EndWar Part 33

"Make your depth one-five-zero feet," ordered Commander Jonathan Andreas.

"Make my depth one-five-zero feet, aye," repeated the officer of the deck.

It was all business in the Florida Florida's control room, though Andreas noted a hint of excitement in the OOD's tone. They were in launch position in the Coronation Gulf and about to punch their Tomahawk land attack missiles out of their vertical launch system tubes.

Despite the outbreak of war, Andreas a.s.sumed that most members of his crew had never live-fired those missiles; they had only practiced simulations. Andreas recalled when he could only launch while at periscope depth, but design improvements now made it possible to fire from the safety of 150 feet.

He reviewed the sequence in his head: The tube door would open, the gas generator would fire up to boil the water pocket inside. The water would flash to steam, forcing a pressure pulse to the bottom of the tube. The pressure pulse would then push the missile up through its protective membrane enveloped in a steam bubble, and eject the bird completely clear of the surface.

Then, as the Tomahawk cleared the surface, the first stage would ignite, lifting the bird to three thousand feet.

At its apex, the first-stage would jettison and the missile would plummet into free fall, spinning the missile's jet engine on the way down. The increasing flight speed would turn the compressor and build up pressure and heat in the combustion chamber. Fuel would be injected, and the missile's engine would then be up and running.

Andreas could see it all in his head.

Now it was time to make it happen. He gave the firing order, and the entire submarine rumbled.

Once the first missile left the sub, Andreas lifted his voice and said, "Watch your trim, Officer of the Deck. Keep your eye on the bubble."

The Florida Florida had to adjust her buoyancy and trim to compensate for the sudden loss of weight after each missile left the sub. had to adjust her buoyancy and trim to compensate for the sudden loss of weight after each missile left the sub.

The remaining five Tomahawks, s.p.a.ced three minutes apart, would follow the first down a bearing of one-seven-eight degrees while cruising at subsonic speed roughly fifty feet above the surface.

The one-hour, forty-nine-minute, thousand-mile flight included a pre-programmed midpoint correction as each Tomahawk pa.s.sed over Wild Buffalo National Park.

Packed into each missile's computer memory were final destination landmarks: pictures of the Alberta Legislative a.s.sembly building, the exact interchange point where 97th Avenue NW, 109th Street NW, and 110th Street NW converged and provided sole access to High Level Bridge.

Onboard TV cameras would accurately identify the final orienting landmarks as each missile plummeted toward the Saskatchewan River and the High Level Bridge below.

After the last missile blasted away, Andreas congratulated the crew, then he gave the order to head back to the Dolphin and Union Strait to continue their patrol, even as they monitored the missiles' progress.

Just one hour into that journey, the sternplanesman cried, "Jam dive, sternplanes!"

The sternplanes were horizontal rudders, or diving planes, extending from each side of the submarine near the stern. They had lost hydraulic pressure and had slammed into the dive position, where they would remain locked until hydraulic pressure could be restored and control rea.s.serted.

With miles and miles of steam, electrical, and hydraulic lines running up, down, and through bulkheads, it was just a question of time before something broke, got damaged, wore out, or operator error occurred.

Now the Florida Florida was headed straight toward crush depth. was headed straight toward crush depth.

"All back full!" yelled the OOD and Andreas in unison.

The bow planesman jerked his joystick to full rise, trying to counteract the effects of the sternplanes.

"Pa.s.sing one thousand feet, thirty-one degrees down bubble," reported the chief of the watch, his hands hovering over the controls to blow the forward main ballast tanks.

The sternplanesman immediately switched to auxiliary hydraulics and pulled back on the sternplanes. Nothing.

"Pa.s.sing twelve hundred feet, forty degrees down bubble, sir," cried the chief of the watch.

The sternplanesman switched to emergency hydraulics, pulled up, when suddenly the sonar operator lifted his voice: "Torpedo in the water, incoming torpedo bearing three-two-zero! WLY-1 cla.s.sification-a Shkval-range thirty thousand yards, speed two hundred knots!"

Sergeant Nathan Vatz and his men had shifted farther back into the town to their secondary positions along the rooftops of some local businesses on 97th Street, parallel to the highway. Street, parallel to the highway.

For the past hour the Russians had been pounding the h.e.l.l out of the obstacle, and Vatz figured they'd destroy the remaining mines within thirty minutes, maybe less.

Once that happened, Berserker and Zodiac teams could make a last stand or withdraw and live to fight another day.

Because if they didn't withdraw, they would eventually exhaust all ammo and be overrun. Vatz felt sure those Spetsnaz forces would not take them prisoner.

In fact, Russian political officers might order the public execution of the captured ODA teams to keep High Level's civilian survivors fully intimidated and in line.

Moreover, if watching a group of military men forced to their knees and shot in the head wasn't enough, they'd shoot a few civilians, as well as threaten the use of biological and chemical weapons.

"Black Bear, this is Bali, over."

"Go ahead, Bali."

He gave the a.s.sistant detachment commander a SITREP regarding the obstacle, then added, "What's the status of the Tenth, over?"

But before Vatz could get a reply, the channel went dead. d.a.m.n it. The Russians were jamming again.

"Hey, look!" cried Beethoven, pointing up at the northern sky. A dozen or more Ka-29s were inbound, flying in an arrowhead formation.

The lead chopper, along with one other, pulled ahead, swooped down, and began unloading rockets on the remaining cars in the obstacle, blasting a clear lane through the burning wall.

Even as the choppers peeled off, one on either side, the first few BMPs broke through.

The weapons sergeant on Vatz's team, who was now posted atop a machine shop two buildings down, cut loose with the team's last Javelin.

With a powerful whoosh whoosh, the missile streaked skyward, came down, homing in on the lead BMP, then struck it perfectly, blasting apart the vehicle and sending pieces slamming into the BMP behind it, killing the vehicle commander who'd been standing in his hatch.

Vatz rose, jogged to the edge of the roof, and gave the signal to fall back. The signal was pa.s.sed on to the other four men as Vatz and Beethoven got moving.

Once on the ground, they piled into their pickup truck, with Vatz at the wheel, Beethoven riding shotgun.

"Are we headed to a third fallback position?" asked the medic.

"I'm not sure yet."

"We're low on ammo. We can't stay."

"Black Bear figured the Tenth would be here by now. We'll have to wait right here till those choppers fly by, then I'll get us to the south side of town, find some cover there. And after that, well-"

"This is it. We won't make it out of here. Not with them dropping troops on the ground now."

Vatz didn't respond.

Part of him was getting awfully depressed, whispering like the Reaper in his ear, It's about time you died. You're long overdue. It's about time you died. You're long overdue.

He shoved his head out the open window, lifted his binoculars, and watched the helos streak overhead, descending hard and fast.

Before darkness fully settled, High Level would belong to the Russians.

THIRTY-EIGHT.

Back inside Calgary Tower, Sergeant Marc Rakken sent two of his men forward, told them to use their rifles' attached grenade launchers.

He'd been ordered to cause minimal damage to the tower. Well, tell that to the troops up there, four on the top landing now, dishing out a steady stream of rifle fire punctuated with the occasional smoke and fragmentation grenade. The Russians had already destroyed several landings that the team had strung ropes across.

Another explosion rocked the stairwell, and suddenly three of Rakken's men tumbled by, having been blown off the stairs. Two had probably been killed by the explosion, but a third had keyed his mike as he fell, screaming at the top of his lungs as he plummeted to his death.

"Sergeant, we can't go on," cried one of his grenadiers.

Rakken, his face covered in sweat now, the MOPP gear practically suffocating him even as it protected him, could stand no more. "Sparta Team!" he barked loudly. "Follow me. We're going in!"

With the civilian geeks huddling behind their shields to the rear, Rakken pushed past the others and pounded up the stairs, firing steadily until he neared the final landing.

All four Spetsnaz troops were positioned there; reacting instinctively, Rakken pumped off a grenade from his rifle's launcher.

Three, two . . .

He hit the deck as the burst rumbled hard through the concrete and steel above.

Before the smoke cleared, he was back to his feet, thundering up to find two of the troops blown apart, a third missing his legs, the fourth lying on his back, half his torso gone. He groaned and reached out to Rakken for help.

Rakken answered his request with a bullet.

"Sparta Team, clear up here, come on up." He checked the door leading into the observation deck and souvenir shop: locked, of course.

He called up his engineer to blow the door. As the charges were being set, he returned to the civilians, told the guy known as Nimrod One that they would need to clear the observation deck first before he could allow them to enter. The guy understood but urged Rakken to hurry.

After issuing another SITREP to Captain Welch, Rakken checked in with the engineer: good to go.

"Fire in the hole," warned Rakken.

With an appreciable bang, the C-4 blew the door from its hinges, and as the gray smoke rose, Rakken and his men charged onto the deck, a huge, circular-shaped room with panoramic windows offering a wide view of the city lights. The souvenir shop was in the middle, obscuring some view.

Two Spetsnaz troops burst from the shop, firing at Rakken and his men as they fanned out.

Rakken returned fire as he dropped to his gut and propped himself up on his elbows.

One of his men shrieked in agony. Then another. Yet there were no sounds of gunfire.

Rakken reached down to the belt at his waist, withdrew his Blackhawk Gladius, activated the thumb switch. The brilliant light pushed back into the shadows to find an unmasked Spetsnaz troop brandishing a large combat knife.

He was slipping up behind one of Rakken's men.

Rakken screamed out- But the knife came down into the back of the man's neck. His man shrieked and fell, either dead or incapacitated.

Rakken bolted to his feet, one hand detaching his own mask as he charged along the windows, firing and dropping the guy. Then he whirled at the sound of more gunfire on the other side of the deck.

He made a mad dash along the windows, spotted three more Russians firing ahead at his men.

Dropping once more onto his belly, he used the laser designator in his helmet to target the exposed necks of each man and delivered one, two, three shots.

Blood and brain matter flew, and two men collapsed, but he'd missed the third. That troop turned back.

Just as Rakken was about to fire again, a metallic clang caught his ears.

He glanced to his right.

A grenade hit the floor and rolled toward him.

Just beyond it, the second team was moving in, along with the civilians, who were running toward him.

"Get back!"

He threw himself on the grenade.