Kyla leaned closer to the Marine. The other woman had short hair, but Kyla’s blew wild, making it difficult to concentrate. Still, being close was the only way to talk privately. “Do you trust these soldiers?”
“No,” Meechum said without hesitation, “but I took a risk. Once I knew they were aware of you in the bushes, I had to make sure they didn’t go in shooting. The thing about the president sucked to give away, but it was the only way to keep us in the game. If these guys turn out to be with the enemy, we’ll take ‘em all out.”
Kyla leaned forward, worried the other passenger was going to overhear their conspiratorial discussion, but the wind and rotor noise made it impossible, as long as they weren’t shouting in the open. She was satisfied the soldier was oblivious.
Still, the Marine’s braggadocio was legendary. “How are you going to fight back? We don’t even have a stick to our name.”
Meechum laughed like she didn’t have a care in the world and motioned for Kyla to come closer. “I have my pistol. The colonel collected our weapons and put them in a duffel, but a soldier picked it up and carelessly shoved it in the back compartment of this helicopter. When I stretch my back, I reach in and help myself.”
Kyla sat in wonderment at her travel companion. If anyone could take out two helicopter’s worth of men, it was Meechum. However, she sincerely hoped it didn’t come to it.
The pilots of the two choppers kept them a few feet above the treetops as they got into the foothills of the Rockies. The colonel wouldn’t tell them where he planned to take them, other than toward her uncle. As they traveled from the grassy nothing of Wyoming and into the hills and mountains, she assumed they’d gone into Colorado. Once the white-capped mountains appeared, she was positive of it.
They stopped once at a remote pasture that happened to have aviation fuel hidden next to what looked like an abandoned log cabin. Meechum suggested it was probably an off-the-books Air Force installation.
An hour later, the man sitting on their bench tapped Meechum on the leg. “That’s our destination! Pike’s Peak!”
She and the Marine looked forward. They were still traveling at tree-top level, which made the freestanding mountain seem even more impressive. As they neared the base, the pilot tilted the nose, taking them in a diagonal up the steep grade. The trees eventually thinned out as they neared the summit. At the top, there were no trees at all. It was made up of rocks, patches of moss, and a large gravel parking lot.
“I didn’t expect to be able to park up here,” she joked to Meechum.
“Me, either.”
The helicopters landed about two hundred yards apart, which spoke to the sheer size of the flat space at the summit of Pike’s Peak. When she unstrapped from her seatbelt and hopped off, Meechum tucked her pistol into her front trouser pocket. Kyla stretched, in an admittedly clumsy attempt at drawing attention away from her friend, but it was all for nothing. The commandos spread out and looked everywhere except at the two of them.
“Come on,” Meechum said in a closer-to-normal voice as the rotors slowed. “Let’s see what these boys have planned. I think we’re still a good way from Colorado Springs.” She pointed to the east.
It was difficult to judge distance from the top of the mountain, but the high plains of eastern Colorado started like a flat carpet of grass and scrub about ten miles away. The city of Colorado Springs seemed to be painted onto the ground; the dense city blocks were dull gray and dark green. Between the city and their position on the mountain, there was a series of comparatively small ridges. They were grouped together like islands on the high seas. Most were covered in trees, though a couple of the taller ones went above the tree line.
Colonel Avery appeared out of nowhere. “NORAD is inside the mountain closest to the city. You can drive right in from the other side.”
Kyla was surprised. “We can’t even see it? How the hell are we going to stop my uncle?”
Avery laughed. “We brought our toys for occasions such as this.”
Almost on cue, a pair of flat, black drones raced over their heads. They were about the size of car tires. They stayed close together for a few seconds while speeding for the other mountains, but then split apart. One to the left, and the other to the right.
“That’s how we were caught, wasn’t it?” Meechum stood with hands on her hips, admiring the drones in flight.
The colonel laughed a bit. “Don’t feel bad. You couldn’t have gotten within a mile of my men without us knowing about it. We aren’t as bad at surveillance as the Blackouts.” He shifted to face Kyla. “If your uncle is out there, we’ll know in about ten minutes. If he isn’t…”
Kyla didn’t need him to finish the sentence.
CHAPTER 24
Outside Colorado Springs, CO
Once Emily had said the words, Ted was certain their Humvee was equipped with a tracking device. He was also convinced the enemy was working hard to make up for all the mistakes they’d made in the past. Instead of coming at them from random directions, they were quietly tracking them, plotting where to put a devastating and unavoidable roadblock to capture them.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much between Lamar and Colorado Springs but empty highway. They continued to pass other vehicles traveling the other way, and they kept looking for aircraft pursuing them, but the bad guys never showed up. Even their radio chatter was inane banter of no relevance to them.
“These guys sure do like talking about their new wives. It’s like some type of cult, don’t you think?” Emily was the one holding the radio.
“Yeah, but as
