Project Aura
Page 27
Cesar was dead before he hit the deck plate.
Dalton shifted back into the virtual and jumped, heading back toward the Ranch.
Chapter Twenty-five
The computers on the two B-2 bombers had been released from the reprogramming that Jackson had done. The planes were on their way to the nearest Air Force base outside Anchorage. The crews were certain their careers were over. Dropping eighty thousand pounds off-range was an offense they were sure they would never recover from They could only hope they had hit wilderness and not killed anybody.
Behind them, there was little to indicate that 540 steel towers had once occupied the torn and savaged ground. On the hillside where the control center had been, there were just a few chunks of smoldering concrete.
*****
Captain Lonsky looked at the body of the man who had bought the ship. He issued an order. "Throw him overboard."
Once that was accomplished, Zenata waited for the next order.
"Let us head back to Russia," Lonsky said. "The less said about all this, the better."
*****
Dalton raced along the power connection with Sybyl, back to his body at the Ranch.
*****
Souris diverted the Lear to Dallas. She ‘knew’ that Cesar had been unsuccessful, but she also knew that the Psychic Warriors had been responsible for destroying HAARP, so the two canceled out.
She had failed in the mission she had been assigned, but gaining the Psychic Warrior update was a coup. The Mithrans would appreciate that. It would give them a way to enter the real world and fight the Priory.
*****
Dalton climbed out of the isolation tube, his body shivering uncontrollably. Jackson was already back, a towel draped over her shoulders, and she handed one to him as he reached the floor. He immediately noted Barnes's body still in its tube. "Do you have contact with him?" he asked Hammond.
"No," Hammond said. "I've been trying, but he hasn't responded."
"His signs?"
"Strange."
"Strange how?" Dalton demanded.
"Not like the others. He's out there being supported with power somehow, just not from Sybyl."
Dalton turned back toward his tank. "We need to go look for him." He halted as Mentor entered, coming from the operations center.
"You did it," Mentor said, slapping him on the back.
"MILSTAR is still up there," Dalton said, "with the retransmit capability."
"I can work on correcting that, now that I have some time," Mentor said.
"And the Priory and Mithrans are still out there," Dalton added. "We've only stopped them for the moment."
To that, Mentor had no reply.
Jackson put a hand on Dalton's shoulder as he prepared to climb back into his isolation tube. "You need a break. Wherever Barnes is, he can wait for a little while. You need rest."
Dalton was about to argue with her when he realized she was right. He sat down wearily on a crate, Jackson doing likewise across from him
"We have to reconstitute Nexus here in the United States," Mentor said. He pointed at the other three people in the room: Dalton, Jackson, and Hammond. "The four of us."
"Five of us," Dalton said, indicating Barnes. "We need to do better than reconstitute Nexus," he continued. "This war between the Priory and Mithrans has been going on for a long time. With the advances in technology we're seeing that this conflict can destroy us. I say for the next round, we go on the offensive."
He put his hand out palm up. "Are we agreed?"
Jackson immediately reached out and put her right hand on top of his. Hammond followed. The three of them looked at Mentor.
The old man slowly nodded. "It is time." He placed both his hands over theirs.
Dalton could feel the power, the aura of strength, coming off the other three. It wasn't much to fight the Priory and the Mithrans with, but it was a start.
THE END
Other Books
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Write It Forward Titles
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About the Author
NY Times bestselling author Bob Mayer has had over 50 books published. He has sold over four million books, and is in demand as a team-building, life-changing, and leadership speaker and consultant for his Who Dares Wins: The Green Beret Way concept, which he translated into Write It Forward: a holistic program teaching writers how to be authors. He is also the Co-Creator of Who Dares Wins Publishing, which does both eBooks and Print On Demand, so he has experience in both traditional and non-traditional publishing.
His books have hit the NY Times, Publishers Weekly, Wall Street Journal and numerous other bestseller lists. His book The Jefferson Allegiance, was released independently and reached #2 overall in sales on Nook.
Bob Mayer grew up in the Bronx. After high school, he entered West Point where he learned about the history of our military and our country. During his four years at the Academy and later in the Infantry, Mayer questioned the idea of “mission over men.” When he volunteered and passed selection for the Special Forces as a Green Beret, he felt more at ease where the men were more important than the mission.
Mayer’s obsession with mythology and his vast knowledge of the military and Special Forces, mixed with his strong desire to learn from history, is the foundation for his science fiction series Atlantis, Area 51 and Psychic Warrior. Mayer is a master at blending elements of truth into all of his thrillers, leaving the reader questioning what is real and what isn’t.
He took this same passion and created thrillers based in fact and riddled with possibilities. His unique background in the Special Forces gives the reader a sense of authenticity and creates a reality that makes the reader wonder where fact ends and fiction begins.
In his historical fiction novels, Mayer blends actual events with fictional characters. He doesn’t change history, but instead changes how history came into being.
Mayer’s military background, coupled with his deep desire to understand the past and how it affects our future, gives his writing a rich flavor not to be missed.
Bob has presented for over a thousand organizations both in the United States and internationally, including keynote presentations, all day workshops, and multi-day seminars. He has taught organizations ranging from Maui Writers, to Whidbey Island Writers, to San Diego State University, to the University of Georgia, to the Romance Writers of America National Convention, to Boston SWAT, the CIA, Fortune-500, the Royal Danish Navy Frogman Corps, Microsoft, Rotary, IT Teams in Silicon Valley and many others. He has also served as a Visiting Writer for NILA MFA program in Creative Writing. He has done interviews for the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Sports Illustrated, PBS, NPR, the Discovery Channel, the SyFy channel and local cable shows. For more information see www.bobmayer.org.