by David Berko
From that point henceforward, everything would change in the young man's life. He had a calling and a purpose to reach the Jews for Christ. And that's what he would determined to do from now on.
--
A blinding light streaked across the sky at the speed consistent with a shooting star.
But in fact it was only the Lord of the Ages on his way to Scorpion's war room.
When Howard landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, somebody in a men's dress coat awaited his arrival.
The figure stood stock still with scrunched shoulder blades and feet close together. He wore a strange earring in one ear, while the other lobe remained unpierced. On his left hand ring finger he had a big square ring with a blue pentagram embossed on it. The man's eyes were fixtures of evil--liking glowing embers.
The director-general's shuttle came to a full stop. Its three red lights flashed synchronously in the early morning. After ten minutes had elapsed the exterior hatch loosed. A hissing noise sounded: clouds of fog rolled in before the appearance of the Serpent himself who assumed the form of an old man.
Howard saw the person standing in his way. A glimmer of recognition showed on his face. "You are here."
"Yes my lord," the cloaked man said while remaining in the shadows. He didn't look for an invitation to get down on a knee...it was simply instinct. "I serve you, and you only."
"Come, we have big things to see to," Howard said.
The other man nodded and bowed low. "Lead the way."
--
West Los Angeles, California
Rex breathed in the oxygen supply that was fed to him when he needed it most. His triangular-shaped mandible on his flight helmet reminded him of a certain character creation from George Lucas's robust imagination. Only Rex didn't have a son named Luke, and he was pretty sure the FRN was the good side.
He soared in his fighter jet high above the cityscape below. Its powerful engines burned through the night and defied gravity at every twist and turn. No Scorpion aircraft had given chase yet: it was all friendlies and stars in the heavenlies for the moment. In fact, radio traffic was at an all-time low since the operation began. Yet for some reason Rex felt extremely tense and uneasy. If there was a sixth sense, his was tingling.
In the aft section of his jet, due south, a green glow grew stronger and stronger. The Northern Lights? Rex didn't think so, not for a minute. It was extremely rare to begin with, but not only that, it wasn't the right time or place to be occurring. Something beyond fishy was going on.
"Uh, Air Boss this is Wingman Rogers, 149th Fighter Wing, Squadron four, Apache seven-niner...we have a situation. Break. Strange lights in the south. Over?"
Static was all he got. His plane showed he had connection with the AWACS plane, yet he couldn't hear a thing. No confirmation of his message received. A quick check of the radio confirmed it. Rex felt a heat wave flash over him when he realized there was a jamming frequency denying his own outgoing transmissions. Helplessness was only intensified when his eyes noticed a new object show up on radar. It wasn't identified blue or red by the computer. Then what was it?
It was big. Triangular in shape. No, maybe circular. Whatever it was, its approach had been mysteriously masked by an energy field not known to man or science. What it was doing there was anyone's guess. What everyone and their mother's brother's uncle really wanted to know....Were its intentions friendly or hostile?
The dark object appeared unfazed by hairbreadth fly-bys conducted by the brave young pilots of FRN's air armada. Then it turned all the lights on. From every conceivable surface the craft cast a blinding iridescent glow. It also had doors, lots of them. And they were opening.
…
President Alexander Toporvsky didn't know what he was looking at. What he heard was even worse though. Where there was silence in the bunker deep beneath Honolulu, in the back of Alexander's mind violins were screeching away, building up to a mad crescendo as a soundtrack to what was happening on the battle management system that projected for the national security council the pandemonium in the skies over LA.
…
"Mayday, mayday!" one pilot panicked.
Several others joined in on the mayhem. "We have bogies EVERYWHERE up here!" another cried out.
To be continued...
Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1: The Billionaire
Chapter 2: Test Flight
Chapter 3: Free Republic of North America
Chapter 4: Scorpion
Chapter 5: Surprise Attack
Chapter 6: The Kidnapping
Chapter 7: Area 51
Chapter 8: Desmond Meets Howard
Chapter 9: Nuclear Fusion Keynote
Chapter 10: Jetpack Tour of Dreamland
Chapter 11: A Bite to Eat
Chapter 12: Outpatient
Chapter 13: Heather
Chapter 14: The Virtual Thief
Chapter 15: Assassination
Chapter 16: Rough Characters
Chapter 17: A Plan
Chapter 18: Takeover
Chapter 19: Conference in the Air
Chapter 20: President in Town
Chapter 21: The Basement
Chapter 22: Texas Joins the Fight
Chapter 23: Operation Switchblade
Chapter 24: Battle in the Sky
Epilogue