No Remorse (35 page)

Mac’s heart rate quickened as they entered shallower water. Without warning, cliffs loomed up ahead. Enormous slabs of rock towered from the sea floor to over a thousand feet, a relic of the immense forces that had blown half the crater into the sea millions of years earlier.

The tunnel was close. Somewhere.

After almost an hour of searching without success, they stopped and risked surfacing.

“Ten minutes of air left in the tank.” Mac’s words came out between breaths as they rode the swell.

Scotty cleaned his mask. “We’ll use half the other tank, then we’ll have to go back. Try again later.”

“Okay.”

Back underwater, they changed tanks and continued searching, clamping the used tank to the Sea Scooter. Ten minutes of air could be the difference between life and death.

The swift current combined with the swell made it like swimming in a washing machine. Waves crashed against the rocks, their inertia hurling tons of water, forcing them out to sea. Then the next wave rolled in, pushing them dangerously close to jagged boulders and serrated coral. Mac pointed the Sea Scooter out to sea, using the motor to keep himself in position as he edged closer to the cliffs. It would drain the battery quicker, but it was the only way he could search close enough. He realized how astute Bill Fanning had been to position the entrance here.

Wherever it was.

Something jolted his legs. He whirled around and saw Scotty pointing vigorously. An enormous shark with a white belly was torpedoing through the water. As they watched, stunned, the killing machine thrashed its tail and in a burst of incredible speed lunged forward to bite a thirty-pound fish in half. The water clouded. The head of the fish fluttered like an autumn leaf down towards them. They readied their spear guns, which Mac guessed would probably be useless against this monster. When he looked up again, the shark had vanished.

They continued two abreast for safety through a forest of giant kelp, their eyes darting around nervously. Suddenly, the kelp cleared and the bottom became sandy in front of a sharp outcrop, as Mai had described. He steered towards an area of rock that appeared to have two rims, one about ten yards behind the other. Rounding the front edge, he angled in towards the rear wall.

They’d found it. The entrance! They would never have located it without Mai’s help. He gave Scotty the thumbs up and led the way into a wide funnel about thirty feet below the surface. They switched on the lights of the Sea Scooters and slowly navigated along the passage until they reached the staging area. Above them, Mac could just distinguish the outline of the hatchway.

He took out the proximity key, a black square of plastic about the size of a wallet, with a chip embedded. Once he used it, they’d be committed. Behind them was a grate that would shoot up and trap them. Then they’d have to face whatever might be waiting for them inside the fortress.

If they were lucky, there’d be no guards. Hopefully, Khalid would not be expecting anyone to enter through the sea tunnel. If they were caught… He didn’t care to think about that.

Their contingency plan was to try to escape out the way they’d come in. But it would take time for the hatchway to close, leaving them exposed to attack in the staging area.

They hid their Sea Scooters and other gear under boulders at the base of the staging area. After a few minutes, Mac located the panel and touched the key against it. For a moment nothing happened. Then came a low vibration, like an earthquake. Behind them the grate shot up, sealing off the tunnel.

Now there was no going back.

Mac buried the proximity key below the panel so he could find it fast. They swam up, intending to squeeze through the small opening as the hatchway rolled back. They were almost to the surface when Scotty grabbed him and pointed to two blurry figures at the dock peering down into the black water. They took out their SOCOM pistols from the plastic bags. Now they would find out if the pistols were waterproof.

Concealed by the hatchway, they suddenly surfaced and fired the weapons. The two guards fell, one into the water and the other onto the dock, his submachine gun clattering beside him. Despite the silencers on their pistols, the rock walls of the cavern echoed the sharp cracks. Any other guards here would have heard that. They needed to get to cover and get other weapons.

With Scotty covering him, Mac pulled himself up and grabbed the Spectre submachine gun next to the dead guard, taking cover behind a pile of scuba gear on the dock. He pulled off his tank and mask and dumped them with the other gear. A submarine was docked nearby and he could hear the hum of a generator. The cave was surprisingly warm on his face, and the air had a misty humidity that made the mesh of LED lights above them twinkle like stars. Beyond the lights, the roof of the cave vaulted hundreds of feet out of sight. It was an amazing place.

A guard heading towards the dock spotted the body and cried out a warning. Two muffled spits from Scotty’s pistol brought him down.

Too late, Mac spotted a figure running from the crew quarters into the control building. The
WHOOP WHOOP
of an alarm began to blare, echoing off the cavern walls. Fuck! They’d lost the element of surprise. And they desperately needed more firepower.

“Cover me!” he yelled, and with his heart pounding like a racehorse, Mac sprinted across the prayer stage and grabbed the second guard’s weapon. He dived behind the generator shed. A hail of bullets zinged past. A guard emerged from the crew quarters, firing wildly towards the dock. Mac aimed quickly and dropped him. They had the crew quarters and the control building covered. But reinforcements could arrive any moment.

Mac crept forward beneath the window of the control building as Scotty moved to the right flank. They had an important advantage: the crew quarters had no windows, meaning anyone inside was trapped. The concrete construction that gave the buildings their strength made it impossible for those inside to fire out, except from the doorway.

Two more men ran down the path from the tunnel that led to the resort, and Mac dropped them with an eruption of gunfire from the Spectre. The gunfire and the alarm sounding in the cave were deafening, and the echoes made it impossible to tell where the firing was coming from. That was also to their advantage.

A guard fired off a burst from the doorway of the crew quarters, splintering the timber deck of the prayer stage. But Mac was some distance away behind the control building. When the guard ducked back inside, Mac squeezed the Spectre’s trigger and plowed into the crew quarters, crashing the stainless steel door against the guard before he could fire again. Screaming a war cry to unnerve any other guards, he kept firing as he crashed through the building, leaving four half-dressed guards dead and a backgammon game scattered across the floor.

He quickly found two fully loaded Spectres. He needed to get one to Scotty. They had to silence the guy in the control building. But now Mac was trapped in the crew quarters. Opening the door a fraction, he spotted a giant striding down from the back of the fortress. An old man was chasing after him.

“Ibrahim! Where are you going?” the old man yelled. “Don’t leave me alone. I’ll go crazy in this place!”

“Get back, Mahomet! Keep working on the bombs. Masoud is on his way!” Ibrahim ducked into Khalid’s quarters just before Mac opened fire.

They were making bombs?
Shit! Another unexpected complication!
He fired off the rest of the clip at the door of the control building. The handle disintegrated and the door swung open. He took cover as the guard inside flung a long burst back at him. Throwing his empty weapon aside, Mac held another Spectre at arm’s length and fired several short volleys. He took a deep breath and torpedoed out the door, firing at Ibrahim as he hurtled across the gap to the control building.

Inside, he found the guard moaning and finished him. Then he located the switch that sealed the tunnel access from the resort building. No more reinforcements from that direction. He flicked the switch that held the hatchway open to prevent help coming through the sea tunnel.

They had the fortress isolated. Now to gain control.

The firing outside had stopped. Scotty must be preserving his rounds. Firing off a wild burst towards where Ibrahim had disappeared, he ran back around the crew quarters to find Scotty, hoping he hadn’t been hit by any of the volleys from Khalid’s men. He was unhurt, backed up against the wall of the crew quarters, and Mac handed him one of the submachine guns.

“Took your time, lad,” Scotty said, checking the weapon and magazine.

“I think I’ve secured the cave. You keep the guy in Khalid’s quarters busy. I think he’s the only one left. I’ll take out the bomb-maker and check the cellblock for the girls.” He handed Scotty the other Spectre.

“Done.”

Mentally checking Mai’s map, Mac knew he'd have to get past Khalid’s quarters to reach the other buildings. With Scotty firing cover, he darted behind the water tank. When Ibrahim peered out and fired a couple rounds from a pistol, Scotty drove him back with a hail of metal. Taking advantage of the distraction, Mac rocketed past the maintenance building to the vault and punched in the four-digit master code that Bill had programmed to open any door in the fortress.

Inside, hundreds of crates of varying sizes were stacked from floor to ceiling. He recognized some boxes as the same as those in Paris that contained gold ingots. But there were many, many more here. Ignoring the treasure, he ran to the rear of the vault and keyed in the master code. The door slid open.

The bomb-maker sat alone, about thirty feet away, holding several wires in his shaky hands. “Where is Masoud? I let the bomb off if you come closer!”

“Relax, brother,” Mac replied calmly in Arabic. “You’re safe now. Masoud will be here shortly. It’s just a practice drill. I’m here to test security. Just firing blanks. You did very well.” He lowered the pistol and leaned against the wall and smiled. “But there will need to be improvements.”

After a moment, the bomb-maker dropped his hands a little. “You are with Masoud and Ibrahim?”

Mac shrugged. “How else would I know the code to unlock the door? Just blanks. See?”

He brought up the pistol and fired twice. The bomb-maker’s head jerked back and the two wires flew out of his hands. They landed one on top of the other, fortunately not with the live ends touching. McCloud gently lifted the top wire clear and wiped the sweat off his face.

The first thing he noticed was two yellow cylinders with a radiation warning symbol on the side.
Fuck!
Ziad had mentioned nuclear canisters.

Two of the four canisters had been assembled into bombs, which fitted snugly into fifty-pound backpacks, each with explosives packed tight around the cylinder. The bomb-maker had used a cellphone trigger.

A Geiger counter nearby showed an above-average reading. They must be the real thing. Were these what Khalid was trying to sell for five hundred million dollars? Four dirty bombs?

They had to get these canisters out of play. Fast.

More firing outside.

Fuck!

Scotty would have to keep them busy a little longer. Keeping an eye on the door, he disconnected the cell phone from the two assembled bombs, then cut all the wires. There were sufficient explosives here to destroy the fortress, but Scotty would need time to properly rig them.

Another exchange of gunfire.

A shout.

Scotty.

He hurried to the door and cracked it open, pulling back as rounds peppered the building. Who had fired? There was no sign of anyone. They needed to stop Ibrahim getting into the control building and opening up the tunnel into the resort.

“Cover me, Scotty!”

No response.

Mac fired several rounds and sprinted across the gap to the water tank. Scotty was slumped against the tank, blood oozing from a bullet wound in his lower left side.

No!

Mac grabbed a submachine gun and fired off a volley, then dragged Scotty to safety behind the crew quarters.

“You okay?”

Scotty took short breaths. “I winged him, but he’s a sneaky bastard.”

Mac checked the wound. The bullet had passed right through. It hadn’t hit an artery, but it needed attention.

“You’ll be fine. We need to get you bandaged.”

Scotty shook his head. “I’m a fookin’ tough bugger. You have to stop him getting to the control building. Give me the pistol. I’ll cover this side.”

Mac handed Scotty the pistol and stormed around the side of the crew quarters towards the control building.

As he careened around the corner, he collided with another guard and the Spectre flew out of his hands. It was not Ibrahim, but this man was equally powerfully built. Mac grabbed for the man’s pistol. The guard bared his teeth and pulled the trigger, sending bullets ricocheting off the cave walls. Mac held on desperately as they wrestled for control. If he let go, he was dead. So was Scotty.

The guard rammed his forehead into Mac’s skull. Pain speared through his head, momentarily disorienting him. He kicked out as the guard hit him full in the face. Mac rolled onto his back, the momentum catching the other man off balance. To break his fall, he loosened his grip on the weapon, allowing Mac to snatch it away.

Mac fired.
Click.
Empty. The guard jumped on his ribs, and slammed his fists into his face. Blood spurted from Mac’s nostrils. The other man pushed his powerful forearm under Mac’s chin, forcing his head backwards over the raised lip of the walkway. With his powerful leverage, it wouldn’t take much more pressure to break Mac’s neck.

Mac reached for his ankle sheath, but his leg was trapped. He began to feel light-headed. His brain was telling him to relax and let it be done. He looked into the other man’s face—he was grinning.

“You are dead, infidel!” he spat.

Mac got a surge of outrage. Arching his back to reduce the pressure and ignoring the pain, he grabbed the guard’s hair and dragged his face down. He clamped his teeth onto the man’s nose, tearing through the skin and cartilage like a rabid dog. The man howled in agony as his nose was torn away. Warm blood gushed over Mac’s face.