Day by Day Armageddon: Shattered Hourglass by J. L. Bourne Read Free Book Online Page B

the way here. Before the undead walked, SOF teams used this particularsystem to establish a covert communications station deep behind enemy lines. When closed, it was a typical hard composite case. When opened, a small high-gain antenna was released via button mechanism and the low observable black solar charging panels were then exposed under the lid. The transmitter device connected via encrypted and cloaked 802.11n Wi-Fi signal to the laptop in the facility control room, wired to an existing surface antenna.
    When properly deployed, the device was weatherproof, self-contained, and durable, and would provide secure two-way text and file-burst communication with the command node elements onboard the aircraft carrier. It was also resistant to RF interference as the transceiver hopped frequencies ten times per second. Designed to thwart savvy first-world hostile-signals intelligence collection, this type of security was overkill, meant for a more civilized and technologically advanced enemy.
    Hawse brushed past Disco in the passageway and looked back over his shoulder, saying, “I’m on point.”
    “I was hoping you’d say that. Have fun with the salesmen at the door.”
    “Shit, I forgot about that. I’ll pull, you shoot?”
    “That works. They’ll have to walk past you to get to me.”
    The men rounded the corner. Their boots clicked on the tile floor. The sound was gradually dampened by the increasing sounds of the undead thrashing against the steel door outside.
    “This could be bad.”
    “I know, point man.”
    Hawse went over the plan with his trademark absurdity. “Okay, I’m gonna tie this line around the wheel. When I spin the wheel and pull, you start sprayin’.”
    “Hawse, why don’t we go dark? Lights off, gogs on. They can’t see in the dark, idiot.”
    “I was gonna say that. It goes without sayin’.”
    “Whatever, let’s get this over with so we can get back inside. I don’t want to be up there in the dark one second longer than need be.”
    The men doused the lights and pulled down their NODs. The darkness seemed to intensify the thrashing and howling soundsof the creatures. The undead noises competed against sounds of slapped mags, carbine press checks, nervous breathing, and heartbeats. Disco imagined what pure evil might walk beyond the heavy steel barrier at this moment. He prayed to himself it wouldn’t be enough to rip the door from its vault-like frame.
    Hawse tied the line securely to the door.
    “Ready?” Hawse yelled.
    “Spin it!”
    Hawse hit the wheel, disengaging the heavy door leading to the savage and unforgiving world beyond.

7
    Three loud raps on the bulkhead broke the silence.
    “Come in.”
    A young enlisted man parted the curtain leading to Kil and Saien’s makeshift stateroom and entered. “Sir, the intelligence officer will see you now. Please follow me.”
    “What about my friend here?” Kil said, gesturing at Saien.
    “Sorry, sir, I was ordered to bring you to the N2, no one else.”
    “He’s coming or I’m not going.”
    Nervously, the petty officer agreed to let his superiors sort it out, and all three departed for the ship’s sensitive compartmented information facility, known to most onboard as simply the SCIF .
    As they moved through the submarine, Kil took notice of the details. Passing an exercise area with treadmills and other machinery, he saw that all the equipment was mounted on rubber shocks. The same was true with the pipes that riddled the overhead. Nothing was permitted to rattle onboard, no erroneous sounds to give away their acoustic position to the Sino or Russian frenemies of days gone by.
    Tapping Kil on the shoulder, Saien asked, “Where are the nukes?”
    “No nukes here, Saien; this is a fast-attack boat. No idea where the nearest boomer might be or if there are even any left on patrol.”
    Frame after frame passed by as they marched aft. After some snaking through very tight passageways they arrived at what the escorting