum field. This was the most dangerous part of the plan because it meant that there would have to be light aboard the ship, and the light would necessarily draw attention. Even once the engine was primed, they couldn't move until they got the signal from Morris that they had taken the battery. If they were to depart before then, they would almost certainly be blown out of the sky. Maybe not initially, since the Spanish would be reluctant to fire on their own vessel without good reason, but once the attack was in full swing, all bets were off.
"Load the cannons," ordered Harriet
Morris and his men were about fifty yards from the battery.
The battery they were targeting was nestled in a small ridge overlooking the city. The only way to access it was by a path that wound its way up the side of the mountain. There was nothing to shield them from the view of the road; the mountainside had no vegetation and no rocks to speak of. They had to move single file up the mountain, keeping to the shadows along the side of the rock face. There was little danger of seeing any traffic on the road, but if there was a sentry paying close attention at the battery, they could have been spotted.
But they hadn't been spotted, which suggested that there wasn't a sentry paying close attention. Morris eyed the battery through his glass. It looked as though there was one army regular outside. Presumably, there were three or four inside. Probably, three. It was a small battery, and given that really only two soldiers were needed to fire it, he doubted it would be more than that.
Morris trembled with excitement. This was going to be his first engagement. He hadn't dwelled on this fact in his meeting with the captain, mainly because he didn't think it mattered. He had no doubt that he and his men were more than up to the task. He came from a long line of army men. Both his father and grandfather were generals, and he knew that he would one day be a general too. He had decided to go into the marines because he thought the chances of actual combat would be much greater. It was hard listening to the stories of his father and grandfather at the family reunions at the family summer home in Maine, particularly when he had none of his own. It would be a rite of passage. He could just see the story in the Naval Gazette: Lieutenant Morris takes Battery on Daria in Daring Rescue. His father would be proud. His friends from Princeton would read about it over their coffee in their New York offices. His family's servants would finally stop treating him like a child.
"What now, sir?"
They were in striking range. The question was how to proceed. This part of the plan had not been fleshed out because they did not know the lay of the land. He did now. The sentry would spot them if they all approached at once. It would take half a minute to traverse the distance to the battery. They would have surprise on their side.
"We go straight at 'em," said Morris. "Giles, you and Sorenson will fire your flares at the battery. Do your best to aim towards the windows. We'll blind them before we move in. Once the flares are off, move in. Fire at will."
They nodded.
David and Lara lurked near a small building by the prison. They had a large package that was meant to serve as their excuse for gaining admittance. David knew that the professor worked at all hours, so it was not implausible that he would have some piece of equipment delivered to him so late in the evening. At least, that was what they were gambling on. Now that they were only minutes away from implementing the plan, it now seemed ludicrous to him that the prison guards would let them in on such a flimsy pretext.
David shivered in the night air. He and Lara were to enter the building before the operation started. Once the fireworks started, the guards might get skittish about admitting anyone. But, they couldn't leave the prison until after the fighting started. The hope was that the fighting would draw some of the guards away from their posts, potentially giving them an opening to escape.
"It's time," Lara said.
David hesitated.
"We have to move now," she said gently tugging on his shirt.
"I..."
David's response was interrupted by footsteps and loud talking in Spanish. They froze against the wall.
Harriet's men in the engine room had been working on the engine for about twenty minutes. There was a dull glow emanating from the engine room portholes. So far it had gone unnoticed. They only needed a few more minutes and they would be home free.
Where the hell was that signal from the battery? She was hoping to have seen it five minutes ago. The earlier the taking of the battery occurred, the better off she would be. The fighting up there should distract security on the ground from the larceny that she and her troops were committing.
She used her glass to look alternately at the barracks and the three guard towers at the perimeter of the naval base. If the warm glow of the furnace was going to be detected, it would be from those locations. She could not believe their luck so far. The base appeared to be asleep. She was not a superstitious woman, but she knocked on the wood railing of the quarterdeck after envisioning their escape in her mind.
That's when she noticed about twenty men with rifles running toward the sloop. They were several hundred yards away.
Shit.
"We've got company!" she shouted to the marines. They'd been waiting at the ready at the cannons.
"I want two of you on a cannon. The rest, rifle fire. Shoot at will!"
Before the rifles were aimed, a cannon shot was fired right at the center of the oncoming troops. She could see that cannon fire was the last thing they were expecting for the group as a whole froze before diving out of the way. Several of them went flying as the cannon shell tore through the cobblestone road and exploded, the other troops ducked for cover along the walls of buildings and behind two cargo containers that had been left by the day crew.
The night cracked and popped with the sound of rifle fire. They were in a good position, elevated with clean sight lines. They temporarily had the advantage, but there were no shortage of troops on the base. The gunfire would draw more soldiers and they would soon be overwhelmed.
"How long before I have that engine?" she shouted into her speaking tube.
"Five more minutes tops," said the muffled voice of the marine on the other end. "She's almost ready."
Harriet wasn't sure she had five more minutes.
The flares exploded on the side of the building. Through an amazing bit of luck, one actually flew directly through a window, lighting up the inside of the building, creating dancing shadows and a collage of light and darkness along the side of the mountain. The flares wouldn't hurt anyone, but hopefully the enemy would be blinded, or at the very least, stunned. The guard outside the battery looked around wildly, trying to determine where the gunfire had come from.
Morris lifted his sword and turned to his men. "Charge!"
He ran towards the battery, sword drawn, screaming a battle cry, like a demon in the night. His men rallied behind them, also screaming and shooting as the ground fell away between them and the battery.
The lone Spanish guard outside of the battery saw the men charging at him, and Morris grinned as he saw the naked fear in the man's face. He spun to the ground, as if blown over by an enormous gust of wind, as a bullet took him in the arm. His compatriots were running out of the building, as Morris approached.
An enormous explosion filled the air around Morris with a bright red flame, taking him and the others, consuming them in fire.
Harriet wasn't sure what to think when she saw the battery explode. This was definitely not part of the plan. Anyone within a hundred yards of that blast would be dead. What had happened? The flames were bright green and blue
. Had they fired the flares into the battery? That would light up the ammunitions like the Fourth of July.
"That goddamn fool Morris."
The explosion did, however, succeed in buying them sometime. The soldiers had been moving ever closer to the sloop. Two of her men were dead, and she saw more troops on the way. There was a brief lull in the fighting as many of the Spanish troops turned to see the fireball that used to be the battery light up in the sky.
A voice from the speaking tube, "Ready, Captain!"
She pulled the throttle, and took the wheel, avoiding the gunfire that had started up again once it was clear that they were intending on taking the ship.
"Man the cannons!" she shouted. The marines threw down their rifles and took to their positions as she turned the ship towards the second battery. From her view she could see, thousands of sailors below running around, some taking the time to shoot at them. They were quickly moving out of rifle shot. The only danger now was the second battery.
In the original plan, her captured battery would take out the other, or at least distract it from shooting down La Negra. Now that she didn't have a battery, the possibilities changed. Or did they? The question was whether the battery would fire at all. She knew it would not be an easy decision. If she were in the battery commander's position, she would be torn. If the ship got away, she'd be reprimanded for not taking action. If she blew it out of the sky, she could be reprimanded for destroying a vessel that cost millions of dollars. Despite the internal conflict, she knew that there was only one correct decision. That commander knew as well as she did that that battery was the only way of stopping La Negra. Surely he must have seen the other battery go up in smoke. He had no choice but to fire, especially when he saw La Negra heading right for him. It was just a question of how long it took for him to accept the inevitability of his position.
She hoped that it took longer than the time it would take for her to get to him. The battery's firing range was far longer than hers, so she had to get in close enough before taking a hit to take him out.
These thoughts were going through her mind as she saw the battery open fire. A few seconds later, she saw a large section of the main deck fly to pieces, decapitating one of the marines. This was followed by three quick explosions, the force of which knocked her and the remaining marines to the ground. Through the smoke and fire, she saw that several of La Negra's guns had exploded, and melting metal was dripping onto the deck.
She did not have the manpower to man more than one gun now. That would do nothing against a heavy battery. She also didn't have the manpower to fight and put out the fire that was slowly spreading across the main deck.
"Put out the fire!" she yelled, coughing. She ran to find the buckets of powder that were used as fire retardant on battleships. It was usually on deck at all times. She grabbed two buckets that were by one of the melting cannons and did her best to spread it over the flames licking across the deck.
Trying to save their lives at this point was a formality. La Negra was a sitting duck.
David heard the steps draw closer. Closer. They were just around the corner. Sweat dripped from his brow onto the pavement.
They heard a loud noise. It was an explosion so loud that both Lara and David crouched reflexively, momentarily deafened. David thought he heard the footsteps stop, but couldn't tell whether it was because of temporary hearing loss. He heard loud shouting in Spanish. But then, it slowly faded.
Lara stuck her head around the corner.
"They're gone. I think it was a patrol." She snuck a glance at the front entrance of the prison. "There's only a single guard posted in the front. I'm guessing the prison is mostly empty. Let's go to the loading entrance."
She headed off to circle the building, keeping to the shadow of the wall.
"And leave the package." She pulled out a pistol that had been cleverly hidden within her work woman's dress. "I don't think we're going to be fooling anyone tonight.
Several minutes passed, but they were finally able to get the fire out. Harriet made her way back to the quarterdeck, keeping her eye on the battery. They would be finished reloading almost any second.
She heard a distant explosion. She turned her glass to the battery and saw a cloud of smoke obscuring the cannons. She tensed for the impact of the incoming metal.
It never came. Bright fire rose up from the battery as she heard an even louder explosion. She looked up.
The Calista.
The men aboard La Negra cheered. The battery could easily have dealt with the Calista, but it didn't because it had been occupied with shooting down La Negra. By the time they had noticed, it was over.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
She leaped to the wheel and turned the ship around to head over to the heart of the base. They couldn't touch her now. They were out of rifle shot, and she intended on raining cannon fire down on top of the barracks and the administrative building to provide cover for Lara and David. She looked up. The Calista was following them, obviously planning to do the same.
She grinned. "Load the cannons!"
"Aye, Ma'am!" the marines shouted in unison.
There was a single guard at the loading dock entrance. They crouched behind a nearby wall.
The man was clearly nervous. There was gunfire in the distance, explosions, distant shouts and screams. The man paced back and forth, clutching his rife to his chest, surveying the street.
Lara handed David the pistol. She pulled out a knife and disappeared into the shadow.
She was gone for a moment, but then David saw a shadow slowly but confidently creep behind the man. It grabbed him. There was a low yelp and then a soft gurgling sound, as Lara released him and he fell to the ground. She stepped out into the gaslight and waved David forward.
As they entered the building, David noticed that it looked completely abandoned, which was just fine with him. He remembered the way down to the laboratory, and led Lara down the elevator and through the winding corridors. They encountered no one. In the distance the sounds of explosions continued to ring out.
David wasn't sure what to expect when he opened the door to the lab space. What if the professor wasn't there?
"Whose there?" It was Waterhouse. He was standing a few feet from the door, holding a pistol. He was expressionless. He looked like a man who was prepared for anything.
When he saw David, the shock in his voice clearly overwhelmed him. He lowered his pistol.
"David?"
"Yes, it's me," David said gently, "we've come to take you home."
"How did you get here?" He was the same old professor: the tweed jacket, the unkempt hair, the stains on his shirt, bow tie slightly askew. The only thing that was out of place was the pistol.
"There's no time to explain," said Lara, "we've got to get out of here."
Waterhouse raised his pistol. Before Lara could react, he shot her in the stomach.
"What the hell are you doing?" said David, reflexively pointing his pistol at Waterhouse, who kept his gun trained on Lara.
"She's a spy!"
"What?"
Lara was on the ground, clutching at her gut, gritting her teeth.
"She works for the Spanish."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"She betrayed us to the Spanish. She's the reason they were able to get the Dakota and the Boggle." His face was grim, but he looked earnest.
David was dumbfounded. He turned to Lara.
"He's only telling part of the truth. He's right. I am a spy ...but you have to ask yourself: how could he know that?"
Waterhouse didn't respond and David didn't lower his pistol.
"He wanted to be captured," continued Lara. She spoke softly, but there was iron in her voice.
"She's lying," Waterhouse said, "You know me, son. I hate everything the Emperor stands for. I'm guessing her plan is to lure us along with her and then turn us over to the enemy."
"I'm guessing they offered him a lot of money
," said Lara, "Is that right, Waterhouse? That's how they typically do things."
"Why did you shoot her?" asked David softly. Disbelief was in his voice.
"She's the reason I've been in this dungeon these past months!"
David tried to think. Who was telling the truth? He hadn't much time.
"Listen," she said. She paused for a second, and let out a low guttural moan. Flecks of blood covered her lips. Her voice was low, "I admitted that I worked for the Spanish. Why would I lie to you about this?"
"Because you're a lying whore," snapped Waterhouse. "If she's right, why would I shoot her? Why would I shoot someone who is on my side?"
"Because he's buying time to think," she said. "He doesn't want to go with you, so he's trying to figure out a way to get out of this without you learning that he's a traitor. He's eventually going to figure out that that's not going to happen unless he leaves with you." She coughed. Blood was pooling on the floor. "He can't do that, so he's going to kill you, David."
David looked at the professor. His mind kicked out of slow motion. He turned the problem over in his head the way he thought about engine schematics, the way he reasoned about quantum fields. Her logic was sound, but so was Waterhouse's. The puzzle pieces on both sides fit together perfectly.
Waterhouse raised his arm to fire at David's head.
David fired.
Waterhouse was on the ground. David slowly walked to him, keeping the gun leveled at the old man's chest. Waterhouse tore at his chest. His expression was one of disbelief. He could not believe he had just been shot.
The Gold Engine (The Gold Chronicles) Page 17
