“Come on,” said Jen as she scrambled up and out of the tunnel and out into a thickly wooded forest. Dew covered the ground. She took a quick look around to make sure they were alone, turned around, and helped Owen climb out.
By the gray light of dawn, Jen could see that they had come out near the top of the mountain that housed the installation. She was about to look for a trail that led off the mountain when she heard a strange sound. Jen lifted her head up and looked up into the sky. At first, it was hard to see what was making the noise. A couple of seconds later, she saw an odd-looking plane suddenly pop up at the far end of the valley. She was about to point it out to Owen when she saw two objects fly out from under the wings of the plane. She wasn’t sure what she was seeing, but her gut told her something bad was about to happen.
“Down!” yelled Jen as she grabbed Owen and pulled him to the wet ground.
With an ear-shattering explosion, the two Paveway bombs, guided in by a laser on the Predator, struck the closed blast doors and tore them off their hinges. Anyone within one hundred meters of the doors was either killed in the blast or by the thousands of pieces of jagged metal that tore through the air. Precisely three seconds later, two thermobaric bombs flew in through the opening and exploded deep inside the complex. The air inside the base instantly superheated to over five thousand degrees, incinerating everything in its path. The blast wave, like a demonic creature let loose on the world, surged through the tunnels. Outside, the row of executive jets exploded one by one, as the blistering heat from the explosion ignited the planes’ fuel tanks.
Mitchell heard and then felt the shock wave shake the Hummer as if it were a child’s toy. He glanced up at the rearview mirror. His eyes instantly widened as a wall of flame suddenly appeared behind them and raced down the tunnel.
“Nate, speed up or we’re all dead,” said Mitchell.
“I see it,” replied Jackson through clenched teeth.
The doors up ahead were already halfway closed.
With a loud yell, Jackson aimed their vehicle at the ever-diminishing opening.
Less than a second later, Jackson’s Hummer struck the doors. The loud shrieking sound of metal being torn off the side of the vehicle filled the cab as it forced its way outside.
Without taking his foot off the gas, Jackson drove out into the forest. Behind him the flames, as if sensing that the Hummer was about to get away, reached out to try to stop it, but quickly retreated as the doors closed.
“Ease up Nate, we’re safe,” said Mitchell.
A couple of seconds later, Jackson brought the Hummer to a sliding halt.
Mitchell opened his door, stepped outside and looked back. From the front of the base, a huge black pall of smoke climbed up high into the air.
Overhead, a UAV flew over the top of the trees like some kind of massive bird of prey; its shadow raced along the ground.
Mitchell felt an ache in his heart. If Jen had been inside the base when the bombs struck, he knew that she’d be dead.
Jackson walked over to his friend and placed a hand on his shoulder. “She’s not in there.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“What’s your gut telling you?”
Mitchell looked at this friend. “That she’s okay.”
“Ryan, Jen’s smart and resourceful,” said Jackson. “She’ll be fine until we link up with her again.”
With a nod, Mitchell turned to look at their battered Hummer. “We’ll never stop Houston with this hunk of junk.”
“I think I can get us some better wheels and maybe some guns,” said Grace, poking her head out the door.
“From where?” asked Jackson.
“From some drunken soldiers, that’s where,” responded Grace. “Now, jump in and drive.”
“What drunken soldiers?” asked Mitchell.
“It’s a long story,” replied Jackson as he got back into his seat. “I’ll tell you as I drive.”
With her heart still beating in her ears, Jen poked her head up and saw an ominous black cloud rise up over the top of the mountain. The ground under her body still rocked as secondary explosions tore what was left of the base apart. She couldn’t believe that she was still alive. She carefully got up onto her feet and helped Owen up. He was covered in mud.
“My God, do you think anyone is alive down there?” said Owen.
“No,” replied Jen somberly. “That was the point, wasn’t it? Your uncle didn’t want any survivors, did he?”
“No,” replied Owen, shaking his head.
Jen looked over at the sun as it slowly edged over the mountains. Somehow, deep in her soul, she knew that her friends hadn’t met their deaths in the fiery hell below. It wasn’t over, not by a long shot. Jen took the stolen cell phone from her pocket and looked down. She smiled when she saw that the phone had a strong signal.
“Now what are we going to do?” said Owen.
“First, I’m going to make a call, and then we're going to hike out of here. I suspect that every cop in this part of the country is on his way here. They need to know that your uncle planned all of this and that he’s probably on the run.”
46
With a pounding in his head that would not go away, Corporal Aleksi stood up and stared in disbelief at the black cloud of smoke hanging over the mountain. Through the haze in his mind, he knew that something terrible had just happened.
“Corporal, what the hell just happened?” asked one of Aleksi’s men as he staggered out of the narrow wooden building they called home.
“I don’t know, but you’d better get everyone up and then get rid of the women. Also, you’d best hide the booze before the sergeant comes sniffing around.”
“Will do,” said the man as he staggered back to the barracks to wake everyone up.
Aleksi could feel his stomach churning. He fought the urge to be sick.
A damaged-looking black Hummer burst from a trail and sped towards Aleksi. It came to a sudden stop right in front of him, spraying him with mud. Before he could open his mouth, a redheaded woman jumped from the back and ran towards the barracks.
A second later, he found his voice. “Hey, what are you doing?” Aleksi shouted at the woman.
She ignored him and dashed inside the barracks.
A moment later, a shot rang out, startling Aleksi. It was quickly followed by all of his men pushed out of the building at gunpoint. Some were dressed, while others only had their underwear on.
Aleksi reached for his pistol. It was a dumb move. His world instantly closed in on itself as he tumbled to the ground, knocked out cold.
“Good one,” Mitchell said to Jackson, who stood there holding a wrench in his hands.
“I aim to please.”
Mitchell bent down and helped himself to Aleksi’s pistol. He jammed it into his belt and walked over beside Grace. He grinned as the women Grace had hired to keep the soldiers busy quickly disarmed them and tied them up.
Cardinal collected the weapons and said, “Okay, we’ve got eight AKMs and four 9mm automatics.”
“Ammo?” asked Mitchell.
“Plenty, and I found two fully charged radios as well.”
“Give me one and you take the other. Distribute the weapons and then see if you and Yuri can’t get a couple of their Land Rovers up and running. If there’s one with a machine gun on it, make sure that we take that one.”
“What are you thinking?” Jackson asked.
“You, Grace, and I will take one of the Rovers and see if we can catch up with Houston while Yuri, Sam, and Cardinal act as backup.”
“Sounds like a plan.”