Operation Norway

- 24 -

They watched the end of it from the supply vessel that brought them ‘round from the harbor. Larsen had campaigned, long and hard, for access to the “specimens,” but Banks’ and Olsen’s testimony had persuaded the authorities that much of the blame for the debacle should be laid on the doctor’s shoulders and all the man’s pleas were refused. When Olsen offered a chance to the squad to oversee the final act before heading home, Banks knew he couldn’t refuse.

Three F-16s roared overhead, six AIM-120 missiles went into the cave mouth, and seconds later, the whole cliff face disappeared in a rumbling roar of debris. When the smoke and dust settled, the cliff face was thirty yards farther inland and there was a new pile of rubble on the shore.

“I’d keep an eye on that if I were you,” Banks said.

“It shall be carefully transported, every stone and pebble of it, to one of our high arctic island outposts, into a remote valley where the sun never shines,” Olsen said. “And I have been given authority for the site to be treated as a war grave. Your man, or what is left of him at least, shall not be disturbed again.”

Banks turned away, lest the captain see the tears in his eyes.