Tabby bobbled her head. “Oh yeah. This is their headquarters. They took over the old NORAD bunker. David told me why this pit was built, but I don’t remember all the details. I only know it’s their main weapon. The thing which erased all of your people, sir.”
“I figured as much. David has bragged about it many a time. So, tell me, young lady, why did you come down here by yourself? You wouldn’t by chance be leading an escape?”
CHAPTER 21
Lamar, CO
An hour after being shot at, Ted was over his misgivings about shooting first and asking questions never. Not only was firing at the seven men a necessity, it had kept them in the larger fight. Emily reminded him several times how they needed to get to David before he made good on his threat to hurt any nation who harbored American citizens. They were positive some staunch allies would refuse the order.
“England won’t kick us out,” he said with hope in his voice. “Will they?”
Emily was the politician. “It depends on what they and the rest of the world know about the origin of the attack. Does David have the ability to carry out his threat using his superweapon on them? Is there a way to defend against it? We already know Kyla survived at the bottom of the carrier. If they could get people into bunkers…”
“My ex-wife is in England, that’s why I asked.” He’d shared bits of his past with Emily, but he didn’t like talking about his past mistakes.
“How long were you two together?” Emily spoke as if talking about the color of the grass outside.
He exhaled for about a quarter of a mile before deciding to answer. “Me and Priscilla met during one of the European outbreaks about ten years ago. We were both flying supplies into and out of the Balkans. My plane crapped out and had to be left in Bucharest, and I hopped on the one she was flying. I got called into the cockpit when her co-pilot got sick. Had the fish, as I always joked about.”
Ted paused, knowing Emily wouldn’t understand.
“It’s from a movie. Anyway,” he went on, “one thing led to another and we got married. Made it about five years before our marriage ran out of runway. It crashed in the forest of long distance and secret affairs…”
Emily became very interested. “You?”
He chuckled. “No, cheating isn’t my style. It was fine, though. It gave us the necessary reason to end it. We haven’t so much as talked since the papers were signed. Not until I got a text from her the other day, worried I went down with Air Force Two.” He’d had plenty of opportunities to try texting her back, but he saw little reason to make it a priority.
“I hope she’s all right,” Emily said, settling back into her seat as if the excitement was over.
“Me too.” Despite all the time and distance, not to mention the betrayal, he didn’t wish her or anyone would be killed like the rest of America.
They drove in silence for another few minutes before a dark shadow overtook them on the highway.
“What the hell?”
The sun had been blotted out by a monster aircraft to his left. It wasn’t more than two-hundred feet above, but it appeared wildly out of proportion to the ground since it was so large.
“My God, what kind of a plane is that?”
“They’re called SACAs.” He’d seen them a few times while in the air. It was a Southern Solar S-1 Autonomous Communications Array. A solar-powered plane designed to fly at sixty-thousand feet, above all other air traffic, and remain in the air for months at a time. As such, the airframe was mostly a flat 300-foot wing, covered in solar panels, and with a minimal fuselage. Its six propeller-driven engines seemed too small for such a large plane, but it was made of light materials, and had almost no payload, so they could afford to be smaller.
“I mentioned one of these back in New York. We were talking about Southern Solar’s digital TV service. These big planes fly above cities and broadcast the signal. It’s much cheaper than owning a space-based satellite, and the picture is clearer, too.”
She leaned under the windshield to get a better look. “Is that why it has the big dish on the bottom?”
It reminded him a little of the Airborne Warning and Control System dish on an E-3 Sentry. While E-3 was a Boeing 767 with the dish on top, the S-1 kept the flat dish on the bottom. Its stubby landing pylons barely seemed tall enough to provide enough clearance for the dish.
Pylons?
“Its landing gear is down. This pig is going to land!” As a pilot, he found the situation exciting. Seeing a craft of such size touch down would be amazing, especially in high winds. Drawing a straight line to where it might land, he realized there was a town coming up. If the plane was landing there…
“Shit. We’ve got company.” He drove the truck over a highpoint in the grasslands, revealing a distant town. A roadblock had been set up about a mile ahead, likely in support of the town and whatever airstrip the descending aircraft was heading for. It only took a second for him to figure out there was no turning back or avoiding being seen.
Emily raised her mask again and rapidly gathered her hair with both hands.
“What are you doing?” he asked, squinting to get as much intel about the men ahead as possible.
“I’m putting my hair up. Maybe it will throw them off the scent.”
His face burned with the pressure. Whatever he did next would decide if they survived in the fight for a little
