She pulled down her mask and smiled at him. “See? I’m fine. I really am. Now I know there’s no going back. The city is ruined.”
“I’m sorry,” he replied. “I’m hoping to find survivors, too.” The helicopter blades continued from elsewhere in the metropolis, but they never seemed to get closer. The noise could have hidden the sound of the Predator drones, though he’d been watching every side street for flying objects. So far, he’d seen none.
“Follow me.” She raised her mask, then offered her hand, which he accepted.
They walked together for a few blocks before she stopped in front of an apartment building. “This is it,” she breathed out.
The doors and elevators worked as usual, so it was an easy trip to get to her apartment. He expected her to let go of his hand the whole trip up, but she seemed to need his support. It wasn’t until they reached the door of her apartment that she released him.
He was relieved, though it was difficult to pin the exact reason. Part of it might have been her seniority, which played against his ingrained respect for the chain of command. At the same time, as far as he knew, she was still married to the man inside this home, so it was wrong on that level, too.
“Let’s get this over with,” she exhaled before going in.
He followed at a respectful distance, mindful she might want to be alone.
The inside of the apartment reminded him of who she’d been before all this. Political photographs hung from the walls. Pictures of her in the White House. At rallies. There was even one of her with the crew of Air Force Two, though it was before he joined up.
She saw him looking at it. “We’ll get another one taken with my new plane. You’ll be the pilot. Bank on it.”
It made him laugh, but also made him feel a little emotional at the implications. How great it would be for things to get back to normal. Back to a time when his biggest concern was whether another pilot would get the trots so he could take over. Today, the weight of the whole country seemed to balance on his shoulders. “That sounds good.”
Emily strode into a large living area with couches and tables. It had wide windows facing out to Central Park and enough room for dozens of people to mingle. It instantly made him imagine politicians standing around at fancy cocktail parties as they rubbed elbows with wealthy donors. He went in but shivered at how much he’d hate living that lifestyle.
He gravitated toward the windows because they were twenty stories up and the view of the rectangular park was amazing. The greenery went on for a couple of miles, and it was boxed in on all sides by a wall of high-rises, including the one he was in. Below, closest to the southern boundary, he observed a large open field on the left side and a tree-filled region on the right. A giant statue of a horse and rider were far to the right, in the corner.
The smoky mess from the Newark fire smudged the horizon far to the northwest. There was no way to see the ground over there, but the fire didn’t seem to be slowing at all.
When he turned around to comment on how impressive the view was, Emily was on the floor crying. He hurried over but stopped short when he realized what was in her hands. It took her a minute or two before she looked up at him.
“This was Roger, my husband. He was here, no doubt about it.” She held up a gold wedding band. “I—” A sob rose up from her chest and seemed to catch her by surprise.
“Oh, ma’am, I’m so sorry for your loss.” He crouched next to her.
Emily’s eyes were filled with tears, but she didn’t seem particularly sad. “This isn’t what I expected,” she admitted. “I haven’t felt emotions for him for several years. Our jobs didn’t really let us remain close, you know?”
He’d had a taste of that. Multiple deployments had killed his marriage, but that was a long time ago. It was difficult to remember those early years when he believed love could conquer all.
“I didn’t mean for you to come here,” he said. “I only wanted to get you somewhere safe in these buildings.”
She reached out and touched him on the wrist. “I know, Ted. You’re a good man, and not only because you saved my life. Don’t hold this outburst of emotions against me. I’m glad we came here, because now I know his fate. It would have been a distraction if I’d avoided facing this apartment.”
Ted smiled back, unsure what else he could say.
“There is one good thing.” She slapped him gently on the wrist as if to illustrate the sad part was over. “I’m going to go change into my own clothes. These loaners were nice, but we’re here, so I might as well take advantage of it.”
He stood up after her. “Yeah, maybe we can stay here for a day or two, until things settle down outside. Or…this would be an excellent base of operations for keeping an eye on what’s going on over in Newark. It’s too bad we don’t have a radio.”
“That’s your call,” she said as she disappeared down a side hallway.
My call, he thought. Ted went to the window again to watch the empty city for any signs of life. The sky rats flew all over the park and buildings, as they always did, but there were no roller-bladers, bikers or joggers making their way around the bike paths below him.
His mind drifted during his watch, though at some point Emily came out of her room wearing a new pair of jeans, hiking boots, and a button-down khaki shirt, like she was going on safari. She’d transferred the American flag pin again; it was tagged onto the pocket of her shirt.
“What do you think?” she said with a bit of a curtsy.
“I think you look…ready for anything.” He might have said pretty or beautiful if she’d been anyone else.
Oddly, she seemed disappointed in his response. They both stood there for a few seconds of awkward silence, but her demeanor changed when she pointed behind him.
“A helicopter!”
Amarillo, TX
“I said don’t shoot!” Brent screamed again. The six orange-clad prisoners who’d come in with him stood at various locations inside the trailer, each with their big shotguns trained on Curtis’s boys. Unless there were more guys in the back rooms of the trailer, he thought it might have been about even in terms of good guys vs. bad.
He held his breath, willing everyone to relax, including himself. He was unarmed, so making peace was about all he could do. Trish crawled over to him, while everyone else was focused on the guns. Many of the guys slowly re-aligned inside the trailer, so Brent’s people stood near the front door, while Curtis’s group stood near the kitchen.
Curtis didn’t back down, even with a pistol up against his temple. “This is how it’s gonna be? Working for him now?”
Paul seemed more nervous than the other guy. “We’re on no one’s side, but he knows what he’s doing. He was fair to us when we was prisoners, and he was fair to us when we got out. At least he never pointed guns in our faces.”
That upset the men behind Curtis.
The young leader gravely shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. My mom and dad are in Phoenix. I can’t check on them even if I wanted to. Unless I find out they are already dead, I can’t break my blood oath to the cartel. They’ll kill them.”
Brent tried to think of a way to further defuse the situation. “We’ll drive down there. Me and you. I’ll prove to you…” He realized it wouldn’t sound good to want to prove they were dead. “I’ll let you prove to me that they’re still alive. From there, we’ll both have our answer about what’s going to happen next.”
Phoenix was ten hours away by car, but he’d happily take the man to his house if it would save some lives. Cars were free for the taking, including sports cars, so they could probably make it in half the time it would have in the old days.
Curtis seemed to think it over, but his guys continued to retreat into the kitchen.
“It sounds like a trap,” the man replied, acting a little like he wanted to be convinced. It was progress, Brent reasoned.
Paul pulled back a few inches, so the gun wasn’t pressed up against Curtis’s skin.
One of the guys in the kitchen tipped over a broom that had been stood up against the counter. Brent saw it travel the whole way down and heard the metal pole slap against the linoleum with a loud bang.
Paul visibly jumped and squeezed the trigger of his pistol.
Curtis’s head snapped sideways.
Then everyone started shooting.
CHAPTER 21
New York City, NY
Ted and Emily leaned against the window like two kids watching fish at the aquarium. The helicopter banked left at the far end of the park, but then flew toward the near end. He immediately thought it was looking for someone.
“It’s a Sikorsky Seahawk. It’s the kind of rotor aircraft you find on a carrier.” The JFK was on the East Coast, he was sure of that, but it was unlikely to be parked off New York.
“Who are they looking for?” she asked. “Do you think there are others, like us, running from the terrorists who attacked our nation?” There were still no people down in the park, so nothing felt right to him. However, when the Seahawk swept through a turn right outside the windows, they both crouched below a chair so they wouldn’t be seen.
He got a good look at it. “That’s an unarmed version. It must be recon or search and rescue.”
“That probably means it didn’t come from a carrier, right? Why would they have anything unarmed on a warship?”
“I don’t know, but there’s only a pilot. No co-pilot or crewmen in the back. Why would he be flying around alone?”
She stuck her head up as the helicopter flew toward the opposite end of the park. “It looks like he’s looking for someone.”
It couldn’t be looking for him and Emily. He’d been careful about staying off the enemy radar, and he was more and more comfortable they’d evaded the Predators, and thus, the bad guys. If this was friendly search and rescue, they might not get a better chance to escape.
“I believe this might be a legitimate US Navy craft.”
She studied him for a time, but then seemed to defer to his expertise. “Well, how the hell are we going to contact them?”
He laughed. “I don’t suppose you keep a flare gun in the suite, do you?”
Emily rolled her eyes.
“A fire extinguisher?” he pressed.
“Yes, but—”
“I’ll take it. Grab it for me. We’re going to the roof.”
If he had unlimited time, he would have taken a trash can filled with flammables up to the roof. The smoke would give away their position and the helicopter would see them. With a little luck, they’d get plucked from the roof and taken to safety.
Since there was no time, he had to go with the next best thing.
Emily’s apartment was already at the top floor, so the run up only took a minute. They popped out onto the roof while the helicopter was on the far end of the park.
“Let’s hope it comes back,” he said dryly.
“Are you going to shoot that in the air? You think they’ll see us?”
And what if they did see them? Would it be safe to get on board an unarmed helicopter in the middle of a city surrounded by wandering bad guys? Predator drone Hellfire missiles were designed for air-to-ground combat, but there were other planes at the airport. Certainly, any competent invasion force would be able to shoot down a lone helicopter.
The more he thought through the permutations of rescue, the less convinced he became it was the right way to go. However, rather than bounce ideas back and forth to no end, he decided to present options to his commander-in-chief.
“Ma’am, if we do flag them down, I’m worried they won’t be able to defend you. I have no idea why an unarmed helicopter is flying around the city, but we can’t forget about the drones and men on the ground still searching for us. He might be trapped here, like we are.”
“You’re suggesting we keep hidden,” she said matter-of-factly.
“It’s an option… Though I’ll be honest with you, I can’t guarantee your safety either way.” He tugged at the rifle sling on his shoulder, as if to remind them both they were still armed, but once in the air, their little weapons would be nearly useless.
The Seahawk helicopter made its turnaround at the far end of the park and the whump-whump bark of the rotors got closer again.
Emily sighed. “It’s a risk, but if this is with the carrier, or any of our ships out in the Atlantic, it might be the lead scout coming back to America. We have to signal them that we’re here, even if we decide not to board.”
“Talk to them?” he said with surprise.
She nodded, still watching the helicopter getting closer. “If we climb aboard and don’t like it, we still have our rifles to order them to let us back out.”
“I can board first to check it out. Yeah, that might work.” Ted ran to the front edge of the high-rise building. The helicopter approached along the left border of the park and was about to turn around.
He pulled the pin from the fire extinguisher and gripped the handle. She came up next to him and together, they watched the Seahawk approach. It was two hundred feet in the air, about the same altitude as them. He figured they couldn’t have asked for a more perfect signal scenario.
“Now!” he said to himself. He aimed down so it would stand out against the windows below him. As the helo passed within a couple of hundred feet, he unloaded the whole five pounds in one long blast. The smoke-like retardant billowed into a large white cloud below them.
They waited for a few seconds as the pilot finished his turn and started for the far side again. At first, it looked like they’d been missed, but the aircraft turned left again, cutting its loop short.
“That did it,” Ted breathed out with relief. “I’m gonna—” He cut himself off when he saw another airframe in the distance. A Predator had come into the city and was now at the far end of Central Park. The helicopter might have been staying low inside the confinement of the urban nature preserve, but it wasn’t invisible. Someone had found his hiding spot. “A Predator is coming.”
He pulled her back from the edge, tossing the spent canister on the ground.
“You said those weren’t built for air-to-air, right?”
“That might be true, but we just gave ourselves away.” Adrenaline dumped into his bloodstream as the pieces of the battlefield lined up. The helicopter was only a distraction now, it could never get to them in time, though it was still on the way. The drone was the big threat to them. “Run!”
By the time they’d made it to the stairwell door, the Seahawk driver maneuvered his aircraft to about twenty feet above the edge of the building. Ted had a clear view of the man even as he waved him off.
Over the park, the Predator let its last Hellfire missile go. The puff of smoke and orange flare of jet exhaust had their names on them.
He pushed Emily into the stairwell, with only enough time left to observe how she’d forgotten to put her mask back on.
St. Louis, MO
Vinny surprised everyone by attacking Gus, throwing his arms around him, bear-hug style. Unfortunately, that shook the old man and he pulled the trigger of his shotgun.
Tabby experienced a warm gush of air as it went by, then she recoiled at the incredibly loud boom.
“Oh, God!” she shrieked.
“Holy fuck!” Peter screamed at the same time.
“Run!” Vinny yelled.
She gathered her wits and considered shooting Gus in self-defense, but he was tangled up with his partner. Tabby hoped the younger man got the better of the situation, but she couldn’t afford to stick around to see how it went.
“Get out!” Vinny ordered.
Tabby stuffed the gun behind her back, then grabbed at Peter to get him moving. The acrid fumes had already filled the lobby, adding to the immediacy of how close they’d come to getting killed. Not surprisingly, the thick-boned boy appeared frozen by his brush with death, so she had to yank his shirt.
“Peter, go!”
“Go!” She ushered them across the lobby and made it most of the way to the front door before she saw a new threat. Tabby had to grab Audrey by the collar to get her to stop. “Change of plans!”
Peter ran into her backside, then bounced off like a lost boy. “What’s happening?”
She did not expect to see a larger mechanical beast walking down the street outside. It was one of the horse-like robots from the lines of them down under the Arch. It ambled on hinged legs exactly like a dog or horse might do, and it was right outside the door. “This way!” she barked.
The kids didn’t move, so she had to pull each one until they did so.
Tabby led them down the hallway to where the elevators were located, but she didn’t stop to use them. The EXIT sign beckoned her into the stairwell, so she slammed into the crossbar to open it, then waited.
“Run!” She held the door until all three kids had made it through.
From her vantage point, she saw the small horse use the automatic door and come into the lobby. The four feet clopped on the tiled floor, creating an almost alien contrast—the strange animal didn’t belong indoors. Its low-profile head seemed to remain focused straight ahead, where the smaller drone had been destroyed and where Gus and Vinny presumably still struggled over the shotgun.
A long hatch opened along the horse’s back. From inside, a thick black tube rose up on a wire frame until it projected several inches above the head.
She shut the door most of the way but couldn’t take her eyes off the intruder.
Get out of there, guys, she thought.
“Tabby, let’s go!” Audrey whispered from the stairwell. “The exit is right here.”
Empty Cities Page 15
