Temple of Fire Read Online Free PDF

been there, of course. *
    What’s in the crater?
    * Intelligence. *
    That’s pretty vague.
    * That’s all I can sense at the moment. What’s more interesting is what Mrs. Caine put in the EFV. *
    I’m under orders to tell no one about it unless it’s absolutely necessary.
    * Let’s hope that it won’t. *
    Amen to that.
     

Aft Cargo Hold 6
Aboard the Alamiranta
     
    Pyro was a muscular, Japanese-born Titan operative who had been a member of the elite Narashino Airborne Brigade earlier in his military career.  He was an explosives and ordnance specialist.  Captain Papagantis had therefore asked him to supervise the disarming of the Chinese torpedo.
    Pyro knelt next to the weapon that had partially breached the hull of the Alamiranta .  The leaks around the torpedo had been plugged, and the seawater in the cargo bay had been pumped out.  Lieutenant Bender watched as Pyro and three bomb squad members examined the torpedo.
    Pyro sighed as he surveyed the electronics beneath the torpedo casing that had been removed behind the nose of the sleek gray weapon.  Modern-day torpedoes had sophisticated guidance systems, and detonation was controlled by complex circuitry that was comprised of a maze of computer chips, batteries, and color-coded wires.  A dozen small green lights blinked in sequence, indicating that the torpedo was still armed.
    “What should I tell the Captain?” asked Bender.
    Pyro stood up and faced the Lieutenant.  “That a random radio signal or electronic pulse could trigger this damn thing at any moment.”
    Pyro stumbled backwards several paces as the ship heaved up.
    “But there’s radio noise everywhere on the Alamiranta ,” Bender said, worry claiming his features.  “We have a million pieces of equipment on board that send out electronic pulses, from bow to stern.  We can’t function without them.”
    “I know,” said Pyro .  “That’s what worries me.”
     

Titan Six,
The Great Basin Desert
     
    “We’ve moved three hundred yards,” said Hawkeye, “but I don’t see any assault vehicle.”
    “My mistake,” said Touchdown.  “It’s twenty feet away.  I forgot to turn off the stealth shielding.”
    Hawkeye turned in every direction, but he only saw the dry and forbidding sagebrush desert.  To his right, heat rose in ghostly shimmers, distorting his view of the mountain range in the distance.
    And then the shimmers began to dissolve as the EFV simultaneously began to materialize.  At first, it resembled nothing more than a transparent troop carrier.  Second by second, however, it became solid and three-dimensional.
    “Damn,” said Gator.  “We almost walked straight into it.”
    “The EFV absorbs certain wavelengths of the visible spectrum,” explained Touchdown, “but reflects others.  It’s currently set for desert mode.  It reflects an entire continuum of desert colors, such as tans, browns, rust — you name it.  All other colors are absorbed by its armored plates.”
    Hawkeye looked at the Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle.  It was a modified AAVP7A1, which was both a land-based troop carrier and amphibious tank twelve yards long.  Its wide metal treads were more than adequate to handle any kind of hostile terrain.
    Gator walked slowly around the vehicle, his eyes wide with admiration for the EFV.
    “The long barrel is a 120 millimeter M256 smoothbore gun,” Gator said.  “It has two M240 machine guns, an MK19 grenade launcher, and a YAG log laser range finder.  This gem can do it all.”
    “Sunken marble tub inside?” asked Tank.
    Gator laughed as he wiped sweat from his almost bald scalp.  “No, but it can carry fifteen soldiers and has sophisticated communications, radar detection systems, a three-station tactical display, and a six-point camera array for seeing what’s on the outside.  It also has storage capacity for ammo, food, and medical supplies that you wouldn’t believe.  Even a mini-lab.”
    “Let’s drive it off the lot,