“So where and when do I use them?"
“As soon as you've sent the alert to Houston and have got us linked with a surveillance bird, I want you take these upstairs and lock yourself in the crew quarters with Johnston and the client. If they make past me, you'll be on your own, and most likely they'll start cutting through the door with a torch. When they do, just let them cut away and slap one these babies on the door behind the cut. When they're finished cutting, they'll try to kick in and then they'll be in for a hell of a surprise.
“You've got ten of these self-welding braces which should buy you plenty enough time if they make it past me and Joe. If not, don't open the door until I give you the all clear."
Danielle picked up one of the self-welding braces and examined it. “Damn, but you're good,” she said admiringly.
“That's why you pay me the big bucks,” he replied.
As the sound of Joe climbing back down the tunnel ladder echoed in the small control room he jerked his thumb up towards the crew quarters and asked in a low voice, “by the way, do you have to sleep with that slimeball?"
“Not after today,” she replied tersely as Joe appeared at the accessway, stringing out a line of fiber optic behind him.
“Give me two more minutes,” Joe announced, “and we'll be online."
* * * *
CAPTAIN COHEN HAD assigned Staff Sergeant Alexei Gladkov and Sergeant Major Shalom Mordechai to take Darkazani alive, while he and the other commandos took out the resting peacekeepers and Euro mercs.
Crouched at the edge of the minefield with a clear view of Darkazani's small portable building, Cohen noticed the flicker of Darkazani's cigarette lighter, followed by intermittent glowing of his cigarette as he inhaled.
“Alexei, Darkazani is awake and smoking in bed,” Cohen said softly in to his microphone. “Do you think you can you still take him alive?"
“We'll try our best,” Sergeant Gladkov replied softly.
The young Israeli captain looked at the time display in his monocle. Vigo and Charlie would open fire in a less than a minute. As the seconds ticked down, he regretted that Violetta was unable to carry a second cylinder of sleeping gas for Darkazani's quarters but that added mass of a second cylinder had been deemed an unacceptable risk and it would have forced her to walk a considerable distance out in the open and in plain view of the two peacekeepers on top of the bunker roof.
However, Darkazani was smoking in bed, which meant that he would need time to react. It was better than nothing. “Alexei, you and Shalom will have to do your best. Remember, we came here to take him alive. With what he knows, we can save a lot of lives back home."
“Acknowledged,” The sergeant replied. “Standing by.” Cohen looked at his watch again as the last five seconds ticked by.
* * * *
JEFFREY HELD UP his hand and clenched it twice, to let Vigo, Anthony and Charlie know the silo had been cut off from all landlines to the outside world. Likewise, the above ground buildings had all been cut off and every lockdown mechanism in the silo had been neutralized.
Anthony was already working a portable camera that Jeffrey had placed on the rise the night before. He whispered into his microphone, “The Syrians on top of the building are walking away from us now. Go!"
Vigo and Charlie climbed quickly up the rise and situated themselves behind their Barrett M82A1, semi-automatic 50 caliber sniper rifles with fully loaded ten round magazines. Charlie put his first roof top target in the crosshairs, as Vigo searched for the senior Syrian peacekeeper in the guardhouse through his scope.
The night had already had its tricky and unpleasant surprises, but not all surprises are bad. The Syrian at the gate had walked off to one side to urinate on the fence. It was an ideal moment of distraction. Vigo put the senior commander's face in his crosshairs and pulled the trigger. The huge rifle slammed back into his shoulder as the black tipped armor piercing 2.31” long 50 caliber bullet sped through night at over 2800 feet per second. The Syrian peacekeeper had been looking in Vigo's direction and the bullet made a relevantly small hole in the front of the head, tearing out the back of his head and splattering his brains on the ground.
The second Syrian at the fence heard the impact and was trying to zip his fly when Vigo's second shot hit him in the throat, and, save for a dangling mass of tissue, had decapitated the man. At the same time, Charlie's first shot caught the peacekeeper furthest from him in the chest. The large caliber bullet tore through the man's expensive synthetic spider silk vest and began plowing through his chest, tearing his heart and lungs apart like a berserk rototiller.
As the kinetic force of the impact sent the first roof top guard's body sailing through the air, the other guard instinctively lifted his rifle to his shoulder. Before he could pull the trigger, however, Charlie's second round caught him at the base of his throat and his headless body fell to the roof, still holding onto the rifle.
Captain Shai Cohen had been watching from the other side of the silo entrance. Four shots. Four kills. He respected that kind of efficiency. He keyed up his microphone. “For French Hill.” His men began moving quickly past the guardhouse, following their preplanned paths, into the complex.
In the lead were Alexei Gladkov and Shalom Mordechai, and they moved at a fast gait towards Darkazani's quarters as Shai Cohen and the other commandos headed towards the larger building.
After covering all the entrances, Shai and his men slipped on their respirators and drew silenced PPK 10mm caseless pistols. On Shai's signal, he and his men entered through both doors of the building.
As Gladkov and Mordechai positioned themselves next to Darkazani's door, they could hear familiar faint puffs of silenced pistol fire as Shai and his men stepped quickly from bed to bed, shooting each of the drugged occupants twice in the head. After a few moments, Shai opened the blinds of a window facing Darkazani's private quarters and whispered in his microphone, “first position is secure."
As Mordechai pulled the pin on his stun grenade, Gladkov reached towards the door knob on Darkazani's door. Before he could turn the knob, the bark of a Kalashnikov AK-103k carbine tore through the night. Firing wildly, Darkazani emptied his thirty round clip in one sustained burst as the two commandos dropped immediately to the ground.
One bullet ripped through Gladkov's hand and several others peppered the outside wall of the second building, three of which struck Shai Cohen; two were stopped by his flak jacket, but one managed to shatter his right arm just above the elbow.
Estimating that Darkazani was standing behind the door, Mordechai fired a long burst a foot above the ground from his silenced Galil SAR that sent a stream of thirty-five 5.56mm NATO rounds through the wall, door and Darkazani's legs.
The Syrian commander fell to the floor in a crash, wailing with pain as Gladkov kicked the door open. Mordechai then tossed his stun grenade through the door. The sound of the exploding grenade was the last sound of the above ground assault as the two Israeli commandos charged the through the door and then gagged and shackled the stunned Syrian as he lay bleeding on the floor of his room.
* * * *
STILL FEELING THE effects of jet lag after being assigned to his new duty station in Houston, the Turkish Peacekeeper assault team duty officer rang his unit commander's private phone.
The commander rolled over in his bed and punched the talk button. “Bazoglu."
“Excuse me, Colonel, but we have another class one alert at silo fourteen at Fort Hood."
“Is this another one of Darkazani's crazy drills?” he fumed.
“No, sir,” the duty officer replied. “The alert call came in from a UNE employee by the name of Danielle Peters over an unassigned MILSATCOM satellite frequency. I checked the procedures and cleared her authentication code through Geneva."
Colonel Bazoglu quickly sat up in bed, “How long has it been since you got the call?"
“They called in exactly twelve minutes ago. It took me over ten minutes to authenticate their code with Gene
va because they also requested a direct mission link with the American surveillance satellite network. That link is now complete and they are presently receiving live lookdown images at the silo."
“Damn!” Bazoglu spat. “Alert the whole command! This is not a drill; I repeat this is not a drill! I also want all the Ospreys plus the gunships. Do it now; I'll hold."
The duty officer's hands quickly flew across the touch screen on his console and within seconds, Bazoglu could hear the alert sirens going off. “Now put me through to the Fort Hood duty officer."
“Yes sir,” the duty officer replied snappily. “I'm putting you through right now."
After what seemed an interminable wait, he heard a young woman's voice, “Duty Officer Lieutenant Kathy Sullivan."
“Lieutenant Sullivan, this is Colonel Bazoglu of the UNE special forces detachment based in Houston. We have a class one alert at our missile field; silo fourteen. We are enroute, and we need your assistance."
“I'll notify the air field, sir and clear your arrival. Please remember to file a flight plan."
“When I said assistance lieutenant, I didn't mean just a landing clearance. I want you to get your troops out there immediately."
“I'm not authorized to do that, Colonel,” the lieutenant politely replied.
“Don't you know what a class one alert is, you stupid bitch? Our silo is under attack."
This time the lieutenant's voice was stern, “Sir, there is no need to be rude! If you wish to persist in this manner, you're welcome to contact the post commander after he arrives at his office this morning."
The frustrated Turkish commander slapped the top his head as he gathered patience. “Very well lieutenant. I'm asking you politely to send troops immediately to silo fourteen. Do you copy?"
“Of course I do."
“Well, are you going to send them?"
“As you know, sir, that area is under the sovereign control of the UNE and I'm not authorized to send armed troops into that area; nor, may I add, is our post commander until he is ordered to do so directly by the President, himself. But as soon as we get the word, rest assured that we'll be glad to help."
“Don't give me this nonsense. People are dying out there, you stupid bitch,” Bazoglu screamed into the phone.
“Sir, I thought we had achieved an understanding that we would conduct our conversation in a civil tone. Perhaps you would prefer to speak with the base commander after he arrives at his office this morning."
Bazoglu growled angrily. “When I'm finished with you, lieutenant, you'll be cleaning the filthiest toilets in Ecuador.” He slammed his fist on the call cancel button and then punched the auto dial button for his duty officer.
After the line went dead, Lieutenant Kathy Sullivan pulled off her headset and took a deep breath. “Well, he's sure in a snit."
Standing behind her, General George Hennicker rested a hand on her shoulder and casually said, “Sure seems that way Lieutenant. By the way, you did a good job.” She looked back over her shoulder at the amused general with an equally self-satisfied smile.
* * * *
TANYA AND HER team in the second SUV heard the report of Darkazani's Kalashnikov and the detonation of the stun grenade. Things had not gone as smoothly as planned and they wondered if a hail of soldiers and peacekeepers would soon descend upon them.
Tanya's first fear was that Anthony had been wounded or even worse. Not knowing was the worst part and she could feel her heart racing until she heard his voice in her earpiece. “Move in, Tanya. We've taken down all the ground level nasties and now we're going into the silo, but we've got three wounded including Shai."
“On our way.” Tanya turned to Ann-Marie. “Step on it."
* * * *
ANTHONY GAVE VIGO a thumbs-up sign to let him know that Tanya and her team was on the way. Silently taking the lead, Vigo led Anthony and Charlie around the outside of the minefield to the drive leading to the silo entrance. The paused alongside the drive as Tanya's SUV rushed past them.
Tanya caught a brief glimpse of Anthony waving them on, feeling a sense of relief as their SUV crashed through the red and white striped gate. As the splintered wood flew backwards above the SUV, Tanya quickly spotted the body of the senior Syrian peacekeeper plopped up against the far wall, with his head dangling down his chest.
Mordechai was standing guard over Darkazani as two other commandos carried Shai Cohen out to the drive. Ann-Marie brought the SUV to a stop and everyone inside jumped out with medical kits in-hand.
Dr. Boole and Tanya ran first to Shai, as he ordered Ann-Marie to tend to Darkazani's wounds.
Shai was bleeding profusely and in great pain because the bullet had begun to spin on impact doing a considerable amount of damage to the muscles in his right arm. To Boole's relief, the bullet had missed his brachial artery by only a few millimeters. The rest was manageable he reasoned as began treating the wound. “We can save the arm Captain, but I'm afraid you'll have to choose another line of work,” he said as he gave him an injection of morphine to control the pain.
The young captain tried to push the needle away. “I need to keep sharp,” he said with a strained expression.
Standing by his side, Sergeant Major Michael Levy took hold of his hand. “Shai, our job is basically finished. I can take it from here.” He looked over at Boole and nodded towards the needle. With waves of pain burning through his arm, Shai knew he was useless and let Boole give him the injection. As he felt the effect of the drug, he could only think with deep regret that he could not join Vigo and Anthony for the assault into the silo.
The world was becoming fuzzy, but he strained at two last commands. “Doctor, please see to Gladkov's wound.” His head turned limply towards Levy. “Michael, set up a defensive perimeter. Vigo and his team will be going down the main stairwell in the center of the complex, but make sure we cover the emergency shaft exits from the control dome and the missile bay to each side.” His voice began to slur noticeably. “Also, get someone to bring in the second SUV so that ... we.” His head fell limply into Tanya's hands. The words “get going,” strained past his lips as his eyes closed.
Levy, Cohen's second in command, left his commander in the capable care of Tanya and Boole and began snapping orders to the other commandos in a calm but firm voice. “Nir, you cover the missile bay exit. Shalom, you cover the command room exit. Alexei, you get the other SUV in here. We'll put Shai and Darkazani in it."
Ann-Marie had just finished cleaning the wound on Gladkov's hand and was wrapping a field dressing around it. “In a moment,” he answered.
“Good; as soon as you can."
As Michael Levy ran past the gatehouse, he met Anthony, Vigo, Jeffrey and Charlie jogging at a brisk trot through the main gate. Anthony stopped and looked at Shai, who was now unconscious. “Anything we can do?” he asked.
“Yes,” Tanya replied without looking up. “Someone go and get a stretcher out of the SUV."
“I'll do it,” Jeffrey immediately volunteered.
“Make it two,” Ann-Marie added.
“Got it."
As LeBlanc ran to the back of the SUV, Ann-Marie kneeled down next to Boole. “Darkazani's got a flesh wound in the right leg, but the left caught three rounds below the knee. It's really shredded. I set a tourniquet, gave him morphine and started an I.V. drip; you really need to look at that left leg."
“You're fast,” Boole replied.
“We try. What about Captain Cohen's arm?"
“It's pretty bad but it can be saved,” Boole answered as LeBlanc returned with the stretchers. “I'll take a look at the Syrian when I'm finished here."
Vigo took stock of the situation and tapped Anthony on the shoulder. “They've got the situation under control, but with Shai and Gladkov down, it looks like its time for plan B. You, Charlie and me are going in. Just don't try to be a hero, OK?"
“Don't worry about me,” Anthony replied.
Vigo handed him Shai Cohen's special VR headset, whic
h was connected with LeBlanc's nanobot controller. “Since you and Andrea are so chummy, you'll be our sensor man down in the silo."
Anthony nodded as Vigo and Charlie snapped night vision monocles onto their helmets.
“Anthony, I'll go first and then Charlie. You follow behind, and keep telling us what you're seeing in your monocle. Be careful; things could get pretty hectic down there especially with Johnston in the silo. Anthony, let's do a check. Tell me what you're seeing."
Vigo and Charlie watched Anthony's head as it moved back and forth, up and down in a methodical scanning pattern. “These surveillance microbots are about as blind as bees, but I can spot what appear to be large human blobs if you will. Right now, I'm seeing two people in the control room and one in the level below it."
“That's the engineering level. No doubt, the guy is trying to get the silo lockdown systems and communications back online."
“I do not see anyone in the missile bay at the other end of the complex."
LeBlanc spoke up. “Anthony, we've only got sensor nanobots in the control room, engineering room, central elevator shaft, central storage room and the connecting tunnel between there and the crew quarters and control room dome. Sorry, but we're blind when it comes to the missile bay and the crew quarters. There is only so much we could do."
“That's OK,” Anthony replied. “We've got a clear path down the main stairwell, through the storage room, the access tunnel to the control room and perhaps even the storage room itself. Let's get going before the mercs head for the center of the complex."
* * * *
JOHN-PIERRE AND DANIELLE had lucked into an orbiting surveillance satellite just as its footprint was passing over Fort Hood and their silo. “These bastards are good,” John-Pierre muttered to himself as he pointed to the infrared images of Vigo, Charlie and Anthony jogging towards the main silo entrance. “Only three,” he asked himself. “Either they're nuts or they've got an edge we don't know about. Either way, they'll be here in about five minutes."
“So what do we do now?” Danielle asked as she picked up two handfuls of self-welding braces.
Godschild Covenant: Return of Nibiru Page 58
