Alpha Threat (66 page)

Hugo sprinted back behind the cabinets and past the row of generators all the way back to the wall.
 
It only took him a few seconds to backtrack to the stairway and gallop up two floors.
 
He pulled his weapon from his shoulder, set the safety off and took one last look at the power house.
 
He pressed his shoulder against the door and ran down the hall.
 
All he could think of was getting the hell out of there.
 
He decided to try to get out through the motor pool, which was several floors up on the back side of the hangar deck.
 
Hugo had no idea the mess Dane had left him on the hangar deck.
 

Monday, July 18, 2011

Outside Fortress Alpha;
 
10:25 a.m.

As the small group entered the jungle, Dane could hear gunshots far off to his left.
 
It must be Ben and his group.
 

“Bravo, this is Delta, status.”

There was a long pause.
 
Finally Ben answered.

“Delta, Bravo here.
 
Basically clear.
 
What is your status?”

“Bravo, we are clear.
 
Heading toward rendezvous point Mike, repeat, clear, heading toward rendezvous point Mike.
 
Acknowledge.”
 

“Delta, acknowledge, meet you at Mike.”

“Well, that may be the best news yet,” smiled Dane as the group knelt in a small grove of bushes.
 
“Ben and his group are okay and will move toward our rendezvous point.”
 
Dane looked at his watch.
 
It was 10:30 a.m.
 
He pulled out a small map and a compass.
 
Leaning his weapon against a tree beside him, he knelt on one knee and used the other knee as a small surface to place the map and compass to take a reading.
 
He looked up. “We need to go this way,” he said, pointing to the southwest.
 
“Keep your heads down and stay quiet.
 
We are not out of this yet.
 
This jungle is crawling with Germans.
 
They know we are somewhere out here and they will do anything they can to keep us from getting away.
 
Stay close and we will move out.”
 

Dana and Randall nodded in agreement and followed Dane into the jungle.
 
Dane thought it best they avoid established trails, which slowed the group to a crawl.
 
But since the Germans were patrolling the trails, this route was much safer.
 
  

Dana thought it was good to hear the sounds of the birds and insects.
 
Surprisingly she missed that banter while she and Randall were held below ground.
 
Being outside again gave her an ecstatic feeling of freedom.
 
She even relished the heat, humidity and the smells.
 
She turned to Randall and smiled.
 
She admired him so much.
 
Throughout this ordeal he remained upbeat and did what he could to protect her.
 

Her thoughts went back to Maas for a second.
 
She quickly banished them from her mind.
 
That pig would have killed Randall, raped her to death; a horrible death.
 
Screw him.

Before this trip, she had never seen a man die.
 
But she was glad she watched Maas die.
 
Even though it was a violent, horrible sight, she was glad he was dead.
 
She hoped he rotted in Hell.
 

Randall was holding up well after his encounter with the guards not an hour ago.
 
She started to ask how he was but remembered that Dane said no talking.
 
She refocused her mind toward getting through the jungle.
   

After sliding through the jungle for about thirty minutes, Dane brought them all to a halt.
 
“We are not far from our rendezvous point.”
 
There was a shot in the distance.
 
They all turned toward the noise, wondering if it was Ben and his team.
 
Then there was a slight stirring sound from slightly ahead.
 
Dane motioned to the group to get down and under cover.
 
Dana and Randall dropped and rolled under a low fern.
 

Dane raised his weapon, ready to fire.
 
His eyes scoured the jungle for the least bit of movement.
 
He had to wait until he saw who or what was out there.
 
It could be Ben or one of his men.
 
Or it could be a German.
 
The group was frozen; waiting.
 
A few seconds later there was a familiar sound.
 

“Mr. Dane…”

Dane’s ears picked up a voice in the subtle tones of the jungle.
 
He lowered his weapon a bit as one of Tecal’s men slipped from under a bush and was facing the group.
 
There were smiles all around.
 

“We are very glad to see you,” said Dane in a whisper.
 
“Is it safe?
 
Are there any Germans around?”

“Yes, safe here.
 
No German.
 
All back there or dead,” the small native said in broken English, pointing behind the group.
 
“I watch here.
 
No German.”

Dane smiled and patted the native on the shoulder.
 
“That’s great news.
 
Thank you.”
 
He turned to Dana and Randall and saw all smiles.
 
“Guess you heard the news.”

“Even at a whisper, it sounded like a cry from the mountain tops,” said Randall.
 
“I am so damned relieved, thanks to you, Dane.”
 
Randall reached over and gave Dana a huge hug.
 
“I think we have finally made it, babe.”
 

“Okay, okay, that’s enough of that until we can find you guys a room,” Dane joked with a smile.
 
“We need to move along to our rendezvous.”
  
Inside Dane felt a huge load release from his shoulders.
 
They had gotten Dana and Randall out relatively unscathed.
 
This was a day he would never forget.
 

With Tecal’s man leading, the group trudged through the jungle for nearly an hour until they came to the rendezvous point.
 
As they burst through the jungle bushes into the clearing they saw Ben, Tim and Tecal sitting under a large Kapok tree.
 

“Ben!” cried Dana as she recognized their base camp manager.
 
She ran into his arms as he was standing up.
 

“Damn glad to see you, Dana, and you too, Randall,” said Ben, smiling from ear to ear.
 
“Lee will be ecstatic when she sees you two.”
 
Ben shook hands with Randall as Dana hung around Ben’s neck.
 
Dana began to sob, tears flowing down her face.
 

“Oh, Ben, it was awful.
 
Manolo is dead.
 
They killed him for no reason.
 
Plain shot him in the head,” she explained.
 
Ben’s face went from happiness to doom.
 
He had loved Manolo like a son.
 
Now he was gone.
 
He fought to maintain his strength even with tears welling up in his eyes.
 

“That’s okay, Dana.
 
That’s okay.
 
We’ll talk about that later,” he croaked.
 

Dane looked around.
 
“Any sign of Hugo?” he asked, realizing his best friend was not present.
 

“No, we haven’t heard anything.
 
I feel no news is good news in his case,” said Ben, releasing Dana.
 
Tim walked over with Tecal.
 

“Damn, that is you, Tim,” remarked Randall, grabbing Tim’s hand and giving it a good shake.
 
Then they hugged each other.
 
“I couldn’t recognize you in that getup.”
 

Dana gave Tim a big hug as well.
 
“How the hell did you get here?”
 

“I heard you had a party going on,” smiled Tim. “You know me, never one to miss a good party.”

“You are hurt,” said Dana, seeing all of the blood on Tim’s face and temporary bandage.
 

“It’s just a nick that bled a good bit.
 
We couldn’t leave you two out there without trying to find you,” Tim said with a huge smile.
 
“Wait until we get back to the base camp.
 
There are more folks there.”
 

“And Tecal,” said Dana quietly, reaching out and stroking Tecal’s head.
 
“Thank you, Tecal.
 
Thank you very much for coming to help us.”
 

Tecal smiled widely, baring his blackened teeth.
 
“Missy Dana, we very happy you okay.”
 
She gave him a big hug as well.
 

Dane’s thoughts turned toward Hugo.
 
With no word, he must still be in the fray.
 
When he last saw him he was still deep within the complex.
 
He knew Hugo could take care of himself; he had proven that many times before.
 
But this was different.
 
He had absolutely no contact with his best friend.
 
He looked at his watch.
 
It was 11:30 a.m.
 
He instinctively looked up to find the sun to validate the time.
 
The sun was hard to see through the jungle canopy, but he could tell it was directly overhead.
 
At least he knew his Omega watch was nonetheless keeping time.
 

Monday, July 18, 2011

Inside Fortress Alpha;
 
10:30 a.m.

The long hall was empty as he peered out of the door.
 
Hugo looked over his shoulder and checked for anyone behind him. There was no one.
 
The alarms were still blaring and he could hear people yelling at each other in German.
 
They had really stirred up a hornet’s nest in the complex.
 

He raced down the hall in a full run, figuring with all of the noise around him his footsteps would either not be heard or would be ignored.
 
As he turned the corner on the way to an elevator, he ran directly into a female technician coming down the hall.
 
He hit her like a huge linebacker hits a fleet wide receiver.
 
She went flying across the hall and hit her head on the concrete block wall.
 
At least he didn’t have to contend with her, he thought.
 
She was out like a light, never knowing what hit her.
 
He continued farther until he came to an elevator.
 
He pushed the button.
 
He felt naked standing there in an open hall armed with no one there.
 
Hugo checked his watch.
 

He wasn’t alone for long.
 
He looked up as the elevator door opened to find two young female technicians and an armed German guard.
 
The technicians looked like they were going to pass out.
 
The guard fumbled with his weapon trying to bring it up to firing position.
 
But Hugo beat him to the punch by a mile.
 
Hugo had his silenced MP-5 at ready and fired one single shot, killing the guard before he could raise his weapon.
 
The guard fell forward.
 
Hugo grabbed the guard and pulled him forward so that he fell outside of the elevator.
 
The two technicians stood there frozen in fear.
 

“Ladies,” Hugo said nicely as he motioned them off of the elevator and into the hall.
 
As the two stepped out of the elevator, Hugo screamed, “Run!”
 
The technicians took off running down the hall, fearing for their lives.
 
The two sounded like a small herd of horses, their shoes clopping on the hard floor.
 

Hugo stepped into the elevator and pressed the hangar deck button, praying the damn elevator would go up and not down.
 
The door closed and Hugo’s heart stopped as the car seemed to go down at first but then began to rise.
 
Next stop… the hangar deck, if he was lucky.
 

As the elevator rose, Hugo could hear rumblings that sounded like explosions and began to smell smoke.
 
He wondered what he was going to step into when he got to the hangar level.
 
The elevator car vibrated and then stopped.
 
Damn, thought Hugo.
 
What a time to get stuck in an elevator!
  
Smoke began to seep into the elevator.
 
He placed his hand on the elevator door.
 
It felt warm.
 
That was not good either.
 
There must be some kind of fire.