Protocol 7 (39 page)

She really didn’t have any choice, and she knew it. Andrew pulled gently at her arm, helping her into the cockpit of one remaining cycle, while the one next to them glowed brightly and roared to life. As they were about to enter, the man in front of the cockpit said, “Bit tight in here. These aren’t made for three.”

Seconds later however, the hatch had closed over them, and Simon caught a glimpse of Andrew holding Samantha tightly in his arms as the cockpit lifted up into the air. Before they knew it, the cycle shot away, screeching as it barreled down the passageway and disappeared into the black tunnel ahead.

The first of the CS-23s forced itself past the final mountain of ice and stone. There was nothing between them and their quarry but an icy clearing as long as a football field.

Simon eyed the strange weapon that Lucas had been firing at them mere moments before. “You have any extras?” he asked.

Lucas grinned and called to one of his lieutenants, who threw him a new weapon. “This do?” he asked.

“Perfect.”

The other foot soldiers melted into the dark, out of sight and beyond the scanners of the Crevasse Spiders. The last three men—Lucas, Simon, and Max—confronted the black tunnel ahead them.

“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Lucas said.

They moved forward into the icy darkness.

“How deep does this thing go?” Max asked.

“Do you mean how far?” replied Lucas. “For miles in all compass directions, a thousand feet above us and thousands of feet below us.”

Despite everything he had seen so far, Max was still shocked at the answer. Simon said nothing, at least not at the moment; he was content to listen carefully as they walked, the icy floor crunching and whispering beneath his boots.

“Actually, this particular passageway starts to wind down in a tight spiral just a mile ahead and then drops into a fissure called the Gorge. We’ve managed to gather our belongings into a little safe house tucked below the bend. We’ll meet the cycles and your people there.”

Simon shook his head mutely. It was hard for any of them to comprehend the vastness of the world below. “Please tell us,” he said, trying to sound reasonable and patient as he boiled inside. “Please. Who are you, and what are you running away from? I mean, why do you guys have these strange rifles and vehicles deep within the ice? And who the hell is Vector5?”

Lucas stopped for a moment, turning back toward Simon and Max, who were following two steps behind. With the bright light from his helmet shining right into Simon’s face, he asked, “You mean you have no idea what the fuck is going on down here?”

“Absolutely not,” replied Simon.

“Then how did you bring this amazing vehicle three thousand feet below the ice? How did you possibly escape from the CS-23s?”

“Would you mind?” said Max, referring to the beaming light from Lucas’ helmet that was blinding him.

“Yeah, sorry.” Lucas flipped the light mechanism upward, which illuminated the ceiling of the tunnel.

Simon didn’t really know how to begin. “We were heading to Station 35, thinking that maybe we would find some sort of clue as to where my father had been taken.” He didn’t want to give up too many details—the journal, the message, the coordinates given to him in Corsica. Simple is better, he thought. And safer. “The submersible started to malfunction, and we got lost, only to find ourselves in a long underwater tunnel. It led us to the gigantic dome under the ice.”

Lucas nodded, knowing all too well what Simon was referring to—the submarine drop-off at Fissure 9.

“The next thing we knew, we were being chased by these strange whatever-the-hell-they’re-called, and then you started shooting at us.”

Lucas looked stubborn and embarrassed at the same time. “Well, you looked like new Vector5 tech at first. You understand. But as soon as you showed yourself—”

“—you mean ‘didn’t fire back,’” Max said acidly.

“—then we stopped.”

Max held his hand in front of Simon for a second and interjected, “Before Simon continues, I should ask who the hell you are and what the fuck is going on down here.”

“All right guys.” Lucas picked up the case he had dropped. “Let’s keep on walking before we all freeze. I’ll explain.”

He had barely taken a few steps before the words came out of his mouth. “This is the greatest secret ever kept. We were lucky enough to escape from the people who control it just a few weeks ago, and we’ve been trying to navigate through this maze ever since, hoping to reach the very fissure through which you entered. But we’ve never been able to find it.”

“It wouldn’t matter anyway,” Max said. “All the ocean-to-dome entrances in the Fissure are underwater for a significant portion of their length. You’d need a submersible or gills to escape the continent that way.”

Lucas looked crestfallen. “I know that now,” he said. “Just from what I learned talking to you and glancing at your data-logs. It’s very…disappointing.”

“Escape from what?”

“From here. From the underworld of Antarctica. We escaped from the Vector5 installation after being imprisoned for years, but we never could figure a way off this damn continent, not even during the crazy quarantine evacuation.”

“You keep talking about them—about this ‘Vector5.’ I’ve never even heard of them.”

“Not surprising,” Lucas said. “In fact, I’d be surprised if you had heard of them. I don’t really know their exact origin. They’re a military force, an intelligence-gathering operation, and a global smuggling cartel. They’ve used advanced technology to penetrate thousands of feet through the ice, and they’ve been extracting valuable minerals and resources from Antarctica without anyone’s knowledge for almost twenty years.”

“But that’s impossible,” Simon blustered. “You mean, no one knows this has been going on? With all the satellites, telescopes, and scientific explorations on the continent in the last two decades?”

“If anyone found out, the whole world would turn upside-down.”

“So how did you end up here?” Max asked. “What makes you so special?”

Lucas turned for a quick glance back at Max while he kept on walking. “They still need scientists and technicians. Always will. I was recruited for a legitimate job as a chemical engineer by one of their shell companies and brought to Antarctica to work at one of the topside stations, thinking I was going to assist in a mining robotics research project.” He stopped and swiveled his flashlight left and right, looking for some sort of landmark or signpost. He must have found what he was after; a moment later he turned forty degrees to the left and trudged off, obviously expecting the two men to follow.

“I must have impressed them,” Lucas said. “After three years, I was taken captive and dragged below, where I’ve lived for over eight years. My wife and kids have probably forgotten about me by now. They think I’m dead.”

The last few words pierced Simon like a dull knife. He and Max exchanged a quick glance, both of them realizing how similar Lucas’ story was to Oliver’s.

Simon took a long step forward, clapped a hand on Lucas’ shoulder and pulled at him. “Stop,” he ordered.

Lucas halted without resistance, as if he was expecting it. He turned to face the other two men, his mask unbuckled and blowing warm air again, so at least they could see his pale, haunted eyes.

“Do you know my father?”

Lucas’ smile was as cold as the terrain. “Everyone knows your father, Simon. He’s a very important man to Vector5. One of their prized possessions.”

The response sent chills down Simon’s spine, totally unlike the penetrating cold of the arctic caves. “Have you spoken to him? Can you get a message to him? Where is he?” He wanted to shake the truth out of Lucas. He wanted to know, now!

Lucas put his gloved hands in there air. “I only had one chance to speak to him, and that was months ago,” Lucas said. “Just before we broke out. I tried to convince him to come with us, but…but you know what? He said we’d get free of the prison, but never get off the continent.” His smile grew bitter and dark. “He was exactly fucking right.”

“What did he say? Where—”

“He mentioned your name to me.”

Simon was absolutely stunned. “What?”

“In those few minutes, when he knew we were going to try and escape, he made sure to mention his boy Simon and made me promise to tell you everything if we ever met.”

Max gaped. “I don’t believe it,” he said.

Lucas shrugged inside his well-insulated coat. “Neither do I,” he said. “But here we are.”

“Then what…” Simon began. “Where…?”

“He’s being held in the special facility—the secret one that everyone knows about, almost five thousand feet below where we stand right now. Part of it is secret, though. No one really knows what Vector5 is doing down there, but everyone knows its name: Ground Zero, sometimes called ‘The Nest,’ though I’m not sure why.”

Simon stood stock-still, surrounded by the freezing dark, as Lucas continued.

“That’s where I last saw him, anyway. It was almost a year ago. I and the rest of the guys you saw today had been working on the eastern side of the continent on coring machines that had mysteriously stopped working. We were called in but couldn’t find a thing wrong. That’s when they brought Oliver in—under armed guard, no less—to take a look, since he’s the spook expert.”

“‘Spook expert?’” Max echoed.

“Something weird happens, call Oliver. Somebody sees something scary, or goes crazy, or starts talking about the elder gods eating the earth? Call Oliver.”

He looked past them now, deep into the endless darkness. “Simon, Vector5 is one of the most secretive military forces ever assembled, and the fact that they have created this world is beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. But listen to me carefully—there is something far stranger down here. No one knows anything about it, but your father was brought down here when certain…unexplained things…started to happen at the lower depths. Geophysical anomalies and such. These are just rumors. I’m just an engineer specializing in heavy machinery, so I’ve never been allowed in Central Command, but believe it or not, this is only part of the mystery.”

Max’s eyebrow lifted as soon as he heard the words. “The tip of the iceberg, so to speak,” he said.

Simon had been listening very carefully. “So there is a central command?” he said.

Lucas nodded. “That’s where the whole operation is controlled. Down on Shelf 3. Deep. So deep even the air is thin.”

Simon hunched his shoulders inside his suit to try and trap just a fraction more heat. Max wrapped his arms around his torso and squeezed. They both knew no matter how good the exo-suits were, it was cold in these tunnels. And the topic of discussion was chilling them in an entirely different way.

“I can’t believe they’ve kept it a secret all this time,” Simon said, still trying to get his mind around the idea.

“That’s the biggest miracle of all, isn’t it?” Lucas said. “But it’s all about the control of information. Vector5 has been monitoring activity on and around the continent for three decades, making sure that no radar would discover their tunnels, especially the obscure entrances to Fissure 9. That’s why your submarine started malfunctioning as it approached; they can manipulate sound waves, radio waves, even light. Makes you wonder what the theories around the Bermuda Triangle were all about, eh?”

They were moving again, heading downhill toward an almost perfectly circular side tunnel lined with ice and permafrost. Simon thought he could detect the slightest hint of light glowing deep inside it.

“They control information, too,” Lucas continued. “No messages can enter or leave this land mass without Vector5’s watchful eye. You cannot send information to anyone outside the surface of the ice. Even the vehicles that Vector5 uses are designed to escape radar detection by some accidental fly-over or rogue intel-gatherer who happens to try a deep scan.”

“You mean, this whole continent has been under Vector5’s surveillance and control for over twenty years?”

“Longer,” replied Lucas. “But I’m afraid it goes further than that. Information around the world has been controlled to allow this operation to take place. It’s the only way they could have remained secret for so long. I’m positive that high-level members of all the most powerful nations are part of it. How could they not be? And they are benefiting from the steady flow of energy resources, strategic metals, and innovation out of this place.” He clapped his hands together and suppressed a shudder as he trudged forward. The cold was starting to get to him, too. “I hate to admit it, but I’m sure some of the scientists that have been working on the surface are connected in some way as well.”

Lucas continued, struggling to breathe and still speaking through the thick mask covering his face.

“We’ve been trying for years—years—to transmit information to the outside world, but our efforts have been futile. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that eighteen scientists including myself escaped the Dragger Station, approximately two thousand feet below where we’re standing.” They were inside the branching tunnel now, traveling over a sheet of ice so hard they left no footprints at all. “Frankly, it was a miracle that we escaped at all. It took literally months of planning—stealing supplies, hiding and even building weapons. There were forty-eight scientists, researchers, and support staff all together. Eighteen of us got out. The rest…dead. And we’ve been surviving on stolen tech and leftovers ever since.”

He sighed heavily and shook his head. “I never imagined I could be capable of cold-blooded murder,” he said quietly, not looking at either of them. “But I had no choice. None of us did. All we wanted was to get out of this icy hell! That’s all we wanted.” He paused to contemplate what he had done for a moment and then continued, “Anyway, it’s done. We seized an opportunity and capitalized on it. Since then, we’ve been on the run. Luckily, we found an old repair station that was connected to one of the utility tunnels. Thank god, with the group of scientists and engineers that we had, we were able to re-activate some of the old vehicles that had been abandoned. We are only traveling in adjacent tunnels at the moment, the ones that were used for ventilation and removal of ice during the coring process years ago. Vector5 can’t reach us—at least not at the moment. It’s not worth their time. But if and when they really want to dig us out, believe me, they can. And that will happen sooner than later, I’m afraid. Unless we can finally find a way to escape Antarctica completely.”