By the Blood of Heroes (31 page)
ACROSS THE BASE
A
fter determining that Freeman had only seen a handful of guards when he’d been inside the lab earlier, Burke decided they would strike at two different objectives, thereby increasing their chances of actually disrupting the operation before it could get off the ground. Burke, Freeman, Graves, and Williams would take out the laboratory, and its stockpile of corpse gas, while Moore, Jones, Compton, and Manning would deal with the
Megaera
. That way, even if only one team managed to succeed, they would delay Stormcloud long enough to get a warning back to friendly ears. Hopefully at that point someone with a higher pay grade than Burke’s would figure out what to do next.
All thoughts of getting Freeman off the base were put aside. For one, Jack wouldn’t go, and two, now that he’d found him, Burke didn’t dare let him out of his sight. If worst came to worst, he could always make use of the final solution as suggested by Colonel Nichols, but to do that he needed Jack nearby.
Abandoning the staff car because of its high-profile nature and the fear that it would be easily remembered, the team piled into the lorry. Sergeant Moore took the wheel with Burke at his side. They drove calmly through the base, the two of them nodding to the soldiers they passed who were moving about the camp on foot, doing everything they could to give off the sense that they were just another unit going about their duties.
Several times they got a glimpse of the
Megaera
looming over the camp from its mooring on the north edge, and each time Burke marveled, just as he had with the
Victorious,
that something that big could move through the sky. Knowing what Richthofen had chosen to do with that vessel made its general appearance even worse than it really was.
Charlie pulled the truck to a stop in front of the production facility. Two guards watched them from either side of the door, and Burke half expected them to open fire the minute he climbed down from the cab. When they didn’t, he could only assume it was because no one had discovered their trussed-up prisoner yet. He waited until Graves had slid out of the truck behind him and then headed for the door, looking for all the world like a senior officer’s escort. Or so he hoped.
When the guards snapped to attention at the sight of Graves’s uniform, he knew they had them. He headed right for the door, ignoring the guards on either side, but when he drew even with them, he didn’t hesitate, lashing out at the one on the left with the stock of the Tommy gun, knowing that Williams would do the same on the opposite side. Freeman and Williams were close behind.
The guard didn’t have time to do more than utter a surprised squawk before the impact knocked him into unconsciousness. Williams was equally successful on the right. They grabbed the guards about the ankles and dragged them inside where they wouldn’t be stumbled upon by a casual passerby. Freeman used one of the guards’ rifles to jam the door behind them and then led the team deeper into the facility, past the room where he’d seen the Frenchmen converted into the hideous undead creatures they’d become as a result of the gas, and finally to the office that overlooked the production facility where the gas was actually produced.
Burke knocked on the door and then entered the room without waiting for an answer, his pistol already in hand. A man wearing a captain’s uniform looked up from where he was trying to enjoy his evening meal seated behind Eisenberg’s desk. His eyes went wide at the sight of the gun in Burke’s fist, and he made the mistake of going for his own weapon.
It was the last mistake he ever made.
Burke pulled the trigger and his bullet struck the captain in the center of the forehead, splattering the wall behind him with a thick shower of blood, brains, and bone. With the shot still ringing in their ears, the four men quickly moved to the door leading onto the production floor. Burke counted down to three with the fingers of his mechanical hand, then grabbed the knob and threw the door open. He went through it in a rush, with Williams on his heels.
A
fter dropping Burke and the others off in front of the laboratory, Charlie turned the truck around and headed back toward the airfield. It wasn’t hard to find, for the long gleaming body of the
Megaera
could be seen from halfway across the camp. A line of trucks similar to his own were moving in that direction, no doubt carrying supplies and other cargo to be loaded aboard the vessel for her forthcoming voyage.
Figuring that hiding in plain sight might be his best option, Charlie got into line behind a couple of other trucks and followed them up to a gate in the fence that separated the airfield from the rest of the base. A guard was on duty there, but once he’d waved the lead vehicle through he barely looked up at the rest of the trucks in the miniconvoy. Charlie tried to look as bored as he imagined the guard must feel as he drove past, and minutes later he was within range of his target.
There was a lot of activity close to the airship. Lights were set up close by, shining upward across the massive hull, allowing both those on the ground as well as those in the cargo bays above to see what they were doing. Men were working steadily, transferring crates from the backs of the trucks over to the cargo nets, which were then hauled skyward into the belly of the beast through the open maw of the cargo doors above.
Charlie drove through the edge of the turmoil, passing the other vehicles until he found a dark patch of ground a few hundred yards farther on, away from the lights and activity. He parked the truck so the tailgate was facing the airship and then slipped between the seats to join the others in the rear.
Compton was standing by the tailgate, peering out at all the activity through a small slit in the tarp that covered the rear of the truck. “There are German troops everywhere, Sergeant. How are we supposed to get to the airship and back out again without being caught?”
“We’re not,” Charlie said. He turned to Jones. “Are you still carrying that mortar tube?”
“Yes, Sergeant.”
“Good. Here’s what we’re going to do.”
Ten minutes later Charlie climbed out of the truck’s cab and wandered back toward the tailgate, fishing in his pockets as if looking for a smoke. He glanced around, noted that no one was paying them the slightest attention, and then rapped twice on the tailgate.
At the signal, the men inside the truck jumped into action. Manning flipped the tarp up, revealing the squat frame of the mortar pointed in the direction of the airship. Jones bent over the sight reticle, made a final adjustment, then nodded at Charlie.
“Fire!” the sergeant said.
Compton dropped the mortar round into the tube.
Foomp!
The shell raced skyward with a sharp whistling sound, trailing a stream of dull-colored smoke. It had barely passed the top of its arc when it slammed into the airship’s side, about a third of the way from the nose.
For a moment nothing happened, and in the stillness Charlie was sure he could have heard a pin drop, but then a sharp crack split the night air, like a hundred lightning bolts striking the same place all at once, and bright blue tendrils of electricity danced out across the
Megaera
’s hull.
Jones made a minor adjustment to the targeting.
“Again!” Moore ordered.
There was another dull thump followed by a shell arcing skyward to explode against the airship’s hull.
Webs of electrical power were slowly spreading out from the impact points, dancing across the surface of the airship now, popping and buzzing with unsuppressed power. When they collided with each other, there was another flash of brilliance and then it was moving faster, sweeping down along the length of the airship until it reached the engines. There was a thunderous crash, a loud explosion, and then flames could be seen spreading out across the tail section of the zeppelin.
Foomp! Foomp!
Compton didn’t wait for the order this time around, firing twice more in rapid succession, his eyes alight with glee as more explosions lit the night sky and the first of the screams of the injured reach their ears.
“Time to get out of here!”
The attack had only taken moments, but Charlie was worried about those last two shells. All eyes had been on the
Megaera
after that first, unexpected strike, and if someone had seen the second shell strike the airship, they probably wouldn’t have been able to trace it back to its source. But by the time those last two shots had been fired, it would have been clear that the airship was under attack from outside forces and heads would have started turning in their direction.
It was time to leave before someone put two and two together.
Jones and Compton were working to dismantle the mortar. It was of no use to them now that they were out of ammunition for it, but they didn’t want to leave it behind for fear the Germans might be able to turn it to their own ends. Manning pulled the tarp back into place over the rear of the vehicle and Charlie helped him tied it down, hiding the other men from sight. As soon as they were finished, he climbed into the driver’s seat and got ready to leave.
Charlie was reaching for the ignition switch when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. In the next instant his door was thrown violently open and he found himself flying through the air as if hurled from a cannon. He hit the ground hard, rolling over several times from the force of the throw before coming to rest on his back several yards away.
Get up!
his mind screamed.
Get up now!
He staggered to his feet.
A figure was stalking toward him out of the darkness, and there was no mistaking the stranger’s intent, for a sense of murderous rage was coming off him in waves.
He not only means to kill me,
Charlie thought,
but rend me limb from limb.
Before he could give it too much rational thought, Charlie reached inside his shirt and flipped the switch on the leather vest he’d been wearing ever since the moments before they’d jumped out of what he considered to be a perfectly good airship.
The Hercules vest hummed and shook and came to life as the stored battery charge superheated the water running through the device’s power system and fired up the servos. For a moment Charlie felt the rubber sleeves squeeze his arms, and then the sensation was swept away as a flood of energy passed through his system.
It was just in time.
No sooner had the vest come to life than his pursuer was upon him. Charlie recognized him immediately; the Baron’s skeletal grin had graced the front pages of enough French and German newspapers over the years for him to know it on sight. There was a murderous look in the revenant’s eyes as he reached out, intent on snatching Charlie up a second time.
Except this time Charlie was ready for him.
The suit was aptly named, for it more than doubled his strength. As Richthofen grabbed him about the shoulders, Charlie brought his arms up inside Richthofen’s and broke free of his grip. He planted his feet, twisted at the waist, and sent a staggering right into the German pilot’s face. He followed it up with a left to the body and felt something inside Richthofen’s resurrected form crunch with the impact.
The damage didn’t seem to do any harm to the other man but only served to enrage him further. He bellowed in defiance and backhanded Charlie across the chest, picking him up and dumping him to the ground several feet away.
If the blow had struck Charlie in the face, it likely would have taken his head off. As it was, it damaged the vest, sending a blast of superheated water across his left abdomen, burning his flesh and causing him to scream in pain. He could feel the strength ebbing out of him as the power generated through the servos was reduced by the damage, and as he watched Richthofen stalk toward him he knew he was in serious trouble.
He scrambled backward, trying to figure out what to do, as Richthofen rushed toward him.
The night was suddenly filled with lights and the sound of a body being struck at high speed, followed by the squeal of brakes, and the roar of a truck’s engine being slammed into reverse. He looked up to see Jones leaning down out of the cab of their lorry, his hand extended and an anxious look on his face.
“Come on!” he shouted. “Before he gets up again!”
Charlie let him pull him up and then climbed into the cab behind the wheel as the other man scooted over to the passenger side. A glance out the windshield showed the Baron’s body lying several yards away in the glare of the headlights.
Even as Charlie stared in fascinated horror, Richthofen began to stir.
“Drive!” Jones shouted.
Charlie thought that was a pretty good idea.
He stomped on the accelerator and sent the truck rocketing backward, then slammed on the brakes and swung it around in a 180-degree turn. The
Megaera
swept into view, fully ablaze now, and the scene was utter chaos as men rushed everywhere, either trying to save what they could or get themselves as far away as possible from the inferno before it exploded.