Savage Bay (17 page)

OPS CENTER, ABOARD THE ALAMIRANTA 

“Good news and bad news,” Touchdown said. “I’ve got a faint reading from Pyro. The bad news is that he appears to be about two feet from a Dragon.”

“Have you contacted him?” asked Caine.

“Yes, but he may not be able to respond.”

“Can you get a visual from his helmet cam?” asked Caine.

“Switching to video feed,” said Touchdown.

Appearing to stare into the Ops Center from Touchdown’s screen was the face of a Chinese commando. His face moved slightly from side to side, his brows knit.

“He’s curious about something,” Quiz said. “It almost appears as if he doesn’t know what he’s looking at.”

* We know what he’s looking at, don’t we? *

We certainly do.

***

Joshua Ambergris was also staring at something, brows knit. On his screen was the double helix data that Titan Six managed to record before Aiko had appeared on the lab displays at Savage Bay.

Arms folded, Ambergis closed his eyes and recalled the last words of Emilio Gonzales:
Boren in eleven eleven
.

The opinion of other Ops members was that Dr. Heidi Boren was hiding in a room numbered 1111. But no, that was wrong. There was too much scientific data on the eleven-eleven phenomenon.

Ambergris opened his eyes wide. An epiphany had claimed his thoughts.

He knew exactly what Gonzales had been trying to communicate: where to find the very heart of all Genesis data.

TITAN SIX, SAVAGE BAY

Pyro moved quietly, using the utmost care to remove the Glock, silencer attached, from his belt.

The Dragon poked his head a few inches into the hole for a better view.

Pyro aimed the Glock at the perplexed face of his foe and fired.

The commando fell backwards as if struck by a rocket.

Aligning himself with the ladder again, Pyro looked through the opening in the hatch. The Dragon lay on the floor, a neat bullet hole in the middle of his forehead.

Pyro leaned toward the complex, reaching his arm through the hole, elbow bent, as his hand searched for a lever.

With his weight shifted toward the hatch, the ladder separated from the rocks. Pyro pulled his arm in quickly as the ladder bounced three times against the mountain.

“Status,” Hawkeye said.

“The ladder is no longer bolted to the rock down here.”

“We’re okay farther up,” Hawkeye said.

Pyro leaned back toward the hatch and again inserted his arm through the hole. His fingers curled around a thick metal lever. Pulling it down, he heard bolts sliding from their slots in the wall. He retracted his arm, grabbed the hatch by the top of the hole he had drilled and, angling it so that it would fit through the opening, carefully brought it towards his body. Simply knocking it into the corridor beyond would make far too much noise.

He released the hatch from his grip. It fell several yards before it clanged against the mountain. Then there was silence. It was lodged between the mountain and the complex.

Stepping into the corridor, Pyro looked left and right.

He was alone . . . for the time being.

“You’re go for descent, Hawkeye,” he said. “I’ll hold the ladder steady from below.”

Fifteen minutes later, Titan Six, Battenford, and Madison were safely standing on Level Two.

“Let’s get to the chapel and see if we can fix up Dr. Madison’s shoulder and Pyro’s leg,” Hawkeye said. “And decide where we go from here.”

The chapel was as Hawkeye remembered it. Bodies were everywhere, a female corpse draped across the altar. The team trudged in and lay down its gear.

That’s when the dead came to life.

OPS CENTER

“Radiation level up to 125 rads,” Touchdown said. “My guess is that the sub has a serious radiation leak.”

“Hawkeye,” said Caine. “Time is running out. If you don’t find Dominique soon, the radiation is going to become lethal for everyone in the facility.”

No response.

“Mr. Hawke?”

Sounds of struggle filled the Ops Center. Grunts, groans, and shrieks issued from the speaker.

TITAN SIX, SAVAGE BAY

Commander Aiko rose from the altar as the rest of her forces, some dressed in lab coats or Triad uniforms, jumped to their feet. The dead bodies had been removed. Commandos had smeared blood on themselves and assumed the positions of the dead.

“You’re very clever, Titan Six,” said Aiko, “but we checked the lab where we left you. We discovered the hole blasted in the wall. We’ve been waiting. Some of our men saw the drill holes in the hatch.”

Aiko stood, somersaulted from the altar, and threw her body horizontally at Hawkeye, feet first.

Hawkeye leaned to the left as he grabbed Aiko’s right ankle. “You’re beginning to piss me off, lady.”  Thoughts of his bare-knuckle encounters at The Fight Club in Ibiza flooded his mind.

Within minutes, everyone in the room was engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

***

Hawkeye scrambled on top of the prostrate Aiko. She smashed her hand into his face, but he shook it off and drove his fist into her windpipe.

Someone from behind pulled him from the gasping Aiko, but Hawkeye, adrenaline and anger pumping through his veins like a raging river, turned and drove his male attacker against the wall. Hawkeye rammed his knee into the commando’s groin.

Turning toward the center of the chapel again, Hawkeye saw that Aiko was on her feet. From the corner of his eye, Hawkeye saw that Madison and Battenford had been knocked unconscious. Pyro was on his back, unable to stand. Tank and Gator fought one-on-one with Dragons behind a short row of pews.

Hawkeye stepped back, disoriented. Aiko’s suit was matching the bluish colors of the chapel walls. She was also reaching for her plasma weapon.

Hawkeye hurled his body to the side, barely missing the blue arcs emanating from the palm-held weapon.

And then she had moved. From the corner of his eye, Hawkeye could see red and blue lights flickering on her suit, revealing her position. Hawkeye charged toward the lights, driving his nemesis against the wall. Her mysterious eyes glared at Hawkeye, causing him to step back, but he quickly regained his concentration.

Hawkeye faked a move forward, then withdrew. It was enough to draw the ninja-like Commander towards him.

Hawkeye grabbed her arm beneath the shoulder and propelled her into the chapel wall. Dazed, she slumped to the floor. He then wheeled around, dropped to his knees, and landed several punches to her stomach.

“I know it’s old-fashioned,” Hawkeye said, “but it’s highly effective.”

Aiko had surprising resilience and strength. She curled her knees inwards and thrust her feet in a hard shove against Hawkeye’s chest. He reeled back, his head cracking against the first wooden pew.

Hawkeye and Aiko got to their feet at the same time. The two circled each other, hatred shining cruelly in the eyes of each.

Aiko spun, her leg kicking out and connecting with Hawkeye’s head.

“We’ve done this once today,” Hawkeye said, “and I don’t intend to be left on the floor a second time.”

Hawkeye advanced on Aiko. She brought down both hands, palms flat and rigid, but Hawkeye thrust his arms straight up, deflecting her moves. He continued to advance, weaving his fingers together tightly. Aiko was now pinned against the opposite wall. Hawkeye slammed his double fist sideways against her cheekbone with all his might. Aiko’s pale irises rolled into her head as she toppled to the floor, unconscious.

Hawkeye then turned his vengeance against the Dragon, down on one knee, who was raining blows on Pyro. Weak from his descent on the ladder, Pyro could do no more than shield himself from his attacker with upraised arms.

Standing behind the Dragon, Hawkeye used his same double fist to knock him sideways. With unnatural strength, he lifted the Dragon from the chapel floor and drove him against the wall, where he delivered one punch after the other.

Left hook.

Left hook.

Right jab.

The Dragon lay motionless.

Shooter, Tank, and Gator were holding their own, but Hawkeye dashed through the chapel with the unforgiving energy of a tornado. Within minutes, the other assailants also lay unconscious on the floor.

Hawkeye stood erect in the center of the room, mouth and hands bloody, red, and raw.

“I guess your hobby in Ibiza wasn’t a waste of time after all,” said Tank.

“Lookout, Hawkeye!” Pyro called out.

Hawkeye wheeled around and saw a blur running through the door. It was Aiko. Hawkeye could not tell if her unusual tactical suit was changing colors again or if she simply moved with superior speed — or both. She seemed like a phantom warrior, not wholly present . . . except her punches were savage and very real.

He chased the female form, now morphing into an off-white that almost rendered her invisible. Out in the hall, Hawkeye looked in both directions.

She was gone. Hawkeye knew that she could be almost anywhere in the base within a matter of minutes, and at the moment, he needed to focus his attention and energy of finding Dominique Caine.

Hawkeye returned to the chapel and grabbed one of the Dragons lying on the floor, yanking his head up quite unceremoniously.

“Where’s Dominique Caine?” he screamed.

There was no reply.

Hawkeye unleashed a series of savage punches to the commando’s face until it looked like bloody meat.

“Lead me to her,” Hawkeye said, his breathing fast and demanding, “or I’ll kill you here and now.”

The Dragon, who obviously spoke English, got to his feet. “This way,” he said.

“Shooter, you’re with me. Gator and Pyro, tie the Dragons securely. If they resist, shoot ‘em.”

The Dragon led the Titan team leader to the auditorium.

Barely conscious, Dominique Caine was tied to a chair, her mouth gagged.

DUBOIS ESTATE, OUTSIDE LYON, FRANCE

Claude Dubois had excused himself from the Council. He had not been entirely honest with his brothers. While he did regard the Code’s translation as a given, he had not quite given up on the idea of having its message remain proprietary.

He trusted his three absent brothers, and he knew that allowing the Chinese to use the Code was probably inevitable. The arguments in favor of having the Chinese government use the invaluable secrets of the Genesis data had been overwhelming. If the Council was at least aware of what was in the Code and how it was going to be used, it was better than having the Order dissolve or remain in ignorance after centuries of guarding its secrets.

But Dubois had the proverbial ace in the hole. He was hedging his bets.

There was an eleventh member of the Council — of course he would be number eleven — and his presence and intentions were unknown to the rest of the brothers seated at the table in the other room.

CHINESE SUBMARINE 412, MEDITERRANEAN
SEA

“Coordinates,” said Commander Chu to his sub-commander.

Chu was an unusually tall man who wore rimless spectacles. At fifty-seven, his gray hair was buzzed almost to the scalp.

“Thirty-nine degrees latitude, four degrees longitude.”

“Missile and torpedo status,” said Chu.

“Four cruise missiles are in their silos and armed. All torpedo bays are manned and ready. Will we be firing at Es Vedra as well?”

Chu stared straight ahead. “That will be for Mr. Yang to decide.”

Ming class submarine 412 of the People’s Liberation Army of China was diesel powered like most conventional Chinese subs, but it had subsonic cruise missile capability with a range of one thousand miles. The cruise missiles aboard 412, however, were North Korean in design.

And they were very accurate.

Commander Chu looked at the intricate tactical display in the submarine’s Command Center. Several blips could be seen on a yellow and black grid. The
Alamiranta
was stationary to the west. Chu did not expect to see it when dawn arrived.

TITAN SIX, SAVAGE BAY

Hawkeye removed the dirty cloth gag from Dominique’s mouth and untied her hands.

Dominique looked up and smiled, her deep blue eyes showing recognition. “Hawkeye,” she said. “I should have known my mother would send the best. I’m . . . ”

Dominique Caine’s head fell to the side, her eyes closed.

Hawkeye supported her head with his hand and held a canteen to the former prisoner’s lips. “It’s water fortified with a few special ingredients you wouldn’t find in a sports drink.”

Dominique took a sip, then another.

Hawkeye turned to speak with Shooter but saw the Dragon, his muscular arm raised high in the air, holding a black-handled blade. “Die, Titan!”

The Dragon’s back arched, head tilted so far back to the rear that his chin pointed at the ceiling. “Ayyyy!” he wailed, his face contorted in pain.

As he fell forward, Hawkeye saw that Shooter had fired a bullet into the soldier’s back.

“He had a knife on the inside of his boot,” Shooter explained. “And he was damn fast. In the time it took for me to put my finger on the trigger, he had the knife poised above his head.”

“I owe you one,” Hawkeye said.

“You owe me a lot more than one,” Shooter said with a wink, “but we’ll discuss that another day.”

Hawkeye turned around to face Dominique. The color was returning to the face of the director of Savage Bay. Dominique was a rare beauty. Dirty blond hair fell over high cheekbones. Her skin was white and flawless.

“Fine work, Mr. Hawke,” said Mrs. Caine.

“Glad to be of service,” Hawkeye responded.

OPS CENTER, ABOARD THE ALAMIRANTA

Ambergris was standing, hugging Catherine Caine. The other Ops members looked at each other and let out a long sigh of relief.

“How is she, Hawkeye?” asked Caine.

“Recovering quickly.”

“I’m reading a Chinese sub, Ming class, one hundred and fifty miles to our east,” said Touchdown.

Caine turned abruptly and gave Touchdown a stern look.

“I’m sorry ma’am,” Touchdown said. “I didn’t mean to spoil the moment, but the sub poses a very real threat.”

“To Es Vedra or the
Alamiranta
?” asked Caine.

Touchdown pivoted his wheelchair to face his superior. “Both,” he said. “Ming class subs carry a standard issue of torpedoes as well as eight cruise missiles.”

“It could also be on a rescue mission,” Cruz said. “It might be a contingency in case the sub below Savage Bay can’t free itself.”

“Or in case its radiation leak has made it less than seaworthy,” said DJ.

“Hawkeye,” said Caine, “you need to do several things in a hurry. Find the Genesis data. After that, disable the Chinese sub below the cargo bay and prepare to be evacuated.”

Caine turned to DJ. “Reinforcements?”

“They’re still en route.”

“Touchdown, be ready to open the missile doors on the rear deck of the
Alamiranta
on my command. We may have to blow up Es Vedra ourselves — if we can first get the Genesis data, of course. Also, get a Titan jet squadron in the air ASAP.”

Cruz looked startled. “Surely you wouldn’t do that with Titan Six and your daughter still in the mountain!  You’re going to wait for them, right?”

“That would certainly be preferable,” said Caine. “But I’m not willing to let the Chinese retain possession of the Genesis data. The code has infinite ability to change the destiny of mankind.”

All Ops members looked at Catherine Caine. No one dared to say a word.

TITAN SIX, SAVAGE BAY

Pyro, Madison, Tank, and Battenford joined Hawkeye and Dominique in the theater.

“Gator and Shooter are standing guard,” Tank reported. “Aiko’s battered forces are tied and unconscious. I gave each an injection of a heavy duty sedative to keep them in left field for a good long time.”

Dominique stood and stretched. Her body was tall and lithe. “Thank you again,” she said, this time looking at all assembled Titan members. “Christian, we need to get you patched up. And you, too,” she said, looking at Pyro. “There’s a clinic behind the theater.”

Dominique led the group to the clinic, where several Triad employees were hiding. Some were people Hawkeye had seen in the cafeteria earlier. Some faces were new.

“We searched this area not long ago,” said Hawkeye. “This level was empty except for Dr. Garland.”

“Both I and some of my team have been moved several times since the Chinese first assaulted the complex.”

“I filled them in on the incursion,” Madison stated as medics tended to his shoulder and Pyro’s thigh. “What I think we’d all like to hear is what has happened to
you
. And the Genesis data.”

Dominique nodded and rubbed her forehead.

“They took me to my office. Aiko and several of her men were there. They directed the takeover of Savage Bay. Heidi Boren was present as well. She got into my computer and gave Aiko all of the new passwords I’d created after Nigel had erased them this morning. She’d been acting suspiciously for some time. I knew she’d defected when I discovered that she was communicating with the Chinese using coded emails. She sent them to a server in Turkey that employed a re-mailer program to forward them to whomever she’s working for.”

“They’ve uploaded all Genesis research from Savage Bay computers,” Hawkeye said.

“Except the data from the mainframe,” Battenford said.

Dominique smiled,  “I think Heidi will find it difficult to break my encryption key.”

“Wouldn’t a facility like this one normally keep several copies of such important research on separate hard drives?” Tank asked.

“Of course,” Dominique replied. “But Heidi knew where they were stored. I tried to collect them yesterday with the intention of locking them away in different areas of the base, but Heidi beat me to it.”

“We’ve seen Dragons carrying several leather bags of material onto their sub down below,” Catherine Caine broke in. “I would imagine that they have everything except what’s still on the mainframe.”

Tank removed his helmet and handed it to Dominique. “Here. I believe your mother would like to speak with you. Just hold the side of the helmet near your ears and you’ll hear just fine, ma’am.”

“Dominique?” said Caine. “Are you there?”

Tears ran down Dominique’s cheek. “Yes, mother. I’m okay, but . . . but I’ve failed you.”

“You haven’t failed anyone,” Caine said from the Ops Center. “Boren is to blame, and it’s to your credit that you detected her suspicious activity before all this happened. And Dominique?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

Hawkeye coughed nervously. “Mrs. Caine, we’re going to need to get to Level Three and the mainframe — and quickly.”

“I concur,” Dominique said, “but the Chinese have been sealing off corridors, some of them secret, where our staff is hiding.”  Her voice dropped in volume. “At least the ones who weren’t killed.”

“We’re aware of the explosions,” said Caine. “Titan reinforcements are on their way. I’m also going to send
Alamiranta
forces to help with search and rescue.”

“The radiation level is still rising,” Touchdown interjected.

“Roger that,” said Hawkeye. “Keep us posted on the radiation.”

“Radiation?” said Dominique.

“It’s coming from the submarine,” Hawkeye explained.

“Where is Aiko?” Hawkeye asked.

“Unknown,” said Touchdown. “I don’t know what to make of her. When I have a fix on her, her red avatar sometimes starts to fade. Is that chick even human?”

Hawkeye thought for a moment. “Good question. She’s certainly someone with a lot of technology behind her.”  He paused. “But first things first. How do we get to Level Three?”

“There’s a stairway,” Dominique said. “If it hasn’t been blocked off, that is.”

Touchdown chimed in. “Remember that Dragons recently entered the facility down below.”

“We copy,” Hawkeye said.

“I’m suddenly feeling nauseated,” Nigel declared. “And weak.”

Hawkeye and Tank exchanged glances. They were thinking the same thing: radiation. But there was a greater issue looming: how long would it be before the others exhibited symptoms as well.