The fuel trucks were still plugged in and people were scattering about like angry ants. To our left a large group swarmed out of another building and ran toward the plane. I recognized a few of them, Bill, the asshole NSA director, and some other high-ranking government officials.
They were as frantic as we were. Nothing had gone to plan and every minute that passed something else went wrong. Now, there was only one safe place and it was aboard a plane that hadn’t even finished fueling.
“We should probably hurry,” Garner said as he sped up.
I grabbed Grayson’s hand and we rushed across the tarmac. Toby was right behind me, glancing over his shoulder with crazed eyes. He was trying to be brave, but his jittering pupils and sweat-drenched shirt told another story.
The gunfire was starting to intensify. It grew from intermittent snaps to the noises I only associated with the battlefield. From the sound of it, we were losing. The shooting and yelling was getting closer as the soldiers gave more and more ground. Orders of “fallback” and “take cover” were being hollered far too often. The fight had spilled onto the base and it wouldn’t take long for it to make it to us.
“The guy said we didn’t have enough gas,” Toby huffed as we stopped near the front of the plane.
“Secretary,” Bill said as he extended his arm and shook Garner’s hand. “H building is clear. Is this thing ready to get in the air?”
Garner frowned. “I doubt it, but we won’t have a choice in thirty seconds.”
“He said there wasn’t enough gas!” Toby yelled and thrust himself into the conversation.
“Toby,” I mumbled and grabbed his arm.
“No! No! You assholes knew about this!” he shoved Garner then grabbed his collar and yanked him forward. “You told no one, and all of those people…you just left them to die. And now you want us to get on a plane with no gas!”
Garner grabbed Toby’s wrists and stared him in the eyes. “Mr. Buchannan, your choices are very simple. Take your chances in the plane or take your chances with that armed mob and whatever Mother Nature throws at you next. MJ explained to you the situation, this is all theatre. We can’t save everyone, don’t be so naïve. Be happy you have a seat or feel free to give it to someone else. But take your fucking hands off me, so we can leave this godforsaken place!”
Toby narrowed his eyes and ground his teeth. He grunted then released Garner and stormed off.
“Much better,” the secretary said with a grin. Clearing his throat, he raised his hands into the air and spoke in an echoing voice. “The plane is still fueling, but we need to board and prepare for takeoff as quickly as possible. Station heads, you know your jobs, make sure your shit is locked down. I want the operations center up and ready to process before the wheels leave the ground.”
And just like that, people started moving with purpose. There was still an air of panic, but having a job seemed to ground people and help them focus. It was controlled chaos and that was exactly what we needed right then.
As people moved toward the steps I cut across and stopped in front of Bill. “What the fuck!” I growled through clenched teeth.
“What is it now, MJ?” he sighed.
“Are you fucking serious? I call you to start the diversion and pick me up…and you send the fucking National Guard to the city! What the hell were you thinking?”
He twisted his face and leaned back. “I was thinking you needed help and I sent it. I was thinking you’d be a little more grateful.”
“Grateful? They killed people, took the others away to who the hell knows. We were supposed to keep this quiet.”
“Well, you’re here now aren’t you. You made it out. Why the fuck are you bitching?”
I shoved him in the chest and stepped closer. “You really are an asshole!”
“What is it that you think we’re doing here, MJ? You think you were saving lives? Give me a break. Do you even know went on back there?”
“Yeah, I had to walk from New York to New Jersey and ride a fucking bus back to Arlington, all while trying to avoid dying or getting shot by your fucking goons!”
“Goons! Jesus, you really are full of yourself. Seven planes went down that day…seven! After the earthquake, all hell broke out in New York. Police were killed, the port authority was overrun! Yeah, I sent my goons in there, looking for you! Trying to save your life!” With that Bill turned and stormed off.
I stood there for a moment playing the events back in my mind. I knew what I saw. I knew what was really going on. Bill was the clueless one.
“Mom, what’s going on?” Grayson asked as he stepped closer with Toby at his side.
I took a deep breath and wiped my face. “We’ve gotta go,” I replied. “It’s…it’s an emergency and we need to leave here. Just stay close to me and your father.”
Toby grumbled and rubbed his hands together. “Sorry,” he said reluctantly. “This isn’t my world. I hope I didn’t mess anything up for you.”
“Not any more than I did. Let’s just get on the plane.”
Suddenly, something snapped to the side of me and out of instinct I grabbed Grayson and ducked. One of the men boarding the plane shouted in agony and collapsed. In a heap, he fell over the side of the steps and landed on the ground. Blood oozed from his side as he lay motionless, the fall knocking him unconscious.
“They’ve breached!” Craig yelled, bursting through a building to our side.
As he ran toward us, he spun around and fired a hail of bullets at the door he’d just come through. He paused and checked his weapon then a man dropped from behind the door with blood pouring from his head.
“Secretary, they’re coming this way!”
I grabbed Grayson’s hand and started for the stairs. “Toby, come on!” I yelled.
The groundcrew began to shut the fueling truck off and started to unplug the fuel lines. Whatever we had was what we had, it was time to go
As soon as I stepped on the plane I felt lightheaded. I grabbed a seat and steadied myself as the vertigo passed. Toby was watching me skeptically, so I gave him a weak smile before moving on.
“Last time I flew it didn’t go so well,” I told him.
“I get it.”
“Contact!” Craig shouted from outside.
I turned around in time to see the pilot just make it onto the plane. He’d cleared the last step when the bullet hit him in the neck. His head snapped back as he lurched forward then collapsed into the aisle.
CHAPTER 15
FLEE INTO THE SKIES
I pressed my hand against the pilot’s neck as the world around me exploded into bedlam. Toby dove on top of Grayson and was shielding him with his own body as people squeezed down the aisle in panic. Several case officers rushed off the plane to join in the raging gunfight that ensued outside. And I felt the life fade from a man whose name I didn’t even know.
“MJ! MJ!” Toby screamed.
I looked up from the lifeless pilot. My hands were stained with his blood, my arms covered in crimson like I was wearing sleeves. Swirling in the puddle of his life, were our chances of survival, our ticket to the skies, and every bullet that crackled outside was another nail in the coffin.
Toby was a few seats away, waving his arms at me, offering his body as a bullet proof vest. But I didn’t belong in the plane cowering behind a seat. I belonged outside with a gun in my hand.
“Stay here,” I called out.
I ran to the door and flew down the steps before Toby could even try and stop me. Craig and his men had moved to an adjacent building, trying to draw fire away from the plane. It was an intense gunfight, but at least they’d occupied the mob’s attention for the time being.
There was a case officer lying dead at the base of the steps. He was a middle-aged man named Xavier. We’d worked together before and as I looked down at his slack face I wondered if his family had made it out.
I thought about the list of dead officers that seemed to grow by the minute. I thought about my own
team and all their families that would probably never get the answers they deserved. I wondered if any of their family were headed to the Mayflower. Or had the brave souls on my team paid the ultimate sacrifice, so that their family could die on this rock with everyone else.
Xavier’s service pistol had fallen a few feet from his hand. I picked it up, checked the magazine then knelt to search his body for any extras. It was a morbid exercise, but times like that weren’t for the faint hearted.
His coat was drenched in sticky blood that had puddled underneath him. I moved it to the side and grabbed the two additional magazines that were tucked away on his belt loop. As I did his wallet fell out.
Sighing, I picked it up and held it for a moment. I didn’t have the heart to look inside. It would only be filled with pictures and memories of a family he’d never see again. Maybe appointments that he’d never make or old movie tickets that would still be here long after he turned to dust. I couldn’t open it, so I slid it back into his pocket and folded his hands over his chest.
“Sleep well, X,” I whispered then brushed my fingers across his eyelids.
I pushed the extra magazines into my pocket then headed toward the edge of the hangar. A few of the soldiers were advancing on the mob as Craig took another team out the side of the building to flank them. I rushed to join him as they were severely outmanned and outgunned.
“Major,” I called in a voice that was swallowed by the explosions of gunfire.
He didn’t seem to hear me. His team kept advancing down the side of the building like they were stalking a deer. Grunting, I sped up and chased after him.
“MJ!” Garner’s voice blared angrily out of nowhere.
He was clenching to the side of the building with a rifle in his hand. His legs were shaking, and his eyes burned with dread. I’d never thought of him as an operator and now I knew why. He was as likely to kill himself as anyone shooting at us.
I changed directions and rushed toward him as bullets skirted by and bounced off the ground. Clearing the gauntlet, I slammed into the wall beside him, barely shielding myself from the incoming fire.
“What the hell are you doing?” he continued. “Get back on that damn plane and keep your head down.”
“Sir, I can handle myself. You need all the guns you can get or that plane is never leaving. One bullet hits that and we’re all dead.”
“And if you get killed then what?”
“Then I won’t be here to bug you tomorrow.”
Garner exhaled. “That’s cute, MJ but, we can’t run the launch protocol without you.”
A chunk of the wall beside me exploded as a bullet tore through it. I fired two shots into the distance then shrank back behind cover.
“What are you talking about?” I asked him as I caught my breath.
“Jesus, MJ…just don’t fucking die. No need to be a hero, you belong with your family.”
I cut my eyes at him then started heading towards Craig but paused and looked back. “By the way, the pilot’s dead,” I said grimly.
Craig and his men had moved around the far building. They were at the wall, preparing to advance. I hurried to catch them, hoping they didn’t accidentally shoot me as I moved closer.
“Craig,” I whispered once I was in earshot.
He spun around with his gun ready. As he realized who I was his hardened face softened a bit and he lowered the barrel. With a nod of his head, he waved me forward and I joined him at the corner.
There were at least thirty men advancing toward the hangar. They were taking cover as it came, behind pallets of supplies or shipping crates, or just laying prone. They had the numbers and the firepower, but they were pissed off and while some of them had military training, they were uncoordinated and sloppy.
“We’re gonna have to do this quickly,” Craig said. “There’s at least a hundred more of these guys still trying to make it in the gate. We hit them hard then get back to the plane and get the hell out of here.”
Everyone nodded in agreement as they double checked their weapons. I tightened the grip on my pistol then tapped Craig on the shoulder.
“Thought you should know, the pilot died on the plane. One shot to the neck. You got a backup plan for getting the hell out of here?”
“Fuck!” Craig snapped. He leaned his head back and clenched his jaw. “We’ll have to deal with that later. Let’s move.”
We tore off around the building behind a storm of searing metal. Our guns exploded into the air with the sounds of death and destruction. It was almost too easy. The poor bastards never knew what hit them and most were dead before they heard the first gunshot.
The few that survived the initial barrage darted for cover inside of a small warehouse. We gave chase, running after them as their friends lay dead or dying.
I followed the team through a thin, gray door and cut to the left. With my head tucked low, I crept slowly toward the back of the warehouse, keeping myself hidden behind a row of metal shelves.
A few UV lights hung from the ceiling, but the place was dipped in shadows and strange scents. Mountains of supplies were aligned in long, rows that covered the warehouse from wall to wall. Boxes caked in dust sat on the shelves, like lost memories that would never be claimed again. The entire room smelled like age, like old hands and couches adorned in faded, scratchy fabric.
Something moved up ahead of me and I froze. I wasn’t sure what it was or if I’d seen anything at all. Maybe a rat, maybe my mind was morphing the shadows into dark figures with nefarious goals.
Straining my ears, I waited in silence. My eyes slowly adjusted, and I could barely make the outline of a sneaker, sticking out from behind a row of shelves as it ticked back and forth, slightly brushing up against the metal. I hadn’t gone crazy, yet.
Silently, I inched closer. I could hear nervous breathing and the sound of a gun rattling in someone’s terrified hands. But beneath the hushed panting, I could hear something else. It was a mumbling whisper, that at first sounded like nothing more than gibberish.
“Just go away. Please just go away,” they repeated over and over.
Their voice shuddered when they spoke and crackled with fear. It was apparent, all these people weren’t soldiers and even the ones that were probably had noble intentions. I hadn’t thought about it before, but they were desperate. They just wanted to live, wanted their family to live. What would I have done in their shoes?
I stepped around the corner with my gun ready, but found a young teenage boy huddled on the floor with his legs crossed, rocking back and forth. He was probably fifteen and the AK-47 propped between his legs painted a stark contrast to the innocence reflected in his face.
“It’s okay,” I whispered as I lowered my gun. “It’s okay, I’m not gonna hurt you.”
He slowly looked up at me. Huffing, he wiped the tears from his eyes and swallowed. “I, I…I didn’t want to d…do it,” he stuttered.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Steven.”
“Steven, my name is MJ. It’s not safe in here, you can come with me. Okay?” I didn’t think about what I was doing. I thought about Grayson, Steven wasn’t much older. Bill’s words echoed in my head and I thought, if I could just save one person, maybe it’d erase some of the bad I’d done.
Steven nodded and I reached a hand out to help him up, but before our fingers touched something hard hit me in the back of the head. I stumbled and fell into the shelf beside me, then hit the floor. My gun slipped from my hand and slid across the cold, concrete.
I was momentarily stunned, but the sensation of someone yanking me up by my hair had a sobering effect. I reached up and grabbed the hefty mitts that had tangled themselves onto my head. As I found my footing, I spun around like a Tasmanian devil.
An ogre towered over me. His dark, narrow eyes glowered at me as he curled his lips into a snarl. His massive jaw was covered in a thick, red beard and an assault rifle hung from his shoulder.
He opened his mouth to
speak, but I shot my hand out and hit him in the throat with the ridge. He gagged and released me then staggered backward.
Grunting, he reached out again and I snapped my foot into his knee then bashed him in the nose with my fist as he doubled over. Blood splattered onto my face and he fell back reaching for air. He wrapped his hand around the shelving frame on his way down and it crashed to the ground with him, spilling boxes, all over the floor and burying him in the clutter.
“Come on, Steven,” I turned around and gasped. “We have to go.”
Steven mumbled something and I ignored him. Dropping to the floor, I reached under the shelf he was leaning against. My gun had slid to the back, wedged between the wall. I felt naked without it.
“Steven,” I groaned as I reached out for it. “You’re gonna have to get up. We need to get moving.”
I managed to hook my finger around the trigger guard, but I couldn’t get enough grip. I stretched my arm some more, until it felt like my shoulder was prying apart. “Come on,” I groaned.
Suddenly, I felt a yank at my foot then someone pulled me away from the shelf. I rolled over as the massive man dragged me towards him. With my free foot, I kicked at him, but he was too tall to hit from the ground.
Wiggling like a hooked fish, I flopped across the floor until he finally released me. I tried to jump up, but he swung his rifle like a bat and smacked me right in the side of the face. The blow sent me sailing to the ground like a gnat.
I landed next to the shelf and in desperation, crammed my torso underneath. I swung my arm out and pushed off my toes. A jolt of energy hit me as my fingers smacked against the gun and it dislodged from the corner.
Wrapping my fingers around the cold metal, I scrambled to a sitting position and spun around. I was too late.
The man had me in his sights. His rifle was pointed at my chest and his face was twisted in a demonic grin. He cocked his head to the side and nodded then pulled the trigger.
There was an audible “click” and it took me a moment to realize what happened. I was still alive and the idiot standing in front of me had just misfired.
Deconstruction- The Complete series Box Set Page 43