Beneath the Ice (39 page)

Perry threw a glance at the scientist, who
looked as if he was about to faint. “He’ll make it.”

“You have more faith than I do,” Enkian
said.

“You’re right. You had better not think
about it too long. It’s been a rough few days, and my strength
isn’t what it normally is.”

“You know, if you drop that, I’ll kill you
on the spot. Maybe I’ll just start killing your friends until you
come to your senses.”

“For what? So we can march out onto the ice
to die? We’re dead if we stay; we’re dead if we walk out. This is
the only way. And if I see a gun raised in their direction, I may
let go. I’m ready to meet my Maker.”

“That would be the God who worked your
ancestors so many years ago,” Jack said.

Perry saw Enkian begin to break down. The
man’s eyes darted around, and his lips moved as if they had a life
of their own.

“I let your friends fly away, and you return
the cylinder to me, is that it?”

“That’s it.”

“How do I know you won’t drop it the moment
they take to the air?”

“You don’t, but I am a man of honor,” Perry
said. “You have my word.”

“And if that’s not enough?”

“Then you can kiss this thing good-bye.”

Enkian muttered, then he swore, then he
screamed. “All right! All right! Tia, take them to the plane.”

“
No,” Perry said. “They go by themselves. After they’ve
checked
for fuel, and I get a word that
everything is good, and I hear the plane leave, then you get this
back, and you can do whatever you want to me.”

“It won’t be pleasant, you know.”

“I can live with that,” Perry said.

“Or die with it,” Enkian countered.

“Perry,” Jack said, “why not order them all
into the Dome? We can lock them in and all of us can fly out.”

The thought had crossed Perry’s mind, but he
had doubts he could push Enkian that far.

“That won’t happen, Mr. Dyson,” Enkian said.
“I’m willing to risk letting you and the others go, but I will not
give up the base.”

“Even if it means losing the prophecy.”

“I know where the ziggurat
is. I have more men coming, more equipment, more buildings. The
plan is underway. It would be the second greatest tragedy of my
life to lose the cylinder, but the
greatest would be to lose the tower. We’re in a bit of a
stalemate, aren’t we?”

“Jack, take the others and get out of here,”
Perry ordered.

“I’m not leaving you.”

“You have to do this. They need you. Now get
out of here. If this thing slips, then we’re all dead.”

There was a pause. “Perry . . .”

“I know, buddy, I know.”

Chapter
34

Perry had shifted his
position
from kneeling to prone, his arm
extended before him, his forearm cantilevered over the abyss.
De-spite the warm clothing, the cold was seeping in. He
shuddered.

He heard a soft crunch behind him. “Enkian,
you had better tell the munchkin behind me that I can drop this
faster than he can catch it.” Perry turned his hand over so the
cylinder dangled from his palm and fingers.

Enkian gave a wave, and
Perry heard retreating footsteps. Jack had led the others out what
seemed like an hour ago. It had only been a few minutes—fifteen
tops—but it felt longer. His arm was hurting, and the cold was
bringing back horrible memories of being trapped in the dive suit
beneath the ice. For some reason, he thought of the fish with
multicolored lights. He was a stranger down there; the fish would
be one up here.
God made us to excel where
we are.

“You know, Mr. Sachs, I’m having a little
debate with myself. A part of me doesn’t think the cylinder is
worth all this trouble.”

“Would that be the cylinder you said
predates the Bible? The one entrusted to you by ancestors that
stretch back a few hundred generations? I’m betting you took some
kind of oath to protect all of these and this one in particular.
You are a tradition-bound man, Enkian. You won’t betray that.”

“Don’t be so sure,” Enkian said, but the
words lacked conviction.

A roar rushed into the open loading door—the
sound of twin engines coming to life. It was music, sweet in timbre
and tone.

“Sounds like Dr. James got the engines
going,” Enkian said. “I wouldn’t have put money on that.”

Perry chose not to respond. Minutes passed
without change. The engines had to warm slowly since they had been
shut down for several days. The cold was a constant danger to the
mechanical equipment. A short eternity later the pitch of the
engines changed as more power was applied to them. The engines
roared then died away as the aircraft taxied from the
buildings.

“Godspeed,” Perry said. Although he couldn’t
see the craft, he could imagine it lifting from the ice to cut
through the thin air. On board were Gwen, Griffin, Sarah, Dr.
Curtis, Gleason, and Jack. Relief washed over him.

“Sorry for the delay, pal,” a familiar voice
said, “but we had to top off the tanks.”

“Jack!” Perry cranked his neck to see his
friend approaching. “I told you to fly out with them.”

“I was going to, but I had already seen the
in-flight movie.”

“Unbelievable,” Perry said.

“Yeah, that’s me,” Jack quipped. “It’s
things like this that keep me the lovable international man of
mystery that I am. Besides, I don’t think you would have left me
behind.”

“How far is the plane?”

“It’s out of gun range if that’s what you
mean,” Jack answered.

“That’s exactly what I mean.”

Enkian rose from his seat on the ice. “I’ve
kept my end of the bargain. Now let’s see you keep yours.”

“Jack was supposed to be on that plane—”

“I don’t care!” Enkian screamed. “He made
his choice. Give me the cylinder.”

Perry was about to relent
when he heard another sound, the
sound of
big engines. From the way Enkian snapped his head
around, Perry was sure it was unexpected
company.

“See what that is,” he ordered Tia. She
sprinted to the door.

“Tell me that’s what I’ve been praying for,”
Perry said.

Jack moved to the door and returned a moment
later. “We’re having guests for dinner,” he said. “Four aircraft
are on approach. C-2A Greyhounds if I don’t miss my guess.”

Tia approached Enkian. “Military airplanes.
Four of them, the kind that carry troops.”

“Four?” Enkian said. “How far out?”

“Not far,” she said.

Enkian looked at Perry, who still held the
precious container over the open expanse. “Give me the
cylinder.”

“You know what’s going to happen,” Perry
said. “Each of those planes carries enough men to handle you, and
there are four of them. If they charge in here with guns blazing,
not only are a great many people going to die, but this cylinder
and all the others are in danger. Bullets from automatic weapons
are going to shred a lot of them. Can you stand that kind of
loss?”

“We can hold them off,” Enkian said.

“Really?” Jack shot back. “You really think
you can?”

“We have you for hostages. They’ll be
outside in the cold.”

“They’ll wait,” Perry said. “More will come.
It’s over, Enkian. Give up and save your prophecies, your
heritage.”

Enkian raised his hands to his head and
pulled at his hair.

“Look at your troops,” Jack said. “They
don’t seem to have the confidence you do.”

“These men will die for me.”

“Some might,” Perry said. “Then again, some
might be smart enough to know when they’re outnumbered.”

“Tia?”

“The plane,” she said. “It’s fight or
flight.”

Enkian looked at the
sixty-five cylinders set on the stone pil
lars, his arrogance dripping away. He closed his eyes and
swore softly. When he opened his eyes, he was staring at Perry. He
turned to Tia. “Clear out. Make sure every cylinder is loaded on
the aircraft. We leave right away.”

Tia screamed her orders and men began to
move, each taking one or more of the cylinders. In minutes the
Chamber was empty except for Perry, Jack, and Enkian.

“Will you give me the last cylinder?” Enkian
asked.

“It’s the only thing keeping Jack and me
alive.”

“I will have it again, Mr. Sachs. I don’t
care who I have to kill.”

“Just leave us your address, and we’ll FedEx
it to you.”

Outside, jet engines began to whine. “You’re
a brave and dedicated man, Mr. Sachs. I hate that in an enemy.”

“Don’t you have a plane to catch?”

Enkian straightened and walked to the
loading door. Outside the wind whistled around the opening. He
paused for a moment, looked at Perry, then at the cylinder. Two
steps later, he was outside.

“Give me that,” Jack said, taking the object
from Perry’s ex-tended arm.

“I can’t tell you how close I came to
dropping that.”

“In some ways, I wish you had.”

Men in heavy white parkas swarmed through the opening
like ants out of a hill. Each wore goggles and a black knit mask,
and each pointed an M16A2 in every direction. They filled the
Chamber with amazing speed.

“On the ground! On the ground!” a tense
voice ordered.

Perry looked at Jack and shrugged. Both men
went to the ice. A half second later the barrels of two automatic
weapons were pointed at their heads.

“A guy could develop a
complex like this,” Jack said. “Personally, I’m getting tired of
looking down the nasty end of a
gun.”

“It will all be cleared up in a minute,”
Perry said. “I hope.”

The sound of boots pounding ice continued
for long moments. Occasionally, a “Clear” would echo through the
area. Perry could imagine them searching the air lock, moving into
the Dome, checking each room.

“Let ’em up, boys,” a deep voice said. The
gun barrels disappeared. Perry and Jack pushed off the ice and rose
to their feet. In front of Perry was a middle-aged man with a
serious expression. He pushed back his hood, revealing
close-cropped sandy hair and sun-darkened skin. He removed his
goggles, and Perry found himself staring into blue eyes that
narrowed as the man studied him. “I’m hoping you’re Perry
Sachs.”

“I am,” Perry said. “This is my partner,
Jack Dyson.”

The man studied Jack for a moment. “You play
any college ball?”

Jack shook his head. “It interfered with my
cooking classes.”

The man looked at Perry.

Perry smiled. “He gets asked that a
lot.”

“I see. I’m Captain Thomas Mahoney, United
States Coast Guard, at your service.” He gave a small bow.

Perry held out a hand. “I
can’t tell you how good it is to see you.”
He started to say something else when one of the troops
approached
. Like the captain, he wore a
white parka.

“The place is empty, Captain,” he said
struggling to catch his breath in the thin air. “These are the only
two on the premises. We found two bodies outside.”

“Enemy,” Perry said.

Mahoney nodded. “This is my XO, Ray
Seager.”

“They went thataway,” Jack said, pointing
over his shoulder with his thumb.

“The big plane? The Boeing?” Mahoney
asked.

“Yes,” Perry said. “Another plane left a
short time before that.”

“We saw the Boeing leave. One of our
aircraft followed, but the Boeing is much faster. Ultimately we’ll
lose him, but we’ll pick him up in other ways.” Mahoney looked at
Jack again. “Pardon me for saying so, but you two look just a step
above roadkill. I’m going to have a medic look at you.”

“We’ll be fine,” Perry said. “The smaller
plane is being flown by an inexperienced pilot.”

Mahoney nodded then turned to Seager. “Get
on the horn. Get an experienced pilot to talk him into
McMurdo.”

“Well, gentlemen, my orders are to bring you
safely home, and since I’m only a few years away from retirement, I
don’t plan on messing that up.” He paused and looked around. Perry
watched him take in the scene of sixty-six stone pillars circling a
bloody stone altar. Next his eyes drifted to the gantry and the
wide hole beneath it. He walked over.

“Careful,” Jack warned. “It’s a long way
down and no way up.”

Perry thought of Larimore, and sadness
reached deeper into his soul than the cold ever could.

“What now?” Perry asked.

“As I said,” Mahoney replied, “my job was to
find you and bring you home. The major portion of the team will
stay behind to secure the premises and await further orders. We, on
the other hand, have a long flight back. That will give you plenty
of time to tell me your story.”

“I don’t think you’ll believe what I have to
say,” Perry replied.

Mahoney laughed. “I don’t
think you’ll believe what
I
have to say. By the way, we’ll be flying courtesy
of the navy. Be careful what you say; they’re not real happy that a
Coast Guard captain is calling the shots.”

“Before we go, I need to tell you something,
Captain.” Perry looked at the ice shaft, took a deep breath, and
told of Trent Larimore. “I don’t know if he was part of the problem
or a hero, but he deserved better.”

Mahoney stepped back to
the hole and, to Perry’s surprise, bowed his head. He raised it a
moment later and commanded Seager to bring the men in the Chamber
to attention. Perry
watched the Coast
Guard captain stiffen his spine. “Commander Trent Larimore, United
States Navy, died serving his country. We commend his soul to God
and his body to the sea. Present arms!”