Matthew Reilly - Area 7

soldiers on the ground.

In the enormous space of the underground hangar, the

plane's movement seemed almost comical--for something

so big and so heavy to move so quickly and so recklessly

was a sight to behold.

The plane came around 180 degrees--the tip of its right

wing bouncing off the flank of the parked SR-71 Blackbird-- so that now it was facing the opposite direction from which

it had started, its open rear end now exposed to the withering

fire of the 7th Squadron men on the ground.

Bullets raked the interior of the central cabin, smashing

into the ceiling and walls. Gant and Brainiac hit the deck as

fragments of plastic and plaster rained down all around

them.

"Fuck!" Brainiac yelled. "They don't teach this at Parris

Island!"

BOOK II WAS ALSO MOVING FAST.

He slid quickly down one of the vertical counterweight

cables that ran up the side of the regular elevator shaft.

Calvin, Elvis and Love Machine slid down the cables after

him, lowering themselves down the shaft.

After avoiding the barrage of fire up on the roof of the

elevator, they now had to find a way out of the shaft, before

the 7th Squadron men up there got around the elevator that

now formed an obstacle between them.

Book II stopped at a pair of outer doors marked with a

large black-painted "I," and immediately heard the muffled

sounds of a firefight--clattering automatic gunfire, booming

explosions, squealing tires.

"Not this one," Calvin Reeves said as he came alongside

Book II. "Let's try the next one."

They slid farther down the shaft.

Area 7 113

inside the hangar bay, python willis watched the

AWACS plane as it sped in a wild circle around the enormous

hangar.

He spoke without emotion into his headset mike:

"Avenger Two. Go for the cockpit. Two missiles."

IN THE COCKPIT OF THE AWACS PLANE, SCHOFIELD PUMPED

on the steering pedals.

"Mother!" he yelled. "Get back in the main cabin!

Cover the tail! Make sure no one gets in through there! I'll

take care of the driving up here!"

Mother grabbed her M-16 and headed aft.

As she left, Schofield saw the second Humvee appear in

front of him, over by the northern wall. It swung around

quickly, taking up a new position, getting ready to fire again.

He keyed the plane's intercom.

"brainiac!" schofield's voice boomed over the plane's speaker system. "Engage electronic countermeasures!"

Back in the main cabin, Brainiac looked up at the sound

of Schofield's voice. "Oh, yeah. Of course!"

"What is he talking about?" Gant yelled as Mother

joined them in the main cabin.

But Brainiac was already clambering toward one of the

consoles. He slid into the seat, began typing quickly.

Gant peered out her door-window--saw the walls of the

hangar streaking by outside--saw the surviving Humvee

skid to a halt over by the wall, preparing to fire another of its

missiles.

"It's going to hit us again!" she called.

"Brainiac ..." Schofield's voice said expectantly over

the speakers.

Brainiac typed fast. The words "engage mf scrambler"

appeared on his screen.

"Bracing positions!" Gant yelled.

Two clouds of smoke puffed out from the Humvee's

missile pods--

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Matthew Reilly

--at exactly the same moment as Brainiac slammed his

finger down on the enter key.

A pair of Stinger missiles shot out from the pods on the

back of the Humvee, twin smoke trails zooming out behind

them. They were heading directly for the forward section of

the AWACS plane, flying in perfect formation.

And then, all of a sudden, the Stingers went crazy.

Despite the fact that the missiles were heat-seekers, the

AWACS's powerful antimissile countermeasures still affected

them--disrupting their chip-to-chip electronics,

scrambling their internal-logic systems. It was as if a tidal

wave of electronic noise, blasting invisibly outward from the

AWACS's enormous rotodome, had slammed into the two

Stingers.

The two missiles responded accordingly.

They went haywire.

They broke formation in an instant, parting in a looping

Y-shape--one rolling wildly to the right, the other swinging

left. The right-hand one shot quickly underneath the rolling

AWACS plane, while the left-hand one sailed clear over it.

From the cockpit of the AWACS Schofield watched in

amazement as one of the missiles shot across his bow and

then--bizarrely--headed back toward the Humvee that had

launched it!

A second later the missile slammed into the concrete

wall above the Humvee--thundering at tremendous speed

right into a ten-foot-high box-shaped compartment mounted

above the floor of the hangar.

The missile detonated--sending an enormous gout of

concrete spraying out from the wall all around the compartment.

The compartment's wide steel door was blasted off its

hinges by the stunning impact and went bouncing across the

hangar, a twisted metal wreck. Large chunks of concrete

rained down on the very Humvee that had fired the missile.

Whatever that compartment was, Schofield thought, it

was toast now.

But there was still one more out-of-control missile

swooping around the hangar.

Area 7 115

This second missile swung around the destroyed rear

section of the moving AWACS plane, rolling wildly through

the air, before it too doubled back and hit the hangar's northern

wall, right alongside the regular elevator's doors.

A hailstorm of concrete blasted out from the wall,

showering chunks everywhere.

This blast of concrete, however, was followed by a most

peculiar sight.

A shockingly powerful geyser of water--yes, water--

began to shoot out from the newly formed hole in the wall,

jetting outward with tremendous force.

Schofield frowned. "What the hell ... ?"

AN OMINOUS EXPLOSION SHOOK THE WALLS OF THE REGULAR

elevator shaft.

Book II, now hanging with his group next to the outer

doors of Level 3--the doors to Level 2 had also been locked,

so they'd moved down to the next floor--looked up sharply

at the sound.

The sight that met him was as terrifying as it was unexpected.

A whole section of the concrete wall alongside the

Level 1 doorway sixty feet above them just blasted outward,

showering the shaft with chunks of concrete.

And then, right behind the concrete, came the water.

IT RAINED DOWN ON BOOK II AND THE OTHERS LIKE SPRAY

from a goddamned firehose.

Torrents and torrents of pouring water, roaring like a

waterfall down the narrow elevator shaft, gushing out of the

hole in the wall on Level 1, pounding down against their

bodies.

It was all they could do to hold on to their cables.

But as soon as he felt the surging weight of the waterfall,

Book II saw the future: the wall of water was just too

strong.

They were going to fall.

Matthew Reilly

"--ALL UNITS, BE AWARE. WE HAVE RUPTURE OF THE LONG term water tanks on Level 1. Repeat: integrity of water tanks

on Level 1 has been broken--"

"--Water from the tanks is entering the regular elevator

shaft--"

"Initiate airtight countermeasures," Caesar Russell said

calmly. "Seal off the shaft. Keep that water contained. Let it

flood the shaft."

"Yes, sir."

love machine fell first.

In the face of the powerful waterfall, he lost his grip on

the counterweight cable and dropped straight past Book.

He fell fast--falling away from Book II in a kind of