The Krakow Klub (49 page)

He watched tiny sand crabs scurry into the
water as he walked barefoot through the cool sand.
Seabirds
circled overhead, oblivious to the crisis
brewing below. He stooped and examined a piece of driftwood that
had come ashore with the high tide. The scene was so peaceful that
he had difficulty focusing on the work ahead of him. For the first
time in many years, he whispered a sincere prayer asking for
guidance.

He knew that failure was a distinct
possibility even with all the power and resources available to him.
Not a failure to stop the Krakow Klub, but a failure
to do so without a lot of casualties.

War was
all new to him.
The Krakow Klub had years of experience planning and organizing
their
coup,
and they would stop
at nothing
to reach their goal of world domination.

He thought of Julia and the life that they
planned together. He thought of his beloved island and of Jim
Slater, the man who should have been his son. He could not fail
them. Not now. Not ever.

He was just about to turn back toward the
villa when a brilliant burst of light lit the horizon,
followed
in
a few seconds by the
roar of a gigantic explosion.

His heart stopped. He immediately
contacted
Maxxine at the space station.

She answered at once, “Sir,
we
have been attacked
. A jet fighter just entered your
restricted zone and attempted to fire a missile into the center of
the island. There was no time to contact you. My only option was to
cause the missile to explode just as it was being launched.

Unfortunately, there has been a loss of life
and government property. The plane
exploded,
killing the pilot instantly.”

John was astonished, “Maxxine, you must not
let them land here. You are to repel any additional attempts with
full force. I am authorizing you and General T to destroy any and
all invaders. Use lethal force as necessary.”

By now, John was almost back to the
house.

Julia met him at the
door;
her face was ashen. She clutched her robe tightly
around her and her usually perfectly coiffed hair was in
disarray.

“John, I heard an explosion. It sounds like
we’re under attack. What can I do to help? Is there anything that I
can do to assist General T?
I’ve been trained
in the use of
firearms,
and I’m a damned good
shot,
but I doubt that small weapons are going
to do the trick here.”

John grabbed her arm and guided her back
inside. “Trust me, we’re not in danger. I think that Montrose has
probably ordered an attack on the island. Maxxine just destroyed a
military jet that was launching a missile at us. She’s got the
situation under control, at least for now. There’s nothing to
worry about; we are completely safe here.”

The president and Jim Slater had also heard
the explosion that had been strong enough to rattle the windows and
rushed to find John.

Sylvia dashed in with her face fixed
with
a look of furious determination. “What in
the hell is going on, John? Sounds like those damn fools have tried
to attack us. That gets my Scottish dander up! How dare they? I
thought that you had everything under control?”

John spoke to calm her. “You’re right. They
did try to take the
island,
but we were well
protected. You and Julia will stay
here,
but
the president, Jim, and I have to go to Washington, DC,
immediately.”

To Jim and the president, John yelled, “Get
dressed immediately. We need to leave as soon as possible!”

He looked at Julia and Sylvia. “God help them
if they cross the two of you!”

Within five minutes, the three men were
dashing down the pathway to the
shuttlecraft
when General T caught up with them carrying a small
hamper
. “Hey, Boss, here’s some high energy snack food to
keep you going. Good luck and
God
speed!”

John grabbed the hamper, they all jumped
aboard, and within a few seconds they
were
headed
toward Washington, DC, at a high rate of speed.

****

First Lieutenant Harry
Teasdale, USMC, was the leader of the Marines assigned to take
Scott Key. The AAV carrying him and his troops sped through the
waters and approached the cloud bank hovering over the island. He
turned to Gunnery Sergeant Manuel Rodriquez and said, “Gunny, from
what little I know, we can expect almost anything, so keep
alert.
Just tell all the men to hold their fire unless
fired upon first
. The few inhabitants here are
thought to be civilians. We don’t want to spill any blood unless
necessary.”

“I understand, sir.”

Rodriquez may have intended to say something
else, but he did not get the chance. The instant the AAV entered
the cloud, a giant wave
rose
in the
front
and lifted the front of the craft to an
angle that almost flipped it backward. When the nose of the craft
finally came
down,
it
was
headed
in the opposite direction of the
island,
and it quickly left the cloud and was in clear
air again. Everyone in the AAV was tossed about like rag dolls and
drenched with salt water from the waves. It had been a very
unnerving experience for the bruised and battered men.

The pilot of the AAV was heard yelling, “What
in the hell was that?”

Lt. Teasdale gathered his senses and ordered
the pilot to land on the beach as quickly as possible. As soon as
the craft reached the leading edge of the cloud bank, it was
repulsed as before.

Being a stubborn leatherneck who always
obeyed orders, Teasdale ordered two more attempts with the same
results.

Then, in frustration, he ordered one more
attempt
and this
time, he would use firepower.
He gave the command for the crew to begin firing the 12.7 mm
machine
gun
and the 40 mm grenade launcher as
the AAV sped towards the cloud bank. That was a most unfortunate
decision.

The remote craft guarding the island detected
the high volume of incoming fire instantly and automatically
responded with lethal force. A photon torpedo was launched at the
AAV causing it to explode in a ball of fire. The
AAV
and all personnel aboard
it
were
instantly vaporized leaving
only
churning,
boiling water for a few seconds. Soon
after
that
, dead fish and other ocean creatures dotted the surface
of the water. There was no visible debris from the craft or its
crew.

Captain
Popovich
was
listening to the
transmissions,
but he was
also close enough to observe the gigantic red lightning bolt that
struck the AAV from above. He was stunned by the instant and
complete
destruction. He was horrified that he had
just lost a full platoon of Marines
and the crew of the
AAV.

“Dear God,” he exclaimed out loud, “Have we
so offended thee?”

Slumping back into his command chair,
Captain, most likely never to be Admiral,
Popovich
spoke to this executive officer again, “Wilcox,
inform COMNAVSURFLANT that we are breaking off the engagement and
retreating. Tell them that I signed on to lead men into battle, not
to send them out to
be slaughtered
.”

“Yes, sir,” a shaken Commander Wilcox
responded.

Popovich
received an
almost immediate response from Admiral
Bloodworth,
but it was not the answer that he expected.
Bloodworth was replacing him as of that very minute. His
second-in-command would take over until the new commander arrived.
The new commander was being transported immediately to the carrier
by a
Navy
jet.

The message was terse:

“To Commander CSF635.

“You are relieved of duty immediately.

“Replacement will arrive by plane within two
hours.

“Until then, CSF635 is under the
command
of Executive Officer Wilcox.

“CSF635 is to will remain in its current
position until further notice.

“COMNAVSURFLANT.”

“If you have the power to
resurrect the dead man, firstly, be sure that he is a good
man!”
-
Mehmet Murat
ildan

John Scott felt that the American idea of
freedom was worth saving. He just wished that it was not his
shoulders upon whom the chore
had been placed
.
But he could not turn away. He had stuck his nose into the
fray,
and he would see it through.

After the attempted invasion of Scott Key,
John had ordered Maxxine to provide more shuttle craft to protect
the island. He also ordered more craft to monitor Washington,
DC.
He feared that there would be military
action and he wanted to be sure that Jim Slater and President
Wilkinson
were protected
at all costs. A
remote would be assigned exclusively to protecting each of them. It
may have been
overkill,
but he preferred to
take no chances.

As the shuttle craft sped toward Washington,
DC, John handed out the food that General T had packed for them.
They ate hastily and with minimal conversation, each man lost in
his
personal
thoughts.

Wilkinson sat with his head bowed and thought
of the wife who believed him dead. He could only imagine her
suffering. He hadn’t been the best of
husbands,
but they had survived many marital
crises,
and he knew that deep down she had surely
remained devoted to him. And now, in this time of crisis, he
realized how much she meant to him and how much he regretted his
actions that had caused her to drift away. They had been held
together by politics. Now, what did they have? He had the horrible
thought,
What if she wasn’t suffering
at
all? Could she secretly be glad to have him
out of her life?
That thought brought a tear to his eye.

Jim Slater sat quietly and thought of Sylvia
and the many opportunities that he had missed. He had found the one
person in his life that could fulfill
him,
and
he had let happiness slip through his hands. Since meeting her
again, he realized that she had never left his
heart,
and he prayed that they could leave the past
behind and start anew. He now realized that his career, the life
that he had
once loved
in Washington, DC, now
meant little to him. He needed nothing more than Sylvia and Mitch
to be happy. He vowed that he would fight for that happiness.

John Scott reminisced about his life that had
been totally controlled by Maxx, and
how much he had
hated the situation at the time.
He had even hated Maxx at
times. He had hated that he was part Mylean. Now, he had come to
the end of it all. His decisions could save the government or cause
it to
be completely destroyed. And even if he saved
the government,
it might cost the lives of thousands of
innocent military personnel. He was both humbled and terrified by
the unique position in which he found himself.
Next,
Julia filled his thoughts. At that moment in time, he knew for
certain, in his heart, that Maxx, the great trickster, had selected
her to be his true love and had engineered their meeting.
How could he not love him for that? A tear filled his
eye,
and he sent a great wave of affection out into the
vastness of space toward Maxx.

Their private thoughts were suddenly
interrupted by their arrival at the South Lawn of the White House.
Still in stealth mode, the craft settled down softly near the
landing spot normally used by Marine One, but closer to the
entrance to the Oval Office in the West Wing.

John announced, “As soon as the hatch opens,
the craft will be
visible
for a few seconds.
I’ll hop
out,
and it will shut behind me. As
soon as I’m sure that it’s safe for you, I’ll open the hatch again.
When that happens, jump out and move as fast as you can. Stay low
and follow me. We must get into the West Wing quickly.

“If
we’re detected
and a
firefight
breaks out, run back to the ship
immediately. It’s programmed to react to any threat with a
lethal
force,
so you need
to be out of harm’s way. Also, there are separate remotes assigned
to each of us individually. If we are in imminent
danger,
our remote will automatically extract us.
If that should happen, don’t panic; I will get us
back together as soon as possible.

“Remember two things. First, we don’t know if
we can trust all of the Secret Service agents. Second, we know that
the military has a whole platoon of troops plus four Stryker
armored vehicles deployed around the White House. I also suspect
that there are probably troops on the White House grounds as well.
Bottom line, we’re going to have to be extremely careful. He stood
and straightened his shoulders, “Are we ready?”

The president and Jim answered with a
thumbs-up signal.

****

The grounds seemed eerily quiet at this time
of the
morning,
and Jim couldn’t push the
ominous feelings of foreboding from his mind. Suddenly, he could
hardly
breathe,
and his heart began to pound
furiously.
It was
the moment of truth. The
moment when they would either succeed or bring down death and
destruction to the military stationed here. He prayed silently for
guidance and courage.