The Hunt

77

In the dark and deserted strongroom inside Kammler’s laboratory, a tiny radio receiver secreted at the heart of the tungsten pile bleeped once, almost inaudibly.

The message had been received and understood.

An instant later, a charge of detonation cord was ignited, which triggered the fifty-kilo block of RDX to blast apart at a velocity of 8,750 metres per second.

As the RDX exploded, it fragmented the one hundred tungsten bars that were packed around it into a million shards of twisted, razor-sharp shrapnel. The metal’s immense density and hardness enabled it to absorb the full force and energy of the explosion, transforming it into raw destructive power.

The blast tore outwards, the strongroom vaporising as a storm of jagged metal pulverised its bare concrete walls. The deadly tungsten vortex expanded with irresistible force, scything down all that stood in its path. Walls, doors and windows buckled and disintegrated.

The 3D printers – Kammler’s IND factory – were vaporised.

The wave of devastation thundered outwards, those of Kammler’s gunmen left to defend the laboratory dying in a hail of shredded metal. As the blast exited the building, it tore off the roof and ripped away the outer walls. Red-hot shards of tungsten sliced through the SUVs that were parked nearby. The fuel tanks were lacerated, the vehicles exploding in a sea of flame.

Set to the rear of the laboratory was a 20,000-litre oil tank, for heating the lab through the harsh winters. It was torn apart, fire blooming orange and angry from where the ruptured tank spurted oil. A massive cloud of dark smoke billowed above the shattered remains of the laboratory, as the tsunami of blasted shrapnel thundered onwards across the valley, spending the last of its awesome power on the gorge’s walls.

As the roar of the explosion died away, Jaeger emerged from cover to a scene of utter devastation. Where the laboratory had once stood, there was now a mass of torn wreckage, wreathed in oily smoke and hungry licks of flame. Finally, they’d done it: Kammler’s IND factory was no more.

He ran his eye across the wider complex. It only remained now to take the bunker. According to Hing, that lay at the far southern end of the boundary fence, beyond the shattered lab and hard against the wall of the gorge.

Jaeger led his force on what he hoped was the final assault now. But in the back of his mind was a nagging worry: what evil might Kammler have been brewing, as he hunkered in his lair?

In the strange way that time seems to slow to an agonising pace when in the midst of life-or-death combat, he felt as if he’d been here, fighting, for a lifetime. In truth, it was only forty-five minutes since Raff and Alonzo had triggered the pipeline charges, but that was more than enough time for Kammler to wreak havoc.

‘Time to split,’ Alonzo announced, as he prepared to move towards the front of the shelter.

Jaeger nodded. ‘Let’s do it. When you go noisy, we’ll give it a minute, then go in. Stay in your position and cover the entrance, in case any of the fuckers try getting out that way. If it’s anyone but us or the hostages, nail ’em.’

‘Got it,’ Alonzo confirmed.

With that, the two parties dashed their separate ways.