Xander and Billy then set off toward the White House, while the others tracked raiders by the Capitol and the Library of Congress. The White House was just a shell of its former self by now, with half of its structure lying in ruins. There were a dozen or more enemy drones buzzing over the property, firing into the surviving front façade of the building.
The two Goliaths whipped round the building unseen and unleashed a barrage of killer fire into the hovering drones. The DARPA drones had laser-guided targeting, and it only took a split second to lock onto a dozen hostiles at once. A single press of the trigger took them all out in rapid succession.
“There’s still over thirty targets surviving,” Nathan’s voice said over the comm. “They appear to have backup units at their disposal, so final assault tally unknown. Units now crossing the Potomac heading for the Pentagon.”
“I’m on it,” Hugh Barden called out.
“Be careful,” Nathan warned. “They have a couple hundred defensive drones of their own covering the building, and they’ll shoot at anything that comes their way.”
“Can they defend themselves?” Xander asked.
“Nine Vipers just slammed into the building and detonated,” Nathan reported, “so I guess not, at least not against suicide drones.”
“Be on alert, everyone,” Xander ordered. “If they’re willing to sacrifice active units, that means they may have a lot more in reserve. There could be a second wave coming. Nathan, any word on the president?”
“He’s safe, somewhere below the White House.”
“Good. Billy and I will head over toward the Smithsonian. What’s the count now?”
“Thirty or so now remaining, even though it’s now confirmed we’re picking up sporadic late entries to the party. Probably been hiding on the ground somewhere.”
Xander caught sight of six enemy drones soaring over the Air and Space Museum, releasing a line of missile fire as they did. Xander lined up on them and pressed the trigger. Half of the drones shattered, and it was almost comical to watch the survivors pull up and begin spinning around looking for the source of the incoming fire. Two of them were looking straight in Xander’s direction when he opened fire again.
Xander could imagine that in a secret and secluded control room located somewhere halfway around the world, a group of bewildered drone pilots were scratching their heads, wondering what the hell had just happened.
Unfortunately, their confusion didn’t last long, as each of the enemy pilots linked with another six reserve drones and rejoined the battle.
“Team Bravo now on station,” a deep, masculine voice boomed over the comm. Xander didn’t recognize the voice.
“Team Bravo?” he questioned.
“Well, you guys have Alpha copyrighted. Major Jim Lyle, USAF, reporting for duty.”
Xander lifted the goggles from his head and looked around the huge hangar. Four more of the pods were now occupied by men in uniform. One of them sent him a crisp salute.
“Four more Goliaths just in from Hampton Roads,” the major reported. “We’re some of the test pilots for the G’s. We’ve been sitting around in the back just twiddling our thumbs with nothing to do — until now. So is there a uniform defense strategy or are we free-balling it?”
“Welcome to the party, Major. Free-balling. The enemy forces are spread all over the place, hitting whatever targets of opportunity they can find. Feel free to chalk up as many kills as you can.”
“Roger that. Engaging.”
In less than five minutes, Xander was soaring high above the battlefield, looking for stray targets to strike. There didn’t seem to be any left.
“The air is clear, at least above D.C.,” Nathan Hall reported. “Return to base for recharging and reassignment. We’re getting reports of RDC drones hitting New York. We have half a dozen Goliaths in the area, so it looks like it could be a long night.”
It was always a strange sensation for Xander when he removed the FPV goggles after a particularly intense battle. From being completely absorbed in combat at the site, to suddenly sitting in a comfortable leather chair in a modestly quiet and relatively peaceful command center was always a jarring experience. The Goliaths were programmed with a return-to-origin function, so he and the other members of Team Alpha didn’t even have to wait for their Goliaths to return to Andrews before they suddenly found themselves ripping through the glass and steel canyons of New York City, chasing yet another swarm of enemy drones.
Although it wasn’t completely dark yet, power had been cut to the city to reduce the chance of electrical fires and to make the forest of buildings that much harder to navigate, especially for pilots located on the other side of the planet.
Almost immediately, the Alphas were fed targeting information, and the battle was joined.
The city had already been hard hit over the past couple of days, with most of its residents having already evacuated or hidden away within the thousands of massive buildings. This new fight soon escalated into a high-speed game of cat and mouse, as the RDC Vipers, under control by Almasi’s pilots — many of which had just been laying waste in Washington, D.C. — had learned that there was a stealth presence out stalking them. And when a number of their sister units began to be blown apart from unseen machine gun and missile fire, the pilots elected to run rather than stand and fight.
Unfortunately, Xander realized too late where most of them were running to.
“Can anyone get there first?” he shouted into the comm.
“I’m out of position, up near Central Park,” Curt Tharp reported.
“I’m close, near the Tunnel, but they’re thirty seconds ahead.”
“Dammit, we can’t let this happen.”
Xander gunned his Goliath and soared out toward South Manhattan. As he shot out over the water, the huge, iconic Statue of Liberty suddenly erupted in a halo of tiny explosions. The copper and steel figure began to bend forward at the waist, even as the long arm holding the perpetual flame of freedom broke away and fell to the ground of Liberty Island.
By the time Xander arrived, there were no enemy drones to shoot. They had all plowed into the statue while simultaneously exploding. He felt weak and impotent as he hovered near the deformed, green-tinted statue. She hadn’t fallen, but she was badly damaged, just another entry on the long list of shattered symbols of America that had suffered at the hands of Abdul-Shahid Almasi… and Jonas Lemon.
Soon the other five members of Team Alpha were also in the air above the Statue of Liberty. No one said a word for a full minute.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Nathan’s voice said softly. “I just thought you’d like to know that we’re getting only a few reports of escaping RDC drones leaving the other bunkers, but nothing large scale. We’ve been able to shutter most of them. So now Almasi has started detonating the explosives on the trapped RPAs in the bunkers. I’m commanding the New York Goliaths to return to their local base. The rest of you can take a well-deserved break. I’ll use Major Lyle’s pilots for any of the mop up work. Great job… all of you.”
“Great job?” Karen’s voice rose up over the comm. “Just about everything that identifies with American greatness has been destroyed, and we did very little to stop it.”
“It could’ve been worse,” Nathan offered.
“That’s what they always say,” Xander whispered, yet loud enough for everyone could hear. “And the sad part about it, they’re right.”
Chapter 23
After the attacks on Washington and New York, Almasi returned to his combination office and living quarters to analyze what had happened. He didn’t have much time alone before the obnoxious Russian general, Nikolay Burkov, entered without knocking or invitation.