Shadow Strike by Don Pendleton

Author:Don Pendleton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Worldwide Library
Published: 2011-01-25T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

Butterfly Island, French Territory

As a rosy dawn arrived, the blue ocean moved below the wing of rumbling Hercules like a conveyor belt, endless and unchanging. There were no ships in sight, much less any islands. There was only open water for hundreds of miles, a salty wasteland void of any details except the transitory waves and ethereal winds.

“At last, there it is!” Gunnar Eldjarm cried out, pointing a bony finger.

“Precisely on schedule,” Hrafen Thorodensen said, judiciously reducing their speed and starting to cycle down the landing gear.

Straight ahead was a small green island of swaying palm trees and white sand beaches. Small hills of cooled lava rose off to one side, and a large lagoon spread out invitingly on the other. There were a few concrete runways, and a couple brick buildings dotted with bird nests. But everything else had been reclaimed by the jungle, engulfed by flowering vines and blankets of thick green moss.

“Butterfly Island,” Lilja Vilhjalms said, checking the folded map on her clipboard. “It is hard to imagine that France once spent billions here, and then abandoned it completely.”

“And who knows better than us about financial downturns?” Thorodensen said curtly, taking a hand mike and thumbing it alive. “Attention, all pilots and crews! Our target is due west, and approaching fast. Maintain formation! This needs to be short and sweet. They’re better trained than us, so our only advantage is surprise. Don’t waste it being squeamish!”

“Kill or be killed,” Eldjarm muttered, working the arming bolt on the Vepr autoshotgun.

“Exactly!” Thorodensen declared, then repeated the line. “Be ruthless or die. We commence in one minute. Get ready.”

“Here we go,” Gunner said, leaning forward, his face bright with excitement.

Scowling, Vilhjalms looked away in revulsion. She had no idea who this new person was, but her childhood friend was clearly gone, replaced with this bloodthirsty maniac. When the great plan was finished, and everything returned to normal, Vilhjalms grimly decided that she would have to kill Gunnar. She would do it as painlessly as possible, of course, but she couldn’t allow this…thing…to wander the world, a threat to innocent people.

As the Hercules circled around the island, Vilhjalms could see people on the beaches, driving Jeeps and walking along the jungle trails. There were some boats docked in the lagoon, and even a couple small planes parked in the grass alongside a short runaway of cracked pavement.

“Get ready…and…release the mines,” Thorodensen said into the hand mike.

Laughing softly, Eldjarm pressed a button on the console. They heard a low rumble from the rear of the huge airplane, followed by a high-pitched whistling that quickly faded away.

There was no indication of what was happening behind the Hercules, but Vilhjalms heard the explosions, and as the aircraft banked for another pass, she could see spherical mines falling from the other planes. Designed to sink armored battleships, the North Korean weapons obliterated anything they hit, throwing out huge gouts of fiery debris, flipping over cars and uprooting trees.

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