Ice Rift - Salvage: An Action Adventure Sci-Fi Horror in Antarctica
Page 32
Richard had regained consciousness to the sound of gunfire and had watched the Hunter's demise. He looked at his arm bent at an impossible angle, the bloody splintered bone protruding from his leg, and even though shock barely dulled the pain, he smiled. He had survived.
“Are you okay, Jack?” enquired Jane, as she rushed over. She let Sawyer's weapon clatter to the ground and held Jack's arm.
Jack smiled at her. “Thanks to you I am. Will you marry me?”
Jane looked at him in shock. “What?”
“Will you marry me? I don't have a ring yet, but I promise I'll buy you a nice one.”
Jane glanced around the ship at the wounded and the carnage. “Your idea of a romantic setting needs some work, but yes, Jack, I will.”
They kissed.
“Before you two starting planning the wedding, I could do with some help here,” called out Miller, using the rail to pull himself upright.
“And me,” called out Ramirez, who had dragged himself across the deck to find out the fate of his friend.
“Don't worry about me,” called out Richard, raising his good arm weakly. “I'm not one to complain.” He flashed them all a broad smile.
Jane looked at the man who excelled in complaining. “That knock on the head must have caused some serious damage.”
Jack smiled and gave Jane a peck on the lips. “Come on, let's round up the wounded and then we can find somewhere private to relax.”
*****
The oily black splotches on the side of the Spasatel Kuznetsov, gone unnoticed by the Russian crew, resisted the lashing waves' attempts to pull them into its cold depths, slithered across the cold steel hull and oozed together like puddles of mercury. When all had become one, the small, black, greasy blob―a mere fraction of its former self―crawled up the side of the ship, onto the deck and looked for somewhere it could conceal itself.
After everyone aboard the American vessel had recovered from the shock of the carnage, the remainder of the Starlight's voyage to America was uneventful. Its precious cargo was unloaded at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, and under the cover of darkness transported to a secret location.
Jane, Jack, Lucy and Richard were returned to England, and three months later Jane and Jack were married.
Though the conspiracy diehards claimed a second Roswell cover-up had been instigated by the American government to hide the truth and that the Antarctic spaceship and the alien monsters were real, a series of photographs, YouTube videos and various blog articles that appeared on the Internet over the coming weeks shed uncertainty on the validity of Richard's sensational story.
Richard's plan to profit from his experiences in the Antarctic petered away with the loss of Little Lucifer, the only substantial proof he had his story was real. Clinton Smythe stopped returning his phone calls, and Richard's pleas for the others who had witnessed some of the events to corroborate his stories fell on deaf ears. Unable to stand the continuous ridicule he received in public and at the speaking engagements he personally set up, Richard shunned publicity and once more slipped into obscurity.
As the Spasatel Kuznetsov pulled into port, a large black car pulled alongside the wharf. When the ship had been moored and the gangplank lowered, two men climbed out of the car and boarded the vessel. Captain Brusilov met them at the top and placed the two alien weapons in the metal suitcase handcuffed to one of the men's wrist. As they turned away without a word and headed for the gangplank, a small black blob slithered unseen onto the suitcase-carrying man's shoe.
Brusilov watched the men until they had climbed back into their car and driven away, and then returned to his cabin to wait for those to arrive who would debrief him and the crew before it was decided if their mission had been a success or a failure. The outcome of that decision would determine if they received praise or punishment.
After a long drive the car turned onto a small road that stretched across the cold Siberian tundra, passed through the first of five checkpoints stationed with armed guards along the road's fifty-mile route and continued on its journey. At the road's end, the driver steered the car through the gates of the security-fenced compound and pulled to a stop alongside an unassuming agricultural building. The man with the suitcase climbed out, shivered from the biting wind that assaulted him and crossed hurriedly to the door. He stared briefly at the camera focused on him until a buzzing signalled the unlocking of the door. He entered, crossed the vacant dusty room and stepped into a small chamber. Once the door was closed, the elevator carried him deep below ground.
The man stepped out of the elevator, walked along the drab gray-painted corridor and passed through the final security check. He entered a modern room where a group of white-clad scientists waited, placed the suitcase on the table they were gathered around and unlocked it. The scientists stared excitedly at the alien weapons before one of them removed them from the case. As the other scientists huddled round the weapons and the man closed the suitcase, the black blob slid from the man's shoe and slithered across the room to hide in the shadows until EV1L had decided on its next move.
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Coming Soon
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THE 13TH TREASURE SHIP
RETURN TO CASTLE DRACULA
BEACON 666
SPACEWRECK
THE GOBLINS CURSE - DEAD DRAGONS GOLD 2
LOST PYRATE TREASURE - BUTLER CRONICLES 2
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