Seven Deadly Sons (16 page)

CHAPTER THIRTY

She was pretty sure she had a concussion and at least one of her ribs was cracked, but Javan Wallach wasn't giving up.

After she'd been thrown into the wall by the überwolf, she thought for sure she was going to die. But the stone soldiers had shown up and drastically turned the tide of battle. Two of the monsters were killed, and the third ran away.

And she damned sure wasn't going to let it escape.

Javi had been able to track the monster for a while, following the blood it leaked onto the ground and the sooty smears it left on door handles as it fled through the bunker complex. But eventually the trail had turned cold—just like the enormous bunker.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. As she'd descended, and passed from rough hewn stone tunnels into ones lined with the eerily glowing bricks, the temperature had increased. It was an odd sensation, being able to feel heat and cold, but not actually being able to
feel
either.

She estimated she was far below the surface of the glacier now, having followed a spiral, winding ramp down, down, and down. There were no signs of the creature, but her gut told her she was on the right path.

She began to hear strange creaking and grating noises ahead. At first she worried it might be the beast she was pursuing. She was down to just a few magazines for the Uzi, and her Mk 23 pistol. She was hoping to catch the creature unawares as it licked its wounds. They'd managed to stop one once before with gunfire—if only for a few moments. She'd stop this one and then cut its head off. She didn't need superhuman strength or magic to do that.

The ramp finally leveled out and Wallach walked out into an enormous cavern, formed by sheer rock walls and thick ice high overhead. It was the size of a football stadium—well over a hundred feet high. Formed by two ridge lines, separated by a wide canal, with the glacier overhead.

Just as the Detachment's werewolf and the Colonel had predicted, the Germans had found a sub-glacial channel leading deep into the continent. Warm waters remained unfrozen here, where ancients had once built a port. The glacier was melted in this warm pocket, forming a gigantic bubble-like valley—a vast air pocket under the ice.

The far shore was rough, unfinished black rock—another ridge like the one the underground complex was built in. The side she was on was lined with buildings made from the glowing white bricks—a wide row of shops or residences or something—stretching out on either side of the tunnel for several hundred feet. All built along the edge of a massive stone and marble dock.

The channel was a couple hundred feet wide under the glacier—the sound of the creaking and grating she had heard came from the ice shifting above. The channel started here at the dock, stretching out, flowing north. It passed under the edge of where the glacial ice came down and met the water, headed towards the coast over a hundred miles away. Only a submarine could navigate this channel.

Javi walked to the edge of the dock, senses alert for any sign of the überwolf she was stalking. She crouched and dipped a hand into the water. It was luke warm. Some kind of geothermal spring, perhaps. Which accounted for the warm pocket around the dock.

A slight clicking noise caught her attention. Javi stood slowly, Uzi at the ready. It was coming from one of the many pueblo-like buildings carved from the cliff face and covered in glowing bricks.

Something was moving in one of the buildings.

***

In Detachment 1039's Command Center, Major Robert Campbell was hurrying through the latest packet of information burst-transmitted from Antarctica. He watched the recorded video in fast-forward, trying to keep up with the team's recorded progress in the event real-time transmission resumed.

"Sir!" an Airman called out from one of the many workstations in the room. It was the Space Command liaison.

"What is it?" Campbell asked, looking up from his own panel. "You have something?"

"Heat bloom," the Airman said. "Keyhole has detected something coming out of the complex, onto the glacier."

"Zoom in!" Campbell said, duplicating the Airman's display on one of the large monitors hung on the wall.

Sure enough, one of the überwolves had just emerged from the bunker complex. The storm had died considerably, but he was still hard to detect in all the swirling ice crystals. He was moving away from the complex, east, out onto the glacier.

"Colonel!" Campbell said, transmitting the images and his own audio to Kenslir. "One of them has just left the complex."

"I see him," Kenslir said. "We're still a man down—Commander Smith is searching for Ms. Wallach. I've secured the portal device. Start putting together a recovery operation for this site."

"What about the other two targets?"

"I'm sure they'll turn up somewhere," Kenslir said. He zoomed in on the aerial feed showing the fleeing überwolf, the imagery displayed in the augmented reality of his tactical goggles.

"Where do you think you're going?"

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Javi was sure she'd heard it. Yes, there it was again. A kind of clicking noise—almost a tapping.

She was deep inside the large buildings lining the dock now. Whatever they had been in antiquity, the Nazis had pillaged them, removing everything and replacing it with crates of equipment and supplies—most of which were empty.

She crept along slowly, weaving between the stacked man-sized, open crates, her Uzi at the ready. The chambers off the dock were large, but all seemed to be connected by small openings between one another, allowing her to travel parallel to the water. Whatever she was pursuing was moving away from the tunnel to the upper levels. She wondered if the base had verm-

Away from the tunnel. A cold chill went up her spine and she stopped. She was well over a hundred feet away from the tunnel now—four chambers past it. Even in a flat out run, on an open plain, that was too much distance. She would never be able to outrun an überwolf.

She suddenly felt like a fly, lured into a trap by a spider.

She decided it might be best to back off and ask for some help. She fumbled in her vest pockets for the data cable to reattach her goggles. Then she heard a clicking noise in one of the chambers she'd already passed through. Behind her.

Now she knew what it was. Claws on stone.

Javi quickly weighed her options. She had four magazines of 9mm ammunition and her pistol. No grenades—the Colonel had been concerned she'd blow him or his granddaughter up. Just white phosphorous and neurotoxin-laced silver bullets.

The chamber she was in was open in the front. A wide opening big enough to drive a car through. Beyond that was thirty feet of stone dock, then the water. She might be able to make it.

She heard a low rumble—a growl from one of the creatures stalking her. It was nearby. Maybe in this chamber, ducked low behind the crates.

Javi made up her mind. She aimed her Uzi and fired as she sprinted for the dock.

***

"You're sure?" Commander Smith asked, looking down the long ramp that spiraled down. He tapped at the control pad strapped to the back of his left arm. The tactical goggles displayed a map of the complex, created as the teams moved around in it. The ramp was definitely headed down, away from the rest of the complex. Down to sea level.

Jimmy changed back to human form, his t-shirt and camouflaged stretch pants once more hanging loosely on his body. "Definitely. She went this way, recently. And I'm smelling something else. Maybe two of the überwolves."

"One out on the glacier, two below—that's a full head count," Smith said, looking to Chad Phillips. "Briones, Jacobson, Hornbeck and Stevens. You're with me. Chad, take the kids and head for the portal chamber."

"You sure that's a good idea?" Chad Phillips asked. "You might need my help."

"I'd rather get these two somewhere safe," Smith said. "I think we can handle two of them. Right, Kane?"

"Right. Two. Three tops," he said. When Smith gave him a deep frown, he revised his estimate. "Two. I'm ninety-nine percent sure."

***

Javi was down to her pistol now. She'd been firing her Uzi in short, controlled bursts into the openings along the dock. The überwolves had learned the painful lesson of the bullets. They ducked in and out, only revealing themselves for a moment and drawing her fire.

Javi had tried to work her way along the edge of the dock, back to the tunnel, but the creatures were not having it. She glanced back, over her shoulder, at the warm waters behind her, wondering if the Germans could swim.

Her mind was made up for her as both überwolves appeared—one to her left and one to her right. They were growling, hunkered over, bodies trembling with rage. They looked as though they might leap at her any minute.

Javi chose the one on her right, closest to her pistol. She fired several shots as she stepped back off the dock, plunging into the water.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

"What do you mean stay here?" Laura Olson demanded. "And do what, paint my nails?"

"You need to secure the portal," Kenslir said. "If Kane is wrong and one of those things shows up, you destroy it. No hesitation."

"Where are you going?" Laura asked.

"I've got to catch that one on the surface. You saw Miami—they can create more of themselves. If they haven't already. We have to eliminate them all, here, now."

"And you think you can catch it on foot?"

"Maybe, maybe not. But sitting here won't do any good."

"Can't we scramble a plane or something? Maybe wait til the weather clears, then I can fly after it?"

Kenslir considered this for a moment. "What if you caught it? How would you kill it? You didn't look like you were doing so well back in the tunnel."

Laura crossed her arms, scowling, but unable to think of what to say.

"Follow instructions for once—please," the Colonel said. He turned and dashed out of the room.

"God, he infuriates me," she said after Kenslir had left.

"Almost done," Dean Johnson said. He was on his hands and knees, crouched by the machinery connected directly to the portal ring. "This should blow it into enough pieces even Doctor King would have a hard time putting it back together."

The stone soldier crawled back, away from the glob of C-4 explosives the Colonel had given him, trailing a long detonator wire. He managed to get back on his good leg and scooped up his makeshift crutch.

Colonel Kenslir reappeared in the doorway to the chamber. "Olson—how much power can you store up?"

Laura was shocked to see him and stuttered for a moment. "I-I don't—what are you doing? I thought you were chasing down Rover?"

"Can you store lifeforce indefinitely?"

"What? I mean, yes, but why?"

"Flying might not be such a bad idea."

***

The gunfire died out, just as the stone soldiers raced down the ramp and out into the dock under the glacier. The men slid to a halt, stunned as they took in the sheer size of the chamber and the thousands upon thousands of tons of ice suspended above their heads.

"There!" Commander Smith yelled, pointing to his left.

The men all turned and immediately sighted the two überwolves, crouched near the edge of the dock, looking down into the water.

Briones, Stevens, Jacobson and Hornbeck all opened fire immediately, M249s and M4 spewing out streams of lead, silver and pain.

The überwolves roared defiantly as the fusillade of bullets tore into them. They staggered back, the one closest to the team dropping to one knee, smoke rising from burning fur and flesh as white phosphorous sizzled inside him.

Commander Smith immediately charged forward, a Bowie knife in each hand.

The furthest überwolf bellowed and dove into the water, while its brother tried to move back, toward the shelter of the storage buildings built into the cliff face.

Smith reached the beast, slowed as it was by neurotoxins trying to shut down its nervous system. He leapt and crashed down onto the creature, sinking both blades into its back. It screamed in pain and rolled onto its back, trying to shake him off.

"I got the other one!" Isaac Jacobson said, running and jumping into the water.

***

"Josie, Jimmy—what's your location?" Colonel Kenslir asked. He and Laura Olson were back in the aircraft hangar, searching the walls.

"We'll be there in a few," Josie replied.

"What will it look like?" Laura asked, moving in and out between workbenches, shelves and other debris the Nazis had moved into the base long ago.

"No idea," the Colonel said. "It could be a lever, a series of crystals. Hell, the Nazis could have put in a flip switch."

He suddenly came to a depression built into the wall—a recessed mini fountain, no larger than a refrigerator, with a knee-high base filled with frozen water and above it a golden bull's head relief on the wall. A large ring dangled from the bull's nose.

"Got it!" Kenslir yelled.

He tugged on the ring, pulling gently, careful not to bend or break the metal. The ring slowly moved out from the wall, attached to a long rod that extended from a hole in the
glowing white blocks.

A rumbling shook the entire chamber, causing tools long abandoned to shake and fall from their shelves and benches. Cracking, booming sounds started coming from the thick wall of ice in the chamber. Followed by huge sheets of ice breaking free and crashing down.

"Holy crap," Laura Olson said, standing still and watching.

The entire section of flat, ice-encrusted wall was moving now—two huge doors that had frozen over since the base was abandoned. They swung slowly outward, cold air rushing in as they parted, revealing daylight.

"Check that one," Kenslir said, pointing to one of the disc-shaped Nazi aircraft. He headed for another. "Make sure you look at every square inch, inside and out."

"Okay," Laura Olson said, still not sure what was going on. She jogged over to her craft, putting her goggles back on. The transmitter was now in her pants pocket, the cable just long enough to reach the goggles.

Each aircraft rested on a tripod of folding legs—like something right out of an old movie. A hatch was open on hers—a folded metal section of the hull, held up by struts that had been drilled with holes to reduce their weight. The entire hull of the ship was made of thick plates of gray steel, held in place by massive rivets. Sections of hull were missing—access panels for work on the hydraulics of the landing legs and other systems. Pieces and parts lay on the ground all around the aircraft.

Laura jumped up, landing on the angled surface of the vessel's hull, then stepped down into the craft through its open hatch. She felt cold metal grating under her bare feet.

"Wow," Laura said when she entered the craft, whistling. "Not what I expected."

Inside, the ugly, metal plate aircraft looked completely different from their battleship-like exterior. Gold plating was everywhere. A huge machine of some kind was in the center, three glass tubes rising up to the ceiling at its highest point of about six feet. One tree trunk-sized clear tube held a black liquid, another a silver one, and the last something clear.

Wires and conduits were everywhere, most gold or silver, some a tarnished steel or aluminum. Two pilot seats sat by the single, thick windscreen in the craft's front, while a third chair, facing the opposite direction, and on the other side of the central machinery, faced a number of rods, levers and gauges in the back.

"Nazis got bling," Laura said, looking around.

Outside in the aircraft hangar, Josie, Phillips and Jimmy arrived.

"I knew it!" Jimmy yelled. "I frickin' knew it!" he sounded giddy with excitement, laughing.

Josie Winters just shook her head in disbelief.

The Colonel emerged from his craft, jumping down and walking toward them.

"Max, what's the prognosis?" he asked.

Jimmy ran over to the closest airship, laughing uncontrollably now. "This is so cool!"

Laura Olson stepped out of her ship and jumped down to the ground.

"Colonel?" Josie asked hesitantly, looking around at the huge chamber, and the large, open doors leading out onto the glacier. Judging from the view, she guessed they were on the opposite side of the ridge from the hatch they'd used to enter the base.

Kenslir held up one hand, finger extended, motioning for her to wait. "You're sure? I'd rather chase this guy on foot than have to regenerate a bunch of internal injuries from a crash."

"Who's he talking to?" Josie asked Chad Phillips.

"Beats me."

Jimmy ran over to Laura, grabbing her by the shoulders and grinning like a maniac. "You see? You see! I was right! I was right!"

He stepped around the vampire, straining on his toes to see up into the craft. A ladder on wheels was nearby, amidst all the pieces and panels laying on the ground around the craft. "What's it like inside?!" he asked, almost breathless now.

"Jimmy, they're not alien," Laura said calmly.

"Oh, my god—do you think they still work?" Jimmy was clearly not hearing her, crawling around and under the aircraft now, poking and prodding, peeking into open access panels.

"Jimmy!' Laura said, trying to get his attention.

"This is so weird," Jimmy said, touching the edge of an open access panel. "I mean, they look so low tech. Steampunk even."

"Jimmy!" Laura said, almost shouting.

"Hunh? What?" Jimmy said, finally glancing over to her. He was on his side now, laying under the aircraft.

"It's not alien."

"What?" Jimmy gave her a crazy look. "Of course it is—well, I mean it's German, but it's
based
on alien technology."

"No, no it isn't," Laura said, rolling her eyes.

Josie and Chad Phillips walked over, ignoring Colonel Kenslir who was having a conversation with someone via his tactical goggles.

"What?" Jimmy said, shaking his head. "Of course they are. I mean, look at them. They're
flying saucers."

"Okay," the Colonel said, joining the small group. "We think they'll still fly. But to do that, we're going to need you, Dr. Olson."

"I don't know how to fly," Laura said. "I mean, airplanes, helicopters, that kind of thing. Hell, to be honest, I'm not a very good driver, either."

"I'll do the flying. We need you to power it."

"Power it?" Jimmy said, crawling out from under the airship. "What does it run on?"

"Life force."