“That’s it?” Feit asked, genuinely surprised. “You’re just going to walk off into the desert?”
“That’s it,” I said and picked up the pace. “See ya!”
“How big is this going to be?” Tori whispered to me.
“No idea.”
The pilot had set us down in the middle of a nest of idle planes. The survivors may have disabled hundreds of them, but that had barely dented the fleet. Any one of them could have come after us.
I picked up the pace, but it was hard for Tori to move any faster.
Retro fighters hovered over the giant plane like vultures.
“How much time?” she asked.
“One minute.”
I glanced back at Feit.
He stared after us, looking confused. He sensed that something was wrong, that he had missed something, but he didn’t dare come after us. He knew we’d both shoot him without a second thought.
We hurried past an endless row of Retro fighters.
“If the charge tears into the power plant,” I said, “there’s not going to be much left of that plane.”
“Or us,” Tori said nervously.
Headlights appeared in front of us, headed our way. I feared it was a Retro plane coming to life but realized it was too small… and too loud.
Tori lifted the pistol, but I put my hand on hers to push it away.
“Don’t bother,” I cautioned.
“We can’t let them recapture us,” Tori cried.
“I don’t think we have to worry about that,” I said. “Retros don’t drive dune buggies.”
Tori squinted ahead, trying to make out detail as the headlights grew closer.
“Survivors?” she asked.
The buggy sped up to us, and for a second I thought it was going to run us down, but the driver flew by and skidded to a stop, spinning the buggy until it faced back the other way.
“Kent!” Tori exclaimed.
“Need a lift?” Kent asked.
I jumped into the seat next to him and pulled Tori down on top of me.
“Drive!” I demanded.
“What?”
“Go!” Tori shouted. “Punch it! Get us out of here!”
Kent didn’t get it, but he obeyed. He jammed his foot down on the gas and launched us on our way.
I looked back to see that Feit was watching. He took a dazed step toward us. I could sense the wheels turning in his head, calculating the facts. He knew something was wrong. Suddenly, he spun around and ran back up the ramp. The pilot was right behind him.
I heard Feit scream at the pilot, “Get us out of here!”
“What’s going on?” Kent yelled above the whine of the engine. “Shut up and drive,” Tori yelled.
Twenty seconds.
The giant plane’s ramp retracted. Fifteen seconds.
The craft shuddered and rose a few feet into the air as the tripod retracted.
Ten seconds.
We reached the end of the line of Retro fighters and charged on into the desert.
“This better be good,” Tori said.
Five…
The first charge blew out the side of the plane. It was the charge that Tori had placed on the silver weapon.
Kent looked back. “What the—”
“Don’t stop!” I shouted.
The massive plane listed to the side. Its wing dipped and hit the tarmac.
The hovering Retro jets backed off.
The plane was about to crash. That’s when the second charge went off. The charge that I had attached to the engine. The impossible, singing engine that could generate so much power.
The explosion was far greater than what the C-4 was capable of. Whatever fueled that incredible engine, it was volatile. The C-4 was nothing more than a detonator. The result was as close to a nuclear explosion as I ever wanted to experience.
The plane erupted in a massive fireball of white light.
“Jeez!” Kent screamed.
The burning light was charged with its own power. As it spread, it engulfed the Retro planes that had been hovering above, causing them to explode, list, and fall to the ground. As each hit, it created its own violent eruption.
More explosions followed, joining together into a massive cloud of burning material that spread across the tarmac toward the idle fighters.
It was a domino effect. The expanding incendiary cloud engulfed each plane in turn, igniting their individual power sources along the way. It caused the destructive fireball to grow even larger and move faster. It tore across the ground, eating up the planes like a molten tsunami…
…that was headed our way.
A single fireball blasted into the sky from the center of the inferno. But rather than explode, it continued on into the air until its flame was extinguished. Or it disappeared. I couldn’t tell which. For a fleeting moment, I thought I saw a dark shadow emerge from the flame and fly off. It didn’t look like shrapnel.
“It’s getting hot,” Kent yelled.
The heat at our back was becoming unbearable. We couldn’t outrun the monstrous fireball. If it continued to expand, we’d be incinerated.
Kent gripped the wheel and kept the pedal to the floor.
The burning cloud had reached the outer ring of planes. Multiple explosions erupted, expanding the cloud into the desert.
Tori hugged me close and gripped Kent’s leg.
“We did it,” I said calmly.
I wanted that to be our last thought. We did it. We had destroyed the Retro fleet. The entire fleet.
We had our revenge.
The wall of fire ate up the ground behind us, looking for more fuel to feed on. But there was no more to be had. The flames rose into the sky in one last gasp and burned out.
“Whooo!” Kent screamed—but he didn’t let up on the gas.
Tori laughed. There was nothing funny, it was all about relief. She pulled me close and planted a solid kiss on my cheek.
“We sure as hell did it,” she said in triumph.
Kent finally slowed down and turned the buggy around so we could look back on the base, or what was left of it. The powerful fireball was gone, but in its wake it left a base that was ablaze. All of the hangar buildings were burning, lighting up the desert night. The fires silhouetted the thousands of burning wrecks of Retro fighters. I would have been surprised if any of them had been spared.
It was total annihilation.
“What the hell did you do?” Kent asked, stunned.
“I guess we put the charge in the exact right spot. Yikes.”
I looked at Tori and laughed.
“‘Yikes’ is a good word,” she said.
We watched as the multiple fires wiped out whatever was left of Area 51 and the Retro fleet.
I gave Tori a squeeze and said, “Now it feels great.”
Tori turned to look at Kent. “You came back.”
Kent didn’t respond at first. I couldn’t tell whether he was searching for a snide comeback or fighting back the urge to kill me. It turned out that he was trying to find the right words… to tell the truth.
“I saw you guys get on that plane, and then when the ramp closed—” His voice cracked as he fought to keep from crying. “And then it took off. Jeez. You were both… gone. Just like that. I didn’t know what to do. I guess it made me realize that I was on my own. It wasn’t a good feeling, you know?”
“Oh, I know,” Tori said.
Kent forced a smile and said, “But then the plane came back. It came back! I had to see if you were on it. If you were okay. What else could I do? Like you said, Tucker: We’re all we’ve got.”
That was the first time I actually liked Kent Berringer.
“Thank you,” I said.
Tori gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“Where’s Olivia?” she asked.
I was glad she asked. I wasn’t going to risk it.
“A few other survivors showed up once the shooting started. They took her.” He looked right at me and added, “She shouldn’t have come here.”