No longer covered by the security blanket of the ice storm, the wind having dropped to only five miles an hour, Cleary felt naked, as his white-clad force fanned out and began advancing toward the mining facility. They took advantage of a series of hummocks that rose like camel humps for cover, until they reached the high fence that ran from the base of the mountain to the cliff above the sea and encircled the main compound.
Cleary had no prior intelligence on the force his men were up against. None had been gathered on the facility, simply because the CIA had never considered it a threat to the nation's security. Discovering the true horror of the menace at the last minute had left no time for covert penetration, nor had this simple hit-and-run strategy. It was a surgical operation, uncomplicated, requiring a quick conclusion. The orders were to neutralize the facility and deactivate the ice shelf breakaway systems before being relieved by a two-hundred-man Special Force team that was only an hour away.
All Cleary had been told was that the Wolf security guards were hardened professionals who came from elite fighting units around the world. This was information provided by the National Underwater & Marine Agency- hardly an organization practiced in intelligence gathering, Cleary mistakenly concluded. He was confident his elite force could handle any hostiles they encountered.
Little did he know that his small force was outnumbered three to one.
Moving in two columns, they reached what at first looked like a single fence but became two that were divided by a ditch. It looked to (weary as if it had been built decades before. There was an old sign whose paint was badly faded but could still be translated as `No Trespassing' in German. Made up of a common chain link, it was topped by several strings of wire whose barbs had become impotent long before from a thick coating of ice. Once many feet higher than now, ice drifts had built up against it until one could easily hoist one leg and step over it. The ditch had also filled in and was little more than a low, rounded furrow. The second fence was higher and still protruded seven feet above the snow, but posed no serious hazard. They lost precious minutes cutting through the strands until they could enter the grounds of the compound. Cleary took it as a good omen that they had penetrated the outer perimeter without discovery.
Once inside, their movements were shielded by a row of buildings with no windows. Cleary called a halt. He paused to examine a fifteen-by-eighteen-inch aerial photo of the compound. Though he had etched every street, every structure, in his mind during the flight from Cape Town, as had Sharpsburg, Garnet, and Jacobs, he wanted to compare a mark on the map to where they had passed through the outer fences. He was pleased to see they were only fifty feet from their intended infiltration point. For the first time since they had landed, regrouped, and advanced across the ice, he spoke into the Motorola radio.
'Tin Man?'
'I copy you, Wizard,' replied the gravel voice of Lieutenant Warren Garnet.
'We split up here,' said Cleary. 'You know what is expected of you and your Marines. Good luck.'
'On our way, Wizard,' acknowledged Garnet, whose mission, as assigned to his Marine Recon Team, was to secure the generating plant and cut off all power to the facility.
'Scarecrow?'
Lieutenant Miles Jacobs of the Navy SEALs answered quickly. 'I hear you, Wizard.' Jacobs and his team were to circle around and assault the control center from the side facing the sea.
'You have the farthest to go, Scarecrow. You'd better get a move on.'
'We're halfway there,' Jacobs replied confidently, as he and his SEALs began moving out down a side road that led in the direction of the control center.
'Lion?'
'Ready to sweep,' answered Captain Sharpsburg of the Army Delta Force cheerfully.
'I will accompany you.'
'Happy to have an old hand along.'
'Let's move out.'
There was no synchronizing of watches, no further voice contact, as the teams divided and made their way to their assigned targets. There was no need. They all knew what they had to do, having been fully briefed on the horrendous consequences should they fail. Cleary had no doubts that his men would fight like demons or die without hesitation to stop the Wolfs from launching the apocalypse.
They moved lightly, almost fluidly, in offensive formation, two men ten yards ahead on either flank, and two men covering their rear. Every fifty yards, they stopped, dropped to the ground, or took whatever available cover presented itself, while Cleary studied the terrain and checked with the Marines and the SEAL teams.
'Tin Man, report.'
'Sweep is clear. Approaching within three hundred yards of target.'
'Scarecrow? Have you encountered anything?'
'If I wasn't sure, I'd say the place is abandoned,' answered Jacobs.
Cleary did not reply. He rose from his crouched position as Sharpsburg moved his Lion team forward.
On the face of it, the facility seemed like a bleak and austere layout. Cleary saw nothing special about it, but then trepidation began to mount. The compound appeared totally deserted. No workers showed themselves. No vehicles moved. It was too quiet. The entire inner compound was cloaked in a cold, eerie silence.
Karl Wolf stared at an array of monitors in the headquarters of his security guards on a floor below the main control center. He watched with bemused interest as Cleary and his assault teams made their way through the roads of the complex.
'You'll have no problem preventing them from interrupting our launch time?' he asked Hugo, who was standing next to him.
'None,' Hugo assured him. 'We have contemplated and drilled for such an intrusion many times. Our fortifications are in place, the barricades raised, and our armored Sno-cats awaiting my orders to move into battle.'
Karl nodded in satisfaction. 'You have done well. Still, these are the elite of the American fighting forces.'
'Not to worry, brother. My men are just as well trained as the Americans. We heavily outnumber them and have the advantage of fighting on our ground. The element of surprise is in our favor, not theirs. They do not suspect that they are walking into a trap. And we can travel through the facility's underground utility tunnels, emerge inside buildings, and attack their flanks and rear before they realize what is happening.'
'Your overall strategy?' Karl asked.
'To gradually siphon them into a pocket in front of the control center, where we can destroy them at our leisure.'
'Our ancestors who fought so many heroic battles against the Allies during the war would be proud of you.'
Obviously pleased by his brother's compliment, Hugo clicked his heels and made a stiff bow. 'I am honored to serve the Fourth Empire.' Then he looked up and gazed at the monitors, studying the progress of the American fighting teams. 'I must go now, brother, and direct our defenses.'
'How long do you estimate it will take your men to crush the attackers?'
'Thirty minutes, certainly no more.'
'That doesn't leave you and your men much time to reach and board the aircraft. Do not delay, Hugo. I have no wish to leave you and your brave men behind.'
'And lose our dream of becoming the founding fathers of a brave new world?' Hugo said spiritedly. 'I don't think so.'
Karl motioned toward the digital clock mounted between the monitors. 'Twenty-five minutes from now, we shall set the ice shelf detaching systems on automatic. Then everyone in the control center will leave through the underground tunnel that leads to the worker's main dormitory safely beyond the battlefield. From there, we'll take electric vehicles to the aircraft hangar.'
'We shall not fail,' said Hugo, with iron resolve.
'Then good luck to you,' said Karl. He solemnly shook Hugo's hand, before turning and stepping into the elevator that would take him to the control room above.
Cleary and the Lion team were only a hundred and fifty yards from the entrance of the control center when Garnet's voice came over his intercom. 'Wizard, this is Tin Man. There's something wrong here…'
