Breakthrough (27 page)

Caesare was also moving.  He zipped around, grabbed Palin, and used the momentum to throw him into Lee Kenwood, knocking them both over like bowling pins.  He opened fire immediately, showering the hallway with bullets.  Caesare’s return fire bought them a few seconds of delay as they all hit the ground and scurried behind a row of large, heavy desks.

Clay quickly crawled forward, grabbing and pushing Palin, Alison, Chris, and Lee ahead of him.  He motioned for them all to lie down on the ground and become as small a target as possible.  While Caesare shot back, Clay grabbed a long table behind him and tipped it over.  He pushed it forward against the back of the desks to add a second layer of protection.  The monitor on the desk above them suddenly exploded, and three slugs could be heard hitting the thick metal on the other side of the desk.  Clay had the others scoot forward and stay behind the upturned table.  He then took a defensive position and fired back.

A loud grunt could be heard from the hallway, and one of the silhouettes fell to the floor.  Clay and Caesare both came back down behind the desks and replaced their magazines without looking.  More shots came from the hallway.  Caesare looked at Clay.  “You hear that?”

Clay nodded.  “They’re coming closer.”  Two bullets skipped off the top of the desk and over Clay’s head, impacting the giant tank behind them.  The bullets were stopped dead in the glass.  Clay looked up at the tank and then over to Alison.  “How thick is that glass?”

Alison was cringing at the sound of the gunfire.  She tried to think.  “Six inches…it’s six inches.”

“Good.”  Clay said.  He looked around at what he could see of the room.  Caesare unloaded another magazine and reached for a replacement.  “Where is that corridor?” Clay asked her.

She took one of her hands away from her ears and pointed to the corner of the room behind her.  Clay followed her pointing hand and could see the subtle lines of a small door close to where the tank met the building.  It was almost a clear shot to the door along the back side of the desks, but there was about ten feet of open space between the
last table and the door.  When he heard a short lull from the other side, he quickly rose and fired three rounds into the hallway.  He looked at Caesare, pointed down the line of furniture and then pointed to the wall where the small door was. 

Caesare squinted toward the door and then nodded his head.  He grabbed another magazine and looked up at the ceiling.  He turned to Clay, covered his eyes for a moment, and then made some kind of flashing sign with his hands.  Clay looked up and then nodded back.  Four more rounds hit the top of the desk and lodged themselves into the tank’s glass next to the others.  He reached over and grabbed Alison pulling her close.

He whispered loudly in her ear.  “We have to get you three out of here!”  Behind him, Caesare unloaded another magazine.  “We’re going to take out the lights.  That should give you time to make it to the door.  When you get outside, look before you run.  If it’s clear, you run like hell.  Find some place safe.  Don’t worry about us.”

Alison nodded and looked back to Chris and Lee.  She turned around and whispered to them.  Clay watched them.  None seemed frozen or in panic which meant they were at least thinking, scared to death but thinking.  That was a hell of a lot better than freezing like a deer in headlights.

Clay turned back and got Caesare’s attention who nodded and reached into his bag to withdraw a giant light.  He grabbed the cord and plugged it into the nearest power strip.  Caesare nodded again.  With that Clay quickly turned back and mouthed the words to Alison.  “Get ready.”  She nodded back and put her hands on the floor, ready to move.

Clay and Caesare changed their locations behind the desks.  Then simultaneously they both rose up over the top, Caesare firing at their attackers, while Clay aimed carefully at the ceiling, destroying all four of the overhead lights and plunging the giant room into darkness.  “Go!” he whispered loudly.  He heard the sound of them quickly crawling away.

The firing stopped briefly and on the floor Caesare grabbed the top of his light and placed it atop the desk.  Neither of them moved.  Instead, they counted.  They knew that it normally took five to ten seconds for an expert to transition to a pair of night vision goggles.  It was a normal part of tactical training which allowed a soldier to continue even in pitch black.  By magnifying what little light there was by 50,000 times, night vision goggles provided more than enough vision to continue the fight.  The drawback of course was that it magnified all light by 50,000 times.

Caesare got to
seven
and flipped the switch on the two million power candle mega-lamp.  It instantly flooded the entire room like a search light, blinding the five men who had expected Clay and Caesare to be donning their own goggles.  Instead the intense magnification of the search light rendered them unable to see anything at all.  At that moment, Alison and the others ran into the open toward the door.  Clay and Caesare came up over the desks and opened fire dropping all five of them. 

They both sat down quickly and reloaded.  They could hear the small door click shut in the distance.

“Any more?”  Clay asked.

“Don’t know.”  Caesare said.  Turning and scanning again.  Then just as he swung to the right, he saw something out of the corner of his eye.  A muzzle flashed from the second hallway leading to the main entrance.  With less cover from that direction, the bullet ripped through a stack of binders and hit Caesare in the right shoulder.  He yelled and fell backward, emptying the rest of this magazine in the new direction. 
More flashes were seen as several more silhouettes spread and took up positions.  Clay came over the top of Caesare and fired everything he had.  He quickly pulled the end of the last desk down in front of them, but it was too late.  Even as several more bullets hit the other side of the desk, Caesare rolled onto his side grabbing his shoulder.

“How bad?” cried Clay over the gunfire and papers flying all around them.

“I can make it.” Caesare said gritting his teeth. 

Suddenly Palin spoke from behind them.  “John?”

Thunk thunk thunk.
More bullets hit the front of the desk.  Clay looked a Palin to find him staring back with a calm expression.  Clay waited for him to say something else but then lowered his gaze to see the bright red circle spreading across Palin’s chest.  It was a direct hit.

“John.” he said again starting to fade off.  His eyes started to close and his head tilted back.

“Palin!” Clay yelled.  He grabbed Palin and tried to shake him awake.  “Palin stay with me!”

Suddenly a brilliant blue flash of light filled the room from behind them, adding to the bright search light.  Clay looked up to see the air split in half and open into a large hole in the shape of an oval.  He looked at Palin who was unconscious.  A glow was coming from his coat pocket.  It was the cube.

Clay looked back to Caesare who was reloading his gun.  “Get him out of here, Clay!” 

Caesare gave him his best smile.  “Don’t worry, I’ll be okay.”  Clay stared at him for a long moment.  They both knew it was a lie.  Caesare had limited use of his shooting arm, and more shadows could be seen entering from the main hallway.  The two friends stared at each other.  They knew this was it.

“Get him out of here!” Caesare yelled again.  So many bullets were hitting the other side of the desk that it was beginning to move, pushing in on Caesare.  “Give me your gun,” he said, “and go stop that nuke!”

Clay hesitated for only a second.  He then replaced the magazine, flipped his rifle around, and handed it over.  He then turned and kicked one of the desks to the side outwards, making a small path.  He grabbed Palin and laid him flat on his back, making it easier to pick him up.  He looked at Caesare and nodded.  Again they moved together.  Caesare came up over the desk shooting with both guns giving the cover needed for Clay to pick Palin and throw him over his shoulder.  With his dislocated shoulder screaming in pain, Clay got to his feet and ran.

Behind him, Caesare got hit twice in the chest and fell backward onto the floor.  Clay ran as hard as he could with every step propelling him toward the glowing portal.  Palin was heavy but at just several feet away Clay pushed off with everything he had, throwing them both forward.  They flew through the air and into the center of the giant oval.  It was then that Clay and a large bullet entered the portal at the same instant.

37

Red lights replaced the interior ones on each of the twelve submarine bridges, and commands were called down for all levels to “man battle stations”.  The Tridents had received their orders and were preparing to fire.  They had strategically positioned themselves with six on one
side of the giant ring and six coming around the far side to reduce risk.  Each submarine also remained nearly five hundred yards apart from each other.  The commanders had no idea what kind of strike Palin’s people might retaliate with, so it was lunacy to have all of your ships together providing a singular target.

At nearly the same time on each Trident, the torpedoes were armed and loaded into both forward tubes.  The communications officer on board the
lead sub, the Montana, sat glued to his instruments waiting for any word or change in orders that might signal aborting the attack.  The Montana’s commander Captain Hallgren waited patiently knowing the other subs were also loading and arming.  With no radio communication, they had to do this the old fashioned way.  He kept checking the red LED clock on the wall.

After another minute, he looked at his communications officer, who looked back at him and shook his head.   Hallgren turned to his Operational Commander.  “All hands…stand by.”

His Operational Commander repeated the message into the microphone.  Hallgren took a deep breath and watched the digital clock hit its mark.  “Fire!”

The Operational Commander immediately passed the order.  “Shoot two one!  Shoot two one!”

Less than a second later two torpedoes burst from their tubes on either side of the Trident’s bow, as they did on the other subs simultaneously.   The torpedoes raced forward, their target less than two thousand yards away.  The men on board waited, listening for the sound of a direct hit.  Their hearts began to beat faster.

“One thousand yards…” called the Helmsman. 

“Eight hundred yards…”

“Six hundred yards…”

“Four hund-” the Helmsman stopped.  He pressed his headset harder against his ears.  “Sir!  I’ve lost them.”

“What?!” said Hallgren.  “What do you mean
lost
them?”

“I don’t know sir, I just….wait!”  Suddenly a piercing alarm sounded behind them.  His eyes opened wide.  “Sir!  Torpedoes are CLOSING!”

“Closing?!”  Hallgren yelled.  “Closing on who?”

“Closing on US sir!” replied the Helmsman.  “Ten..NO twelve torpedoes in the water at eight hundred yards bearing 192, bearing 183, bearing 166…”

“Evasive maneuvers!  Get us turned around!”  He looked at his helmsman.  “Are they ours?!”

“No sir!” he said shaking his head.  He turned to Hallgren.  “I think they’re from the other subs.”

“That’s impossible, they’re over fifteen miles away!”  Hallgren shouted.

With full power, the Montana began to turn.  At that moment, the other eleven subs were all doing the same thing.

“Five hundred yards and closing!”

“Blow the tanks.” growled Hallgren.

Still turning the Montana opened its tanks and forced a hundred thousand gallons of water out as an emergency measure.  The exiting water was replaced with air quickly increasing its buoyancy.  The Montana slowly started to rise.  Beneath the water, the sounds of all the subs pressurizing their tanks could be heard for miles.

“Three hundred yards!”

The Montana’s crew held tight and like the others desperately willed the giant ship up through the dark waters.  Their ascent was agonizingly slow.

“A hundred and fifty yards!” called the Helmsman. 

“Launch the decoys!” yelled Hallgren.

Several large canisters shot from the rear tubes and began to descend.  They instantly began releasing giant bubbles and noise to confuse the detection systems of the torpedoes.  Several torpedoes suddenly changed course and smashed into the decoys exploding prematurely, but the others did not.  One by one, the rest found their mark slamming into the submarines with giant blasts, destroying the hulls and causing them
to instantly implode under water.  The Montana, still clawing for the surface, was the last to be hit.  Like the others, its hull shuddered under the impact and collapsed in on itself.  Slowly the shock waves subsided, and what was left of the twelve nuclear submarines stopped their ascent and slowly began the lifeless slide into the dark waters below.

38

The small metal door opened slowly with a creak, and Alison tilted her head out just far enough to get a look around.  Beyond the grass that surrounded the back of the building was the secondary parking lot and it appeared empty.  She looked slowly to the right, the direction back to the main entrance, and saw nothing but the familiar dark trees and shrubs.  She leaned just a little outside and looked around the door’s edge to the left.  The large grassy area, littered with picnic tables, sat silently.  Further and around the left side of the building was the exterior of the giant tank which had no entrance into the aquarium except from the large deck which was high above and inaccessible from the ground.

“What do you see?” asked Chris nervously from behind her.

“Nothing. 
Shhh!” she snapped.  She tried to concentrate over the sound of gunfire inside the building.  She could not hear anything outside.  She looked at the waist high hedge that bordered the far end of the parking lot.  Beyond that were trees and further still was a faint outline of a sloped roof.  She turned around.  “It looks clear.  I think if we can make it to the hedge, we can stay out of sight until we get to the larger trees.  From there, we should be able to get to the maintenance shed. 

They both pushed their heads through for a look.

“That looks awfully far,” said Chris.

“Not if we’re fast,” said Alison.  She looked at
Chris who was wearing a white T shirt.  She quickly pulled her green sweatshirt over her head.  “Take off your shirt and wear this.”  She straightened the dark shirt she was wearing underneath.

With shaking hands,
Chris pulled off his shirt and put the tiny sweatshirt on.  It was at least two sizes too small and barely covered his skin but was better than wearing a white shirt and acting as a beacon.  They both looked at Kenwood’s red shirt.

“Hey, at least it’s not white.”

“Okay.” Alison looked at them.  “Ready?”

The other two nodded.  Suddenly back down the hall they heard the gunfire stop.  That was all the incentive they needed.  “Stay low!” Alison whispered over her shoulder and ran toward the hedge.  All three stayed close and reaching the hedge they dropped to the ground behind it.  They slowly peered up over it and could see more of the parking lot and the road to the main lot.  Still no sign of movement. 

“C’mon!” she said and ran, bending down as far as she could to stay below the top of the hedge.  Chris and Lee followed behind. 

Less than ten seconds later, they were ducking behind one of the larger trees in the aquarium’s outdoor area.  Still seeing no one behind them they ran for the dark structure near the edge of the property.  The large shed, hidden behind the trees, was used by the gardeners and various grounds people who maintained the exterior of the property.  They quickly tried the main door which was locked.  They spread out and circled it.  Both windows on each side were also locked.  Alison looked around for another place to run when she heard the smashing of one of the windows.  She turned around to see
Lee holding a large rock.  He held a finger over his lips and then proceeded to clear the rest of the glass by running the rock around the inside edge of the frame.  Alison looked around and ran a few feet to a small banana tree.  She pulled off two of its giant thick leaves and draped them over the window edge.  Using them for protection, Chris and Lee lifted her up and in through the window.  Moments later, Lee followed her in and Chris tumbled in last.  As an afterthought, Alison kicked the broken glass out of view and leaned a few long handled tools up against the open window.

A few minutes later, two of the soldiers burst out through the maintenance corridor looking for them.  They slowly scanned the grounds and spread out with their guns up and pressed into their shoulders.  One headed past the outside tank and toward the other end of the building.  The other silently trotted across the small parking lot to a long hedge.  He jumped over and panned his rifle across the picnic area.  He followed the hedge looking left and right until he came to the end.  To his right, a small road led back to the main entrance and split in two after passing a small walkway running up to the same double doors and hallway that his other team members had charged through earlier.  He turned back and looked at a group of large trees.  Behind it, he could see the edge of a low hanging roof.

He moved quietly through the trees and found the large shed which the roof was attached to.  He very carefully stepped around each corner, ready to fire at any moment.  When he found no one hiding around the outside, he tried the door.  He then peered back around the left corner and noticed a broken window on the west side.  Unable to see anything inside, he flipped on the LED light at the end of this barrel and bathed the entire inside of the shed with the bright beam.

He scanned back and forth, seeing a wall of tools, dozens of sacks of fertilizers and compost on the back wall, and a giant lawnmower on the opposite side.  Behind the lawnmower were a couple small rusted gasoline tanks and in the middle were countless buckets and hoses all stacked neatly in place. Suddenly a voice sounded over the headset wrapped tightly around his ear.  “No, no sign of them yet,” he said, stepping back from the window to listen.  “I think they made a run for it.  They can’t be more than a half mile away.  We can still get ‘em.”  He listened again and nodded.  “Okay heading back.”  The soldier took one last look at the window and, not seeing any glass on the floor and the tools leaning against it, decided it had been broken for a while.  He turned and quickly ran back toward the building.  When he got close, the rest of the team emerged and all ran smoothly toward the beach.  After two trips to retrieve the bodies of their team members, they pulled three black zodiac boats out of the bushes and dragged them back down the sand and into the water.  Within seconds they had the engines started, their gear aboard, and had disappeared into the darkness.

It was over thirty minutes before Alison peeked out from under one of the heavy compost sacks.  With her face smeared with dirt, she looked slowly out and toward the window.  A small amount of light shone through from the tiny gibbous moon overhead creating a silhouette around the trees and bushes rustling outside in the wind. She half slid and half pulled herself out from the small gap left between the bags and the wall, and looked around quietly.  They had not heard anything since what sounded like boats speeding off in the ocean, but they were afraid that one or two might have stayed back in hopes of flushing them out.

Alison peered out the window and then walked to the other side and looked through the dirty glass.  “I think they’re gone,” she whispered to
Chris and Lee.  A few seconds later, they both wiggled out, covered in dirt themselves.

They looked through the windows to double check.  Alison was shaking.  “Oh my god they killed them!  They killed them all!”

Lee tried to calm her.  “We don’t know that for sure, Alison.”

“No?” she said yelling under her breath.  “What the hell do you call it when everyone goes in but only one side comes back out?!  My god they killed them - Clay, Caesare, and their friend.”  She suddenly gasped.  “They killed Frank!”

Chris was looking out the window and then ran back to the other side.  “We’ve got to do something!”

Alison grew
quiet.  Her eye welled up as she absorbed the full weight of what had happened.  “They died for us.” she said, looking at Chris then Lee.  Her voice began to tremble.  “Clay and the others died, so we could get out.”

All three of them sat in the shed thinking about what she had just said.

Chris sighed and slumped back into the seat of the lawnmower.  “I think we’d better call the police.”

“I don’t know,” Alison said, suddenly shaking her head.  “Is it just me or did those guys look like
government
?”

Lee
nodded.  “Looked like it to me.”

“Then can the police even protect us?” she asked them.  “What if we call the police, and they’ve been told ‘shoot to kill’ or something?  I mean we saw the whole thing in there!”

“Are you kidding?” exclaimed Chris.  “The cops are the only chance we have.”

Alison and
Lee looked at each but remained silent.

“What the hell is wrong with you guys?  Everyone in there is dead, including Frank!  We could be in there lying right next to him!”

Alison raised her voice slowly.  “Well, that doesn’t mean we want to give them a reason to come back either.”

“Oh okay great,” whined
Chris, “let’s just hide out here then!  You know, put in a change of address-”

“Knock it off!” Alison snapped, cutting him off.

“I don’t think they’re going to let us live.” Lee said quietly.  He looked at both of them.  “Alison’s right, we
did
see everything.  We also know why they took Dirk and Sally.  We know about the city or ring or whatever it is, and now we’re witnesses.  We know too much and they have to cover it up.  That’s how they do it.”

Alison nodded.  “And for whatever reason, they had to leave quickly, but it doesn’t mean they won’t be back.  Maybe they let things die down and wait for us to come home.”  She sat quietly.  “Unless,” she said suddenly looking up.

“Unless what?”

“Unless we stop Dirk and Sally,” she said.

“Stop them?” asked Chris.

“Stop them from delivering the bomb.” Alison said standing up.  “That’s why John said they had come here.  They were trying to stop it.”

“Yeah,” Lee said in agreement.  “I say we stop it and then call the press and tell them everything.”

Chris
folded his arms.  “And how do you propose we stop them?  In case you’ve forgotten, there’s nothing left.  They took everything, the equipment, our notes, everything.”

Alison had stood up but now slumped back down thinking.

“Uh,” Lee raised his hand, “I have backups.” 

“What?”

Lee grinned.  “I have backups.”

Chris
looked confused.  “What do you mean?  The backup tapes were in the servers, and they took them all.”

“I back up the servers every night,”
Lee said.  “And I replace those tapes every week.  Most of the tapes are shipped to a storage facility, but the last two weeks have not been sent yet.”

“So…where exactly are those tapes?” Alison asked.

“Downstairs in the storage closet.”

Alison and
Chris looked at each other, but he shook his head.  “It doesn’t matter.  The tapes don’t help without the servers.”

Alison saw that
Lee was grinning again.  “What?” she asked again with a cautious look.

“We have a server.  We have two.  The small servers we took on board the Pathfinder.  Captain Emerson had them shipped back to me about a week ago.”

“Any chance those servers are the storage closet downstairs too?”

“Yes, they are.” 

Alison smiled broadly with excitement.  “Lee Kenwood, I could just-” she suddenly changed her mind and just lunged at him giving him a giant kiss.  “You are amazing!”

“I know,” he joked.

“Could we install it on the boat?” she asked.

“What?!”  Chris said jumping to his feet.  “We’re taking the boat?”

The boat was a thirty year old, 40 foot Bayliner diesel power boat.  It was donated to the aquarium years ago and was primarily used for small trips out on the ocean for local research groups or students on a field trip.

“We’re not taking the boat Chris. 
I’m
taking the boat.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m doing this…alone,” she said calmly.  “It’s dangerous, and I’m not going to risk two more lives over this.  There’s something big going on here, and I’m not going to let us all die over it.”

Chris
just stared at her, silently constructing his argument.  Finally he said “Alison, don’t you think we should leave this to the pros?  My mom has a friend who’s a cop, I’m sure we can trust him.”

Alison frowned at
Chris.  “We may not have time.  And I really don’t know who we can trust, Chris.  And to tell you the truth, I can’t let anything happen to Dirk and Sally or anybody else out there.  I love those dolphins.  You know that.”

“I know,”
Chris said with a sigh.  “But they mean a lot to us too.  You know that!”

She put her hand on his arm.  “Then help me.”

He sighed again, defeated.  “Fine.”  Chris looked over at Lee.  “What do we have to do, Lee?”

Lee
ran through the list of things they would need.  They slowly climbed back out of the window, and made sure there was no movement other than the trees, then cautiously made their way back toward the building.  When they reached the edge, they pulled open the double doors, quietly snuck down the main hallway and back toward the lab.  It was completely black for which Alison was glad.  It meant they could walk around the edge of the wall to the stairs without having to see any of the bodies.  She felt sick thinking that Clay, Dubois, Caesare, and their friend Palin were laying lifeless somewhere in the darkness.  As they made their way through the lab, their shoes crunched on broken glass and pieces of plaster from the walls.  When they reached the stairs, Lee led the way down with his left hand on the railing.  They reached the storage room and found the electricity to the building was still on.  Inside the closet, Lee grabbed one of the servers.  Chris carried a monitor, while Alison followed them out with the backup tapes, a keyboard, and a number of other items that she did not recognize.