When Christina arrived at Fort Polk, she was placed with a loving family and even went to school for the first time in her life. She was ten years old and a little embarrassed to be in the first grade, but the children in her class were very friendly. Christina soon found a best friend in Heather Sanderson. They would play together at recess and shared a table at lunch. Heather even invited her for sleepovers and would help her learn to read.
One morning, Christina went to school only to find Heather and her brother, Brent, absent. That evening she politely asked her host family if she could call to check on them.
“Sanderson residence; this is Colonel Sanderson.”
“Hello, mister…uh, Colonel Sanderson. This is Chrissy Dupree. May I please speak to Heather?”
“Hi, Chrissy. Hold on a sec; let me get her.”
Chrissy waited patiently. “Hi, Heather. Why weren’t you at school today?”
“Oh, my family is going on a trip. Dad has some military stuff to do in Denver, and he’s taking us with him. It’s like a little vacation. I asked him if you could come with us, and he said it wasn’t a good idea. You’d miss too much school.”
“Oh man! I wanna come! Maybe I can get my assignments from Mrs. Slayton and you could help me.”
“Let me ask Dad. Hold on.”
Chrissy waited anxiously for the answer. “He said it’s fine with him. He wants you to put Mr. Tolbert on the phone to talk to him about it.”
“That’s awesome! Hold on.” Chrissy explained the plan to her host parent and handed him the phone. After a minute or so of pleasant conversation, he smiled and returned the phone to Chrissy so the girls could finalize their plans.
Poor Mr. Tolbert had no idea that his gracious decision was going to cost him dearly with Colonel Rutherford.
“They have what?” Howard Beck was eating dinner in the command center of Beck Castle.
“The message said ‘high value UAE prisoner.’” Marshall Beck always found pleasure in seeing his father smile, which was certain to be the result of this intriguing news.
“Wait, this has to be a mistake. Benjamin Black, the guy that runs Disney World?”
“Yes, Pop, that’s exactly right. They’re taking the prisoner to Fort Polk to rendezvous with Colonel Sanderson. The problem is, they don’t know the location of Beck Castle, but the widespread rumor is that we’re near Denver. Security is sending out some men to meet them at a secure location outside the city.”
Howard smiled. “With our invasion of California a disaster, this news almost makes up for the tragedy. I can’t wait to find out who it is. Probably a high ranking general.”
“Richard will be happy as well.”
“Yes, the good general would love to debrief a high-value asset.”
“Oh, I can’t wait for them to get here! Who’s in charge of security with Max gone?”
“Dennis Twigg.”
“Inform Mr. Twigg of the arrival of our prisoner. I want four men guarding the detention cell at all times. The cell door is not to open without me, you, or Richard present.”
“I’ll get it done. Any news from California?”
“Max is in surgery now. Another thirty-two have serious injuries that will probably require surgery at some point. Close to a hundred more are waiting to be patched up and moved back to the PSA.”
“The Chinese?”
“They’ve wiped out every major military base this side of the Rockies. They’ll have boots on the ground very soon, I would guess.”
“Is Hal ready for them?”
“Old Man, where do we stand?”
“Sir, the EMP shield has already been deployed over the PSA. No aircraft or vehicle will enter our airspace without our permission. I’ve modified the sonic repulsor design we had at Beck Manor to operate on a much larger scale. Sonic repulsors are operational near every major city and in overlapping positions down the coast. Any artillery they fire on us or bombs they attempt to drop will be stopped.”
“Hal, you’ve done an outstanding job. Are we ready to engage the fighter drones to defend east of the Rockies? I wish we could’ve stopped them at California.”
“Sir, I will endeavor to have the fighter drones up and running as soon as possible. I estimate three hours and fourteen minutes until launch.”
“Good work, Old Man.”
“Thank you, sir.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Benjamin, I don’t know why we don’t just get the hell out of here before they show up.” Jessica Bradley was one of the few people brave enough to disagree with Benjamin after his mind was made up. Benjamin valued her counsel for this very reason.
“They can’t come down I-95; it’s torn to shit. Their only choice is I-75. It’s the only passable interstate in Florida. They think we’re on their side. Best chance we have is to lure them into a trap and wipe them out. We’ve got the home field advantage. We could take them out and hit the road.”
“They’re coming for the fucking president of the UAE! You know they’re gonna expect some serious heat!”
“Again, Jessica, they think it’s an escort mission. They have no reason to expect hostility. They want Sterling secured at McClellan as quickly as possible. A big convoy of vehicles will only slow them down. I’m guessing they’ll send three vehicles, maybe four. We can take them. Trust me.”
“I do. I just think we could whoop their asses and run. They’d never find us.”
“Far too risky. We can’t bring an army on the road with us anymore than they can. We run into them on the road and it’ll get ugly quick.”
“Okay, I see your point. So what do we do?”
“The same thing we did when Sterling got here. Get them out of their vehicles, surround them, and shoot them all in the fucking head.”
“I can get behind that plan.”
Stacy Reid was bound and gagged in the trunk of President Sterling’s limousine. She had no idea where she was or what was going on. The limo had stopped, followed by the deafening roar of gunfire. Stacy counted three bullet holes in the trunk. She was thankful for two of them as they gave her precious air to breathe. The third, on the other hand, had grazed her left calf muscle. With her hands and feet tied, all she could do was press her calf against the floor of the trunk in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
Stacy knew one thing for certain: If someone didn’t find her soon, she stood a good chance of bleeding to death.
“Sir, the one-mile sentry is reporting their arrival.”
“Did he give a status report? How many vehicles?”
“I can’t raise him. He’s not answering his radio.”
Shit.
“Try him again. Now!”
“Sentry-one, come back. Bobby, come in. Over.”
Silence.
Shit.
“Fall back! Goddammit! Fall back!”
Jessica sprinted to Ben. “What?”
“Jessica, you were right! They know what we’re doing.”
“Charles, are you sure this is a good idea?” Jackson Butler and his associate were sitting motionless in Charles’ nondescript sedan.
“Sir, the next phase of our employer’s plan can’t proceed unless we deliver the package to Beck Castle. This is the only way. I’ve tried other means, but this opportunity will not present itself again.”
“The Chinese think I doubled-crossed them. They want me dead.”
“I’m confident that I can remedy the situation, sir. It will soon be abundantly clear that the PSA was planning an invasion.”
“The plan is never going to work. The Chinese will occupy half the country in a matter of weeks. They were supposed to arrive as allies, not conquerors.”