mckenzie stood next to the door of the Omega Missile LCC and barked out orders. "Bognar, you and Reynolds go after those two." He pointed toward the tree line and the route Thorpe and Parker had taken.
The Humvees were coming out of the tree line with the rest of the men. Machine guns were now mounted in the top center hatches and the vehicles took up defensive positions around the compound.
McKenzie jabbed a finger at Drake. "Set up the satellite dish, then join me below." He turned to the outer door and slapped a charge against it. "Fire in the hole!" he called out as everyone took cover.
There was a brief blast and the door was gone. McKenzie stepped through the debris into the foyer. He halted in surprise at the sight of the closed vault door.
"I thought you said they would leave it open," he demanded.
Kilten ignored McKenzie. He waved at the video camera just above the door and with a hiss, the door swung open.
McKenzie turned to Kilten. "Where's the other crewman?"
"In the LCC," Kilten said.
"He opened the door for you?"
"Yes."
McKenzie looked at Kilten in a new light. "Got any other surprises that you didn't tell me about?"
Kilten walked to the elevator. "Let's go down. We don't have much time."
As the vault door slowly shut on them, Kilten had a question of his own. "Why did you shoot at the other launch officer?" Kilten asked. "That wasn't the plan."
"Not your plan," McKenzie agreed. "But it seems things are changing a bit now."
Kilten looked at the soldier. "I knew you would do this."
"Do what?" McKenzie asked.
"Change things."
"Well, that's real good," McKenzie said. "Cause then you shouldn't be surprised by anything that happens, right?"
"Not likely," Kilten said with a sad expression on his ravaged face. "That's part of my job, remember? Predicting and planning. I expected you to deviate from the plan we agreed on."
McKenzie wasn't really paying attention to what Kilten was saying. "Your job invented this and now we're taking it down. And taking things down is my job. Do you have a problem with that?" The powerfully built man spoke with the firm conviction of someone taking control.
Kilten held his hands up. "I said it would be a short relationship, didn't I?"
*****
Thorpe glanced to his left at the female officer running next to him. "I'm out of ammunition. Do you have any?"
Parker pulled the clip out of her weapon and looked. "One round."
"Shit," Thorpe said. He halted. "Hold on for a second." He looked at her uniform. Her name tag indicated she was Major Teresa Parker, U.S. Air Force. "Do you know what is going on, Major?"
Parker was taking deep breaths. "No." She looked at his uniform. "Who are you?"
Thorpe stuck out his hand. "Captain Thorpe, Army Special Forces."
Parker took his hand, her grip firm. "Major Parker, U.S. Air Force. This was all a setup. Lewis was in on it. I should have stayed there and stopped them!"
Thorpe didn't understand what she was talking about. "If you'd have hung around there another couple of seconds that guy shooting the big bullets would have nailed you." Thorpe cocked his head, listening. Then he led her into a small gully and pointed down it. "You keep going."
Parker hesitated. "What are you going to do?"
"We've got people right behind us. I'm going to take care of them."
"How are you going to do that with no bullets?"
Thorpe could hear someone running through the underbrush, not too far away. "Damn it, just do as I say. Keep going."
Parker seemed about to say something, but then she too heard their pursuers. She took off down the gully. Thorpe stepped off to the side and hid behind the thick trunk of a fallen tree. Five seconds later, two men came rushing by, their pace increasing as they spotted Parker fifty feet ahead in the shallow trench.
Thorpe watched them race by his position. One of the men stopped and lifted his submachine gun to fire at Parker. Thorpe stepped out and threw his knife, catching the man in the neck. Blood spurted from the severed jugular. Thorpe followed through on the throw, taking two quick steps and striking out at the other man with his right leg, the toe of his boot connecting with the weapon in Bognar's hand. The submachine gun went flying. Bognar whirled, blocked Thorpe's next kick, and the two men backed off, circling.
Parker came running back, pistol at the ready. Thorpe saw her out of the corner of his eye. "Don't shoot!" he called to her.
Bognar took advantage of the distraction to reach down and draw a knife. Thorpe glanced over at his own knife, still embedded in the other man's throat. "All right," he yelled to Parker, "shoot."
Parker lifted her pistol but didn't fire; the men were too close to each other.
Bognar stepped forward and jabbed. Thorpe leaped to the side, captured the other man's knife arm under his own and levered at Bognar's elbow. But Bognar was ready, sliding out of the trap and slashing. His knife tore a gash down the side of Thorpe's sleeve.
Bognar moved forward, knife flashing, and Thorpe stepped back unsteadily, his foot slipping. He fell onto his back. The knife rose high and was coming down toward Thorpe's chest when a shot rang out and the bullet spun Bognar sideways, wounding him.
Thorpe immediately rolled onto the other man and slammed the palm of his free hand into Bognar's nose, smashing the bone into his brain, killing him instantly.
Thorpe slumped onto his back, lying next to the dead man, breathing hard.
"Are you all right?" Parker asked.
Thorpe could only nod.
"You look sick," Parker added.
"I'm all right," Thorpe said angrily. "He was lucky, that's all."
Parker stared at him without saying a word.
Thorpe got to his knees, then stood up. He swayed for a second, shaking his head. Thorpe knelt and quickly stripped Bognar of his ammunition and cell phone. He walked over and retrieved the submachine gun.
Parker grabbed Thorpe's arm. "We have to get back to the LCC entrance!"
"The LCC?"
"Launch Control Center," Parker said.
"Hold on a second. We just barely survived these guys and there's a whole bunch more of them at your LCC. Let's figure out what's going on first." Thorpe gently removed her hand. "You said that your partner was down in the LCC, right?''
Parker nodded. "Lewis. He must be with them. He pulled his gun on me and made me leave. I'm sure he's opened the vault door for them."
Thorpe had caught his breath. "There's nothing we can do about it right now," he said.
Parker stared at him. "Why didn't you want me to shoot at first?"
Thorpe checked the magazine in the weapon. "You might have hit me."
"I know how to shoot," Parker said.
Thorpe glanced at Bognar's body. "You hit him in the shoulder."
"That's where I was aiming," Parker said.
"Next time, shoot to kill," Thorpe said.
"I've never killed anyone," Parker said.
Thorpe spotted some grenades on the other man's vest and walked over and appropriated them. "Nine-millimeter ammo," he said, pulling some magazines out of pouches. He tossed a couple to Parker. "Reload." He also checked out that man's sub.
Parker took the offered submachine gun.
"Careful, there's a round in the chamber," Thorpe said. "Are you familiar with the H&K MP-5 submachine gun?"
"Yes."
Thorpe eyed her suspiciously. Parker took the weapon and spoke like she would to a recruit. "This is safe, this is semiautomatic, this is automatic. Keep it on safe and only fire on semi. Automatic is just a waste of bullets." Parker looped the sling over her neck, not giving Thorpe a chance to comment on her expertise. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"
"I was hoping you could tell me since it's your LCC they're after," Thorpe said. "I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." He pointed at the corpses. "I do know these guys are ex-Canadian paratroopers."
"How do you know that?" Parker challenged him.
Thorpe showed her a tattoo on Bognar's forearm. A winged dagger with a barely legible inscription below it. "That's their airborne insignia. The other guy has the same tattoo."
"How do you know they're ex?" Parker asked.
"What, you think Canada's invading us?" Thorpe didn't wait for an answer. "Because their airborne regiment got stood down last year after getting accused of various war crimes. Torturing prisoners, that sort of thing."
Thorpe was thinking. "They're not the problem, though. The problem is the guy who had the big sniper rifle. He's American. An ex-Navy SEAL. He was medically retired this year. Name's McKenzie. He knows what he's doing and he's good."
"It's worse than that," Parker said. "The other man in the tree line with him, the older man, his name is Kilten. He's a civilian who works for the Pentagon, GS-God level. He designed the Omega Missile system and the LCC. He knows more about the setup than any man alive. Even more than my ex-partner down there."
"Great," Thorpe muttered. "Two fucking nutcases. You launched your missiles didn't you?"
"Only one," Parker said.
"Gee, only one nuclear missile?"
"The missile we launched didn't carry a nuclear warhead."
"Thank God for that," Thorpe said.
"It's worse than if we had launched a nuke carrier," she said, ending Thorpe's brief feeling of relief.
"Oh, great," Thorpe said. "How come nothing here is getting any better?"
Parker was almost talking to herself, replaying it in her mind. "We launched Omega Missile, but there was a nuclear strike on Barksdale! We saw it on video."
"I don't think that was a nuke strike," Thorpe said. "It was a big explosion and there was a mushroom cloud, but," he pointed at the two bodies, "they didn't seem very concerned about fallout and my bet is that they were the ones who made the big boom." He slapped himself on the side of the head. "The dump trucks!"
"What dump trucks?"
"There was a row of dump trucks parked on the outside of the post fence, near the flight line. I saw them as we flew out. They must have been loaded with explosives. Damn," Thorpe said, "the flight line has got to be a mess. I hope they got everyone under cover."
He thought of Lisa. She would have been frantic when she didn't find Tommy in the car. "We have to get back to my son," Thorpe said. "Then get in contact with the authorities."
"Your son?"
Thorpe quickly explained about Tommy stowing away and the helicopter crash.
"You left your son to head toward the sound of gunfire?" Parker asked.
Thorpe glared at her. "If I hadn't, you'd be dead." Thorpe was looking at the cuts she'd received from the concrete shards. "How do you know this Kilten guy?" Thorpe asked.
"I met him once."
"Well, he's on the wrong side now." Thorpe opened up a first-aid kit. "Any idea what they're up to exactly?"
Parker was lining up the pieces in her head. "He must be trying to get control of Omega Missile!"
"All right. Why don't you start at the beginning and get me up to speed. What's Omega Missile?"
*****
Lewis sat at the REACT console, Kilten next to him. Cables from the back of Kilten's laptop were plugged into various jacks on the front of the console. McKenzie hovered behind both of them, watching Lewis work. Two ex-paratroopers were next to the elevator, standing guard. The doors slid open and Drake walked in.
"How's the satellite dish?" McKenzie asked.
"All set." Drake said. He walked over to a bank of radios next to the REACT consoles. "I've got it spliced into their stuff here. We can talk voice and transmit data through MILSTAR just like we're part of the system using the REACT here. We can talk to the Pentagon whenever you want."
Drake pointed at Lewis in his Air Force flight suit. "What's this?"
"Seems we had an ace in the hole that we didn't know about," McKenzie said. "Courtesy of the good professor."
Drake fingered his gun. "Can we trust him?"
"Yes," Kilten said. "He knows what we're doing and why we're doing it."
"Careful with that we," McKenzie said. He tapped Drake on the shoulder. "You keep an eye on him, make sure he does as he's told. What about Omega Missile?" he asked Kilten.
"We're in," Kilten said. "I have positive contact through MILSTAR."
McKenzie walked a couple of steps away. He punched in a number on his cellular phone.
*****
Thorpe held up a hand, interrupting Parker as the phone in his pocket buzzed. He flipped open the lid but didn't say anything. McKenzie's voice came out of the speaker. "Bognar? Reynolds? Are you there?"
"Hello, Chief McKenzie. This is Captain Thorpe. Nice of you to call. Your men are, shall we say, indisposed at the moment. Should I take a message?"
"Thorpe." There was a long moment of silence. "Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise?" McKenzie finally said.
"You fucked up," Thorpe said.
"I did?"
"Yeah," Thorpe said. "You didn't get into the LCC clean and you've got me here."
There was the sound of laughter. "You are so wrong," McKenzie said. "Right now, I'm standing directly behind the REACT computer and you are the one who can't get in, clean or otherwise."
"What are you trying to do?" Thorpe asked.
"By the time you figure that out, it will be long over," McKenzie replied.
The phone went dead.
*****
McKenzie shut the phone.
Lewis looked up from the computer. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing for you to worry about," McKenzie snapped. How the hell did Thorpe end up here? McKenzie thought. He'd seen a man run out of the tree line and help the woman escape, but he hadn't bothered to try to identify him.
McKenzie knew the number one rule of any military operation was to expect the unexpected, contrary to Kilten's belief in planning. McKenzie absentmindedly rubbed his artificial arm, trying to scratch an itch that his nerve endings told him existed, but the metal arm reminded him didn't.
McKenzie reevaluated his plans, adding in the now known factor of Thorpe. After a few moments he felt better as he remembered the scuttlebutt he'd heard about the Special Forces officer. It didn't change much.
*****
Thorpe punched some numbers into the phone, but nothing happened. "Damn, he must have these on a frequency where they can only talk to each other. I can't get an outside line."
Thorpe flipped the phone shut and stuck it back in his pocket.
"Why didn't you try to find out what he was doing?" Parker asked.
"He wouldn't exactly tell me if I asked."
"What was the purpose of baiting him, then?"
"Now he has something else to worry about."
"What?"
"Me."
Parker shook her head. "Why don't you tell me how you know this McKenzie guy?"
Thorpe pointed. "We need to get back to the chopper and my son. I'll tell you about it on the way."