@@@@@It would be somewhere near the tunnel; that
@@@@@It would be somewhere near the tunnel; that was a given
The race through “London,” “Coventry” and “Portsmouth” could only be likened to the
newsreel footage from World War II depicting the carnage hurled down on Great Britain by the
Luftwaffe, compounded by first the screaming and then the silent terror of the V-2 and V-5 rockets
But the residents of Novgorod were not British—forbearance gave way to mass hysteria, concern
for all became survival for self aloneAs the impressive reproductions of Big Ben and the Houses
of Parliament crashed down in flames and the aircraft factories of “Coventry” were reduced to
raging fires, the streets swelled with screaming, horrified crowds racing through the roads that led
to the Volkhov River and the shipyards of “Portsmouth There, from the scaled-down piers and
slips, scores threw themselves into rushing waters only to be caught in the magnesium grids where
sharp, jagged bolts of electricity blazingly zigzagged through the air, leaving limp bodies floating
toward the next metal traps above and below the angry surfaceIn paralyzed fragments, the crowds
Robert Ludlum ?? THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
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watched and turned in panic, fighting their way back into the miniaturized city of “Portsea”; the
guards had abandoned their posts and chaos ruled the night
Snapping on the jeep’s searchlight, Bourne drove in sudden spurts down alleyways and the less
crowded narrow streets—south, always southHe grabbed a flare from the army vehicle’s floor,
pulled the release string, and proceeded to thrust the spitting, hissing, blinding burst of fire into the
hands and faces of the hysterical racing stragglers who tried to climb on boardThe sight of the
constantly pulsating flame so close to their eyes was enough; each screamed and recoiled in terror,
no doubt thinking yet another explosive had detonated in his or her immediate vicinity
A graveled road! The gates to the American compound were less than a hundred yards away
The graveled road? Soaked with fuel! The plastic charges had not gone off—but they would in a
matter of moments, creating a wall of fire, enveloping the jeep and its driver! With the accelerator
pressed to the floor, Jason raced to the gateIt was deserted—and the iron barrier was down! He
slammed on the brakes, skidding to a stop, hoping beyond reasonable hope that no sparks would fly
out and ignite the gravelPlacing the spewing flare on the metal floor, he swiftly removed two
grenades from his pockets—grenades he was loath to part with—pulled the pins, and hurled both
toward the gateThe massive explosions blew the barricade away and instantly set the graveled
road on fire, the leaping flames immediate—enveloping him! He had no choice; he threw the hot
flare away and sped through the tunnel of fire into Novgorod’s final largest compoundAs he did
so the concrete guardhouse at the “English” border exploded; glass, stone and shards of metal shot
out and up everywhere
He had been so filled with anxiety on their way to the crossing into “Spain” that he barely
recalled the diminutive replicas of the “American” cities and towns, much less the fastest routes
that led to the tunnelHe had merely followed young Benjamin’s harsh shouted commands, but he
did remember that the California-bred trainer kept referring to the “coast road—like Route One,
man, up to Carmel!” It was, of course, those streets closest to the Volkhov, which in turn became,
in no order of geographical sequence, a shoreline in “Maine,” the Potomac River of “Washington,”
and the northern waters of Long Island Sound that housed the naval base at “New London
The madness had reached “America Police cars, their sirens wailing, sped through the streets,
men shouting into radios as people in various stages of dress and undress ran out of buildings and
stores, screaming about the terrible earthquake that had hit this leg of the Volkhov, one even more
severe than the catastrophe in ArmeniaEven with the surest knowledge of devastating infiltration,
the leaders of Novgorod could not reveal the truthIt was as if the seismic geologists of the world
were forgotten, their discoveries unfoundedThe giant forces beneath the earth did not collide and
erupt in terrible swift immediacy; instead, they worked in relays, sending a series of crippling body
blows from north to southWho questions authority in the panic of survival? Everyone in
“America” was being prepared, primed for what they knew not
They found out roughly ten minutes after the destruction of a large part of the diminutive “Great
Britain Bourne reached the compressed, miniaturized outlines of “Washingto