Laura 02 The God Code

by Anton Swanepoel

  “Shit, this is crazy!” Ernest screams into his helmet as he goes between the trucks and gets buffeted around by the wind. Everything happens so fast at that speed, yet it almost looks like a slow motion movie to Ernest. He feels the bike sliding left, and sees the truck’s left front tire coming up. With horror he looks on as the bike slams into the side of the truck, ripping off the left mirror and damaging the fairing.

  The shock causes Ernest to lose control, and the bike veers to the right, straight for the back of the oncoming truck’s trailer. The bike tips the very back of the trailer, taking the right mirror off the bike, just as Ernest swerves left, avoiding fully crashing into the trailer. Ernest sighs with relief as he clears the trucks and tries to catch up to Victor who is a distance ahead now.

  Two minutes later Ernest pulls up next to Victor while doing 185 miles an hour, who has eased up to let Ernest catch up. Ernest is about to hit his own helmet again to show to Victor that he is absolutely mad, when they spot a white van up ahead. Both Ernest and Victor see the van at the same time and aim for it. As they near it they read the markings on the side. It is a water delivery van with a different number plate.

  Victor opens his bike up again. Was he correct in following Ernest’s reasoning? Maybe Ernest is wrong about the men being sentimental, and they took the other highway.

  “Pull over now!”

  Victor looks up at the police helicopter behind him, then politely says NO by putting a round against the pilot’s window. Sirens behind Ernest make him take a quick glance behind him. Three more police cruisers have joined the pursuit by entering the highway on the previous on/off ramp.

  Suddenly Victor ducks down and gives the bike all she has, pulling away from Ernest, who does the same and gives chase. Looking in the distance for oncoming trucks, Ernest realizes what Victor is after, another white van.

  As they near the van they note that both the front and rear vehicles with the van, are black SUVs. Ernest shakes his head. Great, Alan set us up, the van has an escort, how on earth are we going to overcome the escort?

  Victor reaches the van first and recognizes the number plate. He slows down and drives past the van in the middle lane as if nothing is wrong. The moment he passes the driver’s side, he pulls his pistol with his left hand and shoots the driver in the head. The van swerves and Victor has to brake hard to avoid being taken out by the swerving van. The van slows down rapidly and veers off the road, where it crashes into a tree. Immediately both black SUVs come to a stop. The vehicles have barely stopped when suddenly the doors fly open and armed men jump out.

  As the armed men take cover behind their trucks, the police helicopter flies over and two police cruisers pull up, confusing the men. Victor shoots two of the confused kidnappers before they can react, having dropped his bike to the ground and taken cover behind it.

  Ten men in total jump out of the vehicles, two are shot by Victor and one is shot by Ernest following Victor’s lead. The remaining seven open fire on the police helicopter and cruisers, as well as Victor and Ernest. The police are slightly caught off guard by the men shooting at them, but were already cautious as they expected Victor to shoot at them, so quickly take cover before anyone is hit. A gun battle erupts as the police and kidnappers exchange gunfire. Two more police cruisers pull up and join the fight. Sirens come from the front and rear as backup police are called in.

  The police helicopter opens fire from above and the kidnappers are pinned down, being picked off one by one. Victor fires off a few shots, then sits back and watches the show, letting the police do their thing.

  Suddenly the side door of the van opens and the President is pushed out with a man holding a gun to his head. The firing stops almost immediately.

  “Back off or I kill him,” the man shouts. The three remaining kidnappers stand up from behind where they took cover and flank him. Slowly they all move to the front SUV.

  “Shit, that is the President, get a negotiator,” one of the policemen says.

  “No time dumb ass,” Victor comments to himself as he pulls the magazine from his pistol, confirming that the magazine is empty. He still has one round left in the chamber. Slowly Victor stands up while holding the gun behind his back and walks towards the men holding the President hostage.

  “Stop where you are,” the man holding the President shouts, and presses the pistol hard against the President’s head.

  “I am unarmed, I am here to negotiate your terms, what are they?” Victor responds, stepping still closer.

  “I said stop!”

  “Okay, if you do not want to deal with me, you can deal with my partner over there.” Victor points to just behind the men. The man holding the President starts to turn his head, but realizes it is a trap and quickly looks back. It does not matter, Victor is too fast and the shot takes the man in the right eye, blowing a hole in his head.

  Immediately the other kidnappers try to retaliate, but before they can aim their guns at Victor, a multitude of bullets hit them as the police open up on them. They drop dead next to their friend. Victor puts his gun on the ground and walks over to the President, where he pulls out a pocket knife from his pants and cuts the President’s hands free of the restraining cable tie.

  Just as the President puts out his hand to thank Victor, the police surround them. None of the policemen know what to do, Victor shot at them, but here is the President shaking Victor’s hand. Then suddenly they realize that Victor led them to the President. If he had stopped and told them he knew where the President was, they would probably have asked him to come down to the station.

  “Inform the helicopter to land and take me back to the White House.” The President addresses one of the police officers, who is a Captain. The Captain quickly radios the helicopter and informs him to land. As the helicopter lands next to the highway, Abraham asks for a notebook and pen from an officer next to him. The man pulls it out from his front pockets and hands it over. Abraham quickly writes an address and secret code down, including his personal phone number in the White House. Placing his hands on Victor’s right shoulder he says, “Go to this address, give the men there this code to send, it is to stop these men getting my submarine. Call me on this number if you have any trouble.”

  Unbeknown to the Vice President, the submarine has a special code in its communication that will inform the Captain that the submarine is compromised.

  The President then turns to the police Captain again and continues, “See that these men are not stopped anywhere, they are on a secret mission of national security and are following my orders.” With that he walks towards the helicopter and climbs aboard. As the helicopter takes off, Victor picks up his bike and starts the engine. Looking at the police, he says, “Sorry about your side mirrors, but I had to get your attention.”

  Ernest brings his bike next to Victor’s as the police respond that Victor does not need to worry about the mirrors and thank both men for saving the President.

  “Who are you men?” one police officer asks.

  Ernest wants to say Navy Seals, but he gives Victor a look and responds, “That’s classified.” Victor gives him a smile and a slap on the back. He is starting to like this man. In a world where you can die at any moment, it does not pay to be uptight.

  “Hey, those are my bikes!” The shop owner steps forward, having taken cover behind a truck when the shooting started. Twenty police officers immediately stand ready to draw their weapons.

  “Stand back, this is official police business,” one replies, and then looks at his colleagues, who give him a smile.

  “We will return the bikes as soon as we are done with them,” Victor says, then looks at Ernest and continues, “Do you know this address?” Victor holds out the paper for Ernest to read.

  “Yes.”

  “Get me there.”

  Both men pull away with tires smoking, and then pull wheelies as they disappear into the distance.

  It will take them an hour to get to the radio station.

&
nbsp; As the two bikes disappear down the road, the police Captain sends out a description of the two bikes and men, including an order that under no circumstances are they to be stopped or approached, but helped in any way without question when asked.

  “Man, that was the most excitement I have ever had! Donuts anyone?” Everyone turns to a young police officer who is still shaking.

  “Come on Clive, I think you need more than a donut,” the Captain responds as he slaps Clive on the back, before walking back to his police cruiser. He knows that the Feds will be on the scene soon and take the case off his hands. Reaching into his car, he pulls out a can of Coca Cola and hands it to Clive as he comments, “Here you go son, get some sugar and caffeine in your system, it will help with the shock.” He then proceeds to radio his base to inform them to contact the FBI.

  While Victor and Ernest weave their way through traffic, running the bikes to the maximum and enjoying a little street race, a helicopter approaches the White House unscheduled, causing alarms to go off and two fighter jets to be scrambled to intercept the helicopter before it is able to try to crash into the White House.

  Major Jason Howell brings his fighter jet up behind the helicopter flying towards the White House, before moving slightly sideways to make out the tail number.

  “Warren, what do you make of this? It’s a police helicopter.”

  “Not sure Jason, give them a call.”

  “Sierra Alfa Mike Seven Niner, you are entering a restricted airspace, turn around immediately or you will be shot down.”

  There is no response from the helicopter. Neither pilots know that the helicopter’s radio was damaged during the shooting, and is unable to reply even though he can hear them.

  “Base, we have visual on unidentified aircraft, seems to be a police helicopter. I am unable to make radio contact.”

  “Roger that, try to make visual contact, you are authorized to fire a warning shot.”

  “Warren, I’m going to have a look. I’ll pull up on the pilot’s side of the helicopter.” While talking, Jason pulls out from behind the helicopter and slowly edges his jet to pull up alongside the helicopter. Warren takes Jason’s previous position and moves in behind the helicopter, leaving a large enough gap so that should it be a trap and the helicopter explodes, he will have enough time to react and clear any debris. At this range, any missiles he fires will only need four seconds to reach the helicopter.

  As Jason pulls his jet alongside the helicopter, he signals to the pilot to turn the helicopter around, but the pilot ignores him and starts to push buttons on his controls. Jason is unaware that the pilot is desperately trying to establish radio contact.

  “Base, this is Major Jason. Made visual contact, pilot is ignoring command to turn around.”

  “Major Jason, this is Base, you are now in the critical zone.”

  “Base, Jason, roger that. I am firing a warning shot.”

  Jason lightly taps the trigger on his flight stick and twenty rounds of his cannons burst out, missing the helicopter by a few feet and making a clear trail in the sky as the tracer rounds pass the helicopter. There will be no mistake from the helicopter pilot that he was just fired upon.

  Inside the helicopter, the pilot scrambles around the cockpit and starts writing something on a clipboard.

  “Major, you are now in the red zone. You are authorized to shoot down the aircraft.”

  “Roger that Base,” Warren replies and activates his missiles and locks onto the helicopter, an easy shot for him. Jason begins to move his jet away.

  “Jason, I am taking the shot.” Slowly Warren squeezes the trigger.

  “Negative Warren, give me a second, the pilot is writing something on a clipboard. I’m moving in for a closer look.”

  “Negative, it may be a trap, we have no time.”

  “Five seconds,” Jason replies as he edges his jet a few feet closer, straining to read the writing the pilot is holding against the cockpit window. There is writing over the entire page but Jason is unable to read any of it.

  “Warren, unable to read the writing, breaking away, take the shot.” Jason maneuvers his jet away from the helicopter.

  “Roger, taking the shot,” Warren replies as he starts to squeeze the missile launch trigger again.

  “Disengage disengage! Air Force One!” comes Jason’s desperate call over the radio, having seen the President as he pulled away, but it is too late. Warren pulls the trigger the last bit. There is a half a second delay before two missiles drop from beneath his wings and their rockets activate.

  Warren looks on in horror as his missiles pick up speed, flying true. Desperately he tries to shoot them down with his guns, managing to hit one. The explosion causes the second missile to temporarily lose tracking, but then it reacquires its target. Warren lines up his guns, aiming for the missile, but he is now directly in line with the helicopter and any bullets that miss the missile will surely hit the helicopter. One second left.

  Suddenly Jason’s jet comes up from below, directly behind the helicopter, and the second missile slams into his right wing. The explosion rips off his entire wing and the jet drops to the ground out of control.

  Warren says a silent thank you as he sees Jason ejecting. While calling a mayday for his friend, he moves his jet as close as he can to the passenger side of the helicopter in order to verify the sighting of the President. On recognizing the President, he salutes and moves away to take up an escort pattern, flying slightly behind and to the side of the helicopter.

  “Base, this is Major Warren, changing mission from intercept to protection of Air Force One.”

  There is a few seconds of silence before Base responds. “Roger that, protecting Air Force One, will notify the White House.”

  ***

  Laura sleepily awakes, having had a peaceful rest. Looking at the chair next to the bed, she smiles. The nuns brought her new clothes, a pair of denim pants and a t-shirt. Just as she is about to get up, she notices the two inch cut in her shirt. Baffled as to how it got there, Laura puts her finger through the cut. Scratching her head, she decides that she must have hooked it somewhere without noticing.

  The room has its own bathroom, and Laura freshens up, before putting on the new clothes. Looking at herself in the mirror, she bursts out laughing. The shirt is black and have white lettering reading, The Force is Strong With This One, on it. Clearly who ever picked it likes Star Wars. If Victor can see her now. Laura grabs the jacket the Pope gave her and goes down to the kitchen where the nuns on duty gladly make her something to eat. After having some fruit and juice, Laura returns to the archives, unaware that Phil is following her, watching her every move.

  Chapter 8

  Naval secret communication station.

  Roberto holds up his hand as the black Hummer 3 slowly approaches the gate. Can people not read the sign at the bottom of the driveway, this is military property and off limits to civilians. The property is nestled on a hill, with an old house built in the middle. The garden is well kept, and was it not for the sign at the bottom of the driveway and the guard at the gate, one would think it to be a normal house. That is until you see the satellite dish in the back yard, hidden behind the house.

  Roberto steps closer as the driver’s window slowly rolls down. His hand manages to reach his pistol on his hip before three bullets hit him in the chest from a silenced pistol. All four doors open, and five men quickly get out and climb over the locked steel gate, then silently make their way to the house. Two men go to the front door while three go to the back. All five have bulletproof vests on and carry a silenced 9mm Glock. Staying in contact with field radios and earpieces, they place small explosives on both doors and synchronize their entry, blowing the doors open.

  The front of the house is the kitchen, and is empty. The back of the house is where the radio is, and the two military personnel stationed at the radio are caught totally by surprise, each man is shot while still seated in his chair.

  Two men each cover a door
while the fifth member pulls the operators from their chairs and enters the codes he has written down in a small notebook.

  There is a two minute delay, and then a message appears on his monitor, “Send message”. The man pulls out a digital device and activates it. The President’s voice can clearly be heard, giving commands to the submarine to meet a fishing trawler at a given time at specific coordinates, and to take on a team that he needs to transport to a location to be given to him by the team, as a training exercise. The orders were made up by cutting the President’s voice recording, when he read the note while being interrogated.

  Another two minutes pass before a message appears on the screen, “Verifying orders”. The men wait impatiently for ten minutes before the screen responds again, “Orders verified, mission accepted”. Satisfied, the men start to move out, but just before leaving they randomly shoot at the electronics, destroying it.

  ***

  Twenty minutes later, Ernest and Victor slowly ride down a road snaking between houses and up a hill. Suddenly both stop as they spot the sign stating that the property belongs to the Navy and no civilians or unauthorized personnel are allowed. Parking their motorcycles in the road, they make their way up the path.

  “It seems we are too late,” Ernest comments as he looks at the dead marine by the gate.

  “Keep your eyes open, they may still be inside,” Victor replies as he starts climbing the gate. Every muscle in his body is tense, ready for action. Halfway to the house Victor relaxes.

  The front door is blown open, the chance of there being anyone around is slim, yet he does not take chances. Dropping down, he quickly runs to the front door and presses himself against the wall, waiting for Ernest to join him. Signaling to Ernest that he will go around the back and Ernest must take the front, he then proceeds to the back. Both men stealthily make their way through the house, meeting in the back room where the radios are situated.