Strike Zone (46 page)

“Yes, sir!” snapped the operator.

The line clicked, and a few seconds later, a male voice answered.

“Yeah?”

“Who's this?” asked Zen.

“Deke James. Who's this?”

“Zen Stockard.”

“Why'd you wake me up for?” said James.

“I'm looking for my wife,” said Zen.

“She ain't here.”

Zen felt his jealousy spiking up—what the hell was James doing in their apartment?

“I want to talk to Bree,” he said.

“Yeah?”

The line went dead. Zen held the phone out, confused and angry. Deke was one of the engineer dweebs on the Unmanned Bomber Project.

What the hell was he doing in their apartment?

He was just about to put the phone down and try again when someone suddenly picked up on the other end of the line.

“Major!”

“Ax?”

“What, you're away a few days and you forget who runs this place?” said Chief Master Sergeant Gibbs.

“How'd I get you?”

“Just lucky I guess. Deke James transferred you. Why'd you call him? What'd you do, wake him up?”

“I got the wrong number. What time is it there?”

“About 2100. He goes to bed early. Want to talk to your wife?”

“It'd be nice,” said Zen.

“Hold the phone. And listen, Zen—you kicked butt big time. We're prouder than hell of you.”

“Thanks, Chief.”

Zen waited while the line once more went cold. Another voice picked up—male.

“Hey hero,” said Greasy Hands Parsons.

“Grease—what the hell are you doing?”

“Partying with your wife,” said Parsons. If Ax ran the administrative side of Dreamland—and he did—Greasy Hands essentially owned the planes. The chief master sergeant and Zen had known each other pretty much forever.

“She's okay to party?” said Zen.

“Better than ever,” said the chief.

“Give me that phone,” said Breanna in the background.

“Bree—”

“Jeff—”

Her voice was like a spell. He felt his body suddenly relax.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Am
I
okay?” she said. “I'm fine. How the hell are you?”

“Just tired. I want to see you.”

She laughed. He could hear her talk to the room. “Hey, I got Zen on the phone—”

There was a general shout. Zen made out some congratulations from the assorted tumult.

“Where are you?” he asked, but Bree didn't hear. Someone took the phone from her.

“Zen?”

“Hey, Jennifer. How are you?”

“I'm okay,” she said, with a tone that seemed to be meant to reassure herself as well as him. “Is Colonel Bastian there?”

“No, he's hooked up with some ceremonies and crap,” said Zen.

“Tell him I said hello, okay?”

“I will. I think your program helped us nail the clone.”

She didn't answer. Zen imagined seeing her turn red and push back her long, strawberry blond hair.

Breanna took the phone back. “So?” she asked.

“So what?”

“When you coming home?” Bree asked.

“Haven't figured that out yet.”

“Well, get moving, Major. Get the lead out. Here, listen, everybody wants to say hello.”

Zen didn't particularly want to talk to them, but somehow it felt as if it was his duty to. He leaned back in his wheelchair and listened as Breanna reminded them it was an open line.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

DALE BROWN
is the author of multiple
New York Times
bestsellers including
Flight of the Old Dog
and
Wings of Fire
. He also created the Dreamland series, co-authored by Jim DeFelice. A former U.S. Air Force bombardier, Dale Brown is an instrument-rated private pilot and can often be found flying his own plane across the United States. He lives near Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

JIM DEFELICE
's technothrillers include
Brother's Keeper
(2000) and
Havana Strike
(1997). Jim has also written more than a dozen works of fiction and nonfiction for young people. He lives with his wife and son in upstate New York, and can be contacted by email at [email protected].

Visit
www.AuthorTracker.com
for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

Also in the Dreamland Series

D
ALE
B
ROWN'S
D
REAMLAND
(with Jim DeFelice)

D
ALE
B
ROWN'S
D
REAMLAND:
N
ERVE
C
ENTER
(with Jim DeFelice)

D
ALE
B
ROWN'S
D
REAMLAND:
R
AZOR'S
E
DGE
(with Jim DeFelice)

D
ALE
B
ROWN'S
D
REAMLAND:
P
IRANHA
(with Jim DeFelice)

Titles by Dale Brown

W
INGS OF
F
IRE

W
ARRIOR
C
LASS

B
ATTLE
B
ORN

T
HE
T
IN
M
AN

F
ATAL
T
ERRAIN

S
HADOWS OF
S
TEEL

S
TORMING
H
EAVEN

C
HAINS OF
C
OMMAND

N
IGHT OF THE
H
AWK

S
KY
M
ASTERS

H
AMMERHEADS

D
AY OF THE
C
HEETAH

S
ILVER
T
OWER

F
LIGHT OF THE
O
LD
D
OG

RAVES FOR THE NOVELS OF NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR

DALE BROWN

"T
he best military writer in the country today."
Clive Cussler

"B
rown puts us in the cockpits of wonderful machines and gives us quite a ride. . . . [His] flying sequences are terrific. Authentic and gripping, they will have you breathing a bit heavily."
New York Times Book Review

"D
ale Brown has an uncanny talent for putting his millions of fans into the middle of his action stories. . . . His knowledge of world politics and possible military alliances is stunning. . . . He writes about weapons beyond a mere mortal's imagination."
Tulsa World

"O
ne of the premier writers [of] techno-thrillers."
Virginian-Pilot

"B
rown [writes] consistent page-turners."
Booklist

"B
rown is a master . . . bringing to life his characters with a few deft strokes."
Publishers Weekly

"T
he talk makes Brown's novels authentic. What makes them riveting is the rapid pace and headline urgency of his plots."
San Francisco Chronicle

"[H
is] richness of detail will appeal to the many readers taken with military weaponry, air combat, and the Byzantine secrets of military command."
Chicago Tribune

"B
rown can spin a suspenseful yarn."
Richmond Times

"N
obody . . . does it better than Brown."
Kirkus Reviews