Survivalist - 18 - The Struggle by Jerry Ahern Page B

inside, he could contact the Germans outside
    Eden Base. And he could turn on John Rourke’s water heating system and indulge himself for as long as he wished in the warm water, borrow clothes that were dry and warm, make a meal for himself that was warm.
    He rubbed his hands over his modest fire, trying to imagine what warm would be like again.

Chapter Fourteen
    He had been learning how to fly the J7-Vs, taking each opportunity he could at the yoke, and he “flew” one now. He hadn’t taken it airborne, nor would he land it, although in a pinch he was confident he could do either, had done both under the watchful eye of various of the German pilots, with the permission of Colonel Wolfgang Mann. Oddly now, Mann was one of the passengers aboard the J7-V, along with Michael’s mother and Maria Leuden and Bjorn Rolvaag and a small unit of German commandos.
    The J7-V Michael Rourke flew was one of eighteen J7-Vs, the largest group of these planes Michael had ever seen assembled, which flew a Polar route toward the conflict in Lydveldid Island. Colonel Mann was following his father’s advice concerning bottling up the Soviet Forces in Hekla, then proceeding to throw everything available against the Soviet offensive at Eden Base, but following John Rourke’s plan with a twist. Bjorn Rolvaag, from what little Michael and Maria Leuden had been able to understand, was obsessed with returning to Iceland because his native land was in danger. From everything Michael Rourke
    had ever read, the Scandinavian people as a whole were fiercely patriotic and the Icelandics, of course, were descendants of the Scandinavians, of the Viking explorers.
    At Rolvaag’s feet sat his dog, Hrothgar, the animal more quiet than his master, sleeping peacefully. Michael had wondered, been unable to ask, if the dog could “hold it” long enough to make the journey. From the First City, they had traveled northeastward over the Sea of Japan and to the Sea of Okhotsk, landing in a remote waste in Northeastern Siberia to make a last-minute check before crossing the Pole. Hrothgar had relieved himself, then returned to stay by his master’s side, Rolvaag looking almost invigorated by the very sight of the barren arctic wilderness. Maria had stood outside, huddling beside him—Michael Rourke—and Sarah Rourke had stayed inside the fuselage deep in conversation with Wolfgang Mann.
    Then airborne again, making the jump over the Pole to Greenland.
    The twist to John Rourke’s plan was a simple one. Colonel Mann, taking Michael’s mother with him because she and the unborn child she carried would be safer with his force, would travel to Eden Base. But Michael and Maria (although Michael had protested, she had insisted and he had agreed she could stay with him) would join Bjorn Rolvaag and a small group of German commando volunteers in an attempt to penetrate the Hekla community, rescue Madame Jokli, the Icelandic President, and generally do as much damage to the Soviet military position as possible.
    The J7-V cruised comfortably, easily beneath his hands and Michael Rourke used the time to survey what lay beneath him. Vast ice fields, as far as the eye could see in any direction. The German maps of the
    area showed the previous known boundary of the Ice Cap. Its volume had increased dramatically. Was the Earth entering a new Ice Age?
    Or was it entering the last age?
    If they met with success in Iceland and Colonel Mann met with success in Georgia at Eden Base, would the war which had lasted for five centuries be closer to conclusion? Or, would the Russians redouble their efforts to gain control of Chinese nuclear warheads and simply use them out of desperation or sheer evil stupidity?
    Some scientific opinion was that one more nuclear detonation would end everything forever.
    He took his eyes from the ice fields and his instruments and looked back along the interior of the fuselage. Maria Leuden slept in one of the chairs, seatbelted in, head cuddled