by Ricky Sides
“They helped, yes,” Pete responded with pride in his eyes. He’d been the one who’d advocated permitting them to learn to fly the drones at such a young age. “But Pol deserves a lot of the credit. No other drone could have done what those two managed to accomplish. They aren’t aerodynamic enough.”
“Thank you, my friend, but it was Jim’s idea to attempt the maneuver, and the Valiant that had the speed necessary to get the drones in a proper position to make the shots. I had nothing to do with the Valiant being built. In fact, I was outraged that the government had used my work again without my leave.”
“You had everything to do with the Valiant being constructed. They used your work as the basis for its construction,” Tim said.
“In either case, we now know the answer to your question, Pol,” Pete observed.
“What question is that?” asked Pol.
“As I recall, the day we tested the Valiant you posed a question at the reception after the testing,” Pete said.
“Ah yes, I did. I recall now. What upcoming event or challenge will make the resources of this ship and the citadel necessary?”
“Now we know the answer,” Pete said smiling.
“Yes. Yes, I suppose we do at that,” Pol said looking thoughtful.
“Pete what are we going to do with the thirty three women we rescued in Mexico?” asked Tim.
“We’ll take them home as soon as we can get a couple of ships down here. I don’t want to strip the base of all of our APCs. Speaking of which, where is our strike team? I thought they were coming back with you,” Pete said.
“They stayed to help load the Constitution. They found an amazing amount of weapons and ammunition there. They also found a substantial number of shoulder fired missiles and launchers,” Tim explained.
“How’d Bill manage to salvage those weapons without destroying them?” Pete asked curiously.
“When the men were reloading for another salvo, Bill sent his drones in at point blank range to shoot the men,” Tim said with a grin.
“That is so simple, direct, and effective. I like that about Bill,” Pete said grinning.
“You would,” Tim said, and rolled his eyes in mock exasperation.
Turning serious, Pete asked, “Where is the prisoner?”
“When we found out his men had launched the nuke, I had the boys kick him off my ship,” Tim said angrily. “I wanted to kill him for what he’d done to Jack. The only thing keeping him alive was the hope that we could use him to stop the missiles.”
“You let him go?” Pete asked incredulously.
“Not exactly,” Tim said, turning red in embarrassment.
Pol snickered, causing Pete to ask in irritation, “Ok, what’s the joke here?”
“We were at max altitude at the time,” Tim said.
Pete stared at Tim for several long seconds. “You made him walk the plank?” he asked.
“No. He refused to walk. But the boys were pretty mad about him shooting the lieutenant and attempting to nuke LA. They threw him out,” Tim explained.
“I see now you’re going to make a great captain,” Pete said with a smile. Then frowning, Pete said, “It’s not likely he survived the fall, but he could have. I’ve heard of people surviving two hundred feet falls before.”
“So have I. As you said, it is rare, but it has happened. That’s why I had my gunner open fire on the body with the minigun,” Tim said.
***
Namid arrived at the citadel an hour and half after the Peacekeeper delivered Lieutenant Wilcox. She went straight to the infirmary, where she sat for hours holding the lieutenant’s hand and praying for his recovery.
Maggie and Doctor Crane checked in on him frequently. Maggie sought to reassure her that Jack was getting better, and that in her opinion he’d pull through, if he had the will to live. She encouraged Namid to talk to him, if she felt like doing so. She explained, “His situation is not unlike Jim’s, when he was in the coma after the fight with Tom in Kansas. He could go either way, so pray, if you believe in prayer, and reach out to him. Let him know someone is here with him, and that you want him to stay with you.”
Namid prayed, because she did believe in prayer, and then she talked to Jack for hours. When she grew tired of talking, she tried singing to him. She had such a rich and melodious voice that people stopped what they were doing in the infirmary to listen to her. But when she sang Sarah McLaughlin’s In the Arms of an Angel, the strike team members standing vigil in the hallway entered the room to listen unobtrusively.
Namid poured her heart and soul into that song as she sang it to Jack. As she sang, she perfectly matched the cadence and rhythm of that soul-searching song. Her voice carried with it such an intense tone of longing and love that it touched the hearts of all who heard her.
In the corner where Pol sat in a chair maintaining a vigil of his own, the sentimental scientist was reduced to quiet tears. It was obvious to him that Namid was deeply in love with Jack.
The strike force members present removed their hats and bowed their heads in respect for the beauty of what they were witnessing.
Maggie stood silently, her clipboard in hand held near her heart and a beatific smile upon her face as she listened in awe, and wondered why Namid had never sang for them. Nodding her head, Maggie thought, “This is the sort of thing that just might pull Jack back from the brink of death.”
As Namid sang the last words of the song and her voice grew silent, Jack moved his hand. “That was so beautiful. I always loved that song,” he said quietly. Then he asked, “Are you my angel?”
“No, Jack,” Namid said, her voice breaking, weeping and wiping her eyes in irritation so that she could see him, she added, “I’m your Namid.”
“Namid is my angel. I love her so much. I have to see her soon, but for now I think I need to sleep,” Jack said tiredly. He had not opened his eyes.
“I love you too. You sleep, baby. Your angel will be here when you wake up,” Namid assured him.
“I hope you’re right,” Jack said, and then he drifted off into sleep once more.
Namid maintained her vigil refusing to leave his side, because she’d promised to be there when he awoke, and she was.
***
The cleanup of the nuclear missile debris took longer than anyone expected, but the peacekeepers managed the task.
Three weeks after the attempted attack on Los Angeles, the Valiant visited Base 1. Jim, Evan, and Lisa placed flowers on Lacey’s grave. They were pleased to see that Tim had recently added fresh flowers. Evan broke down in tears, and Lisa comforted him. The two left to go to the outdoor barbeque that Tim and the crew of the Peacekeeper had arranged for their brief reunion.
Jim remained by Lacey’s grave for a while, thinking of what could have been. He still missed her terribly. He couldn’t even bring himself to go into the farmhouse he’d shared with her for years. Evan had a similar sentiment regarding the house. They’d talked it over, and decided to give the house to his brother Tim. They both considered the citadel their home, at least for the present. If they ever needed to come back to Athens, Jim still had his house in the city.
Jim sighed in regret at the loss of his wife and unborn child. A soft voice spoke from behind him asking, “Do you mind some company?”
Jim turned to see Lina, who’d also gathered some flowers to place on the grave. “I’m afraid I won’t be pleasant company, Lina,” he responded.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude. I’ll come back later,” she said apologetically.
“No, Lina, wait. That’s not what I meant. Of course you can stay. Thank you for bringing flowers,” Jim said.
“I liked Lacey. She was always good to me. She treated me as if I was a decent woman, despite what I had to do to stay alive at the Texas plantation,” Lina said. She moved to stand beside Jim. Squatting on her haunches, she laid the flowers on the grave.
“You are a decent person, and I don’t want to hear anybody say otherwise. Not e
ven you,” Jim said.
“Thank you, Jim. I’ll see you at the barbeque,” Lina said quietly. Turning away then, she left him to his thoughts.
Jim stayed a while longer. He’d never been one of those people who believed in talking to the deceased at a grave. His religious convictions were such that he believed the soul departed the body after death. But his logic had been set aside when Lacey had died. He’d talked to her more than once at her grave. He still didn’t really believe she heard him, but he always felt closer to her when he visited the grave, and that was when he felt the strongest compulsion to speak to her. He spoke to her then and told her of the things that had transpired of late. He spoke of Evan’s budding romance with Lisa, and of the two young people’s role in saving LA from a nuclear missile. He told her that her son was a hero at just thirteen years of age, and that she would be so proud of how he had matured. He told her he missed her, and still grieved her loss. He told her about the citadel, and that he and Evan had given Tim and Patricia the farmhouse because neither of them could stand to dwell there without her. And as he talked to Lacey, he felt her presence. Whether it was real, or the product of his imagination made no difference to the emotional impact that the sensation had on him. He knelt then and prayed for Lacey and both his unborn children that he’d lost.
When he finished his prayer, he climbed to his feet and went to the barbeque.
Jim found Namid seated with Lieutenant Wilcox. He smiled and nodded to both of them. He wondered if the lieutenant would accept the offer of a ship of his own now. Taking a seat at the table, he listened attentively as Pol described the newest version of his drafts for the battle fortress he was planning to build. The council had already decided to do what was necessary to get that fortress built. The recent events had more than convinced them that America needed to be defended, and that meant the Peacekeepers needed better tools to do so. The new drone prototype had already proven that it could out fly anything in the current peacekeeper arsenal. If they’d had a few of those drones, they could have easily defeated the enemy missile. As it turned out, America had almost suffered a nuclear attack. That was a sobering wake up call. It was time to upgrade the arsenal.
Jim saw Lisa and Evan eating corn on the cob. Evan laughed as homemade butter dripped down Lisa’s chin. Smiling, Lisa wiped the butter away and offered Evan a bite of her pork barbeque. After taking a bite, he offered her one of his yeast rolls. Jim could easily see that the two were infatuated with each other.
Seeing the other people eating reminded Jim that he hadn’t eaten yet. He was about to get up to go and get a plate of food, when Lina set one before him on the table. She also set an ice-cold coke before him. He briefly wondered where anyone had found the drinks. The pre-disaster supply had long since run out. He thanked her as she took a seat beside him. As if she knew he was wondering about the drink, she said, “A company has reopened one of the manufacturing facilities. I don’t think they taste the same, but others say they do. Tim traded for a few cases for this event.”
Jim ate the good food, and continued to listen to his friends who were talking about the plans for the future of the peacekeepers. Tim said, “Really, Jack, I’m sorry now I ever resisted becoming the captain of a ship. I think you should consider taking the Arizona.”
Lieutenant Wilcox surprised everyone when he said, “If you’re serious, I could use a sponsor.”
Jim, Pete, Tim, Captain Bill Young, and Captain Braden Murphy all got to their feet volunteering to sponsor the lieutenant. Jim laughed, and said, “I guess this means I lose my fighter escort pilot.”
“I’m afraid so, Jim,” Namid said. Then she added, “We’re getting married, so I think I’ll take the pilot’s seat in the Arizona, assuming Jack wants me as his pilot,” she amended.
“You were at the top of my list, angel,” Jack said.
“May I ask, what changed your mind?” Jim asked.
A troubled expression briefly came across Jack’s face. His normal calm expression quickly replaced it. “Twice, I have cheated death in my service as strike force leader. This last time, I really should have died,” he said soberly. Maggie nodded her agreement, and Jack continued, “I don’t know why I managed to survive this last mission. I’ve seen men die of lesser wounds too many times. But I do remember some things that I saw while I was unconscious. I haven’t spoken of them, because I didn’t want people to think I’d lost my mind. But I’ve told Namid, and she thinks I should tell you,” Lieutenant Wilcox said, and Namid took his hand in moral support.
“I saw myself as the captain of a ship, but it wasn’t like the patrol ships we have today. It was configured differently,” Jack revealed.
Pol dropped his glass, spilling water across the table. “Go on, Lieutenant. Tell us what else you saw,” Pol said.
“Are you alright, Pol? You look positively pale,” Maggie noted.
“I am fine. Go ahead please, Jack,” Pol insisted.
“The ship was sleeker. It was much more streamlined. It was two stories tall. The control room was in the center top forward. Crew quarters were aft. The lower floor contained the latrines. There was also a galley, mess hall, and a cargo bay of sorts, though it was configured differently. The ship could fly at one thousand feet, and reach speeds approaching the speed of sound. It was about eighty feet long.” Pausing, Jack said, “There’s something else about the ship. Something I’m hesitant to mention, because I know it sounds crazy.”
“You just tell them, dear. You know I believe in you,” Namid said.
Smiling at Namid in gratitude, Jack said, “I saw myself testing the ship out over the ocean. It seemed we’d flown a long time, and then we came to a great flotilla of ships. They were heading for America, and they were a threat. Several of the ships fired at us with some anti aircraft fire. We took numerous hits, but the armor of the ship held.”
“Go on please,” urged Pol. “Tell us the rest,”
“Then I heard an angel singing to me. She sang with such intensity, love, and yearning that I had to find her to tell her how beautiful she sounded. That angel told me that she wasn’t my angel. She said that she was my Namid. But she was wrong. She will always be my angel,” Lieutenant Wilcox said. Then, he gently kissed Namid.
“Alright, Pol, what’s going on here?” Tim asked.
Pol got up and walked down the length of the table until he reached a cleared spot large enough for his needs. He set his briefcase on the tabletop and unlocked it. He removed a sheaf of papers from the case and placed them on the tabletop. “I just finished these drawings today,” Pol stated. The others had crowded around. There were gasps of astonishment when they saw sketches that were a blueprint of a new ship design. The dimensions were even noted on the diagrams. The ship depicted in those diagrams mirrored Jack’s descriptions down to the smallest detail. At the top of the external view page was the name of the ship printed in Pol’s neat script. It was the Arizona.
At least this time I’ll know why we need this new technology,” Pol stated smugly. No one argued with him.
The end
Table of Contents
Book 4:
Book 5:
Book 6