Security Breach
Page 20
“What now, Randall?”
“Shoot it.”
“Say again.”
“I don’t know how to stop it, Nora. And I can’t do it from here. Put the tablet on the ground and shoot it. If that’s the actual controlling device, and not merely a monitor, it should stop the launch.”
Tom was standing next to her now.
He took the tablet from Nora, set it on the ground five feet in front of her, and quickly returned to her side.
Nora raised her weapon and fired.
The tablet exploded into a myriad of pieces, the sound of her discharged firearm ricocheting off the canyon.
“What now?”
“I think you should run.”
“Run?” Tom offered her a small, tight smile. “I don’t know, Nora. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but based on what the countdown clock read...if it’s still going we have approximately twenty-eight seconds.”
Which they both knew meant running wouldn’t make any difference if they truly were in danger. You can’t outrun the fallout from a rocket.
She turned to Tom.
“Other guy?”
“Dead.”
“Thanks for your help.”
“Don’t mention it.”
They stood there, in the bright sunshine of high noon, and Nora found herself offering up a prayer to God, though she didn’t understand how she knew to do that, if she was doing it correctly, or even if God worked that way.
But it felt right.
And a memory stirred from somewhere deep in her soul, of sitting with her grandmother, of folding her hands together, of her nana’s voice in her ear.
Randall’s voice came back through her comm unit. “I think we’re clear.”
“You think?”
“We’re clear, Nora. It...we’re well past the countdown clock. You stopped it.”
Relief flooded Nora’s body, and she became aware that she was incredibly thirsty. She turned to Tom and gave him a high-five, then squinted her eyes against the bright sun until she found Randall’s drone. She offered a wave and a thumbs up as the tension coursing through her body drained away, the adrenaline surge evaporated, and her left arm began to shake.
If Tom noticed, he didn’t mention it.
Shoulders touching, they turned and began the walk back toward the cliff wall. It was time to go and fetch her partner.