‘What’s the plan then?’ Stanley asked. ‘We can’t just jump out.’
Ethan thought for a moment, and then pushed away from the window as he finished surveying the rest of the airport. He looked at the jet’s interior, the exit hatches and the general shape of the aircraft, and he sighed and shrugged.
‘We can’t do anything,’ he said finally. ‘We’d better get ready.’
Hannah Ford watched as the impressive, sleek white jet landed on the runway and rocketed past them. She heard the engines whine into reverse thrust and the aircraft braked as it rolled toward the end of the runway, almost a mile away. Hannah shielded her eyes against the bright sunlight and squinted as the aircraft slowed to a stop at the end of the runway, heat haze rippling and obscuring the jet as it turned slowly and began taxiing toward the parking area in front of the main terminal.
‘That’s them,’ Mickey confirmed. ‘The tail code matches the FBI alert notice.’
Valery Jenkin’s voice blared over the radio. ‘All units, go now!’
Mickey accelerated their car and Hannah watched as half a dozen vehicles all emerged from within parking lots or from behind hangars and converged on the jet as it reached the main terminal and rolled to a halt. The engines were still whining as Hannah jumped out of her vehicle and ran toward the aircraft, the engines mercifully shutting down as she reached the entrance hatch just as a female attendant lowered it and then stared at Hannah in shock.
‘Freeze, FBI!’
The attendant threw her hands in the air in surprise and backed up into the aircraft as Hannah advanced up the steps and inside. Mickey followed her, and together they turned and looked down the jet’s plush interior.
Two men, one woman and one young girl stared back at them in horror.
Hannah lowered her pistol as she looked at their faces and in an instant she knew.
‘It’s not them,’ Mickey said.
Ten more agents piled into the aircraft, followed by Valery Jenkins, who stared at the unfamiliar faces sitting in the aircraft’s leather seats.
‘What the hell is going on here?!’ asked the older of the two men as he got out of his seat. ‘This is a private aircraft!’
Hannah pushed past Mickey and the other agents and approached the cockpit. There, two pilots, one male and one female, stared in surprise at her.
‘Is there a problem?’ the captain asked in amazement.
Hannah slid her pistol into its holster. ‘Yeah, there’s a problem.’
‘It’s not going to take them long to figure out what happened to us.’
Ethan sat in an SUV, a fresh cell phone in his hand as Lopez drove.
‘It’s enough of a diversion to give you time to get out of sight,’ Jarvis replied. ‘I dropped the leak to the FBI but it won’t take long for LeMay to figure that out. Once they solve what happened to you, I won’t be unable to offer any further assistance. One DIA leak could be ignored, but not two.’
‘I know.’
The SUV pulled out of Yeager International Airport in West Virginia as Lopez aimed south, Stanley Meyer and Amber Ryan in the rear seats behind them. The airport was shared with the Charleston Air National Guard’s 130th Airlift Wing, a connection that had enabled Jarvis to arrange the false lead and then divert their aircraft to West Virginia.
‘The feds are all over this,’ Jarvis informed him. ‘MJ–12 have players within the bureau, so they’ll know by now they’ve been duped. Whatever you’re thinking of doing next, do it fast. They know you’re on US soil and they’ll be using every resource at their disposal to track you down. I have a reliable contact here at the DIAC named Hellerman. You can call this number if you need to move long distance, but that’s it for me. Go dark as of now, and good luck.’
‘Understood.’
The line went silent and Ethan switched the cell off, ensuring that it could not be tracked until he next was forced to use it. Now, they were all in Stanley’s hands as he searched for his mysterious contact in Virginia.
XXVII
‘This isn’t going to work.’
The sun was already low in the sky, bleeding molten metal across the horizon behind Virginia’s rolling hills. The clatter of a freight train passing somewhere far to the south faded into the distance, only the sound of birds in the trees accompanying them as they walked along a dirt track half a mile to the north of the main road.
‘We can’t take the car up here,’ Ethan replied to Amber as they walked. ‘And it’s only a matter of time before Majestic Twelve track our movements.’
‘We have to stay off the grid,’ Stanley agreed. ‘Any time spent in major conurbations could result in our arrest, or more likely our being shot on sight.’
‘This isn’t our first rodeo, Amber,’ Lopez added as they walked. ‘Ethan and I once remained off the grid for six months, completely undetected even by the CIA who were hunting us at the time.’
Amber shot Lopez a concerned glance. ‘You never mentioned that! What did the CIA want with you two?’
‘It’s a long story,’ Ethan said by way of an explanation. ‘Let’s just say we’re used to staying out of the way of government agencies. What I want to know is why here? We’re not that far from Washington DC as the crow flies.’
‘Keep your friends close,’ Stanley smiled in the fading light as they walked. ‘There’s a community out here somewhere and we need to find them. They may be able to help us.’
Ethan looked to his left, where amid the dense trees he could see a few distant lights where the tiny town of Nathalie was nestled in the forests.
‘Doesn’t look like a very large town,’ he pointed out as they walked. ‘You really think that somebody there that can help us?’
‘There is nobody in Nathalie who can help,’ Stanley said. ‘The kind of people we need don’t live in houses.’
‘What the hell are you talking about?’ Amber asked.
‘The only allies left that we can trust are those who don’t trust the government themselves, who have already chosen to live off the grid and away from electrical supplies and the constant surveillance that goes with it.’
Lopez cast a concerned glance at Ethan. ‘I don’t like where he’s going with this.’
‘Nonetheless, I think I know what he’s got in mind,’ Ethan replied as he looked at Stanley. ‘Preppers?’
‘Preppers,’ Stanley confirmed as they walked, the dusty track becoming ever more vague as it wound its way into the darkening wilderness. ‘Some of them have become quite sophisticated over the years and are able to support themselves on private ranches without any outside intervention. In all fairness to them, our government does not restrict such activity and has not in any way attempted to interfere with the communities that have been formed, however they also don’t advertise or advocate other people to do so. I think that Washington is more than aware that any completely self — sustaining community outside of their control represents a dangerous threat to the balance of power across the country.’
Lopez frowned. ‘That doesn’t really make any sense. The Amish have been living in that way for centuries and won’t allow any electrical goods into their communities. It hasn’t resulted in the rest of the entire American population building barns and buying horses has it?’
‘No,’ Stanley agreed. ‘But that’s only because the vast majority of people like their creature comforts and don’t have any desire to live with Civil War era technology. But give them the ability to have all of their electrical devices fully functional, and yet still be without dependence on the government and you’ve got a whole different ballgame. No administration wants to see that happen on their watch, they’re just too afraid of the consequences of relinquishing too much control to the populace, no matter what you hear the Republicans yelling in Congress.’