Temple of Fire Read Free Page A

and encased in Plexiglas.
    “Depending on the assignment,” Nguyen said, “Titan Global now has the option of sedating its teams, feeding them nutrients intravenously, and pumping oxygen into the chambers.  You never know when you’ll be deployed, and this will ensure that teams arrive strong and alert.  The sedation can be reversed very easily, of course, before you jump.  By the same token, a soldier can be brought all the way into suspended animation — just a few heartbeats per minute — if he or she is returning from a mission with a critical injury that requires surgery aboard the Alamiranta .”
    “Why not just give us some coffee and tell us to take deep breaths?” said Tank with a grin.
    “This will give teams a real edge during longer transports,” Nguyen replied.  “We’re interested in seeing just how well the system works on the next assignment, even if it’s short.”
    “In other words,” said Hawkeye, “we’re the guinea pigs as usual.”
    Nguyen shot an index finger at the team leader.  “You’re our elite team, so yes, you’re the ones who draw the short straw.”
    Nguyen smiled, and Hawkeye reminded himself for the hundredth time how beautiful the doctor was.  He regarded her short, black, silky hair as very sexy.  Her dark Asian eyes looked at the world above high cheekbones, and her skin was flawlessly smooth.
    “Today,” said Nguyen, “we’ll see how fast our technicians can get you into the chambers and hooked up to an IV drip.  Don’t expect normal hospital apparatus, however.  We use short, slim tubes and micro-needles.”
    Nguyen touched her inconspicuous earpiece.  “It’s Mrs. Caine .”  She paused.  “I’m told that your next mission begins immediately.”
    “Tell her we’ll be in the briefing area in five minutes,” Hawkeye said.
    Nguyen shook her head.  “No time for that now.  You’ll be briefed en route.  You’ll be taken by helicopter to a Globemaster at Titan’s underground airbase in the Mexican desert.  Your destination will be Nevada .”
    “Why not just take us all the way by chopper?” asked Shooter.  “We’re talking about a short hop.”
    “You need to do a HALO jump,” Nguyen said.  “Mrs. Caine said you can’t risk detection from local U.S. airbases, plus any aircraft has to be well above the debris still hanging in the air.”
    “Debris?” said Hawkeye.
    “Gas, smoke, and dust,” said Nguyen.
    Titan Six exited Shotgun Alley, headed for the chopper pad on the main deck.
     

The Nevada Desert
Twenty-five Miles from the Former Camp of U.S. Petroleum
     
    Will Langhorne exited his Jeep Cherokee and adjusted the strap of his cavalry hat.  Dressed in jeans, khaki shirt, and boots, he surveyed the broad vista before him.  Even this far away from the blast site, the air was thick with dust. 
    The explosion had occurred twenty hours ago, but the air still hadn’t cleared.  Columns of black smoke curled lazily into the sky, and the desert floor continued to rumble slightly every hour.
    “Those aren’t aftershocks from an earthquake,” Langhorne said to himself.  “The San Andreas has nothing to do with this little baby.”
    He took a compass from his jeans pocket and looked at the needle.  It spun erratically, unable to locate true north.  Rock formations often had magnetic properties, but Langhorne had never seen such strong anomalies.
    He took off his aviator sunglasses and surveyed the desert floor around him.
    Much of the sagebrush had been singed or outright burnt by the heat wave that had expanded from the well.  Jackrabbits and rodents lay dead on the hardpan, killed by the intense heat from the explosion.  A coyote and mule deer were also lying motionless fifteen yards away, flies buzzing over their stiff carcasses.
    Langhorne knew that animals could sense danger easily and often fled scenes of catastrophe well before an actual event, even one instigated by man.
    The maverick geologist also had a keen