Hot Zone (28 page)

"We'll take the tunnel." Ice said, “just point the way.”

Roo pointed down the tunnel and said: "We know about half the layout of this place. You need to tell us about where you have been, maybe we can get a sketch together."

Jordan looked at Ice and then produced the Journal. "We can do you one better. We have a compound diagram in this journal."

"You know, I bet if we take a close look at this and flashback to what we've seen we'll have a pretty good idea of where they placed the charges." Roo said.

"You don't think they just hid them randomly?" Jordan asked.

Ice shook his head: "No. Eight of these charges isn't enough to bring this place down unless they are placed in precise locations. They know just getting around this place is hard enough, they don't need to hide them."

There was a moments silence then Ice said: "Listen, whatever happens, you all did a great job down here. You all have a lot of guts."

"Ice, I think we should talk." Roo said, motioning him away from Jansen and Jordan.

"Let's go."

Together they walked to the far side of the cavern. Jordan and Jansen stood there looking at each other: "What's going on?" She asked him.

"Probably SEAL talk. We're still civilians here." Jansen said.

"You think they'd hide something from us now?"

"Maybe it's for our benefit. We don't need to know everything; I know I don't want to." Jansen said.

2:24.00.

* * *

Roo looked concerned, he didn't like the way they were headed and he wanted to share his feelings with Ice before they made a big mistake. What they were planning on doing was not the text book way to carry out this mission.

"Ice. You know I would never question you in front of anyone. I just gotta ask you. Are you sure about this?"

"You mean separating?" Ice asked.

"Exactly. We gotta have stones the size of melons to want to do this. One of us isn't getting out of here this way. We were forced apart before, I just think we should stick together now. Safety in numbers."

"Ordinarily I'd agree, Roo. This is a different situation. Right now there are two ways we know of to survive the next few hours. We don't have enough time to explore both options together, we have to split. If that means one of us goes down then that's what it means."

"Yeah, well it's a real shitty way to go, mate. And no one is ever going to know what happened to us down here."

"You were hoping for a blaze of glory storming a hill?"

Shaking his head: "Just didn't think it would be this way, neither did Ghost or Shooter."

"Listen," Ice said, "We got a little over two hours before these charges pop. Give me and Jordan an hour to check that tunnel out. If it looks like it goes somewhere I will double time it back to the mining room. You be there with Jansen, if we aren't back within that hour then you're on your own."

"Alright, man."

They bumped fists and then walked back to Jordan and Jansen looking ready for business.

"Everything okay?" Jordan asked.

"Yeah, but we're wasting time, we gotta move." Ice said.

"Good luck guys." Jordan said.

"You too." Jansen said.

The foursome split in two heading down opposite tunnels. Roo took the charge out of the wall and threw it in the water as he turned. His watch was in synch with the charge time.

2:20.14.

45

Ice and Jordan moved swiftly down the tunnel that lead to the mining room all the while watching closely for the Frenchmen, though Ice believed they had already left the compound. It didn't take them long to get there and took even less time for Ice to see Ghost's body.

He knelt down in front of him for a moment, paying a silent respect. Jordan did the same. She hadn't spent much time with Ghost but from what interaction she did have she could tell he was a good man.

"That's two of us." Ice said. "Boy did it go wrong down here."

Jordan placed her hand on Ice's shoulder. "It's only going to be two, Ice. We'll get out of this. All of us."

Something in what Jordan said and more so, how she said it rejuvenated Ice. He stood up and nodding said: "Your damn right we will, Jordan." He walked over to the boarded up tunnel and assessed the entrance. After pulling a couple of times on the boards he turned to Jordan.

"Here, I need your muscle." Ice said.

Together they yanked on the panels of wood that had been nailed into the wall decades earlier. The years of moisture and wood rot enabled them to pull the boards down with little resistance. Just minutes after they'd started they were done. A dusty black hole lay in front of them. Unlike the rest of the compound there were no lights on the ceiling of the tunnel.

"Any guess where it leads?" Jordan asked.

"The author of the journal didn't know, that's not a good sign." Ice said.

"Ah, but he was a scientist. He probably never came down here before it hit the fan. This was the blue collar workers area."

Ice jumped onto the see-saw cart and motioned Jordan onto the other side of the propulsion lever. “This should get us moving quickly.” He said "We gotta move fast." Ice pulled out his last two light sticks, snapped them against his leg and threw one to Jordan. "Into the darkness we go."

They started off at a brisk pace, as tired as they both were they knew they were in a race against a clock they could not stop and they had no idea how far the tunnel would stretch. Their arms burned as they pumped up and down, pushing the cart down the track as they did their best to double-time it. For five minutes they kept the pace until Jordan stopped and hunched over, gasping for air, bring the cart to a slow roll.

"We have to slow it down, I can't keep this pace up, Ice."

He didn't say it but he was at his end too. Both were near total exhaustion, they'd been running around these tunnels for a good two hours now, after no sleep and the lack of air circulating it was no wonder their bodies were giving out.

"This is harder than we thought. But we have to keep moving, no matter what." Ice said.

Raising her head, Jordan said: "Okay, let’s get going then.”

"Deal. How's your arm?" Ice asked, noticing Jordan rubbing it.

"Hurts. It's not everyday you got shot in the arm with an arrow. However it is not lost on me that being of Native Indian descent and getting shot with an arrow down here is a little ironic."

They both started laughing at this. Then: "Come on, let's see where this take us."

2:05.00

46

2:05.00

Roo and Jansen were hustling through the tunnels searching feverishly for small, blue blinking numbers. They had made it to the research lab where Roo believed there would be another charge. After looking at the diagram Ice had shown him and after listening to where he and Jordan had been, Roo believed he knew precisely where the other locations of the charges would be. The one question he didn't have an answer for was whether the Frenchmen had the balls to place the necessary charge in the greenhouse, home to the monster birds.

For now he was going to focus on the other six locations and leave the birds for last, if he made it that far.

Standing in the middle of the large research lab, Roo knew he had his work cut out for him. If they wanted to make finding the charges difficult it wasn't going to take much. It suddenly occurred to him that they might not have the time needed to find these together. He looked at the makeshift diagram he had scribbled down then looked towards a large door off to his right.

"Pete. You think you could find the charge in here while I head to the living quarters."

Jansen nodded: "We don't have enough time do we?"

"Not without us separating, or getting real lucky. And luck isn't on our side today."

"And when I find it?" Jansen asked.

"Stay put, stay right there."

"For how long?" Concern growing in Jansen's tone.

Roo scratched his head, "Ten minutes. If I'm not back in ten minutes and you've found the charge come get me, down that tunnel." Roo pointed, "The living quarters should be off to the right around hundred yards down."

"Good luck."

Roo took off through the tunnel, closing the door behind him. Jansen stood in the room's center, looking for a clue, a good hiding place or anything that might tip him off to where the charge could be. The problem he had was that the lab had been trashed, the charge wasn't in the wall, it was amongst the pile of rubbish that had been thrown around the room, presumably by the birds.

"This is so not right." He said.

He began lifting boxes, papers, pieces of equipment, anything that might be covering the charge. That was,
if there was a charge in the lab.
Jansen wanted to believe that Roo knew what he was doing here but it was all on a hunch. He didn't know for sure that the charges would be exactly where Roo had assumed they would be and even with a description and sketch of the compound, Jansen was sure they were missing something.

It wasn't his place to say so however and any doubts he may have had were over ruled by the fact the Roo was a professional in this situation, Jansen was not.

He continued to pick through the contents of the lab. He looked under tables, in drawers, everywhere he could think of.

Nothing.

"Damn it, you gotta be in here somewhere." He said. He spun around the room, eagle-eyed staring at every square inch of it. "Where are you, c'mon!"

2:00.01

47

In the living quarters Roo stood in the hall. Smaller halls ran off the main hall. Doors lined the walls in all directions. He hoped he wouldn't have to search each room before finding what he was looking for. The area was dimly lit by the old light bulbs that sat, rusted in their sockets. Every third or fourth one, he noticed, was blown.

Do I search each room or run the halls and hope I get lucky?

Halls first.

Roo didn't expect the living quarters to be so large. The ten minutes he had given Jansen was already down to seven, if Jansen made his way down here they could be chasing each other around the maze of rooms for an hour. He was going to run through the halls, hoping the charges were not hidden in some of the thirty rooms but instead in plain view. He didn't want to spend half an hour searching rooms to trip over it at the end of the hall.

He started sweeping the halls, sig-sauer outstretched, chambered and ready. Surprisingly it didn't take Roo long to cover the four halls and the main tunnel. But his worst fears at that point were realized:
No charge.

He was going to have to go through each room until he found them.
Damn it. Door one, here we go.