Todd grew more spirited. “This is why we’re needed here this evening. So many of our people are operating in their own little bubbles. They don’t know what’s going on with the grand campaign. David commissioned us to do a live feed to help spread the word. Show we’re winning the peace. That sort of thing.”
Ted continued to display indifference as he rolled his hand. “And?”
Todd was a young man of about thirty with shoulder-length blond hair, thin-rimmed glasses, and high cheekbones. Someone who might do all right with the ladies running in his TV-crew circles. Despite being with the enemy camp, he had a likeable quality that made Ted want to engage with him. It was difficult to feign a lack of interest to what was taking place around him, but a mercenary would know better than to ask too many questions.
The camera guy pointed to the crane operators. “A big convoy is bringing in equipment from the northern launch point, up in Canada. Most of it is still on Interstate 25, but the lead vehicles are already here. We had them stop in place, so we can get the cameras set up.”
Louis strode by carrying a pair of large, black cases.
Todd went on. “As you know, most of our stuff was brought to America in shipping containers. Now, it’s finally making it to the middle of our new country. The cranes give us the ability to unload many trucks at a time to speed things up.” Todd looked around as if searching for trouble. “The less time we’re all grouped up, the better.”
“We’ll protect you,” Ted said with bravado.
“I’m sure you will. The Americans might strike from the air, though. I’m curious. What would you do then?”
His attitude was a bit off-putting, so Ted took a chance at playing the part. He put his rifle over his shoulder and threatened to walk away.
“No! Don’t leave. I’m sure you have contingency plans for everything, including air attacks.” Todd spoke fast. “This unloading process will go exactly as David wants it, you know. We don’t have control over it. Not really.”
Ted brought his rifle off his shoulder, returning to his previous ambivalence. The robots on the lot caught his attention. He motioned for the camera operator to look at them. “I only recognize some of those machines. What do those fat ones with the spools of rope do?” Ted didn’t want to sound stupid about the technology, but he had no idea what the model was designed to do. As a security contractor, he figured it was a detail he should know.
“Those are the elephants. We have lots more coming on this convoy. They drop their trunks into sewer and service tunnels, push out a long length of explosive cable, then detonate and collapse whatever is needed. We have lots of pipelines in this part of the country we need to destroy.” He paused, then pointed to an approaching woman in red. “Oh, good. Darla’s finally here.”
Emily had been quiet up to that point, but she nudged Ted’s elbow. “We’ve got trouble. I need to talk to you.”
Todd looked surprised. “Anything we need to know about?”
Ted’s eyes conveyed the friendliness of a honey badger being stung by a scorpion.
The camera guy held up his hands as if afraid he’d stepped in it. “Sorry.”
“What’s the issue?” He asked Emily while pulling her aside.
She turned so her back was toward the camera team and new arrival. It put him in position to look right at them, which was why he gave some of his attention to the young woman in a fire engine red blouse and skirt.
“You see her now?” Emily chuckled, before switching to serious mode. “Ted, I recognize Darla.”
He thought she had a familiar face, but he couldn’t place her. When he didn’t answer, Emily kept talking.
“She’s a famous network anchor. She’s done time in the White House press corps.” She spoke at barely a whisper. “She’s spent time on Air Force One and Two.”
“We’ve got to get you out of here,” he replied, tensing up for what was going to be a hard exit from the news story.
Todd appeared at his side. “She’s here. We’ll be on the air in two minutes, if I know her. Plus, if you haven’t noticed, she makes a bright bullseye target. Now’s when we need you to shine, guys.”
Ted looked between the woman and his SUV, desperate for an out.
NORAD Black Site Sierra 7, CO
Tabby let go of Victor’s hand after one quick shake. “It was an easy choice,” she finally replied. The young man’s excitement level seemed inversely proportional to her own. David must have told him she was a willing participant rather than a slave to whatever he ordered her to do. Still, all she had to do was be nice at first, then escape from him when the opportunity arose.
David looked at Charity. “Well, should we leave the two lovebirds alone? I’m sure we can both find something to do and not bother them.”
“Of course,” the redhead replied, bowing slightly while simultaneously giving Tabby a warning scowl.
She watched as David continued to observe her from the side of his eye, even as he walked away. He pretended to speak with his companion, but he was always watching her. Only when he rounded a corner did she let out the breath she’d been holding.
“Wow,” Victor said at once. “I can’t believe you know David and Charity. That’s like knowing the Secretary General and his wife.”
“Secretary General?” she asked, not sure how to respond to a person she didn’t know.
“Of the United Nations. You don’t know of him? I thought it was taught at all levels…” He eyed her suspiciously for a few seconds before breaking into a smile. “I don’t care. We all learn at different speeds. You must be a little slow. I’ll take care of you.”
She was on the verge of arguing with him, but she forced herself to play along. She smiled meekly, then waved. “Well, I’ve got to be going. Where can I meet you later?”
“Later?” he asked, hurt saturating his voice.
“Yeah. You know me. I’ve got important people to meet. People like David and Charity. I’m sure you understand…” She held out her hand to shake good-bye.
The guy took it and held her like a dead fish.
“Cheer up,” she said with real excitement at leaving him. “I’ll see you later tonight, okay?”
He warmed up. “I look forward to it.”
Tabby sensed Victor’s eyes on her as she walked down the hallway in the opposite direction David had taken. Her cheeks were on fire from the anger of being talked to as if she were stupid, but she kept the feeling balled in her fists as she finally turned a corner.
“Now, where’s the exit to this place?”
She walked for several minutes, backtracking to the hallways she’d seen before. Some of the routes were hewn from rock, while others looked exactly like they might inside a high-rise building. She figured the entrance would be on the rocky side, so she went into a long tunnel once she’d stumbled upon it. “This has to be the way.”
Along the route, she passed men and women dressed in many colors of outfits. She avoided eye contact with those dressed in the same style as her, figuring they were her peers inside the vault. They would have the most reason to speak with her. She was constantly on the lookout for anyone in white, such as Charity, or gold, like David. Those colors stood out among the many dressed in black, so she figured it would be easy to duck down a side tunnel.
The exit door was easier to find than she expected. It was up a couple of floors from where she’d started, but close to a stairwell. The square security door had the word EXIT in red block letters above it and sat at the end of an elevator room. The pair of lifts were the same style as the ones she’d seen down in the chamber with the large hole in the floor.
A couple of guards stood outside the elevator area, but she walked past them like she knew where she was going. They barely noticed her.
“I’ll see myself out,” she said to herself, confident she was home free.
“Tabby!”
She turned around. Victor came up the hallway but was about a hundred feet back. He broke into a spr
int, pointing and yelling.
She ran for the big door, unsure how to open it. There was a keypad nearby, which freaked her out as an impossible puzzle to crack in the time she had. However, there was also a giant handle attached to the door.
Could it be that simple?
Tabby crossed the last ten feet and put her hand on the metal latch, but before she could yank it, a guard grabbed her hand. A few seconds later, Victor wrapped his arms around her.
Victor breathed hard from his sprint. “You can’t leave through there. David forbids it!”
“I don’t care! I have to leave this place. I don’t belong here.” The imitation of strength burned away as if being dipped in molten lava. Her voice was strained and screechy.
“It’s okay. We all get scared in here. Let me help you.” Gently, but with an ironclad grip, he picked her up off the ground, spun her around, and set her back down. He was now between her and the door.
The guards, perhaps thinking she was being tamed by a boyfriend, walked away laughing.
She whispered, “Don’t turn me in. Please.”
“I have to,” Victor answered. “David told me you would try this. He said you have a defect he wants to smooth out. At first, when I saw you, I didn’t think there could be a single thing wrong with someone as perfect as you, but now I see there’s a serious problem. David can help you overcome that fear.”
She looked up at him and bit the tip of her tongue to keep from crying. She desperately wished he wasn’t there willingly. They could both escape and run wild in the open lands beyond the door.
When she had a grip on herself, Tabby replied.
“I really don’t think he can.”
CHAPTER 12
Glendo, WY
After driving in the convoy for half an hour, Meechum became increasingly anxious. She sat up to get close to the wheel, then forced herself back into the seat. If she wasn’t observing the drivers of the other trucks, she was glancing behind.
“What are you looking for?” Kyla asked, finally unable to ignore the flighty movements.
Meechum sighed. “I should have taken those rifles and pistols. Chinese shit or not, we need to blend in better. We may not get out of this convoy before we’re discovered.”
Kyla had been on edge since the moment they’d run into the two men in the trees. Though she’d been through quite a lot since putting a bullet in her traitorous programming partner Ben back on the JFK, the act of killing didn’t seem any easier. The gunfight had been playing in her mind on a loop. However, she remembered the whole point of their escape from the cabin. “Uncle Ted! I have to call him.”
“I hope he’s not in here, too.”
Her phone was out of juice, but they’d taken one from the dead soldier. It powered on and seemed to have a full charge. However, when she tried to access the main screen, it asked for a thumbprint identification. “Oh, come on!”
“What?”
She angled the phone so Meechum could see it. “It will only open for the guy we shot.”
Meechum laughed mischievously. “Should we go back and cut off his thumb?”
Kyla was left speechless.
The Marine reached over and patted her on the shoulder, which, in turn, caused her to wince with pain at stretching it.
“Your wound,” Kyla scolded. “Be careful.”
“I’m fine. I think it’s healing nicely.”
Kyla chuckled, despite everything. “You know, all things considered, I’m glad we ended up together. If I can make myself half as tough as you, I don’t think I’ll have to be scared for the rest of my life.”
“It’s ninety-nine percent attitude. Pain and discomfort are only temporary. Badassery lasts a lifetime.” She flashed one of her rare smiles, though Kyla thought it was mostly a front for hiding her pain.
After they settled back into a routine, Kyla spoke up. “If I can’t call my uncle, and we can’t find them in this traffic, what are we going to do next?”
Meechum pointed to a green road sign. “What do you say we take a chance and get off the highway? This exit coming up looks promising. No town around. No nothing out there.” She pointed out her window to the rolling grasslands. “Heck, the previous owners of this truck did the same thing. Who’s to say we haven’t been struck by the food truck trots, too?”
“First of all, yuck. Second, how do we know they don’t have planned places where they can get off the highway? Won’t we stick out?”
The Marine shrugged. “Anything is better than getting wherever this convoy is going, then having to congregate with enemy forces. I think I’d be encouraged to shoot until the last bullet if given the opportunity. I could take out fifteen or twenty of them, I bet.”
Kyla had a sudden onset of panic at thinking of her friend going into a suicidal charge. While there was no question she’d take a lot of the enemy with her, it would still leave Kyla by herself. Suddenly, being alone with the invaders seemed a fate worse than death. She tried to come off sounding upbeat. “It won’t come to that. Let’s get the hell down the ramp, like you said.”
The landscape around them hadn’t changed too much from earlier in the day. Wyoming was still the same endless sea of tall, wild grasses, with a few small hills, but it was sliced by a swath of trees ahead, as if a small river ran west to east. As best she could tell, the exit ramp was going to take them to a gravel road that paralleled the trees.
Meechum merged onto the exit ramp and whistled a quiet tune, as if to keep herself from being noticed as they gradually put distance between themselves and the tractor-trailers up on the highway. By the time they reached the intersection of the gravel road, Kyla copied the whistling, doing her best to echo the tune.
Kyla looked behind them. No one was following. “What song is that? I like it.”
Meechum checked her mirror. “It’s the Marines’ Hymn. The halls of Montezuma, and the shores of Tripoli. Someday, there’s going to be a line about the maddening grasses of Wyoming.” She hit the pedal. “We’re in the clear.”
As they turned, Kyla continued to watch the exit ramp behind them. A big crane exited the highway the second before Meechum drove them under the bridge.
Meechum continued her tune, eyes forward.
But Kyla knew they weren’t alone.
Fort Collins, CO
Ted figured they couldn’t easily escape the situation, but Darla made it impossible. She yelled at him and Emily the second she came up to Todd.
“You two! Get your asses over here. I was promised a security detail while in Fort Collins, and it looks like all your friends are protecting those stupid cranes. That makes you two my meat shields.”
He shared a worried look with Emily. She cinched her blue bandana as high as she could, then winked at him. “We got this.”
Ted firmed his grip on the rifle. “Yeah, we do.”
When they returned to the group, Darla instantly singled out Emily. “What’s wrong with you? If you’ve got the flu, I’m going to need you to stay far away from me. I can’t afford any sick days during the biggest performance of my life.”
Emily took one step back. After a brief hesitation, she spoke. “I had the flu a couple of days ago, ma’am. I don’t think I’m still contagious…”
“Enough! You stay at the edge of this parking lot. The rest of us are going to cross the street so we get the best light from the setting sun.” The reporter pointed to Ted, smiling for the first time. “But you’re coming with me. I want you attached to my hip.”
He could tell by Emily’s eyes she was on the verge of replying, probably in a not-flattering way, but he beat her to it. “My friend will be fine on this side of the street. We were going to fan out anyway, to keep an eye on as much terrain as possible. Once the trucks arrive—”
Darla held up her hand. “Just get it done. I’m here for me, not to listen to your lesson plans.”
He shrugged, then turned to Emily and spoke quietly. “Merks gotta merk. Am I right?”
She
laughed. “I’ll be studying the gravel.”
He whispered, “If shooting starts, run back to the truck.” She would be closest to the SUV, since she was staying on the wide parking lot.
“You know I will,” she bragged.
“Uh huh,” he replied, watching her walk away.
“Hey, Rambo!” Darla snarked. “Stop looking at your friend’s butt and get over here.”
He whipped around. “I wasn’t—”
“Don’t care. The trucks are waiting on me. I want to get this right on the first take. I can’t turn the whole convoy around to try it again, can I?”
Todd and his assistant were already in position on the far side of the street. Darla eyed the trucks waiting in line as he crossed with her. She studied the sun, low at the western horizon, then positioned herself so the light hit her from the side. It appeared as if she was going to film herself talking to the camera with the convoy arriving at the cranes behind her. All he had to do was stay out of the way.
A minute later, Todd counted her in. Louis waved to the truckers and the line finally started moving.
“Free America! Free America! Free America! Thank David!” Darla spoke in monotone, as if it was a formal greeting, before continuing in a more casual voice. “Hello, this is Darla Kristoff for Legion News. I’m standing here at a shipping terminal in Fort Collins, Colorado, as we prepare to receive a delivery of an incredible number of robotic devices. As you can see, the convoy is massive, with hundreds of delivery trucks. I’m told this is among the top ten convoys in terms of size and tons delivered.”
In one practiced motion, Darla stepped outside the frame, though she continued speaking. “You can see they’re coming up the street six abreast. David has provided enough cranes to clear out many of them at the same time. He’s built huge receiving yards on each side of the street, where we’ll store it all.”
Darla went silent for a few moments as the rumble of truck engines filled the air. Giant tractor-trailers, once a symbol of American transportation and mobility, now served a new master. Ted’s gut hated what was being said, but he kept his silence to protect his identity.
Minus America Box Set | Books 1-5 Page 77
