Apocalypse unleashed

37

Downtown Sanliurfa

Sanliurfa Province, Turkey

Local Time 1408 Hours

Alexander Cody sat in the bar of the American Hotel and drank while he watched the television intermittently flash on and off as the signal was interrupted. A few other people sat somberly at the tables and booths, surrounded by pictures of sports and entertainment stars that seemed a lifetime removed from the world they all currently inhabited.

Danielle felt strange spying on Cody, knowing that he was watching a news story that covered their current situation. It was all surreal.

She thought she recognized one of the patrons as a soldier who usually hovered around Remington, but she couldn’t be sure because he was in street clothes. The haircut fit, though. And he watched her as she approached Cody.

She put the other man out of her mind for the moment and focused on the CIA section chief.

“Excuse me,” Danielle said.

Cody didn’t move, but his gaze cut to the big mirror behind the bar. “Miss Vinchenzo.” His voice came out flat and uninviting.

An explosion sounded outside. Danielle grabbed the bar and prepared to hurl herself behind it. When she glanced back at Cody, the man grinned at her.

“Somewhat apprehensive, aren’t you?” he taunted. He tipped his drink and sipped casually. “You’ll never hear the one that gets you. Those missiles travel faster than the speed of sound.”

Danielle ignored the comment. “I’d like to talk to you.”

“As a reporter? Or as a woman?”

“A reporter.”

“Too bad.” Cody sipped his drink and set the glass on the bar. “I’m not currently interested in talking with the press.”

“You’re a CIA section chief.”

Some of the spirit went out of Cody’s smile, but he kept it in place. “Quite an imagination you have there.”

“It’s not my imagination.”

“If you air something like that, you’d better have proof to back it up.”

“When I air it,” Danielle said, “I’ll have proof.”

“Bully for you.” Cody drained his glass and gestured to the bartender to bring another. “Did you just come down here to share conspiracy theories, Miss Vinchenzo? Or did you have something you really wanted to get around to?”

Danielle slid onto the stool next to Cody. She looked at him in the mirror. The bartender approached and asked her if she wanted a drink; she politely refused.

“Marcus Allen,” Danielle stated. “Your guy that shot down the helicopter I was on?”

Cody didn’t miss a beat. “Don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know anyone named Marcus Allen, and I don’t know about any helicopter.”

“Allen is a mercenary. An ex-soldier. You’ve worked with him before.”

“I’d like to see you try to prove that.”

“I will.”

Cody frowned. “As amusing as this conversation is, and as grateful as I am to have a diversion while bombs are flying through the air around us, Miss Vinchenzo, I really don’t have the inclination to sit and listen to it.”

“Goose is still alive, and so is Icarus,” Danielle said. “Whatever you’re hiding is going to come out.”

“I,” Cody declared, “am not hiding a thing.” He drained his fresh drink and stood. Then he asked the bartender for a bottle and a glass. “I’m headed up to my room. If you want to continue this discussion, you’re welcome to come up. I can get another glass, and there’s a big whirlpool tub in the room.”

Danielle’s face burned.

“I didn’t think so,” Cody stated. He laughed, and the sound was thin and brittle. “A word to the wise,” he said quietly. “If a CIA section chief were trying to hide something like you suspect, I’d be really careful if I were you. Maybe he’d start thinking that Icarus and Sergeant Gander aren’t the only people who need killing, that maybe I’ve stuck my head up just a little too far and gotten noticed.” He turned and walked away.

Helplessly, feeling a little frightened despite her resolve not to be intimidated, Danielle watched him go.

United States 75th Army Rangers Temporary Post

Sanliurfa, Turkey

Local Time 1623 Hours

Remington scanned the battlefield through the satellite feeds. The Syrian cavalry crept closer, braving the mud now that they’d knocked in the fortifications fronting the city. Inside, Remington cursed. His position was rapidly becoming untenable.

They were going to have to concede part of the city to the Syrians. The idea of doing that filled him with rage and helplessness.

He didn’t care for either feeling.

“Captain?” the corporal at the com called.

“Yes?”

“I’ve got a caller here who says he’s Nicolae Carpathia.”

“Is he?”

The corporal looked embarrassed. “I don’t know, sir, but he sounds sincere.”

“Sincere.”

“Yes, sir.” The corporal broke eye contact.

Remington took a deep breath and let it out. “Put him through.”

“Yes, sir.”

Remington flicked his headset over to receive the incoming call. There was a brief burst of static; then Nicolae Carpathia’s melodic baritone filled Remington’s ear.

“Captain Remington,” Carpathia greeted.

“Mr. SecretaryGeneral,” Remington said, “please forgive my tactlessness, but I’m somewhat pressed for time at the moment.”

“So I see.”

“What can I do for you, Mr. SecretaryGeneral?”

“Please, Cal. We are practically old friends, you and I. And I am hoping we get to know each other much better in the future. Call me Nicolae.”

“All right.” A vague feeling of well-being spread throughout Remington, but part of him insisted on remaining wary.

“And actually I was calling in regard to something I may be able to do for you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. That is what I was calling about. As secretarygeneral, I have been given unlimited control over troop movements and recruitment. The general consensus seems to be that I will know best what to do.”

In spite of the tension that filled Remington as he watched medical corpsmen carry three litters of wounded back to a Hummer, the captain smiled.

“The reason for my call is that I have directed several UN troop contingents to join you there,” Carpathia said.

“Troops?” Remington couldn’t believe he’d heard right.

“Yes. Reinforcements, actually.”

Remington felt certain he hadn’t heard correctly.

“I have asked some of the European countries to supplement the United Nations forces I have ordered to help you,” Carpathia went on. “They were unusually responsive in appropriating men and weapons. In fact, if you take a look at your radar, you should see some of the new arrivals now.”

“Sir,” one of the radar techs called excitedly, “UN forces have just informed us about troop ships they’ve got entering our airspace.”

“Did you confirm that?”

“I’m in the process, sir.”

“Those are my men,” Carpathia said. “Soon they will be yours. Since you know the terrain and the situation there in Sanliurfa better than anyone else, I have placed you in charge of them.”

Excitement flared through Remington. He’d seized control of the Rangers after his superior officers had disappeared or been killed in the opening confrontation with the Syrians, and he’d been dreading the time the U.S. Army flew someone in with more seniority.

“Do you see the airplanes?” Carpathia asked.

“I’m confirming them,” Remington said. As he watched, several dots separated from the plane above the city.

“I have given the fighter jets among them the freedom to engage Syrian aggressors in your airspace,” Carpathia said. “But you can request they follow your direction.”

“No,” Remington said, watching the radar screen and the satellite monitor. “We need some breathing room.”

“I thought you might.”

Several jets screamed by overhead, racing toward the Syrians instead of away from them.

As Remington watched, the satellite feeds strengthened and became more certain. The United Nations jets swooped into the area and slagged several of the Syrian tanks before they retreated. Gratification filled Remington as he watched the onslaught.

“I hope this will help you out there,” Carpathia said.

“It will. We’ll make the most of it.”

“I am glad. I would hate to lose you, Cal.”

The warmth and well-being spread throughout Remington, overcoming the trepidation.

Like wildfire, the command post staff discovered that the new forces belonged to the United Nations. Not only that, but the new arrivals systematically mopped the floor with the Syrian units staggered out across the muddy no-man’s-land in front of the city.

That knowledge quickly transmuted into a ragged cheer that echoed through the building.

Remington felt an immediate pang of jealousy as he watched the celebration. That should have been his. He should have been reveling in his glory. He should have solved their problems.

Given time and resources, I could have brought them a victory too, Remington thought.

“I see that everyone there has figured out what is going on,” Carpathia said.

“Yes,” Remington replied.

“I am convinced that you would have done well on your own, but I thought maybe quick action on my part might save a few lives.”

“It will.”

“Then I am pleased I was able to be of assistance. Your people are still in dire straits, and those lands-as well as the Middle East-are going to be hotly contested in the coming days.”

“They always have been.”

“And there will be no change in that,” Carpathia said. “That is why I want to start recruiting.”

“Recruiting?”

“Yes. To the army I am going to build. I want to make some positive changes in the world, and to do that, I need a force that will be able to respond quickly and decisively to threats. I need a win in Turkey, and I think you are just the man to give it to me. I had planned to ask you at a later time, but since the subject has come up…”

Remington found himself hanging on Carpathia’s every word.

“I would like you to be part of this new world force,” Carpathia said.

“I’ve already got a career with the army,” Remington said.

“I want you as a colonel. I am prepared to offer you a full commission whenever you are ready.”

Remington’s mind spun. If that happened, he’d be a very young colonel. He’d also, his thoughts assured him, be a very powerful colonel in a position to make a name and a career for himself in Turkey.

“I want young men in this endeavor,” Carpathia said as if reading his mind. “And I want them in positions of authority. In short, I want you.”

Remington stared at the smoldering battlefield visible on the computer screens. “Let me figure out what I’m doing here first, and I’ll be happy to talk with you about it sometime soon.”

“Good,” Carpathia responded. “We shall talk soon. In the meantime, see to your men.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.” Remington ended the connection and gazed out at the battlefield as it changed once again. He couldn’t help thinking about Carpathia’s offer.

Colonel Remington.

He liked the sound of that. And all he had to do was survive to claim it.