Hot Zone (31 page)

Jordan didn't know what to expect when Ice lifted off the cover. Perhaps an on and off switch. A blue wire here, a red wire there. All she saw was another cover protecting the inner core of the bomb. This cover was riveted to the frame.

"Damn it." Ice said throwing down his leatherman. "Rivets. There's no way I can get in there. We're done." Ice stepped away from the bomb and off the platform. He was staring at the door he'd slammed on the Frenchmen, knowing one of his men was still on the other side.

Jordan continued staring at the numbers on the bomb, ticking down. She couldn't take her eye off the plastic case that covered the clock. It was a little smaller than the size of a dollar bill. Without a thought she picked up Ice's leatherman and began working away at the plastic. Before long she had popped it out of place.

Ice turned to see Jordan lift the plastic off, a fit of panic taking over his body. "What are you doing, Jordan. Be careful."

"The clock’s numbers are fed by wires inside the bomb, right?"

"Yeah. So?" Ice said.

"So wires can't run through riveted steel. So behind this clock should be access to the core." As she said this she lifted the clock out of the shell of the bomb. Carefully, she lifted it up and out, exposing a maze of wires, including three that were attached to the clock face. She gently placed the clock off to the side, resting it on the inner case.

Ice looked into the mass of wires inside the core. He didn't know what he was looking for exactly. He was hoping he would know it when he saw it.

"Three wires feed the timer in the clock face. One of them runs power to illuminate the timer display. The other two are attached to the detonator."

"And all three of them are red." Jordan added.

"No time for guess work. You clip the wrong wire..."

"And we'll never know." She finished the sentence.

With sweat beading on his furrowed brow Ice tugged on the wires trying to get a better look at where each one lead.

From the other side of the door he heard the Frenchmen screaming. Both he and Jordan jumped back, already on edge and not expecting sudden noises or bangs, their hearts fell to the pit of their stomach. It didn't take either of them long to realize the Frenchmen had met the monster birds.

"Two minutes earlier and that would have been us." Jordan said.

"We're not out of the woods yet." Ice stared at the wires, traced each one into the core, noticing that each was attached to the same panel inside the core. A panel he couldn't get access to.

"What's the worse that can happen cutting one of those wires?" Jordan asked, knowing the answer.

"We're incinerated at ten-thousand degrees. We won't feel much."

"Best case scenario?" She asked

"The clock stops."

"And if we do nothing, we all die?"

"Or end up in a foreign legion prison cell." He quipped.

There was a moment's silence, then Jordan said: "Cut the middle one."

"You sure about that?"

"We have nothing to lose, Ice. What the hell." She clutched at her arm, the blood from her gash had slowed but it still hurt like hell. "Do it."

Ice pulled out the knife on the leatherman and placed it in between the wires. He paused for a second, looked at Jordan, who closed her eyes. He did the same then sliced through the wire.

Silence. Nothing but silence.

They both opened their eyes and looked at each other. They were still alive. Jordan looked down at the timer.

"Oh Shit." She said. "Ice?"

Ice looked down to see the red numbers counting down twice as fast as they were before. He timed the count against his own watch. It was counting down two seconds for every one.

"We've got about twenty five minutes left now."

Given another chance to think about it and believing she now had a fifty-fifty chance, odds she didn't like in this situation she glared down the tunnel that she thought would take them to freedom. Strapped to her waist was a water proof fanny-pack full of samples she had pulled from the soil and plants in the compound. It also had the journal from the dead French scientist that had helped them understand where they were and what had happened in the compound.

"If that tunnel takes us to land, are you going to be able to get us out of trouble?" She asked.

"You know I'm going to try."

"All the evidence we have that any of this happened and all your guys died for is in this pouch. We should try and get out of here, Ice."

"Even if we do get out of here, Jordan, we are never going to be allowed to repeat the story. As far as anyone is concerned, we were never here."

"But we'll know."

Ice contemplated the thought. He stared at the locked door, his last soldier standing on the other side of it. Roo had no way of knowing he had just twenty-five minutes to get out of the compound and away from the area, he wouldn't be able to swim fast enough if he started now.

Jordan could read Ice's mind. She had liked Roo, too. They had connected in the small amount of concentrated time they'd spent together, but she knew that Roo was a soldier. He knew the risk. He knew when he drew the short straw that he may not make it out of there. Jansen, too.

"Ice. They'll never know. It'll be so quick, they'll never know."

"But we'll know." He said.

25:00

24:59.

50

The smoke from the offices that had been lit ablaze by Grosjean had started filtering through the compound. As Roo stared at Jansen and the bomb he noticed the burnt smell in the air and remembered that half the compound was on fire and there was no circulation of air down here.

There was nowhere for the smoke to go.

Out of the corner of his eye, Roo caught movement and spun, his sig-sauer at arms length. He saw the back of one of the Frenchmen running into the tunnel that lead back to the main cavern where this had all started.

Deciding this was his best opportunity; he left the explosive in Jansen's mouth and bolted down the tunnel after the men. Roo had the feeling he sometimes had in his dreams. He felt like he was running as fast as he could, yet he wasn't moving. He certainly wasn't gaining any ground on the Frenchmen who were in front of him and getting further away. The lack of sleep and poor oxygen caused his leg muscles to burn, lactic acid was building and his thighs felt as if someone was applying a blow torch to them as he chugged away along the tunnel.

He followed the Frenchmen through the first cavern where they had all originally surfaced in the compound, and had continued on through the tunnel that had lead to the mine shaft.

Roo was keeping pace until he tripped on a large rock. He hit the damp soil with a thud, his entire body slamming hard, his head included. He was dazed momentarily, the wind had been knocked out of him and he was seeing stars. He managed to get himself to one knee, sucking in deep damp breaths of the stale air. He'd lost sight of the Frenchmen but he knew which tunnel they had gone down and their footprints would be unmistakable in the damp soil.

22:00

* * *

In the smaller cavern that also housed a dive pool; the same cavern where Grosjean had hidden his team's dive equipment, Grosjean was putting on his tank and dive gear. Claude stood, his cross-bow aimed at the entrance to the cavern, awaiting Roo's entrance.

Grosjean had given Claude the order to take the American out before putting on his own equipment.

"You have been a fine soldier, Claude." Grosjean said, pulling on his mask. "You will receive a commendation for this once we return to our base. That I can assure you."

"Viva le France." Claude said, watching Grosjean jump into the water and disappear below the surface and into the darkness.

He turned his focus back to the entrance and waited. His heart was racing, he was now alone except for the American. He had been right behind him when they'd spotted each other in the lab, just after Grosjean had speared the tall blonde man and shoved the charge down his throat. The man had been bent over, looking for god only knew what under one of the lab tables. Grosjean, showing the true soldier he was, did not hesitate when the moment came upon him. He engaged his cross-bow and with one shot, struck the man's heart.

He never moved, never made a noise, he had died instantly.

Claude hoped he'd have the courage to handle himself as Grosjean had. Many men would have hesitated, seeing the man's back turned.
How could you shoot a man in he back?
As Grosjean had quite aptly put it:
kill or be killed. Hesitate and you die.
The man could have been armed after all. Had Grosjean announced their presence the man could have turned and killed one or both of them without blinking an eye.

Claude knew that he was about to face a situation that would define him as a legionnaire. He hoped that same courage that Grosjean had shown would surface when it was time.

Standing there, gazing intensely at the tunnel entrance he waited. His heart pounding in his chest cavity. The adrenaline he felt surging through him caused his hands to shake, the cross-bow waving slightly.

The American was taking too long!

Perhaps he had taken the wrong tunnel, perhaps he and Grosjean had been too fast for him, he was after all, a heavy set, burly soldier, solid, like a rugby player, he could not have been that fast.

Then it happened.

The American burst from the tunnel rushing straight for Claude. Claude was so surprised to see the American's boldness he did exactly what he was told not to do: hesitate.

Regaining his composure he squeezed the trigger on the cross-bow, the spear making a searing noise, as if cutting the air as it sailed across the room and slammed into the body of the American.

* * *

The instant Roo felt the impact he dropped Ghost's body and rushed at Claude. The look on the Claude's face when he saw Ghost's body fall to reveal Roo was one of sheer confusion. He dropped the cross-bow and braced for the impact.

The men bear-hugged as they slammed to the ground. Roo falling on top of Claude, punching him repeatedly before Claude managed to get his legs wrapped around Roo and spun him around. Roo was now on his back on the ground, Claude had him locked up and was throwing elbows into his face; he felt his nose snap, warm blood ran into the back of his throat, chocking him. Claude had him pinned and there was nothing he could do.

Holding Roo down with his body weight and one arm, Claude reached into his back and pulled out a knife, the teeth from the serrated edges gnashing at Roo, they were about to get acquainted with one another.

Then Claude collapsed onto Roo, motionless. Roo pushed him aside to see Skip, standing there holding his sig by the barrel, blood from Claude's head dripping from the butt.

"G'day mate, thought we'd find you here." Skip said.

Behind him, Storm was gathering up Claude's dive gear: "We gotta get out of here Roo, time's of the essence." He said.

Roo kicked himself free and stood, catching the dive mask and regulator that Storm threw him.

"Where did you guys come from?" He asked. "We didn't think you made it."