Nightfall

by Peter Hoole

  “You’re welcome, William. Though I’d love to chat about your plan, unfortunately, we need to make preparations. The attack in Seattle is not having the effect we had hoped for, and we need to activate the back-up plan.”

  “Very well. Can I ask what the target is?” William asked.

  “I’m afraid I cannot say. It is a bigger target than Seattle, though.”

  “Fair enough. Well, Catherine, though I’m hoping it may be sooner, ‘See you in the next life’.”

  “See you in the next life, William.”

  Caleb was woken by his alarm. He rolled away from Darcy, not having let her go for the entire duration of their nap. As he rolled away, Darcy started to move. “Not yet, babe,” he whispered in her ear. “You stay here.”

  “But I…” she started to reply, fighting her drowsiness.

  Caleb rubbed her back as he sat up. “Take your time, babe. We’ve got some time ahead of us.”

  Darcy didn’t need any more convincing, and she fell back into a coma-like sleep.

  Caleb gently moved his arm from underneath her and left the car. He made his way towards Jacob’s pod. There was no way he was going to leave him alone in the cargo bay with Darcy. With a whack, Caleb roused the sleeping man.

  “Fuck off,” Jacob muttered with his usual charm.

  “Get up,” Caleb said. “We’ve had our six.”

  Without a further word, Jacob rolled out of his pad, and found his feet. They headed up the stairs to the cockpit.

  “Sleep well?” Caleb asked.

  Jacob grunted.

  Out of all the people on the plane, Jacob had slept the soundest; such was his ambivalence to what had occurred that day. The number of deaths didn’t faze him in the slightest, whether they were the people on the plane, those in Rome, or the lives he had taken personally. It was as though the previous day was like any other to him.

  “Good morning, sir,” Casey said from the Communications chair.

  Murphy spun around from the control chair. “Technically, it’s more like ‘Good Afternoon’ Sir. Australia’s about twelve hours ahead of the states.”

  “Are we there already?” Caleb asked.

  “Not quite in Australian airspace. I cranked up the speed a bit. We’ll be there in a couple of hours.”

  Dunleavy was in his standard Navigation seat. “Where is Darcy?” he asked, looking towards the door.

  “Sleeping. She’s earned it today.”

  Dunleavy smiled in agreement.

  “We should wake her in an hour or so though, sir.” Murphy said.

  Caleb walked in her direction, leaving Jacob at the door. “Why’s that, Lieutenant?”

  Murphy glanced over at Casey, and he nodded, as though approving whatever she was about to say.

  “I have a plan sir. A plan that will get us inside the colony.”

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  “How far out are we, pilot?” the man asked. The flight had thus far been uneventful. In fact, the whole time he’d spent away from the colony had been similar. He was, after all, purely an observer.

  He didn’t have any special training. He did not go through any of the vigorous programs that many of his level were put through. And for that, he was more than grateful.

  Francis had never been a fighter. He was much more of a manipulator of people, and a keen observer of human nature. Though many would think him a coward, he always saw himself as more practical. Why fight if you can convince someone to do it for you? It was a lesson his father had taught him in his youth, and had thus far served him well.

  As per James’ instruction, Francis had been based in New Zealand for the better part of the last two decades. It had been a long time since his last visit to Haven.

  The only contact he had with the rest of the Colonials had been intermittent, to say the least. That was the way James had requested it. It was the way things were done. Each member of the leadership had a task, and it was important that each task was not sullied with information that might distract.

  Francis’ main task was to report on activities within New Zealand’s Intelligence Services.

  And, he felt he had done his job admirably. Over the past two decades, he had slowly worked his way into the country’s Ministry of Defence. He ensured he was only ever the third or fourth person in the chain of command, never higher. In this role, he was never in a position where he could be fired through political whim, but he was still high enough that he had the ear and trust of those who could.

  Over the years, apart from a few minor infiltrations, there had been nothing that Francis considered a violation. And now, after all the time away, Francis was finally receiving his reward. He was going home. He was about to fulfil his destiny in Phase Two.

  The only concern Francis carried with him was the notion of what he would be doing in the next phase of the plan.

  James, as was his nature, was very secretive about the next Phase. Despite Francis’ standing among the colony, he was not privy to the discussions.

  He knew that they would announce themselves to the world soon. The fact they were all being recalled was evidence of that. It was finally coming to the moment where he would receive his final injection of the serum, and he looking forward to that.

  However, there was another thought that made him smile - the thought of no longer living the lie.

  The flight back to the colony from Wellington had only taken forty-five minutes so far, but such was his anticipation he was keen to be updated on their progress.

  “Almost there, sir…” the pilot replied, checking the instruments on the small plane. “I’d say we’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

  The cockpit was much smaller than the majority of planes in the fleet. There were Kites, the huge planes that were primarily mass transport vehicles. The Hawks were the fastest planes in the fleet, usually reserved for top level passengers. And then there were the Darts – the type of plane Francis and his pilot currently occupied. It was, essentially, a two-person transport vehicle. The only space was available was for the passengers, and some light luggage. Since the range of the plane was less than three thousand miles, and the journey would only take an hour or so, the lack of room wasn’t an issue.

  Francis admired the view from the plane. The wingspan was small, but it was more than sufficient. As he looked at the wing, Francis realised something. “Pilot,” he began, “why can I see the wing? Why are we not invisible?”

  The pilot looked over at Francis. “No need for it yet, sir. We’re over the Pacific, no one around. We’re flying low enough that no radar’s going to pick us up.”

  “Don’t we have Stealth… stuff?” asked Francis, demonstrating his lack of understanding of technology.

  “We do sir. But, as we’ve been instructed, we need to take precautions,” the pilot responded.

  Francis sat in silent thought for a while. Being so close to the end of his task, he wanted to be certain they were safe. “Just to make sure, Pilot,” he began, considering his words. “Just to be sure… can no-one see us?”

  Without hesitation the pilot responded. “Correct sir,” he replied. “That is, not quite no-one. Except the colony...”

  “How?”

  “The transponder, sir. Still showing our course. On track for Zone One base as we speak.”

  The words spoken by the pilot relaxed Francis. As long as the colony could see them as they approached, they would be protected. Unfortunately, Francis’ conclusions were about to be disproven.

  The smaller plane Murphy had been monitoring came into view.

  “Easy, Lieutenant, we don’t want to make them crash.”

  Caleb was watching the instruments with care. Murphy had switched to manual controls, as the manoeuvre she was about to perform was not in the plane’s prelisted movement patterns.

  “No problem, sir,” she said, her confidence apparent. “Piece of cake.” Murphy continued to focus on the screen.

  They had changed course approximately half a
n hour ago, and headed south. The small icon on the screen had attracted Murphy’s attention. As they bore down on the small plane, Murphy had needed to switch to manual flight. She had to muster all of her knowledge and focus to complete the task.

  Caleb walked over to Casey, who had been sitting at the Operations control. “How does it all look Sergeant?” he asked, “Are we going to make it?”

  Casey smiled back. “You worry too much, sir. Murphy’s got this. She’ll get us there.”

  Caleb turned back to the pilot, and then to Darcy. The look in his eyes almost beckoned Darcy to reassure him. And with a wink, she did just that. Not that she entirely believed it herself.

  Sometime earlier, she’d been woken by a raucous discussion from the cockpit.

  She’d hurriedly made her way upstairs to see what the fuss was about. There she’d found the five other group members, feverishly working away on their monitors. She’d asked Caleb what was happening.

  His response had caused her some trepidation. But the fact that Murphy had suggested it, and that Casey had backed her up, gave her and Caleb cause to show a bit of faith.

  Dunleavy and Jacob were not as convinced.

  “You must be out of your fucking mind!” Was a verbatim account of Jacob’s opinion.

  Despite the protests, the plan was adopted, and they were in the process of making it happen.

  As the time passed, it had become apparent that Casey and Murphy had been able to crack the computer system on the plane, and they were able to find out much more information about their upcoming destination. Some of what they found out was good for the plan, and there were other aspects that were not.

  After using the plane’s systems to download the information into their tablets, Caleb had relayed the information to Darcy. The place they were travelling too was referred to as Haven. It was earmarked as the Zone One base of operations, and indeed held the ‘Source’ that Isaac had discussed.

  None of this was really helpful to formulating a plan though. The important information was on the base itself.

  Caleb showed Darcy a schematic of the area on his tablet. While the town above, Haven, seemed to be a normal, albeit small, town, what was underground was far from ordinary.

  Under the town was a network of tunnels. Along the tunnels were several pods.

  As they studied further, they found that not all the rooms were earmarked as living areas (quarters, entertainment suites, refectories and the like), but there were many rooms that had been given specific names. The one that drew the attention of the group was called “Hangar”. The room was much larger than all but two of the rooms.

  One of the other rooms was designated for storage, and the other was for something called “Control”.

  Darcy continued to listen to what they had found out, and particularly about the Hangar area.

  Murphy had recognised some of the components that made up the cargo hold of the plane they were currently flying in, only on a much larger scale. It was then deduced that planes would be ‘caught’ by the hangar as they flew in, similar to the way the Kite had caught the ‘Bat in Seattle.

  Or at least, that was what they hoped as they flew behind the small plane.

  “Lieutenant,” Caleb began, “Just walk me through the plan one more time. Just so I’m clear.”

  Murphy was used to Caleb’s thoroughness.

  It was not uncommon for the team to come up with an outrageous plan – one that may or may not work. Despite the apparent improbabilities for success, Caleb had always made sure he gave all plans due consideration. He also made sure that any risks were minimised, at least, as much as they could be.

  And so far, the strategy had worked, and any plans they had made had worked out just fine, for the most part.

  As such, Murphy was happy to cover everything again. “Yes sir,” she began. “See that little plane there?” She motioned with her eyes towards the object they were tracking. “We are gonna follow that little thing all the way to Haven. Once we get in range, they will, presumably, send a message into the base that they’re going to land. Kind of like Open Sesame. Once the hangar door is opened, we’ll cut-in the line. That is, we’ll make our move in front of them, and take their place. The door will be open, we’ll fly in and be caught by the hangar.”

  “I still don’t get why we have to take this much of a risk?” Jacob exclaimed, “Surely we just need to land outside of the town, high-tail it in there in the ‘Bat, and shoot our way through. They surely couldn’t have enough troops to take us all out.”

  Caleb looked over at Jacob. He didn’t like his orders being questioned, especially by Jacob. “Jacob, we’ve been over this,” he began, trying to contain his frustration. “Looking at the base’s structure, and the schematics of the place, they’ve obviously prepared for a ground assault. My best guess…”

  “See… you’re guessing. This whole plan is a fucking guess!” Jacob angrily intervened.

  Caleb kept his cool. “My best guess is… that the majority of their defence will be on the surface, waiting for us there.”

  Jacob was about to speak, but Casey stood up, and stomped towards him. “Look, Pal,” Casey said, his anger not as easily controlled as Caleb’s. “You do not get a say here today. You are a fucking murderer, and if it were up to me, we would have thrown you off the plane the second you took out the prisoner.”

  Jacob stood up in an attempt to prevent Casey from standing over him. It didn’t work, as Casey pushed him back into his seat. Casey leant down, his voice reducing to a menacing whisper. “If you dare question what we’re doing, I will put a bullet in you.”

  Jacob had never been so intimidated. There was something about the way Casey spoke, as though he commanded fear from the assassin.

  Murphy was impressed, smiling as Casey delivered his words.

  Caleb continued to explain his decision to Jacob. “One thing we do know about these guys is that they’re arrogant. They probably assume that the only rational course of action, the only rational attack we can make is from the surface. And you know what? They’re right. No-one in their right minds would dare attempt what we’re about to.”

  Before Caleb could finish, Darcy spoke. “That’s why we need to go with the plan. It’s the only way we can surprise them.”

  Dunleavy had remained purposely quiet during the entire exchange. He had faith in the team, and therefore the plan. All that he’d needed to say had been said.

  Jacob turned to the old man, as though looking for absolution in his perceived ally.

  When it didn’t come, Jacob resigned himself to following instructions. The only way he would reach his goal was to do so. Even if it meant, as he believed it would, that they would be killed in the process. From what he knew, if they didn’t get the serum, death would be a near certainty anyway.

  Feeling the situation had resolved itself, Caleb moved to the seat next to Murphy. Before he sat down, he turned to Darcy, and gave her a wink. “Light in my dark, babe.”

  “You too,” she replied.

  Caleb sat down to the right of the Lieutenant. “How long?”

  Throughout the previous conversation, Murphy had kept speed with the plane in front. “I’m glad you kids have finished, because, by my reckoning, we should be on approach as we speak,” she answered.

  The plane in front began to lose altitude, as though coming in for a landing.

  There was no runway in site, only trees and roads.

  “You’re sure this’ll work?” Caleb said to Murphy.

  “Like I said… piece of cake.”

  Chapter Fifty

  The plane cruised for a few more minutes, the crew silent. None of them wanted to disturb Murphy. As accomplished a pilot as she was, she had never attempted a move like she was about to, and certainly not in the size of plane she was currently in.

  After a few more seconds, they saw it. In the distance, a hill became apparent. Not because it was identifiable in anyway. On the contrary, it looked almost exact
ly like the hundreds of hills they’d passed and on the horizon. The only reason it was apparent was that the plane in front seemed to be heading straight for it.

  That must be it, Caleb thought. His thoughts were soon proven correct.

  An opening began to appear in the side of the hill. The image was reminiscent of the plane opening as they drove in back in the states. Caleb turned to the rest of the crew. “Okay. You know what you have to do. When we stop, we have to move fast. Has everyone got their gear?”

  “Yes,” was the near-unanimous reply.

  Darcy had taken equipment from Natalie, whose body was still sitting in the cargo bay.

  “Okay then. Get ready, it’s gonna be bumpy.”

  As the opening got larger, Murphy pushed forward, increasing their speed. It was imperative they beat the smaller plane into the hangar. The plane drew in line with the other plane, but couldn’t accelerate any harder.

  “Sir, we need more power,” Murphy said. “We’re going to have to shut off the cloak!”

  Caleb figured the Colonials would find out they were there soon, anyway. “Do it.” Caleb said, turning to Casey, sitting at Operations.

  Without question, Casey did as he was told. “Done” he said, the buttons pressed.

  The plane came into view. Everyone looking in their direction could now see them. There was no hiding from that. Murphy was correct though. The cloak had been draining significant power. As soon as the plane became completely visible, it was able to gain some extra speed, and overtake the smaller plane.

  With less than a thousand yards between the plane and the hangar, Murphy quickly lost altitude, and dropped down in front of the smaller plane. Their continued higher speed was helping them pull further in front, providing a buffer to minimise the risk of a collision. She angled the nose of the plane down, and lined up with the gradient of the hangars ramp. The plane now headed straight towards the hangar.

  “Ten seconds!” Dunleavy shouted from his navigation seat.

  The plane hadn’t slowed. Based on Murphy’s interpretation of how the hangar worked, she figured they wouldn’t have to.