Charlie stood and did his best prosecutor pose as he faced Gervais. Jenks allowed the cryptozoologist to have his moment.
“I think it’s time you come to the side of the Lord, Professor. That man you have calling the shots is a maniac sent to cover up the fact that your government, or whoever he works for, has known about this place for a very long time and has sent people here to gather up industrial blue diamonds. For what purpose?”
Gervais clammed up.
Charlie leaned on the table, his hands only inches from the Russian scientist. “You know, I have learned a lot about people by accompanying the very best while they were doing what they do best, discovering who the real bad guys are.” He looked at Jenks, who nodded. “You, my good man, are in the company of very bad people, who in turn are being ordered around by more, even worse people. Why are you here?”
“You know that Salkukoff is here for one reason. He cannot allow anyone to learn the real truth of what’s happening here. He is going to try to kill us all,” Jenks added.
“He will succeed. He always does.”
“Now, was that so hard? Being human is hard sometimes, and I know that for a fact,” Jenks said.
“So, you have been in this dimension before?” Charlie asked, surprised Gervais had given up so readily.
“Yes, twice.” Again, they saw him look at the Russian commando, who was overtly watching them. “Certain elements inside Russia have discovered a new and improved way to destroy mankind. During the rush to find new weaponry for the common good during this outer space incursion, we discovered a way to destroy organic material and leave the surrounding area—buildings, cities, and geological formations—untouched.”
“Neutron physics?” Jenks asked.
“That’s been outlawed by international agreement,” Charlie said, and for some strange reason, that elicited a small laugh from Gervais.
“With industrial diamonds, we can now generate power from a laser platform in space. We can target entire cities or countries. But the power it takes will require abundant industrial blue diamonds to operate. Salkukoff has information on your strange group under the desert and knew that you had recovered every available blue diamond on the planet for Operation Overlord and some other mysterious project in Brooklyn conducted a few weeks back.”
A knowing look between Charlie and Jenks belied the fact that the Russians had an inkling of the Wellsian Doorway. How much they knew, that would be for Colonel Collins and Niles to figure out later.
“Salkukoff and others believe the Americans are on the same trail for the same technology. You are correct in one regard—he knew your group would be coming to the North Atlantic when the Simbirsk mysteriously arrived out of nowhere.”
“And his plan is to…?” Jenks persisted.
“His plan is to discover what you know and then to make assurances you never get back home.”
“What assets from your nation are here?” Charlie asked.
“I don’t know. They don’t take me into their confidence. The two times I came, I was blindfolded and kept in isolation. It seems we were transported by ship, but every time I was allowed to depart, again I was blindfolded. I do know it was a ship, as I am prone to seasickness. That fact they couldn’t hide from me. I am also aware that with the original transport to this world by Simbirsk, she had a well-equipped library. One of the books in that library was one Dr. Ellenshaw mentioned in passing yesterday. It was Treasure Island. Somehow, Salkukoff uses that book, which was found by our aquatic friends, and used it to his advantage. He interfered most assuredly in the development of this species toward an aggressive nature. He uses that pirate nature to secure the diamonds.”
“Come on, Dr. Zhivago, we figured that out when we saw the damn pirate flags on those boats. Now tell us something useful before that maniac kills more innocent people,” Jenks said angrily.
“All I do know is that Salkukoff and his higher management use one species against the other. That they use the indigenous life-forms here to gather the diamonds for transport back to our dimension. One group gathers; the other group secures and then transfers the diamonds to their new masters.”
“So, you people have enslaved one group and given power over them to another. Do you ever stop and think before you do something as shameful as slavery, no matter what the cause is?” Charlie looked at Gervais, and Jenks could see that the kind and gentle cryptozoologist was furious. “All of this for gathering the science to kill your fellow man?” Charlie said with indignant outrage.
“Professor, why do you suppose the villagers greeted us with caution but not outright fear?”
“Because they are your slaves, and they were used to seeing men from our world in theirs,” Charlie said as things started to fit. “They dig the diamonds, and the aquatic species keeps them in line. Amazing inhumanity.”
Gervais hung his head. His shame was apparent. “I believe the mission here is coming to an end. Salkukoff and his people have grown paranoid that their mission has been compromised. They are still far short of acquiring enough of the diamonds for any extensive weaponization purposes, but they have decided the risk of exposure is now too great to continue. Now, that’s all I know, gentlemen.”
Jenks looked at Charlie. “That’s all we’re going to get from Mr. Wizard here.” Jenks slapped the small man on the back hard. “Thanks, you sniveling little coward.”
Gervais now knew he had been ambushed by the Americans. Once more he looked up, and he saw that the Russian commando had vanished.
“Looks like the cat will be out of the bag soon enough, Doc.” Jenks also saw that their guard had vanished. It was obvious the Russian commando had more important things to report to Salkukoff. “I hope you have a good reason ready as to why you spilled your guts.”
Charlie paused and looked down at Gervais.
“You make me ashamed of being a scientist. Our jobs are to explain and teach the rest of the world to everyone. Here you have enslaved a gorgeous people and raped their land so you can possibly kill other innocents.” He slammed his hands down on the table. “You deserve what’s coming to you.”
Jenks puffed on his cigar and then paused at the spot the commando had occupied moments earlier.
“You have an offer of sanctuary aboard the Shiloh. I suggest you make use of it.”
Jenks and Ellenshaw left the professor alone to contemplate his future.
* * *
Jenks and Charlie reported to Jack and Carl. His suspicions were confirmed, and as he looked out over the violet seas, he knew the Russians had an unknown phase shift asset out there somewhere. He turned and faced his two intrepid interrogators.
“So, these sea creatures are attacking us and the villagers in support of the Russian game here? And you are convinced the Russians already have what amounts to an occupation force? And he now has a suspicion that Salkukoff is finished with this little experiment and is packing it in?”
“According to Gervais,” Jenks offered.
“Radar from neither Shiloh nor Peter the Great has shown anything that could be considered an asset here, Jack—no ships, no aircraft,” Carl reminded him.
“A nearby island?” he asked.
“Not that shows up on radar. Compton’s Reef is the only substantial island for seven hundred miles that our limited resources can tell,” Carl explained. “There is an above-water reef thirty miles to the southwest. Coral mostly. We’ll get the drone to overfly it as soon as we can. That may well be a place for our Russians to hide. Now we know why Salkukoff wants the Simbirsk back so badly. They need it for this occupation force to get home with their plunder.”
“Could they be hidden on the island we just visited?”
“Possible, but improbable,” Charlie said. “Those people were not concerned about us because they were used to seeing men of our dimension because of the Russian incursion. They would have guided us to that element if they had them there, thinking at the very least we were together. They are too innocent to be any sort of ally
in this.”
“I agree,” Jack said, lightly hitting Ellenshaw on the arm as he moved past him. “Okay, we have some time to track this Russian element down. Until then, we have two problems. One, how can we defend these ships against the force of aquatic attackers we faced last night? Two, can we discover if Kreshenko and his crew are a part of this? If not, do they have an inkling of what is really happening not only here but in their own country?”
“My suspicion is that no one in the Russian military is aware of this secret society that runs things over there. Kreshenko believes his orders still originate in Moscow. We know that they don’t, but do he and his crew?”
They turned and saw Henri Farbeaux as he stepped in from the shadows.
“Can Kreshenko and his men be convinced that he is on the wrong side of this?” Jack asked the only man in the world who knew this form of criminality.
“My honest evaluation?” Henri asked as he looked at the strange sea surrounding Simbirsk.
“If that’s possible,” Carl said as he jabbed Farbeaux one more time.
“Sometimes it is, Captain, but rarely,” the Frenchman said as he turned back to face the group of Americans. “I must stay true to form, at least in Captain Everett’s opinion, and say we cannot take that chance. Peter the Great and her crew are now the enemy no matter which way you play this. Kreshenko will follow his orders. The same orders I have for Colonel Salkukoff must apply to all Russian military personnel from this point on.”
“What are you saying?” Charlie asked, almost afraid of the answer.
“What he’s saying, Doc, is that Peter the Great and her entire crew have to meet the same fate as the man they answer to, and that is to eliminate them all if possible,” Jack answered for Henri. “See what you can do, Henri. I don’t relish the thought of a sea battle here and now. We have to find a way to convince the Russian Navy of our intent to save their lives.”
“And the hidden asset they have in this dimension. Even if we convince Kreshenko, they all have to be destroyed and all access to these blue diamonds removed. Whatever that asset is, they may have extensive firepower. The one advantage we have is the fact we know they need the Simbirsk.”
“One little flaw in these theories, gentlemen, is the fact that these so-called allies from the sea attempted to burn Simbirsk. Why would they do that unless our friend Salkukoff had another way home?”
Henri had just thrown the proverbial wrench in the works by saying what everyone else had overlooked.
“My God,” Ellenshaw said aloud.
“In my experience, Professor Ellenshaw, God has very little to do with what we do for a living. He abandoned men like us long ago.”
Henri Farbeaux walked away after giving them all the hard truth of the day.
Jack faced Jenks, Carl, and Charlie. He saw Ryan approach. He looked hot and sweaty. He stepped up to Collins.
“What did you find out, Jason?”
“Well, you won’t believe it. It’s like visiting a wartime museum down there. Colonel, this ship is packed full of ordnance. The damn Russians never removed a thing.”
“Are you going to let us in on it or what?” Jenks asked.
“I sent Mr. Ryan on a small tour of the facilities on Simbirsk. Tell them, Jason.”
“The turrets are fully functional. They have over a thousand rounds of sixteen-inch projectiles in her magazines. High and dry, and fully functional, and as deadly as the day the old Soviet Union made them.”
“What does that mean?” Ellenshaw asked.
“It means, Doc, we now have something a little more substantial in case we need it, either against our fish-faced pirate friends or…” Everett just nodded toward the anchored Peter the Great.
Charlie Ellenshaw walked away, shaking his head. Collins knew the old hippie well enough to see what was coming.
“Where does this madness end?”
Not one of the career military men had answers to Charlie’s question, especially Jack Collins.
He was also not the only one to know that the United States and Russia were already in a state of war.
16
LOS ANGELES–CLASS ATTACK SUBMARINE USS HOUSTON
Captain Thorne pushed the cushioned headphones harder onto his ears as he tried in vain to hear what it was his experienced sonar men were hearing. He cocked his head and then shook it.
“I don’t hear anything that doesn’t sound like static.”
“It was there, Skipper. We heard it on three different occasions.”
Thorne removed the headphones and looked at his sonar officer. “Are you sure it wasn’t whales or something else biologic?”
“Computers say no. Our program eliminated biologics almost immediately. It says mechanical.”
“Surface?”
“We don’t know, Skipper. But it seems it has a pattern. Possibly search and then silence. We just don’t know.”
“Keep on it. It may be a moot point if we don’t get those ballast pumps operational.”
“Yes, sir.”
Thorne left the sonar suite and found XO Devers. He guided him into the mess where he sat down at a table. The cooks were busy, and they were alone.
“What do you think?” Devers asked after he himself had reported the spotty contact earlier.
“It makes my decision not to release the emergency tracking buoy and transponder look brilliant. It’s a good thing we didn’t if we have a hostile close aboard.”
“Agreed. It was a stroke of luck you waited until our situation was dire enough to tell the world we were sunk—of which that aforementioned situation is fast becoming, by the way.”
Thorne smiled at Devers.
“Well, let’s take our minds off our mysterious visitors until we can do something about it.”
Suddenly, there was movement as Houston began to once more slide down along the diminishing shelf. Thorne grimaced as the noise of scraping steel against sand and rock sent shivers down the spine of all who heard it. Both officers grabbed the tabletop and held on. Their bodies swayed in a sudden stop as Houston’s bow caught on something and her slide was arrested. Both officers let out a pent-up breath.
“Now that, Skipper, is hard to take your mind off of.”
Thorne just nodded.
The time USS Houston needed to save herself was sliding away faster than their slow ride down the mountainside.
KIROV-CLASS BATTLE CRUISER SIMBIRSK
Jack was belowdecks with Carl and Jason and their ever-present company of Russian commandos who watched their every move. They had not seen Colonel Salkukoff in three hours. Kreshenko reported that “His Majesty” had retired for the afternoon. Jack suspected he was missing for other reasons, but since the crew of Shiloh was prohibited from access to the old Russian cruiser, there wasn’t much he could do about it. The personnel he had aboard was all he could expect. With the Russian captain Kreshenko still a mystery, they knew they couldn’t take him into any confidence or suspicion they had.
“There they are,” Ryan said as he raised the heavy steel gate to show them the Simbirsk’s firepower.
Everett whistled. “Now that’s old-school stuff there, Jack.”
The sixteen-inch projectiles were lined and stacked on pallets. They were secured by heavy bands of steel bracing and looked as deadly as ever. A thousand shells filled the reinforced magazine.
“The powder bags are stored over there and seem to be high and dry,” Ryan said as he pointed to another powder magazine. “They also have .50-caliber and twenty-millimeter ammunition, enough to invade a small country. That’s not even mentioning the five-inch shells for the six mounts on deck.”
“Evidently, the old girl never got a chance to fire on that Nazi sub she encountered,” Jack said as he closed and secured the magazine.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking here, Jack?” Carl said as he opened the powder magazine storage locker. He stepped back and whistled again as over four thousand silk powder bags were covered in a heavy tarp.
“I think I am. This could be our only fallback in making sure Simbirsk never sees her home again.”
“Hopefully after we hitch a ride home on her, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves here,” Jason said with not a smile near his mouth.
The old-fashioned alarm bell sounded throughout the empty bowels of the old cruiser. The three Americans quickly gained the stairs and climbed to the upper decks. The four Russian commandos were right behind them.
The sun was bright and beat down upon the one hundred men who had been transferred over from Peter the Great and now lined the rails, manning AK-47s and the Simbirsk’s old twenty-millimeter guns. Jack went to the railing and looked out over the seas at where the excitement seemed to stem.
“Look at that,” Jenks said as he joined them, wiping his hands on another old rag. Ellenshaw was with him and had to remove his glasses and clean them in order to see the magnificent sight before them.
Coming in from the north was the fishing fleet at full sail. The colors were amazing. Jack turned as more excitement erupted behind them. They ran around turret number two and went to the starboard side. There had to be at least another fifty boats with full loads of women and children heading toward the anchored Simbirsk, Shiloh, and Peter the Great.
Jack was in awe of the native spectacle. They could hear music—flutes, small drums, and gaiety. Collins smiled, and then he heard one of the Russian sailors charge his AK-47, and as Jack watched the young man, he raised the assault rifle to his shoulder. The colonel easily reached out and gently lowered the raised barrel. Other sailors saw this, and they too relaxed.
“Easy. I don’t think they’re sending their wives and children out to attack.”
The Russian sailor smiled, then faltered, and then the large American slapped him on the shoulder with a wink.
“Can’t blame the Ruskies for being a little shaky. After all, they’ve all seen those other ones up close,” Jenks said as he turned to Charlie. “They make our pirates from the storybooks look like pussies.”
“By the ‘other ones,’ I suppose you mean what seems to be the dominant species here?”
Beyond the Sea--An Event Group Thriller Page 25
