فصل 55

chapter-55 Blowing the dock

After Gervaso had established his machine gun nest at the inside neck of the tunnel, he grabbed the backpack he’d filled with explosives and, carrying just a Beretta handgun, crawled out the outer end of the tunnel. Just as he was about to surface, his radio squawked.

“Come in, Gervaso.”

“Gervaso, copy.”

“This is Welch. We’re headed down the tunnel. Just didn’t want you to shoot us.” “I’m headed out now for the dock,” Gervaso said. “Good luck.” “Roger.”

Gervaso turned off his radio and climbed out of the tunnel. The rain was pouring down, and the ocean looked pitted from a million raindrops.

He didn’t see anyone, so he crossed the road to a row of charred bushes and began crawling toward the dock. When he got there, he waded into the water beneath the dock, carrying his backpack. To blow the dock he would have to link the explosives together, connecting them close enough to each other so they would trip each other, resulting in complete annihilation.

Because of the turbulence of the sea, the waves kept slamming him into the underside of the dock, and it took Gervaso nearly twenty minutes to set the explosives, ten minutes longer than he had planned. It made him nervous. He suspected that the Elgen would be landing soon—if they hadn’t already.

After he finished setting the detonator, he again looked around to make sure he was alone, tossed his backpack into the sea, and then climbed to the top of the dock. He stopped to look out toward the sea. Through the rain and darkness he could see the Faraday about eight hundred yards out. That meant serious trouble. The Faraday was capable of transporting more than thirty-five hundred soldiers. If they all were allowed to dock, men would pour out faster than they could handle. The prison would be overrun.

He looked around. The Risky Business was still where Welch had left it. He wondered where Welch was. He lifted his radio and turned it back on. “Ian, this is Gervaso. Come in.” “This is Ian.”

“We’ve got Elgen to the north in the Faraday. They’re going to try to dock.” “I can see it. Does the dock still stand?”

“I’m about to blow it. Did Welch get out?”

“They’re out of the tunnel. He shouldn’t be far from you now.” “Roger. Over.”

“Over,” Ian said.

Gervaso returned the radio to his belt. He knelt down on the dock and hung over to check his wiring once more, then stood. As he turned to go, he saw the shadows of Welch and his team creeping beneath the cover of the wall.

Finally, he thought. Gervaso raised his hand and shouted in a muted yell, “Good luck.” The shadows stopped. Then a gun opened fire, hitting Gervaso in the chest and knocking him back onto the dock.

Bleeding, Gervaso slowly pulled himself around to see who had fired on him. The men he’d mistaken for Welch’s group were Elgen guards. They walked toward him, their guns pointing at him.

“Expecting someone else?” a guard asked.

Gervaso feebly lifted his handgun but was hit two more times from Elgen bullets as the squad stepped up onto the dock. Gervaso gasped for breath as he reached into his pocket and rolled over to his stomach, bracing for the next round.

“Finish him,” the captain said to one of his men.

The front guard, barely older than twenty, walked on the blood-soaked dock until he was next to Gervaso. He pointed his gun at the back of Gervaso’s head. “Good-bye, man.” Gervaso rolled over to look the young guard in the eyes. In his hand Gervaso held a grenade, its pin already pulled. “Yeah, good-bye.” “Hit the deck!” the guard shouted, but it was too late. The grenade blew, igniting the chain of explosives. The entire dock exploded in a blinding flash. When the smoke cleared, the dock, the Elgen, and Gervaso were gone.