The Sacred Vault_ A Novel - Andy McDermott [175]
‘Seriously. You’re not coming,’ he said as she pushed past him and headed for the snowmobile.
‘Oh, I seriously am.’
‘You don’t have a gun.’
Nina picked up the exploded snowmobiler’s MP5K. ‘I do now.’ She trudged through the snow to the waiting vehicle and straddled it. ‘Whose turn is it to drive?’
33
They rode up the icy hill, Eddie at the controls. In the aurora’s ever-shifting light, it was easy to follow the trails of the two snowmobiles.
Not that there was any doubt about where to go. The glow grew brighter as they neared the hill crest. ‘So, do you have a plan?’ Nina said.
‘Let’s see what we’re dealing with, first.’ They reached the summit . . . and radar station DYE-A came into view.
Internet photos had not truly prepared them for the sight. The main structure, the ‘composite building’, was huge, an enormous black block over a hundred and twenty feet high - and that was without the radome elevated on the building’s central core atop it. The dome itself was lit from within; when Eddie had glimpsed it from the plane it had been a vivid blue, but now other colours pulsed inside, an amped-up electronic version of the aurora overhead. Communications masts festooned with dishes sprouted beside it.
Brilliant spotlights illuminated the surrounding ground, revealing that the composite building stood within a crater-like depression in the ice. The black walls absorbed what little heat came from the sun at this latitude, raising the air temperature around them just enough to slow the accumulation of snow. The main block was supported by eight massive legs - hydraulic jacks, able to lift the station higher if the drifts became too deep.
The radar installation was not the facility’s only structure. Several smaller buildings were clustered to one side, and at the end of the long ice runway was an aircraft hangar. A path marked by a line of lights on poles ran from it to the edge of the depression beneath the composite building, where a covered walkway extended across the gap to its lowest floor.
‘Looks like they’ve made themselves comfortable,’ said Eddie, taking it in. He indicated a line of large cylindrical tanks. ‘Those’ll be full of diesel - enough to keep them going for months.’
‘However long before they feel it’s safe to poke their noses out of their rat-hole after the apocalypse,’ Nina guessed. ‘What do we do?’
He scanned the area for signs of life. ‘Do you see anyone?’
Nina squinted into the wind. ‘Nope.’ She looked up at the windows, which in the interests of preserving heat were small and few in number; all were lit, but nobody was silhouetted in them. ‘Windows look clear too.’
‘Okay, let’s look for something to break.’
‘Did I ever tell you that I love you for your subtlety?’ Nina joked as they warily headed for the walkway. It would surely not be much longer before somebody realised the men sent to finish off any crash survivors were overdue. ‘Whoa, wait. Look at that.’
A broad ramp descended into the depression beneath the main building, where a path had been dug to a boxy metal structure extending down from the base of the radar station - and into the ice below. The path led to a pair of large sliding doors. ‘It’s an elevator shaft,’ she realised.
‘Big elevators,’ Eddie added.
‘Very big elevators. Big enough to take all the equipment for a Cold War bunker . . . or Michelangelo’s David, you think?’
‘Easily.’ There was a hatch beside the two doors. ‘We might be able to get in there. Maybe there’s a ladder.’
‘Or we could just, y’know, use the elevator,’ she said as they descended the ramp.
‘That might be a bit of a giveaway that we’re here. See? I’m being subtle.’
They reached the hatch. ‘Is it locked?’ Nina asked as Eddie tried the handle.
‘Who’s going to break in, Nanook of the North?’ He rattled it until the crust of ice over the jamb broke away. Opening it, he jabbed his gun inside.
Nobody lay in wait. The entrance led to an emergency ladder running parallel to the elevator tracks. He stepped on to the walkway inside, about to climb the ladder