213 Ambrosia Cartel: Part 20

Patrick waited below the water level with his scuba gear. He breathed in and out slowly as he waited for further communication from Nathan. Waiting was not his best idea and not his best interest as of now. He just wanted to find the entry for the ICBM base that was located underwater according to the intel that Herring brought. There might be any abandoned water channel that he could use to enter the hidden ICBM base. But no, there wasn't anything like that.

Nathan: "Is this working? Alright, It's me, Herring. You should find a cooling tunnel below where you're currently swimming. It should lead to the heart of the ICBM base. Don't worry, it's inoperational so you wouldn't see anyone or anything. However, if what the pilot said was true, you will be in big trouble."

Patrick looked down and found a big water grate that could be cut by his hydro cutter that he brought on his back. He brought that since he had thought about the whole nature of the operation. It was very likely for him to find anything that needed to be cut or break. Patrick swam through the direction of that water grate and turned on his hydro cutter.

The cutter was designed to operate underwater where regular blowtorch wouldn't turn on or even melt any metal. Patrick cut the hinge of the water grate one by one. The water grate should lead to the secret ICBM base that the United States built during the Cuban missile crisis. Patrick lifted the grate that only could fit one person.

Patrick dived down into the cooling tunnel that seemed to be a very large pipe. The purpose of that cooling tunnel was to cool down the climate inside of the ICBM base. It was the same system that the main base used to cool down the temperature inside of the interior of the base. It was used to cool the hot coolant that would be put into the compressor.

Patrick swam inside of that red pipe that led to the maintenance zone inside of the ICBM base according to Herring. Herring gave him a job to gain access to the ICBM base mainframe. The only one who had access to the mainframe was the United States government, but the base seemed to be activated by some external powers.

Herring: "The job is simple. Get to the control room. Plugin the flash disk inside of the mainframe and upload the files."

Patrick continued swimming until he saw a hatch on the side of the pipe. The hatch could perfectly fit him and his equipment. Patrick grabbed onto that hatch and he opened it. He climbed out of the red pipe that fit him. He closed the hatch afterward. The maintenance room was a room with a lot of circuit breakers.

Well, the location where Patrick was standing wasn't the main maintenance area. He was in the cooling system section of the maintenance area. Patrick took off his frog boots and put it on his belt that had a place to attach the boots.

"Solid copy Charlie Papa, please progress to Control Room in B8."

Patrick heard footsteps in front of him. He hid behind one of the lockers inside of that section. Two people were walking inside that base. Those people were cartels. One could find out just by looking at their faces that were full of tattoos. Their weaponry was an AK that had been modernized. In short, these people were well funded by some unknown source. They weren't Russian either since if they were Russian, Marinka would have informed him.

Patrick aimed at those two people and pulled the trigger of his P90. Two 5.7x28mm bullets were flying in the direction of those two cartels. Those two dropped dead on the floor and Patrick proceeded to the maintenance area. He opened the door that led to the maintenance area. The door inside of that ICBM base had a similar appearance to the door that one would find inside of a submarine.

It was most likely to be built like that so the door could act as an airlock in case there were a leak and the needs of sealing the room arisen. The maintenance room itself was a room with a very huge machinery that was shielded inside of a dome. Patrick guessed that it was the reactor that powered the whole base. It was quite impressive seeing that reactor that more than thrice of his age was still functioning.

It showed how advanced the Ambrosia cartel was. They could maintain an ICBM base and a nuclear reactor. They must have some scientists that were backing them up to operate the complicated machinery inside of that ICBM base. In the steel floor of that maintenance room, there was white powder with blood.

It seemed for Patrick that someone had overdosed on their medicine and died. The poor soul must have been very stupid to snort a package of cocaine at once. There was a half-eaten white brick that was most likely to be cocaine. Patrick kicked that cocaine away. He headed for the next hatch that would lead him to the elevator or emergency stairs.

"This is Charlie Papa, the base has been occupied by the cartel. I say again, the base has been occupied by the cartel. Charlie Papa out." Patrick released his finger from the button that allowed him to communicate to the main base.

Patrick opened the hatch door that would lead into a hallway. Patrick opened that hatch door and there were two signs. One sign was to the elevator while the one was to the warhead section of the base. Of course, Patrick turned left into the elevator so he could take the lift into the eighth floor instantly.

The hallway was filled with cartel members. Patrick's option was to shoot them all or he wouldn't be able to gain access to the elevator. There was no CCTV there so he didn't have to worry about those who watched him from above because there wasn't anyone that watching him except for the gods.

Patrick used his focus ability and he aimed at four cartel members that were in that hallway. He switched the firing mode of his PDW to semi-automatic and pulled the trigger. The cartel dropped dead to the ground one by one. Patrick ran to the elevator at the end of that hallway. Patrick pressed the button for going down and waited.

He waited while aiming his PDW at the elevator door in case someone decided to show up and call the others to shoot him. The idea of being surrounded in an enclosed space where there was no chance of getting out without any significant luck was not something that Patrick wanted. He wanted to get out of there alive by diving back into the surface.

As the elevator reached B2, a bell rang from the elevator. It indicated that the elevator had arrived at B2. The elevator door slowly opened and Patrick's guess was right. There were two cartel members inside that elevator. Patrick shot both of them with his P90 and dragged the body out of the elevator.

Patrick pressed the B8 button and the elevator was sent down to the floor. Jazz music was playing in the background as Patrick checked the leftover bullets inside of the magazine in his P90. The elevator kept going down. It seemed to Patrick that the height of that main base was only as tall as the ICBM itself since it was very short.

As the elevator ride was over, he aimed his PDW at the elevator door again while waiting for it to be opened. Patrick looked at the glimpse of light as the door of the elevator was opened. Patrick aimed at the person that was waiting in front of the elevator. Patrick pulled the trigger of his PDW and threw that body into the elevator. He closed the elevator to make sure that nobody discovered his body.

Even if they discovered it, it would take a decent amount of time to find him among all of the ten floors inside of that hidden facility. The eighth floor itself was the main control facility for the ICBM. Patrick expected the boss of the facility to be there. However, it was weird. The floor that must have been a control facility only looked like a floor without any content. There was only a door at the end of the runway that was as thick as it could be.

"Use your PDA!" Nathan said from the radio.

Patrick put his PDA near the card reader and the blast door to the control room was opened. The view of that room was spectacular. There were a lot of control panels in that room. However, there was something that caught Patrick's attention.