"Where's Pahalgam?"
Akron heard him. He said, "I know where it is. It's southeast of here. Lots of old temples, health resorts, mountains and rivers."
"They keep a half dozen missiles and their launchers in a tunnel complex there," Elizabeth said. "It's got to be where he's going."
"Send the coordinates."
"On the way," Elizabeth said.
Nick's phone chirped.
"Got it."
"I talked with Rice. He's going to do what he can but I don't think it will be in time to help."
"Any rules of engagement?"
"Just stop him," Elizabeth said. "However you can." She disconnected.
Nick looked at Akron. "You got any weapons?"
Akron smiled. "I figured you might ask. Follow me."
He led them into the hangar. The back was partitioned off for living quarters. Akron went into what passed for a living room and pulled up a faded oriental rug, exposing a trap door in the concrete floor.
"Give me a hand," he said.
They pulled up the heavy door. A narrow ladder led below. Akron picked up a flashlight and started down.
"Wait there," he said. "There isn't a lot of room down here."
They heard him moving crates aside.
"Here you go," he said. He handed up an M-16, then two more, then belts weighted down with loaded 30 round magazines. He handed up a Colt Model 1911 .45 in a leather holster.
"That one's for me," he said.
Akron climbed up and turned off the flash. They closed the trap door and put the rug back in place.
Akron gestured at the M-16 Selena held. "You know how to use that, Sweet Pea?"
Selena started to move toward him. Nick put his hand on her arm.
"Hey Akron?" he said.
"Yeah?"
"Sweet Pea here can shoot rings around you with one hand and kick your ass while she's doing it. So knock off the sexist bullshit, okay?"
"Sorry," he said. He didn't look sorry. "Old habit. I just wanted to know."
They checked out the rifles. Clean and oiled, in good shape. They inserted the magazines. Akron belted on the holster and .45.
Nick said, "Let's get going."
CHAPTER 59
Ijay's helicopter set down on a broad, flat area where the launchers would stage in time of war. A helicopter with army markings was parked to one side. Rao had radioed ahead. General Chatterjee was expecting him.
The entrance to the tunnel was a thirty foot square opening carved into the side of a mountain. The complex was located in a forest of evergreens and surrounded by high, snow-capped peaks. A road to the site continued past the tunnel to an ancient Hindu temple set a mile away on a green hillside. The temple was in ruins, destroyed centuries before by one of the Muslim rulers.
For Rao, the ruins were one more reminder of how Islam desecrated everything he held sacred. He shook out two more of Krivi's pills and swallowed them. He felt full of energy, light, invincible.
The steel doors to the tunnel stood open. Waiting just inside was the first of six mobile transporters. The camouflaged, phallic shape of an Agni III ICBM lay flat along the trailer, waiting to be raised into position. The missile was about forty feet long and six feet around. The nose cone tapered to a rounded point and was painted black. The body of the missile was white. The Indian flag was painted on the side.
Agni III had been designed to provide long range counter-strike capability. It was powered by a two stage, solid fuel rocket that drove it to a speed of over 5km a second. Guidance was provided by a sophisticated inertial navigation system. The twenty kiloton warhead was roughly the size of the bombs that had destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was set to detonate five kilometers above ground.
An air burst was more destructive than a conventional impact explosion. Everything within one mile of the hypocenter would be completely destroyed. The blast wave would travel outward at nearly the speed of sound. A mile away from the center it would have enough power to hurl a fifty ton railway car from it's tracks and crush it. Two miles out, the damage would still be severe. Anyone left alive in that two mile radius would receive a lethal dose of radiation.
Islamabad had a crowded population of around two million people. One missile would obliterate the city. Hundreds of thousands of people would die in the initial blast. The radiation would leave the ground poisoned for many years.
The tunnel complex was guarded by a detachment of twenty-four men under the command of a lieutenant. The officer approached and saluted. Four sentries in battle dress and wearing maroon berets stood by the tunnel entrance, armed with assault rifles.
"Secretary Rao? The general is expecting you. May I see some identification, sir?"
Rao showed his RAW credentials.
"Follow me, sir."
Rao glanced at Ijay. They had already determined what they were going to do. They followed their escort into the tunnel.
CHAPTER 60
Nick sat in the co-pilot's seat next to Akron. They were flying a hundred feet above the highway leading to Pahalgam, below Indian radar. Nick hoped it was good enough to fool any antiaircraft defenses at the tunnel. There wasn't anything he could do about them if they spotted the Huey.
He felt himself slipping into pre-combat mode. He was hyper alert, watching the countryside flash by below as they paralleled the road from Srinagar to Pahalgam. Next to him, Akron was in his element. He seemed younger, even happy. It was as if he'd dropped thirty years in a moment. He hummed to himself, one hand on the collective, the other tapping fingers against his leg.
Back in the cargo bay, Selena and Lamont sat in the makeshift tourist seats. Selena cradled her M-16 across her knees. She'd put on a pair of Ray-Bans against the wind rushing through the open cargo doors. Her lips were set in a tight line. Lamont looked relaxed, half asleep, but Nick knew it was an illusion. His rifle was propped against his body under his arm.
Nick heard Stephanie's voice over the comm link. The noise in the chopper made it difficult, even with headphones covering his ears.
"Nick, you hear me?"
"I hear you, Steph."
"Cobra has landed. He's got eight men I can see. The pilot and co-pilot, too."
"Describe what you see."
"There's a wide, flat space where he landed, by the side of a mountain. That would be the staging area. There's another helicopter there. Four sentries visible. Cobra's men are talking with a couple of them or standing around nearby."
Getting ready to take them out, Nick thought.
"What else?"
"That's it. The tunnel entrance is to the left as you come in from the highway. A soldier came out of the mountain and met Cobra. They went inside."
"Any sign of the missiles?" Nick asked.
"Not yet."
"Good. We've still got time."
"At your present rate of speed, you'll reach the target area in about fifteen minutes."
"Is there someplace near the tunnel where we can set down? We come in direct, they'll start shooting."
"There's one road to the site. It follows a valley to the left of the main highway. There's a field where it turns off from the highway. You could set down there. No houses. There's a guard post and gate about three miles in from the road. It's another mile to the tunnel after that. Everything else looks pretty steep."
Four miles was too far on foot when time was short.
"What happens when the road gets to the site?"
"There's a short entry road to the staging area to the left as you come in. I'm sending a real time shot now."
Nick's phone vibrated against his chest. He pulled it out and looked at the screen. Steph had sent a wide aerial view of the tunnel complex and the road. He saw the guard post, the staging area and two helicopters. He could see Cobra's men and the tunnel sentries, tiny figures casting tiny shadows on the ground, unaware they were being watched. The road continued past the missiles and ended a mile away at a structure on the side of a hill.