by Rick Jones
Chance eyeballed his watch. “Seventeen minutes before the strike.”
“We better get moving. Eyes and ears open.”
As Tanner spoke the last word, they both saw—rising above the trees and banking hard to the east—a Reaper that was fully loaded.
They had let the first one get away.
#
“There’s another way to bring that drone down,” said Chance as soon as the Reaper disappeared from sight over the forest canopy.
Tanner gave him a dumbfounded look that said, ‘how?’
Chance hunkered beside him in the tall weeds and brambles. “These drones have been manufactured with high-tech gear to render them invisible to all electronic devices, yes?”
Tanner nodded. We already know this.
“But they still need a motherboard to guide them,” Chance said. “They still need to be programmed and managed. And I’m betting--” He pointed to the center area of the bunker where the roof was at its highest level—“that the main console is somewhere inside that area. If I can get to it, then I can control the drones. And if I can control the Reaper that’s in flight now, then I’ll drive it right into the ground.”
He inclined his chin toward the bunker before continuing. “We need a change in plans, Tanner. We need to get inside that bunker so that I can redirect the Reaper in flight. We can’t just sit by and hope that it’ll be intercepted by a Phantom. That’s not going to happen. These MQ-10’s are far too maneuverable.”
Tanner checked the time. Sixteen minutes. Then he turned to Chance and saw the eagerness behind the man’s eyes. Their priority had been to disable the drones and keep them grounded. But now that a drone was in flight, the objective had to shift. The optimal thing to do was to take control of the airborne Reaper and crash it in an unpopulated area, safely discharging its deadly payload. But to do this they would have to cut a path through Shazad’s fanatics in order to get at the controls.
“You can do this?” asked Tanner. “Control the Reaper and take it down?”
“I was a Night Stalker,” Chance reminded him. Enough said.
Tanner nodded and took point.
They made their way toward the bunker.
#
Nay and Shah reached the south side of the bunker. The building was rounded and low, like a pillbox, with a long, rectangular opening at the wall’s midsection, ostensibly to provide an outlet through which to shoot firearms.
Nay took point with the mouth of her weapon leveled. Natural light came in through the slots high up on the walls, the rays illuminating surfaces that were marred by graffiti--some were simply profane, some gang oriented.
They moved silently with Nay looking skyward and downward, searching for traces of wiring or anything else that would indicate a bomb or IED. One of the ideas going into the shelter was that Shazad would have been prudent enough to take the necessary precautions to shore up his line of defense, should his manpower run thin.
But oddly, she found no traces of boobytraps or anything else as she and Alvarez stepped into a corridor that was long and dank.
Weird, she thought. That someone like Shazad wasn’t more cautious about leaving the back door open. But then her mind registered that he almost certainly was cautious-- he had simply hid his defenses very well.
Once inside the corridor where it was darker, Shah took point with his assault weapon at eye level, his head on a swivel. Nay continued to search high and low.
Then she saw it. The blinking of a red light.
Before she approached, she examined the area for laser eyes and beams that, when broken, set off alarms. When she didn’t spot any she moved closer.
The light continued to blink at an even tempo.
“What is it?” whispered Shah, maintaining vigil with his weapon raised.
Nay examined the explosive attached to a support pillar, cocking her head from one side to the other with studious examination. A half brick of Semtex was fixed to the post. It was connected to a slapper detonator--a new, state-of-the-art device that used thin plates accelerated by an electrically exploded wire to deliver the initial shock. This was caused by a laser pulse sent by optical fiber. It was a marvel of engineering and often used by mining companies and the military. But this particular device was rigged to blow should it be moved or jiggled. Trying to deactivate it would be impossible, the penalty for failure nothing less than instant catastrophe. And where there was one, she reflected, there was another . . . and another . . . and another.
She spied more beams, more supports. Each one had a Semtex brick strategically affixed. All it would take to detonate them would be an electronic pulse command from a controller that would enable the units instantly. She needed to somehow jam the system, but lacked not only the tools, but in spite of her training and experience, she lacked the specific know-how.
“I can’t do anything about these,” she said softly. “They're state-of-the-art and rigged for anti-tampering.” She looked around. “This whole place is a powder keg waiting to go off.” Then she lowered her lip mike.
“Team Two to Team One.”
“Go.” It was Tanner.
“Tanner, Shah and I are in the south-side tunnel. The entire place is rigged with enough Semtex to blow a hole to China. The fuses are state-of-the-art slappers. There’s nothing I can do, Tanner. And if there’s Semtex here, then I can only assume that every tunnel is the same way.”
“Copy that.”
“Direction?”
“Shazad has launched another drone. So Chance and I are heading toward the central chamber to intercept the control panel. If we’re to have a chance of bringing this thing down, then Chance needs to get to the pilot station.”
“Copy that.”
“And Nay...”
“Yeah.”
“President Carmichael has ordered an air sortie. They're going to level this whole place with or without us here. So time is limited.”
“How much time?”
“About fifteen minutes. I need you and Steve to provide us with enough support to clear out as many of Shazad’s team as possible. Create enough of a distraction that Chance and I can press forward with minimal resistance. In ten minutes, I want you and the rest of the team to clear out.”
“And the Semtex riggings?”
Tanner hesitated.
“Tanner,” she said.
He finally responded. “Look, Nay. They’re there for a reason, no doubt. I can’t tell you why, when or how Shazad plans to use them. All I can say is, we’ve been pressed into duty. We’re Outcasts, and we are the best of the best—”
“—of the best,” she finished.
“That’s right. So there will always be a risk . . . But if you feel the need to fall back, if you think the risk is too great, then do so. No one, including me, will think any less of you. But there’s a live drone up there, Nay, and Chance and I need to bring it down.”
“I am an OUTCAST, Tanner. I was someone that nobody wanted until you and Chance came along. So there’s no way I’m leaving your sides. No way.” She looked at Shah questioningly, as if to ask: What about you? Are you an OUTCAST?
Stephen Shah looked around at all the blinking lights, then offered her a smirk. “I’m an Outcast, too. My place is here, with my team.”
Nay nodded. “Then let’s give them a little support, shall we?”
Shah grinned. “Hell yes!”
Then into her lip mike. “Tanner, we’re on our way.”
#
The moment they entered the southeast tunnel, Liam and Dante had heard the exchange between Nay and Tanner over their ear buds. They were careful and guarded, eyes alert, looking for anything that might pose a threat.
Just like the south-side tunnel, red LEDs blinked. Bricks of Semtex were attached to pillars and support columns. They moved forward, ignoring their primal instinct of self-preservation because they were Outcast Operatives who were the best of the best of the best, duty bound to live by a code of honor.
&
nbsp; They crept down the tunnel in silence with their weapons held at eye level—Liam to the left, Shah to the right—working their way toward the central chamber.
The tension between them remained heavy and thick, almost like an unsettling pall. Liam finally broke the silence.
“Just so you know, I’m not comfortable with this."
“With what?”
“This tag team we got going here.”
“Tough shit. You should have opted out when Tanner asked you if you had a problem.”
“My problem, Alvarez, is me walking down this hallway wondering if you’re truly coherent enough to watch my back.”
“I'll say it again: the time for doing something about that has passed. Get over it. When it comes down to crunch time, trust me, you’ll have nothing to worry about. How do you think I feel about working with someone whose loyalties are misplaced? Now that’s a cause for concern.”
“Your concern isn't even close to being justified,” Liam shot back. “In the field I was good at what I did. I still am. My loyalty toward my fellow soldiers never wavered.”
“Until you sold your book and broke the SEAL code of honor for profit. But I guess we all have our faults, don’t we?”
Liam sighed heavily. “Yeah, I guess we do.”
Their loyalties and mettle were about to be tested as never before when they unknowingly broke the laser beam that cut across their path, setting off the array of alarms inside the central chamber.
#
Naji, after logging in the coordinates for the first Reaper launch, turned his attention to the bank of monitors to his right. A yellow light flashed insistently and the speaker chimed out in warning. On the screen, in the center showing the southeast tunnel, two men were working their way toward the central chamber. Naji then switched on all the monitors, catching a second team coming in from the south. He tapped his ear bud.
“Shazad.”
“Go.”
“It appears the chopper did not come alone. We have tangos in the south and southeast tunnels. They’re working their way to my location . . . I need time.”
“How much longer to the second launch?”
“You’d have to ask Lut that.”
“Copy.”
Naji turned to the monitors and watched the teams move closer. C’mon, Lut. What’s taking so long?
#
As soon as the chopper went down, Shazad knew that his operation had been compromised, so he reacted immediately. He entered one of the spokes branching from the main chamber and made his way to a room that was once the facility's electrical center. In the middle of the space was a generator that had long been dead. Against the wall was a panel with a door. He opened it, revealing a keypad inside. With nimble fingers he typed in a code and then the pound key. The numerals 10:00 suddenly appeared in the keypad’s window. And then the countdown began.
. . . 09:59 . . .
. . . 09:58 . . .
. . . 09:57 . . .
When the numbers hit quadruple zero, the keypad would transmit a single pulse to all the rigged explosives, and within a nanosecond, the bunker would be annihilated, leaving nothing more than a vast crater in the earth.
He tapped on his ear bud. “Lut.”
A second later. “Yes, Shazad.”
“We’ve got company! How much longer before you get that drone airborne?”
“Four minutes.”
“You have two.”
“I can only do what I can do, Shazad.”
“Two minutes!” he ordered.
But Shazad knew this would be an impossibility. Lut was quick and efficient. Telling him to cut the time in half was simply a plea of desperation and nothing more. Some things took time. And loading a Reaper was one of them.
Then into his lip mike: “Team One to South Tunnel. Team Two to the Southeast. Dispatch any and all incoming hostiles. I repeat, dispatch any and all incoming hostiles.”
“Team One copies.”
“Team Two copies.”
“Out.” Shazad ran for the main chamber to join Naji.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Nay stayed her steps when she saw the red lights stop blinking and go steady.
Stephen Shah copied her actions by remaining still.
“What's up?”
“The Semtex riggings. They stopped blinking.”
“Is that bad?”
It’s not good, she thought. Nay approached the pillar where a Semtex unit was rigged at the juncture between the support column and the concrete header beam. Above the red indicator was a small LED display that was counting down numbers in bright red.
. . . 09:54 . . .
. . . 09:53 . . .
. . . 09:52 . . .
“What’s the matter?’ repeated Shah.
Nay raced to a neighboring column. Its unit was also counting down and doing so in sync with the others.
. . . 09:49 . . .
. . . 09:48 . . .
. . . 09:47 . . .
She immediately engaged her headset. “Tanner.”
“Go ahead, Nay.”
“Huge problem,” she said, which also grabbed Shah's attention. “The Semtex riggings are counting down in unison. Looks like someone initiated the units from a main control.”
“Can you disable that control?”
“All I can do is try. But this is a big place, Tanner. I may not even be able to find it in time.”
“How much time are we talking about?”
She looked at the rigging’s faceplate.
“About nine and a half minutes,” she answered.
“Find that panel,” Tanner told her.
“Copy that.” She flipped her lip mike upward. Then to Shah, she said, “We have to move and move fast."
He pointed ahead but took no steps. The tunnel was cast in quasi-darkness with shadows everywhere.
“We can’t rush this,” he whispered. “Could be tripwires, Shazad's men lying in wait...”
She took the lead. “We don’t have a choice.”
. . . 09:28 . . .
. . . 09:27 . . .
. . . 09:26 . . .
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Tanner lifted his lip mike and spoke directly to Chance.
“Shazad’s set the timers to the Semtex. They’re due to go off in about nine and a half minutes.”
Chance looked down at the ferns pooling around his feet, then at the bunker. “That’s before the airstrike! If they're blowing their own place up, you know that means they plan to have the last drone already launched.”
“Nay’s trying to find the main control panel. She may be able to disable them in time.”
“Tan, nine minutes is nothing. It’s a big place in there. What if she can’t find it, or if she can but doesn’t have enough time to disarm it? They have to clear the area with at least two minutes left on the timer to be able to escape. So her time is really limited to seven minutes, not the nine on the clock.”
He placed a hand on Tanner’s shoulder. Then he spoke evenly. “That rule applies to us as well,” he told him. “I need to get in there and fast. I have to get to that control panel.”
Tanner and Chance slipped through the wooded terrain with skilled efficiency. They quickly positioned themselves at the head of the bunker, where they saw the final Reaper situated at the end of the runway, fully loaded with Hellfires and remoras. Its engines were cycling.
“I see four tangos,” Tanner said. “The big guy and the one other at the drone, plus two more, fully armed, maintaining watch at the east and west sides.”
“I spot the same,” said Chance, looking through the scope of his weapon. Then: “You know what this means, right?”
“I need to create a diversion.”
Chance nodded. “I’ll pull a stealth take-down on the guy on the west side. You draw off the other three while I slip inside.” He looked at his watch. “Just over eight minutes. Six minutes for me to get out in time.”
“Nay and Liam are working thei
r teams forward,” Tanner stated, inching away from Chance. “They’ll draw fire from their positions long enough for you to do whatever it is you have to do. But if Nay can’t get to the panel because she’s engaged, then you need to get to the console and drive those units into the ground before the Semtex blows. Six minutes!”
And then Tanner was gone, disappearing into the brush.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Liam and Dante moved slowly, cautiously, their senses hyper-alert. Both men had been battle tested, each seeing action in different parts of the world. Liam had been a member of SEAL Team 6, and Dante with the Secret Service, having thwarted assassination attempts on the president abroad. They inched steadily forward, peering through their scopes, the hallways and tunnels before them magnified and light-enhanced.
Shadows moved, the amoeba-like forms blacker than black as they broke apart to flank Liam and Dante from the perimeter.
“See them?” whispered Liam.
“I got them,” he answered, moving to his left.
Liam moved to his right. “I count three.”
“Same.”
The Outcasts moved fluidly to the outermost points as three of Shazad’s team approached.
The insurgents were equally quiet and well-practiced at stalking. One remained centered while the other two branched out toward the perimeters, expanding their net.
Liam and Dante posted themselves behind columns and waited, their weapons at the ready.
One of Shazad’s men peeked carefully around the edges of each column as he made his way through the corridor. But when he moved towards the pillar that Liam was hiding behind and attempted to steal a look around it, Liam directed his weapon and pulled the trigger. Pffftttt. The suppressor did its job and muted the sound of the bullet as it sheared away part of the assailant’s skull. Blood, gore and gray matter decorated the wall behind the dead man in gruesome splashes as he stood a moment, teetered, then fell back as rigid as a bar of steel, hitting the ground hard. When his gun clattered off into the shadows, the noise was alarm enough for the rest of the unit to engage.
Muzzle flashes went off in strobe-like fashion as Shazad’s men strafed the area with successive ammo fire, the bullets pounding the columns and cement, tearing away shards of concrete and exposing the rusty rebar underneath.
