Ancients

16

The last sandbag went on top of the eight-pound charge of C-4 explosive. The echo-sound machine that Sarah had insisted on bringing had shown a large cavity underneath the roadway, but it could not tell them anything other than that. The hollow spot could mean almost anything, and Jack knew it. Their entire participation in this attack depended on what was down there.

"Fire in the hole!" one of the SEAL team shouted.

Ryan and Mendenhall covered Sarah as the loud crump was somewhat muted by the pile of sandbags that directed the blast downward. The tunnel shook, and they feared collapse until it settled.

Collins shone a large light down inside the hole they had made and saw that there was indeed a bottom, and that was a start. He started peeling away equipment, but was stopped by Sarah, who had started handing off her own equipment to Mendenhall and Ryan.

"Excuse me, Colonel, but I think this is my area of expertise, remember?"

"Sorry, Lieutenant, I believe your job description is now that of an instructor in geology," he shot back, knowing that Sarah had originally been trained as a U.S. Army tunnel rat--what the army euphemistically called a person dumb enough and small enough to wriggle into places where only bad things could be lurking.

"She's right, Colonel. And not only that, your going down first is a little off the beaten path for a command-type person such as yourself," Ryan said as he, too, handed off his equipment to Mendenhall. "And I believe this mission also calls for a gentleman of my ... uh ... limited stature."

Jack looked at his two officers and then over at Everett.

"I hate to say this, and I really do hate it, but Ryan's right, Colonel."

As Mendenhall accepted Ryan's field pack, a small CD player fell out along with several CDs.

"You didn't!" Will said, looking at Ryan.

"Yeah, the colonel's music; it brought me good luck back in Africa."

The marine major looked at the five people in front of him and then turned to the SEAL lieutenant.

"Just who in the hell are these people?" he whispered.

"I don't think we want to know," the SEAL answered.

Hands-free SEAL headphones and silenced MP-5 machine guns were issued to Sarah and Ryan along with four pounds of C-4 and several flares.

"Kind of reminds me a little of Arizona a couple of years back," Sarah joked, but then she looked around and saw the serious faces of the others. Mendenhall looked downright angry at the comparison because they had all lost friends there and he didn't want to lose these two here.

"Just watch your ass, Lieutenant," Jack ordered.

Sarah shone her light into the hole and started down the ladder into the darkness below. Will slapped Ryan on the back and then stepped back and allowed him to follow.

"Okay, Major, let's start getting our equipment off these trucks and get the men stripped down to something that'll allow them to fight in this heat. Upper-torso body armor only if they so choose," Everett ordered, as Collins watched the two lights disappear down below.

At several places in the first hundred feet, the sewer walls had given way to forced magma movement. Sarah thought it was lucky beyond measure that the entire system had not filled up with the flow of hot stuff. One of the first sights they saw were skeletal remains. It looked as if the bodies had been citizens and soldiers. Some had the barest of armor still attached, literally, to their bones. Others had the bronze chest plates and grieves melted onto them.

"Sarah, stop!" Ryan said.

Sarah stopped in her tracks. They were close to a turn in the ancient sewer system. She looked back at Ryan and saw that he had his gloved hand placed against the tiled wall.

"Feel it?" he asked.

Sarah placed her hand on the wall. She felt it immediately. It was the same sensation as one would have if she placed her hand against a subway tunnel wall.

"What do you think?"

"I can't place it. It's not moving, but it builds in intensity and then settles before starting up again."

"Construction?" Ryan asked.

"Maybe. Come on, let's get our asses down the tunnel and find out."

Sarah turned and started making her way along faster. Soon she noticed that with each step she took, her feet were sinking into ever-deeper water that had accumulated. This did not bode well, but she decided not to say anything to Ryan.

Five minutes later, Sarah's shoulders slumped as she saw the cave-in from the roadway above. More parts of the ancient city had spilled into the sewer system. Columns, pieces of roadway, marble, sandstone houses, and more skeletons littered the sewage passage ahead.

"Damn, we're not catching any breaks here," Ryan said as he stood next to Sarah. "I better let the colonel know the bad news."

Sarah just nodded as Ryan started making the dreaded call. While he did so, Sarah popped a white flair and tossed it onto the rubble pile just above the lapping water.

Sarah shook her head, and that was when she saw it. Smoke from the flare was rising, and then about five feet up it was suddenly sucked into the debris. She tilted her head and watched just to make sure, then she reached out and grabbed Ryan's shoulder.

"Hold one, Colonel," he said as he looked at where Sarah was pointing. "Colonel, let me get back to you."

As they advanced, Ryan popped another flare and tossed it onto the slide. Sure enough, they both saw the large hole. It looked big enough for both of them to slip through side by side.

Sarah laid her MP-5 against the rubble and started climbing. Ryan watched for a moment and then followed. She shone her helmet light into the hole and then, unsatisfied, used her large flashlight.

"It looks likes it goes all the way through. This is too much to ask for. How in the hell was this thing formed?"

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth--"

"You mean 'maw', don't you? Because that's what it looks like, a maw."

"You have such a way with description, Sarah old girl," Ryan said as he pressed his throat mike and held on to his MP-5 somewhat tighter than before Sarah's comment. "Colonel, we have a way through. Start sending the men down."

As Collins and the others hit the tunnel floor, Sarah started through the hole in the debris field. She had Ryan stay behind to assist with getting the troops ready for a tight squeeze and a long crawl out. She cursed herself for not having worn her knee pads, because every sharp rock and jagged piece of marble seemed to find a soft spot on her knees.

She was near the end when she noticed a large niche in the side of the tunnel. As her helmet light hit the spot, she saw bones of fish, humans, and material of some kind, and what looked like paper, or was it papyrus, she couldn't tell. She reached out and looked at the shredded paperlike material, then looked over the bones more closely. They were mostly ancient human remains. However, interspersed with these were fish bones and other animal skeletons. Then her eyes widened when she saw the gnaw marks on them, deep gouges that had to have been made by enormous teeth.

"Yuck," she said.

When she turned to make her way past the site, something hard and heavy fell on her from above. She screamed when she saw the incisors, teeth as long as two butcher knives, directly in front of her face. She crawled backward, and the skeletal remains of the giant rat rolled off and lay beside its ancient nest. The giant must have lived in the rubble for years after the destruction, feeding off the dead and then the fish that were trapped in the cave-in, and then it must eventually have starved to death.

She shone her light ahead and saw that the rat hole dug long ago might have saved their mission. The light picked out the tunnel's end. She keyed her throat mic.

"Okay, Jason, send the cavalry in."

The marines of the advanced recon unit started easing their way to the giant cave opening of the tunnel. Several small-arms shots rang out; they were quickly silenced by marine counterfire. Within ten minutes, the site was secured and word was sent to the Iwo, offshore, that Operation Morning Thunder was starting to make its way down the tunnel.

As the radio message went out, a marine squad passed a checkpoint that they didn't know was there, and with orders directly from Tomlinson, one of the survivors of the beach defenses pushed a button.

Standing on the flag bridge of the USS Iwo Jima, General Hamilton flinched at the explosion in the center of the island. As he watched, he slammed his fist into the steel railing, as a nonnuclear mushroom cloud rose from the excavation site. He closed his eyes and cursed. He turned to see the navy bridge staff staring at the scene in shock.

"Captain, get me the beach commander on the horn if he's still alive and get our Seabees moving, I want that area secured and the excavation opened up. Also get me National Command Authority on the line, tell them that Operation Morning Thunder has not, repeat, has not secured the front door."

"I hope Colonel Collins is having a better go of it than we are. Operation Backdoor has now become our last chance."

Tomlinson listened to the survivors of the beach defense and was satisfied that the marines could not get to them before the Wave activated. He nodded and then turned to Professor Engvall.

"The blue diamond is in place?" he asked.

"Yes. We have been generating for the past hour on the smallest setting. I just need to know which connections to attach."

Tomlinson smiled and looked from Engvall to Dame Lilith and Caretaker. "The orders remain the same--China and Russia ... also the eastern United States."

"Strikes in the United States are not called for at this time. We have weakened the U.S. far too much as it is," Caretaker said, stepping forward.

"The transmission lines have been laid, the amplifiers are in place, and the Key can reach them with no problem."

"But--"

"Enough! Professor, begin your countdown in one hour."

Dame Lilith, Caretaker, and the others watched as Tomlinson disappeared back into the broken Empirium Chamber, where he had been holed up most of the morning.

"I'm worried. The plan does not call for American escalation at this time," Lilith said, looking at Caretaker.

Caretaker watched as Tomlinson retreated with his hands held behind his back, then he answered Lilith.

"He's under stress, but right now our lives and, I daresay, the very life of the Coalition rides on his shoulders. Hitting the States may not be a bad idea at this time. It may take their determined minds away from us."

Dame Lilith watched as Caretaker turned and walked slowly away, just looking at the ruins of the capital city of Atlantis as if he were on a stroll in Piccadilly Circus.

She looked around at the Crystal Dome rising far above her and the ruins that surrounded her.

"I was just concerned ... you won't tell William I doubted him, will you?" she called after Caretaker.

Just as she said the words, she felt the hair on her arms stand straight up and suddenly felt slightly nauseated. She knew then that the large generators had started up and the Wave was building into Thor's Hammer like the anger of a caged tiger, and that tiger very much wanted to be let loose.