by Saxon Andrew
Tilly raised the rifle and pushed the slide forward. She saw the red shapes moving in the desert and swept the scope to the left. She found the man on the end of the advancing line and put the crosshairs on his head. “Janet, I’ve never killed a man before.”
Janet said, “Enjoy the feeling but don’t take too long; the second one will help you forget the first.”
Tilly heard the cough from Janet’s rifle and she squeezed the trigger with an even pull. The red shape fell to the desert. She moved the scope to the next man and sighted in. She fired again and moved quickly to the next red image. So far the line continued forward and Tilly knew that they were unaware of death walking in their mist. She squeezed the trigger again and moved to the next image. All of them fell where they stood without a sound. She lined up the fourth image and fired. The image fell and she saw the next target had disappeared. She swept the scope across the desert and didn’t see anything. She whispered, “Janet!”
Janet quietly said, “They’ve gone to cover. They know they’re being stalked. There are six of them left. Sweep your scope back and forth slowly until you find them. They’re taking cover behind the large Saguaros but they’re going to be looking to find us. Don’t shoot, locate them first.”
Tilly moved the rifle slowly across the desert directly in front of their position and saw red flashes. She marked them mentally and finally saw the third one, “I’ve got them.”
“Pick one and hold the sight picture close to the ground. When you see a flash, squeeze a shot off; you’re doing fine, Tilly.”
Tilly lined up the sites at the base of the giant cactus and forced herself to relax. She released her breath and saw a flash. She had the sights on it in an instant and squeezed off a shot. She heard a scream and a voice saying, “I’ve been hit.” She swept the scope back to where the other two were hiding and waited. None of them stuck their heads out. “Janet?”
“They know they’re dead if they move. They’re going to wait until daybreak for help to arrive.”
“What kind of help?”
“I wish I knew.”
• • •
Daybreak came at six forty in the morning. Tilly kept her sights trained on the two cacti the men were hiding behind and heard Janet say, “Pull the slide all the way back. The standard sight will function now.”
Tilly kept her eye to the scope as she reached on top of it and pulled the slide back two notches. The scope cleared and she had a perfect view of the two cacti. She swung it over to the last man she had hit and saw he had collapsed and was lying out in the open beside the giant Saguaro. She knew she should feel something but Janet was right; once the killing started, she no longer felt anything but fear of being killed. She knew the men were killers. If they were good guys they would have identified themselves. The morning passed quickly and the heat started beating down on them. Tilly was sweating profusely and Janet’s shirt was soaked with sweat. Tilly glanced at Janet and she smiled, “They’re wearing black.” Tilly shook her head and knew there was no escape from the midday sun. Those men had to be roasting.
Suddenly, all six of them stood and started running toward the road. Janet calmly raised her rifle and dropped the two leading the charge down the hill. The four remaining hit the ground again. Janet said, “They deserve it for picking on two defenseless women.”
Tilly’s nerves got the best of her and she started laughing. Janet smiled and said, “It’s true.”
Janet picked up the binoculars and stood up to look at the road. Both black vans were parked there and she could see the drivers were yelling something at each other. One of them took a cell phone out of his pocket and listened to someone. He yelled something at the other driver and rushed around to his van and jumped in. The other driver also ran and jumped in the other van and the two of them made a dust cloud leaving the side of the road. They disappeared around the curve at a high rate of speed. Janet heard Tilly say, “I didn’t think this area was on the airports flight pattern.” Janet looked at Tilly and she said, “I hear a jet.”
Janet swung the glasses across the sky and then she heard it as well. She looked to the north and saw a huge aircraft flying toward them at low altitude. “Oh hell no!! Tilly, grab the rifle and get down the ladder now!!” Tilly swung the rifle over her shoulder and went down the ladder as fast as she could manage. Janet grabbed the binoculars and bags of clips and grabbed both sides of the rope ladder and slid down. She almost landed on Tilly, “GET IN THE CAVE!!” They scrambled into the cave and Janet reached up and pulled the mat down over the entrance. She began hooking the mat to the hooks and Tilly joined her. Janet connected the last hook and pulled Tilly to the side chamber and pulled out two blankets and threw one to Tilly, “Listen to me carefully. Put the blanket over you and put your back against the back wall. Put your hands over your ears and don’t move them. I want you to take quick breaths and blow it out of your lungs and wait as long as you can before you take another quick breath. Do you understand!?!”
Tilly nodded, “What’s happening!?!”
“Just do it, Tilly.” Janet quickly put the rifle in its plastic bag and Tilly followed her example. They pulled the blankets over them and sat down against the wall to the side of the cave’s entrance. Tilly saw Janet close her eyes and put her hands over her ears as she quickly exhaled. Tilly put her hands over her ears and took a quick breath and blew it out. She blew out her fourth breath when the world felt like it had exploded and she felt a huge wave of heat permeate everything around her.
• • •
The C-130 cargo plane had its rear door open and as it approached the depression in the desert, one of the crew pressed the release button on the cargo. The huge canister moved down the ramp and disappeared. The Canister deployed a small parachute and started falling toward the ground. The crew of the transport accelerated and started gaining altitude. Suddenly, an Air Force Eagle came roaring from high altitude and fired two sidewinder missiles at it.
The two missiles tracked in on the transports right engines and blew the wing off the giant transport. The plane spun out of control and slammed into the desert floor scattering debris for more than a mile. The canister suddenly had a small explosion shatter the main canister open and a huge cloud of vapor spread out over the desert. A second explosion ignited the cloud and the desert was burned in a massive explosion. The blast blew out and burned everything on the surface.
The blast was a mile from the cave but the blast blew over the rise and ignited the propane tank which blew up in a huge blast. The flames from the Thermobaric bomb blew out of the depression and moved over the wall at the north end of the small cut in the rocks where the cave was located. It rushed down the channel, and blew out the small opening. In fifteen seconds, the flames stopped. In the cave, no one was moving.
• • •
Mike heard his handset ring and he pressed the talk button, “This is Sanders.”
“Mike, was your wife in the desert?”
“What do you mean was?”
General Branton said, “A thermobaric bomb was exploded at the site of the attack on the alien ship.”
Mike fell to his knees, “Tilly was there.”
“I knew there had to be a reason. A transport has been lost and the report the press is issuing is the transport ran into trouble and crashed, exploding the bomb.” Mike was in shock. “We know that is hogwash because if that were the case, the explosion wouldn’t have been so widespread; that bomb was dropped.”
“Someone shot the transport down to remove any evidence.”
“I believe you’re right. We’re getting investigators out to the scene. I’m sorry, Mike.”
Mike ended the call and went to the small helicopter and gave in to his grief. The next day his grief was replaced with a rage that was simmering. He was close to losing it. He pressed the redial button and General Branton answered, “Hello.”
“General, was that Major who was working the computers when I was being questioned still there?”
“Surprisingly, he is. I would have bet he was tied up in what was going on.”
“Will you put him on the line?”
“I’ll just hand him the handset.”
Mike waited and heard, “This is Major Eric Blackwell.”
“Major, I guess you know about what happened yesterday.”
“I do.”
“I am giving you permission to access any computer in the government or military.”
“Do you have the authority to do that, Sir?”
“Ask the General.”
Mike waited and heard a conversation taking place. He waited patiently and after four minutes he heard, “I’m sorry to keep you waiting but the General didn’t have an answer so he asked the President.”
“And?”
“I’m your man; what do you want?”
“I want you to trace the line of orders that put that plane in the air. I want every fighter in that part of the country accounted for during the time the blast took place. I want you to get that information back to me as soon as you find out anything.”
“Yes Sir, I’ll get right on it.”
“One more thing.”
“Yes Sir.”
“I had two jets go after me at the Red River Ordinance Base two weeks ago on Thursday around one thirty in the afternoon. Find out who was flying those jets and you might want to see where they were yesterday.”
“I’ll let you know.”
Mike went over to the Chinook helicopter and said, “I have to go.”
“I think we have things under control here.”
“I’ll contact you when I get this resolved.”
Captain Dunbar nodded and Mike went over to his attack copter. He lifted the attack copter above the trees and headed west. He refueled at Red River again without calling ahead. The base commander met him at the pad and Mike handed him his identity card. The General stared at him and said to the fueling crew, “Get this man on his way; he has important business to attend to.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll keep this visit just between you and me.”
Mike nodded, “Tell General Branton I appreciate it.”
“I will.”
Mike took the Little Bird attack ship above the base and headed west. He was skimming less than twenty feet above the ground when the handset beeped. Mike patched it to his headphones and said, “Sanders.”
“Sir, it wasn’t easy but I found out that a pilot was in the air at the time both of those events took place. He’s stationed at Dyes in Texas but was at Luke the day the transport went down. He arrived two hours before the Transport. He took off to return to Dyes thirty minutes before the event in the desert.”
“Where is he now?”
“He’s back at Dyes.”
“I want him followed and notify me if he leaves the base. I’m making a stop there before I leave Texas.”
“Yes Sir. The transport was launched from Warner Robins Air Force Base and was traveling to California.”
“What time did it go wheels up?”
“About four AM.”
“Who authorized the bomb to be on board?”
“The base commander where it was destined.”
“Give me a name.”
“General Raymond Atkins, Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo.”
“How were you able to uncover that piece of information?”
“It wasn’t easy. I’m a frustrated hacker at heart and this is getting to be really fun. I tracked the communications log in the mainframe at Robins for any calls from outside the State and the number I found went directly to the General’s office. The same number was also on the flight controller’s phone as well. Atkins ordered some materials and that hell fire bomb to be delivered pronto. The crew of the transport was assigned by a Major Tim Jekins at Robins. I hacked into his cell phone records and he also received a call from the good General an hour after the flight controller.”
“Did you hack into the good General’s phone records?”
“I did. He called a Colonel Jackson at Dyes around ten in the morning. I suspect it was to let him know his pilot might run a little late.”
“Who authorized the Eagle to be armed?”
“General Atkins.”
“Thank you, Major.”
“Don’t mention it. I’m going to start examining all of the phone calls in and out to the ones I’ve uncovered.”
“Send them directly to Captain Dunbar.”
“Will do, Sir.”
Chapter Fourteen
Mike pressed the six on his handset and Colonel Dunbar answered, “A major in the War Room is going to send you some names and telephone numbers. You might want to include them in your list.”
“Will do; have you arrived at your first stop?”
“No, I’ve changed my itinerary; I’ll be stopping at Dyes first; I’ll send you the coordinates shortly. Is there a team in place there?”
“Yes, I dispatched a team there two days ago. General Branton said there was a problem there. Major Blackwell sent me the information on the pilot and they’ll be looking for him.”
“Send them my coordinates when I arrive.”
“They’ll have them as soon as you send them to me.”
“Thanks, Captain.” Mike pulled the aerial maps of Abilene, Texas up on his IPad and looked at the area around Dyes Air Force Base. He saw what looked like a good place and he found it on the aerial map in his phone. He pressed the military app and he put an X on the phone’s display. The exact latitude and longitude appeared at the bottom. He copied the coordinates into an email and sent it to the Seal Colonel.
Mike veered and changed course toward Abilene. He had the map of the area on a clip board in front of him and he flew parallel to Interstate 20 all the way to the 322 loop. He flew around the loop until he saw Mesquite Golf Course and he veered over it. He found Arnold Road and slowed to twenty miles an hour. He followed Arnold until he saw the road breaking away from it into the surrounding woods. He went to the intersection and hovered. He moved closer to the street sign and saw Jennings Drive. He moved above the trees and followed the dirt road into the woods. He saw the dirt road crossing and he took the Little Bird down and landed in a small clear area. He shut down the rotors and reclined his chair. He hoped it wouldn’t take long.
It was getting dark fast and the temperature was dropping. He pulled the H&K and set it on the panel in front of him. He was surprised Colonel Dunbar already had a team at Dyes. As he thought about it, it shouldn’t have been a surprise. The two Eagles that came after him had to have been launched from Dyes. Finding out the Pilot that downed the transport after the team was sent confirmed the Colonel made a good decision.
Mike looked at his watch and saw it was ten fifteen. He saw headlights turn on Jennings and he jumped out of the copter and moved into the edge of the tree line. A white Kia Rio came rolling slowly down the dirt road and Mike shook his head; it had to be the Seals. You could drive through the White House gate in a Rio and no one would see you. The Rio moved slowly until it saw the helicopter and it turned and came to a stop under the rotors. Mike walked forward and was surprised to see Petty Officer Adams. “Good evening, Sir. I have two carefully wrapped packages with your name on it. Would you like to sign for them?” Adams handed Mike a black case with another shortwave phone inside. Mike took it back to the AH-6 and put it under the pilot’s chair.
Mike walked back to Adams, smiled, and put out his hand, “It’s good to see you back on board, Sailor.”
Adams shook his hand, “It’s really good to be back. There’s another pilot we’re gunning for and we’ve picked a time to make our move. We haven’t been given a go on the Colonel here.”
“I assume you have the necessary documentation to get you on the base.”
“We do.”
“I would suggest handling that situation at night. That’s when most medical emergencies take place.”
Adams stared at Mike, “Are you g
iving us the go ahead?”
“If you can make it look like natural causes, I am.”
Adams looked at Bowen and then turned to Mike, “The Colonel is an early riser on Sunday Mornings. He has his own golf cart and he leaves for the course before daybreak.”
“I’d take care of that issue then go after the other pilot.”
“You trust me to do it, Sir?”
“I trust you more than the others; you have something to prove to your brothers.”
Adams smiled and Mike put his hand on Adams’ shoulder, “We need to clean this one up and get you back in the queue.”
“We’ll make it happen, Sir. What do you want me to do with this piece of crap?”
“Hit him again and put him in the helicopter.”
Adams pulled a syringe and stuck it in the unconscious man’s shoulder, “He should be out for about four hours, Sir.” The two Seals carried the limp body and dumped it in the second seat. Mike holstered the H&K, fired up the rotors and after four minutes of warm up, he lifted slightly above the trees and headed back toward the golf course. He moved across Abilene and once clear he turned west and stayed south of Lubbock and north of Hobbs, Texas. He was cruising at a hundred and sixty miles an hour and soon he saw Roswell, New Mexico off to the right. He turned the Copter slightly south until he saw Highway 82.
He stayed two miles north of the highway and followed it through the Lincoln National Forest. He saw Alamogordo ahead and turned the Little Bird south. He had contacted a private air field in Las Cruces and arrived at three AM. The man in the control tower came out and unlocked the pump. He looked at the small attack helicopter and stared at Mike, “You’re traveling a little late, aren’t you?”
“I have to deliver this in California. They’re having a parade and most of their helicopters won’t fit on a float.”
“Well, this one will.” After forty five minutes the man said, “Just how much fuel does this thing hold?”
“About another fifteen minutes.”