“Easy,” Forrest said.
All four men were wearing open mikes so they could communicate with Kane, who was positioned in the upstairs window of the house with an M-21 sniper rifle.
“Looks a little salty, doesn’t he?” Ulrich observed.
They snapped to attention and saluted as Major Moriarty came stalking up to them, armed only with a 9mm Beretta that hung from his hip in a green nylon holster.
“Who’s in command here, Captain?” Moriarty demanded.
“That would be me at the moment, sir,” Forrest replied.
“Define ‘at the moment.’”
“Well, sir, Colonel Vasquez is away at the moment. Are those the MREs we were told to expect, sir?”
“They are, but I’m going to need a good explanation before I leave them.”
“Explanation, sir?”
“Who are they intended for, Captain? This installation is no longer active.”
“I wasn’t told who they were intended for, sir. I was simply given orders to receive them and to secure them, awaiting Colonel Vasquez’s arrival.”
“Which will be when?”
“I was told sometime within the next twenty-four hours, sir.”
“Well, when the colonel arrives, Captain, you can tell him to give Colonel Wells at Tinker Air Force Base a call. I’m not giving up these MREs to an Army captain in the middle of nowhere. I don’t care if he is Special Forces.”
“I was told your orders came straight from the Pentagon, Major.”
Moriarty stiffened, noting that Forrest had addressed him as Major this time, rather than sir, which was acceptable, but it put the two of them on a more equal footing, a nuance that Moriarty did not especially appreciate.
“Captain, exactly what is this installation being used for now?”
“I’m not at liberty to say, Major. It’s classified.”
Moriarty stood mulling it over. “I’ll just have a look below, then.”
“I’m afraid I can’t allow that, sir,” Forrest said, neither he nor either of his men so much as twitching a muscle.
“Excuse me, Captain?”
“I said I cannot allow that, Major. My orders are very specific in that regard.”
“Do you mean to imply you intend to open fire on me if I attempt to go below?”
“It means, Major, that my men and I will do whatever is necessary to carry out our orders.” Forrest could see that Moriarty was considering whether to call his bluff, so he added: “I should also like to inform the major that he is being covered by a sniper positioned in the upstairs window of the structure behind me and to my left.”
Moriarty shifted his gaze to the upper windows of the house, and though he couldn’t see inside, he didn’t doubt Forrest’s word. Green Berets were touchy bastards, the lot.
“Well, then as far as I’m concerned, Captain, this is a typical example of Special Forces trying to avoid protocol, and I don’t intend to subsidize this kind of bullshit. So have your colonel give my colonel a call, and we’ll see which has the bigger dick.”
With that, Moriarty turned and headed back toward the Humvee.
Kane spoke into Forrest’s ear from the upstairs window: “Do you want me to take ’em out? I can hit all four of them from here.”
“No,” Forrest said quietly. “We’d have to go belowground today and lock the door. These MREs were only a bonus.”
Just then an Army green Humvee came into view at the bottom of the hill and started up the gravel drive.
“Shit,” Ulrich muttered. “This might force our hand.”
“Kane, be ready to fire on my word,” Forrest said.
“Roger that.”
“Are you sure about this?” Michael was asking, sitting nervously in the passenger seat beside Vasquez.
“Relax,” Vasquez replied, pressing the Velcro-backed black eagle insignia of a full colonel onto the front of his Army combat uniform. “But be ready to hit the deck.”
“Oh, great!” Michael moaned. “I’m shitting my pants over here, Oscar.”
Vasquez shifted into low gear, climbing the grade. “Get ready to look your part.” He drove up, stopped alongside the nearest truck, and got out smiling.
“Excellent!” he said, loud enough for Moriarty to hear, but pretending not to notice him as he glanced into the back of the deuce-and-a-half at the load of MREs. “Well, what do you think, Congressman?” he went on, gesturing at the compound. “We probably won’t need to utilize the place, but as you can see, there’s no indication of what lies beneath, and I think your colleagues will find the accommodations acceptable.”
Moriarty heard this as he approached, saluting Colonel Vasquez and introducing himself. Vasquez looked a little young for a full bird, but Special Forces personnel tended to hold rank at younger ages than the regular Army, another fact Moriarty resented.
Vasquez shook Moriarty’s hand. “I appreciate you making the trip on such short notice, Major. Please be sure to thank Colonel Wells for his consideration.”
He could see that Forrest was watching him intently from fifty feet away and heard him speak into his ear: “Don’t lay it on too thick, numb nuts.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Vasquez muttered, keeping up his smile. “Major, this is Congressman Ted Strong of Nebraska. He’s one of the congressmen who will be taking shelter here in the unlikely event that NASA fails to stop the asteroid.”
Michael shook hands with Moriarty, trying to appear casually official.
“Pleasure to meet you, sir,” Moriarty said. “I wasn’t aware that this installation had been recommissioned. Most of these old silos have been sold off privately.”
“So was this one,” Vasquez said, “as far as anyone knows. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Moriarty said.
“Good. Well, I think these trucks will be fine right where they are,” Vasquez continued. “We’ll be sure to get them back to Tinker within ten days or so. There’s no sense unloading all these damn cases if they’re only going be driven back after we stop the asteroid. The four of you will fit comfortably enough into your Humvee, won’t you?”
“Uh, yes, sir,” Moriarty said.
“Great,” Vasquez said. “That will be all then, Major, you’re dismissed. And don’t forget to give Colonel Wells my regards.”
“I won’t, sir,” Moriarty said, turning for the Humvee.
“Oh, and Major?”
Moriarty turned back around. “Sir?”
“I don’t think it’ll be necessary for the colonel and I to compare penises, do you?”
Moriarty flushed. “Um, no, sir. And please allow me to apologize for that remark, sir. I wasn’t aware you were on a network, sir.”
“That’s enough!” Forrest was hissing into Vasquez’s ear. “Just let the son of a bitch leave!”
Vasquez smiled and gave Major Moriarty a casual salute. “Vaya con dios, Major.”
“Sir!” Moriarty said, and hustled his men into the Humvee. Within a minute they were down the road, headed out of sight.
Forrest walked over and gave Vasquez a shove. “I told you not to ham it up!”
Vasquez laughed. “He won’t say shit when he gets back to Tinker now.”
“You did okay there, Doc,” Forrest said, lighting up a smoke. “Congratulations. You just helped us pull off a federal crime.”
“Wonderful,” Michael said, feeling slightly sick to his stomach. “And I didn’t even get to carry a machine gun.”
Fourteen
Forrest knocked at Andie Tatum’s door two Sundays before the asteroid was due to strike. Her name was not on the list he had purchased from the Lincoln social worker. She was a widowed mother whose acquaintance he had made months earlier in a health food store, when she saw him rake an entire shelf of vitamins into his cart as she led her six-year-old daughter past him down the aisle by the hand.