"If what you say is true," Karl said with a sneer, only slightly diminished by uncertainty, "what do you plan to do with my sisters and me?"
"Not my call." Pitt sighed. "Sometime, someplace, you'll be hanged for your crimes, for all the murders you've ordered of those who stood in your way. My satisfaction will be sitting in the front row and watching you drop."
"A most provocative illusion, Mr. Pitt, and most intriguing. A pity it's pure fantasy."
"You're a hard man to convince."
"Give the order to fire, brother," Elsie demanded. "Shoot the vermin. If you don't, I will."
Karl Wolf stared at the weary and battle-exhausted veterans of Cleary's command. "My sister is right.
Unless your men surrender within the next ten seconds, my people will cut them down."
"Never happen," said Pitt, his voice hard and abrupt.
"One hundred guns against twenty? The battle will not last long, and there can only be one conclusion.
You see, Mr. Pitt, too much is at stake. My sisters and I will gladly sacrifice our lives in the name of the Fourth Empire."
"It's stupid to waste lives for a dream that's already dead and buried," Pitt said casually.
"The hollow statement of a desperate man. At least I will have the gratification of knowing you'll be the first to die."
Pitt stared at Wolf for a long moment, then glanced down at the automatic rifle in the madman's hands.
Then he shrugged. "Have it your way. But before you get carried away with blood lust, I suggest you look behind you."
Wolf shook his head. "I'm not taking my eyes off you."
Pitt turned slightly to Elsie and Blondi. "Why don't you girls explain the facts of life to your brother?"
The Wolf sisters turned and looked.
Every neck in the hangar turned and every pair of eyes looked toward the rear wall and the entrance of the far tunnel. If there was one thing the hangar was lacking, it wasn't an arsenal of automatic weapons.
Another two hundred had joined the drama being enacted around the wrecked aircraft. Two hundred nasty-looking Eradicator rifles all aimed at the backs of Destiny Enterprises engineers and scientists and held in the hands of men whose faces were hidden by helmets and goggles. They were ranged in an orderly semicircle, the front row kneeling, the back row standing, dressed in Arctic battle gear similar to that worn by Cleary and his team.
One of the figures stepped forward and spoke loudly with authority. "Lay down your weapons very slowly and back away! At the first sign of hostility, I will order my men to open fire! Please cooperate and no one will be hurt!"
There was no sign of hesitation or resistance. Far from it. The men and women who made up the scientific team for Destiny Enterprises were only too happy to rid themselves of weapons few of them knew how to operate properly. There was an almost universal sigh of relief as they backed away from the Bushmaster rifles and raised their hands in the air.
Elsie looked as if she had taken a knife in the heart. She stood with a stunned, uncomprehending look on her face. Blondi, her eyes stricken and bewildered, looked as if she was going to be sick. Karl Wolf's face went tense and hard as stone, more angry than fearful at the certainty of seeing his grand plan to launch a new world order suddenly evaporate.
"Which one of you is Dirk Pitt?" inquired the leader of the newly arrived Special Forces.
Pitt slowly raised his hand. "Here."
The officer strode up to Pitt and gave a slight nod of his head. "Colonel Robert Wittenberg, in charge of the Special Forces operation. What is the status of the Ross Ice Shelf operation?"
"Terminated," Pitt answered steadily. "The Valhalla Project was shut down ten minutes short of the ice-cutting system's activation."
Wittenberg relaxed visibly. "Thank God," he sighed.
"Your timing could not have been more perfect, Colonel."
"After making radio contact with Major Cleary, we followed your directions through the opening in the ice you smashed with your vehicle." He paused and asked as if in awe, "Did you see the ancient city?"
Pitt smiled. "Yes, we saw it."