The Savage Horde

Chapter 18

He had lost all sense of day and night—he awoke now, realizing that on the East Coast where he had last seen land it would be mid-morning. He frowned at the luminous dial of the Rolex, then sat up in the darkness.

A nuclear submarine—he tried recalling how much actual time had gone by. Not expert when it came to submarines, he wondered if they had gone under the ice yet. He doubted it though.

Sarah and the children—somewhere in Georgia or the Carolinas, perhaps as far as Alabama or Mississippi, or perhaps again up in Tennessee.

"Up in Tennessee," he laughed.

He reached over and flipped on the light. He rubbed his stubbled cheeks—he needed a shave, badly—and he could smell his own body.

"All right," he mumbled to himself, sighing heavily. It was time to do something.

John Rourke stood up. "Time to do something," he murmured ...

He felt naked as he walked the companionway looking for Paul Rubenstein—no guns.

It was the first time since the Night of The War—except for periods of captivity under the Russians and the problem with the woman in the town who had chosen suicide—that he had been without them. As he turned what he would have called a corner, his hair still wet from the shower, picking his way over the lintel of one of the myriad watertight doors, an officer—a lieutenant JG stopped him.

"You're Doctor Rourke?"

"Yes," Rourke nodded.

"The captain requested that you join him on the bridge, sir. I can take you there."

Rourke nodded again, falling into step behind the young man. "How is the Soviet major doing, sir?"

Rourke smiled—it was hard to think of Natalia Anastasia Tiemerovna as "the Soviet major." He let out a long sigh. "She's doing fine, lieutenant. Still weak, but she's sleeping normally. Should be for a while. Sort of the body's natural defense mechanism against things like what happened to her."

"That's good to hear, sir," the lieutenant nodded, Rourke watching the back of his head as the man ducked. "She's got a pint of my blood in her."

Rourke told him, "I thought your face looked familiar—you were from the second time around."

"You got it, sir—guess it was more than a pint. Boy, did I sack out last night."

Rourke laughed. "Yeah—so did I. And I didn't even give blood. What's Commander Gundersen .want to see me about?" Rourke asked, ducking his head for another watertight door.

"Don't know, sir," the young man answered. "Here we are," and the lieutenant stepped through into a compartment that seemed almost too spacious to be believed aboard a submarine, nuclear or not. Rourke had several times been aboard the post-World War II diesel subs, their forward and aft torpedo rooms the only large areas to be found. The spaciousness of the operating theater had surprised him—was not nearly so surprising as the quarters he'd been given. Like the size of a rather large bathroom as opposed to the subminiature closet-sized offices and quarters on the earlier subs. He had ridden nuclear subs before, but never for any length of time, and these in his days in CIA Covert Operations.

This nuclear sub was apparently of the newest class, the ones begun just prior to the Night of The War. It was at the least the size of a decent tonnaged destroyer, perhaps larger. He stood now, overlooking the maze of lights and .panels, the many crew members.

He was impressed.

"Like my bridge, Doctor Rourke?" Commander Gundersen sounded confident, assured—appreciative of Rourke's stare.

"I'm going to build one just like this soon as I get home—got a kit?" Rourke smiled.

"I understand the Soviet major—"

"Natalia Tiemerovna."

"Yes—understand she's going to be fine."

Rourke nodded, still surveying the bridge before entering it. "Always the risk of a low grade infection with surgery so massive, but yes—I think so."

"WiH she fully recover—I mean—"

"Yeah—yeah," Rourke nodded again. "Matter of fact, she should be pretty much back to normal in a week or so. Still a little weak, but normal."

"Good—I'm glad to hear that—come down."

Rourke nodded, stepping away from the watertight door and taking one long stride across the metal platform, then taking the ladder down to the core of the bridge. Gundersen stood at its center, hands resting on the periscope housing.

His fingers tapped at it—not nervously, but expectantly.

Gundersen turned to his side, "Charlie—take her up to periscope depth."

"Aye, Captain," a voice sang back.

There was a muted humming, Rourke feeling nothing in the way of movement.

"Periscope depth, sir," the same voice called out.

"Good, Charlie—let's take a look here. Sonar give me a readout on anything that gets near us."

"Aye, sir," another voice called,

The periscope tube raised, Gundersen flipping out the handles on its sides.

"Always like to take a look at the pack before we go under—wanna look yourself, Doctor?"

Rourke stepped toward the periscope—noticing now it was the largest of several.

He stepped nearer as Gundersen stepped back and turned the periscope handles toward him.

Rourke pressed his eyes to the subjective lenses, his nose crinkling at the faint but distinctive smell of the rubber eye cups. "Makes you want to say 'Torpedo Los,' doesn't it?" Rourke said, studying the white rim at the far edge of his vision—the icecap.

He heard Gundersen laugh. "First civilian I've ever met with the guts to say that—it does make you want to say that the first time. Crank her around back and forth a little and take a look at the world before we go under."

Rourke only nodded, turning the periscope slowly. Massive blocks of ice floated everywhere in the open water leading in the distance to the edge of the icepack.

Small waves—wind whipped Rourke judged—would momentarily splash the objective lens. Without looking away, he asked, "Has there been as much change in the icepack as you'd suppose?"

"Another good remark, Dr. Rourke. Apparently a great deal of change."

Rourke stepped back from the periscope, looking at Gundersen. "Spreading?"

"Rapidly—I mean we can't really measure with any sophistication now because all the satellites are gone. But as best we can judge the icepack is advancing."

"That's just marvelous," Rourke nodded. He leaned back on the side of an instrument console.

"Down periscope," Gundersen ordered, flipping the

handles up. "Ed—you've got the con. I'd say take her down a little more than we normally do and ride herd on the ice machine—split the shifts so the operators will keep on their toes."

' 'Prepare to blow,'' a man standing opposite Gundersen ordered. "Rig for full negative."

"Aye, sir," a crewmen called back.

Gundersen stepped up to Rourke. "Doctor—like to join me in my cabin—talk a bit?"

"Fine," and Rourke followed Gundersen out. They walked the way Rourke and the lieutenant JG had come, turning off into a cabin with a wooden door, the lettering there reading, "Commander Robert Gundersen, Captain."

"Got my name on the door and everything," Gundersen smiled, holding the door for Rourke. As Rourke entered the cabin he realized it was actually two cabins—Gundersen's office with a decent-sized desk comprised the main cabin and there was a door off to Rourke's left as he faced the desk—sleeping quarters?

Rourke decided that they were.

"Sit down, Doctor," Gundersen said, nodding toward a couch on the far interior wall.

Rourke said nothing, but started toward the couch.

"Coffee?" Gundersen asked, pouring into a large mug from a hotplate on the bookcase behind his desk.

"Sure," Rourke answered. "Mind if I smoke?"

"No—we can scrub the air. Go ahead."

Rourke took one of his small, dark tobacco cigars from the pocket of his blue chambray shirt, found the Zippo in the pocket of his jeans and rolled the striking wheel under his thumb.

"Where do you find lighter fluid?"

"Gasoline, usually—lighter fluid currently."

"Thought I recognized a survivor in you. Here," and Gundersen handed Rourke a truck-stop sized white mug,

the coffee steaming hot and smelling good as Rourke sipped at it. "So,"

Gundersen sighed, sitting down opposite Rourke in a small leather chair. "You're the mar everybody was so hot to find. Ex-CIA, I understand."

"Yeah," Rourke nodded, inhaling on his cigar, ther exhaling a cloud of gray smoke. He watched as the ventilation system caught it, the smoke dissipating rapidly.

"And the president needed you."

"That's what Cole tells me," Rourke nodded.

"That's what he tells me too."

'Where'd you bump into Cole?" Rourke asked suddenly.

"We'd been surfacing at nights, trying to make contacl with a U.S. base—stumbled onto the U.S. II frequenc} after threading our way through a lot of Russian, if you know what I mean. With the satellites gone, the laser communication network was out. Just luck I guess."

"Did you talk with President Chambers?"

"Spoke with a guy named Colonel Reed—all in code. Never really spoke at all. You know. But he was named on the communiques—all Reed under orders from Chambers.

Said they were sending out a man named Cole and a smal] patrol for an urgent mission we could help with." Gundersen laughed. "Didn't have anything else to do, Fired all our missiles. All we had left were torpedoes—nc enemy submarines around to shoot 'em at. I think most ol the Soviet Fleet that wasn't destroyed is fighting in the Mediterranean."

"Used to be a beautiful part of the world," Rourke nodded.

"Used to be—not now. It's a bloodbath ovei there—and a lot of radiation, I understand. You know, being a submarine commander and having a nuclear war—I feel like that guy in the book."

"But this isn't Australia," Rourke smiled.

"No—but I wonder. The icepack advancing— understand the weather up above," and he jerked his thumb upward., "has been pretty screwy. End of the world?"

"Maybe," Rourke shrugged.

"You said that awful casually," Gundersen said, lighting a cigarette.

"Yeah—maybe I did. If it is, I can't stop it. Just try to survive it after I find my family."

"Wife and two children, right?"

"Right," Rourke answered. "What are Cole's orders?"

"Pretty much like I imagine he told you. Find this air base if it is still there—supposed to be. We get you in as close as we can, then shanks mare all the way and Cole uses whatever available transportation there is to get the warheads out and back to the submarine. Then we deliver them to U.S. II Headquarters or wherever—that last part hasn't been spelled out yet. I guess it will be."

"What do you do after that?"

"I don't know. Keep going. We can run for a long time yet—a long time.

Provisions should hold up for a long time as well. Then I guess we'll die like everybody else if the world ends. I don't know. Can't plan too far in advance these days."

"What do you think about Cole?"

"He's a prick—but he's got the President's signature on his written orders. I can't argue with that."

"Do you trust him?"

"No—but he's got orders and I'm supposed to help him carry them out. I disarmed you and your Mr. Rubenstein simply to keep the peace. We get topside, regardless of what Cole says, I'll re-arm you both. Can't have you guys shooting holes in my submarine, though—my engineer complains like an old lady about it. See," and Gundersen jerked his thumb upward again, smiling, "the roof leaks."

"Ohh," Rourke nodded. "Wouldn't have suspected that."

Gundersen laughed, leaning forward, gesturing with his cigarette. "To answer your question before you ask—I've got no plans at all for Major Tiemerovna.

She's a pretty woman—I think the guys giving blood and everything to keep her alive pretty much caused my crew to look at her that way, not as a Communist agent. She minds her manners once she's up and around and as far as I'm concerned, she's free as a bird. I understand she was pretty heroic herself when—the Florida thing. Jesus—" and Gundersen inhaled hard on the cigarette, the tip glowing brightly near the flesh of his yellowed first finger and thumb.

"Yeah—she was. Saved a lot of American lives. Saved a lot of lives period."

"I'm not planning to rearm Major Tiemerovna, though—I realize she's a loyal Russian and I guess that's just as it should be. And I'm not inviting her unescorted onto the bridge, into the torpedo rooms, the reactor room—anywhere sensitive. Couldn't risk her opening a torpedo tube on us and sending us to the bottom. Not that I'm saying necessarily that she would."

"She would if she had to," Rourke smiled.

"Exactly—but beyond that, I don't care what Cole wants. She stays on my ship, my word's-lhe law here, not his."

"Thank you," Rourke nodded.

"I got a present for you—figured you might use it—I can't anymore."

Gundersen got up, walked across his room to his desk and sat down behind it.

Rourke stood up, following him, stopping then in front of the desk. From a large locked drawer, Gundersen produced a black leather pouch, snapped closed with a brass fitting. He opened the pouch—inside it were six Detonics stainless magazines, the

magazines empty as Rourke looked more closely, the magazines ranked side by side, floorplates up.

"I've seen these," Rourke commented, shifting the cigar along his teeth into the left corner of his mouth.

"It's called a 'Six Pack'—Milt Sparks made 'em before the Night of The War.

Mostly for Government Models, but I had him make one for my Detonics. But then I lost the gun—it fell out of my belt and went overboard. Without the gun, the magazines are useless. So, unless I can trade you out of one of yours, you may as well have it."

"Thank you," Rourke nodded, turning the heavy black leather Six Pack over in his hands. "You can't trade me out of one of my Detonics pistols."

"Sort of figured that—use it in good health—ha," and Gundersen laughed.

Rourke got the joke.