MGS1英文官方小说

fengmosn

18

AS THE ELEVATOR bean to move, Snake’s uncanny sixth sense kicked in. perhaps it was that inexplicable nagging feeling that someone was nearby. Or maybe it was the fact that the elevator seemed heavier than it looked. But the biggest giveaway was most likely the diminutive, subtle sound of breathing that wasn’t Snake’s.

　　He went for the holstered SOCOM, but it was too late. Several invisible hands grabbed his arms and shoved him to the back of the elevator car. Then a powerful fist slugged him hard in the stomach, but the Kevlar body vest absorbed the blow.

　　“YAAAOOOOWWWW!” cried the unseen foe. Whoever it was , the bones in his right hand were broken.

　　It was clear now. the four missing stealth camouflage suits. They were in the elevator with him. Worn by four Space Seal guards.

　　Snake broke away from the soldier’s grip and lashed out blindly, attempting to gauge where in the car the four men might be standing. He kicked and punched with the speed of a whirling dervish, but the closeness of the car was a significant hindrance. There was simply no room to maneuver with the kind of agility he would have liked to display. Nevertheless, his fists and feet struck solid human body parts, although Snake wasn’t sure what he was hitting. In contrast, the soldiers knew exactly where their fists were landing; after all, they could see him.

　　Snake tried something different break the monotony of the brawl by applying a twirling technique that Master Miller had taught him. It utilized the same principle that an ice skater employed when performing a spin on point. This required a command of balance and the ability to stay on the toes of one foot while slugging large, heavy objects with outstretched arms. The faster one could spin, the more effective the maneuver was.

　　It seemed to work, for Snake felt fewer blows connecting with him and heard his opponents slam against the walls of the car. Then one of them crashed against the elevator control panel, causing the car to lurch and stop between floors. It also extinguished the lights.
That evens up the odds, Snake thought. He couldn’t see them, but they also couldn’t see him.

　　Snake concentrated on imagining the shape and form of the four men, mentally drawing their pictures in the darkness in front of him. He could see in his mind’s eye their height, weight, and bulk. It was an instinct he had honed with experience, something that had saved his life more times than he could recall. And for some odd reason, it was easier to do in the dark than it had been earlier, when the lights were on.

　　A face must be there, so he hit it! The guard cried out in surprise and went down.

　　This man’s stomach was there, and a roundhouse kick forced the guy to double over, allowing Snake to clobber him on the back of the head. He was down, too.

　　The third guard was to Snake’s left. The operative visualized the man’s neck and spear-handed it, bursting the Adam’s apple. The soldier cried in pain and fell to the floor, unable to breathe. He was dead within a minute.

　　That left the fourth man, the one with the broken hand.

　　“Where are you?” Snake asked.

　　The whimpering came from the corner of the elevator. The guard was huddled there, trying his best to remain silent.
Snake’s foot lashed out and connected with the man’s nose. The whimpering ceased.

　　Snake flicked on his penlight and examined the control panel. It was completely busted. The only thing he could do was pry open the doors with his fingers. They were heavy, but he got them to part enough so that he could slip out and onto the floor, which was three feet above the bottom of the elevator.

　　At least the lights on this floor were on. The number 8 was printed on the wall. That wasn’t too bad. At least he didn’t have to descend a zillion flights of stairs to get to the bottom.
He followed the corridor to the stairwell.


BLLZZARD CONDITIONS HAD returned to the outdoors.

　　A vast snowfield lay between the second communication tower’s base and a building to the north. Pine trees dotted the landscape, but visibility was at an all-time low. With the wind howling and the night sky covered with dark clouds, it was an effort for Snake to see any thing at all. He decided to step back inside the tower structure and enjoy a smoke before venturing further. After lighting one of the awful cigarettes he had filched, Snake dug the standard-issue Mode B night vision goggles out of his pouch. He wished he’d had them on in the darkened elevator.

　　As he inhaled the foul-tasting but refreshing smoke, Snake thought about the events of the last several hours and wondered how much more there was to go before he was finished with the blasted mission. He appreciated the importance of succeeding-he didn’t want the FOXHOUND terrorists to launch a nuke any more than the suits in Washington did- but he also had mixed feelings about the way everything had been handled. Master Miller’s warning played heavily on his mind. If there was a traitor in their midst, who was it? Colonel Campbell obviously had withheld vital information from him, and that was unlike his old friend. But Snake found it difficult to believe that Campbell could do something unethical. Dr. Hunter was an enigma. Snake hadn’t known her before the mission. Was it possible that she was against them? Mei Ling seemed harmless enough, but who knew? Then there was the Russian nuke expert, Romanenko, who had more smarts than a Mensa debate team. And what about Emmerich, the hapless but affable fellow known as Otacon? What was his story? Could Snake really depend on him?

　　And then there was Meryl, the woman he had let down. The question wasn’t whether he could trust her; it was more like, would she ever again be able o trust him? That is, if he found her…alive.

　　Snake stubbed out the cigarette but and stepped into the freezing cold. Dr. Hunter’s injection apparently was still working. He barely felt the temperature, but the wind was sharp and the air was simply wet.

　　The goggles improved the visibility a great deal. If it wasn’t for the thick snowfall, he’d be able to see all the way across the field o the building. But something caught his eye to the left, on a line of pine trees. It was white and was blowing in the wind. Snake plodded through the snow toward the trees to get a closer look. When he was thirty feet away, he recognized it for what it was.

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　　An opened parachute, hanging in the branches.

　　Could it have belonged to Liquid? Had Otacon been correct about seeing something eject from the burning Hind-D?
Snake couldn’t worry about it. He had to move on. The clock was ticking.

　　He trudged toward the maintenance building, when a shot rang out and a single bullet missed his foot by an inch. Snake leaped to the side and crawled behind a tree. Another shot, and pieces of bark violently scattered in all directions.

　　There’s only one person who can shoot like that…

　　But he couldn’t see a soul.

　　“Snake?”

　　He looked at the Codec and accepted Otacon’s transmission.

　　“What?”

　　“Are you okay?” Emmerich asked.

　　“Otacon! Were there any other stealth prototypes?”

　　“No. only five.”

　　“So… this isn’t stealth camouflage, then…”

　　“What are you talking about?”

　　“Someone’s shooting at me. In the middle of this blizzard.”

　　“It’s her! It’s definitely her!”

　　“Otacon, you sounded thrilled.”

　　“No. I’m not.”

　　“So, then what is it?”

　　“Snake. Please don’t kill her!”

　　“Are you insane?”

　　Emmerich sounded as if he might cry. “Please. She’s a good person! You’d know that if you talked to her.”

　　“Listen to me, kid. She’s a merciless killer.”

　　A burst of static garbled the transmission for a moment. Then a female voice with a Middle Eastern accent came through. “I can see you perfectly from here. I told you I’d never quit the hunt. Now you’re mine.”

　　How the hell did she get hold of a Codec? Could it be Meryl’s?
Otacon pleased with her. “Wolf! No, you can’t!”

　　“Don’t get between a wolf and its prey!”

　　Snake challenged, “You’re pretty good if you can hit me in this storm.”

　　“Wolf!” Otacon continued. “Don’t do this!”

　　“Snake,” the woman purred. “I am near. Can’t you sense me near you?”

　　Snake scanned the entire field from his position behind the tree. Granted, he couldn’t see everything, but he was certain he’d be able to spot the woman if she was as close as she intimated. “Not yet, but if you reveal your location…” he said.

　　“I’m going to send you a love letter, my dear. Do you know what that is? It’s a bullet straight from my gun to your heart.”

　　“Wolf! Snake! No!”

　　“Quiet, Hal!” the woman commanded. “Don’t get in our way!”

　　Snake snarled, “I’m going to pay you back for Meryl!”

　　“You men are so weak. You can never finish what you start.”
And then a bullet splintered the tree just above Snake’s head. He hit the ground and lay flat as another round roughed up the snow near his face. He had to move, and quickly!

　　Snake jumped to his feet and ran away from the trees Sniper Wolf’s targeting laser followed him, and she fired again. This time he determined where she was perched: somewhere in a clump of trees in the middle of the field. Snake was willing to bet she had climbed one and was using the height to her advantage.

　　The operative zigzagged to a protrusion of rocks that was twenty yards away. The woman continued to shoot at him, but he successfully evaded her until he reached cover. Once he was safe, Snake was able to scrutinize the trees carefully, and he saw her. Sure enough, she lying across a tree branch, rifle in hand. The woman was dressed in a white snowsuit, which accounted for her camouflage.

　　Snake removed the PSG-1 from his shoulder, leveled it at the sniper, aimed with as much precision as he could muster, and squeezed the trigger.

　　A splotch of red appeared on the woman’s suit.

　　He watched as she dropped to the ground and ran for cover behind a different tree. Snake fired again, splitting the bark where she hid. Then –nothing. Had he hit her? There was no movement, so Snake kept perfectly still, the rifle aimed for the trees, his eye to the scope. Then he saw her rifle barrel appear at the side of the tree and ducked just in time. A bullet hit the shards at his face. If he hadn’t been wearing the goggles, he’d have been blinded for sure.

　　Snake wiped the blood off his nose and cheeks and gazed at the trees again. Sniper Wolf was on the move. She was running toward the maintenance building, obviously headed for a group of trees around the front entrance. Snake stood and aimed the PSG-1, but she disappeared behind a row of snow-covered shrubs. He waited until he could see the pinpoint of her laser sight searching for him. Then he aimed the rifle and fired. He wasn’t sure if he struck his target because nothing happened. Once again, she had hidden effectively.

　　He had to get closer.

　　Time for another diversion. He reached into the pouch and removed a stun grenade. He wouldn’t be able to throw it as far as he’d like, but perhaps the blast wouldn’t be able throw it as far as he’d like, but perhaps the blast would provide enough cover for him to reach the group of trees where she had been earlier. Snake pulled the pin, stood, and threw it like a football. The thing exploded in the air, creating a bizarre lighting effect in the snowstorm. He immediately ran forward, kicking up the snow as he did so, and headed for the trees.

　　Sniper Wolf got off two shots, one dangerously close. Snake dived for cover behind the first tree just as another round sliced the air near his neck. He lay flat for a moment so that he could catch his breath, but now he felt more confident. The woman was good, but she was no match for him now. he had winged her-he knew that- and she also had been wounded during their first encounter. She wasn’t on her best game, and he was.

　　Snake crouched behind the tree, leveled the rifle, and searched for his prey through the scope.

　　There. She was moving from tree to tree, trying to find the best position from which to shoot.

　　He gritted his teeth and fired.

　　Sniper Wolf’s chest burst into an inkblot of red, and she felt to the ground.

　　“No!” it was Otacon. He ran from the communication tower and struggled across the snow to reach the woman. Snake stood and followed him, but he knew there was nothing the young man could do. Something obviously had happened between Otacon and the female assassin, and now Otacon would pay an emotional price.
When Snake reached the fallen woman, Emmerich was kneeling beside her. She was breathing heavily as blood dripped from her mouth.

　　“I’ve…I’ve waited for this moment,” she gasped. “I am a sniper. Waiting is … my job… never moving a muscle…concentrating…” she looked at Snake and said, “Please. Finish me quickly.”

　　Otacon was crying. “No, please, no.”

　　“I am … a Kurd. I’ve always dreamed… of a peaceful place like this.” She was referring to the snowfield; it did have a certain beauty despite being a scene of bloodshed. “I was born on a battlefield. Raised on a battlefield. Gunfire…sirens…screams… they were my lullabies. Hunted like dogs day after day…driven from our ragged shelters… that was my life. Each morning…I’d find a few more of my family or friends dead beside me. I’d stare at the morning sun… and pray to make it through the day. The governments of the world… turned a blind eye to our misery. But then…he appeared… my hero…Saladin…He took me away from all that.”

　　“Saladin?” Snake asked. “You mean…Big Boss?”

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　　She nodded. “I became a sniper…hidden, watching everything…through a rifle’s scope. Now I could see war not from the inside…but from the outside, as an observer…I watched the brutality, the stupidity of mankind…through the scope of my rifle. I joined this group of revolutionaries to take my revenge on the world.”

　　She coughed and gasped. More blood dribbled out of her mouth as her breathing became even shallower. “But…I have shamed myself and my people. I’m no longer… the wolf I was born to be… In the name of vengeance, I sold my body and my soul. Now…I’m nothing more than…a dog.”

　　Snake felt a compassion for her that he hadn’t expected. “Wolves are noble animals,” he said. “They’re not like dogs. In Yupik, the word for ‘wolf’ is kegluneq, and the Aleuts revere them as honorable cousins. They call mercenaries like us ‘dogs of war.’ It’s true; we’re all for sale for some price or other. But you’re different. You’re untamed. Solitary. You’re no dog. You’re a wolf.”

　　The woman squinted at Snake. “Who are you? Are you Saladin?” She was losing her sense of reality.

　　“Wolf,” Snake whispered, “You spared Meryl’s life.”

　　“She… was never my real target…I don’t kill for sport.”

　　“Rest easy. You’ll die as the proud wolf you are.”
She closed her eyes. “I understand now. I wasn’t waiting…to kill people. I was waiting…for someone…to kill me. A man like you…a hero…Please…set me free.”

　　Otacon grabbed her hand. “No, not!” then, quietly, he said, “I loved you.”

　　Sniper Wolf gestured with her other hand. “My gun…give it to me…She’s a part of me…”

　　Snake didn’t think it could hurt. He picked up her rifle and rested it in her arms. She was in no condition to fire it.

　　“Everyone’s here now,” she managed to say. “Set…me…free…now…”

　　Otacon looked at Snake, who nodded, indicating that he would grant her wish. Emmerich stood and turned away. It was something he couldn’t watch.

　　Snake drew the SOCOM and pointed it at the woman’s forehead. The gun recoiled once, and it was over.

　　Otacon walked a few steps away, his head bowed. Snake approached him and put a hand on his shoulder. “What happened between you two, anyway?”

　　“Snake,” Emmerich said through tears, “You said that love could bloom on a battlefield…but I couldn’t save her.”

　　Snake squeezed the young man’s shoulder. “whatever it was with you and her, it wasn’t real. Do you hear me? You were under her spell. I know you’re unable to hear that now or don’t want to hear it, but in time you’ll understand. I’m sorry.”

　　Otacon sighed heavily and pulled a brightly colored handkerchief from his lab coat pocket. It was just like the one he’d given Snake in the cell. The programmer walked back to Sniper Wolf and laid the cloth over her face.

　　Snake was losing patience. “Otacon, I don’t have any more tears to shed. I’m going to the underground base. We’re out of time.”

　　“I know.”

　　“You’ll have to protect yourself now. don’t trust anyone.”

　　“Yeah.”

　　“If I can’t stop Metal Gear, this whole place will probably be bombed to hell.”

　　“Yeah.”

　　“We might not meet again.”

　　“I’ll hang on to my codec. I want to keep helping.” He handed Snake another Codec. “Here. She had this. I think it was Meryl’s.”

　　Snake took it. “Probably so.” He stuck it in the pouch and walked toward the building to the north. “You can leave anytime. Get a head start, a head start on your new life.”

　　“Snake!” but the operative didn’t turn. “Snake, what was she fighting for? What am I fighting for?” then he had to shout for Snake to hear him. “What are you fighting for?”
Snake turned and yelled, “If we make it through this, I’ll tell you!” he continued toward the building.

　　Otacon kicked the snow and muttered to himself, “Okay. I’ll be searching, too.”

fengmosn

19

THE LEVEL 6 PAN card opened the door to the maintenance building. Snake stepped inside, SOCOM ready, and was met by a wave of heart. It was as if he had just stepped into a sauna, although there was no steam in the air. The place was noisy, too, with the industrial rumbling of heavy machinery echoing throughout a vast area. The room was as large as some of the other gymnasium-size spaces in the Shadow Moses facility, but in this case Snake was at the top looking down at a cacophony of metal that was bathed in a warm orange glow. He stood on a grid platform from which catwalks extended in different directions. One led to a metal staircase on the left side of the room; the stairs descended to another level of catwalks, an so on, for what appeared to be four floors. The bottom of the expanse was a smelting pit full of yellow-hot molten steel. Snake spotted two genome soldiers in the northeastern corner of the lowest floor; behind them was a large door that led to what appeared to be a cargo elevator. That was where he needed to go.
Unfortunately, there were surveillance cameras and at least two, sometimes three, guards standing on every landing, all the way down. Given the angles involved, there was no surreptitious way to descend the stairs without being seen. He would have to find another way to the bottom, and that presented a challenge. There were at least two large lead pipes running vertically on every wall, and the western wall appeared to have narrow ledges at each level. Snake could visualize a route along one of the ledges, but it would be extremely hazardous. One slip, one misstep, and he would fall to molten death. Not only that, but the gigantic smelting arm-a mechanized lever that clutched, lifted, and moved heavy, hot objects-was rotating around the room. On each orbit, the “claw” came extremely close to the western wall. Snake counted the seconds of a single rotation and came up with the number 35.
It’s doable, but…

　　After quickly studying the rest of the room, he came to the conclusion that it was his only course. Still carrying the sniper rifle on his back, he darted across the platform to the catwalk that led closest to the western wall. To leap from the landing to the ledge on the wall, he needed a diversion. He dug into the pouch, removed a frag grenade, pulled the pin, and dropped the explosive. It detonated a few feet above the smelting pit. Snake stopped what they were doing to gaze at the blast, scratch their Snake had jumped to the ledge, but he struggled to keep his balance. There was nothing to hold on to, and the ledge was no more than a foot wide. It was a feat more suited to a circus performer accustomed to acrobatics and aerial derring-do.

　　Once his weight was stabilized, Snake took a deep breath and dared to look down at the soldiers. They hadn’t noticed him. He heard one man mutter that the molten ore in the smelting pit had bubbled up and popped. They went about their business, and so did Snake.

　　Step by step…Snake felt as if he were walking a tightrope without a safety net. The only difference was that he was navigating the ledge while standing against a flat wall, which made it all the more difficult.

　　He hadn’t moved ten feet when he heard a loud, cranking noise approaching.

　　The smelting arm!

　　He squatted in place, almost losing his balance again. The huge mechanical limb swerved over his shoulder and continued its orbit around the room. Snake took another deep breath, slowly stood upright, and resumed the crossing. It was a dizzying sensation. He never had encountered symptoms resembling vertigo, but for some reason the heat, the noise, and the dangerous height all contributed to an onset of light-headedness.

　　What do you expect? He asked himself. After all, he’d been on the move for well over twelve hours, had had very little rest, had undergone severe torture that literally had given a shock to his system, had eaten only the rations he’d brought with him, and had been a human punching bag several times over. It was a miracle he was alive, much less still standing.

　　Those thoughts might have demoralized an ordinary person, but for Snake they were incentives to stay the course. Master Miller had a saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough beat the shit out of everyone else.” Snake lived by that adage, and he hated to lose. He would finish the mission-successfully-or there would be no use returning to his home in the Alaskan wilderness.

　　The mechanical arm around again. This time, Snake ducked without thinking; after having been through the cycle once, he had no trouble adapting to it and building into his rhythm the anticipation of the machine’s approach.

　　Before he knew it, he was on the other side of the pit. His target all along was one of the thick pipes that ran vertically from the ceiling to the floor. It was roughly a foot in diameter slipped on his gloves, grasped the pipe with his legs and hands, and began to descend as if the pipe were a rope.

　　He was halfway down when a alarm blared throughout the steelworks. The guards on the various platforms jumped to attention and ran down the stairs to the bottom, gathered in a huddle, and then spread out around the smelting pit. They obviously were searching for something…or someone. But in separating, the guards left the space around the bottom of the pipe clear. Snake slid down without being seen, hugged the wall, and crept closer to the cargo elevator.

　　But they were waiting for him just beyond the other side of the pit. Four guards ambushed him, taking Snake completely by surprise. Two men grabbed him by the arms, and another forced him but was overpowered and outmatched. The soldiers pushed and dragged him closer to the pit with the intent to throw him into the molten-hot liquid.

　　It was time to fight dirty. Only in cases of extreme emergency did Snake resort to techniques, but he figured that all was fair when you were fighting for your life.

　　Snake twisted his body to the right and kneed the man holding his arm directly in the groin. The soldier let go of him, cried out in pain, and dropped to the floor. The freeing of his right arm allowed Snake to swing it hard at the man to his left, crushing the soldier’s Adam’s apple. Then, in the time it took to blink, Snake elbowed the man directly behind him in the sternum, crushing the bone and stopping the guard’s heart. Now unrestricted by the grasp of the ambushers, Snake turned and kicked the fourth genome trooper between the legs. The soldier froze in shock and pain long enough for Snake to pick him up by the arms and calmly toss him into the smelting pit. The guard’s scream quickly was extinguished by the lava-hot metal.

　　All that had taken approximately 4.8 seconds.

　　Snake considered disposing of the three other men in the same fashion, but he didn’t bother. He’d wasted enough time as it was, so he simply kicked the two conscious men in the head to send them to dreamland.
Thankfully, the cargo elevator was empty when the doors opened. Snake stepped inside and pushed the button to descend to the lower level.

　　“Snake!”

　　Master Miller was on the Codec. Snake answered and said,
　　“Hey, you know what you once said about-”

　　“Never mind that, Snake. I have something to tell you.”

　　“What?”

　　“Is this conversation secure?”

　　“Don’t worry. The monitor’s off. And we’re on the frequency you picked before.”

　　“Okay.”

　　“What’s up?”

　　“It’s about Naomi Hunter.”

　　Snake felt a shiver of dread. “What about her?”

　　“I was in the FBI, too, you know.”

　　“I didn’t know that,” Snake said, “but what’s your point?”

　　“Doctor Hunter’s story about her background…about her grandfather being an assistant secretary to Hoover in the FBI and then going undercover to investigate the Mafia in New York…?”

　　“Yeah? When about it?”

　　“It’s all a big lie.”

　　“How do you know?”

　　“J. Edgar Hoover was a racist, Snake. Doctor Hunter’s father was Japanese.”

　　“So?”

　　“Back then there wasn’t a single Asian investigator. Also, the undercover Mafia sting operations hadn’t started at the time she claims. And they started in Chicago, not New York.”

　　“But-”

　　“You better check it out. The DARPA chief and the ArmsTech president dying like they did, and that ninja…too many strange things are happening.”

　　“Are you saying that Naomi might be behind it?”

　　“I don’t know. Either that or she’s working with the terrorists.”

　　“I can’t believe it!” Snake rubbed his brow and shook his head. “Could it be?”

　　“If I find out any more, I’ll call. In the meantime, be careful!”

　　Miller sighed off, leaving a weary and mistrustful Snake alone just as the cargo elevator came to a stop.

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20

SNAKE FELT THE sudden dip in temperature deeply in his bones, especially compared with the heat of the blast furnace area. The elevator doors opened to a dimly lit massive space with a ceiling fifty feet high. The room was filled with shipping containers and crates, but it felt like the frozen meat section in the supermarket. Snake thought that it was so cold in the place that he might as well have been outside in the blizzard.

　　“Colonel? Naomi?”

　　The Codec sparked to life, and Dr. Hunter answered. “Yes, Snake?”

　　At first Snake was reluctant to talk to her. If what Master Miller had told him was true, he could be assisting the traitor in some way. He decided to limit the conversation to his basic question. “I’m in some kind of underground warehouse. They keep it really cold. It’s probably below freezing in here. Any idea why?”

　　“I’m following you on the map, Snake, and our intel doesn’t provide us with the purpose of particular areas in the complex. I can only guess that they have materials stored there that can’t be exposed to heat. Mei Ling, do you read this?”

　　The woman answered, “Yes, I see you, Snake. Your body heat resonates as a big red dot on my screen. I think you’re all alone in there. I don’t see… wait. I don’t understand.”

　　“What?”

　　“There’s a larger than normal source of body heat in the room with you. I can’t tell if it’s three or more people bunched together or what. Unless it’s an animal of some kind.”

　　“Is it moving?” Snake asked.

　　“Negative. Hold on. I see more heat sources. Several. Tiny ones. They’re moving toward you, Snake.”

　　“What do you mean by ‘tiny’?”

　　“Smaller than cats. But definitely alive.”

　　What the hell? Snake scanned the cavernous room in front of him but saw nothing but the large containers sitting on the floor in rows. And then… a black bird flew over a crate and circled his head.

　　“it’s a crow. Or a raven,” Snake said. “Wait. There are more of them.”

　　The single bird was joined by a large unkindness of ravens numbering in the dozens. They formed a dark, black mass above Snake’s head and flew as one, squawking loudly and menacingly.
Ravens. That meant only one thing.

　　“Welcome, Kasack!” the voice boomed. Snake drew the SOCOM and stepped forward and around a container to see the giant sitting on a crate with the Gatling Vulcan in his lap. Dressed the birds, and they circled back through the air to their master. Most of them landed back through the air to their master. Most of them landed on the various containers and crates. A few alit on Vulcan Raven’s shoulders. They cawed in answer. “Listen, Snake. They agree with me.”

　　Snake gritted his teeth and spat on the floor. “I would have thought our last meeting might have convinced you to run for the hills.”

　　The giant laughed. “That was no true battle! The ravens and I were testing you to see what kind of man you are. The judgment is decided. The birds say that you are a true warrior.” With those words, the raven-shaped birthmark on the shaman’s forehead seemed to animate, grow in size, and separate from the man’s huge skull. It began to fly toward Snake.

　　Reflexively, Snake ducked. “Whoa! Am I hallucinating?”

　　The apparition disintegrated into nothingness over Snake, and then one of the live ravens flew toward him. It descended slowly and landed gently on Snake’s shoulder. Snake tried to swat it away but found that he was unable to move. No matter how hard he tried, his muscles would not respond to his brain’s commands!
“I can’t move!” he managed to say. The shaman had cast some kind of black magic spell on him.

　　Vulcan Raven smiled. “Blood from the East flows within your veins. Your ancestors, too, were raised on the barren plains of Mongolia. Inuit and Japanese are cousins to each other. We share many ancestors, you and I.”

　　“There are no crows in my family tree,” Snake answered through clenched teeth.

　　“You jest, but indeed ravens and snakes are not the best of friends. Nevertheless, you will make a worthy adversary. You live in Alaska, too. You know of the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics?” the giant snapped his fingers, and the raven on Snake’s shoulder spread its wings and lifted off. As the bird flew back toward its master, Snake’s mobility returned. It was as if it hadn’t happened.

　　“Yeah, I know it,” he said. “You must be a real threat in the Muktuk Eating Contest.”

　　“Ha ha ha! Yes, you are right. But there is another event that I excel at. It is called the Ear Pull. It’s an event where two opponents pull each other’s ears while enduring the harsh cold, as it is in this warehouse. It tests spiritual as well as physical strength.”

　　Snake couldn’t help allowing sarcasm to seep into his words. “You want to pull each other’s ears?”

　　Vulcan Raven shrugged. “The form is different, but the spirit is the same. Rejoice, Snake! Ours will be a glorious battle!”

　　Snake took a step forward. “This isn’t glorious. It’s just plain killing. Violence isn’t a sport!”

　　“Well, we will see if there is iron in your words!”

　　With that, Vulcan Raven swung the M61A1 at Snake and let loose with a barrage of 20-mm shells. It was only Snake’s anticipation of the attack and his years of training that got him the jump-literally-on his nemesis, for Snake executed a perfect sideways cartwheel just before the bullets struck him. He landed on his feet behind the cover of a shipping container.

　　Raven stopped firing and laughed. “Excellent, Snake! That is something I could never do! But you will need more than tumbling skills to escape your defeat!”

　　Snake quickly reached into the pouch and removed a flash-bang. He pulled the pin and flung it over the container. The stun grenade exploded before hitting the ground, causing several of the ravens to caw madly. Snake heard their feathered bodies drop to the floor, but had it done any damage to their master? Snake listened and waited for a sign that he had succeeded.

　　“You have hurt my family,” the giant said. “Your puny stun grenades cannot harm me, though. I will admit I was blinded for a moment, and yes, the burns are painful. But you will not get away with that again, Snake. And for the damage you have caused my beloved ravens, I will annihilate you!”

fengmosn

　　The behemoth charged around the container like a bull elephant. Snake shot several rounds from the SOCOM at the man, but the shaman simply blocked the bullets with the Gatling gun. Not only was the damned weapon the size of a Buick, it must have been custom made from a superresilient, bulletproof metal. And despite the giant’s size, Vulcan Raven was fast.

　　Snake turned and ran.

　　“That’s right! Run like the coward you are!”

　　To hell with that bastard! Snake thought. He wasn’t running because of cowardice; he was retreating to formulate a plan of attack. The situation called for something drastic, and Snake had no idea what to do. He wished he still had the Nikita or the Stinger launcher, but he had left those bulky weapons behind long before. Retracing his steps to retrieve one of them would be impossible at this point.

　　He still had the sniper rifle. Snake swung it off his shoulder and checked the magazine. He then climbed on top of a shipping container and lay prone. He could see Vulcan Raven’s massive from moving down a row between crates, searching for his prey. Snake aimed the PSG-1 at the man’s head, steadied the crosshairs, and pulled the trigger, but a raven swooped from nowhere and jarred the rifle with its claws. The bullet seared the giant’s ear, causing it to bleed severely, but it was definitely a miss. In response, Vulcan Raven swung the Gatling gun around and strafed the area where Snake lay. The operative flattened himself as much as possible as the bullets tore up the container and the air around him. The giant walked toward him, leaving Snake with no choice but to roll off the container, land on his feet, and run again.

　　But several bullets struck him in the back. It was as if he’d been clobbered by three of hour sledgehammers; Snake’s body was propelled forward, and he fell hard on his face. For perhaps as he heard the shaman’s heavy footballs approaching. The pain in his back was severe, but the body armor had prevented penetration. He was alive.

　　Move your ass!

　　Snake scrambled to his feet and slipped around the corner of another container.

　　Oh, my God! He cried to himself. His back felt as if it were on fire. The Kevlar-coated vest might have saved his life, but it did nothing to ease the discomfort of being shot. Snake wouldn’t have been surprised if a rib or two had been cracked by the impact.
More rounds from the Vulcan strafed the container on the other side from where Snake was standing.

　　“You can’t hide, Snake! Next time it will be a head shot, where you’re not protected by armor!”

　　Snake slipped away, darted between lines of crates, and crouched behind a steel barrel near the back wall of the warehouse. Although he knew it wouldn’t do much good, he removed another flash-bang, pulled the pin, and rolled it like a bowling ball down the aisle. It detonated just as Vulcan Raven appeared at the end of the row. This time the man yelled in pain, but he stormed through the smoke, even angrier than before. The Gatling gun roared again and perforated the back wall just as Snake fled from behind the barrel to another container. He then circled back to the point where Raven had been struck by the grenade. A large hole had been blown out of the container there, revealing stacks of Claymore mines!

　　Snake reached inside and removed two. Before the giant could spot him, he charged away and headed for the other side of the warehouse. He made a couple of turns, went down different aisles, and finally stopped at a large container near the cargo elevator. He quickly attached the Claymores to the side of the container at the height of his own head. He then found the C4 plastic explosive in his pouch and attached it to one of the Claymores. With the touch of a button, he set the C4 to detonate by remote and quickly programmed the radio frequency on his Codec.

　　Now he had to lure the big lug to him. Snake heard a familiar squawk above his head and saw one of the ravens hovering. With no remorse, he drew the SOCOM, aimed, and shot the bird out of the air.

　　“Snake!” the giant was furious. “You dare to kill my pets!”
He heard the heavy footsteps lumber closer. Snake backed away from the mines, jogged around the container, and moved closer to the cargo elevator. He then dropped to his knees, bent over as if he were experiencing tremendous pain, and held one hand over the Codec.

　　A few seconds later, the shaman appeared at the corner of the booby-trapped container. The blood from the wound on Vulcan Raven’s ear had covered his upper body, creating a sight that was frightening and surreal.

　　“Ahh,” he said. “My bullets have finally weakened you, despite your armor. Say your prayers, Snake. This is the finish. You fought valiantly but, alas, not well enough. Goodbye, fellow warrior!”

　　Vulcan Raven raised the M61A1 for one last salvo, and Snake pushed the button on his Codec.

　　The C4 detonated, causing both Claymores to explode in the giant’s face. The entire warehouse shook from the blast, and the noise reverberated in the cavernous space for several seconds.
The remaining birds cawed in horror and sadness, flew in concentric circles, and finally settled onto the large man lying in the aisle.
Snake stood and walked to the giant. Miraculously, Vulcan Raven was still alive, but barely.

　　“Just…just as the Boss said,” the giant managed to say, “it is my existence… which is no longer needed…in this world. But my body will not remain…in this place. My spirit and my flesh…will become one…with the ravens.”

　　The birds squawked in unison.

　　“Iin that way… I will return to Mother Earth…who bore me.” The giant slowly lifted his heavy arm and pulled something from his pocket. He held it out to Snake. “here. Take this. It will open the back door and lead you… to where you want to go.”

　　Snake took it. It was a Level 7 PAN card. “Why?” he asked.
“You are a snake not created by nature. You and the Boss…You are from another world…a world that I do not wish to know…Go and do battle with him…I will be watching from above.”

　　Snake said, “You are an honorable man. I won’t forget you.”
The giant looked at the operative with bloodshot resigned eyes. Vulcan Raven coughed and winced in pain. Only then did Snake see the horrible wound the size of tire in the giant’s side. The man’s rib cage and internal organs were clearly visible. He would not live much longer.

　　“The man you saw die before your eyes…That was not the DARPA chief.”

　　“What?”

　　“He was Decoy Octopus. A member of FOXHOUND.”

　　Snake’s jaw dropped. Suddenly the mystery of the two corpses was clear.

　　“He was…a master of disguise…He copied his subjects down to the blood. So he drained Anderson’s blood and took it… into himself. But he wasn’t able to deceive…the Angle of Death.”

fengmosn

　　“The Angle of Death?” Snake figured the man was becoming delirious. “But why go to so much trouble? Why impersonate the chief?”

　　Vulcan Raven attempted to smile but couldn’t. “You must solve the rest of the riddle…yourself. Snake …in the natural world, there is no such thing as… boundless slaughter. There is always an end to it. But you are different.”

　　“What are you trying to say?”

　　“The path you walk on has no end. Each step…you take…is paved with the corpses of your enemies.”

　　Snake didn’t want to hear this. He turned his back on the dying man and strode toward the warehouse exit.

　　“Their souls will haunt you…forever!” the giant called cursing his enemy. “You shall have no peace! Hear me, Snake? My spirit will be watching you!”

　　At that moment, the unkindness of ravens swarmed over their master, completely covering him. Snake stopped, turned, and watched in amazement as the birds did something he had never witnessed before.

　　After several seconds of cawing in grief, the birds suddenly took off in flight. There was nothing left of Vulcan Raven-his body had vanished completely. The ravens circled the spot where the shaman had fallen and then flew away into the darkness of the warehouse.

　　“What the …?”

　　Snake rubbed his eyes and looked again. He exhaled loudly and turned back toward his goal. Even though personally he was skeptical, he knew that Eskimo-Indian people believed in magic.
That certainly had been one hell of a trick.

　　“Snake?”

　　The Codec Master Miller again.

　　“Yeah?”

　　“Turn your monitor off. It’s about Naomi Hunter.”

　　But before Snake was able to do so, Colonel Campbell cut in.

　　“What about Naomi?”

　　“Damn!” Miller muttered.

　　Snake sighed. The jig was up. “Colonel, is Naomi there?”

　　“No, she’s away. She’s taking a short nap. Master Miller, we’ve been trying to contact you for hours. Where have you been?”

　　“I’ve, uhm, been dealing only with Snake, Colonel.”

　　“That wasn’t our arrangement. We’re all in this together.”
Master Miller cleared his throat and said, “Fine, Colonel.” Snake found that odd. Usually his former trainer got along well with Campbell.

　　“So what is this about Naomi?”

　　Miller answered. “Okay. Maybe we’d better is not Doctor Naomi Hunter at all.”

　　“What? Come on!”

　　“I thought the story of her background sounded kind of fishy, so I checked it out.”

　　Campbell sounded skeptical but was willing to hear the man out.

　　“And…?”

　　“There is an actual Doctor Naomi Hunter, or I should say there was one. But she’s not the woman we know. The real Naomi Hunter disappeared somewhere in the Middle East. Our Naomi must have somehow obtained her identification papers.”

　　“So, then who is she really?”

　　“She must be some kind of …spy. Maybe sent to sabotage this operation.”

　　“Are you saying she’s with the terrorists?”

　　Snake jumped in. “I don’t want to believe it, either. But I think she’s working for FOXHOUND.”

　　“You think she had a part in the uprising?”

　　Miller answered, “Or she could be working for some different group altogether.”

　　“A different group? It couldn’t be…”

　　“Place her under arrest, Colonel,” Miller suggested.

　　“What? I -”

　　“She’s betrayed us. She needs to be arrested and interrogated to find out who she’s with.”

　　“If she’s one of their spies, then we’re in big trouble…”

　　Snake detected something in the colonel’s voice that indicated that his thoughts weren’t exactly on the doctor. The man was worried about another problem that hadn’t been mentioned.

　　“What do you mean, Colonel?” he asked.

　　“Nothing.”

　　“Uh, Colonel,” Miller inquired, “have you let her in on some kind of vital secret or something?”

　　Campbell didn’t answer.

　　“Does this have anything to do with the mysterious deaths of the DARPA chief and the ArmsTech president?” Miller demanded.

　　“I…I have no idea,” the colonel replied, but he didn’t sound convincing.

　　After a beat of silence, Miller said, “Any way, we can’t allow her to participate any further in this mission.”

　　“Wait, wait,” Campbell argued. “Without her, we can’t complete this mission.”

　　“I knew it,” Snake said. “You’re hiding something.”

　　“No, no, it’s not that…I’ll try to get it out of her.”
Miller said, “Hurry, then. We’ve got to figure out who she is and what she’s doing here.”

　　“I understand,” the colonel answered. “Snake, give me some time.”

　　Snake grumbled, “I don’t have any time left for you, Colonel.” He switched off the Codec, strode toward the warehouse door, slid the PAN card into the lock, and opened the door.

Kissdreams

昨天去惃你录入的全部打印出来了....总共250来页慢慢查字典琢磨....

brightxy

[quote=kissdreams;507494]昨天去惃你录入的全部打印出来了....总共250来页慢慢查字典琢磨....[/quote]
...你不是买了书了吗？

Kissdreams

总得做些划划写写的读书笔记呗，难道要我在原书七玩儿？