smiling broadly at him, was Caesar Russell.
'I thought you might be back,' Caesar said.
He was unarmed.
'You know, Captain,' he said, 'a man like you is wasted on this country. You're clever, you've got courage, and you'll do whatever it takes to win, including the bizarre and the illogical, such as saving me. You and your efforts would be unappreciated by the ignorant fools who make up this nation. Which is why,' he sighed, 'it is such a shame that you have to die.'
It was then that the gun cocked next to Schofield's head.
Schofield turned — to see Major Kurt Logan standing behind him, his silver SIG-Sauer pistol pointed right at Schofield's temple.
11:04.
'Come in,' Caesar said. 'Come in.'
Logan relieved Schofield of his Desert Eagle as the two of them stepped into the destroyed control room.
'Come and watch America's death sentence,' Caesar waved at an illuminated screen behind him. It was like the one Schofield had seen outside. It read:
1005
*********WARNING*********
EMERGENCY PROTOCOL ACTIVATED.
IF YOU DO NOT ENTER AN AUTHORIZED LOCKDOWN EXTENSION OR TERMINATION CODE BY 1105 HOURS, FACILITY SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE WILL BE ACTIVATED.
SELF DESTRUCT SEQUENCE DURATION: 10:00 MINUTES.
*********WARNING*********
Schofield saw a clock at the bottom corner of the computer screen ticking upward.
11:04:29.
11:04:30.
11:04:31.
'Tick-tick-tick,' Caesar said deliciously. 'How frustrating this must be for you, Captain. No clever plans to save you now, no space shuttles, no secret exits. Once the ten minute self destruct sequence is set in motion, nothing can stop it from going off. I will die, and so will you, and so, too, will America.'
The clock on the screen ticked upward.
Covered by Logan, Schofield could only watch helplessly as it approached 11:05 a.m.
11:04:56.
11:04:57.
Schofield clenched his fists with frustration.
He knew the code! He knew it. But he couldn't use it. And where the hell was Gant? What was she doing?
11:04:58.
11:04:59.
11:05:00.
'Lift-off,' Caesar smiled.
'Shit,' Schofield said.
The screen beeped.
LOCKDOWN PROTOCOL S.A.(R) 7A
FACILITY SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ACTIVATED.
10:00 MINUTES TO DETONATION.
A blinking countdown commenced on the screen.
10:00.
9:59.
9:58.
At that very same moment, an army of battery-powered revolving red lights exploded to life throughout the complex — inside the main hangar, down in the aircraft elevator shaft, even inside the control room.
An electronic voice boomed out from an emergency PA system.
'Warning. Ten minutes to facility self-destruct…'
And just then — as they were bathed in strobing red light — Schofield saw Kurt Logan take his eyes off him, just for a split second, to look out at the lights.
Schofield took the chance.
He drove his body into Logan's, sending both of them crashing against a computer console.
Logan brought his gun around, but Schofield grabbed his wrist and banged it down against the console, causing the 7th Squadron commander to release the pistol.
Caesar just sat back, grinning with satisfaction, watching the fight in front of him with mad delight.
Schofield and Logan fought hard, covered in red emergency lighting. They looked like mirror images, two elite soldiers who had studied from the same manual, exchanging identical blows, employing identical evasive moves.
But Schofield was exhausted from his previous battle with Lucifer and he unleashed a loose swing which Logan punished without mercy.
He ducked beneath Schofield's wayward blow and then tackled him around the waist, lifting Schofield clear off the ground and driving him backwards toward the shattered windows of the control room.
Schofield blasted out through the destroyed windows of the command room, back-first, flying through the air. He shut his eyes and waited for the crushing impact with the floor thirty feet below.
It never came.
Instead, his fall was unexpectedly short.
Thud!
Schofield slammed down on a rough wooden surface that rocked beneath his weight.
He opened his eyes.
He was lying on top of one of the enormous wooden cargo crates that hung from the main hangar's ceiling mounted rail network.
It had been parked just outside the control room, a little to the left, allowing the command center a clear view of the hangar.
A triangle of thick chains connected the massive crate to the overhead rail system six feet above it. The chains were held together by a spring-loaded ring mechanism not unlike the closable circular latch one finds on a necklace.
Attached to the ring mechanism was a square control unit made up of three big buttons which presumably moved the crate back and forth along the rails.
Then suddenly, the crate rocked wildly and Schofield looked up to see that Kurt Logan had jumped out onto it after him.
Down on the hangar floor, Libby Gant had heard the crash of breaking glass and snapped to look up.
She had just found what she was looking for amid the debris on the floor when she saw Schofield come exploding out through the control room's windows and land hard on the wooden crate suspended high above the hangar floor.
Then she saw Kurt Logan jump out through the window, and land easily on the crate next to him.
'No…' Gant breathed.
She drew her gun, but abruptly, a barrage of bullet impact-sparks lit up the floor all around her.
She dived for cover behind a couple of dead bodies. When she finally looked up, she saw Caesar Russell leaning out from the destroyed control room windows, brandishing a P-90 and yelling, 'No, no, no! A fair fight,
