by Rob Jones
“Up to sixteen on each chopper, and you said you saw three so we could be looking at nearly fifty of the things.”
“What about the anti-aircraft defenses?” Kim asked.
“We can operate them from in here.”
“We can?” Alex asked, surprised. She had never seen the bunker before, and was shocked when Eden flicked on the lights to reveal what looked to her more like Cape Canaveral’s Mercury Control Center. A waist-high panel full of switches and controls ran around the room and above them several plasma screens began to flicker to life.
“Yes, we can. Don’t forget this facility was built and operated by the French Navy as a listening post during the Cold War.” He turned to face her and smiled. “As a consequence it has all of the trimmings.”
He flicked more switches without hesitation and a few moments later the whole room was buzzing like an industrial quantum computer. Alex stared up at the plasma screens and saw various views of the island in the hot sunshine.
“You’ll recognize most of these views,” Eden said as he started to punch in some codes on one of the keyboards. “Screen One is the north beach, Screen Two the east and so on, plus over here are more immediate images of the compound.
As he spoke, Alex and Kim watched the Apaches buzzing from screen to screen like black wasps as they circled the compound and swooped for another attack. A thick column of smoke was now rising from the hangar where they housed the Gulfstreams, and with only one out on a mission, currently in Marrakech’s Menara Airport, that meant the other two had almost certainly been destroyed.
“Only natural,” Eden said, noting her expression. “Knocking out aircraft is always the first phase of any attack – and air defenses, of course – so we need to get a wriggle on.”
With that said, he fired up the island’s anti-aircraft missile system, a series of Rapier installations positioned in strategic locations on the island. The Rapier was a British surface-to-air system which was designed to defend against low-altitude strikes and was a serious bit of kit.
On Screen Four, one of the Apaches was now making a low-level approach just above the ocean on the island’s western side.
“Looks like they’re going for the Briefing Room,” Eden said.
“Who the hell are they, Rich?”
He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “That’s for us to find out but the first order of business is protecting Elysium.”
She knew he was right. Like the others, what she knew about the island was limited. The details of the Consortium were sketchy, including even Eden’s place within it, but they all knew how central Elysium was to their missions. It was just another member of the team, and now it was under attack.
The Apache fired one of its Hellfires and they watched in tense silence as it streaked toward the fourth plasma screen in the bunker. A second later there was a tremendous explosion which they not only saw on the screen but felt through the floor. Alex stared in horror and when the smoke cleared it revealed the devastation to the western end of the compound. It was total. All that remained of their Briefing Room was a burning ruin of twisted concrete support pillars and bent steel.
“I can’t believe they’re doing this,” she said, almost unaware of her words. The attacking chopper had turned to its portside and was now travelling north.
“Whoever they are,” added Eden as he engaged one of the Rapiers and tracked it onto the enemy Apache before firing.
They watched the plasma screens as the Rapier tore away from its installation at Mach 2.0 and screeched into the sky.
“Maybe we’ll be okay,” Alex said, as she watched the screens.
“I’m not sharing your optimism. Each one of the installations is equipped with four missiles already fixed into the launcher, but after that it’s a two-man lift job to get more missiles into the firing position because they weigh nearly a hundred pounds each. There’s no way we can leave the bunker so when the launchers are empty they’re empty.”
“How many chances does that give us?”
“We have six, so that means twenty-four. We’re going to need more to fight off three Apaches, plus there’s still the Black Hawk you saw as well. That’s a utility chopper designed to carry a squad of soldiers. The fact it’s lurking behind the Apaches waiting until our defenses are taken out can mean only one thing – whoever they are they’re planning on landing some boots on the island.”
They saw the Apache try and take evasive action, pulling hard to port and gaining altitude in a staggeringly sharp climb, but it wasn't enough to outrun the Rapier, and seconds later the missile struck its target and a ferocious fireball exploded in the sky above the ocean.
‘One down, two to go,” Alex said.
Eden frowned as he activated the second Rapier. They were largely automatic but he had taken manual control to be sure of getting the result he desired. “Two plus whatever they’ve got in the Black Hawk.”
The end of his sentence was punctuated by a terrific, fierce explosion so deep in its intensity that Alex thought it had landed right on top of them.
“What the hell?” she gasped.
Eden replied coolly. “Must be the Ammo bunker, so now we’re out of missiles even if we could reload the launchers.”
Kim Taylor watched the plasma screen in silent disbelief for a few seconds before alerting the others to what was happening. “Er, guys – looks like we have company.”
Eden and Alex turned in their seats to face her. “What is it?” Eden asked.
“The Black Hawk just touched down on the north beach – check it out.”
They all watched in grim silence as a dozen armed men in full black Special Forces gear jumped out the chopper, fanned out in a professional formation and began making their way up the beach toward the compound.
Eden slammed his hand down on the control panel. “Who the hell are they?”
“I don’t know, Rich,” Alex said. “But whoever they are, I don’t think they’re here to deliver a kiss-o-gram.”
Kim tried to raise a smile but the situation’s uncertainty just didn’t let it happen. The formation the men were using was a classic fire and movement tactic used by Special Forces and other highly trained forces all over the world, but something told her these were not from just anywhere, but her own country.
“I think they’re Americans,” she said.
“Americans?” Eden said with surprise. He shook his head, a confused expression crossing his face. “What makes you say that – the Black Hawk?”
“Yeah, but not just that. What they’re wearing, the weapons they’re using, how they’re moving. I’ve trained among these people and my money’s on them being Americans.”
“But why would Americans attack Elysium?”
Kim shrugged her shoulders. “I have no idea.” She watched more closely as the last of the men slipped out of sight of the CCTV camera, and then a second later the signal was cut and the image of the north beach was reduced to fuzzy static. “And now they’ve cut the CCTV feed.”
For a moment Alex felt like she couldn’t breathe. The island was the safest place on earth because of its isolation, but that also made anyone on it vulnerable if there was ever an invasion – like right now. She knew they couldn’t stay in the bunker forever, and she also know it wouldn’t take the soldiers too long to find its location, either.
“What are we going to do?” she asked.
Eden sighed low and long and rubbed his temples as he contemplated the unthinkable.
“Rich?” Alex said.
“We need to leave the island. We have no choice – not with most of the team in the middle of the Atlantic thousands of miles away. The Apaches give them total air superiority and now we know at least a dozen enemy soldiers have their boots on the ground. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I’m giving the order to evacuate.”
“And just give up?”
“There’s nothing we can do.”
“The hell there isn’t,” Alex said. “Can
we call out of here?”
“Of course.”
“Then we still have a chance.”
CHAPTER FORTY
Hawke, Lea and Ryan heard the second explosion on the surface but they felt none of the shockwave because it was too far away. When he scanned the sea to the north he saw the tuna boat was now also missing, turned into a similar quantity of burning wreckage and debris as the VCSM.
Kruger and the rest of his goons also saw it and immediately broke off their attack before retreating to the remains of their boat, leaving Hawke, Lea and Ryan alone among the ruins of Atlantis.
“What the hell was that?” Ryan called out.
“We’re under attack,” Hawke said. “They’ve hit the ship… and she’s drifted a lot more than I thought she would as well – I can barely see what’s left of her.”
“My God!” Lea said through the comms. “The whole team is on that ship!” As she spoke, pieces of the destroyed ship began to rain down a few hundred feet in the distance, leaving twisting trails of bubbles in their wake.
“But who’s attacking us?” Ryan said. “Can’t be Kruger – he wouldn’t have destroyed his own boat!”
“We have to get back!” Hawke yelled. “There might be survivors!”
“But what about Kruger?” Ryan yelled. “He still has the idol.”
“Forget him,” Hawke said. “The team needs us – besides, by the look of his boat he’s not going anywhere.”
They spun their scooters around and weaved in and out of the broken ruins on their way out of the destroyed metropolis.
“I don’t like this, guys.” Ryan said. “Maybe they’re all dead, and now we’re in the middle of the ocean without a ship.”
“At least Atlantis was unharmed,” Lea said.
Leaving the ghostly ruins of Atlantis far behind, Hawke looked over his shoulder at the ancient site and agreed with her. “We’re coming back here,” he said. “Wait a minute…”
“What is it?” Lea asked.
“Am I going insane or is Atlantis glowing?”
“Eh?” Lea and Ryan twisted around on the scooters. “Turns out you’re not going insane,” Lea said.
“It really is glowing!” Ryan said.
And then it happened.
The ruins of Atlantis began to rupture and then exploded in a massive fireball.
The blast was enormous, spewing an enormous cloud of silt and dirt into the water all around the ruins in a gargantuan sphere. It reminded Hawke of the old nuclear tests the French did in the South Pacific when they used to detonate twenty kiloton bombs in lagoons. Exactly like those tests, the water behind them was now illuminated with the brightest light he had ever seen. “Close your eyes!” he yelled.
He knew what was coming next. Behind them, whatever had detonated in the ruins had created a rapidly expanding bubble of gas that was about to generate the mother of all underwater shock waves. “Hold on to the scooters if you can!”
But as the shock wave overtook them, they were soon blasted off their scooters and sent tumbling over in the water in all directions. Hawke felt like he’d been hit by a concrete wall.
Dazed by the explosion, they swam upwards through the filthy water toward the final location of their ship and their friends. The VCSM had drifted in the storm further than Hawke thought and the massive underwater detonation of Atlantis has pushed the wreckage even further away. It felt like he’d never get there, but then the light broke through. “I can see people swimming in the water. There are survivors!”
“We have to help them!” Lea said.
The sea got murkier again, and for a long time they swam through more silt-laden gloom as they struggled to reach their friends. “Keep going!” Hawke shouted. “We have to help the survivors.”
“But where are they?” Ryan said as they emerged into the light once more. “They’ve gone!”
“Eh?” Hawke looked up and saw he was right. Where once had been the kicking legs of several survivors, now there was no movement at all. Then he broke the surface and got the answer.
There, rising and falling with the ocean wave was a Mil Mi-14.
When Ryan reached the surface he joined Hawke. “What the hell is that?”
Before Hawke could reply Lea arrived and gasped. “What the hell..?”
“It’s a Russian anti-submarine chopper,” Hawke said. “And as you can see from the nifty way it’s parked on the sea, it’s amphibious.”
The side door was open and inside he could see Reaper and the others on their knees with their hands behind their heads. Beside them were Dirk Kruger, Dragan Korać, Luk and Kamchatka in the same position.
A man in a black flying suit pointed a megaphone in their direction. “Welcome aboard.”
Hawke and the others exchanged a glance and Lea shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not staying around here that’s for freaking sure.”
*
Their hosts said nothing as they climbed into the chopper, struggling against the powerful downdraft of the Mil’s five mighty rotors. Inside the atmosphere was calm but oppressive and Hawke counted at least three submachine guns pointed at the prisoners.
“Please,” said the man in the flying suit. “Feel free to get on your knees and put your hands behind your head. We will be at our final destination shortly.”
Hawke had no choice but to comply, and before he had even followed the man’s instructions the door was closed and the chopper rose up out of the water, banking hard to starboard and gaining altitude sharply.
The flight seemed anything but short, and Hawke had to wait a long time until the guards began talking among themselves before he could turn to Scarlet. “What the hell’s going on?”
“They blew up our ship with a Hellfire and then repeated the courtesy for Kruger’s tuna boat. Now we’re all going on an adventure weekend together.”
“Where?”
She shrugged. “Check out the tattoos on their wrists.”
Hawke glanced at the men again and saw the strange markings: ΆΘ.
He turned to Ryan. “What the hell are they?”
“Oh sodding hell,” Ryan said.
“What?”
“It’s Greek,” he whispered. “I can’t be sure but my money’s on it symbolizing the word Athanatoi.”
“The Immortals!” Hawke said, but was interrupted by Lexi.
“Oh my God,” she said genuinely shocked. “What the hell is that?”
Hawke peered through the chopper’s tiny window and whistled with surprised admiration. “Looks like some kind of oil rig, only much bigger.”
“It’s a Seastead,” Ryan said, looking through the next porthole a few feet to their right.
“A what?” Lea asked.
“It’s like a floating city,” he replied, grinning and nodding with respect. “The mother of all tax havens.”
“It must be at least a kilometre long,” Reaper said shaking his gently with shock.
“They’re being talked about as the answer to overpopulation problems,” Ryan said casually. “But there are some issues to do with sovereignty and what laws would be in effect there. To be honest I thought they were only theoretical until about twenty seconds ago.”
“It’s pretty bloody amazing, I know that,” Lea said. “They must be residential buildings on the south side, and tennis courts? This is crazy.”
“Who the hell would build an entire floating city in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean?” Scarlet asked. “It’s not even like it’s anywhere near Atlantis – we must be hundreds of miles away from there by now.”
“Nearly a thousand miles away by my calculations,” Ryan said. “So not quite in the middle of the Atlantic, but almost.”
“It’s impressive,” Hawke said. “I’ll give them that.”
“There are three basic designs for a Seastead,” Ryan continued. “A small structure that floats on pontoons, a structure that is basically designed like a ship only immobile, and then a larger platform design which is supported by massive col
umns submerged into the ocean below to stabilize it in the way a keel does on a ship. It’s hard to tell from up here but my money’s on the latter because of its sheer size.”
“But why here?” Lea asked. “Why not closer to Atlantis?”
“Judging by how long we’ve been in the air we must be in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean by now, over the Mid-Atlantic ridge,” Ryan said.
“But why a thousand miles from the ruins?” Lea said.
“There must be a reason, and I think I have an idea.” Maria said, biting her lower lip with excitement.
“What is it?” Hawke asked.
“I’m thinking this could be another source of the elixir.”
Ryan nodded. “I think that’s a pretty good guess. A floating city like that would cost hundreds of billions of dollars to construct. It must be here for a very specific reason, and considering we know that Atlantis is over a thousand miles away and totally destroyed, the logical conclusion is that whoever built it must have had a very good reason to do so. A source of eternal life would fit the bill, and a Seastead would be the perfect way for anyone who wants either to guard it or access it with the minimum of effort.”
“By building a whole city over it?” Scarlet said, her tone heavy with scepticism.
“Easier than sailing a ship all the way out here every time you want to get to it, and if you have the money then why not?”
Hawke stared at the vast rig on the horizon, trying to steady himself as the chopper turned to land above the increasingly choppy waves far below. He’d read about Seasteads a long time ago but all he could recall was they could be towed around by a tugboat. This thing was far too big for that and must have been constructed on the site somehow, presumably with the assistance of a couple of large container ships.
It was literally like a small city on the horizon, but in the middle of the ocean. As they got closer he saw the residential buildings Lea had seen but in greater detail now, and there was even a marina and palm trees dotted along its perimeter. More interesting that that was what looked like some kind of refinery on the north edge, which he pointed out to the others.
