Area 51: The Mission-3 (33 page)

Baldrick was staring at the needle. He finally spoke. "You can't do that to me."

Yakov laughed harshly. "I can do it without a second thought. You're an animal that deserves to die if you were in on the making of this thing." He pressed the tip of the needle against Baldrick's neck.

A nerve on the side of Baldrick's face twitched. His eyes were turned, watching the needle.

"Just a prick," Yakov whispered, "and you're infected."

The needle began pressing down on the skin.

"Take it away," Baldrick hissed.

Turcotte leaned forward into the other man's face. "You work for The Mission?"

"I work for them, but I'm not one of them," Baldrick said. "There are only a couple."

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"Them?" Turcotte asked.

"Guides?" Yakov interjected.

"Yes," Baldrick said.

"Is there a vaccine?" Kenyon asked.

"No."

Yakov frowned. "But you've been exposed!" He pulled the needle back slightly.

"Is there a cure?"

Baldrick looked away.

"Answer the man, you son of a bitch!" Toland yelled.

Baldrick looked around the habitat. Half the people there already had the beginnings of black welts on parts of their bodies that could be seen.

"Is there a cure?" Yakov demanded one more time.

Baldrick looked the Russian in the eyes. "Yes. There's a cure."

Yakov nodded. "And once you are exposed to the Black Death, and then cured, you'll be immune. Dangerous living, my friend. If you don't get back to The Mission on time, you're dead like us."

"Where is The Mission?" Turcotte asked.

"I cannot tell you that," Baldrick said.

Yakov put the needle back at the man's neck. 'Where is The Mission?"

Baldrick smiled. He jumped forward, the needle tearing at his neck. He grabbed the MP-5 Kenyon had leaned against a case. As he brought it to bear, Turcotte shot him once in the upper right arm, knocking him back. He still struggled to bring the gun up.

"Stop!" Turcotte yelled.

But Baldrick ignored the order. The muzzle swung through horizontal. Turcotte's finger twitched on the trigger, but he hesitated to fire again, knowing they needed Baldrick alive.

Toland reached for the gun and Baldrick fired, hitting the mercenary in the chest and killing him. The muzzle

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kept going up, and Turcotte realized what he was going to do. Turcotte jumped forward, but Baldrick pulled the trigger once more a half a second before Turcotte could grab the gun.

The round went up through the mouth and blew off the top of Baldrick's head.

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-21-

It was an intricate and very difficult task that the Endeavor was trying to accomplish. First, the mothership was slowly tumbling. Second, both it and the shuttle were moving relative to Earth. Third, the shuttle had to approach on the side of the gash and try to grab hold of the side with its fifty-foot manipulator arm at such stow relative speeds to ensure that the arm held and wasn't ripped off.

The crew of the Endeavor and those at NASA knew all these difficulties. But the history of America's space program had been full of long shots, and once those involved were briefed on the stakes, there had been no question that the mission would be accepted.

But, as expected, as the Endeavor maneuvered close to the mothership, the first pass didn't succeed. This had been anticipated.

A second pass was attempted. And failed, the end of the fifty-foot arm missing the rip in the mothership's side by a hundred meters—a relatively tiny distance given the scale of the maneuvers, but a tremendously large one given the length of the arm.

The point of no return had been reached. A third pass was attempted, the crew—and those running the mission on the ground—now knew that Endeavor did not have enough fuel to return to Earth.

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The third one worked. Barely. The arm grabbed hold of the edge of the blasted-out black metal and the claw on the end locked down. The shuttle swung around on the end of the arm, bumping against the side of the massive alien ship, bouncing off. then coming to rest.

Within minutes, the boarding team, led by Lieutenant Osebold, was preparing to space-walk in their TASC-suits to enter the mothership.

"We made the decision during planning to have both shuttles take as many passes as needed to link up. regardless of their fuel situation," Kopina said.

"We're prepping some Titan rockets with fuel payloads. They won't be ready for a couple of days, but we will get the payloads up and we will get Endeavor down."

"So they're stuck?" Duncan asked.

Duncan nodded. "It's mainly a psychological problem. They have enough air, water, and food to last three weeks."

"They could also fly the mothership back down," Duncan noted.

Kopina looked at her. "That's a possibility, but not one that has been approved yet."

"What does approval matter if they have control of the ship?" Duncan asked.

Kopina shifted her attention to the other screen. "Columbia has visual on the talon," she announced. "Let's hope they have better luck on linkup. Columbia is carrying more fuel than Endeavor because not only do they have to catch the talon, they then have to maneuver it to the mothership. So there was a sacrifice in payload so she could take more fuel into orbit.

"I'm putting Columbia's cockpit intercom on speaker," Kopina said as she flipped a switch.

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A woman's voice filled the room. "Range three hundred meters, closing at relative four mps."

"That's Colonel Egan, the pilot of Columbia," Kopina said.

Duncan could see the talon on the screen in front of her. Unlike the mothership, it wasn't tumbling, at least as far as she could tell. "How come the talon seems to be stable?" she asked.

"'We noticed that a day or two ago," Kopina said. "Best guess is that there was some internal shifting inside that counteracted the initial rotation."

"How can that be?" Duncan asked.

"Any one of a lot of things," Kopina said. "An internal bulkhead giving way.

Shifting of liquid inside of tanks. A system can degrade over time."

"But it happened in such a way to exactly counteract the original rotation?"

Turcotte asked.

"Not exactly," Kopina said. "There's still some yaw and pitch. Hey, let's be thankful for small favors. If it was still tumbling like it was initially, it would practically be impossible for Columbia to get close."

"Two hundred meters," Egan said. "Closing at three mps. Adjusting and slowing.

"

The talon, although nowhere near as large as the mothership, still dwarfed the shuttle. The lean, black ship was over two hundred meters long and thirty meters in diameter at its thickest point. It was slightly bent to one side, giving the appearance of a very large black claw.

"One hundred meters. One meter per second. Rotating cargo bay to face target."

"They're putting the arm closest to the talon," Kopina explained. The camera view shifted. They were now looking up out of the cargo bay of the Columbia. The talon was a lean dark shape filling the space above

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the shuttle. The thin form of the manipulator arm could be seen, slowly extending.

"What the hell!" Colonel Egan's voice conveyed her surprise. "Something's happening!"

Turcotte and the others in the room could see it also—there was a small golden glow on the tip of the talon.

"Get them out of there." Duncan ordered.

"Boarding learn deploy! Deploy!" Colonel Egan was yelling into the intercom.

"We're too close. I'm going to have 10 keep closing."

"We're going out," a voice replied.

"That's Lieutenant Markham, Bravo Team Leader," Kopina said.

A TASC-suited figure appeared, cutting across the camera. An MK-98 was in the figure's gloved hands. A tether line was attached to the figure and a bulky maneuvering pack was on its back.

"There's Markham," Kopina said.

Markham was about twenty feet outside the shuttle's cargo bay now, between it and the talon, which was less than fifty meters away. There was a bright gold burst from the tip of the talon.

"Oh, God," Duncan muttered.

A thin golden line of light Sashed. It went to Mark-ham's left, then adjusted, cutting right across the SEAL commander.

The scream that echoed out of the speakers lasted less than a second. Markham was in two pieces, neatly sliced, the top half still attached by the tether, the bottom half tumbling away. Frozen blood floated about both parts.

"I'm up!" a voice yelled. A second space-suited figure appeared, this one with no tether.

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"Jesus!" Kopina exclaimed. "He must have just jumped out of the cargo bay."

The man held an MK-98 in his hands and he was bringing it to bear when the ship fired again. Duncan admitted the bravery of the SEALs while recognizing the futility of their action.

"Emergency firing!" Colonel Egan's voice was terse. "We're getting the hell out of here."

Another, larger golden beam lanced out. The camera recorded that for the briefest of moments, then the screen went black.

"We can blow this door," Croteau said.

"And bring the army down on top of us," Lo Fa noted.

Croteau shrugged. "At least we'll have a fighting chance. It's still dark out there. In the confusion, many of us can get away."

There was a murmur of assent among the mercenaries gathered in the corridor.

They were two hundred meters away from the main chamber, where Elek was still working at the console. They did not have much time before she realized they were gone.

Che Lu remained silent, having already made her decision to stay. Croteau looked around, getting assent.

"Blow it," he ordered.

As the mercenaries' demolitions men rigged the charges, everyone else moved back down the corridor.

Che Lu pulled Lo Fa to the side. "I wish you well."

Lo Fa shifted his feet. "You should come with me. This place is not good."

"I have to stay."

Lo Fa grimaced and looked away.

"You only promised to get me in, and you did," Che Lu said. "You must take care of yourself."

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"I didn't get you in like I planned," Lo Fa said. "Getting you captured was not part of it."

"1 will be alt right."

Croteau raised his voice so the cluster of people could hear him. "We blow the blocked entrance, we're going to have to move fast. I recommend everyone move west. According to our man here"—he pointed at Lo Fa—"there are guerrilla bands in that direction you can hook up with. They might be able to pass you through out of China."

The demo men came down the corridor unreeling their detonating cord. Croteau pulled back the charging handle on his weapon and made sure there was a round in the chamber.

"Ready?" He looked about. "Fire in the hole!" He pulled the ignitor.

There was the sharp crack of explosives, amplified by the tight confines of the tunnel.

"Let's go!" Croteau dashed up the corridor, the rest of the mercenaries following.

Lo Fa took Che Lu's hand and shook it. He bowed, then he was gone up the tunnel.

Che Lu turned away.

"What have you done'.'" Elek was hurrying across the large open space.

"They desired to leave," Che Lu said. "And they did."

"They breached the perimeter!" Elek was looking down the corridor.

"When there was the opening up top," Che Lu noted, "the army was in no rush to enter. I don't think they will try now either."

"Then who is that?" Elek asked as they heard footsteps coming from the corridor. Che Lu cocked her

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head and listened. A smile came to her face as a familiar figure appeared.

"You could not leave me, old man." She gave Lo Fa a hug.

'"Ah, don't flatter yourself, old woman."

Che Lu stepped back. "What is wrong?"

Lo Fa tapped his ear. "Listen."

""I hear nothing," Che Lu said.

"Correct." Lo Fa said. "By now there should be firing between the mercenaries and the army. There is none. I went out. As the mercenaries ran, I looked about.

The army is gone. There is no one out there."

There was silence for a few seconds as all three thought about that strange occurrence.

"Why do you think they have done this?" Che Lu asked, although she had a suspicion that was so devastating she dared not voice it.

Lo Fa had no such reservation. "They are going to try to destroy the tomb," he said. "The troops have been pulled back to prevent them from being caught in the destruction."

"They seek to destroy us," Elek said. Che Lu could not tell if it was a question or a statement, but Lo Fa nodded.

Elek turned and headed for the control room. After a few moments, Che Lu and Lo Fa followed.

"Columbia has been destroyed." Kopina threw imagery on the conference-room table. "We've had the closest satellite take some shots. All it picked up was the talon and some wreckage."

"There were ten people on board?" Duncan confirmed.

Kopina nodded. "Yes."

"Any chance someone might still be alive."

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Kopina sat down. "No."

There was silence in the conference room for several moments.

"Could there still be Airlia alive on board that talon?" Duncan asked.

Kopina shrugged. "I have no idea. The hull seems to be intact. The blast might have damaged its drive system but nothing else."

"Did you have any—" Duncan began, but Kopina cut her off.

"Do you think we would have sent those people there like that if we had had the slightest clue? It looked dead, we assumed it was dead."

"Maybe—" Duncan began.

"What?" Kopina asked.

"Maybe there weren't any Airlia still alive on the talon. Maybe it was controlled remotely?"

"It doesn't matter," Kopina said. "Columbia is gone either way."

"What about the mothership?" Duncan asked.

"Osebold is preparing to board," Kopina said. "There is no sign any of the Airlia that were in the cargo bay survived the blast."

"How far apart are the mothership and the talon?" Duncan asked.

"About eight hundred kilometers."