The Rising Sea (NUMA Files 15)

Ushi-Oni was standing next to him. “Sound the alarm.”

“This isn’t a military base,” Gao snapped. “We don’t have alarms.”

The rage in Oni’s eyes scared Gao enough to stop talking. He pressed a different button on the intercom panel. This put him in touch with the control room. “Control, this is Gao. The Americans are on the loose. They just attacked a technician outside the main assembly room. I suggest you send some men to hunt them down.”

There was a brief moment of silence before control reported in again. “Our men are out checking the perimeter.”

“Call them back.”

“There’s no point in that. If the Americans were in the central tunnel, we have to assume they’ve left the complex by now.”

“I warned Han of this,” Oni said. “They will be the end of us.”

“I think you are overreacting,” Gao said. “Even if they left the mine, there’s no way off the island. The helicopter is gone. There are no boats. What do you think they’re going to do, swim?”

Oni glared down at him. “That’s exactly what they’ll do. Why do you think they came here in wetsuits, carrying fins and masks?”

“Impossible, it’s nearly three miles to the mainland,” Gao said. “The current will sweep them out to sea before they ever get close to the beach.”

“These men work in the ocean,” Oni pointed out. “They’re trained divers. If you think they won’t make it, you’re a bigger fool than I thought. An hour in the water with fins and they’ll be on dry land. It will take no longer. And that’s if they don’t get picked up by a boat.”

Gao began to sweat. He suddenly realized the danger. There were, in fact, no boats on the island, as per Han’s orders. But that meant Austin, Zavala and Nagano would be home free once they reached the surf. He pressed the intercom button. “Control, how many men do you have?”

“We’re down to ten men in the security squad, plus you and the technicians.”

It wouldn’t be enough. “Activate the warbots,” Gao said. “Put them in search-and-destroy mode.”

“But our men are out there, too.”

“We don’t have time to program the discriminator function,” Gao said. “Station the men on the seawall, with orders to guard the stairways and the easy routes to the water. The warbots will spread out and flush the Americans toward our guards. If they spot anything in the water, human or otherwise, they must shoot on sight. No captures this time.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gao was shaking with adrenaline, but Oni looked on him with a newfound level of respect.

“I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“Had what?”

“The instinct to kill so ruthlessly.”

“It’s us or them,” Gao said. “There’s no way out of here for us. If the Americans reach the mainland, this island will become our prison.”

* * *

• • •

THE MAINLAND was a long way off, as Kurt, Joe and Nagano ran out into the night. The rain still fell from the dark sky, but the night had cooled and several layers of fog now clung to the hill behind them.

Traveling a hundred yards from the entrance, and well aware that the pursuit had already begun, they took cover inside the first building they found.

Crouching in the dark and listening to the radio they’d taken from the technician, they heard every order.

Kurt looked at Nagano. “What did they say?”

“My Chinese is a little rusty,” Nagano said. “Something about men at the seawall. And war machines.”

Gazing through an opening in the dilapidated building, Kurt saw the first “war machine” emerge from the mine’s entrance. It was the size of a lawn mower and it marched on six legs like a giant insect. Glowing LEDs—that looked almost like eyes—were visible as it turned toward them.