“Can’t say. Even using afterburners, it’ll be close.”
Morgan informed the tower to clear all air traffic because she was taking off no matter what the controller said. A minute later the T-38 screamed down the runway, and Grant wondered if he’d ever touch the ground again.
FIFTY-SIX
Although the Lodestar carrier plane shaded the sun, Tyler had an expansive view of the horizon for 180 degrees around him thanks to the unorthodox window design. If he were prone to acrophobia, he’d be catatonic by now.
Tyler explored the limits of his restraints, but it was no use. The bungees were too tight to get any leverage against the belts. Zotkin had been very thorough, taking everything Tyler had on him, including his Leatherman.
He breathed in the smell of the Skyward’s interior through the slit in his helmet, a scent that smelled oddly like a car fresh off the factory floor, no doubt due to the newly installed upholstery. The tiny hole kept him from suffocating, but it did nothing to cool him down. He was already drenched with sweat.
Judging by their climb angle, he guessed they would hit the fifty-thousand-foot launch altitude in another five minutes.
“You okay?” Tyler whispered to Jess so that he wouldn’t be heard over the muted engine noise. He could see her struggling to no avail.
She gave him a plaintive look. “We’re going to die, aren’t we?”
“Not if I can help it.”
“What can we do? I’m trussed up like a turkey. Can you get out?”
“I’m trying.” He pulled again. This time he was able to move his arms up just a little. He tried twice more, but he’d reached his maximum range of motion. Unless he could figure out a way to loosen the belts, he was stuck.
Colchev had stripped out of his original flight suit and was now getting into the Icarus suit. It was somewhat bulkier because of the attached parachute and small oxygen tank. If Tyler could somehow break free, he’d at least have the advantage in mobility.
In situations like this, Tyler had one rule: doing something was better than doing nothing. He’d start by talking. He found it helped to get inside the mind of his enemy.
“I know what you’re planning to do, Colchev. You’re going to leave the Killswitch on here and jump out. Won’t work. We’ll both be in freefall. You’ll just float next to us outside the spaceplane until the bomb explodes.”
“Wrong.” He didn’t elaborate, but Tyler didn’t really think he was that stupid. Colchev was probably going to do it the other way around, dumping the Killswitch overboard once the timer was set, then using the rocket to put some distance between him and the explosion before bailing out.
At least that’s how Tyler would do it.
“Are you sure Icarus even works?” he asked.
“It was designed by top Russian engineers.”
“That’s what I mean.”
Colchev smirked at him. “Don’t forget that we were the first country into space. First satellite. First cosmonaut. First space walk. And now America rides on Russian rockets to the space station. I trust this parachute more than I trust this spaceplane.”
Tyler tried a different angle. “You can’t shoot us in here, you know. The bullets might rip through us and penetrate the hull.”
“True. If you’re worried about how you’re going to die, I’m planning to make it easy for you. Instead of letting you scream in terror as the disabled Skyward plummets back to Earth, I’ll just leave your suits unplugged from the environmental system. When I decompress the ship, you’ll fall unconscious and simply fade away. Much more pleasant.”
‘That’s very kind of you.”
“I’m not a monster.”
“Even though you’ve killed a dozen people already and you’re planning to kill thousands more?” Jess said.
“Soldiers are given medals for killing men while trying to take some godforsaken hill somewhere. I killed men on the way to resetting the global order. Which is more justified?”
“Yeah, you’re a regular hero.”
“One country’s villain is another’s hero. George Washington may be a hero in America, but to the British he was a vile traitor. If the colonies had lost the war, the city of Washington would be named Kingsville. It will be the same with me in Russia.”
“Colchevgrad?” Tyler said. “Not very catchy. There’s one other thing I’ve been wondering. How did you know about the cave on Easter Island? You didn’t have Fay’s relic to guide you there, but somehow you ambushed us.”
Colchev looked at them in amazement. “You really don’t know?”
“Know what?”
“About Dombrovski.”
“I know Dombrovski was the one who made the connection to the Nazca lines.”
Colchev shook his head and chuckled. “You Americans
“Project Caelus?” So Colchev had additional information about Dombrovski’s secret project that Kessler hadn’t shared with them. Colchev must have had access to the records that the Soviets stole.
“It’s funny how we know more about it than you do,” Colchev said. “Dombrovski was obsessed with two things: Project Caelus and his second wife, Catherine. I suppose she became his fixation after the death of his first wife and daughter in Russia, but then Catherine died as well. Every morning he would visit her grave and then go straight to his lab.”
“Was Dombrovski a Russian spy?”
“No, he hated the communists. But we had someone in his lab who was sympathetic to our cause. That’s how we got possession of his notes. We’re the ones who torched his laboratory. We sabotaged his plane. We thought we had everything, including a photo of the xenobium in its Nazca hiding place. Dombrovski documented its existence but didn’t attempt to remove it because he hadn’t figured out how to do it without the chamber collapsing.”
“He planned to return to retrieve it,” Tyler said, “but the Soviets killed him before that happened.”
“We were going to complete his task,” Colchev said. “The old Soviet files had photos of the wood engraving, but Dombrovski died before we could find out the location the map was referring to. All we knew was that the xenobium was at Nazca. Then when I saw the video of Fay and heard her say, ‘Rapa Nui leads to xenobium,’ I thought she possessed the Nazca specimen. When I realized that wasn’t the case, I went to Easter Island to claim whatever clues were there for myself. You just happened to beat me to it. I set off the other Killswitch to keep you from following me.”
Tyler pulled at his restraints. “And yet here we are.”
Colchev strapped up the final piece of the Icarus suit. “At least you’ll die for your country. Maybe they’ll even name a monument after you. I know they will name one after me in my country.”
Colchev put his hand to his ear and nodded.
“We’re nearing our departure point, lady and gentleman. You’ll be dead in a few minutes, so I’ll bid you farewell. As for me, destiny awaits.”
He walked back to the pilot’s seat and buckled in.
