Hot Zone (20 page)

Even if he did, however, he would not be able to see Claude in the faint green light. The soot that covered the canopy of the drill all but blanked the American's view.

It had blocked Claude's view also until he had wiped a very small section of the canopy clear. He had a good look at most of the room and the tunnel entrances. Claude had heard the Americans coming first, then saw the green glow of their light sticks start to bleed into the mine shaft. Hesitating, he decided his best option was to hide, taking up refuge in the drill. Now he was stuck. If he made a sound the American would hear him.

As long as the soldier stood guard in the mine shaft Claude was stuck there, too.

29

Roo and Jansen found that their tunnel had ended in what looked to be a mess hall. It was large enough to seat and feed a good fifty people, tables and chairs lined up side by side in rows. On the tables molded over plates of food added a slight stench to the air and Roo held a hand to his nose for a moment.

"What happened here? They were eating and then they, they vanished. Up and left their meals, dropped their mining tools...and left?"

In his head he was attempting to piece the puzzle together. The tunnels, mine shaft, mess hall and that was just what he had seen. God only knew what Ice and Jordan were discovering in the other tunnel. He couldn't make any sense out of it.

Jansen had also been trying to understand where the men were. He had heard stories about where he was but had never really believed that such a place existed.

Apparently he was wrong.

Roo walked across the hall and began inspecting the kitchen which lined the back of the room. Jansen followed.

"So, how did you guys end up down here?" Jansen asked.

"We were on our way home actually, got a call that you fellas got yourselves into a little trouble. We didn't expect to find anybody alive, that's for sure."

"It was a rescue mission?"

Coming clean Roo said: "Not really. In the Doc's distress call he mentioned he'd found something--this place I assume. He called out Jordan's name, the government decided it was worth checking out. Before the French got here."

"Guess that didn't work out then."

"No."

"And they dragged Jordan all the way out here?"

"Don't think she had a choice, mate. She seems like a top Sheila though. Real smart, real brave. To come down here with us, twice now, she's a trooper."

"Here we go. What do we have here?" Roo said.

As he rounded a bench in the kitchen he discovered the remains of a human skeleton. It was seated upright against the bench, clothes still handing from its skeletal frame. In its fingers lay an old six shooter revolver, one Roo had never seen before. Then he noticed the bullet hole in the skull.

He killed himself. He bloody killed himself!

Bending down for a closer look at the remains Roo noticed a large ring on the right hand. Gently, he removed the ring and inspected it with a hard eye. He was looking for engravings on the inside of it, hoping to find either the victims name or maybe the year this person may have lived. The ring was plain gold. A large band with a flat top the size of a nickel. There was no engraving whatsoever on the ring. Nothing that helped Roo figure out who this was. Roo placed the ring in his side pocket.

"I'm not sure what we stumbled into here Pete but something went down in this place. Something bad."

"You think the birds had something to do with it?"

"It’s possible."

"I have a feeling if we stick around long enough we're going to find out."

"I'm not sure I want to." Roo said

30

Ghost sat on a mound of rocks, ever alert and ready to move into action. He kept ninety percent of his focus on the tunnel that he and the other two had come down when they found the mine shaft. Every now and again he would glance toward the tunnel where Roo and Jansen had gone but he assumed the only people coming back through there would be them.

* * *

Grosjean saw the green aura seeping into the tunnel from the mine shaft. One of the Americans was in there. He quietly walked to the edge of the entrance, his flashlight off. He could see an American soldier sitting on the rocks looking the other way. It was too good to be true. Grosjean could take the American out right here. One good clean shot was all it would take.

That was until the American turned his head and their eyes met.

There was a moment's pause, a Mexican standoff. The American fell backwards behind the pile of rocks then came up firing. Grosjean ducked back into the tunnel for cover, the bullets ricocheting inches from him. Grosjean composed himself then edged himself into a position to see the American. He had stopped firing and was hiding behind the rock pile.

Grosjean aimed his spear gun an inch above the pile, waiting for the American to make his move. He only had six spears and couldn't afford to waste any.

* * *

Ghost's adrenaline was pumping.

He crouched down as low as he could behind the rocks. He pulled out his extendible dental mirror and angled it to the side of the rock pile. He could see the Frenchman aiming his spear gun, ready to take Ghost down. Ghost did not have a clean shot at him if he stood and fired. He thrust his gun above the pile and fired blindly.

"Shit." Ghost yelled.

This wasn't his specialty, he was the sniper in the group, he wasn't as good in close quarters contact. He didn't like the thought of being shot, no one did, but especially not him. Ghost was a just that, a Ghost. On the roof of a building or a wooded hillside, camouflaged and deathly still for days he could lay in waiting, he wasn’t used to being shot at himself.

Looking in his mirror again he could see the Frenchman retreat back into the darkness. This was the perfect time for Ghost to make his move. He stood straight up and aimed at the tunnel.

A sharp pain erupted in his side, spinning him like a top until he fell to the earth with a thud. He looked over to see another Frenchman standing behind one of the drill machines, his spear gun still aimed at Ghost but now empty.

The spear was in him!

Ghost looked down, clutching at the spear that was in the right side of his abdomen. The piercing pain was so great Ghost's mind could not handle it. The mine shaft began spinning and before Ghost knew what happened the world went black.

* * *

Grosjean saw Claude edge out of the drilling machine and take aim at the American. He hung back in the tunnel, hoping the American would take a chance and expose himself. Claude had hit him square in the side and the American had not gotten up.

"Bravo, Claude. Nice work." Grosjean said as he rushed across the room and took the American's weapons. He patted down his body for extra ammunition then made sure the weapons were fully loaded. Walking back to Claude, Grosjean said:

"Now we have guns
too
."

Claude nodded towards Grosjean then said: "What do we do now?"

"We chase the others. We just killed an American soldier, there’s no return from here."

"There were two more. They went down that tunnel." Claude pointed to the tunnel from where Grosjean had just emerged.

"I did not see them." Grosjean said.

"We're right here." A voice boomed into the mine shaft.

Roo and Jansen exploded into the room, guns blazing. Grosjean and Claude scampered for cover behind the drilling machine. Roo looked over towards Ghost. He was unconscious. The words of the Navy SEAL motto rang in Roo's head,
Leave No One Behind.

"Pete. Stay here. Keep your gun pointed on that machine. If you see any movement, shoot at it."

"No worries mate."

Roo made a run for Ghost, firing at the machine as he went. The bullets zipped around the room, ricocheting off the walls and equipment. Roo dived behind the pile of rocks near Ghost. Staying quiet, he waited for the French to fire towards his location. Instead, they started firing at Jansen.

Roo stared at Ghost. A spear protruded from his side. A pool of blood had gathered around his lifeless body. Roo had seen death before, many times in fact and knew that Ghost was still alive, albeit barely. He needed help and he needed it fast.

Jansen was holding his own. Using the entrance of the tunnel for cover, he fired purposely at the machine, remembering that Roo had told him they didn't have many bullets and he had to make every shot count. Jansen allowed the French to continue to waste their ammunition as they fired wildly in his direction with no real probability of hitting their target.

Roo was having no luck in trying to get Ghost conscious.

He got the feeling he was going to be behind the pile of rocks for a long while, something that wasn't going to help Ghost. Roo thought about what he had seen in the mess hall.

People had lived down here. It was reasonable to assume that there was some kind of medical facility. The problem, if he could get them out of the mine shaft would be finding it in the maze of tunnels. At that moment Roo made one of the toughest decisions of his SAS life.

He would have to leave Ghost.

His only real hope was to find the medical quarters and bring supplies to Ghost that would sustain him well enough to get him to the surface.

Roo pulled out one of the three smoke bombs that hung from his belt, pulled the pin and hurled it towards the French soldiers. A blinding flash lit up the shaft as Roo bolted back to Jansen's position. Before the smoke had engulfed the room Roo grabbed Jansen and began to run back down the tunnel, this time ignoring the entrance to the mess hall.

"We aren't going to fight them?" Jansen asked.

"Ghost needs help. We need to find a first aid kit down here. I don't have time to spend an hour trading useless fire. It'll be a good minute before they realize we are no longer here."

"We don't even know where we're going."

"I have a nose for things, we'll figure it out."

"I hope so, mate." Jansen said as the pair sprinted into the unknown darkness.

31

Ice and Jordan made their way down the new tunnel as they began to notice more and more tunnels dissecting the main hall.

"Do we go down one of these, Ice?"

"Sure. You wanna pick?"

"This one up on the right looks good. It smells a little down here, don't you think?" She asked.

"Like something's rotten."

"Exactly."

Turning into the tunnel, doors appeared on both sides and stretched for as far as the green orb would allow the two to see. The doors were two inches of hardened steel that sealed closed with large wheels, similar to what Ice had seen on the US Navy's submarines. Stopping at the first one, Ice placed one hand on the wheel and tried to turn it but it would not budge. He turned to Jordan and placed his sig-sauer in her hand. "When this door opens make sure you have that pointed into the room, shoot anything that moves."