72 Hours (A Thriller) (24 page)

CHAPTER 74

A memory dropped into Archer’s brain.
 
Like a reel of film spliced into his stream of thought.
 
It was a memory from his first exposure to night combat as a young soldier.
 
The visuals and sensations, sights and sounds and smells, all came rushing back to him.
 
In another time and place, he was young and scared and in way over his head.
 
The unseen enemy lurking nearby in the darkness.
 
The white hot muzzle flashes of hostile fire.
 
The crackle of artillery.
 
Infantry pushing cautiously through thick jungle foliage.
 
The mud and rain of a far-off battlefield.

Then the memory snapped away and the buzz of jungle mosquitoes was replaced by the high-pitch drone of the Polaris.
 
He gazed through the crud caked lenses of the goggles, catching glimpses of the parachutes drifting toward the desert floor.

Archer tried to keep track of all ten chutes, but he had to concentrate on the dirt track unwinding perilously in front of him.
 
He clutched the throttle with one hand and unclipped the walkie-talkie radio with the other.
 
He called for Raj or Simeon.
 

There was no response.

The parachutes swooped westward toward the edge of the mountains.
 
Raj was on lookout.
 
Archer could only hope he was able to see them from his perch atop the bluff.

The Polaris bounced and shuddered, motor revving.
 
Archer held on for all he was worth.
 
He kept one eye on the vague track ahead and one on the darkened sky.
 
Then he heard his walkie-talkie crackle.
 
He heard Raj’s voice coming through the static hiss, distant, faint.
 
Raj was shouting for help.

*
   
*
   
*

Raj had found a cleft in the bluff and settled in low.
 
He slung his rifle off his shoulder and held it close to his body.
 
The cleft was shallow and required him to press against the rock to remain reasonably hidden from view.

He watched the parachutes cascade down.

They had appeared without warning.
 
His attention had been focused on the horizon when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye and happened to glance up.
 
Chills tingled up his spine.
 

Raj watched for a moment to make certain his eyes weren’t deceiving him.
 
Then he radioed his brother.
 
He attempted to alert Archer, but couldn’t reach him.
 

*
   
*
   
*

Simeon hurried through a corridor to the camera monitoring room.
 
He couldn’t yet see anything on any of the screens.
 
He took a deep breath and processed through what his brother had just told him.
 
They hadn’t heard from Archer in a while.
 
They could only hope he wasn’t too far out.
 
They needed the additional manpower.
 
Simeon replayed Raj’s words: ten parachutes.

He didn’t want to frighten Lindsay or the kids unnecessarily, but they had to take precautions.
 
If the parachutes represented a threat – and they almost certainly did – they couldn’t hesitate to take defensive action.
 

Simeon ducked back into the low-ceilinged room where the Hammond’s had gathered.
 
Ramey and Wyatt had fallen asleep lying side by side on a sofa along the east wall.
 
Lindsay was awake but exhausted.
 
She glanced up when Simeon entered the room.

The look in his eyes told her the story.

*
   
*
   
*

Raj watched them through the night-vision scope attached to his rifle.
 
He could only follow them one at a time.
 
He was trying to get some idea who they were, but they were still miles away.
 
Just dark shapes drifting past the crosshairs.
 
He could feel his heart rate increase.
 
It had been over a decade since he’d pulled the trigger on anyone.

CHAPTER 75

The Polaris slewed sideways and came to a shuddering stop.
 
Archer jumped off and ran to the second gate.
 
He had attempted to reply to Raj’s radio transmission but they apparently still couldn’t hear him.
 
There was no time to play hide and seek with the key along the fence posts.
 
He came within a few steps of the gate and swung the Bushmaster rifle around on its sling.
 
He sighted down the barrel and took aim at the chunky padlock and pulled the trigger.
 
He fired half a dozen rounds, sending the lock clamoring side to side.
 
Smoke trailed out through the holes where the .223 caliber bullets had penetrated.
 
Archer gave the body of the lock a tug.
 
The hasp opened.
 
He pitched it aside and swung the gate wide.
 
He quickly saddled himself back on the Polaris and raced onward into the night.

*
   
*
   
*

The wind currents above the desert were stubborn and forceful.
 
Steering the parachutes proved a challenge.
 
Bravo found himself drifting too far to the west.
 
It was a diversion in course he found nearly impossible to correct.
 
He would be forced to land in the mountains and pick his way toward the original landing zone along the desert floor.
 
He glanced around and saw that most of his comrades were facing the same problem.
 
He could see most of them, staggered in the sky above him, spiraling gently down.
 
It would not affect the mission.
 
It would simply briefly delay the outcome.

*
   
*
   
*

Raj watched them drift sharply west.
 
He keyed his walkie-talkie again and attempted to reach Archer but got no response.

The first of the parachutes dropped behind the mountain ridges and out of sight, followed quickly by two or three others.
 
They would be on the ground in a matter of seconds.
 
Raj felt his throat catch.
 
He swung the muzzle of the rifle, the field of view inside the scope panning rapidly across the night sky to the east.
 
He found another jumper and locked on, tracking his progress toward earth.
 
That one would drop onto the desert floor.
 
No way around it.
 
He would land only a few minutes away by foot.

Raj came out of the cleft and made his way along the crown of the bluff to get a better look.
 
If he could get close enough, with a clear shot, he might be able to drop him from a few hundred yards.

*
   
*
   
*

Bravo was the first to land.
 
His chute billowed, tugged by the wind.
 
The cords attached to the chute fell slack and then pulled taut again as the chute fluttered and snagged in the brush.
 
He unsnapped his harness and dropped the empty pack to the ground.
 
Then he stood and glanced up.

Foxtrot landed about thirty yards away to the north.
 
His chute fluttered down on top of him and Bravo watched him punch his way out from beneath the canopy of lightweight fabric.
 

Bravo spoke to him through his earpiece mike.

Within two minute all ten were on the ground and accounted for.
 
Echo had landed amid the scrub and sand of the desert floor, the only one of the ten to make it to the drop zone.
 
The remaining nine began picking their way slowly toward him.

CHAPTER 76

“What’s wrong?” Lindsay asked.

“We have company,” Simeon said.

Lindsay stepped into the light.
 
She hooked her hand under his arm and turned to him.
 
“Who?”

Simeon shook his head.
 
“We don’t know.
 
They dropped from an airplane.
 
Just now.”

“They?”

Simeon walked quickly as he talked over his shoulder.
 
“Raj says he counted ten.”

“Where is Archer?
 
Does he know about them?”

“He’s still out there somewhere.
 
We haven’t reached him yet.”

“So what do we do?”

“You need to wake the children.
 
I’m going to show you where to hide.”

*
   
*
   
*

Archer glanced at the sky and for the first time saw nothing floating down.
 
He felt a twist in his gut.
 
They were on the ground.
 
The clock was ticking.
 

He tried to entertain the possibility that maybe it wasn’t what it looked like.
 
Maybe Kline had sent help.
 
But that wasn’t possible.
 
Nobody had known where they were going.
 
No way to find them.
 
Except for Soji.
 
Soji and the little device he’d planted beneath the Hummer.
 
That had to be the explanation.
 
No other way anyone could locate the underground lair in the middle of the desert.
 
Soji had turned out to be a major pain in the ass.

The mountains loomed in the distance.
 
The Polaris wouldn’t go any faster.
 
There was no way to close the distance any sooner.
 
All he could do was hold his breath and try to keep it on the road.

But he didn’t.

He glanced back up at the skyline.
 
He kept his eyes off the dirt track for half a second too long and didn’t see the bend in the road.
 
His mind was on the jagged outline of the mountains silhouetted against the horizon.
 
The Polaris failed to make the curve and it launched out of the rut.
 
It left the ground for a short moment and it tipped forward in the air.
 
The front end hit hard.
 
Archer didn’t have a chance.

He was thrown free by the impact and slung hard across the scrub and brush and rocky terrain.
 
He landed on his back twenty feet away.
 
He blinked up at the stars above,
 
then he got to his feet and inspected the Polaris.
 
It had come to rest upside-down.
 
The handlebars were bent and the machine wouldn’t start.

Archer didn’t waste time lamenting.
 
He set off on foot.
 

*
   
*
   
*

Raj heard Archer’s voice crackle over his walkie-talkie.

Raj keyed the transmitter button.
 
“Archer, where are you?”

Archer was out of breath.
 
“Had a little accident.
 
I’m on foot.”

“Good God, man!
 
We are under siege!”

“Yeah, I saw them in the air.
 
I’m moving as fast as I can.”

“How far out are you?”

“I don’t know.
 
I’ll be there when I get there.
 
Are Lindsay and the kids inside?”

“Affirmative.
 
Simeon is dealing with them.”

“Good.
 
Just keep me updated.”

“They’ll be closing in shortly.
 
I’ve got one of them in my scope right now.”

“Friend or foe?”

“I don’t think he’s bringing gifts.”

“Does he look like he knows what he’s doing?”

“Affirmative,” Raj said.

“Don’t hesitate to drop him.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

*
   
*
   
*

Archer followed the tire tracks imprinted on the baked earth by the Hummer.
 
The folds of the deepening mountain ridges held long, dense shadows.
 
The light from the moon was mostly obstructed.
 
He crossed the hump between the tire ruts and lengthened his stride.
 

He stopped to catch his breath again.
 
Chest heaving.
 
His body was covered in sweat and dust.
 
He glanced ahead at the stretch of path that curled down and around the ridge and hoped he was nearing the third gate.

He was still breathing hard when he heard the first gunshot roll through the mountains.