The Eye of Shiva (32 page)

"Wave," Nick said.

"What?"

"Wave. When we go over. Like we're friendly." He turned around to Lamont and Selena and yelled over the noise. "Wave at the guards down there."

They flew over the barrier, waving and grinning like idiots. Then the post was behind them.

"Keep right on like we planned," Nick said.

In another minute they came up on the staging area, off to the left and up the side of the valley. They flashed past. Nick had time to see bodies lying on the ground. Men in black with assault rifles watched them go by. Then they were around the bend in the stream and out of sight of the tunnel.

Akron dropped down, fast.

"Hot damn," he said. "Just like the old days, 'cept no one's shooting at us."

"Not yet," Nick said.

Akron brought the skids within inches of the ground and hovered. Whatever his faults, he knew how to fly. Selena and Lamont were out in seconds, weapons ready. Nick came right behind. Akron lifted away in a soaring bank and headed upstream. Anyone watching from the staging area would see the chopper reappear from the turn and head straight for the temple ruins.

"Think
they bought it?" Lamont said.

"I wouldn't bet on it. You see the bodies?"

Both Selena and Lamont nodded.

"Cobra must have decided to take them all out. He's probably got the general with the codes inside."

"The missiles aren't in position yet," Selena said. "We still have some time."

"Not much
," Nick said.

The three of them studied the terrain. The land sloped up from the streambed where they stood, toward the tunnel with the missiles. A
shallow ravine ran up the side of the mountain through a forest of evergreens.

"What do you think, Lamont? Up that ravine there?
We're probably four or five hundred feet below where we want to be."

"It goes in the right direction."

"I'll take the point. Selena, you in the middle, keep an interval. Lamont, you cover our six."

"What's the plan when we get there?" Selena asked.

"Don't have one yet. As the situation demands. If they're suspicious, they'll send scouts out to look around. Be ready for anything."

"For some reason I thought this time would be different," she said.

"You ought to know better by now," Lamont said.

"
Weapons free," Nick said.

Three metallic clicks
as the safeties went off.

They set off up the side of the mountain.

*****

Rao came out of the tunnel. "I heard a helicopter," he said.

Ijay pointed at the green Huey flying toward the ruins.

"Looked like a bunch of tourists going to the temple.
They were in civilian clothes, except the pilot. I think he was wearing fatigues. "

"Tourists? When war's
coming and in a helicopter like that? I don't think so."

"I don't either," Ijay said. "It's too much of a coincidence."

"How many?" Rao asked.

"At least four. I saw two up front and two passengers.
If they aren't tourists, we'll know soon enough. It shouldn't be a problem."

Ijay walked over to one of his men. "Sergeant. Take Panav and Darpak.
" He pointed in the direction of the temple. "Go down the side of the hill and make sure no one gets by you."

"Sir."

The sergeant called out to the two men. In a minute they were gone, out of sight in the trees. Ijay turned to Rao.

"Get one those missiles out here," Rao said.

CHAPTER 63

Selena watched Nick moving through the woods ahead of her. It was hot under the trees. There was no breeze. Tiny insects swarmed and bit her, drawn by her sweat. Her shirt was already soaked through. It felt strange to be doing this in civilian clothes. No boots, no armor. The last time she'd gone into a fight without armor it hadn't worked out well. At least she was wearing jeans and her Nikes. A skirt and regular shoes would have been impossible here.

She'd gotten better over time with
the art of moving quietly but she still felt clumsy compared to Nick and Lamont. They made no noise as the team worked their way up the ravine.

She
was careful not to dislodge any of the loose rocks in the wash. That's all she needed, kick loose a rock and have Nick give her one of his looks of disapproval.

Dam
n it, why did she care so much about what he thought? Sometimes she felt like she'd never be able to equal what these men did. They had years of specialized training in warfare she could never match. On the other hand, she could whip both of them in hand to hand, though she wouldn't want to take both on at once. Still, she could kick Nick's butt if she had to.

Th
at thought brought a smile.

They came to the end of the
ravine. The land sloped up for another twenty feet and leveled out. Nick held up his hand to stop.

He signaled Lamont.
Go left, then up
. He pointed at himself and up.
I'll take the center.
To Selena, he signaled right and up. He pointed at them and at his eyes and then himself.
Watch me. Follow my lead.
He gestured ahead.
Go slow.

She began working her way to the right
, the rifle cradled under her chest. The hard metal pressed against her breasts. The ground scraped her elbows. She reached a point where she could look over the edge. Nick was behind her to the left and beyond him, Lamont. She risked a glance toward the tunnel.

The staging area was
fifty or sixty yards away from where they lay. She saw a dark shape move under the trees, a man walking down the slope toward the valley floor. She ducked back and looked at Nick, pointed toward the base, held up one finger and pointed toward the stream below.
One hostile, moving down.

He nodded, held up two fingers, pointed.

Two more
, she thought.

She got ready to fire.
There was little cover. If they were seen, they'd try to get off the first shots. Those were the ones that counted.

Better if they weren't seen. Selena wished she was wearing
clothes that blended in with the landscape. Not blue running shoes and a pale blouse. She tried to scrunch down behind a dead limb lying on the ground. It wouldn't stop a bullet but at least it gave her some psychological comfort.

Nick signaled.
Back to the ravine.
He looked at her, touched his lips.
Quiet.
Then he smiled.

Smartass
, she thought.
He's like a big kid sometimes. Playing war. Except the bullets are real.

They crawled back
wards down to the ravine. She had a dry, metallic taste in her mouth, the taste of fear. Off to her right she heard someone step on a dry branch and curse.

They waited. The air was still and hot. The only sound
was the whine of insects and her heart pounding in her ears.

Noise
shattered the silence. Diesel engines starting up, big ones. There was only one possible explanation for that. Cobra was moving the missiles out of the tunnel.

CHAPTER 64

The first of the transporters emerged from the tunnel entrance. The truck was painted in camouflage tan and brown, as if the natural colors somehow made the white body of the missile invisible.
It was a big vehicle, low to the ground. The Agni III missile lay waiting and silent, clamped to the ramp that would raise it skyward for launch.

A
box-like station behind the cab housed a control board and the electronics to initiate the firing sequence. The Agni III had an inertial guidance system augmented by GPS, a recent upgrade that improved accuracy. Targeting was controlled on site. The target data and launch codes were entered by the operator on a computer keyboard or by way of a pre-programmed card. It only took one man to initiate a launch if everything else was ready, unlike the two man systems common in the older ICBM silos.

Rao watched the first transporter move into place. A second
crawled from the cavern into the sunlight. Ijay came over.

"It will take us another fifteen minutes to bring out the others," he said.

"We don't need them," Rao said. "These will be enough. Get them ready for launch."

"We only have one man familiar with the
se," Ijay said. "He has to tell the others what to do. It will slow things down some."

"Just get them ready," Rao said. "There are satellites up there. We don't have a lot of time."

Ijay's headset crackled. It was the sergeant he'd sent down the hill.

"Yes."

"We're down to the valley floor. No sign of anyone."

"Good.
Come back up. Stay alert." He turned toward Rao. "No sign of intruders."

"Very good," Rao said. "I need to make a call."

He walked to the edge of the area and called Krivi.

"My friend," Krivi said. He was speaking English. "How are you?"

"Your pills are wonderful, Krivi," Rao said. "I feel good. I wanted to let you know that we're about to proceed as planned."

"Excellent," Krivi said, "excellent.
India will always be grateful, Ashok. You will be remembered for generations. What you do today is only the beginning. Others will follow you."

In Virginia, Elizabeth had just finished arguing with the Pentagon about re-tasking a satellite to give them
visual coverage of the missile site in Kashmir, with no success. Stephanie's program picked up Rao's call and put it on the office speakers.

Elizabeth said, "Who's
Krivi?"

"I don't know,
" Stephanie said, "but at least Cobra is speaking English for a change."

"We're almost ready to launch
," Rao said. "Perhaps fifteen minutes. Islamabad will cease to exist."

Krivi was
still talking but Elizabeth wasn't listening.

"Shit," Elizabeth said.
"What are the GPS coordinates for that base?"

Stephanie wrote them down.

"I'm calling the White House."

Elizabeth got up and went to her office and called Rice on his private number. The president picked up after two rings.

"Director."

"Sir, we have an emergency situation in India."

"Go on."

"There is about to be an unauthorized nuclear missile launch from Kashmir, aimed at Pakistan. My team is on site but may not be able to stop it in time. I am requesting a strike. We have a window of less than fifteen minutes, no more."

"You're certain."

"Yes, sir, absolutely."

"Director,
if you're wrong, we'll be in a shitload of trouble."

"Sir, I'm not wrong. I'm certain."

"Very well." There was a pause while Rice thought it through. Elizabeth realized she was holding her breath. 

"
I'm connecting us to the Pentagon," Rice said. "Tell them where to go. I'll authorize the mission."

Thank God for a president who's not afraid to
make tough decisions,
she thought.

A new voice came on line.

"Special Operations Command, General Atkins speaking."

"General, this is the
President."

"Yes, sir, I recognize your identity."

"There is going to be a missile launch in India. I am authorizing an immediate strike. Take it out, now. I have Director Harker on the line. She'll give you the target data."

"Yes, sir."

"Go ahead, Director," Rice said.

"General Atkins, this is Director Harker. Here are the GPS coordinates for the missile. It's nuclear."

She read them off.

Atkins said, "Mister President, please hold."

"Who's behind it?" Rice said.

"The same man who set up the attack in Manila," Elizabeth said. "He wants a war."

Atkins came back on line.

"We have a Reaper Q9
running hot out of Bagram over Pakistan," Atkins said. "I'm diverting it to the target."

"Very good, General. Keep me informed."

"Yes, sir, will do."

"Well, Director," Rice said. "We're committed. Better tell your people to keep their heads down."

CHAPTER 65

Nick, Selena and Lamont had worked their way to within twenty yards of the staging area. They watched the second transporter line up behind the first. A man dressed in a black uniform climbed onto the first unit and sat down at the operating console. He set a series of switches on a panel in front of him and then began entering commands on a keyboard.