by EE Isherwood
Kyla grabbed the handle at the top of the door, sure Meechum had lost her mind and was going to drive them right off the side.
“Wait!” she shrieked.
The minivan went over the edge of the cement and into a dip. Meechum hit the brake and turned the wheel to the right. The tires spun on loose gravel, shooting rocks under the floorboards. She kept going, but they were soon riding down the mountainside, not falling from it.
Kyla could barely speak; her stomach was in her throat. “What the heck is this? It looks like…”
“Railroad tracks,” the driver deadpanned. “There’s a cog railway running from Colorado Springs all the way to the top of this mountain. I saw it before we landed. If we drive down, it will take us toward your uncle and better cell reception.”
The narrow railroad was like any other traditional set of tracks, but it also had a middle rail with jagged teeth. Since they were going down a steep hill at that moment, she figured out the third rail was how a tram car would keep from sliding. However, it did nothing for them.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Kyla exclaimed, now leaning forward against the dashboard due to the force of gravity.
“I told you a long time ago, the trick is to always act like you know what you’re doing.”
Kyla looked over. The grade was so steep, Meechum had to lock her arms to keep from sitting against the steering wheel. They were lucky, however, because there were no turns coming up while they were on the steepest section.
“Let me try my phone.” The grade leveled out a bit, giving her the ability to sit on the forward edge of her seat again. At first, her smartphone didn’t give any signal at all, but as they went around the first turn, and got closer to where Uncle Ted was supposed to be, a single bar appeared. “I have something!”
She immediately hit her uncle’s number. It rang a couple of times, then it sounded like someone picked up, but the call dropped.
“Damn!”
Meechum chuckled. “Hang on a second, we have to go around this obstacle.”
The fire-engine red tram sat on the track, frozen in time. It was bigger than she’d imagined, about the size of two school buses traveling one behind the other. However, their style was European, with oversized windows and a round headlight on the front.
The stunt driver slowed to ride over the rocks next to the tracks. As they went by, Kyla imagined the heaps of clothing lying on all those seats inside. In seconds, they passed it, and she sighed with relief.
They drove around another turn, continuing down the side of the mountain.
“Try your phone again,” Meechum suggested.
The signal had improved.
“I have two bars!”
Meechum motioned across the hills and mountains, toward the city. “We’re getting closer to Colorado Springs. I think your signal will stay strong now.”
She dialed the phone. This time, it went through.
Emily’s voice greeted her. “Hello?”
CHAPTER 26
Cheyenne Mountain Entrance, CO
Brent had become an expert at finding the proper trucks to use for his operation. He and his team spent about thirty minutes driving around the southern reaches of Colorado Springs, finding tanker trucks, then having men jump out and commandeer them. They decided to pair up the men, so there were two guys per vehicle. He and Trish were the last to get their rig.
They’d also raided a hardware store, collecting road flares, copper wire, cinder blocks, and the other fixings they required to detonate the truck.
“This road goes right up to the front door of the base. You can see it from here.”
At the head of his tiny convoy, Brent drove the rig over a bridge spanning I-25. He noticed fewer of the empty flatbeds on the southbound highway below, but one of the trucks had exited and was coming up the ramp toward them.
“We’ll ignore him,” he said, trying to stay calm.
The bridge was the perfect position to see Cheyenne Mountain in the foreground and Pike’s Peak in the background. The hills closest to the interstate weren’t too high, but the bare mountain in the distance towered above Colorado Springs. He’d never been in the area, but he understood why Colorado was such a hot tourist destination. It was beautiful.
He and Trish both sat with a pistol in their lap. As they started up the final roadway, she spoke in a low voice. “You didn’t really think this through, did you?”
“What do you mean?” He didn’t give her much attention; the twisty road required constant gear shifting to keep the engine from bogging down.
“We have all these trucks, but the terrain isn’t going to let us put them on autopilot. You didn’t tell the others, did you?”
He finally glanced over to her, admiring for the thousandth time how pretty the young woman was. Her face was rigid and serious, however, so he answered her directly. “No. This isn’t like the airport. My plan was to get us close, maybe bluff our way inside, then blow them up and cause mayhem.” He took a deep breath. “If I need to stay behind and deal the killing blow, then c’est la vie.”
She turned to look out the window. The pines on each side of the road became thicker as they went into the foothills.
A rumble caught his ear from outside. In a moment of panic, he imagined one of his ex-cons having run off the road and blown themselves up, but he checked his mirror and found all of them behind him. However, far back, on the other side of the highway, a plume of black smoke rose toward the sky.
“Shit, something ain’t right.” He jammed the accelerator, trying to make better time up the winding path.
Trish kept talking. “I never wanted any of this. The attack on the first day. Those apes trying to have their way with me. Even the airport the other night. I wanted to settle down, have a pair of children, and live my life in peace and calm.”
He chuckled to keep his wits. “You couldn’t have picked a worse career. There’s never a dull day in the lockup, you know?”
“No, even when those men are getting credit for good days, there’s always the threat of them eying me like a piece of steak. It’s hard to set it aside.”
There was another explosion behind them.
“We’ve definitely got someone following us. I can’t see because of the trees, but if there’s fireballs trailing us, we need to get out of these trucks, you know?”
She looked worried for the first time. “Yeah, I agree fully. Let’s stop up here.”
The next turn brought them to the parking area for the military facility. To the left, a wide, mostly-empty lot provided plenty of space for his convoy. However, the road to the right went into a dark tunnel.
“NORAD,” he said with awe. It wasn’t simply a hole in the rock. There was a heavy cement archway over the road leading into the mountain, giving it the appearance of driving into a tipped-over coffee can. “But why aren’t there any guards?”
There was no time to overthink it. If there were no guards outside, it was good for him, he figured. They had a little time to jump out of the trucks and see what was coming up the roadway. Once the threat passed, they could head inside and safely release their payloads. That was where the guards were likely waiting.
They parked in a row, facing the tunnel.
“Get out,” he said to Trish, opening his door and climbing down.
The other men ran up to see what he was doing.
He walked to meet them at the tail of his tanker, aware of the approaching danger. The familiar buzz of a drone airplane caught his attention. Surveillance? Attack? Additionally, someone fired a rifle back in the direction they’d come. It wasn’t his men being targeted. If they were, the trucks would already be toast. But who was it?
Terry Long was among the men walking toward him, but he had his shotgun out and ready. A crazy look in his eyes made Brent wary of his approach. When the new guy raised his gun, he was prepared.
“Everybody down!”
They all hit the dirt.
Except f
or him.
Cheyenne Mountain Entrance, CO
Ted was hit by everything at once.
The trucker on the side of the road shooting at them.
The aerial drones dropping Hellfires like confetti.
And then a missed call from Kyla.
When the phone rang again, he handed it to Emily. “I have to keep my hands on the wheel!”
Emily snatched it up. “Hello?” She switched it to speakerphone.
“Emily! This is Kyla!”
She laughed, despite everything. “We know it’s you, honey. We’re in a bit of a situation here. Are you all right?”
“Hi, Kyla,” he shouted. The road on the far side of the bridge turned to woodland terrain, with lots of trees. He intended to get in there as fast as possible to make those airstrikes less of a threat. Ted couldn’t see what was up in the sky, but he imagined an entire swarm of mosquitos zeroing in on them.
“Heya, Unk! Listen, I have to tell you this. There’s a nuclear missile heading your way—”
“Five of them,” Meechum’s voice interrupted.
“Five of them,” Kyla repeated. “We saw them on a map. Wait, we were captured by special forces. Some sort of task force. They showed us. We’re on—” She hesitated. “I can’t say on an open channel. We’re close to you, though!”
He met Emily’s brown eyes. In the days they’d been together, he’d become accustomed to reading her. They nodded at the same time.
Ted spoke to the phone. “Kyla, listen to me. I don’t want you anywhere close to us. If there’s a nuke coming, Emily and I will be fine. We have a plan. You, however, don’t want to be anywhere near here when a strike happens.”
“As long as I know you’re going to be safe,” Kyla replied, with what sounded like a rattle in her voice. “But I have to tell you what happened. I caused the explosion in Westby. I almost got us killed. I kept the tablet you told me to destroy. They tracked us with it!”
“Well, remind me to get out the belt when I see you next.” He chuckled, not sure how he was supposed to answer. It seemed pretty minor, in context.
“That’s not all! I used the tablet again in Devils Tower. I’m the one who got them to launch the nuclear attack on NORAD. Uncle Ted, I’m the one who is going to get you killed!” His niece sniffled.
It did explain a lot, but it was water under the bridge.
A missile impacted against a tall tree to their left, splashing them with splinters of wood. His heart couldn’t race any faster. All he could do was grit his teeth and keep the gas pedal on the floor.
“What was that?” Kyla gasped.
He made himself laugh to hide the deadly nature of the blast. “It’s wind noise. We’re in a military Humvee.”
“Oh,” Kyla’s voice replied through the speaker.
Ted didn’t want her to feel bad about how things had gone down. They were all still alive and fighting. She’d even hooked up with US forces. A miracle.
“Kye, listen. Tell your military friends about the nuclear arsenal codes. Tell them Emily has been leading the counterattack this whole time. And, Kyla, give yourself a little credit for this fight, too. You did good.”
“I wanted to hammer those bastards so the rest of us could go home. I didn’t mean for you to be there. I should have thought it through, you know?”
“I told you, we have a plan.” He wanted to keep her hopes up. It also helped his own psyche to believe there was a way out.
Kyla started out speaking in monotone. “You were right about my mom. She would have been happy to have me sit in that cabin and be safe. She would be freaking out if she knew what I was doing at this exact moment.”
He leaned closer to the phone. “I am sorry about having to ditch you guys.”
“Me and Meechum got over it pretty fast, but you—” She paused. Both her and the Marine shouted at the same time, making it impossible to hear.
Kyla spoke frantically. “They went over our freaking heads! The missiles! Oh, God, you aren’t going to make it. All five are together now. They’re heading toward the city…”
Meechum added. “It looks like they’re pre-programmed. They just crossed a waypoint and turned southeast. I think they’re going around the mountain so they can hit it from the front.”
Adding to the chaos, he nearly rear-ended an idle fuel truck when he whipped around a bend in the road.
“Shit!” He veered into the wrong lane to avoid the three trucks ahead of the first. It looked like an entire convoy of them had gone up the road and found themselves where they didn’t belong.
“Uncle Ted, please hurry…”
“We will, sweetie. I, uh, love you very much.” He hesitated voicing the words to avoid sounding like he was saying good-bye, but when there were five nukes tracking to his location, he couldn’t let the opportunity pass.
“I love you, too. Call me when you’re safe,” she added quietly.
“Bye, Kyla,” Emily added before hanging up.
“Thanks,” he said to her. All his focus needed to be on the road. The bunker entrance was ahead.
NORAD Black Site Sierra 7, CO
Going up through the elevator transfer stations was as uncomfortable as it was time-consuming. At each stop, they had to get out in the small waiting room and hop into the next car. Fortunately, each station seemed to always have one car parked on the level, so they didn’t have to wait for one to arrive. That saved lots of time.
Still, spending time with a guy who thought of her as wife material inside a post-apocalyptic vault was unsettling. What confused her, however, was how uncomfortable he seemed, as well.
When they got into the car labeled Transfer 1, she recognized it as the last elevator ride they would need. Instead of having one button for the next transfer point, the elevator panel had multiple buttons for different levels in the living area of David’s bunker. She pressed the topmost one, labeled ‘TOP,’ knowing it was closest to the exit door.
“Last stop,” she said as the doors closed.
Neither of them conversed until the numbers ticked on the LED above the doors. It meant they were passing the regular levels. Once she saw it, Tabby wanted to say what was on her mind.
“Thanks for coming to get me, but it doesn’t change how I feel about you. If you’re coming with me in the hopes of reversing that, you’re wasting your time.”
Victor turned to face her. “I don’t expect to change your mind. I’m here because I see now what’s been going on. They flew us here on a big plane. We never got to see the cities and towns stripped of people. We were told you surrendered, and the war was over as soon as it began. When I first saw you, I assumed you were like me. Like the others. We’re at peace. It’s time to rebuild a new America.”
The numbers ticked off, drawing her ever closer to the top floor. His story was impossible to confirm, and it wasn’t a version of events she wanted to believe. At the same time, knowing what she did about David and his leaders, it made sense. They’d threatened her with the lives of her friends to get her to comply. Lying to young people to get them to marry off was simple by comparison.
Her thoughts turned to Peter and Audrey. She recognized the threat to their lives, but if she didn’t try to escape, all three of them were doomed inside the vault. If she could get out of NORAD, even if it meant accepting assistance from Victor, she could seek help on the outside and eventually come back for her friends. In the meantime, she reasoned, no harm would befall them until she was captured again.
Please be right.
“For now, let’s agree to disagree. As long as you help me escape from this nightmare hole, I’m willing to call you an ally. It’s the best I can do for you.”
“I’ll take it,” he said, much too happily.
She shook her head in disbelief. “We’re coming up to the top level. Do you think there will be guards this time?”
“I’ll handle them,” he said dryly, facing the door.
“What are you going to do?”
&
nbsp; “Stay back.” He motioned for her to stand near the buttons, which would keep her out of the line-of-sight for people outside.
The doors opened and Victor strode out as if he owned the place. She listened intently as someone yelped. An instant later, a second person cried out. Two thumps followed.
“You can come out.” Victor was huffing from exertion.
“Oh, crackers,” she blurted. Two guards were on the ground. Blood gushed from their heads.
Victor smiled. “This way. The exit is here.”
They ran down the short hallway and approached the same door she’d tried to open before being captured the other time. Its large EXIT lettering drew her forward. Looking behind, she saw no one there to stop her. The men on the ground were black piles of uniforms. They weren’t moving at all.
“It’s not complicated,” he said. “You open it with this handle.”
“How do you know?” she asked.
He pointed to a placard near the mechanism. “The designers didn’t want anyone getting stuck inside for lack of understanding a complex system. It’s a failsafe.”
“Thank God for that,” she said, truly relieved.
The vault door swung out as if it were motorized. It was about seven feet tall and almost square. As it came out of the wall, she got a good look at its depth. It was at least three-feet thick, with graduated edges, so it fit into the socket in wedged stages rather than being one smooth block.
When the door cleared enough for her to see around it, she was disappointed at what appeared. “There’s another opening…”
“Yep. There’s two doors. This one, and the big one to the outside.” The outer hole was big enough for a truck to drive through, as was the fifty yards of tunnel between her and the portal. Yellow and white lines were painted on the ground, as if the road from the outside came into the mountain and up to the inner vault door. “It’s all designed to protect us.”
“The outer door is already open,” she said dryly. “There are people in the tunnel.”
“We’ll simply run by them,” Victor advised.
“Yeah, I’m good at running.”