The Black Alchemists

by Gar Wilson

  "Any recon information about the radio station?" Katz inquired.

  "We'll have some pretty soon," Brognola promised. "Colonel Roberts ot Air rorce intelligence at Lowry Air Force Base near Denver has been assigned to the job."

  "Can Roberts set us up with a gunship to transport us to the radio station?" the Israeli asked, inspired with a plan.

  "He shouldn't have any trouble with that," Brognola replied. "We can also manage a clearance for whatever weapons and equipment you'll need."

  "Fine," Katz nodded. "We can't afford to waste time. The Black Alchemists won't stay at their base for long. They've probably assumed the Cancer Ward operation has been terminated. Basically these terrorists are amateurs and they've made some bad mistakes, but Cercueil isn't stupid. He won't simply wait on his mountaintop for the sky to fall on him."

  "I know," Brognola agreed. "But I wish we had more information on that place. Hell, we don't have any idea how many terrorists are located there or what sort of defenses they have."

  "That's not a new problem for us." Yakov shrugged. "We'll just have to expect the worst. That way we won't be disappointed."

  "If you need additional personnel," the Fed began, "Colonel Roberts is authorized to supply you with as many men as you'll need."

  "The fewer involved, the better our security will be," Katz replied. "It's best that Phoenix Force operates pretty much on its own in the field."

  "Okay," Brognola said. He turned to James. "Well, Cal, you've been a valuable asset to the unit on this mission. However, I'm not sure we'll need a biochemist for the final strike on the radio station, so we can ship you back to San Frisco today if you'd like."

  "I'd like to see this through to the end, sir."

  "You're pretty much on loan to us from the Frisco SWAT team," the Stony Man honcho frowned.

  "They can wait," James said.

  "You feel strongly that you'd like to continue?"

  "I do."

  "What do you think, Katz?"

  "Everyone on the team would agree that we couldn't have gotten as far as we have as quickly as we have if Calvin James hadn't been with Phoenix Force on this mission," Yakov declared. "He has earned the right to be part of the final act."

  "That's all I need to know. You're still on the team, Cal."

  "Thank you, sir."

  "Don't call me sir, for crissake. Nobody uses that term in this room. You guys better get ready to haul ass. Good luck. You're sure as hell gonna need it."

  19

  Phoenix Force arrived at Lowry Air Base a few hours later. Colonel Roberts, a stout muscular man with a receding hairline, was waiting for their C-130. He escorted the six antiterrorists to command headquarters. Once again, Phoenix Force found itself in a military conference room.

  "We sent four Huey gunships over the mountain range to observe the radio station," Roberts told them.

  "Four?'' Rafael Encizo asked incredulously. "That many helicopters must have caused enough noise to give a deaf man a headache. Some covert operation! You've alerted the bastards to expect trouble."

  Colonel Roberts tensed with anger, but David McCarter spoke first.

  "Take it easy, mate," the Briton told Encizo. "The colonel hasn't made a mistake. The Air Force makes plenty of practice flights over the Rocky Mountains, right? A single helicopter might seem suspicious, but four choppers flying in formation would appear to be another training exercise. No reason for the blokes to get excited about that."

  "That's the way we figured it," Roberts replied, his ruffled feathers slowly smoothing. "I might add that the United States Air Force hasn't failed to notice that radio station until now."

  "You've been suspicious of the place in the past?" Katzenelenbogen inquired.

  "We've found it... interesting," Roberts answered, choosing the adjective carefully. "Previous flights over the area brought back photographs of armed sentries posted around the station. When we found out it supposedly belonged to that Haitian character, most of us guessed it was a CIA front of some sort. The Company denied it, but you know how intelligence outfits lie to each other."

  "I've heard about it," the former Mossad agent said, nodding.

  The Air Force colonel continued. "After I received orders directly from a Pentagon source to recon the area, I had no intention of sending just one chopper. I wanted my men to have enough firepower to defend themselves if unfriendlies at the radio station attacked them. God knows what sort of weapons they have hidden at that place. Personally, I don't even know who they are."

  "Then your gunships were fully armed?" Encizo asked.

  "That's not a breach of security. We often have training exercises with armed aircraft."

  "I'm sorry we butted heads, Colonel," the Cuban said. "I just want to reduce my chances of getting killed."

  "Perfectly understandable," said Roberts.

  "Did all the airmen in those gunships realize they were on a recon mission?" Katz asked, forever concerned with maintaining security.

  "No. Captain Colton and his crew were the only men who knew the real purpose of their mission. The others thought it was just another training exercise."

  "This Captain Colton," Keio Ohara asked. "He's with Air Force Intelligence, yes?"

  "Correct," Roberts confirmed. "Colton is probably the best man I've got. He served three years regular Army in Nam. Saw combat as a chopper pilot with the 82nd Airborne. He was also involved in a couple SOG missions over there. Resigned from the Army after the war, but later joined the Air Force Reserves."

  "A part-time intelligence officer?" Calvin James asked.

  "Not really. True, Colton still works as a civilian helicopter mechanic, but he's on call twenty-four hours a day for the Air Force. He's reliable."

  "He sounds fine," Gary Manning pronounced. "Have the photographs taken on the recon mission been processed?"

  "I've got them right here."

  Roberts placed a briefcase on the table. He worked the combination lock, opened the valise and extracted several photographs, which he handed to Katz. The Israeli examined them and nodded with satisfaction before passing them to the others.

  The photos of the radio station revealed a large, flat-roofed two-story building on the summit of a mountain. Two armed sentries patrolled the neighboring cliffs.

  "How high is the mountain?" Katz asked, lighting a cigarette.

  "Well, it's not exactly Mount Elbert," Roberts replied. "But it's no mole hill either. About six thousand feet."

  "Indeed," Ohara mused. "They have to be elevated to transmit radio signals."

  "We've picked up their broadcasts before," Roberts commented. "Figured it would be a good test for our translation department. Just about burned out some computer circuits trying to make heads or tails out of that Creole lingo. Hardly worth the effort. Mostly lessons in English, news reports, recipes and stuff like that. Some of the transmissions seemed to be coded messages. That reinforced our suspicion about a CIA front. Maybe a scheme to organize an invasion like the Bay of Pigs."

  "Hopefully, the United States will never be involved in another mess like that," Encizo remarked.

  "The guards appear to have H&K 33A2 assault rifles," Manning stated as he examined the photos. "Probably they double the sentries at night."

  "Better assume they also use infrared scopes after sundown," James added. "What do you figure that platform on the roof is for?"

  "Looks like a helipad to me," McCarter answered. "How else would they get supplies up there?"

  "Makes sense," Manning agreed. "That means there must be a rooftop entrance. There doesn't appear to be a back door. Just two ways in and two ways out."

  "There are windows," Ohara corrected. "However, I doubt that they have an alarm system. The site is located in a desolate area and difficult to reach unnoticed. Also, their electrical power source is limited. Why waste it on security measures that appear unnecessary?"

  Encizo stared at the photos, trying to find a clue to Ohara's statement. Finally he asked: "How
can you tell the power source is limited?"

  "The rectangular panels on the roof," the Japanese electronics expert explained, "are photovoltaic cells used to gather energy from the sun. The station is powered by solar energy. Night generators must be run to charge storage batteries. Assuming they broadcast after dark, with an output of more than one-thousand watts, and that they don't turn off all the lights in the station, there won't be much left for alarm systems."

  "I doubt that they have any ground alarms," McCarter commented. "But they might have radar. Perched on top of a mountain, they're probably more concerned with an invasion from the sky."

  "You're not planning to launch an air strike?" Roberts inquired.

  "There may be information stored in the station that is critical to national security," Katz replied. "We simply can't blow the place to bits with rockets."

  "We'll have to climb the mountain," Manning said, frowning. "That means we've got to scale a rock wall six thousand feet high and try to remain concealed all the way to the top."

  "Concealment won't be as big a problem as noise," Colonel Roberts said. "You won't be able to climb a mountain that size with just your bare hands. You'll have to use ropes and pitons. If you hammer those pitons into rock, there's a good chance the guards will hear you."

  "We can use our nuts," James stated.

  "Our what?" McCarter asked in mock horror.

  "Did you two rehearse this act?" Katz inquired dryly.

  "Chocks and nuts are climbing devices," Manning explained to the Air Force colonel. "They're fairly new tools for replacing pitons. Instead of hammering them into rock, the nuts are wedged into cracks in the rock wall. They're adjustable and easily removed and reusable if needed."

  "Best of all," McCarter added, "they hardly make any sound at all."

  "It's been a few years since I've done any mountaineering," Roberts admitted. "Your plan seems awfully risky. You'd better hope those sentries don't happen to look down and see you crawling up the face of that mountain."

  "We've considered that," Katz replied. "Can you supply us with a chopper and a pilot?"

  "I was told to cooperate every way possible," Roberts answered. "You may have Captain Colton and the gunship of your choice."

  "We'll just need the whirlybird," McCarter said. "I can fly it."

  "We'd better have Colton," Katz told the Briton. "You're our most experienced climber, and you're also our best shot with both a silenced pistol and that Barnett Commando crossbow you're so fond of."

  "Crossbow?" Roberts raised an eyebrow as he looked at McCarter. "SAS?"

  "William Tell Association," the Briton replied with a grin.

  "I've done some climbing too," Encizo announced. "And my ankle hasn't given me any trouble since... well, for a while."

  "It'll give you hell if you have to climb a mountain," Yakov told him. "I'm not going to try to scale that rock wall either. That would be asking too much of my prosthetic. Six thousand feet is just too damn many feet for us. But don't worry. We'll still be part of the action."

  "And there ought to be plenty of action for all of us," Gary Manning remarked with a shrug.

  20

  The great rotor blades of the H-34 gunship sliced through air like the scythe of a vengeful Grim Reaper. The transport tipped forward through the twilit sky, flying above Colorado's Uncompahgre Plateau.

  "And to your left," Captain Colton called to his passengers, cheerfully imitating a tour guide, "you can see the Haitian American radio station famous for its Creole recipes, assotor music and mysterious conspiracies."

  Colonel Katzenelenbogen adjusted the light-density level of his Stariite viewer and gazed down at the station. The building seemed ominous, a variation on an Alpine fortress guarded by stormtroopers. The guards were black men, clad in blue windbreakers and dark glasses instead of Nazi uniforms. Yet Katz realized the Black Alchemists were not unlike the swastika-wearing enemy he had fought forty years earlier.

  Corruption, greed and evil are universal traits of the dark side of man's nature. Animal Man, as Mack Bolan might say. The brute is found in every culture and every ethnic group. No nationality is free of the savages who thrive on destruction. Regardless of race, uniform or political ideology, the savages are basically the same.

  Phoenix Force had been created to combat Animal Man wherever he appears and whatever form he assumes. If civilization is to endure, if it is to prosper and grow, then the barbarians must be stopped.

  Until knowledge conquers fear; until understanding replaces extremism; until all people can live in peace without any threat to freedom; there will be a need for Phoenix Force.

  "They haven't pulled out yet," the Israeli announced, handing the Starlite to David McCarter. "There are still guards posted around the building and lights on in the windows."

  "Bloody place looks just like the photos," the Briton commented as he peered through the viewer. "Thank God for that. I can do without any ruddy surprises."

  "I'm sure they've got some waiting for us inside the station," Manning offered.

  "I hope they haven't destroyed their records," Keio Ohara remarked.

  "Hey, man," the copilot of the gunship said, laughing. "Why would a radio station destroy its records?"

  "Can't be sure about that," Calvin James grinned. "The dudes running that place ain't exactly stereotypes."

  "Captain Colton," Katz began. "You mentioned a ravine in the area?"

  "Yeah," the chopper jockey replied. He reached between his knees for the cyclic control. "I'm taking you there now."

  He applied pressure to the cyclic, banking the copter to the right. Colton used the collective to maintain altitude and turned the throttle inboard to reduce speed. McCarter nodded with approval.

  "Where is this ravine?" Rafael Encizo inquired.

  "About five miles west of your objective," Colton answered. "There's a pass extending back to the enemy base. Can't say how rough it'll be to travel by foot."

  "We'll let you know later," Manning told him, checking his Heckler & Koch G-3 SG-1 rifle. Black plastic and stamped steel glinted slightly.

  "Better get ready," the copilot advised. "We'll be over the ravine in about ten minutes."

  "Right," Katz told his teammates. "Don't forget the communication signals. One beep every thirty minutes to let us know you're all right. Two beeps if you need help and three when you reach the foot of the mountain."

  "Simple enough," McCarter replied, adjusting the straps of his climbing harness. "I just hope the bastards don't pick up our frequency."

  "That's why we're using signals instead of verbal communication," Manning said. "There's no way we can know the range of the enemy's radio monitors."

  "Yeah," James commented as he clipped some chocks and nuts to his hardware sling. "But the sons of bitches might be able to pick up the beeps."

  "The transmission will be too brief for them to home in on a location," Ohara stated, sliding his wakazashi sword into his utility belt. "The only danger is the signals would appear stronger on their monitors as we approach the mountain. It could warn the enemy."

  "We've been over this before," Manning said, sighing. "It's a calculated risk, but there's no way to avoid it. We can't be certain how long it'll take to reach the mountain, so we can't make an accurate estimate. Communications are essential."

  "Let's go over this one more time," Katz began. "Mr. Brown?"

  "I'm still awake," McCarter said, responding to his most recent alias.

  "You're the mountaineer expert," the Israeli stated. "You'll supervise the climb. Mr. Yamoto will be in charge of communications."

  Ohara nodded.

  "Mr. Green and Mr. Kincaid will be support," Katz concluded, referring to Manning and James. "Any questions?"

  "I've got one," Captain Colton declared, his hands still on the controls and his eyes on the instruments. "Do you fellas plan to take any prisoners?"

  "That's possible," Katz replied. "But not very likely. I doubt if we'll be able to take mo
re than a few of them alive."

  "Good," the pilot stated. "I don't want to overload my chopper. Hold on. We're going down."

  Colton applied slow, firm pressure to the collective control. The helicopter gradually descended in a valley shaped by the peaks of four mountains. If the Black Alchemists were watching, it would appear that the gunship had simply traveled beyond the horizon.

  The chopper pilot switched on an infrared search light and continued to lower the H-34 until it was approximately thirty feet from the ground. The surface below was too uneven for a landing, so the chopper had to assume a fixed hover. Colton gripped the cyclic in one hand and the collective in the other to maintain position and altitude while his feet worked the rudders to keep the heading steady.

  "Go!" the copilot shouted.

  Two cables dropped from the carriage of the H-34. McCarter and James seized the ropes. They descended rapidly, half climbing, half sliding to the ground. Ohara and Manning followed. When all four touched earth, Encizo winched up the cables. The helicopter then rose and disappeared over the summit of a mountain.

  "Anybody twist an ankle or puncture a boot on a sharp stone?" James asked. "Don't be a tough guy. If anything like that happened, tell me so I can do something about it before we start our little stroll.''

  No one had suffered from such minor injuries. The four used flashlights to check their gear once more. You can never be too careful with equipment when your life might depend on it.

  In addition to his M-10 Ingram and Browning Hi-Power, David McCarter carried a Barnett Commando crossbow. A modern version of a centuries-old weapon, the Commando featured a skeletal metal stock and a cocking lever so it could be loaded and fired much faster than a traditional crossbow.

  Gary Manning had his trusty H&K G-3 SG-1 and the S&W .41 Magnum revolver. He also carried a Corps of Engineer's modified backpack of explosives. Numerous detonators were in the pouches of a utility vest as well.

  Keio Ohara was armed with a .45 MatchMaster pistol and an M-10 Ingram in the same caliber. After he touched ground, the Japanese took the samurai sword from his belt and strapped it to his back. The hilt was positioned at his right shoulder to allow a rapid draw if necessary. Ohara also wore a utility vest that contained several shaken, thro wing-star weapons employed by practitioners of shuhken-jutsu.