Clive Cussler - White Death

At a word from Barker, a guard went over to a cooler and ex- tracted a frozen cod around two feet long. He slid back the plastic lid covering one of the tanks and tossed the carcass into the water. Within seconds, the cod disappeared in a bloody froth.

"I've made dinner reservations for you," Barker said.

"No thanks, we've already eaten," Austin said.

Barker studied the faces of the two men, but saw no sign of fear, only defiance. He frowned and said, "I'll give you and your partner time to think about your fate, to imagine what it feels like to be torn apart by razor-sharp teeth and scattered over the ocean. Our men will come for you shortly after we stop at our facility on the coast to re- fuel. Adieu, gentlemen."

Barker's men grabbed Austin and Zavala and hustled them down a corridor leading to a storage room. They were shoved inside, and the door was locked behind them.

Austin tried the lock, then found a seat on a pile of cardboard boxes.

"You don't seem very worried about being fed to the fishes," Zavala said.

"I have no intention of providing entertainment for that white- eyed freak and his cretinous henchmen. By the way, I liked your comment about Kiolyan women."

"It went against my grain. As you know, I love women of any kind. They have a lot to put up with, with their menfolk running around killing and sacrificing people. So, Mr. Houdini, how do we escape this little mess?"

"I guess we bust our way out of here."

"Uh-huh. And assuming we can get beyond that door, what chance do the two of us have against a battalion of armed men?"

"There are three of us, actually."

Zavala looked around. "An invisible friend, no doubt." Austin peeled out of his coat and drew the sword from its scab- bard. Even in the faint light inside the storage room, the blade seemed to glow. "This is my friend-Durendal7'

THE CATAMARAN CAME in like a marine landing craft, and the twin hulls slid partway onto the shore with a shriek of fiber' glass against gravel. The boat had no sooner come to a grinding halt than the people on board started to pile off. Ben Nighthawk was the first to hit the ground, followed by the Basques and the SOS crew. They helped the villagers climb down, and the group headed inland. Only Ben and Diego stayed behind.

Jesse Nighthawk turned and saw his son lingering on the beach. He shooed the other villagers into the woods and walked back to where Ben was standing.

"Why aren't you coming?" the old man said.

"Go on without me," Ben replied. "I've been talking to Diego. We have work to do."

"What do you mean? What sort of work?"

Ben looked across the lake. "Revenge." "You can't go back!" Jesse said. "It's too dangerous." Diego, who had been listening to the exchange, said, "The heli- copter pilots who were shot down were our friends. Their death can- not go unanswered."

"Those people killed my cousin," Ben said. "They beat and tor- tured my friends and family. They've raped our beautiful forest."

Jesse couldn't see his son's face in the shadows, but there was no mistaking the determination in Ben's voice. "Very well," he said sadly.

"I will see the others to safety."

Marcus Ryan emerged from the woods, trailed by Chuck Mercer and Therri Weld. "What's going on?" he said, sensing the somber at- mosphere.

"Ben and this man are going back," Jesse said. "I tried to stop them. They want to get themselves killed."

Ben put his hand on his father's shoulder. "That's the last thing I want to do, Pop. I can't speak for Diego, but at the very least, I want to wipe that big fake igloo off the face of the earth."

"That's a tall order for two men," Ryan said. "You'll need help." "Thanks, Mark, I know you mean well, but the others need you more than we do."

"You're not the only one who has a score to settle," Ryan said. His voice gained a steely edge. "Barker killed Joshua, and he sank my ship. Now he's trying to kill the oceans. I owe him big-time. That thing on the other side of the lake is no grass hut. You're not going to blow it down with a huff and a puff."

"We know that. We'll figure it out."

"You don't have time for trial and error. I know how we can send that dome into the stratosphere." Ryan turned to Mercer. "You re- member what we talked about?"

"Yeah, I remember. We said we could give Barker a big hotfoot if we got the chance."

"Well, Ben, how about it?" Ryan said. "Are we in?"

"It's not my decision alone." He turned to Diego.

The Basque said, "There are many of them and only a few of us.

Pablo is out of action. We would have to be very lucky merely to stay alive."

Ben hesitated. "Okay, Mark. You're in."

Ryan's mouth widened in a triumphant grin. "We'll need some ex- plosives. Our C-4 was taken away when we were captured."

"My brother and I have some hand grenades," Diego said, reach- ing over to tap his backpack. "Three apiece. Enough?"

In answer, Ryan glanced at Mercer, who said, "It could work if they're positioned in the right place."

"What can I do?" said Therri, who had been listening to the dis- cussion.

"Ben's people are in pretty tough shape," Ryan said. "They'll need your help, especially the kids."

"I'll do my best," Therri said. She kissed him and gave Mercer and Ben a peck on the cheek as well. "Take care of yourselves."

As Therri made her way back into the forest, Ben and the other men pushed the catamaran off the beach and climbed aboard. The boat's twin hulls and powerful motors gave it a respectable speed. They scudded over the surface of the lake and soon reached the op- posite shore. Pablo and Diego rode shotgun in the bow as the boat coasted up to the pier. They quickly tied up and headed inland.

Mercer made a stop at the boat shed and emerged with two reels of three-eighths docking line, some cord and a roll of duct tape. Walking single file, they detoured around the plaza. With Ryan in the lead, the group made its way undetected to the side of the dome.

Ryan found what he was looking for: a tall, cylindrical fuel tank lo- cated in a clearing surrounded by dense woods. Painted on the side was a warning that the tank contained highly flammable contents. A steel pipe about six inches in diameter ran from the tank to the side of the building. Next to where the pipe entered the airship hangar was a locked door. Like the dome itself, the door was made of a plas- tic material and easily gave way to the strength and determination be- hind Diego's shoulders.

Then he and the others stepped into a short passageway that ran parallel to the pipe for several yards. The conduit disappeared through a wall next to another door, this one unlocked. Ryan took the lead and opened the door a crack, giving him a view of the inte- rior of the airship hangar. Men milled around in the middle of the building, where the airship had been tied down. Others were coiling lines or moving gantries and scaffolding. A few guards were drift- ing out the hangar's main door.

Ryan motioned for the others to stay put while he and Mercer stepped into the hangar. They crawled along the wall behind tall stacks of coiled hose until they came to where the pipe entered the building. Barker had gestured toward the hose when he had ex- plained why he used hydrogen rather than helium to fill the airship's gasbags. A valve controlled by a large hand-turned wheel allowed the flow of gas into the hose. Ryan turned the wheel on the pipe until they could hear the hiss of gas escaping through the nozzle.

The escaping gas rose to the roof, where it wouldn't be detected, they hoped, until it was too late. With their work done, they slipped out the door and followed the passageway into the open. Ben and Diego had been equally busy. Following Mercer's instructions, they had taped the hand grenades onto the tank. Short lengths of cord had been attached to the safety-pin rings and ganged to the line from one of the spools. Ryan and Mercer inspected the work, found it satis- factory, then walked back to the lake, uncoiling the line behind them. They tried to run the line straight back to the lake, keeping it clear of bushes and trees where it could snag.