up there."
"Then that's where we're going," Gant said. "So what
we do now is simple. First, we take Caesar Russell's command
center. Then, in between the search signals sent down
from the satellite, we use his initiate/terminate unit to turn
off the transmitter attached to the President's heart, while a
second later, we turn on the black box."
She gave the President a wry smile. "Like I said. Simple."
THE FIVE REMAINING MEMBERS OF CHARLIE UNIT WERE MOVING
quickly through a low concrete tunnel, all running in a
half-crouch.
Trotting along with them--and because of his height,
not needing to crouch--was Kevin.
Charlie Unit had just returned from Lake Powell, after
killing Botha, retrieving Kevin, and watching Schofield's
chopper drown.
They had parked their two Penetrators outside and were
now reentering the complex through an entrance that connected
the main facility with one of the outside hangars, an
entrance known as the "top door."
The top door's tunnel opened onto the rear of the personnel
elevator shaft, at ground level, by virtue of a foot thick titanium door.
Charlie Unit came to the heavy silver door.
Python Willis punched in the appropriate override code.
The top door was a special entrance to Area 7--if you were
senior enough to know the override code, you could open it
anytime, even during a lockdown.
The thick titanium door swung open--
--and Python froze.
He saw the roof of the personnel elevator parked just
below his feet, sitting right there in front of him.
And standing on top of it, was Cobra Carney and four
members of Echo Unit.
The other half of Echo, Python saw through the hatch in
the elevator's roof, were down in the car itself.
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Matthew Reilly
"Jesus, Cobra," Python said, "you scared the shit out of
me. Wasn't expecting to see you guys here--"
"Caesar told us to come get you," Cobra drawled.
"Make sure you all got in okay."
Python shoved Kevin forward, onto the roof of the
stopped elevator. "We lost five, but we got him."
"Good," Cobra said. "Very good."
It was then that--through the roof hatch of the elevator --Python saw four more men standing in the elevator car
with the Echo men.
Four Asian men.
Python frowned.
They were the four men who had been inside the decompression
chamber earlier that morning--7th Squadron
Captain Robert Wu and Lieutenant Chet Li, and the two
Chinese lab workers. The men who had brought the latest
strain of the Sinovirus back to Area 7.
"Cobra, what's going on?" Python said suddenly, looking
up.
"Sorry, Python," Cobra said.
And with that he gave a short nod to his men.
In a flash, the four members of Echo Unit on the elevator's
roof raised their P-90's and unleashed a withering storm
of fire on Charlie Unit.
Python Willis was hit by about a million rounds. His
face and chest were turned instantly to mush. The four Charlie
men behind him also dropped like flailing marionettes,
one after the other, until the only figure left standing on that
side of the elevator's roof was the wide-eyed and terrified
Kevin.
Cobra Carney strode forward and grabbed the little boy
roughly by the arm.
"Smile, kid, you're coming with me now."
THE CONTROL ROOM OVERLOOKING THE MAIN HANGAR WAS
quiet.
Boa McConnell and the four other surviving members
of Bravo Unit sat slumped in the corner, looking bloodied
and dirty. Two of Boa's men were seriously wounded.
Colonel Jerome T. Harper--the ostensible CO of Area 7, but in reality a minion of Caesar Russell--tended to their wounds.
Another figure sat at the back of the room, shrouded in
shadow--he had been sitting inside the control room for the
whole morning, never uttering a word. He just watched
silently.
Major Kurt Logan and the remainder of Alpha Unit
were also in the control room. Logan now stood with Caesar,
whispering in hushed tones. His Alpha Unit had fared little
better than Bravo Unit: of his original team of ten men, including
himself, there were only four left.
Caesar, however, seemed absolutely unperturbed by
their losses.
"Any word from Echo Unit?"
"Cobra reports that they are now on Level 4. No sign of
the President yet--"
"Damn it, shit!"
It was one of the other radio operators. His computer
monitor had just blinked out.
There had been no warning. No dying whine.
"What is it?" the head operator asked.
"Fuck!" another radioman yelled as his monitor also
crashed.
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Matthew Reilly
It spread around the control room like a virus. All
around the command center, one after the other, monitors
blinked out.
"--Air conditioning systems just went down--"
"--Water cooling system is gone--"
"What's going on?" Caesar Russell said calmly.
"--Power to the cell bay is falling rapidly--"
operator said to Russell. "But I don't know why ..."
He brought up a system display screen.
SA(R) 07A
SECURITY ACCESS LOG
SOURCE POWER HISTORY (3-JUL)
7-3-010223077
TIME KEY ACTION OPERATOR SYSTEM RESPONSE
06:30:00 System status 070-67 All systems
check operational
06:58:34 Lockdown 105-02 Lockdown
command enacted
07:00:00 System status 070-67 All systems
check operational
(lockdown
mode)
07:30:00 System status 070-67 All systems
check operational
(lockdown
mode)
aSYSTEM
TIME KEY ACTION OPERATOR RESPONSE
Area 7
293
07:3 7:b6
07.38:00
WARNING:
Auxiliary
power malfunction
WARNING:
Auxiliary ...
power
Capacity: 50%
08:00:15
Main power 008-72
shutdown
command
(terminal
3-A1)
)8:00:18
Auxiliary power Aux System
enabled
WARNING:
Auxiliary power system
System
operational.
Low
power protocol
enabled
Aux Syste
Malfunction
terminal
1-A2
Receiving no
response
from
systems:
TRACS;
AUX SYS-1;
RAD COMS
SPHERE;
MBN; FXT ,
FAN
Terminal 1 A2
not
responding
Main power
disabled
Auxiliary
power
Low power
protocol in
effect:
nonessential
systems
disabled
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Matthew Reilly
TIME KEY ACTION OPERATOR SYSTEM RESPONSE
08:01:02 Lockdown 008-72 Door 003-V
special opened
release
command
entered
(terminal
3A1)
08:04:34 Lockdown 008-72 Door 062-W
special opened
release
command
entered
(terminal
3A1)
08:04:55 Lockdown 008-72 Door100-W
special opened
release
command
entered
(terminal
3A1)
08:18:00 WARNING: Aux System terminal 1A2
Auxiliary not
power capacity: 35% responding
08:21:30 Security 008-93 SYSTEM
system shut Security
down camera
command system
(terminal already
1-A1) disabled per
low power
protocol
area 7
295
TIME KEY ACTION OPERATOR
SYSTEM
RESPONSE
08:38:00
18:58:00
09:04:43
09:08:00
09:18:00
39:28:00
WARNING
Aux System
Auxiliary
rapacity: 25f WARNING:
Auxiliary
power
capacity: 15C
Lockdown
special
release
command
entered
(terminal
3-A2)
WARNING:
077-01E
Aux System
Auxiliary
power
capacity: 10%
WARNING: Aux System
Auxiliary
power
capacity: r)°/o
WARNING: Aux System
power
rapacity: 0%
lerminal 1-A2
responum
Terminal 1-A2
Door 62-E
opened
utiate system
ate system
reboot?
Commence
system
shutdown
"Jesus, we've been running on auxiliary power since
eight o'clock!" the senior console operator said.
Colonel Harper stepped forward. "But that should have
kept us going for at least three hours, enough time to reboot
the main power supply."
While they spoke, Caesar gazed at the computer screen,
at the entry:
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09:04:43 Lockdown 077-01E Door62E
special opened
release
command
entered
(terminal
3A2)
The "77" prefix indicated a member of the 7th
Squadron. "E" stood for Echo Unit; and "01," its leader, Cobra
Carney.
Caesar's eyes narrowed. It appeared that during the last
lockdown window period, Cobra Carney had opened Door
62-E--the eastern X-rail blast door down on Level 6 ...
Jerome Harper and the radioman were still debating the
power situation.
"It should have, yes," the radioman said. "But it appears
the system only had half power: when it kicked in, so it only
lasted an hour and a half--"
The senior man's monitor blinked out. It was the last
one to go.
Then, all at once, the overhead lights in the control
room went out.
Caesar and the console operators were devoured by
darkness.
Caesar spun, turned to look out through the windows
overlooking the enormous ground-level hangar. He saw the
bright halogen lights running along the length of the hangar
shut off in sequence, one after the other after the other.
The hangar--and all its contents: Marine One, the destroyed
cockroach towing vehicles, the blasted-open
Nighthawk Two, the overhead crane system--was consumed
by inky blackness.
"All systems down," someone said in the darkness.
"The whole complex has lost power."
down in the AWACS plane on level 2, libby gant and
the others were preparing to head up through the underground
area 7
base, to locate and take out Caesar Russell's control
room, when without warning every single light in the subterranean hangar went out.
The gigantic hangar was plunged into darkness.
Pitch darkness.
Gant flicked on the pencil-sized flashlight attached to
the barrel of her MP-10. Its thin beam illuminated her face.
"The power," Mother whispered. "Why would they cut
the power?"
"Yeah," Juliet said, "surely that would only make it harder to find us."
"Maybe they had no choice in the matter," Gant said.
"What does this mean for us?" the President asked
coming up beside them.
"It doesn't change the plan," Gant said. "We're still going
for the command center. What we have to figure out
though, is how it affects this environment."
At that moment, from somewhere deep within the bowels
of the complex, they heard a scream--a wild scream; human,
but at the same time, somehow not human; the
terror-inspiring howl of a seriously deranged individual.
"Oh, Jesus," Gant breathed. "The prisoners. They're
out."
FIFTH CONFRONTATION
3 July/ 0930 Hours
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
SPECIAL AREA (RESTRICTION) NO.7
0930 HOURS
GROUND LEVEL: Main Hangar
LEVEL 1: Hangar Bay
LEVEL 2: Hangar Bay
LEVEL 3: Living Quarters
LEVEL 4: Laboratories
LEVEL 5:
LEVEL 6: X-rail platform
ABOUT TEN MINUTES BEFORE THE POWER WENT OFF AT AREA 7,
a chunky CH-53E Super Stallion transport helicopter was
sinking slowly through the aqua-green water of Lake Powell.
It made for a peculiar sight.
With its tail section completely blown apart, the chopper
sank rear end first, almost vertical, its open loading ramp
swallowing water by the ton. Against the hazy green backdrop
of the water all around it, it looked as if the Super Stallion
was free-falling in silent ultra-slow motion.
Thin streams of bubbles weaved their way to the surface
above it—the same bubbles that were being watched by the
two Air Force Penetrators hovering above the lake.
Shane Schofield and Buck Riley Jr. stared out through
the sinking helicopter's Lexan windshield—looking straight
up.
They saw the water's surface high above them, rippling
like a glass lens, fifty feet away and getting more and more
distant.
Beyond the distorted lens of water they could make out
the twin images of the Penetrator attack choppers hovering
above the surface, waiting for them to emerge, if they dared.
In the water all around them, a bizarre yet extraordinary
underwater landscape revealed itself. Giant boulders rested
on the lakebed, de
sert trails that had once been dry land
twisted and turned, there was even a giant submerged cliff
that soared upward, disappearing above the water's surface.
The submerged desert world appeared as a ghostly pale
green.
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Matthew Reilly
Book II turned to Schofield. "If you've got any more
magic escape plans, now would be the time to use them."
"Sorry," Schofield said. "I'm all out."
Behind them--or rather, below them--water was flooding
up into the cargo bay. It rose quickly through the hold,
entering the helicopter via the wide-open loading ramp and
any other orifice it could find.
Thankfully, the cockpit was airtight, so at seventy feet
down, the still-sinking helicopter reached equilibrium--and
an air pocket formed in the upturned cockpit, the same way
a drinking cup submerged upside-down in a bathtub will
form an air bubble.
The helicopter glided downwards until, at ninety feet, it
hit the bottom.
A billowing cloud of silt exploded all around the Super
Stallion as its destroyed tail section impacted against the
floor of the lake and came to rest--still upright--against a
massive submerged boulder.
"We haven't got much time," Schofield said. "This air
will go bad real fast."
"What do we do?" Book II said. "If we stay, we die. If
we swim to the surface, we die."
"There has to be something ..." Schofield said, almost
to himself.
"What do you mean?"
"There has to be a reason ..."
"What are you talking about?" Book II said angrily. "A
reason for what?"
Schofield spun to face him. "A reason why Botha
stopped here. In this spot. He didn't stop here for the hell of
it. He had a reason to drop anchor here--"
And then Schofield saw it.
"Oh, you cunning bastard ..." he breathed.
He was staring out over Book II's shoulder, out into the
murky green haze of the underwater world.
Book II spun, and he saw it, too.
"Oh my God ..." he whispered.
There, partially obscured by the aqua-green mist of the
area 7
water, was a structure--not a boulder or a rock formation,
but a distinctly man-made structure--a structure which
looked totally out of place in the green underwater world of