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Also By Martin Caidin Mary*e Tonight At Algels TwelveCyborgPublished By WARNER PAPERBACK LIBRARYCYBORG #2 @:-Op ERATIONNUKEby MARTIN CAMIN0, VORI'mLIBRARYA Wamer Communications Company WARNER PAPERBACKIIBRARY EDMON First Printing: March, 1974 Copyright 0 1973 byMartin Caidin All rigbts,reserved, including the right of reproductionin-wholo, I'l, ', o 'in pan, im any fornL rLibral-jr of COWew Catalog Card Number: 72-97689 Thk Warner PaMback LibraryEdition is PubIbbed bj arrangement with Arbor Houw P01110hing Co,, UO.for IsobeHaftom The Beas#y Grog Underfoot was slime dangerous to four men struggling with a heavy, cumbersomemetal case. Battery lights strapped to helmets reflected off curving wetwalls. They ignored the rats, centipedes, and spiders all about them. Theywere stooped and bone-weary from carrying the one hundred and forty pounds ofmetal container along the service tunnel not quite high enough for a man tostand in. A curse as the lead man buckled to his knees. My ankle. rve twistedit. Behind him a thick-bodied form lowered his end of the case to the tunnelfloor. Take a break, he said curtly. The men responded with deep, shudderingbreaths, their bodies slumping.For a moment Sam Franks was framed in light as the others cast beam from theirhelmet lamps on his face. Franks chewed the unlit end of a cigar. Thick fistslammed into his palm. Just like that'when the time comes. ne lead man rubbed his ankle. Franks unnerved him. How much more is it now,-Sam? he asked. Paper unfolded before a helmet light. Sam Franks studied themap, turned his light to cables with identifying numbers along the tunnelside. Finally his thick forefinger tapped the map. We're here. Two hundredyards to go. No one spoke. Frank nodded slowly. Let's move it, he said.Ten feet above their heads, above concrete and macadam, spread the main squareof Butukama, one of the new cities of the Congo, hacked from jungle. At oneend of the square loomed a government hall, standing behind huge concrete pillars. Thefour men were working their way to a position directly beneath the building.Inside was a meeting hall large enough to seat four hundred men, and in itwere convened the new leaders of black African nations planning the bestmethods to remove white rule from Africa forever-to fuffill their promise foran all-black continent.The four men in the tunnel were unconcerned with the nationalist fervor in thebuilding above them. They were doing a job, and it was advisable to keep one'smind on the job at hand rather than on its astonishing consequences. The workalso paid extraordinarily well.The heavy metal container was put down. The men took another brief rest, thenreturned to work. One man went another hundred yards along the tunnel, dousedhis light and drew out from a shoulder holster a long-barreled pistol with asilencer. Expert fingers caressed the metal in darkness. The man wasaccustomed to waiting. In the other direction, another hundred yards back inthe tunnel along which they had just come, another guard took big position.The remaining two men were already busy.Sam Franks adjusted a portable fluorescent lamp, finger-punched a magneticlook. Twelve numbers. Any one wrong number in the twelve, before depressingthe Open key, would set off a small but devastating explosive charge. Franksdidn't make that kind of error. He opened the cover and locked it intoposition. For several moments he took stock of the instruments and devicesbefore him. Then he went to work adjusting a series of controls and timers.Finally he straightened, nodding. The cable, he said, not looking up.His assistant nodded. Here. I've tagged it. Franks extended a shielded wirefrom the container to a thick cable running the length of the tunnel. Hesliced through the protective sheath to expose bare cable. To this he woundseveral coils of naked wire, then plugged the opposite end into a currentdetector. A red light stared at him. He nodded with satisfaction, removed theplug and inserted it into a receptacle in the container they had brought withthem. He looked up. Everybody on the farside. He waited until the others had retraced their steps along the tunnel.He was concerned about a man slip *PH19 to dislodge the device he'd so carefully prepared. One last step. Hereturned his attention to another set of twelve numbered keys. For a moment hehesitated, running his tongue over dry lips. Then he bent forward, madecertain of the lighting, tapped out another sequence of numbers. A series oflights glowed at him. Franks studied the color coding, nodded and closed thecontainer. He canceled out the look release with a final rapid movement of hisfurigers, turned and started after his men.They moved quickly, silently except for the cushioned splash of boots inwatery sli -me. No need to talk. Whatever had been accomplished so far couldbe undone by chance discovery. They needed to leave the area as undetected aswhen they'd entered Butukama. They emerged from the tunnel through a manholecover obscured by a truck with a broken axle. Another vehicle driving byslowed and four figures slipped beneath its canvas. As the truck bounced alongdeeper into country with thick foliage, the men got out of their soiledclothes and put on combat jump-quits.The drive took the better part of an hour. Along a curv ing section of roadthe truck slowed. A radio signal beeped softly and the driver stopped. Theysaw no one, but the men in the truck knew they were being observed throughinfrared light. Move it. The voice came from darkness and the driver shifted-gears to continue along the road, emerging at the edge of a forest clearing.At the far end a large highwinged airplane was barely visible in night shadow.The truck drove to the rear of the airplane, and this close the markings ofthe United States Air Force were revealed. A plane well known throughout theworld-a powerful Lockheed C-130E Hercules. Made for advanced combat work. SamFranks and the others moved into e transp while the men still spread acrossthe field completed their final tasks. From the cockpit, Franks watcheJthrough high-powered infrared binoculars. His men knew what they were doing.
