Deception Point Page 49

Marjorie Tenchs raspy vo deoxyephedrine echoed in her mind. are you aware that Sexton is accepting bribes from private aerospace companies?Gabrielles pulse began racing as she gazed batch the darkened hall right smart toward the archway that led into the senators den. She knew she should speak up, publish her presence, and yet she felt herself inching quietly forward. She moved to within a some feet of the archway and stood fitlessly in the shadows lis going to the conver sit downion beyond.55 piece of music Delta-Three stayed behind to collect Norah Mangors body and the sled, the other both soldiers accelerated down the glacier after their quarry.On their feet they wore ElektroTread-powered skis. Modeled after the consumer Fast Trax motorized skis, the sort out ElektroTreads were essentially s straightaway skis with miniaturized tank treads affixed- worry snowmobiles worn on the feet. Speed was controlled by pushing the tips of the index finger and thumb together, compressing two force per unit area plates inside the right-hand glove. A powerful gel battery was shape around the foot, doubling as insulation and allowing the skis to run silently. Ingeniously, the kinetic vigour generated by gravity and the spinning treads as the wearer glided down a pitcher was automatically harvested to recharge the batteries for the next incline.Keeping the wind at his back, Delta-One crouched low, plane seaward as he surveyed the glacier before him. His night vision frame was a far cry from the Patriot model used by the Marines. Delta-One was looking through a hands-free face mount with a 40 x 90 mm six-element lens, trinity-element Magnification Doubler, and Super Long execute IR. The world outside appeared in a translucent tint of sedate blue, rather than the habitual green-the color scheme especially designed for exceedingly reflective terrains like the Arctic.As he approached the first-class honours degree berm, Delta-Ones goggles revealed several(pren ominal) bright stripes of freshly disturbed snow, rising up and everyplace the berm like a neon arrow in the night. apparently the three escapees had either not thought to unhook their makeshift sheet of paper or had been unable to. Either way, if they had not released by the last(a) berm, they were now somewhere out in the oceanic. Delta-One knew his quarrys protective clothing would lengthen the usual life expectancy in the water, hardly the relentless offshore currents would track them out to sea. Drowning would be inevitable.Despite his confidence, Delta-One had been trained never to assume. He take to see bodies. Crouching low, he pressed his fingers together and accelerated up the first incline.Michael Tolland lay motionless, taking stock of his bruises. He was battered, just now he perceived no broken bones. He had little doubt the gel-filled Mark IX had saved him any substantial trauma. As he opened his eyes, his thoughts were dimmed to focus. Everything seemed sof ter here quieter. The wind still howled, but with less ferocity.We went over the pungency-didnt we?Focusing, Tolland prepare he was lying on ice, draped across Rachel Sexton, almost at right angles, their locked carabiners twisted. He could feel her breathing beneath him, but he could not see her face. He rolled off her, his muscles barely responding.Rachel? Tolland wasnt accredited if his lips were making sound or not.Tolland recalled the final seconds of their harrowing ride-the upward pulling of the balloon, the payload cable snapping, their bodies plummeting down the far side of the berm, slue up and over the final mound, skimming toward the edge-the ice running out. Tolland and Rachel had take placeen, but the fall had been oddly short. Rather than the expected plunge to the sea, they had travel only ten feet or so before hitting another slab of ice and sliding to a stop with the exsanguine weight of Corky in tow.Now, aggrandizement his head, Tolland looked toward the sea. Not far away, the ice ended in a turn cliff, beyond which he could hear the sounds of the ocean. Looking back up the glacier, Tolland agonistic to see into the night. Twenty yards back, his eyes met a high wall of ice, which seemed to hang up above them. It was then that he realized what had happened. Somehow they had slid off the main glacier onto a lower terrace of ice. This section was flat, as large as a hockey rink, and had partially collapsed-preparing to cleave off into the ocean at any moment.Ice calving, Tolland thought, eyeing the precarious platform of ice on which he was now lying. It was a broad square slab that hung off the glacier like a colossal balcony, surrounded on three sides by precipices to the ocean. The sheet of ice was attached to the glacier only at its back, and Tolland could see the connection was anything but permanent. The term where the lower terrace clung to the Milne Ice Shelf was marked by a gaping pressure fissure almost four feet across. Gravity was hygienic on its way to winning this battle.Almost more frightening than eyesight the fissure was Tollands seeing the motionless body of Corky Marlinson crumpled on the ice. Corky lay ten yards away at the end of a taut tether attached to them.Tolland tried to stand up, but he was still attached to Rachel. Repositioning himself, he began detaching their interlocking carabiners.Rachel looked weak as she tried to sit up. We didnt go over? Her voice was bewildered.We fell onto a lower block of ice, Tolland said, finally unfastening himself from her. Ive got to help Corky.Painfully, Tolland attempted to stand, but his legs felt feeble. He grabbed the tether and heaved. Corky began sliding toward them across the ice. after(prenominal) a dozen or so pulls, Corky was lying on the ice a few feet away.Corky Marlinson looked beaten. Hed lost his goggles, suffered a baffling cut on his cheek, and his nose was bleeding. Tollands worries that Corky might be dead were quickly alla yed when Corky rolled over and looked at Tolland with an angry glare.Jesus, he stammered. What the hell was that little trickTolland felt a wave of relief.Rachel sat up now, wincing. She looked around. We need to get off of here. This block of ice looks like its about to fall.Tolland couldnt have agreed more. The only question was how.They had no era to consider a solution. A familiar high-pitched whir became clunky above them on the glacier. Tollands gaze shot up to see two white-clad figures ski effortlessly up onto the edge and stop in unison. The two men stood there a moment, peering down at their battered raven like chess masters savoring checkmate before the final kill.Delta-One was surprised to see the three escapees alive. He knew, however, this was a temporary condition. They had fallen onto a section of the glacier that had already begun its inevitable plunge to the sea. This quarry could be disabled and killed in the same manner as the other woman, but a far cleaner so lution had just presented itself. A way in which no bodies would ever be found.Gazing downward over the lip, Delta-One pore on the gaping crevasse that had begun to spread like a wedge surrounded by the ice shelf and the clinging block of ice. The section of ice on which the three fugitives sat was dangerously perched ready to break away and fall into the ocean any day now.Why not todayHere on the ice shelf, the night was rocked every few hours by thunderous booms-the sound of ice cracking off parts of the glacier and plummeting into the ocean. Who would take notice? smack the familiar warm rush of adrenaline that accompanied the preparation for a kill, Delta-One reached in his supply pack and pulled out a heavy, lemon-shaped object. Standard break through for military assault teams, the object was called a flash-bang-a nonlethal concussion grenade that temporarily disoriented an enemy by generating a blinding flash and deafening concussion wave. Tonight, however, Delta-One knew this flash-bang would most certainly be lethal.He positioned himself near the edge and wondered how far the crevasse descended before tapering to a close. Twenty feet? Fifty feet? He knew it didnt matter. His plan would be effective regardless.