David Golemon - Primeval

As the guard detail were only feet away, Everett, Farbeaux, and Mendenhall looked to Jack. His silence told them that something was wrong. He was deep in thought and his lips were actually moving with the effort.

"Colonel?" Will said, trying to get him to say something.

"Please don't tell me—"

Farbeaux knew in his heart and when Jack cut his question off in midsentence, he lowered his head and closed his eyes.

"The men who know the codes to the Hyper Guide weaponry may not be as guarded a secret as you think," Collins said as they all instantly realized why Jack was led to the Canadian wilderness.

"Jack, is there something we should know before these assholes shoot us?" Everett asked as the three Spetsnaz stopped in front of their makeshift tarp.

"Punchy knows I can arm or disarm the weapon. That's why as a captain I was a team leader in the search in '89."

"You see, what did I tell you? Everyone has these damn weapons just sitting on their back porch, and if I ever go on a field mission and not run into one, I wouldn't know what to do with myself!" Mendenhall said as he slammed his booted feet on the ground as if he were throwing a fit.

Farbeaux leaned over as far as he could toward Jack as the first guard reached down to pull him off the ground.

"As I said, Colonel Collins, you never cease to amaze me."

Jack knew he had to act and do so without getting everyone shot before he had a chance to say what he had to say to Alexander. Mendenhall, Farbeaux, and Everett were stood up and moved out into the falling rain. They were lined up by the three Spetsnaz and while they were occupied, Jack made a break for the large communications tent. Just three feet from the flap, he was caught and knocked to the ground by Deonovich. He stood over Collins, smiling. His one mistake was straddling Jack as he lay on his back. Evidently the man hadn't learned about Jack's very quick feet. Collins reared his right leg up and brought it up toward the large Russians crotch — that was when Jack found out that, yes indeedy, the big man had learned — he caught Jack's foot and twisted, throwing Collins over onto his stomach.

"I told you to execute his men, not torture the colonel!"

Deonovich looked up at the man standing just inside the tent. Alexander had a murderous scowl on his face. Even Sagli shook his head from the dryness of the tent.

"Punchy, you better listen to what I have to say!" Jack called out through the rain.

Deonovich, ignoring the warning from Alexander, raised his own right foot and slowly smashed Jack's face into the rocky mud. The pressure was tremendous as the colonel's features became totally submerged as he struggled to free his neck.

Alexander looked at Sagli and nodded his head angrily. The Russian stepped out and shoved his partner from Collins. Jack's head popped up and he took a deep breath, shaking his head to free some of the mud. As lightning streaked across the sky, Alexander, without moving from the tent watched as Sagli moved the insane Deonovich away and tried to get him back to the executions he was ordered to perform.

"You have one minute, Jack."

Jack rolled over onto his back and sat up. He looked up into the rain to wash some of the mud away and then he looked at Alexander.

"You kill them, and my sister and myself be damned. I know what you want me for, and I will never free up the weapon with the codes you need."

Alexander was stunned. He stepped into the downpour and stood over Collins. He knelt beside Jack and looked him in the eyes. His large frame didn't move as if he were searching for the lie in his old friend's eye.

"How did you know?" was all he asked.

"Your treasonous game is up, Alexander. At least one intelligence service knows all about your plan to find the bomb and use it to stage a coup in Quebec."

Alexander suddenly stood and shouted at the three Spetsnaz, "Shoot them all now!"

"You know me, Punchy, I'll never give you the codes — so stop this from happening," Jack hissed as he struggled to stand.

"Goddamn you, Jack!"

"No! Goddamn you, you son of a bitch! You won't get a damn thing from me if one more of my people die!" The last words were the first Alexander had ever heard Collins scream out loud.

A hundred feet away, the three Spetsnaz took aim.

"Stop!" Alexander shouted through the storm just as lightning and its accompanying thunder came from overhead.

Jack flinched, thinking his friends were behind him lying in the mud, shot to death by a man he once claimed as a pal.

Sagli and Deonovich were stunned. Still, Sagli reached out and pushed down on the barrel of the weapon of the first man in line. The other two saw this and lowered their own AK-47s. Deonovich looked up and was furious that the American had said something to their new partner and changed his mind all in a few seconds. He turned and stormed away, his heavy boots splashing water and mud as he went.

Mendenhall felt weak in his knees, but remained upright, not giving the mercenaries in front of him the pleasure of seeing him afraid. He just thanked God that the heavy rain camouflaged the tear that rolled down his face.

"It seems I will owe your colonel after this," Farbeaux said in relief.

"Don't be in such a hurry, Farbeaux. Jack just may have bought us time by trading you for us," Everett joked, as he himself still had his heart in his throat.

"In any case, it was worth it to see the expression on that bastard's face when he was foiled from shooting us."

"It was worth me almost crapping my pants for at that," Everett quipped.

Alexander lifted Jack up and shook him.

"Listen to me!" he shouted into the face of Collins. "I have spent over twenty-five years in shit holes around the world; I have planned this for half as many of those years. I will not allow to you to fuck it up for me, Jack! If you don't do as I ask and enter those codes on that weapon, I will not kill your friends, I will skin them alive right in front of you. Then you will watch Lynn as she's taken by every mercenary in this camp, and then you will watch as she's cut to pieces! Am I clear, Jack?"

"Clear, Punchy." The voice was cool and the words said as if he had just been given an order by the president. "One question?"

Alexander had turned away, but stopped. He refused to face Jack again.

"What?" he shouted over the rain.

"Do you think the United States, or Canada will allow this to happen?"

This time Alexander decided to deliver the news himself; it was his turn to shock Collins with knowledge.

"Yes, I do expect them to allow the separation of Quebec from Ottawa, Jack," he said as he slowly turned. Collins could see the insanity coursing through his features, "Because the first weapons derived from this one warhead will be delivered to Toronto, New York, Washington, London, and Paris. Yes, they will welcome a new Quebec, and its new head of state, maybe not with open arms, but they will welcome it, if only publicly. Stranger alliances have happened in history, Jack, you should know that."

Collins saw Punchy turn and walk away. Then he stopped as a sudden shout and angry voices sounded from the camp. Jack turned and saw fifteen of the commandos running for the back of camp, toward the line of tents, in particular, Lynn's tent. His eyes widened when he saw the tent flap open and then his eyes flicked to the line of trees just as Lynn disappeared into the forest.

"Stop, let her go," Punchy shouted. The looked at Sagli and Deonovich, who were standing dumbfounded at opposite ends of the camp. "Gather up your prisoners, get the men to their weapons and the techs out of their tents; we move in tonight. This ends here, now!"

Alexander walked over to the larger Deonovich and grabbed him by the jacket he was wearing and as Sagli watched in shock, the big man actually cowered away from the smaller Canadian.