The first gunfire Jim was prepared for and he dropped and took out the assailant's kneecap with a low side kick. He pulled the man's wrist downward while kneeing his elbow upward until the man's arm was in two pieces. I managed to bust off a few rounds into the guy covering Jim's present attacker. Jim proceeded to break the guy's neck as I continued the cover fire.
The van parked out front squealed out of the driveway and laid down some suppressing fire from an automatic weapon. Jim and I dove behind the upstairs stairwell for cover. We waited for a few seconds listening for movement.
'Jim, are we clear?'
'Not sure. You ready to cover me.'
I changed the clip since the slide on the Glock was open, depressed the lever with my thumb and it closed, chambering a new round. 'Ready now. On three and you stay low. One, two, three!'
I rolled out into the open and fired two rounds. Jim came out behind me and zipped across the room behind the couch and took cover again. I rolled across the floor behind him. 'Ow shit that hurts!' I held my chest.
'You all right, Doc!'
'Yeah. Just pulled some stitches I think.'
'I think we're clear. Let's get Al and get the hell out of here.'
Al was coming to by the time we got out the back door. He was concussed and a bit goofy-headed. If you have ever been concussed, you know that 'goofy-headed' is a good way to describe it. We dragged him to Jim's car and hit the road fast.
I grabbed Jim's phone and tried Tabitha again.
'Jim, is that you!' Tabitha answered.
'Tab, it's Anson. Listen it is still going on. Jim and I were just in a firefight. You better get some back up and get out of sight fast.' I told her.
'Anson, I know! Dr. Reese caught one in the neck before I realized what was going on. Don't worry. We have the situation contained and I think everyone will survive. Are you okay?'
'Jim and I are fine. Al is banged up pretty badly but he'll be okay. I think we need to hide everybody's families. Jim and I will pick up Sara and meet you. Where?'
'Listen Anson, we're already on the move. We'll track Jim's phone and pick you up. You keep moving and stay safe. See you soon.' Tabitha disconnected.
We grabbed Sara in record time and before we knew it a helicopter was shadowing us. Then my phone rang.
'Hello?'
'Anson, pull over in the next parking lot,' Tabitha told me.
I turned to Jim. 'It's Tabitha, Jim. Pull over there!' I pointed to a parking lot by a strip mall where a military helicopter was setting down—Tabitha was waving to us from the open doorway. We loaded into the chopper and were gone.
'Dr. Clemons, you're bleeding.' Sara pointed at my back.
'Yeah, I figured I was. It's just a few loose stitches. Nothing to worry about, I think,' I reassured her.
Jim spoke to Tabitha through a headset. 'Where's Rebecca?'
'Don't worry. She's been moved in a different chopper. We'll rendezvous with her in a few minutes.'
The helicopter pilot landed us at the airstrip on the Redstone Arsenal where we loaded into a C-141 Starlifter evac plane. The closest they are based is in Memphis, Tennessee and Jackson, Mississippi but they fly patterns in Huntsville, often. This one must have been close by when Tabitha put in the call. Come to think of it, I never did figure out how she got us a helicopter so fast either—I didn't care. I just wanted to get out of sight fast. As we boarded, Tabitha explained to me that our families were being hidden and that her daughter would meet us at the rendezvous point. Neither of us were sure how far the—whoever they are—would go to get what they wanted. Whatever that was. Were they looking for something or did they just want us out of the picture? And, who were they? I still voted for Chinese.
CHAPTER 15
We landed a few hours later. Where, I have no idea. When we debarked the plane we were inside a very large hangar. There were other aircraft and vehicles inside the hangar, so it was a big place—wherever it was. I tried to be useful, but I was beginning to feel very tired and sore.
Jim had never left 'Becca's side throughout the flight. She seemed to have had no changes, good or bad. We all had hopes that there was something, anything that we could do for her. I hoped that the crazy quacks had just not been smart enough to figure out what was wrong with her and it was still a straightforward medical issue. I hoped so, anyway.
As we debarked I followed the group in a daze. We entered an elevator, a large elevator, and descended for what seemed like a full minute or two. The elevator doors opened into a large bright room. The wall directly to the right had a large red 'Floor 31' painted on it. I did later find out where we were, but the location was classified even higher up than I realized existed. I was beginning to learn that there were many more levels of 'Top Secret' than just the ones I had experience with.
'Anson, are you okay?' Sara asked as she approached the group.
'I'm . . . just a little tired.' I would live for now I told myself. I was trying to focus on my breathing, but since I'd had the damage to one of my lungs, breathing was more labor intensive. Just sitting still seemed like work. It reminded me of a comic book character I used to read a lot of. This guy had some sort of 'techno-organic virus' that there was no cure for, but fortunately he had superpowers. He used his superpowers constantly to hold the virus at bay, yet he was still one of the most powerful superheroes in his universe. His friends would always mention that he
