They had a good laugh about it, but one transmission cut into the party line.
“Break, break, break. Code Seven on ID 50-2277. This is a shoot to kill order. Location, heading west on Route 94 approximately five miles from Colorado Springs. I repeat…”
“That’s our cue,” he said, his heart somehow finding ever faster speeds to beat.
“We’ve got to ditch this thing. Make a run for it. Anything but wait for them to strike us down.” Emily sat all the way at the front edge of the rock-like seat, anxious for him to make a move.
The suburbs were upon them. As best he could gather, they’d come in from the southeast and were almost on the southern edge of the city. Ahead, at the end of a winding road up a wooded hillside, he saw what had to be the entrance to NORAD. It was tiny, being twenty miles away, but he couldn’t think of any other reason there’d be a structure built into the side of a mountain up there.
“We’re freaking closer than I thought.”
“So? We’ll be dead if we keep going.”
He didn’t stop. “Look, we’ve got a decision to make. If we keep this rig, we might be able to bluff our way through the front gate of their bunker. I’m sure they’ll still stop us, but it’ll give us an edge.” He looked around.
“But the radio said…”
“Not every unit can possibly be on the same channel as this one. We’re hearing what’s happening behind us. It will take time for them to communicate up and down the chain of command, spread the word, and whatever.” He prayed the enemy was as crappy moving data between silos of the different areas of operation as they were on protocol. He hated basing his own rules of engagement on the perceived limitations of the enemy, but he was already begging for sixty-five miles-an-hour in a stolen truck. He didn’t have a lot of options.
“I don’t know. Maybe we should scrub this mission and go into hiding again. This is a big city.” She pointed out her window. The mostly-flat cityscape spread out ahead of them, always to the north.
“If we wait, we lose the initiative and run the risk of the attack happening against our people and allies overseas. I think if we show up ahead of all the crap now zeroing in on us, we’ll have a shot at doing some real damage to their headquarters. We might even find the big guy himself.” He patted his chest. “We’ve gotten good mileage out of these uniforms. I can do it one more time.”
He was comfortable, to a degree, going full-bore into the enemy nest. If he scored some critical hits against their command structure, it would be worth it. A big part of abandoning Kyla was to give himself the option of a one-way mission.
Emily seemed to catch on to his tiptoeing around the bush. “You said ‘I.’ Does this mean you don’t want me there?”
Ted had so much going inside his brain, he spoke before he could think about it. “You are going to get lost in the city, like you said. When the allies come to your rescue, and they will, you can wave at them from the top of a building or whatever.” He pulled out his phone. “You can keep this with you.”
She sat in silence as they rushed along an empty six-lane avenue with dozens of wrecked cars that had been pushed onto the shoulders. The north-south interstate was ahead; their road was going to take them across the highway shortly, then onto the winding path up to the NORAD base.
He slowed the truck next to a row of modern homes. “I’m sorry, Em. My job is to protect the assets of this nation. I did it for Kyla. Let me do it for you.”
The rapid deceleration made her fall against the spartan dashboard.
“Ted, I didn’t come this far to get out and hide in a basement. I’m the president. I tell you what to do, not vice versa.” She smiled, suggesting a lighthearted attitude, but he knew better. Her voice was hoarse and quiet; she was upset.
He let the truck roll at about thirty. “Once we cross the highway and start up the road to the base, there’s no going back.”
“If you want me out of this truck, you’re going to have to physically walk around and pull me out the door. Otherwise, let’s get this over with.” She sat back in her seat, arms crossed. For the first time since they’d been together, he got the sense of what she’d be like as the president in one concise moment: driven, confident, and not easily frightened.
Ted let the truck slow even more. As he looked over, he wished he could say something profound, such as how he was proud to go into battle with her, or whatever happened, at least they were together. Everything sounded corny in his head. He simply looked into her chestnut eyes and planned—
An explosion ripped apart an abandoned car sitting next to the road about fifty yards ahead.
“They’re already here!” he shouted, pounding the gas pedal.
NORAD Black Site Sierra 7, CO
Victor put his hand in the elevator door to keep it open. Tanager scurried over with a little metal toolbox he’d picked up in the hallway. “The techs keep this handy down here.”
Tabby didn’t know what to think. “Victor, what are you doing here? You said you weren’t going to turn me in…”
He smiled. “And I’m not. I tried to follow you outside, but there was no one out there. That’s when I figured out you went down the elevator instead of up. I have to admit I began to doubt what I was doing when you weren’t at any of the transfer levels, but there was no way to stop once I’d started. I’m glad to
