After a deafening barrage was completed. Roe’s SAW was silenced, and Doc knew he was all that stood between the assault train and their Op Center. Oblivious to the pulsating pain that coursed through his upper torso, he decided there was only one thing left to do. Ever true to the warrior spirit of the Montagnards. Doc wasn’t about to go down without taking along as many of the enemy as possible.
From the back of the assault train, Ted Callahan acknowledged that it was an absolute miracle that they hadn’t experienced more casualties. Of the eight Sappers who comprised the original formation, only two had been forced to drop out with various wounds. This was remarkable considering the heavy fire they had encountered, and had abruptly ceased, moments after their latest barrage was completed.
“Sappers, hold fire and reload!” ordered Sergeant Reed from the front of the train.
They did as instructed, and Callahan’s hands shook so badly from the adrenaline rush that he had trouble inserting a fresh magazine. He needed to shake his right hand to relieve the pentup tension, and as he re gripped the magazine, all hell broke loose from the direction of the tunnel immediately ahead of them.
It started when two stun grenades detonated in quick succession. Callahan found himself momentarily blinded and deafened by this unexpected blast, which was followed by a resounding round of automatic weapons fire.
The Sappers reacted to this onslaught by dropping to the ground, and Ted followed them, motivated by a ricocheting round that passed only inches from his ringing right ear. Before he could raise his rifle, the blazing muzzle flash of a single M60 appeared out of the darkness directly ahead of them, fifteen yards away at most.
A lethal barrage of 7.62mm slugs tore into their ranks, and Callahan watched two of the Sappers get hit. He had yet to put his own carbine into play, and he looked on with admiration when Sergeant Reed rose to one knee and answered the fire with a tightly grouped series of three-round bursts on his m-16.
The M60 answered with a full thirty-second barrage that sent over two hundred and fifty 7.62 rounds headed their way. Callahan hugged the cold rock in a desperate attempt to find cover, and he could hardly believe it when Sergeant Reed actually stood up to answer this fire in kind.
Like two cowboys of old dueling it out on a Western street, Reed and his opponent shot it out, face-to-face, man to man.
And when it was all over and silence finally returned to the smoky, cordite-scented tunnel, the only one left standing — and, amazingly enough, untouched — was the wild-eyed combat engineer who stood before them and forcefully cried out:
“Sappers, lead the way! Onward!”
Vince found it hard to believe that for the second time that day, fate had chosen him to run-the very same underground river that he and Miriam had traveled upon previously. Yet this time he was a prisoner, at the complete mercy of the two individuals seated at each end of the dark green fiberglass canoe.
Like Vince, Andrew Chapman also found himself sprawled out on the wet floor of the vessel. From this awkward vantage point, it was hard for them to get orientated, and they could only sit there soaked and chilled to the bone while the canoe shot down the incredibly swift current.
The all-prevailing darkness did little to prepare them for the frequent collisions with projecting boulders which scraped their hull and dented the gunwales. They had to hang on to each other for dear life when the canoe dropped off the steep rock face of a small waterfall Vince remembered from his previous visit.
He also knew that most of the river was just wide enough to carry the bobbing canoe. This made any escape attempt by diving out of the vessel both impractical and extremely risky, even though their captors hadn’t bothered to bind their limbs.
Immediately after running a particularly fast-moving section of rapids, they encountered a relatively calm stretch of water.
From his semi prone position, Vince gazed up at the huge stalactites that extended from the roof of the immense cavern they were soon passing through. During their mad dash to escape earlier, he hadn’t had a chance to get a good glimpse of this huge, subterranean cavern, which stretched overhead for as far as the eye could see.
“Skipper, lights!” urgently whispered Richy from the canoe’s bow.
Vince immediately sat up in an attempt to see what the green-faced commando was referring to. He didn’t have any trouble spotting the sweeping beams of a collection of red-tinted flashlights. They were located approximately fifty yards downstream, and looked to be congregated beside the river itself.
From the rear of the vessel, Mariano dug his paddle into the current and guided them over to the nearest bank. Richy attempted to steady the canoe against a rock ledge, and while Mariano reached into his ruck and began assembling the pieces of a compact Ingram MAC 10 submachine gun, Andrew Chapman caught Vince’s attention with a kick of his foot.
The VP discreetly beckoned toward the main river channel behind them, and Vince realized that he was thinking about a possible escape attempt. Vince thought any such effort ill-advised, and he was about to express his disapproval with a shake of his head when Chapman sprang up and dove headfirst into the channel.
Without a second’s hesitation, Vince did likewise, his body striking the icy water just as the first 9mm bullets arrived alongside him.
While the main Sapper party stormed into the cavern’s centrally located Op Center, Ted Callahan and Sergeant Reed found themselves drawn to a dimly lit tunnel. It was there that they chanced upon four individuals, gathered behind the open cell doors of some sort of detention facility. Two of them were sprawled out on the floor and looked to be seriously injured, and it took only one look at them for Callahan to realize that they had discovered the Stoddards.
“Is the Vice President with you?” Callahan urgently questioned, not taking the time to join them inside.
“We need some medical attention, mister,” pleaded the only female in their midst.
“It’s on the way,” said Sergeant Reed, who ripped the fir staid kit off his THE and threw it inside, along with his canteen.
“We’re with the United States Army, and we’re here looking for Vice President Chapman. Is he still alive?”
“As far as we know,” answered the group’s grizzled elder.
“They grabbed him and that Secret Service fellow and headed further down the tunnel, to the river access down yonder.”
The first evidence that they weren’t alone in the cavern arrived in the unlikely form of a submachine gun firing. Thomas dove for cover, and as he anxiously scanned the cave in the direction that the shots appeared to be coming from, he readily spotted a muzzle flash. Strangely enough, it wasn’t being aimed at them, but was focused on something in the river itself.
Since this position was immediately upstream, Thomas alertly crawled to the nearby bank. He arrived there in time to see a pair of individuals being swept downstream. Captain Christian also saw them, and it was his flashlight that illuminated their faces.
Thomas could hardly believe it when the first floating figure proved to be Vice President Andrew Chapman. While following close behind was none other than his own brother, Vincel
Both Thomas and Christian were forced to duck for cover when they came under fire from two figures seated in a canoe.
As this vessel passed by, a pair of smoke grenades were tossed onto the bank, and the MPs were forced to hold their return fire.