Steve Abbott: Devil's Gambit

Less than a minute later Donovan set his Hind down hard by the smoke marker. Harris was at the side door in three bounds. He stayed to one side and covered the others as they piled in. Sean stayed where he was, covering the rear. At least, that was what he told himself.

“Time to go Sean… come on Sean… time to go!”

Sean turned and sprinted for the helicopter. He landed in a pile at his partner’s feet.

Hunter was already yelling “Go, go, go!” into the intercom.

The deck surged under Sean’s stomach as Donovan gave his bird full collective and forward thrust. He rolled onto his back and yelled at Gayle over the howl of the engines.

“How long?”

Gayle checked her watch. “Just under eight minutes.”

Nobody spoke.

Hunter put a hand over the headphones covering his ears. “Donovan says to close the doors and tie yourselves in. It’s going to be a rough ride.” Donovan relayed more instructions. Hunter smiled. “Don’t worry about getting sick. They pressure wash out this space after each mission.” He pulled off the headset and handed it to Gayle. “He wants to talk to you, Captain.”

Gayle fumbled with the chinstrap on her Kevlar helmet before answering. “Captain Ecevit.”

Donovan’s voice was calm personified. “Captain, I’ve got this baby coaxed out right now. In about fifteen seconds, we’re going to shoot over the other side of the peninsula you guys came in on. By my calculations, the best distance from ground zero I can give you is about forty five clicks. This baby is hardened against EMP but what kind of an explosive footprint are we looking at?”

“We checked the stats on these units while we were in Batumi. They’re advanced battlefield support units. They have a dial a yield warhead. We set the yield at point one KT. It’s enough to ensure the total destruction of the units. You’re looking at a primary blast circle about half a klick across. I can only guess at the outer edges of the blast circle.”

“What kind of secondary effects?”

“Keep low after you get over the peninsula. Most of the thermal pulse should be directed over our heads. There’s a lot of iron in the ground here. That should take care of the X-rays. Watch out for the shock wave though.”

“Roger that.”

Top branches snapped and bent under the vicious down blast of the Hind at full thrust. Birds scattered wildly among the cloud of torn branches and green leaves ripped from their host. Donovan kept the belly of the Hind as close as possible to the green canopy that undulated beneath him. The sub must have transmitted developments by now. There was a fighter base at Wonsan. The lower he kept, the harder it would be for them to spot him in the ground clutter. As if on cue, the E2C Hawkeye confirmed his fears.

“Hawk one. Be advised Home Plate, bogies inbound your position. Bogies are thirty klicks out, two hundred knot closure. Come to new heading one one zero on feet wet. The alert five aircraft has been scrambled.”

“Roger Coach. Acknowledge bogies inbound. Abort the alert five aircraft. Repeat, abort the alert five aircraft. We have two nukes set to go off in about…” He checked the console chronometer, “…six minutes.”

“Uh, Home Plate. Did you say nukes?”

“Copy that. There are two nuclear devices set to detonate in six minutes. You guys had better power down your dish.”

“Roger that, Coach out.”

A slate beach flashed under Donovan. The expanse of the Indian Ocean lay before him. He turned on his Hot Brick, just in case any of the NK flyboys did manage to get a fix on him, and he pushed the Hind down to the water.

“Home Plate, feet wet, coming to one one zero.”

Chun waited in the shadows. The transport with the warheads was behind him. He could see the front of it if he turned his head and looked over his shoulder. He knew that the warheads were set to explode. The five hundred kilos of high explosive would be more than enough to settle all accounts. Not even the Americans would be crazy enough to set off the weapons themselves. The truck was the ultimate lure for Sung. There were no more sounds of battle. Chung had seen Donovan’s Hind set down in the smoke. He had felt the power released into the craft as it surged away to the distant horizon. No, now that things were silent, Sung would seek out his prize.

The scuff and pad of uncertain footsteps glinted mechanically off the dank alley walls. Chun stared at the side of the transport truck. He could see the top half of the warheads resting in their opened cargo containers. The one closest to the front of the truck had its innards exposed. The footsteps paused. Chun held his breath. He wanted surprise to be on his side.

Sung, his face haggard and cut in several places, walked across the front of Chun’s alley. He turned and looked directly at Chun, but his light-dazzled eyes passed right over his former superior. Satisfied that the alley held no danger for him, Sung turned back to the flat deck. Chun heard the sharp intake of breath when Sung saw the warhead timers counting down. He turned to run.

Chun moved out of the darkness, blocking Sung’s escape, his gun aimed at the square of Sung’s chest. “Rather a fitting going away present, don’t you think?”

Sung whirled around. “You! How?”

“I am happy to see you too.” Chun motioned Sung to the back corner of the flat deck with his gun. “Things did not turn out quite as planned, did they Comrade Sung?” He shrugged. “Well, that is usually the way of these things, isn’t it?” Chun glanced at one of the weapon’s timers. It had just passed through three minutes. “Hard to see one’s life ticking away from you.” Chun pointed to the warheads. “And you went through so much to secure these toys. Was the power worth it? Was the betrayal?”

Sung’s face screwed up in a grimace of pure hatred. “You are the fool, Chung. You are the one who betrayed us. You should have just gone for reeducation and let things run their course.”

“So a man of vision like yourself could run things?” Chun shook his head. “Oh, I don’t think so comrade. I don’t think so at all.” He shot another glance at the warhead chronograph beside him. “Two minutes left to live. Who would have thought the Americans would actually arm these things?”

“We could run.” Sung was desperate.

“There is nowhere to run, I prefer to face my end. But worry not. You will not be seeing the culmination of your efforts, your betrayal. You have caused me great pains, Comrade. It is time I reciprocated.” The Tokarev cracked twice.

Sung sat down hard on his tailbone, his ability to stand removed along with his kneecaps. Chun walked over and placed the barrel of the pistol over Sung’s heart. Chun’s eyes were cold pieces of flint. “I am sure worse has fallen upon others you dealt with.”

Sung looked up. “I only….” This time the shot was muffled. Sung fell on his side, his last word frozen on his lips. Chun straightened up and tossed the pistol onto Sung’s crumpled form. It had fulfilled its part of the bargain. He pulled out his beaten pack of French cigarettes. There was only one left. He grunted in amusement. “And so it ends.” He put the rough black paper of the Galois to his lips and drew it out of the pack. He threw the rubbish at Sung’s feet and hunted for a match. Behind him, the readout on Gayle’s warhead hit zero, two seconds before its partner.

The docks of Chanjon disappeared in the silent, searing white ball of Einstein’s nightmare. Buildings vaporized, their mass consumed by an expanding atomic maelstrom hungry for energy. Those not consumed were struck by the pressure wave. The shock wall of force blew structures into chunks of superheated radioactive debris. This gargantuan wreckage, suspended within a wall of flame, tore outward through the remainder of the town. Every tree and piece of vegetation within a five kilometer radius was shredded and burned by the hellish vortex. As the mushroom cloud rose on its poisonous column, the process began to reverse itself. Debris and fire was sucked back in by the violence of ascension.