The night was not quiet, even with the curfew, as a chorus of sirens warbled in the distance. On the western side of the pilots’ hangar, along Arnold Avenue, the parking lot was full of vehicles, but beyond that, over the rest of base, only the headlights of the occasional security vehicle could be seen. As for the rest of the city, its occupants were now hunkering down for another night, unsure what the new day would bring.
Tiffany Collins knew more than most, yet even she was as uncertain. Even if Xander’s mission succeeded, what did the future hold in store for America? Irreparable harm had been caused to the country, physically, economically, and emotionally. Mentally, she began to work out the lead to her first broadcast once she was allowed to resume her duties. It wasn’t coming easy, the subject too vast to be condensed into a single sentence.
She struggled with the problem for a few minutes before she was distracted by a new sound rising up against the backdrop of the night. She focused on it, noticing the increasing volume. This new sound evoked a primal fear in her, as it did in most people. This was a potential threat, something that could cause pain.
It was the sound of bees in the air.
Chapter 26
Almasi’s compound was located in the Bizerta town district of Karachi, which, fortunate for his team, was only about ten miles inland, near a large soccer and badminton stadium. All the drones in his attack formation were locked into GPS, yet the pilots had discretion to use whatever circuitous path they wanted to reach the compound if being pursued. So far no credible defense had shown itself.
Xander was rushing in low through the sandy streets at nearly twenty miles per hour, fully engrossed in his flight, when someone grabbed him by the shoulder. The sensation was so incongruous that he jumped and nearly fell out of his seat. Upset, he slipped the right lens from his eye, while doing his best not to slam into the side of a building somewhere on the other side of the planet.
“What the hell?”
“Xander, there’s something weird happening outside,” Tiffany Collins whispered into his ear.
“I’m a little preoccupied at the moment. Go tell Nathan.”
“He’s in the other building somewhere. Do you have any drones operating in the area?”
“What area? Here or in Pakistan?”
“Here, smartass. Outside here?”
“Not that I know of. Now let me get back to work—”
“Then there’s a whole boatload of enemy drones heading this way!”
With his one clear eye, Xander noticed several of the other nearby pilots look in his direction. “What are you talking about?”
“I can hear them outside. It’s getting louder.”
Xander looked hard at Tiffany and could see the panic in her eyes. “Franklin, take over my unit I get back.”
“Yes, sir,” said a voice from behind them. Nearly all the thirty active pilots had backups assigned to them. Lieutenant John Franklin was his backup.
Xander now pulled off the goggles and climbed out of the pod. “Are you sure about this?”
“I know the sound of drones by now. Can’t they be picked up radar?”
“Depends on how low they are. Duty officer!”
“Over here, Mr. Moore.”
Xander and Tiffany ran up to an Air Force lieutenant-colonel. “There’s a good chance the base is about to come under attack. Are there any defensive units available?”
“Against drones? Not many, just the Goliaths in the other building.”
He looked at the crowd of trained pilots filling the room. There were plenty of extras, just not a lot of drones for them to man. “Charlie, give up your seat to your backup and get over here.”
Five seconds later, Charlie Fox was at Xander’s side. “What the hell, boss? We’re about to engage.”
“The base is coming under attack. I need you to take command of the Goliaths they have here and coordinate a defense.”
Charlie looked at the stunned Air Force officer and then back to Xander.
“Colonel, give Mr. Fox all the pilots with the most experience flying the Goliaths. Get them into control pods, even if you have to boot out some of the Panther pilots. We need to get the G’s into the air… and I mean now!”
“Yessir. Captain Reynolds, you and Blue Squad into seats now! I’ll get the transponder codes to the Goliaths. We have incoming. Scramble on the orders of Mr. Fox!”
Charlie Fox looked askew at Xander. “Thanks a lot, boss. Nothing like a little pressure to make a guy’s day.”
“You’ll be fine. Just do what comes naturally.”
“What, surfing?”
There was a loud, concerned murmur filtering through the huge hangar by now, just as Nathan Hall and a cadre of officers representing various branches of the military rushed into the building.
“Yeah, we know,” Xander said to him before he could speak.
Nathan’s jaw fell open. “How?”
“Never mind. Fox and Colonel Rogers are in charge of our defense. They need the transponder codes for the Goliaths.”
Nathan nodded to an officer and a small flash drive was passed to Charlie Fox. Without another word, he and Colonel Rogers ran off into the mix of control pods.
“Almasi must have learned our location,” Xander said to Nathan.
“But where did he get the drones for the attack?”
“He must have released more yesterday than we thought, but they can’t be fully charged, so we just need to keep them away for a few minutes. Can you take over here? I have to get back to Karachi.”
“Of course. Now take that bastard out. That’s another way of stopping this attack.”
“Roger that. Good luck.” Xander pulled Tiffany Collins to him and kissed her hard on the lips. Then he was gone, leaving Tiffany wide-eyed and weak-kneed, while Nathan Hall wore a shocked look on this face.
“Some guys have all the luck,” was all he said.
“Approaching target,” Muhammad Bin-Osei reported over his shoulder. “No resistance yet. We are coming in along the streets from the south.”
“Good. Stay low to avoid radar.”
If there was one advantage of having the Russians on your side, it was that they had an ample supply of satellites orbiting over America at any given time. Almasi had a real-time aerial view of the two target hangars displayed on the main screen across the room. They were the last two along the wide western runway of the airbase, with a wide tarmac surface leading up to the north side of the buildings and then continuing out the south side, before curving back toward the main runway. Aircraft could taxi directly into the maintenance hangars and then pull straight out once released for duty. There was a long, two-lane parking lot on the road running along the western side of the first building, and it was jammed with cars, even at this late hour.
Almasi frowned at the image. General Nikolay Burkov was standing next to him. “Is it unusual to have so many vehicles in the car park at this time of night?” he asked the experienced military officer.
“Not really. This is where the stealth drones are stored. They may require an inordinate amount of maintenance and upkeep.”
Just then, in the live image on the screen, the large doors to the eastern-most building began to open, sending brilliant yellow light flooding over the white concrete outside. Almasi and Burkov tensed. Something unexpected was happening.