Page 71 of Soul on Fire
Headquarters was a ghost town. Long hallways were empty, offices of civilians or nonessential personnel evacuated. Automatic lights had dimmed in over half the building. Paper lined the linoleum down one corridor they passed, blown to the ground in the hustle of the evacuation. It felt like the bomb had already detonated, like the base’s population was already gone. The only thing left was shadows.
As empty as the rest of the base was, the Combat Information Center, CIC, was a madhouse. Someone bellowed, “Admiral on deck!” as Mallory entered. Those that heard over the cacophony of three hundred people talking at once came to attention.
The roar was deafening, everyone trying to shout across the room to someone else, or into the radio, or over the phone, or to the person beside them. Orders flew right and left. Maps of the base were on the video screens front and center and hung on the walls, taped over glass offices with giantXsdrawn through a handful of buildings. There were more high-ranking officers in one room than Elliot had met in his entire career.
Hands grabbed him, spun him around. He came face-to-face—and fist raised mid-swing—with Admiral Kline.
“Elliot, fuck.” Kline gripped his shoulders hard. He smiled and shook his head. “I’m damn glad to see you in one piece. You look like shit. You all right?”
“Other than the hell we’ve been through?” Elliot chuckled. It died quickly. “I’m beat, but I’m good. Did you fly over?”
“I did. You’re under my command, and I wanted to be here for you when you landed.” Kline still peered at him, studying his face, his eyes.
“Thank you, sir.”
“I still think you’re out of your God damn mind.” Kline dropped his hands and stepped back. “But I’m hoping we can pull this off.”
“We will, sir. I didn’t come all this way for nothing.” Elliot turned to Ikolo. “Admiral, please meet Doctor Ikolo Ngondu. He’s been essential to this mission. I’m not blowing smoke when I say absolutely nothing could have been successful without him.”
“Pleased to meet you, Doctor Ngondu.” Kline held out his hand. After a moment, Ikolo shook it. “I needed to meet the man who made Lieutenant Davis here break every rule in the book.”
Ikolo broke into a grin, his gaze sliding to Elliot’s, before Mallory’s voice broke over the din. “Senior staff, with me! Briefing in my office!”
* * *
It was easierto gain access to the base than he’d thought.
The gate guards were Bahraini contractors, and they watched the stream of cars exiting the base, escorted by armed Navy police, warily. Only a handful of cars drove up to the gates. Nearly all were turned away.
Majambu had turned the air conditioning to full blast as he drove, trying to dry the sweat raining from his brow. His hands shook unless he squeezed the steering wheel. His guts felt like something alive was swimming inside of him and trying to escape. Even under the blast of the cool air, he was burning up, like the sun had decided to personally roast him under all of its heat.
He rolled down the window as the Bahraini guard approached and asked for his ID. “Where is your access sticker?” The guard motioned to his windshield.
“New car,” he said. “I haven’t gotten it yet.”
“You need to.” The guard held out his hand for his ID. “You are not supposed to enter the base without one.”
Majambu passed his ID card over and watched as the guard slid it into a reader.
Majambu kept one trembling hand around the grip of the pistol Rhee had given him, tucked between the driver’s seat and the center console. He could kill the guard and drive as far onto the base as he could before detonating the device if he had to.
The guard smiled as the reader chirped. He passed the ID back to Majambu. “So many military police coming back to the base today,” he said. “Is something going on?”
“Not yet,” Majambu said. He’d forced the American accent into his voice, something he hadn’t used since he was a teenager in Nairobi. “Hopefully everything goes off without a hitch.”
“You need to get a windshield sticker,” the guard said. “We were told additional personnel from other bases were arriving today, so I will let this go. This one time.”
“Thank you very much.”
The guard nodded to him and signaled for the gate to open.
Majambu gripped the steering wheel as a river of sweat poured down his back. He pressed the gas pedal and drove onto the base.
He’d memorized the map Rhee had given him. Drive straight for a kilometer, then turn right. More driving, and then a left and another right. The base was deserted, nothing and no one as far as he could see.
The military base was barren, a desolate wasteland inside another desolate wasteland. Nothing but concrete and sand, and even after the sun had gone down, a heat that made his bones ache and his skin pull too tight on his body. The sky was too open as well. He hadn’t seen a single tree since he’d landed.
Everything was as dry as death, all life sucked out of the land.
