Harding opened his mouth. Vikki ignored him and studied Renault’s face. “Come on, Colonel. You’re wasting time.”
Renault tore his attention away from Harding. He seemed to collect himself. “My men have orders to bring any officers they capture to me. Once we get someone in command, we’ll force him to open the bunker.”
“How will he do that?” asked Vikki.
Renault picked up his rifle. “That’s the officer’s problem, not ours. But until we find one, we split up. Don’t do anything stupid. Just capture him. Remember why we’re here — it’s not to play John Wayne.”
McGriffin picked himself up off the concrete. His teeth hurt and he couldn’t see out of one eye. Touching a hand to his head, he winced and drew back blood. He pried his eyelid open.
Acrid smoke bellowed from a majority of the helicopters. Flames licked at their undersides. A dozen HH-53’s lay crumpled on the apron. Sirens wailed in the distance, giving the night a surrealistic feel.
Suddenly, engines screamed, revving up.
“The helicopters. They’re taking off!” McGriffin looked wildly around. He stumbled toward the flight line.
The security police car was in front of him, its lights out. McGriffin ran up and yanked open the door. One of the security policemen tumbled out, his head lolling listlessly to the side. Blood dripped from his mouth and ears.
McGriffin looked up as one of the helicopters lurched from the ground. The super Jolly Green Giant hovered in the air, slowly moving upward. It passed over him, spraying its wash across the area.
The other policeman in the car didn’t move. As a second helicopter lifted off the pad, McGriffin reacted. He pulled the .45-caliber pistol out of the dead security policemen’s holster, then unlocked the back door to the police car. Grabbing the shotgun from its holder in the rear window, McGriffin crouched low as the second helicopter passed over him.
McGriffin’s brain yammered at him: They’re stealing the helicopters! It seemed crazy — setting off explosions, attacking the command post—
The command post! Chief Zolley had shouted something about the command post being attacked when the explosions started.
McGriffin pushed past the security policeman’s body and grabbed for the microphone. He clicked it.
“CP, this is Mobile One. Come in CP.” No response. “Anybody, come in!” He threw the mike back inside the car and stood.
The whining continued. A third helicopter started to lift—
A hand touched McGriffin’s shoulder. He whirled, bringing the shotgun up to Manny Yarnez’s face.
“Whoa — it’s only me.” Manny backed away and held his hands up, his eyes open wide.
McGriffin put the shotgun down. “Are you all right?”
Manny rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I guess. What about these guys …” His voice trailed off as he looked inside the vehicle. “Wow.”
A third helicopter drowned out his voice.
Manny seemed to notice the helicopters for the first time. “What in the world?”
“Here.” McGriffin threw him a pistol and reached inside the police car for the other shotgun. He fumbled with a box of shells and stuffed them in his pocket.
“What are you doing?” Manny caught the shotgun McGriffin retrieved from the police car.
“Stopping them.” McGriffin gripped the shotgun with both hands and scanned the flight line. Two choppers were still on the taxi pad, their blades biting through the night air. McGriffin strained to see through the smoke and burning helicopters, to no avail.
Manny turned and looked at the flight line. “I knew I should have stayed away from you fixed-wing pukes. All you do is cause me trouble.”
McGriffin crouched low. “Let’s get going before we lose them.” He sprinted for the helicopters, zigzagging his way.
Flames belched from the fire. He turned his head from the intense heat as he ran.
He scooted in between the fire and another chopper that had not caught ablaze. In the distance the sound of fire engines grew louder, their sirens warbling as they approached. The rows of helicopters seemed to go on forever.
It was uncanny. If whoever stole the helicopters tried to destroy the ones they left behind, then why weren’t all the helicopters destroyed? Maybe they were coming back for them, McGriffin thought, or maybe there’s someone still in them.
McGriffin dropped to the ground. They’d be watching if someone was in them. He started crawling toward the HH-53 he had just passed. He kept his shotgun in front of him, moving across the asphalt.
A roar almost knocked him flat. A fourth helicopter whirred over not thirty feet from the ground. McGriffin rolled over to his back and swung his shotgun up.
Pumping two quick blasts into the chopper, the recoil rammed into his stomach. It felt like a sledgehammer hit him.
Glass crashed around him and he heard the helicopter’s engine cough.
The chopper tilted over to the side and slipped sideways through the air. The pilot tried to straighten the listing craft, but overcorrected.
The chopper rotated to the opposite side. A blade struck the ground, throwing the helicopter to the side. It ripped into a fifth helicopter that sat rotating its blades.
McGriffin scrambled backward on his heels and the back of his hands, dropping the shotgun as the two choppers burst into flames. Black smoke roiled from the burning helicopters. Instantly, the smoke rose and exposed the fire.
Fire engines pulled up to the first row of HH-53’s. Shouts pierced the air. A gang of firemen, all dressed in silvery heat-resistant suits, strained while pulling out a series of hoses from the trucks. Soon, white foam started covering the burning helicopters.
McGriffin held up a hand to the blaze, shielding his face, wondering if there was anyone still out there. A chill swept through him as he imagined more people waiting to steal the choppers. Manny trotted up and knelt beside him.
“Great shot. Remind me to never have you on the ground when I’m airborne.”
McGriffin struggled to an elbow. He looked around the rows of helicopters. No one moved except for the firemen. Was that all of them? He grimaced as he tried to get up, but failed. “How long does it take to start a chopper?”
“About two minutes, skipping checklists — one minute for the auxiliary power unit and another for the engines. You can only do that a couple of times, though, before you have to replace the whole unit.”
Struggling to his feet, McGriffin grabbed Manny’s arm.
“Then let’s go. We’ve got to get to Alpha Base.”
“With what? Do you want to hitchhike?”
“In a helicopter!”
Manny looked incredulous. “What? It’ll take more than an hour to file a flight plan, get a crew chief out here, and go through the checks.”
“We don’t have an hour.” McGriffin waved an arm at Alpha Base in the distance. Thuds from distant explosions filled the air. “What do you think is going on out there?”
Manny wet his lips. “I was afraid you’d ask that.” Manny’s eyes widened. He shot a glance at the collection of helicopters still sitting on the landing pad. “What do we do when we get there?”
McGriffin started moving for the helicopters. When Manny turned to follow, they both broke out running. McGriffin wheezed, “We’ll decide when we come to it.”
The firemen had just started spraying the second to last row when McGriffin and Manny arrived. McGriffin approached the choppers cautiously, just in case someone was on board …
Two rows back was an intact HH-53, the alert bird. Manny sprinted toward the craft. Reaching the chopper, he flung open the door and swung up into the pilot’s seat. He groaned and stepped from the craft. “Shrapnel’s in the control panel.”
McGriffin squinted through the night. Fires bathed the pad in low light, flickering from the burning helicopters. Fumes rose from row after row of smoking metal; acidic smells filled McGriffin’s nostrils. It looked like a blue-gray vision of hell. Was there anybody else still out there?