Robert Williams: Ice Fortress

“That’s a little exager—”

“You blew up a two and a half billion dollar submarine for chrissake, Coulson! How do we explain that to the Auditor General?”

“Actually, sir, it was…” Jack pointed in Durand’s direction.

“It doesn’t matter who actually pushed the button, Coulson, my point is that you attract trouble.”

“Yes sir. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, we could use a man like you Coulson,” Daniels said sincerely as he pulled out a chair and plopped himself down. He was plainly in pain as he placed his left hand on what remained of his right arm.

“Sir?” Jack quizzed.

“You kicked the hornets’ nest and exposed an enemy we didn’t even know we were fighting. You also uncovered The Bell. By the way, trying to cover that up has been like herding cats — damn near impossible.”

“You knew about The Bell?” Jack’s jaw dropped as the implications raced through his mind.

“Of course we knew, Coulson. How do you think we won the war against those Nazi fuckers?”

The silence in the room was palpable.

“Let me clue you in,” Daniels leaned in and began to explain.

The men sat silent and engrossed as the colonel shared one of the greatest secrets of the Second World War with them. The Allies were on the verge of surrendering to the Germans. The technological superiority of the Reich had outpaced the most exhaustive efforts of the Allied researchers and whiz kids.

“The German atomic program was the turning point,” Daniels continued, “the Manhattan project was years behind and it looked like the Germans were on the verge of testing a successful weapon. That would have ensured a Nazi victory for sure. We’d all be speaking German right now if they’d been allowed to complete their atomic tests.”

“But how does The Bell fit into all this?” asked Jack.

“The Nazis liked to compartmentalize their projects. One hand never knew what the other was doing. Kammler didn’t know or care about the atomic bomb. He started off developing a propulsion system that used an extremely rare atomic byproduct, Xerum 525. Then he discovered that his device had the potential to move through time. When we found out about his experimental device, we saw it as the only way to turn the tide against the Nazis.”

“By going back in time and sabotaging the German’s weapons development projects,” Dave Sutton marveled as the pieces fell into place.

Juan rubbed his head. “This whole time travel paradox is making my brain hurt. I’ve got a million questions, but here’s one for starters… how did we even find out about this Bell device?”

“Ironically, that was Kammler’s own doing. One of his own test subjects went back in time and appeared in Poland just after the German invasion. He tried to warn them about Hitler’s genocide program but they all thought he was mad. A British spy, a Commander Fleming, filed a report and mentioned that the man claimed to have been sent back in some kind of German time machine. Fleming had quite a vivid imagination, according to his superiors, so not much attention was paid to the report until it was almost too late.”

After Colonel Daniel’s astonishing revelations had been absorbed by the small group, Sam asked the question that had been bugging him the whole time.

“Colonel, what the hell are we doing here and why are you telling us all this?”

“Because, gentlemen, you can’t go back to the lives you lived before all this happened. We can’t let that happen. The security risk is unacceptable.”

“So you’re going to kill us?” Juan’s voice tremored fearfully.

“Kill you? No, I’m not going to kill you,” Daniel’s laughed, “I’m going to offer you a chance to become a part of the most covert, well-funded, technologically advanced and dangerous intelligence organization in the United States.”

“And that would be…?” ventured Jack.

“We don’t even have a fancy acronym. That would mean a paper trail and government employees nosing around with budget spreadsheets and lots of questions. No, we can do without all that.”

“Who runs this nameless outfit, then?” asked Sam.

“I do. You’d report to me. That’s why I was in Pine Gap. I was there to vet you, Jack. Sorry Sam, you were just collateral damage on this mission.”

“Nice. Real nice.” Sam folded his arms, wincing as the stiches in his shoulder pulled against the wound.

“What about the Security and Intelligence Directorate? Won’t they have something to say when I don’t report in?” Jack queried.

The Colonel smiled, “Jack, you were never there. We’ve erased all trace of your service record. You’re now a ghost.”

The Colonel pointed to Juan and Dave, “You two are on board whether you like it or not. I’m sorry, but that’s how it is. We can’t have civilians running around out there telling the media we lost the war.”

Neither man responded. Their faces were a mask of shock and disbelief.

“Any questions?” the colonel finally asked.

Juan’s hand went up nervously, “Do we get to see the Stargate?”

Dave moaned and cradled his head in his hands.

Jack rolled his eyes and waited for Colonel Daniels to tell Juan to stop asking stupid questions.

But the Colonel merely glanced at the clock on the wall and shook his head, “Not today, son, we’ve got far more important things to be getting on with.”

Thank you for reading Ice Fortress. I hope you had as much fun reading the story as I did researching and writing it.

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Robert B. Williams is an award winning freelance journalist who has specialized in military technology, Formula 1 motor racing and finance writing for the past 20 years. He is also the bestselling author of over 15 novels written under a pen name.

Williams now writes full-time, pursuing a lifelong passion to write adventure stories that set a cracking pace from page one and keep the reader turning pages and guessing, right through to the unexpected ending.