The general walked through the plane’s custom-made gymnasium on the way to the front of the plane. It was decorated with ancient swords, Korean rugs and the like, but also with modem equipment: weights, Nautilus, swords and a punchbag. The bust of Colonel Moon sat on a pedestal, just as it had in Moon’s old gym in North Korea. The general stopped for a moment to gaze upon the image of his son as he once was.
He continued on and was met by a guard who escorted him down the stairs to the observation bay. As he entered everyone in the room looked up and stared, anticipating the scene that was about to occur. Gustav Graves turned from the map of Korea and looked at his father, his emotion held in check.
Graves spoke in Korean. ‘General. I am sorry you had to be brought here like this.’
General Moon studied the bizarre sight, this white man in a North Korean uniform. He couldn’t believe what was in front of him. The general turned to the guard who had escorted him and said, ‘Arrest this man.’
The guard made no attempt to move.
Graves punched a button on the brassard and said, I ‘Father, watch the rising of your son.’
Icarus responded as it orbited in space, maintaining a speed dose to that of the earth’s rotation. Once again, the satellite re-articulated, pointing its mirrors so that the sun’s rays reflected down to Asia.
Miles away in the Demilitarized Zone, a burst of bright light suddenly appeared, sweeping away the darkness of night and bathing the apocalyptic landscape in the rays of a new sun. After a few minutes, the heat haze swirled and the dust whipped up. As the temperature rose, the Icarus vortex began to chum up the earth. Mines detonated. A column of twisting fire rose vertically, feeding on itself and pulling in debris that ignited spontaneously. The firespout became unnaturally violent because of all the explosives being sucked into it.
Then the Icarus light started to move across the Demilitarized Zone. The flaming twister danced along at the head, leaving a trail of scorched earth in its wake.
Graves surveyed the distant necklace of explosions and proclaimed, ‘Icarus will dear the minefield, creating a highway for our troops. If the Americans don’t run, Icarus will destroy them. And then? Japan waits like a bug to be squashed. China will welcome us. And the West will shake with fear at the dawn of a new superpower!’
The three generals watched with awe. General Moon felt only horror.
On the southern side of the 38th Parallel, M and Falco watched the destruction on monitors in the Operations Room. Satellite views of the Demilitarized Zone also displayed the devastation that was slowly making its way towards them.
‘My God,’ M said.
‘Looks like our two didn’t make it,’ Falco said. ‘One suicide mission too many.’
General Chandler, who was as stunned as everyone else, turned to Falco. The NSA Chief gave him a grave, subtle nod. Chandler picked up the phone and said, ‘Get me the President.’
Falco looked at M and quipped, ‘World War Three - made in Korea.’
M’s palms were sweating. She gripped the back of a chair tightly and said, ‘Don’t count Bond out yet.’ Several tense minutes passed. No one said another word until General Chandler muttered, ‘Yes, sir,’ into the phone and hung it up. He looked at Falco and M and said, ‘We got the go-ahead.’
Falco addressed everyone in the room, ‘The second that thing crosses the Thirty-eighth Parallel we hit them with everything we’ve got.’
M’s only comment was, ‘That may not be enough.’
Jinx moved into the galley behind the cockpit and could see the pilot and co-pilot through the half-open door. She weighed her options and was about to act when the co-pilot suddenly got up and headed in her direction. Jinx leapt up into a shadowy storage area and pressed her hands and feet against opposite walls, suspending herself there. The co-pilot walked through the galley and went down the stairs without noticing her. Jinx silently lowered herself and continued her mission.
Meanwhile, above the observation bay, Bond made the decision to take out Graves at his first opportunity. He removed the Walther and aimed it at the man through the glass screen. He was ready to squeeze the trigger when General Moon stepped in front of his son, blocking the shot.
‘Stop this now,' the general said in Korean. ‘You will lead our people to destruction.’
‘You were always weak,’ Graves replied in English, now the son who would not speak in his native tongue. ‘You can’t accept me because you can’t accept greatness.’
‘The Americans will send nuclear warheads.’
‘And Icarus will swat them from the sky. The sword is also a shield.’
The general produced the pistol that Bond had given him and pointed it at Graves’ head.
Graves eyed his father with interest. ‘Would you kill your own son?’
‘The son I knew died a long time ago.’
But before the general could fire, Graves’ hand whipped out fast, grabbing his father’s wrist and turning the pistol around.
On the other side of the screen, Bond now had a clear shot at Graves. He moved slightly to get a better angle and aimed — and was jumped from behind by the co-pilot. Below them, Graves and the general struggled for control of the weapon as the others watched in shock and silence. Without warning, the general's pistol went off directly into his abdomen. General Moon slumped to the floor.
Graves looked at his father with no emotion. ‘Like father, like son,' he said, then he bent down and ripped the general’s stars from his uniform. The three other generals watched Graves warily as he attached the insignia to his own uniform.
Suddenly the glass screen above them shattered as Bond and the co-pilot crashed through, still fighting for the gun. They tumbled to the floor with a thud and the pistol fired, blowing out a pane in the observation window. Someone screamed as the plane instantly depressurised, creating a deafening screech of air whistling through the cabin. Everyone in the observation bay grabbed something to hold on to as loose objects flew like shrapnel through the air and out of the window. Vlad, unable to gain a handhold, was picked up by the force and slammed against the window. As he was violently sucked out of the plane, more panes were shattered, making the hole even bigger.
Bond held on to the instrument panel while Graves clung to the brassard pedestal. General Moon’s lifeless body shot through the opening like a puppet and was then followed by the three terrified generals, one by one.
The plane lurched and went into a nosedive.
In the cockpit, the pilot was thrown forward, hitting his head on the instrument panel. Jinx had been knocked to the floor and was still clinging to the cockpit door as the plane began its descent. Fighting the enormous gravitational pull on her body, she struggled to her feet, crawled into the cockpit and pulled the unconscious pilot from behind the controls. She threw herself into the seat, buckled in and put on the headset.
‘James, you’re flying Jinx Airways,’ she announced.
She struggled with the stick, leaning into it, willing the plane to level out. Only after a tense forty seconds did the Antonov finally respond and pull out of the dive. The altimeter steadied around 5,000 feet
Back in the US army bunker, everyone felt the place shake from the tremors of the distant detonating mines. They could hear explosions and the sound of high winds. Robinson checked a monitor and looked at M.
‘One thousand yards and closing,’ he said.
21 - Into the Maelstrom
As the plane levelled, Bond and Graves regained their footing and were able to stand. The wind was howling in from the gaping hole in the glass, but the depressurisation had stopped. The two men squared up to each other, waiting to see who would make the first move.
‘It seems your friends have bailed,’ Bond said, indicating the gaping hole.
Graves seemed unconcerned. Snarling, he pressed a switch on the brassard. It powered up with an eerie hum. Bond knew what it meant and backed away. Graves lurched for Bond and zapped him with a huge jolt of electricity. Bond gasped from th
e pain but managed to drop and roll to escape the current. Graves went after him, holding out the gauntlet-covered arm. He bore down on Bond and struck him again with a charge. Bond felt this one surge through his spine and it momentarily paralysed him. Graves kept the thing in place, delivering a massive amount of electricity into Bond’s body. Bond’s leg kicked out reflexively and landed squarely in Graves’ groin. The man yelped and fell back, giving Bond the time he needed to get to his feet and punch him hard in the face.
In the cockpit, Jinx felt strangely alone. She wondered what was going on in the back. Had James survived the depressurisation? Had anyone died? It was too quiet and this unnerved her. She tried to concentrate on the plane’s navigational bearings but there was damage to some of the instruments. She had no idea which direction they were heading in, but she did know they were flying over the Demilitarized Zone.
Then the darkness outside the plane suddenly disappeared. It was as if the sun had risen in a few seconds’ time and was now bright in the sky. Jinx looked in horror and saw that the Antonov was travelling towards the Icarus beam. The vortex of fire spiralled from its base, seeming to beckon for the plane to fly straight into it.:
. ‘Damn!’ she muttered and tried to take evasive action. She pulled on the stick but the plane didn’t respond. Jinx leaned forward to get some readings off the instrument panel and this action saved her life - she saw the reflection of Miranda Frost in one of the screens. The woman had a sword raised above her head, ready to bring it down on Jinx’s head.
Jinx ducked to one side as Miranda struck. The blade just missed her face but managed to slice off the mouthpiece from her headset. The sword, an eighteenth century Chinese Ken embedded itself in the pilot’s chair. In an uncanny display of speed and co-ordination, Jinx unbuckled her safety belt and ‘walked’ up the instrument panel in front of her in a kind of twisting back-flip, pulling another Sykes-Fairbaim knife from its sheath at the same time.
I Miranda glared at Jinx and pulled the sword out of the chair. She lunged at her adversary again, but Jinx blocked the attack with the hilt of her knife. Miranda swung the Ken horizontally, forcing Jinx to duck and push herself away from the side of the cockpit. The women faced each other with their weapons poised. Jinx could see that Miranda was no amateur with the sword. She handled it with grace, strength and confidence. Jinx wasn’t much of a sword fighter, but she was good with a knife; so good, in fact, that she didn’t consider herself at a disadvantage at all.
‘Come on, girl, if you think you can do it,’ Jinx taunted her.
Down below in the observation bay, Bond was finding himself at a disadvantage. Graves’ gauntlet was a deadly and powerful weapon that was capable of issuing an electric charge from a few feet away. Bond had to work to keep out of its way. The debris in the room, caused by the depressurisation, was not making the job any easier. He had tripped twice on pieces of broken furniture.
Graves moved forward, the brassard glowing ominously. Bond backed up against a panel and spun out of the way just as the jolt blasted the instruments he had been covering just a moment before. But the manoeuvre backfired and Bond lost his balance. Graves had stepped over him and was ready to deliver the finishing blow, when a tremendously bright light filled the observation bay. They both looked out the large window and saw that the plane was about to enter the Icarus beam. Bond shielded his eyes.
The Antonov jerked as if it had hit a wall — a wall of heat and turbulence. It seemed that everything whited out, caught in the incredible brightness of the concentrated light.
Graves was caught off guard and had no time to adjust the brassard as the plane buffeted in the upheaval. He was knocked sideways and into the pedestal that held his bust.
The plane’s nose was hit hard. The cockpit window imploded, blasting the fighting women through the doorway and down the stairs to the gymnasium. Hot glass showered the area and flames licked the inside of the cockpit.
Jinx was stunned, even though a gym mat had broken her fall. Nevertheless, her body felt as if she had been treated by a mad acupuncturist She raised herself off the floor and saw that she was covered with tiny cuts and scrapes from the glass. Miranda was in similar condition and was recovering, from the impact just a few feet away. They stood, retrieved their weapons and prepared to continue the bout. Hot wind stormed through the whited-out gym as the walls caught fire. Jinx took a second knife from the collection in the showcase and now had one in each hand. Miranda shrieked and came at her with the sword, but Jinx blocked the attack Even so, Miranda didn’t let up. She kept charging at her opponent backing her up to a flaming wall. Jinx’s shirt caught fire. Avoiding the swinging sword, she tore off the garment and threw it away. Now dressed in an army T-shirt, she continued to evade Miranda’s offensive with agile leaps and feints.
The observation bay was beginning to fall apart. Rivets popped and panels started to peel, revealing the struts of the airframe. Bond and Graves ignored this and continued to struggle with each other, unhampered by the howling hot wind that was blowing through the plane. Bond punched Graves in the stomach, doubling him over; but before he could deliver another blow to the back of Graves’ head, his opponent zapped Bond’s leg with the gauntlet. The men separated to reclaim ground and breath.
Then the brightness and turbulence ceased as the plane emerged from Icarus’ cone. The sudden change in atmosphere prompted them to take stock of their surroundings. Wind coursed through gaping holes in the hull and a fire raged further back in the plane. The aircraft would surely crash in a matter of minutes.
Graves circled Bond, who attempted to keep clear of the arm. ‘My light is inextinguishable,’ he said. He got around to a storage locker and opened it with his other hand. Several parachutes were hanging inside. He hooked one over his shoulder and let the others fly out of the gaping hole in the side of the plane. They shot backwards at three hundred miles per hour. ‘Whereas yours has just blown out,’ Graves added.
Jinx and. Miranda were unaware that the crippled Antonov, now more skeleton than aircraft, was hurtling unsteadily between the Icarus beam and the vertical firestorm that was still rising from the Demilitarized Zone. As panels peeled off the ceiling, the women moved about the gym equipment, slashing and thrusting their blades at each other. Jinx avoided a powerful swing of the sword by dodging behind the punchbag. Miranda sliced the rope holding it and moved in for the kill. She slashed at Jinx, who ducked, smashing the sword against the bust of Graves. The statue broke, surprising Miranda. Jinx used this opportunity to throw one of her knives, but Miranda quickly responded and blocked it with what was left of her sword, jinx immediately flung the second knife and this time Miranda astonishingly caught it by the blade with her other hand, millimetres from her chest. She glanced up at Jinx and smiled, but she wasn’t expecting Jinx’s powerhouse karate kick that followed, slamming the knife into Miranda’s heart. Miranda gasped and dropped to the floor, desperately clutching to the life that was slipping away from her. Jinx watched, panting, until the woman ceased to move, then turned to see through the unusable remnants of the melted cockpit
The maelstrom of fire was only seconds ahead.
Down below, Graves had strapped the parachute on and was moving towards the opening in the hull.
‘So goodbye,’ he said to Bond. ‘It is your turn to die this time. Life is full of death, James.’
But Bond leapt at Graves, who batted him down with another jolt of power from the gauntlet. Graves laughed until he noticed that Bond was holding on to the parachute’s ripcord. He felt his heart stop as his chute paid out and was caught in the wind barrelling through the nose of the plane. The chute was sucked up the staircase, carrying Graves with it into the gymnasium. The canopy eventually blew out the hole in the roof where a panel was missing. Graves managed to grab the exposed edge of another panel and hung on for dear life. Only one bolt was keeping the panel in place and was threatening to tear free.
Bond slowly ascended the stairs and faced Graves. ‘You were say
ing something about death?’ he asked.
Graves looked ahead and saw the firestorm the plane was about to hit. He stared back at Bond as he understood his fate. Bond reached up and pulled the bolt free. The skin of the plane peeled backwards with Graves still hanging on. He was dragged back along the top of the aircraft, his chute burning up as it flew into the maelstrom, followed by Graves himself. As he was consumed in the flames, the brassard was destroyed and the Icarus light abruptly went out.
22 - Another Day of Life
M and Falco watched from the bunker as the firestorm wavered only a few hundred yards away. Emergency crews had been summoned and were standing by, ready to tackle the onslaught of destruction. Robinson had arranged for immediate evacuation for M and Falco but they had refused to leave. Robinson was about to go over M’s head, to the Prime Minister, for a direct order to leave when suddenly everything changed.
The roar of the burning soil subsided almost as quickly as it had begun. The swirling hot winds and flames died out, leaving trace fires in the path that the beam had taken. Now there was an eerie silence.
Falco exhaled and M allowed herself a smile at what her man had accomplished.
But although the column of swirling fire and smoke had weakened a little at the base, it was still violent at 5000 feet. The decrepit skeleton of the Antonov was still flying, even though half of the panels bad peeled off and flames raged from its rear. Then, amazingly, the aircraft flew out of the hell-cloud.
Bond and Jinx found each other in the gymnasium and hugged.
‘The cockpit’s shot,’ she said.
‘So are the chutes.’
They clung to each other in the jostling wind. The plane creaked horribly as more panels ripped away above them.
'Looks like we’re going down together,’ she said.
Bond remembered something and replied, ‘No time for that. We’ve got a helicopter to catch - before it falls.’
Her eyes widened with understanding.
Bond Movies 07 - Die Another Day Page 16
