Hot Zone (7 page)

Out onto the floor Ice had a decision to make. It was made up of two long corridors that stretched some two hundred feet and the hostages were apparently at the other end of one of the corridors. But which one? Once he began running down one he was target practice for any one of the Turks behind him. Adding to his confusion were the stairwells that came onto the floor half way up each corridor. If one of the Turks were to come out of one those, he would have a split second to decide what to do. Ice decided to take a left, run the twenty yards to the second corridor and run for the room at the end.

In the adjacent corridor the Turks exploded into the hall with their guns blazing, expecting to come upon Ice. When they found an empty hall the men split up, one heading down towards where Ice had come out of the stairwell, the other towards the end of the hall, the same end as Ice!

Ice heard the gunfire in the corridor next to him and he could also hear Hawk putting up a mean fight three levels up. Ice was counting on the men pursuing him to split up. He made it to the end of the corridor, his heavy legs pushed to their limits. He sat and waited at the corner, pulling out a small mirror, similar to what a dentist would use, he crouched and stuck the mirror around the corner, revealing the twenty yards that joined the corridors. He saw one Turk round the corner, spitting in rage, his gun ready. Ice stood up and listened as the steps got closer and closer until...

Thwack. Ice stepped out and slammed the butt of his sig sauer into the throat of the Turk, knocking him to the ground. The Turk gasped for air, his windpipe crushed and he had only seconds to realize what had happened before his pathetic clutches for air ceased.

Ice, sensing another Turk coming from the other angle rounded the corner, pulling the dead Turk out of sight. Now on the twenty yard side Ice used the mirror to spy the Turk running the long trek down the corridor from we he had come just moments earlier.

The adrenaline rushed through Ice Riley's veins, he knew he could die at any second, and a wrong move here would make it a certainty. Ten yards and closing, Ice saw no reason to pull anything fancy with the Turk heading for him, he simply stepped out from around the corner and planted two bullets square in the Turks chest, killing him instantly.

Ice kicked down a large door, close to where the Turk fell, gurgling his own blood and found the two US soldiers gagged and bound in a dank, dark room. They had been beaten severely; old wounds that had just started to heal were overlapped with fresh blood and bruises.

"What's up boys? Time to go home." Ice huffed.

The soldiers held a look of disbelief as Ice untied them and helped them to their feet. "I'm not going to lie to you boys, I'm gonna need your help."

Ice untied the men and led them out to the fallen Turks and together they dragged them into the room.

Hawk was holding the Turks at bay on the main level, sitting in the stairwell; he was well protected and could sit there all night firing off random rounds to keep the Turks off his back. His only problem was going to be if Ice had been taken below and the Turks had moved up the stairwell. He had nowhere to hide if that had happened. He would be sandwiched and his cover would be for nothing. He made the decision to stick in the stairwell until Ice showed up, or the Turks took him down. He yelled into his headset, calling Ice over the gunfire. No answer. It could have been the thick walls of the ship that made communications difficult, or it could of been that Ice was dead, whatever the case it did not help Hawk against the six Turks firing on him.

Without warning three explosions rocked from the bowels of the ship and shook it violently, Hawk was thrown down one level of stairs by the blast, losing his position and his advantage. With poor positioning his only option he didn't wait for the Turks to rush the stairwell, but bolted for the lower decks, not knowing the fireball he was walking into. The Turks, shocked by the explosions scattered throughout the living quarters, only two of the Turks pursued Hawk down the stairwell.

Hawk descended the stairs rapidly, as the smoke grew thicker and thicker. On the lower level where the hostages were being kept he came to the first of the two long corridors and saw the smoke billowing out from the other stairwells. "Ice," he barked into his headset.

There was a static crackle, and then: "Hawk, what's your twenty?"

"Lower level, long hallway."

"If it ain't on fire, all the way at the end, take a left--room--air duct." Ice coughed. The smoke grew thicker by the second.

Hawk sprinted with everything he had, the smoke making breathing almost impossible. He wasn't sure the air ducts were the way to go but he had two Turks on his ass with machine guns.

Making it into the room, Hawk saw a pair of feet disappear into the wall to the rear of the room. He ran and dived, head first, into the vent, almost knocking himself out on Ice's size eleven boots.

"What's up dog? Thanks for joining us. Are you the only one?" Ice said

"They're all gone, all of 'em." Hawk winced.

The men fell silent for a second as they crawled along the duct before coming to a large intersection where each man could stand.

"We have to blow that room, and that duct." Ice said.

"We have to head up, guys, take that duct to the right, lets go lets go." Hawk barked.

He waited until Ice and the two soldiers were safely in the duct then pulled out two grenades and sent them flying down the duct and into the room from where they'd just crawled.

In the room, the two Turks never had a chance. With the smoke unbearable they had little air and even less visibility. They never saw the grenades roll out of the vent and come to rest at their feet.

A flash of white was the last thing they saw. The room exploded, a fireball shot through the duct, Hawk saw it coming and had a split second to dive into the duct behind Ice before it erupted into the intersection.

The four men crawled like lizards, wriggling their way down one duct, then another. They were heading for the rear of the main living quarters, hoping to god that there would be a way out. The smoke was beginning to fill the ducts behind them. It was obvious to Ice that the ship was now on fire and out of control. The problem with that was if they didn't reach water before the fire made it to the oil tanks they were finished.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity they reached the main ventilation shaft that housed a small utility ladder, leading up about fifty feet. Tired, beaten and choking they struggled up the small ladder, wrung by wrung until finally: fresh air. The first beaten Soldier burst through the hatch and found himself on the roof of the living quarters. For a moment the air tasted fresh until the scent of burning oil wafted up around the building. As all four men emerged more than a hundred feet above water level they had a decision to make. Try and survive the jump or make their way to the deck and hope they got off the ship before the Turks caught up with them.

Their question was answered for them when a volley of bullets zipped past them from below; three Turks had opened fire from the main deck of the ship. There was no choice.

"We gotta jump guys, feet first, relax your bodies." Ice ordered.

There was no hesitation, all four men jumped together, leaping off the roof so they would clear a small part of the deck below. No sooner had their feet left the roof it exploded in a fireball of steel and wood. The fire had reached the ships fuel tanks, used to power much of it's systems and had ripped the entire living quarters apart. Even the men on the bridge were blown through the windows by the explosion.

The ship was going down, oil began spewing out of it's ruptured hull and begun burning on the surface of the water. Each of the four men floated to the surface, blazing debris raining down around them. "Swim guys, we gotta get out of here, swim."

Hawk was gasping for air. "Ice, something's wrong, I, I can't...breath."

"What?" Ice swam over to Hawk.

"My ribs, my ribs." Hawk was struggling to stay afloat.

"No, no, come on Hawk. Ice grabbed onto his friend and began dragging him clear of the boat. To the soldiers he pointed, saying: "That way, our getaway is that way."

The soldiers paddled slowly in the rough waters.

Ice had even more trouble as he labored through the waves with Hawk clutching onto him. He had been thrown off by the explosion and had hit the water sideways, breaking most of his ribs, at least one of which had punctured his lung. Ice was not going to let him go, no matter what.

In the increasingly smaller background the oil tanker was rocked by explosion on explosion, the oil continued to burn, the fire snaking it's way around the tanker on the ocean surface. Ice could not stop thinking about the fallen SEAL's they had left behind, he was devastated by the loss and what compounded the feeling was knowing he could not bring back their bodies. It was always said a SEAL would never leave a fallen SEAL's body behind. The person who said that had not been in the situation Ice was in on this night. Instead they would make their resting place on the bottom of the ocean.

Finally, almost two hours later the four men found the zodiacs and crawled into them, collapsing in exhaustion.

Hawk had lost consciousness from the pain but was still breathing. The soldiers vomited seawater as Ice looked back towards the flaming ship. He had lost five men to save two, yet the Navy would call this mission a success. He cranked the outboard engine and turned to the soldiers in the other zodiac.

"Let’s go home."

Side by the side the zodiacs screamed off into the darkness ahead, leaving behind Ice Riley's worst mission to date.

7

She hadn't realized it, but Jordan had been staring at Ice for good half hour.

He had been busy guiding the boat and had seemed distracted by whatever thoughts were running through his mind. She could not help but notice the rugged, chiseled features of the Team's leader. He really was an attractive guy, tall, blonde, muscular and the quality she liked most in a man, his ability to be a leader.

Not that Jordan was looking for, or even wanted a man in her life. She had been single for her entire life, save for the three months in college where she had been fallen hard for the college's star football quarterback. He had hurt her beyond any description of words and since then had never allowed herself to fall into
any
situation with a man. That's what made the feelings she was having now so uncomfortable.

For some reason she found herself attracted to Ice.

She couldn't explain it. All she knew was her entire adult life she'd avoided situations like this, but now she found herself in the middle of the ocean with six men, one of which she couldn't take her eyes off.

She didn't like it one bit.

Snap out of it Jordan, you don't have time for this.

Sensing Ice caught her staring she turned away quickly then broke the silence.

"Everything all right?" Jordan asked, bringing Ice out of his daydream. "We almost there?"

Ice turned and looked at her with a blank stare: "A couple of minutes we'll be on their last known coordinates. You should start checking your equipment."

“
You mind me asking a rookie question?” She said.

“
Not at all.” Ice replied.