Moving over to the edge of the roof, Evan tied one end of his parachute to one of the air conditioning units and draped the other end over the side. Using the parachute as a makeshift rappelling rope, he quickly made his way down the side of the building until he was on the ground. Once he stepped away from the building, he was joined by two guards.
“There is a parachute,” Evan said in Russian as he pointed the rifle at the dangling parachute. “He must be on the roof.”
With that, the two guards rushed toward the door of the building. Evan held the rifle in front of him, and he ran the other way toward an area that was not as well lit. As he headed down a dark passage between two buildings, he could hear the sound of a loud machine. He carefully crept toward the noise, and when he came to the end of the passage, he found himself on the edge of a small grassy area. In the middle of the area, there was a helicopter with the blades running at ready speed. It appeared that it was waiting for someone before it took off.
Evan looked around, but he did not see anyone about to board. He raised the rifle, and held it out in front of him as he saw the guards do, and then he marched across the grass toward the helicopter. It was an older generation Russian two-seater, used for close-in air support of the ground troops. Evan had flown a similar version that Afghan allies had captured during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. He hoped it had similar controls. The pilot did not see Evan approach, but he looked up when Evan opened the cockpit door.
“Take off the helmet and get out,” Evan said, pointing the rifle at him.
The pilot complied and got out of the helicopter with his hands up.
“Lay down on the ground, face down,” Evan said as he put the pilot’s helmet on.
Evan climbed into the cockpit and shut the door. The controls were a little different from what he remembered. But there were enough similarities in the basic controls that he was going to be able to fly it. He grabbed the stick and increased the engine power to full. Because the blades were already turning at ready speed, the helicopter immediately was aloft. Evan continued to climb straight up to put the helicopter out of range of the ground illumination. Looking down, he saw the pilot on the ground get up and run away. He was going to have company soon if he did not get out of there now, so he turned the helicopter in the direction of due south and flew as fast as the helicopter would go.
………………………….
“Do you see anything with the cameras on the B2, David?” Shirley said.
“Nothing yet. There is just a bunch of people running around in all directions. They must not have found him. I do see his parachute, though. It’s draped over the side of the reactor building.”
“Anything on the radar?”
“I do have a helicopter that just took off. It is hovering at about five hundred feet. They probably want to try to locate Evan from the air. Wait a minute. It is starting to move. Whoa. Very fast in this direction. Over two hundred miles per hour. This makes no sense.”
Shirley smiled. “I think we’ve found Evan.”
“You mean he’s the one flying the helicopter?” David asked. “He can fly a Russian helicopter?”
“Among other things,” Shirley said, “but I would bet that he doesn’t have the GPS unit. Get a flare in the sky to guide him in.”
“Will do,” David said as he hung up his headset and ran outside.
David ran up to one of the support trucks and grabbed a flare gun from the back. Flares were normally used to indicate where to pick someone up when they needed rescuing, but now they were going to use one to act as a beacon for Evan to follow. David pointed the gun into the air and fired it straight up. The flare was aloft in a second and lit up the entire area in a bright red glow. He threw the gun back in the truck and returned the building.
As he sat back down at his equipment and put his headset back on, he looked at the screen again.
“Wait, Colonel Beal. I see two objects behind the helicopter closing fast. From their radar signature, they appear to be missiles. They must be ancient soviet-era missiles because they are only travelling about twice Evan’s speed.”
“Get your anti-missile battery locked onto them, but don’t shoot them down until they cross the border. We do not have the authority to fire into Malaz airspace. Does he have enough time?”
“His helicopter is about halfway here, and the missiles are traveling about twice its speed,” David said. “I did the math in my head. It’s going to be close.”
David watched the radar monitor closely for several minutes. The radar screen had a line that marked the border and he saw the slow moving dot that represented Evan inch toward it. Soon, he could even hear the helicopter approaching in the distance.
“Ten seconds,” David said as he placed his finger on the fire button for the anti-missile battery. He watched as the three dots on the radar monitor began to converge at the line that marked the border.
“Fire! Missiles away,” he yelled as he heard the thunderous whoosh of rockets leaving the anti-missile battery behind the building.
Almost instantly, there was an explosion. David looked back at the monitor. There was only one dot left. And it was not moving. Then he heard the roar of a helicopter overhead. It sounded as if it were hovering just outside the building. David went outside and saw a Russian helicopter slowly turning around and descending to the ground. The tail of the helicopter was still smoking from where paint had been burned off. Evan guided the helicopter to the ground in a small patch of open space fifty feet from the building. After it touched down, the loud noise of the helicopter blades were replaced by the slow drone of the engine winding down after being shut off.
Evan climbed out of the cockpit, ducked under the slowing blades and walked toward David.
“I believe this is yours,” Evan said as he handed David the radiation detector.
David took the detector and the two men looked at each other and smiled. Nothing else was said. David patted Evan on the shoulder, opened the door to the building, and they went inside.
Chapter 6
Melina and Jean moved slowly through the school cafeteria while they looked for an open table. It was Taco Friday featuring the famous build-your-own taco bar, so seats were scarce. It was even louder than usual because there had been a pep rally before lunch for the football game that night, so everybody was still pumped.
“Over here,” Jean said as she sat down at a newly available table.
Melina laid her tray down and slumped into her chair. “I am exhausted. I stayed up way too late last night watching TV.”
Jean looked at her with a raised brow. “I thought your dad had a strict early to bed policy on school... that’s right. He’s on a trip. Yeah, I’d be up all night too.”
“I may need a nap when I get home,” Melina said.
“When does your dad get back?” Jean asked.
“He was supposed to be home sometime this afternoon, but his meetings have been pushed out. He will be home later this evening.”
“How have things worked out with the babysitter?” Jean asked.
“She is not a sitter,” Melina frowned. “She’s a friend of my mom’s named Angela. We had the greatest conversation last night. She has known my mom for twenty years. She worked with her when Mom still went to work. I found out things about my mom that I never knew.”
“Like what?”
“Like, she and Angela used to go to happy hours at the karaoke bar across from work. It seems my Mom specialized in singing ABBA songs.”
“That is so wrong,” Jean said. “I have a hard time picturing a lady in mom-jeans singing karaoke.”
Melina smiled. “I’m sure she didn’t wear mom-jeans back then. Oh and get this, Angela told me about a business trip she and my mom took to the Soviet Union.”
“Who takes a business trip to the Soviet Union?” Jean asked.
“Apparently, they were on some fact-finding tour for their company. You know, seeing if there were new markets there
for the company’s products. She says that they got tossed out of a bar in Moscow after they had one too many ice vodka shots, and they started a fight with the house band.”
“They must have thought they were in a karaoke bar,” Jean said as she laughed at the thought. “This lady sounds pretty cool.”
“If you come by the house this weekend, you can meet her,” Melina said. “She is going to stay with us through next week.”
“I thought you said your dad was coming back tonight.”
“He is, but he may have to go back for more meetings. He doesn’t know when so Angela agreed to stay with us just in case.”
Just then, Melina stopped looking at Jean and started looking far across the cafeteria. She leaned forward and squinted in an effort to bring the distance into focus.
Jean turned around and looked, as well. “What are you looking at?”
“Alex just came into the cafeteria,” Melina said.
“Where?”
“Way over there by the taco bar.”
“Wow,” Jean said. “Either you have incredible eyes or you’ve got some new Alex radar going. Did you guys ever schedule a time to get together to work on your physics project?”
“No,” Melina answered. “We were going to talk about it today, but the pep rally cancelled our class.”
“He looks as if he is trying to find someone,” Jean said.
“If he comes over here, I can ask him about the project,” Melina said.
Jean stood up and waited as Alex’s eyes scanned the room. When he saw her, she pointed at him and gave him the one-finger ‘come here’ signal.
Melina smiled and shook her head. “Or we can just point at him and tell him to come over here.”
Alex nodded and then made his way across the cafeteria. When he got to Melina and Jean, he stood at the end of the table, unsure if he should sit down. Melina suddenly became tongue-tied and didn’t know what to say.
“Have a seat, mister,” Jean said, easing things a little.
Melina looked at Jean and gave her a smile. Not only because she had just helped with the awkwardness with Alex. Rather, some friends are territorial about their friendships, and they will undermine their friend’s relations with others, but it was clear that Jean was not threatened by Alex.
“Thank you, Jean,” Alex said as he sat down and turned to Melina. “I only have a few minutes. Would you like to get together after school and work on our physics project?”
Melina looked up as she was thinking. The project was due in two weeks, but she was not going to turn down spending time with Alex.
“Sounds great,” Melina said. “How about if you came over to my house tonight?”
“Okay,” Alex said. “But I don’t know where you live.”
Melina took a piece of paper out of her backpack and wrote her address on it.
“Here you go,” Melina said handing the paper to Alex. “What time is good for you?”
“Is six o’clock too early?” Alex asked.
“I don’t think so, but I’ll call home to check and make sure it is okay. How about we say six o’clock and I call you if it is not okay.”
“Get your phone out and call me now,” Alex said.
Melina got out her phone and dialed the numbers as Alex said them to her. A few moments later, she heard the sound of a bunch of cows mooing in Alex’s pocket.
Alex stood up, pulled the phone from his pocket and answered it. “Hello, this is Alex.”
Melina laughed as she talked into her phone. “That is the lamest ringtone I have ever heard.”
“You’re right,” he said, smiling. “Some friends of mine in Seattle set that ring tone up on my phone when they found out I was moving to Texas. I just left it that way. ”
Melina looked over at Jean. “Don’t get any ideas.”
Alex looked at his watch. “Gotta jet. You have my number. Call me if six doesn’t work.”
Melina waved as he walked away and then turned to Jean.
“Okay, what now?” she said. “He’s coming over to my house!”
“Calm down, lady,” Jean said laughing. “You guys are just getting together to study.”
Melina looked down her nose at Jean. “You and I both know it is more than that. I don’t know what to wear. Should I serve food? Arghh.”
Jean leaned across the table toward Melina and rested her elbows on the table. “First, I wouldn’t serve food. Too messy. Have a selection of things to drink and some basic snacks. Second, wear what you always wear. That’s what he seems to like, but show him a look that he hasn’t seen already. To surprise him. Like pairing one of your sweaters with your usual jeans.”
“I have some sweaters I haven’t worn this year,” Melina said, trying to picture how they would look.
“The tighter, the better,” Jean said.
“Jean!” Melina gasped.
“I’m just sayin’,” Jean smiled.
………………………….
The doorbell rang at Melina’s house promptly at six o’clock. Alex stood on the doorstep nervously tugging on his backpack strap. He looked over his shoulder at his mom sitting in the car at the curb. She was waiting to make sure that he went into the house. He waved his arm at her to tell her that she could go. It was painful enough that he was being dropped off by his mom, but she also had to wait to see that he was going to be all right. His mom saw Alex trying to wave her off. She looked down her nose and shook her head. She wasn’t going anywhere.
Mercifully, the door to the house opened, and Melina stepped into the doorway. Alex went to say hello, but he only got his mouth open before he froze, looking at Melina standing before him. A million thoughts raced through his mind, but they all related to how fantastic she looked. It appeared Jean was right about the sweater.
“Hey,” he said finally, hoping she didn’t look over his shoulder as he heard his mom drive away.
“Hey lab partner. Come on in.”
Alex came inside and stood in the foyer as Melina shut the door behind him. He stood a moment and looked around, taking in the surroundings.
“That is a cool painting,” he said as he pointed at a framed painting on the wall of the foyer.
“My mom painted that,” Melina said. “She painted most of the paintings in the house. As my dad tells it, when my mom and dad first moved in, they couldn’t afford paintings for all of the places in the house that they wanted to hang art. So my mom learned how to paint. Now she just does it as a hobby. They are mostly abstract, but they are colorful.”
“Wow,” Alex said, pointing to another painting further down the hall. “I especially like this one. What is it supposed to be?”
“Mom won’t tell us,” Melina said. “I think it’s a boat on the water, but my dad thinks it’s a bowl on a table.”
Alex smiled, but then it was quiet. They had reached that point where the initial chitchat had ended, and both were so nervous that they did not know what to say next. They stood there awkwardly in the hallway. Melina finally broke the silence
“So, shall we do it?” Melina said.
Alex stood frozen again. Now he was even more unsure of what to say.
Melina realized that she was not clear about what it was. “The project, I mean.”
“Umm…yes. The project,” Alex stuttered.
Melina laughed to herself about her little mistake and started to walk down the hallway. She motioned to Alex for him to follow her. “Come on, we can work at the kitchen table.”
They walked into the kitchen, and Alex laid his backpack on the table. He got out his books, papers, and calculator and set them in careful order in front of him. He made sure that he placed them at the seat right next to where Melina’s things were already in place.
“Is this okay?” he said once he had finished. “I can sit right here.”
Where he sat, was right where she hoped he would sit. Next to her.
“Where you are sitting is fine,” she said coolly. “Do you have the
project description?”
Alex sat down in the chair and looked through his notebook until he found the piece of paper that Mr. Clary had handed out that outlined the project.
“Here it is,” he said. “Make a working model that demonstrates the power of magnetism. Explain the properties and equations involved. Write an essay of three pages or more on any subject related to magnetism.”
“Do you have any ideas for the working model?” Melina asked.
Alex thought for a moment. “Well… the obvious thing to do would be to place a magnet on a table and show metal being attracted to it.”
Melina did not speak but gave him a look and shook her head.
Alex shrugged and looked down at his notes. “Okay. Too simple. Another thing would be if we placed a magnet on a piece of white paper and sprinkled little iron filings next to it to reveal the lines of magnetic force.”
“That one has some potential,” Melina said as she stood up. “But what we need is something more exciting. Something with more power. Something that has ….”
Melina was interrupted by what sounded like something crashing into the walls in the next room. It was just Travis coming down the stairs. Much to their mom’s dislike, he insisted on taking the stairs three at a time on the way down. As if that weren’t loud enough, he often missed a stair and ended up bumping into the walls creating a telltale dull thud. It was a sound that the family had become used to. Since the stairs ended in the kitchen, he liked the last step to be a leap into the kitchen where he would see how far he could slide on the kitchen tile on his socks. Today, it sounded as if he were going for the record.
“Whoohooooo!” Travis yelled as he slid across the kitchen floor. He came to a stop a few feet short of the kitchen table. There would be no new record today.
“Duuuude, that was some fine socksmanship,” Alex said in his best surfer-speak. This made Melina giggle.
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