“This is Nox, can anyone hear me?”
No response. Nox initiated another transmission, “Can anyone hear me?”
“This is Manpugna. Nox where are you? I saw your fighter explode. I thought you may have . . .”
“I’m seriously injured. I need medical attention immediately,” Nox gasped.
“I’ve fixed on your transmission. I’m en route.”
“Manpugna, getting to me is your top priority.”
“Yes Sir. I have some really good news.”
“Are you going to make me guess?”
“Calidus just called.”
“Calidus? What did he want?” Nox asked in an irritated tone.
“One of his Vitahician operatives contacted him a few minutes ago. Said he had hijacked a C-17 over Siberia full of alien cargo. Said he was heading toward the Antarctica base.”
“This is very good. Send him a full escort and an IL-78 for refueling. We don’t want the Americans to snatch him.”
Nox collapsed, knowing that Manpugna would be there soon. Nox knew that he had just cheated death.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Mike Evans sat in the pilot’s seat of the C-17. He thought he could feel the pilot’s blood soaking through the seat of his pants. He knew it wasn’t, though. Two Russian fighters had escorted him over the Pacific, and he had refueled midair several hours earlier. Mike had started to feel remorse for murdering the Vitahicians back in the jump shuttle. They did not choose to be in that shuttle, or even to align themselves with the Americans. They were simply crew on a cargo ship.
His mind drifted to the C-17’s crew that he had murdered, their cold bodies lying not far behind him. He had spent hours talking to them on the flight to Siberia. There was Jason, a husband and father to three sons. There was Kirk, the pilot, a husband and grandfather who was only a few months from retirement; he would never spend time at his newly purchased vacation property in Hilton Head.
All this death just for him to escape the Americans. Had they really treated him that badly? Would the Ondagra really treat him better? Would he enjoy living in the desolation that was Antarctica? Would Nakita really be there to meet him? His mind wandered to his vacation in Virginia Beach where he had met her. Was he romanticizing his time with her? Did he really love her? Would she forgive him for shooting her? Would she understand that all of this was for her? Would she care? It had been so long since he had spoken to her.
The flight from Russia to Antarctica was long and lonely. He had no one to whom he could talk. Occasionally, Calidus called for a status update. He had been over the ice shelf of Antarctica for a while. At over 5 million square miles, Antarctica is nearly twice the size of Australia, and it officially has less than 5,000 human inhabitants.
Mike flew the C-17 for hours over the snowy mountain ranges to the GPS coordinates he had received. The Russian escort had turned back because they lacked fuel for the entire journey. Except for the stiffening corpses behind him, he was alone, above one of the most remote places on Earth.
Mike’s heart skipped a beat and he began to panic as he approached the location where he was supposed to begin his decent. He saw nothing but flat empty desert. No buildings. No runway. No people. No signs of life. He knew the Russians wanted the cargo; there was no way they would trick him into flying to the middle of nowhere, but, where were they?
His radio squawked to life for the first time in hours, “This is flight control. You are cleared for landing. Begin your decent now.”
Mike followed instructions, but asked, “I don’t see the runway, or anything for that matter.”
“I know this is your first time landing here. You won’t see anything, it will look like you are crashing to the ground, but you won’t. Follow my instructions precisely, ignore what you are seeing, and you will be fine. The ground will open for you. You will need to come in faster than you would think.”
Mike followed the instructions precisely. The ground was fast approaching, and the plane was not slowing down – not nearly enough. Seconds before the plane was about to smash into the ground, Mike clutched the flight controls, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath, expecting to die. His eyes opened; he had passed through the icy ground like it was a cloud, or an optical illusion. The plane continued its downward trajectory through two miles of ice and rock before it opened up again, and he was in clear sky – or so it seemed.
What the fuck? Where am I?
After a closer look, Mike realized that he was not flying above the earth, but below it. The gauges showed he was flying about a thousand feet above the rocky surface. Above him was a ceiling of rock and ice. There were mechanical devices above that funneled light from the sky into the huge cavern. Mike glanced to his right and left, it appeared there was at least 30 miles between him and the cave walls on either side. Ahead of him there appeared to be at least 100 miles of airspace, maybe more.
A closer look at the ground revealed tall buildings, factories, residential areas, warehouse districts, an airport, and a large lake. Mike navigated the large cargo plane toward the airport. The voice confirmed he was cleared for landing. The C-17 glided along the 3,000-foot-long smooth runway to a stop. Mike saw three people quickly walking toward the plane. He squinted to make out their features. There were two very large soldiers wearing body armor, Mike knew them to be Ondagra, the third person was much smaller, a woman.
Could it be Nikita? Was she here to greet him? Would she be happy that he was able to deliver this precious cargo?
As they approached, Mike’s heart summersaulted as he saw that it was Nakita. He smiled. Everything was going to be okay. It was all worth it. He lowered the ramp so she could board. The two soldiers stayed back at the foot of the ramp. Mike ran to her and threw his arms around her.
“Thank you for being here. I’m so relieved to see you,” Mike whispered.
Nakita returned the hug, but pushed him away after a few seconds.
Nakita stepped back and asked, “Remember that time you shot me in Virginia?”
Mike stuttered, “Yes, but I was forced to do that. Please don’t hold that against me. Look what I have done for you. I did all of this for you. I killed my own people. I killed Americans. I stole this cargo.”
Nakita smiled. “I’m a spy. That’s what I do. The Ondagra thank you for your service.”
Mike looked down at her right hand and saw a DE pistol.
“You are going to shoot me? After all we have been through? Are you kidding me? This is how it ends? Listen, you don’t have to do this.”
Still smiling, she said, “I know, Mike. I asked to do this.” Nikita leveled the pistol at his chest, and said, “Consider us even.”
The flash of light seared through his chest, burning flesh and sucking the air out of his lungs. He clutched his chest with both hands, staggered backwards, stumbled over some boxes and tumbled to the metal grating. He started shaking uncontrollably. The last thing he heard before darkness washed over him was Nikita yelling, “We need a medical team up here ASAP.”
As he faded into oblivion, his last thought was, “Why would they need a medical team?”
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE