Legacy (76 page)

“What the hell is this?” Everett whispered.

“You have the stage, for the moment at least,” Collins called out over the lip of the ancient lava flow.

“We want a few items from that blockhouse, and then we will leave you to do your country’s dirty business.”

“What could be in there that you would want?”

“Colonel, I have heard of you, and because of your duty in Iraq and Afghanistan you have most assuredly heard of me. I am Azim Quaida.”

Jack looked at Everett and shook his head. Carl also knew the name also knew that the man speaking was a formidable commander of men—especially when he didn’t care who lived or died.

“I thought you had turned to the money end of your business,” Jack called out. “Made crazy new friends in California—good, honest, hardworking church folk.”

“Ah, the Reverend Rawlins. He and I had a small falling-out. As did I and an old friend of yours. You can say I saved you the trouble of tracking down and killing James McCabe.”

Jack took a deep breath and hoped that Sebastian was utilizing this break to get a fix on the mortar.

“Okay, for that I’m grateful, enough so that if you turn around and leave right now, I promise that we’ll finish our business another day. What do you say, Mechanic?”

There was a momentary silence as Jack’s insult sank into the Saudi’s thoughts.

“Colonel, to show you I have more cards than you do in this game, I have someone who would like to speak to you.”

Jack closed his eyes and cursed himself. He knew without thinking what the Mechanic was referring to.

“Jack, if you trade me for anything in this gallery, I’ll shoot you myself!”

“Damn it,” Collins said. He finally looked up at Everett, who slid down the lava wall next to the colonel as he recognized Alice’s voice.

“This is a brave if difficult woman, Colonel. It would be a shame for her to die this day. Even though she is a woman who needs to be beaten on a regular basis, I’m sure she’s dear to someone. Come and take this black-hearted woman from my hands.”

“That son of a bitch doesn’t know the half of it,” Jack said, Alice being one of the most difficult women he had ever known. He closed his eyes to think. He partially raised his head and found Tram. He signaled to the sniper by raising his chin in a quick motion. Tram knew immediately what the colonel wanted to know. The small private shook his head, telling Jack that he did not have a shot. Collins turned back.

“The senator, is he alive?” Jack asked, fighting for time on Sebastian’s behalf.

There was no answer.

“Damn it, Sebastian, find them,” he said beneath his breath.

“Colonel, no more talk. I see your rather large friend, who I recognize from Germany. Tell him to stop or you can collect Mrs. Hamilton at the bottom of this rise.”

Jack assumed Sebastian had heard .

“All right, what do you want?”

“Just five of the weapons inside the blockhouse. Then you can have Mrs. Hamilton and we’ll leave. That is as simple as it can get, Colonel.”

“Deal.”

Everett looked at Jack and slowly nodded his head. It was an exchange that was well worth it.

“Good, Colonel, good. Now I am going to send Mrs. Hamilton out in five minutes with a transponder beacon and a tracking locator. If the exchange is interfered with I will have the woman pinpointed by mortar fire. You will not find enough of her to bury.” The echo rebounded several times.

“Okay, five minutes. I will be making the exchange.”

Suddenly the strange vibration started again. None of them noticed as Collins rose and ran to the blockhouse, followed by Everett and Tram. As they entered, Jack saw the five scientists working frantically around the table.

There was a line connecting the weapon to Europa.

“I’ll speak to all of you later about the dangers of not following a field commander’s orders.”

Niles looked up with sweat running down his face. He fixed Jack with his thick glasses and nodded his head to indicate that he understood. He watched as the colonel removed five of the light weapons from the rack.

“I heard. Get Alice back, Jack, and hopefully we can have you some help soon,” Niles said. He bent back over the large tabletop just as Appleby cursed and slammed a pair of needle-nosed pliers against the wall.

“Jack, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but that damn vibration has started again,” Pete said. “Europa says that it’s not geological. There’s a mechanical pattern.”

Collins nodded. His arms full of alien weaponry, he dashed through the door.

As Collins and Everett stepped out from the side of the blockhouse, the earth trembled.

“Okay, what now?” Everett asked.

That was when the roof of the giant cavern opened.

Two copper capsules fell into the center of the long dead colony.

The civil war that began more than 700 million years before was about to conclude.

*   *   *

Garrison Lee stumbled and almost fell as he entered Gallery Two. He heard the detonations of the mortar rounds and knew the men who had taken Alice were somewhere on the high rubble ahead of him. He also knew that the men had spread out in a semicircle and were laying down a withering fire on Jack and his men.

As he tried to catch his breath, Lee felt dizzy and started coughing. He could feel the stickiness of his own blood when he placed his hand over his mouth. He began to feel better after the coughing spell had ended. He removed the old fedora and wiped the sweat from his brow. The Ingram submachine gun was feeling quite a bit heavier than it had only minutes before. As he looked around at the hanging lights in the high-ceilinged gallery, the shooting and explosions finally stopped. He leaned against the rubble and listened, placing his hat back on his head. There was someone speaking through a bullhorn, but try as he might he couldn’t catch the words. The echo confused them and bounced them around the chamber.

Lee looked up toward the upper reaches of the rubble and saw that it would be impossible for him to climb. He shook his head in frustration and cursed his failing body. Alice was up on the precipice and there was nothing he could do about it. Garrison checked the thirty-round magazine in the Ingram for the fourth time and made a decision. He placed one boot on the rubble and carefully moved the other next to it. He felt the rubble, formed by an explosion seventy years before, shift under his weight, but still he persisted in moving his right foot up. The rocks and rubble gave way and he fell to his knees. He lay down and tried to catch his breath, finally rolling to one side and placing the Ingram’s strap over his shoulder. He rested once more and rolled onto his stomach, then forced his knees up and under him. He felt the sharp stones tear away his skin through his pants, but still he pushed.

He glanced upward with his lone eye and saw shadows moving underneath the high hanging lights. Then he heard the bullhorn again. This spurred him forward. Lee set his mouth in a straight line and cursed his dying body one more time, but still he climbed. For every five steps he managed, he would slip back three, but he had never been as determined in his life to overcome the obstacles ahead to get to Alice. She would not be joining him in that final adventure he knew he was going to take that day.

Garrison Lee dug his heels in the mountain of rubble and climbed.

*   *   *

Jack had just stepped from the bunker when the two large objects fell to the gallery floor. As they struck the excavated floor, he realized at that the vibration and these capsules were connected. They hummed loudly and the sound penetrated his inner ear. As he looked upward toward the ridge of debris, he saw several men running about, confused as to what trick he had possibly arranged.

“Jesus, Jack, look at that!” Everett said loudly, as the first of the copper-colored cylinders popped open along the center line.

“Oh, shit,” Collins said. He ran forward with his arms full of the ancient weapons and took cover just as the first snaking legs appeared outside the cylinder.

Sebastian, who was huddled with thirty-five men he had gathered for the assault on the mortar position, also saw the cylinders. He sensed the danger inside. He and his men opened fire on the two objects. As the onslaught of automatic weapons fire started striking the hardened cases, the first mechanical giant uncoiled from its shell and started to lift its powerful body. Sebastian and the men closest to the horrible but amazing sight heard the whir and whine of powerful turbines as they spooled upward toward full power. He saw the five-foot-wide and ten-foot-long solar cells pull free from under the back plate armor and face toward the lighting above. Then, just as quickly as they had appeared, they folded over and vanished into their protective armor. Still the whine of their powerful turbines continued to sound.

“What the hell is this now?” Sebastian said, as he aimed and opened fire at the first mechanical giant in line. He tried to focus his fire on the head and face region, where he thought his rounds would hurt the giant most. The bullets from him and the men alongside him bounced off in a shower of sparks.

The first giant rotated its head in a 360 degree circle. The eyes started glowing bright red, as bullets continued to find their mark against its steel-ribbed torso and head. The beast seemed to focus its attention on the area where Sebastian and his men had taken cover. That was when the giant began to move toward them, shaking the cavern. The second mechanical monstrosity turned and concentrated on the fire coming from the opposite side, where the Japanese, Australian, and Polish soldiers had congregated. The entire gallery was alight with tracers.

As the metal monster charged, Sebastian pulled two hand grenades from his vest. He pulled the pin on one and then on another. He used his thumbs to free the handles from the small, round grenades and threw one and then the other in the path of the fast-moving beast. As the giant came on, it placed a large three-toed foot on top of the first grenade as it rolled to a stop. Instead of ducking, Sebastian watched as it exploded. The leg and knee of the metal giant sprang upward and it fell to the left, landing on its side. After only a moment, the giant sprang back to its undamaged legs and continued forward. The second grenade detonated just to its right as it steadied itself. The explosion sent shrapnel into the torso area and ricocheted off the spinning gears and cogs inside, causing not one inch of damage. If anything, it made the beast charge faster.

A hundred yards away, Jack and Carl watched as the first giant reached Sebastian’s position. The beast slammed its giant arm and hand into the mass of men. The mechanical horror raised one hand in the air with one of the German commandos in its grasp as the others fired round after glowing round into the beast. The creature then slammed its free hand into the mass of men and brought up another soldier. It slammed the two men together and tossed them away like they were nothing more than garbage.

“We can’t stop them, Jack. We need heavier weapons,” Everett said. He rose and fired an entire magazine into the back of the giant. Then he slammed home a second magazine and emptied it into the second charging beast, causing it no more harm than the first.

Jack managed a glance upward at the ridge of rubble and saw the men up there in an exposed position. He saw Alice being pushed to the side as the men moved to take better cover, in case the mechanical wonders turned on them. Jack let the alien weaponry fall from his arms and reached for Everett’s M-16. He pulled another magazine from his belt and slammed it home. He had seen an opening and he was willing to risk the chance at evening the odds. He aimed and fired upward toward the ridgeline. He caught ten of the men as they moved toward new positions. They had exposed themselves too much and Collins expertly used a full automatic burst to bring them down. Then he tossed the M-16 back to Everett.

“Stay and cover me,” Jack said as he rushed forward in the confusion created by the attack of the machines.

Everett watched Jack sprint forward without seeking cover. He had brought up the M-16 when he saw two of the Mechanic’s men pop up only thirty feet from Collins. Before Carl could respond to the threat, several rounds echoed close by his right ear. He flinched and saw the two men fly backward as two expertly placed rounds slammed into their heads and faces. That was when Tram slammed into him from behind and took up a covering position next to him. They both started laying heavy gunfire on the upper reaches of the ridge as Jack started climbing rapidly toward the forty-foot summit. Everett reloaded and saw Jack reach for his shoulder holster as he approached a position where Everett could see several heads pop up and then disappear.

“Damn you, Jack. You’ve pulled this crap once too many times!” Everett said as he fired a three-round burst in a timed manner and hit one of the heads that had reappeared.

Tram looked to his left and nodded at the former Navy SEAL.

“I have my moments,” Carl said, and aimed and fired again.

The Vietnamese private reached out and slapped Everett’s arm. He was pointing upward at the position where he saw Jack running. That was when Carl saw why Jack was taking the chance that he was. He had seen earlier what he thought was men changing their cover positions, when in actuality he was seeing men relaying mortar rounds to the soldiers firing them. That was where Jack was heading at full speed. Everett realized that not only could he take out the mortar crew, but he could turn the heavy weapon on the monstrosities that were attacking them. That was their only hope and Jack was out to kill two birds with one stone.