Number one was ready to brace the Desert Eagle against the elevator opening as soon as the doors slid back.
“Standby,” he said as the doors started to slide open.
As soon as they were fully opened, he braced his arm on the frame of the elevator opening and placed the Eagle over his forearm. He could see the two guards talking; neither was looking toward the elevator. He placed the crosshairs so the shot would go through one man and hitting the second man in the chest. He squeezed the trigger and the big bore weapon fired a round, slicing through the bulletproof glass and striking the first guard in the middle of the back. The bullet blew out the front of his chest and slammed into the base of the throat of the second guard.
Both were dead before the roar of the gun had dissipated. The rest of the team rushed out and started methodically taking out the other guards around the hanger. One after another they fell as they started to panic because of the sudden attack from within the building.
They rushed the security room and took out the three guards watching the monitors.
“Clear,” came the responses from the team members as the main hanger level was secured.
“Some of the guards could be in the bays. We will need to clear them as well,” Miller said looking around at the large numbers painted on the bay doors.
“I’ll handle Bay-1,” Eller said.
“Fine but Six, you go with him,” Miller ordered.
The two men ran toward the bay door. Eller looked through the glass and saw a guard leaning against the U-5 ship. Damn, he should have told them more about what they were getting ready to find in the bays, the thought. It was too late now. He could see them all in position, ready to rush the bay doors. He opened the door and the guard looked over at him.
He placed his hand on his sidearm and said, “Who are you?”
“Raymond Eller.”
“Eller’s dead,” he said and started to draw his Glock from the holster. He heard a familiar spiting noise behind him and saw the guard thrown back and crumple to the floor. He quickly scanned the room and then ran over to the isolation booth.
Lynn was in the isolation booth at Bay-1 setting up for test of the control nozzles now that they had solved the problem of the coupling interference. They ground the opening but it still would not let the nozzles rotate in all directions. Finally one of the team members designed a new coupling that would allow the necessary clearance for proper movement.
This would be the first real test to see if they could control the anti-mater flux field reactor. She had just started to power up the reactor up when the door to the lab burst open. She turned and saw a man in dirty military clothes standing in the doorway.
“Get the hell out of here. I’ve started the reactor,” she yelled.
“Lynn. It’s Raymond,” he shouted and closed the door.
Raymond? It couldn’t be. This man had a full beard and Raymond was locked up in some cell, she thought. She turned and hit the power button and the reactor stated to shut down. She waited until the green safety light went on and then took off her hood.
She threw open the door and there stood Raymond, beard and all. He looked a little worse for wear, but it was definitely him.
“Raymond” she said and rushed to his arms.
They just hugged for several seconds.
“How? I don’t understand. I thought you were in a cell being held by Devin,” she said and buried her face in his chest.
“You can’t believe everything you hear,” he said with a big smile on his face.
“I didn’t know if I would ever see you again. Angie must have figured out my message and notified the authorities,” she said, her eyes were welling up and a tear rolled down her cheek.
“I don’t know how I got rescued, but here I am. You sent for the authorities?”
She gave him a quick recap of what she and Angie had discovered and how they had gone about trying to get a message to the Department of Homeland Security that you were alive.
“Do you know any way to get to the 10th level?”
“No. I honestly don’t know anything about it but I don’t think you need to,” she said.
“Why? We need to destroy any weapon that crazy Devin is developing,”
“Two nights ago, we were up in the lab working and we were ordered back to our facilities on Level-5. We were told to stay away from that area until after 3:00 a.m. They made it clear that anyone caught on the main level would have to deal with the general personally.”
“That means they took it to hanger 18 where the Su-12 is,’ he said. “Have you heard anything about a shuttle mission?”
“Just the rumors floating around. According to the rumor mill it was scheduled to happen yesterday in the early morning hours.”
“Damn. Now we have to go to the main base,” Raymond said.
“It’s too dangerous. You don’t have enough people to take on the general,” she insisted.
“We have to try.”
“Mr. Eller. We need to get moving,” Six said finally.
“I know. Lynn, go down to your place and wait. Don’t leave. Don’t let anyone in unless they are from the Strike-1 team. They will identify themselves. Here,” he said, handing her the gun that he had been given earlier, “Use it if someone tries to force their way in,” Raymond told her.
“I don’t know how to use a gun.”
“Just aim at the middle of them and pull the trigger. Keep pulling it until it stops making a loud noise. It is loaded and one is in the chamber. Don’t pull the trigger until you are ready to use it,” he said.
“Mr. Eller. We have to go. Time is running out.”
“Okay,” he said and kissed Lynn before running down the bay and through the open door.
The team had gathered in the hanger, waiting for Eller.
“Mr. Eller,” Number One said.
“I know. I know. Were those real spacecraft and where did they come from? That’s what you want to know, right?”
“That and a thousand other things,” Miller added.
“Understood. But for now you are just going to have to concentrate on the job at hand. In a word, yes, they are real and yes, they came from some other planet.”
They all had a look of amazement and most had their mouths hanging open. Eller wondered if he looked that way when he first saw them.
“We need to focus. I know its damned hard but we have to keep moving.”
Raymond briefed them on the latest developments he had learned from Lynn. It meant an assault on the main base and the potential for the general to do something insane. They all knew what had to be done. Raymond told them about the two guards who would be outside the entrance. They would have M-16s and since the hanger was soundproof, they wouldn’t be alerted to what was happening.
Number one assigned Miller and Number Four to handle disposing of the guards. A few minutes later they got the signal that they could move out. The plan was to take two Hummers and head to the main base. They would neutralize the main guard building first and then locate the general and take him into custody.
They commandeered two Hummers and were soon racing down the main road toward home plate. They pulled up to the main security building and rushed the front door. Immediately they started to methodically eliminate any resistance they met.
During one savage exchange of gunfire, Number One was struck in the shoulder and toppled. All the Strike-1 members stopped shooting for a second. Number four crawled over and checked for a pulse. He was alive and he started medical treatment immediately. He was definitely out of action.
The others knew nothing more could be done right then except to continue with the mission.
It would all be on Miller’s shoulders now. During the raging battle that went on inside the building one of the security guards was able to get to the security system console and issue a 405, ambush/intruder alarm.