"Sir, we have another launch. An ICBM with a nuclear warhead." Colonel Hurst delivered the news in a monotone.
Coffee spilled over General Lowcraft's hand as he slammed the mug he'd been holding onto his desk. "Son-of-a-bitch! What's the trajectory?"
Hurst stared at his computer screen a few seconds too long.
"I asked what the goddamn trajectory is!"
"Uh, vertical, sir."
Lowcraft stared at him. "What the hell does that mean?"
Everyone in the War Room had been stressed for too long. "That means it goes straight up, then straight down, sir," Hurst said. "It's targeted for the Omega Missile Launch Control Center."
Hill had been following this. "What's happening?"
Lowcraft ignored the national security adviser. "Time to impact?"
"Thirty minutes."
Hill pressed his hands down on his own desktop.
"Please explain what is going on. Why would they fire a missile at themselves?"
General Lowcraft was staring at the front screen, thinking. "I take it to mean that Kilten and McKenzie are covering their tracks."
Hurst spoke up. "But that doesn't make sense, sir. They have to stay in the launch facility to control Omega Missile."
Lowcraft shook his head. "Kilten's been one step ahead of us the entire way so far. I have no doubt that he's overcome that little problem. What's the warhead in this missile?"
"Forty megaton." Hurst said.
"Jesus!" Lowcraft exclaimed. "We were only going to use a twenty to take out the LCC. Give me an updated readout on what a forty-megaton blast would do."
The screen in the front cleared, then new circles appeared. Hurst summarized it quickly. "Blast and thermal effects would reach those four towns around the epicenter with over fifty percent casualties. Fallout would reach New Orleans within six hours with lethal doses of radiation. Ten percent fatalities of those exposed."
Lowcraft turned to Hill, who promptly picked up the red phone to get ahold of the president. While the national security adviser was doing that, Lowcraft began issuing orders to evacuate those towns and to contact the mayor of New Orleans.
An army officer near the front of the room stood up. "Sir, what about the Special Forces team? They're ready to jump!"
"They already knew there would be a nuclear weapon inbound," Lowcraft said. "They have to try."
"Order in the Stealth and B-2," Hill suddenly said, hanging up the phone.
"What for?" Lowcraft demanded.
"Just in case," Hill said. "This launch could be an attempt by Kilten to stop us from attacking. We need to keep control."
"Control?" Lowcraft snorted.
"You said this ICBM would take thirty minutes to go up and then come down and impact?" Hill asked. When he received an affirmative nod, he continued. "And our aircraft can attack in twenty minutes from where they are now, correct? Then we gain ten minutes. In that ten minutes there is the possibility that Kilten might launch another missile. I would also think that Kilten and his people will be trying to escape the area in that ten minutes since the money pod will be in that area around that time. We can catch them with our nuke."
General Lowcraft wasn't pleased with that reasoning, but Hill spoke for the president. He gave the order for the Stealth fighter and the B-2 bomber to release from their holding position and head toward the Omega Missile LCC.
*****
"This is nuts," the navigator-bombardier of the B-2 muttered as he received the order to assume a bombing path toward Louisiana. He glanced across at the pilot. "You have any clue what the hell is going on?"
"Same as you do," the pilot said as he turned the bomber out of the racetrack they had been in and followed the Stealth fighter to the south. "We're to take out a hardened position at our target coordinates."
"But what position? Who's there?"
"I don't have any idea," the pilot said.
"We're going to nuke Louisiana?" the nav-bomb still couldn't believe what was happening.
"It's a test. They'll stop us before we drop," the pilot said confidently.
"And if they don't?"
"Then we drop," the pilot said succinctly, "and God alone can help us then."
*****
Inside the cargo bay of the C-130, the loud sound of the engines and the air swirling in the open ramp made normal speech impossible. The crew chief leaned close to Dublowski and pointed at the front of the plane, then at his headset. He took it off and handed it to the team sergeant. Dublowski put it on over his FM plug.
"What's up?" Dublowski said.
The pilot's voice sounded in his ears. "This is Colonel Harrows. We've received word that there's been an ICBM firing from one of the silos around our target. The missile is targeted for the LCC."
"How much time until detonation?"
"Twenty-eight minutes."
"Anything on the B-2 or the Stealth?"
"Negative."
"All right," Dublowski said.
He took off the headset and handed it back to the crew chief. He then spoke to his team on the internal FM net. "There's another nuke inbound at the target area, but if we take the LCC we ought to be able to stop that."
The crew chief held up one finger.
"One minute out," Dublowski said.
Every man got up and disconnected from the console, hooking into their personal oxygen. They all moved toward the ramp, following Dublowski. The light turned green. Dublowski threw himself out into the air, and the entire team followed.
Dublowski assumed the freefall position, back arched, limbs akimbo. He stabilized, then pulled his ripcord. The square chute deployed above him.
"Give me a count," Dublowski said into his mike.
All the men checked in. Dublowski looked at the navigation board strapped to the top of his reserve. "Follow me on a heading of one-four-zero degrees."
The team was staggered above Dublowski. As he turned, they followed in sequence until the team was heading for the Omega Missile LCC.
*****
The lead Zodiac was planed out, cruising at forty knots down the Anaconda. The second, empty one bounced behind it, half the time airborne. McKenzie had Tommy tied to the rope that ran along the top of the pontoon.
"My dad will get you," Tommy said.
"I don't think so," McKenzie replied. He looked at the boy. "You should be thankful. I'm saving your life. This whole area is going to be destroyed by a nuclear bomb in a little while."
"My dad will stop it. That's his job and he's the best at his job."
McKenzie's eyes dropped momentarily from the young boy's, then he turned to the rear of the boat.
"Faster!" As he turned, his pistol caught on the tarp next to him, revealing a green cylinder with helium stenciled on the side. Tommy noticed that and the thick coil of nylon rope that lay underneath the cylinder. McKenzie quickly pulled the tarp back in place, after making sure that neither Drake nor Johnson had noticed. He failed to detect that Tommy had seen what was hidden.
*****
Thorpe and Parker had finally reached the panel leading into the LCC. Thorpe carefully pushed on it and the metal plate moved.
"Where's the control for the guns on the surface?" he asked.
"It's a gray panel on the right-side wall as you go in," Parker said. "About fifteen feet in and four feet off the ground."
"Will we have a clear shot at it?"
"I'm not sure," Parker said. "I doubt it."
"Then we'll have to make one when we go in. You ready?" Thorpe asked.
"Ready," Parker replied, pistol in hand.
Thorpe kicked the panel out and rolled into the control center, firing. He put two rounds into the first man he saw, dropping him. The remaining Canadians reacted with a blast of automatic firepower that pinned Thorpe and Parker behind a metal cabinet. They didn't have a clear shot.
*****
Dublowski could see the surface entrance to the Omega Missile LCC below him. He could also see the two Humvees parked with machine guns manned. He rapidly began giving orders and the staggered formation broke apart as parachutists headed for their targets.
Below them, the Canadian paratroopers scanned the surrounding woods, oblivious to the death winging down from above.
*****
The Tomahawk cruise missile reached the east branch of the Anaconda River and turned left, heading downstream, less than twenty feet above the surface of the water.
*****
Thorpe was returning fire by sticking the muzzle of his MP-5 over the top of the metal cabinet and blindly pulling the trigger. He had no idea where his bullets were going, but he wanted to keep the Canadians occupied.
"Where's the control?" he yelled.
Parker pointed with the muzzle of her gun. "Over there, behind that console. What's the plan now?" she asked.
"We keep them pinned down until my guys get down here."
"Keep them pinned down?" Parker repeated.
Thorpe fired an entire magazine on automatic, then quickly changed magazines. "Yeah, then we take out the panel."
*****
Dublowski landed on the front hood of a Humvee, firing the last ten feet he descended, his rounds smashing into the machine gunner in the turret. He shifted aim and shot the man who was seated in the driver's seat right through the windshield as his feet touched the hood.
One of the other men on Dublowski's team did the same at the other Humvee. In the space of two seconds, the entire security force on the surface was dead. The rest of the SO/NEST team landed, their chutes cut loose and floating free in the wind as the men sprinted into the compound.
One of them spun, weapon at the ready as a man came out of the tree line. "Hold your fire!" Sergeant Everson yelled.
*****
Thorpe looked up at the security monitors. He could see Dublowski and the rest of the team landing. So could the Canadians. One of them threw a switch and activated the automatic machine guns on the roof of the surface entrance.
*****
Dublowski shrugged off his parachute harness. "Let's go," he yelled. Then he just as quickly dove into the dirt as the ground ripped up around him and the roar of machine guns filled the air.
One of the team members was hit in the first burst and his body was tossed backward into the grass, blood pouring from half a dozen holes in his chest.
"Don't move!" Dublowski screamed.
*****
Thorpe fired a short burst, then glanced up at the video screens. He saw Dublowski and the other men lying in the grass, frozen.
"Fuck," Thorpe hissed. Thorpe handed her the MP-5. "When I count to three, just stick the muzzle over the edge and fire in that direction." He pulled two grenades off his vest.
"What are you going to do?" Parker asked in a worried voice.
Thorpe pulled the pins off both grenades. He dropped the pins on the floor and held the grenades, counting silently to himself.
"Thorpe!" Parker exclaimed.
"One. Two." Thorpe tossed both grenades into the room. "Three."
Parker stuck the muzzle over the edge and pulled the trigger. Thorpe rose and sprinted for the console hiding the panel as the grenades went off. He felt pieces of shrapnel hit his side but he dove for the ground and rolled. He fired with his pistol, emptying all fourteen rounds into the panel as quickly as he could pull the trigger.
*****
Dublowski had been counting to himself. After thirty seconds of not moving, he took his backpack and tossed it several feet away from him. His body tensed, waiting for the expected bullets, but there was only silence.
"The guns are down! Let's go!" Dublowski shouted, scrambling to his feet. He led the men into the surface entrance, through the door McKenzie had destroyed. They ran up to the vault door and came to an abrupt halt. Dublowski stared down at the keypad and ordered his men to prepare their charges. He turned to Everson. "You have the code?"
Everson took the bloodstained piece of paper and punched in the code.
The vault door slowly swung open. Dublowski signaled and two men ran into the elevator.
*****
The Canadians popped up from their covered positions and fired, spraying the room. Thorpe had scurried into the well of a desk and reloaded his pistol.
He blindly fired, trying to keep them from rushing his tenuous location.
Half of the Canadians turned at the sound of the elevator coming down, covering the doors with their weapons. As the doors slid open they fired in, tearing up the interior. They slowly stopped firing when they realized no one was inside, just a small green object on the floor.
Just as they recognized the device, the Claymore mine exploded, sending thousands of ball bearings throughout the room like a large shotgun. The Canadians were blown down, their bodies shredded by the mine. Thorpe heard the balls ping into the metal of the desk and whistle by.
"You OK, Parker?" he yelled.
"Yeah."
In the foyer above, Dublowski tied a rope off to a bolt in the top of the elevator shaft. He hooked it into a snap link in the front of his harness and rappelled into the shaft. Thirty feet above the shattered elevator, he dropped a satchel charge. It exploded, tearing a hole in the roof of the elevator. Dublowski finished the rappel through the hole, followed by the rest of the team.
"Whoa! Good guy here!" Thorpe yelled out, slowly unfolding himself from his hiding place and revealing himself.
Dublowski smiled upon seeing his team leader.
Thorpe pointed. "And there's a good guy over there." Parker gingerly edged herself around the corner of the cabinet. She stared in shock at the torn up bodies of the Canadians.
"What the fuck is going on, sir?" Dublowski demanded.
"I don't exactly know, but I'm sure we'll find out soon," Thorpe said.
Thorpe and Parker quickly searched among the bodies.
"I don't see McKenzie," Thorpe finally said.
"That's Kilten," Parker said, pointing at a body lying near the console. She looked at Lewis's body.
Thorpe checked both corpses. "McKenzie is running things now. I knew he'd have something up his sleeve." He turned to the console. "Can you abort Omega Missile?"
Parker walked over and looked at the battered machinery. "This was the abort controls here," she said. "Looks like they thought of that and made sure we couldn't."
"What about through the computer?" Thorpe asked.
Parker sat down and quickly worked on the computer. "I'm blocked out of REACT. Without the destruct or access to REACT, I can't do anything."
"What about the missile that was launched?" Thorpe asked. "Can you find out what its target is?"
"Yeah, I should be able to. Wait a second. Let's see it's—oh shit! It's targeted for here!"
"Can you stop it?"
"I can't do a damn thing without control of REACT."
"How long do we have?"
Parker pointed up at a large digital clock with red numerals that were winding down. "That's it there. Twenty-two minutes."
"Is there anything we can do?" Thorpe asked.
"Find McKenzie. He has control of this through the satellites, through Kilten's computer. He also has to have some way to control the missile that is inbound here since he launched it remotely."
Thorpe turned to Dublowski. "You guys get out of here."
The team turned and ran for the elevator shaft. They began climbing their way out.
Thorpe sat down next to Parker and swung the mike for the radio close to his lips.
"This is Captain Thorpe calling the War Room. Do you read me?"
Lowcraft's voice rumbled over the speaker. "Thorpe, what the hell are you doing?"
"Sir, we've got control of the control center but Parker tells me we can't abort Omega Missile."
"There's a bomb headed right for you!" Lowcraft exclaimed. "Get out of there."
"We're working on that, sir. We also can't abort that missile from this location." He paused in thought. "Sir, can you get us a chopper? Right away? I don't think we have to worry about it getting picked up on radar anymore."
"I'll get you out of there, Captain." There was a moment of silence, then Lowcraft came back. "There's a medevac chopper nearby, picking up Captain Maysun and your son. We sent it in once we realized the missile was coming down there. I'll send it to your location as soon as it makes the pickup."
"Sir, you said that Kilten asked for money?" Thorpe inquired.
"Right."
"How was he to get that money?"
"There's a cruise missile with the money in a resupply pod flying right now. McKenzie has control of when the pod is released."
"How close to this location does that missile come?"
"Hell, it's flying straight down the Anaconda River right now." There was a pause, then Lowcraft's voice came back. "The chopper's landed at the crash site, but all they've found is Chief Maysun. He was knocked out with some sort of nerve agent. Your son isn't there."
Thorpe stood. "McKenzie!" he screamed in anguish.