by Colin Weldon
“So I presume you’re the tech head?” Nora said looking at Hiran.
He looked surprised.
“Eh, well…” Hiran answered looking at Eddie.
“Eh, well, are you or aren’t you, because I have no use for nonessential baggage on this little trip,” Nora replied pointing the gun at him.
“Yes, yes I am,” he said.
“Great, then patch into the flight deck and relay all communications through this room. I also want you to log into the flight computers and give me override capability along with all the flight data recordings, can you do that?” she asked.
Hiran hesitated.
“Yes, I can,” he replied.
Nora paused.
“Then get on with it, tech head,” she said
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Clearance code?” said the young soldier in French.
Tarsis approached the pair of armed men and presented the clearance code card he had just taken from one of the officers on the transport. He had, of course altered the digital signature of the card and fed his own details into it along with a synthetic DNA sample that was read by the guard’s equipment. The soldier took the card and ran his palm device over it. A little chirping sound indicated that the card was genuine. The soldier looked up at Tarsis and stared at him, then back down to the card. Tarsis was about to break the two men’s necks, but he decided to wait. The soldier took a step back and handed Tarsis back his card.
“What happened to your face?” the guard said as he walked past him.
Tarsis was wearing a field dressing on the laceration to his face.
“Training exercise, slipped in dog shit and landed on the corner of a wing,” Tarsis said trying to sound embarrassed. His perfect French accent exaggerated the story with self mockery. The two guards laughed. Tarsis joined in before turning away from them and quickly scanning the airbase. It would not be long before the bodies of the men he had killed in the van would be found. He figured he had about ten minutes tops. The van was parked in plain sight at the entrance to the administrative building. He had pulled right up to it, his motorcycle escort along each side and gotten out, telling the guards not to enter the van under any circumstances until he returned with a HAZMAT team. They would be getting curious right about now. Not curious enough to disobey a superior officer but close enough.
He walked past the high walls of two domed hangers. One on either side of him. The airbase was a sea of activity as ground crew in fuelling vehicles and maintenance crew ran around the place in a big hurry. He reached the end of one of the huge hangers and peered around the corner. He saw a squadron of fighters, each occupied by a pilot. He counted twenty-two in total in this particular section of the base. To his left there were more, again all being prepared for take off. He watched as one of the ground crew of a fighter closest to his right spoke something to its pilot. They seemed to be having a heated discussion about some aspect of the plane. Tarsis saw the ground crew ask the pilot to hold on while he checked something. He rounded the corner and looked inside the huge hanger bay. It was full of aircraft, some with half their fuselages missing, some being turned around and pulled out. He felt a knock on his shoulder as someone brushed past, obviously in too much of a hurry even to look back. He walked over to a long table at the top of the hanger and saw a large map with flight plan information on it. He grabbed a clipboard off the table and walked past it and then began making his way over to the fighter that seemed to be having an issue. Carefully, but smoothly, he climbed up the ladder to the cockpit and looked at the pilot.
“Well?” the pilot said sounding angry, “did you fix the hydraulic or not?”
Tarsis looked at him and then answered him in French.
“I’m sorry you’re scrubbed. We have to take this one back in for repairs. See the Commandant for a new assignment. He is in the office,” Tarsis said looking carefully around him.
“You are fucking kidding me. Someone’s head is going to fucking roll,” said the brash pilot as he unhooked himself from his seat and slapping down his harness in anger. Tarsis began descending the steps to allow the pilot to get out of the plane. The pilot handed Tarsis his helmet.
“Hold onto that, I’ll be back in two minutes. Believe me, we’re going to launch this fucking plane,” he said.
Tarsis took the helmet from the pilot who then began sprinting across the tarmac. Tarsis looked around then up at the cockpit. He placed his foot on the ladder and began to climb.
Air Force One
This was Eddie’s first time on Air Force One. He had never experienced what it was like to take off at the maximum climb rate of a 747 before. It was almost vertical. While most passengers would have enjoyed the comfort of being strapped into a chair, this group was forced to hold onto the conference table during the dramatic take off which, under any other circumstances, would have made for hilarious viewing. Hiran’s chair had slid all the way to the back of the room and now he was clinging to the wall for dear life. Holt and Royo seemed well prepared and were leaning into the table, gripping each side of it. Eddie was doing the same and Abigail was bent over, it looked like she was about vomit. The plane soared skywards for close to ten minutes before the pressure in Eddie’s ears popped as the pressure of aircraft suddenly kicked in. They began to level off slowly. Hiran shuffled his chair back to the table. He looked at Nora who had a slight smile on her face.
Abigail sat up, her hand over her mouth.
“Nora, I think I’m going to be sick, can I please go to the bathroom for a moment?”
Nora frowned but nodded her head. Abigail got up in a hurry and left the room. There was silence as they waited for her to return, which she did a couple of minutes later.
“I’m sorry,” Abigail said wiping her mouth and fixing her hair.
“Ok, Nora, we’re in the air; now what?” asked Eddie, pre-empting Royo, who was about to ask the same thing by the looks of it.
“Nevada,” she answered.
“If you think the military will allow us cross over US airspace you’re in for a big surprise,” said Holt suddenly.
“They’d better,” Nora replied looking at the president.
“Why don’t you just forget about everyone else in the room, and talk directly to me. Tell me what it is you think I have done, what this country has done, what or who attacked the car. What is going on?” said Royo leaning forwards and placing his elbows on the table. Nora looked at Abigail.
“You should really be asking the good doctor, Harold, before she tries to put me to sleep with one of her hypnotic phrases,” she paused and looked at Abigail, “which, by the way don’t work on me anymore,”
Abigail sat up and looked at her.
“Go on,” said Nora, “give it a try, if it works then I’ll no longer be a threat and you can throw me out of the plane. Go on. I promise I won’t take it personally.”
Abigail looked Eddie who nodded and shrugged his shoulders letting her know that it was up to her and why the hell not.
“Go on, I won’t shoot anybody. I think it’s important that we get that nonsense out of the way,” Nora said.
Abigail turned to Nora.
“The ocean is blue and sun is shining,” she whispered.
Nora smiled. Abigail looked genuinely surprised. There was an expression of dismay in her eyes. Like she had just played her last hand in a game of poker and lost her bluff.
“That’s not possible,” Abigail said.
“Six months with an old friend of mine who specialises in brainwashing, my dear. I assure you it wasn’t easy, but as they say, where there’s a will, there is most definitely a way,” said Nora leaning back in her chair.
“My question still stands,” said Royo. All the heads around the table turned in his direction.
Nora placed the gun on the table. Holt eyed the weapon. She shook her head.
&nbs
p; “Don’t even think about it sweetie, and don’t forget I could probably crush your skull in under a second,” she said raising both of cybernetic arms. She ran her right hand through her hair and sat back keeping her left hand on the table close to the gun. Eddie watched as she kept a close eye on Holt. He looked back at Royo, then back at Nora waiting to see who would speak first. Nora did.
“I remember being happy once,” she said looking at Royo, “believe it or not. It didn’t last long but I remember it. Do you know what happens to the soul of someone who spends their life being beaten on the streets?”
“Actually I do,” Royo replied.
Eddie looked at Nora who was staring at Royo, as if probing into his mind.
“You took something from me. The last thing in the world that belonged to me. You turned me into this,” she said raising her hands. The small servos in her hands twisted and turned as pulses of light ran up and down the fibrous connections that linked all the mechanics in the prosthetic.
“Making me into a monster could have been enough of a reason. But I could have been ok with that. I really could. The truth is, that despite the constant pain I am in, I have to admit that these things come in handy. I mean, I have no problem opening jam jars any more,” she said with a wry smile.
Eddie almost smiled himself. Nobody else did. Nora dropped her smile.
“You took my little girl out of my body. You stole her from me. Now, had that been for a far nobler cause – like, in order to give her the kind of life I could never have had – than I would have lived with that. I would have accepted it. But that’s not what you did, was it? You recruited her. Changed her. Took her perfectly innocent body and tore it to pieces like you did mine. Turned her into a machine,” Nora said as her eyes began to well. “You stole my child and made her into part of your fucked up vision of what the future should look like. You want to start your little wars by building mechanical armies built from stolen children now? That’s the world we live in?” Nora said raising her gun and pointing at Royo’s head.
“Nora,” Abigail said suddenly.
Nora turned to her. Abigail took something out of a pocket and placed it on the table. It was her cell phone. Nora regarded her curiously. Abigail tapped in the password to her phone and began flicking through the screen. She stopped, turned the phone on the table and slid it across to Nora who lowered her gun and stopped the phone dead in her hand. She glanced down at the image and froze. Her face dropped.
“Her name now is Artemis,” Abigail said, “She’s doing well.”
Nora looked at the image of the young girl on the phone. She looked healthy. She was sitting at a desk surrounded by other children. Nora couldn’t help her heart melting. The image of the little girl, who looked so pretty and so innocent, disarmed her instantly. She suddenly recognised her loss of control and glared up at Abigail, a tear escaped down her cheek.
“Where is she?” Nora said through a broken angry voice.
A furious rage boiling in her chest.
“Nora, do you remember what we used to talk about?” Abigail said.
“What?” Nora replied.
“You committed yourself to this program. You signed up for it. You were barely able to survive on the streets by yourself. What sort of life would that have been for her?” Abigail said.
Nora looked back at the image and frowned curiously at it.
“When was this image taken?” she said.
Abigail shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
“What?” said Abigail.
Nora raised her weapon and pointed it at Abigail.
“When was this image taken?” she said again.
“A month ago,” Abigail said locking eyes with Nora.
“You’re lying, show me a photo of her as she appears today,” Nora said.
“I can’t do that Nora, but I can get you to her,” Abigail said.
“Abigail? What’s going on?” Eddie said suddenly.
“Shut up Eddie, I’m having a conversation,” said Nora.
She turned back to Abigail.
“If you lie to me again I’m going to put an end to our friendship, now show me an image of what you did to her,” Nora said sliding the phone back across the table.
There was a deathly silence as Abigail looked to Eddie. He just glared at her. Abigail took a breath and began entering data into the phone. She stopped. Closed her eyes and slid the phone back across to the table. Nora looked down at the image and broke. She looked at the implants on the little girls body. Both arms. Like mother like daughter.
“Look what you did,” Nora said under a quivering voice.
She began to cry before slamming her fist on the table and screaming. There was a loud popping sound as the gun in her hand hit the table and suddenly went off. Everyone froze. Nora looked up. Royo had his hands in the air. Eddie looked across the table and saw Abigail holding her chest with her left hand and holding a gun in the other. It looked like she was about to take a shot at Nora but the accidental discharge had beaten her to it. Abigail looked at Eddie through reddened and strained eyes before coughing and crumpling to the ground. Eddie jumped up from his chair and ran over to her but it was too late.
“Abigail?” Eddie said turning her face towards him.
He checked her pulse. Nothing. He looked up across the table at Nora who was glaring at him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
White House Situation Room
“What’s its current position?” asked Heller at the top of the table.
“Passing over UK airspace,” said General Hammond.
“Have they scrambled their air force?” Heller said.
“Yes sir, the British have mobilised the 138 Expeditionary Air Wing out of Marham, the 28th, 33rd and 230th squadron out of Benson and will rendezvous with the French 4th and 8th fighter wings currently tracking Air Force One in just under twenty minutes. Our own 492nd squadron, 493rd and 494th out of RAF Lakenheath will join at the same time,” said Hammond.
“Is that really necessary?” said Heller.
“Sir, we don’t know what their intentions are. Due to fuel constraints, the French fighters will have to drop off shortly. We also have six predator drones en route with a further seven in the area that will rotate in stages when their fuel runs out. This is a highly coordinated effort sir, with the sole purpose of maintaining a secure defence bubble around that aircraft at all times,” Hammond said.
“Any contact with the pilots yet?” Heller said to the table.
“Not yet, their transponder is still active which leads me to believe that the high-jacker has not gained entry to the cockpit, but they have control over the communications system,” Hammond replied
“How the hell did she do that?” Heller asked him.
“Hiran,” Wise suddenly said from the bottom of the table.
Heller turned to look at him.
“It’s the only reason she let him on-board. Hiran Sripada, Mr President, was one of Eddie Conrad’s team members. The kid was on scholarship to MIT when he was sixteen years old. He’s the top tech specialist in Jaguar. He was about to reassigned to…” he paused looking around the table, “another Jaguar division before taking the field assignment with Conrad.”
“I see. So essentially, two Jaguar field agents now have control of Air Force One?” said Admiral Fisher. There was a tense silence around the table as Wise looked at her. Fisher stared straight back at him. Wise eventually looked away and back up at the satellite imagery showing the plane’s position overlaid onto a map of the world.
“What are the options when the plane reaches the US coastline?” Heller said trying to get to the point as soon as possible. He looked over at Wise who kept his gaze on the satellite video.
“If it maintains its altitude, then we continue escort until we find out what the intentions are,” said Fisher.
/> There was a silence in the room as Hammond cleared his throat.
“I agree, as long as it doesn’t alter its altitude,” he said.
“And if it does?” Heller asked.
Hammond shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
“Then we may need to take more assertive action to protect American soil,” he said.
“You mean shoot it down?” Heller said.
“We’re not there yet,” said Fisher looking at Hammond.
Wise continued to look away.
“We need to be looking all contingencies,” said Malcolm Lewis swirling his pen in circular motions on his notepad.
“Then let’s consider all the options. Should this be a prelude to targeting buildings, we need to have a plan put in place to deal with that situation, no?” Heller asked.
“That we do, Mr Vice President,” said Hammond.
“Is there any reason why we can assume that she intends to use the plane to target civilian structures?” Heller said.
Wise turned around and faced him.
“Mr Vice President, I believe that there could be every real reason to believe that Nora Stone is capable of anything,” Wise said.
Air Force One
Eddie knelt next to Abigail and looked into her lifeless eyes. The hole in her forehead was oozing blood down the side of her face. He cradled her head in his arms as Royo placed his hand on her shoulder. Hiran had his hand over his mouth, in a severe state of shock. Holt was standing. Nora had her gun trained on him. Eddie tried to find some signs of life in Abigail but knew that there was no hope. She was gone. He looked up at Hiran.
“She was supposed to be unarmed,” he said.
“I didn’t know she had a weapon,” Hiran said shaking.
Eddie looked at Nora.
“You didn’t have to do that, she was part of my team, you didn’t have to fucking do that!” he said, fighting his rage.
“You saw for yourself Eddie, she was trying to take me out, besides it was an accident,” Nora said, keeping her gaze fixed firmly on Holt, “and she wasn’t on your team, Eddie, don’t be so fucking naive. She worked for Wise, not you,” Nora replied. “What’s happened has happened. It’s done. Everyone take their seats.
