Overlord (39 page)

Henri felt the setup even before Jack did. Mendenhall knew something was up but wasn’t sure what it was.

“Gentlemen, since the assault on your Camp David, we have lost the services of not only the driving force behind Operation Overlord, the president, but also a man we now know will be desperate for support from the world—the president of China. The German chancellor was officially pronounced dead at three
A.M.
These men were three very important cogs in the alliance.”

Lord Durnsford paced away from the three attentive men and then lowered his head with his hands still behind his back, like a college instructor lecturing a group of students, which was exactly what Jack felt like. Henri was taking it like he did when he was in War College in France—bored. He took a drink of his coffee.

“Gentlemen, the alliance will not stand in the face of these attacks.” Durnsford turned and gave the three a tentative smile. “My department says so, and so does your CIA, or at least the director of said agency. The biggest threat outside of the Gray incursion is the acting president of the United States. We surmise that this … gentleman will not fulfill his obligation as laid down by the men before him. He will call it ‘national priorities,’ of course, and most likely he will ask for and receive the backing of the American people in this time of crisis. He is very persuasive that way.”

“Lord Durnsford, we know and understand what the temporary man in the White House is capable of. He’s a hawk and lover of the military, but only when it suits his needs. He will make friends very quickly in the halls of the Pentagon with men of equal ambitions.”

“As I said, General, you are Senator Lee’s double, or at the very minimum, related to him in some way. Well, we have an answer for him.” He pulled a gold pocket watch from his vest and snapped it open. “We are short of time, so I will not beat around the proverbial bush as you Americans like to say. The director of your … think tank, Dr. Niles Compton, is a very dear friend of mine, one I have had many run-ins with, but a man immensely respected in my offices. You, General Collins, are the answer to the alliance falling apart—a little more so since the Camp David incident.”

Jack was stunned that this English lord knew about Niles Compton just as he claimed to know Garrison Lee, but he remained silent, not revealing his surprise.

“He foresaw this happening in the event something took place—not that he predicted the attack and the succession of power in your country. He was my friend and if we lose him we have lost one of the best hopes for our world. You gentlemen will be tasked to end the threat against us with a volunteer force of the best-trained and well-equipped soldiers in the world. You will have men selected from most nations on Earth that will be dedicated to the destruction of our enemy, and not even their own governments can pull them back. They are even now awaiting you at your final destination.”

“Your brief is as confusing as the past four days, Lord Durnsford.” Jack again looked at his watch, wanting to get to the secure computer center located at the headquarters building. He was hoping Pete Golding had fulfilled a small request he had asked of him and his supercomputer, Europa.

“Calm, General, I have arranged your phone call with your young Lieutenant McIntire.” Durnsford gave Collins a look over the top of his glasses. “I suspected you would wish to know your people are safe. They are—at least for the moment, as they are transiting some quiet waters. Their ordeal will soon start as our little ruse to get them free of the North Atlantic has worked, but I’m afraid the Grays will catch on eventually and the very power plant they are escorting will lead the Grays straight to your friends. I suspect a rather large engagement at sea before too long.”

Will looked at Jack. The concern for Sarah and Ryan was evident.

“I suspect you will keep that to yourself when you speak. Remember, I am granting you this privilege, General.”

With one nod of his head Jack knew he was cornered and could not warn Sarah and Ryan what might be coming.

Durnsford reached into a coat pocket and used a small remote to activate the large monitor that had been set up. Two split-screen views of the attack zones in Mumbai and Beijing illuminated and they saw that they were live views.

“Your Lieutenant McIntire and the others are transiting the sea in one of the most powerful warships afloat, and they will meet other, even more impressive assets the closer they get to their destination.” Durnsford again looked at his watch and then snapped it closed. “I am sure I have confused you enough. I just need a man like you to know, General, because you are known to follow your orders to the letter.” He smiled at the three men before him. “At least to a point, and that is the point I wish to expand on.” He leaned over and looked Collins in the face and became deadly serious. “No matter what orders you receive to the contrary, General, you and your men will do the job that is assigned to you. You will possibly be pressured by higher influences, even be threatened with courts-martial and death; be called a traitor to your nation, as will the men under you. But stay the course, General, stay the course. If you do, the odds of our world climbing out of this bloody mess will increase a thousandfold. Far worse than the view you see here.” The small British spy gestured at the two smoldering cities.

Jack knew he was talking about the changes at the highest levels of government in his, and other nations. That deals had been struck in order to make Matchstick’s grand plan of Overlord become reality. He also knew that he would come down on the side of Niles, Lee, and—as he looked at the small man before him—Lord Durnsford.

“Stay the course, no matter what, General.” He finally smiled as he toyed with his pocket watch. “If I’m still breathing, and if needed, I promise I’ll have your court-martial littered with sympathetic ears. You still may be shot, but you’ll receive a much better last meal.”

Mendenhall looked at Henri and then Collins and shook his head. “I knew this Hawaii thing wasn’t going to last.”

“Precisely, young captain.” Durnsford opened his watch and looked at the time. “Gentlemen, good luck and God’s speed. You have a rather large Galaxy transport aircraft to catch and again you have to fly rather low to the ground. You may make your phone call enroute, General.”

With that Lord Durnsford nodded his head toward the back of the room and a door was opened. With one last sad smile and nod of his head the man from MI6 turned and left.

The three men stood as a man gestured for them to follow him outside. And again it was Will who put things into proper perspective, as young soldiers usually do.

“I am so very glad we now know what’s happening and are totally clear on our mission,” he said in mock understanding as he placed his cap on his head. “I think they are out to kill us in the most dramatic way possible.” He looked at Farbeaux with a sour look. “And why do I think hanging out with you, Henri, has something to do with it?”

“For the first time since I’ve known you, Captain, I find myself in total agreement. I understand nothing.” Henri turned toward Jack. “I imagine it’s far too late to accept that invitation for that long stay at your Leavenworth prison?”

Jack shook his head. “I think it’s too late for a lot of things, Colonel.”

MUMBAI, INDIA

2200 HOURS

One hundred Russian-manufactured Su-27SK “Flanker” fighter aircraft flew at Mach 1 toward their designated target, which was entrenched at the center of Mumbai. The entirety of the strike force was going to lay waste to the four targets painted on their radar screens. The flight leader of the strike orbited at twenty-seven thousand feet in an Airbus A20 radar and defense aircraft, a cheaper variant of the American AWAC. It was on the Airbus where the air assault would be coordinated.

The large saucer had deployed the same apparatus as the vehicle in China. It was glowing a soft blue hue in the dark nighttime skies. And thus far all attempts at breaching the defense shield had been fruitless. Probes by the thirteen infantry divisions deployed around Mumbai had found that any form of contact with the alien cable network had been met with no resistance or event.

The airstrike was in support of elements of the 50th Parachute Regiment (Special Forces) and the full force of the 411th (Independent) Parachute Field Company (Bombay Sappers) who had been on station since the incident began six hours before. The infantry divisions would be the follow-up strike after the Sappers had gained the interior of the alien shielding.

The 411th Bombay Sappers had started testing the thick cables that had been buried deeply into the ground since ten that evening. The barricade was crisscrossed in three-foot squares and the Sappers thought they could get the entire regiment through under the cover of the Air Force fighters when they arrived. The fence had been tested and thus far appeared dormant. It looked as if it was just a steel cable fence. They had managed to get over four thousand of the city’s residents out through the less than formidable shield. One of the regiment’s helicopters had even managed to land on the structure and thus far had repeated the maneuver sixteen times in differing areas, giving them hope that when the airstrikes began they could blast holes through the steel “basket” and bring in the many attack choppers of the 125th Aviation Battalion that had been quickly recalled from the Pakistani border.

General Jai Bajaj, commander of the combined 1st and 3rd Armored Divisions, stood atop the tallest building outside of the city. The American-owned Century Records Building was thirty-five stories tall and afforded him an excellent view of the city and the giant saucer sitting in its crushed and still-smoking city center. The utility companies had arranged emergency lighting and over five thousand high-powered spotlights were illuminating the giant craft.

The general moved his glasses to the streets below and saw over two hundred of India’s newest main battle tanks, the Arjun Mark II. They were joined by four hundred Tarmour AFV armored personnel carriers with over three thousand men awaiting orders to advance into the city. They would be his spearhead.

“Inform the strike coordinator to start the air attack, please,” the general said as he moved the glasses to the caged-in city. “This ought to provoke a response,” he said under his breath.

The glow of the giant “basket” remained constant and the Sappers lining its outside started using cutting torches to break their way in while army tunnel teams began digging underneath the shielding. Men stood at the ready as the sparks of hundreds of torches shone around the entire circumference of the three-square-mile shield as Sappers started to penetrate the pretty but ineffective cage.

The shriek of jet engines pierced the clear sky above as the Indian Su-27 fighters made their initial runs on the center of the city. Their target was the very center of the large saucer on the two-city-block-wide upper dome. One by one the incredibly fast fighters dove on the target ten thousand feet below. The general had chills as he watched the Air Force start its music from above.

The initial weapons to be released by the first ten aircraft were the latest in Indian technology: the Sudarshan laser-guided bomb. The commander watched the sky but all he could see was the ten fighters as they swooped low and then climbed after releasing their loads. Immediately cheers erupted around him as two of the bombs struck the thick steel mesh and detonated high above their target with a bright flash of explosive force. The rest of the eight laser munitions penetrated the cable shield and struck the enormous saucer directly on its top-most section where the giant cables had deployed from earlier. More cheers sounded as men saw what looked like large chunks of the vehicle fly skyward.

“That’s it!” the general yelled as loud as the men around him. “If you want to just sit there and take it, we will accommodate you!” he yelled enthusiastically.

Three more of the weapons made it through the mesh while others detonated far above the saucer. More cheers. The general switched his view to the men using cutting torches far below. It looked as if they were making good progress.

“Armored lines three and four, open fire!” he called out. “Artillery, commence fire!”

His radioman immediately made the call and an instant later the main battle tanks of the Indian Army started their barrage as the first line of tanks started firing point-blank into the shield where they detonated, ripping huge holes in the pattern. More aerial bombs fell; these were the old-fashioned dumb iron bombs that hit everything—saucer, buildings, and even the smaller alien vehicles that were there to protect the larger. The one thousand artillery pieces of the Indian army opened fire from the small rises of hills around the city and from the docks of the city.

Explosions rang out loudly throughout Mumbai to the cheers of the infantry soldiers waiting to breach the iron shield.

General Jai Bajaj watched as the top dome of the larger saucer seemed to be withering under the onslaught of pinpoint bombing. He saw pieces flying high into the sky and was hoping it was the material the craft was made of and not just the shrapnel from the old-fashioned iron bombs.

“Our Sapper units report that they have opened sixteen gaps in the shield and ask permission to enter in force,” his adjutant said, holding the phone close to his ear.

“Permission granted. Order the cease-fire of all aerial bombardment and get me my paratroops on top of that shield for entry from above, now!”

The adjutant passed on the order and the general moved his field glasses toward the base of the enemy shield. He couldn’t believe an advanced race of beings would ever think that a wire fence would keep his forces from entering the city. He hissed approval as he watched elements of the 1st and 3rd armored regiments start to pour through the gaps in the line.

“Inform the prime minister that we have breached the enemy defenses and are advancing into the city. No enemy resistance thus far detected.”

The information was passed on to Delhi as the troops entered the holes the Sappers had cut.

“Okay, gentlemen, get the first element of tanks through as soon as the holes are widened.”