“So they didn’t fight back?” Jacob asked.
“No, but…”
“But what?” Jacob asked.
“In both cases, after they shot one down, it was replaced by two more in a higher orbit, and the second group has managed to evade the missiles,” Rogers said.
“Probes.” James turned to look at Jacob. “They learn, they adapt, and now they know our anti–air capabilities.”
“So that’s it, that’s all we have?” Laura asked.
James nodded, smiling at Katy playing with the dog. “That’s all we know.”
Rogers finished the rest of his coffee and stood, placing the empty cup on the table. “We should get going. Once we get to the outpost, I can talk to the pilots, and arrange transportation to Stone’s bunker from there. We have a helicopter pad on a hill nearby with a fully fueled helicopter, if things go the way we think they will. I’m sure it won’t take much convincing for the pilots to bug out with us.”
Chapter Fifty-Five
The vehicles were fully loaded with supplies. Under the cover of darkness, they rolled through the gates of the Assassins unit’s compound on the far side of the base. Jacob was pressed in the cab of the pickup truck with Laura sitting in the center of the bench seat and Katy on his lap.
Rogers looked over at him from the driver’s seat. “We have two trailers already loaded with gear; we’re just going to get them hitched and we’ll be on our way,” he said.
The big man stepped out of the truck and ran into the dark night. The engine remained running, the headlights on and illuminating the sides of a steel-walled building. Jacob rolled down his window, allowing the cool air mixed with diesel exhaust to enter the vehicle. Katy was curled into his lap, her head against his chest. Looking out, Jacob could see the globes; three of them were positioned over the base, still glowing and passing off their dull, orange light. He looked left and right, following the horizon.
The globes positioned themselves directly overhead. Jacob felt the fear in his chest, and he suddenly wanted to be far away from them. Rogers was correct about leaving, he thought.
“Hey, give us a hand,” he heard James shout from outside.
Jacob grimaced and slid Katy from his lap, handing her off to Laura before he opened the door and left the truck. Rogers and James were wrestling with a large green trailer. It was fastened to a type of dolly, which the men were using to push it across the lot and fasten it to the backs of the vehicles. With Rogers up front guiding it, Jacob put his hands on the back beside James, and helped push it forward.
“What’s in here?” Jacob asked, grunting.
James laughed. “Everything. When he got back earlier,” James said dipping his head toward Rogers, “right after the pumpkins showed up, Rogers emptied the team rooms into these two trailers. You know how he is… the guy is like a boy scout, always prepared.”
With a flicker of light, everything changed. The dull glow overhead intensified. When Jacob looked back to the sky, the globes directly above them were turning a deep red. Looking directly at it, he could feel the radiant heat. Then slowly, the orb climbed in altitude as it began to rotate.
Rogers saw it too and, slapping down the top hook and securing the hitch with a pin, said, “We need to move. Back to the trucks.”
Jacob proceeded to the front of the vehicle and jumped into the cab, pulling the door shut behind him. Looking up, he watched as the bottom of the nearest globe turned to black then fired. Not the way Jacob imagined it would, with lasers or cannons suddenly extending from the top, or maybe missiles launching from holes, twisting toward earth in tiny spirals. None of that. The globes changed color then slowly rotated clockwise, the bottoms opened up revealing a blue light, and then they dropped a tiny seed. He couldn’t take his eyes off the rotating orb.
“Something is falling out of it,” he uttered.
Jacob stretched back, holding tight and pressing his head out of the rear window. The truck rocketed forward at high speed close behind James as he acquired the lead in the Blazer, the vehicles whipping through the gates of the unit compound, racing onto a gravel road, tossing loose stone in their wake.
He watched the seed spiral down, dropping out of view just above the surface of the ground. Then the earth trembled.
“Look away from it!” Rogers yelled.
Jacob ducked inside and grasped a hand across his face an instant before a bright flash erupted in the distance. He pulled Laura and Katy down to his legs, shielding them from the light, both of the girls now screaming. Looking over, he saw Rogers’ jaw was clenched, his left hand over his face as he stayed on the throttle and focused on keeping the truck straight on the road.
After the flash, a blinding cloud of debris crashed and overtook the vehicles. They were now driving through a thick fog of dust, the headlights barely illuminating the way ahead. Blinded, James was forced to slow down while Rogers moved the truck forward, staying in view of the lead vehicle’s taillights.
“What was that… a nuke?” Laura asked, her voice trembling. Katy was still in her arms, sobbing.
Rogers shook his head, both hands clutching the wheel tight. “I don’t think so; we’d be dead if it were. Maybe kinetic… electrical? A rail gun firing straight down, fuck… something unknown?”
Jacob looked back behind them, trying to focus on anything in the cloud of thick dust through the rear window. “I think they hit the airfield.”
Rogers nodded his head. “Most likely.”
“You think anyone got out?” Laura asked.
Rogers clenched his jaw and narrowly shook his head, not
