a second later when they heard several objects bouncing down the stairs. Collins and the others ducked quickly behind one of the reinforced concrete walls as the three grenades detonated. Shrapnel spread out in a deadly arc and punctured everything exposed in the basement.
'It's right there. There's a small landing; the tracks and car are there behind that steel door,' Martha said as she pointed.
'Carl, move in and check it out and make sure these guys didn't come across that little bit of information, too.'
'Right,' Everett said as he moved to the door and quickly opened it. He jumped out and made ready his response, but there was no fire. 'It's just stairs, Jack.'
'Get going, all of you. Mr. Ryan, assist the lady.'
The others quickly made for the door and the stairs beyond. Jack waited one minute and then turned and followed.
A moment later, they found themselves a hundred feet down in the earth, staring at a small electric car that sat on tracks. The small tracks led upward and they saw light illuminating the tracks.
'Okay, Ms. Laughlin, you and Mr. Rothman get moving. We will cover you for as long as we can. But pretty soon these guys are going to smarten up and cut the power, so send that thing right back here.' Jack looked at the locked door, just waiting for a satchel charge to blow it inward. 'If for any reason we get separated, you have got to tell your story, either at the White House, where my director is--his name is Compton--or out at Nellis Air Force Base. If that's the case--'
'If that's the case, I know the base commander there. I got him appointed to the Academy,' Rothman said.
'That's nice,' Everett said as he pulled Rothman to the small cart.
The four men watched as the two old people moved off in the electric cart. Martha turned and Jack would have sworn she mouthed the words,
Several explosions sounded through the steel door as the assault on the basement began in earnest. Dirt settled onto them from the tunnel above and around them.
Jack looked closely at the incline of the small tracks as they disappeared into the distance. Then he made a decision.
'Look, I don't feel like waiting here for our company to just drop in. Let's make this more expensive for them and head up toward the surface. Maybe we can pick a few off.'
'I'm for that,' Everett said as he caught a clip of ammunition from Mendenhall.
'Then let's catch the number nine, boys. Will, lead the way.'
As they started out, they heard the first real explosion against the steel door. Jack motioned to Everett to catch up with Mendenhall and Ryan.
'Dammit, that's enough! Let me take the risks once in a while.'
'That's an order, swabby. Now move it.'
As Everett obeyed, Jack hunkered low and waited. He did not have to do so for long. He heard whispered orders as the attackers made it through the steel door. He cocked his head to listen. Jack knew that he was high enough on the incline of tracks that he was not seen. He would have to make that advantage count. The first four men came into view. They wore black Nomex and covered like professionals--two men forward, two squatting and covering. He waited for the optimal shot.
As the first two went low to cover the second, Collins aimed and fired at the two, who had just stood to run. He fired four times. Both men crumpled and fell onto the tracks. Then he adjusted and fired at the kneeling men before they knew what was coming. Two shots apiece. But this time only one man fell. The other, on the right, was only wounded and he nearly made Jack pay for missing. On full automatic, the man fired as he fell backward. The bullets hit the metal track to Jack's front and then stitched their way up into the concrete wall of the tunnel.
'Dammit!' Jack said as he quickly recovered and took hurried aim and fired. His rounds caught the man in the thigh and then the stomach. He was rewarded by the view of the man dropping his weapon and letting out a sigh.
Suddenly more men appeared and this time they let their automatic rifles do the covering. Bullets started hitting everywhere and Jack knew that he did have a chance to get off any return fire.
Everett had caught up with Mendenhall and Ryan just as the firing below began.
'Dammit. You two get to the top and find the damn light switch. These guys are well-equipped enough that they probably have night-vision gear.' He looked at his watch. 'Give me exactly three minutes and then hit the lights. Thirty seconds later, turn them on again. Got that?'
'What if there's no switch at this end?' Ryan asked.
'Then you may be moving up in rank real quick.'
'Really!' Ryan said with all the false levity he could muster.
Jack knew that he was in trouble. He would stop for a split second and then fire blindly, hoping to hit one of the assailants with a ricochet. Then he would run, stop, and do the same again.
As he turned a third time, the lights went out.
'Oh, oh,' he said to himself.
As he strained to listen, he remained perfectly still. He could hear quiet orders being voiced by whoever was in charge; he also heard the noise of men as they shuffled around in the darkness. He aimed toward some of that noise but held his fire, hoping that his eyes would adjust to the sudden darkness.
The withering fire opened up right at Jack's position. Chunks of concrete flew and struck him as he tried to back off on his stomach. The assault was too accurate for men blinded by darkness; they had to have night-vision goggles. Which he knew spelled disaster for him.
Above the din of exploding rounds, Jack heard a familiar voice.
'Stay down, Jack, and be ready!'
Suddenly, the lighting in the tunnel came to glaring life. The men in black Nomex screamed out as the brightness struck their eyes after being enhanced a thousandfold by the ambient light devices. Men fought as the tried to raise the single-lens goggles.
Everett, who was only ten feet from Jack, opened fire with deadly accuracy. Jack didn't hesitate as he sighted and added his 9-millimeter to the fray, hitting screaming men in their chests, faces, and arms. The two military men had caught each of their supposed killers in the open.
Three men turned and ran back the way they had come, but the rest would never return to the man who had ordered them to Rothman's house.
When it was over, Jack stood and hurriedly replaced his spent clip. He scanned the area around him and then looked at Everett.
'When in the hell are you going to follow orders, Captain?'
'Maybe when you start giving me orders that make sense by allowing me to assume some of the risk, Jack.'
'Okay, Captain,' he said, letting a smile finally crease his tanned face. 'That wasn't a bad makeshift plan, by the way. Especially since we didn't know if they had night-vision gear. Also the part of the plan where you assumed Ryan would find the right switch for the lights.'
'Nah, I knew he would just hit them all; the odds were with us.'
Collins stared at the empty cart and the open door. Mendenhall and Ryan stood next to it and they did not look happy.
'The helicopter?' Jack asked.
'Gone,' answered Ryan.
'Maybe that bad guy on the phone had a point about those two, Jack,' Everett said. 'I mean, leaving us to fend off the wolves while they run is not the makings of people with a whole lot of character.'
Jack grimaced and then looked at the others.
'Well, we learned a few things. Let's go home and see what comes of it. We'll call the locals and use Europa to see if we can pin some names to the Virginia hospitality down in the tunnel.'
'Yeah, we learned a few things all right, like not to trust anyone over fifty,' Ryan mumbled as he turned and left.
