So far this was a lot less exciting than she’d imagined. She juiced the Sea-Doo as she reached the bend, slicing some water.
She knew Moms was glaring at her, wanting her to slow down and fall back into line. She wasn’t named Moms for nothing. Mother, Moms…what was with older women? Scout wondered. Be careful. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. As if their warnings could keep her safe from—
Scout blinked and stared ahead in the darkness. She could see white foam ahead, but there were no running lights.
Of course she didn’t have any lights on, nor did the two Zodiacs.
Scout slowed down, letting the Zodiacs take the lead because she had a feeling this wasn’t going to be subtle.
“I’ve got two boats and something bigger behind them,” Moms said, peering through her night vision goggles. “Eagle, hold until we get a clear picture of what we’re up against.”
“Roger. Holding at five klicks,” Eagle confirmed.
“You gotta be fraking me,” Roland muttered as the first target became clear in their night vision goggles. A fourteen-foot bass boat was racing toward the Nightstalker flotilla, no one at the helm.
“No one said Fireflies were brilliant,” Mac said over the team net.
“This one is mine,” Roland said, resting the bipod of the M240 on the armor plating and tucking the stock into his shoulder.
“Mac will help,” Moms said, looking past the bass boat, trying to determine what else was coming their way.
Roland fired, rounds easily punching through the thin aluminum hull of the boat. Mac’s first 40-mm grenade landed right in the center with a bright flash.
“Scratch one Firefly,” Roland announced, just as Scout screamed, “Watch out!” over the net.
The Splendor, racing out of the hidden cove on the north shore, didn’t run over Scout. It didn’t have to. Its bow wave knocked her off the Sea-Doo and into the river. Its dual engines were revving up to max speed as it roared toward the lead Zodiac.
Moms had a moment to see the blur of the yacht’s bow bearing down on her, and then it sliced through the Zodiac, throwing her, Ivar, and Roland into the river. They were tumbled about, nearly chewed up by the twin screws, and spit out into the churning wake.
All their gear that wasn’t tied to their bodies disappeared into the dark water, including Ivar’s detection wand.
Mac bounced a 40-mm grenade off the bow of the yacht, the steel plating used to protect it from the front anchors as they’re pulled up easily deflecting the round as the boat keeled hard toward their Zodiac. Nada twisted the throttle as he called out over the team net, “Eagle, we need firepower.”
“Inbound,” Eagle announced.
Nada managed to get enough horsepower, and the Zodiac was maneuverable enough, to escape being plowed under by the yacht.
This time.
Kirk jetted his Sea-Doo to the far shore, into water shallow enough that the yacht couldn’t get him, and grabbed the laser designator out of the bag strapped to the side of his craft. He zeroed it in as the yacht turned hard.
Out of the frying pan…
Nada was so focused on avoiding the rampaging yacht that the crane on the barge only caught his attention when the cable swung by, missing him by inches, the metal claw on the end of it taking a chunk out of the armor plating and ripping gaping holes into two compartments of the Zodiac.
“Mother-fraker!” Mac exclaimed, staring up at the barge as they raced by, the large tracked crane on board the barge rotating to follow.
“That is interesting,” Doc said. “It appears the Firefly is inhabiting both the barge and the crane. I’ve never seen that kind of continuity before.”
“Or it’s two fraking Fireflies,” Mac said. “Does it really matter?”
“Eagle?” Nada said.
“We’re coming in hot,” Eagle said. “I’ve got four in the water, three on your boat, and one on a Sea-Doo near southern shoreline. I assume all are friendlies.”
At the Tellico Dam, Burns put a stone into the gears of each of the gate mechanisms.
Mission accomplished, he began the much more difficult task of climbing his way back up the side of the dam, to get ready for the final phase of his mission.
A quarter mile away, in the midst of Loudoun Lake, the golden glow was now coalesced into what was almost a solid ball, twenty meters wide, lying just below the dark surface of the water. It was being drawn toward the intakes for the water turbines.
Neeley dove out of the door of the Learjet, got stable, and then pulled her rip cord.
After making sure she had a good canopy overhead, she scanned the terrain below. It wasn’t hard to get oriented on Loudoun Dam. The straight line cutting across the edge of the lake was easily recognizable from ten thousand feet.
Neeley had never been a fan of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. Parachuting was something she’d learned because Gant had insisted. A mission-essential skill, according to him. Considering the fact that when they first met he was on the run from the Cellar and every other government organization, Neeley had to wonder in retrospect (as she was wondering about a lot of things) how parachuting was a mission-essential skill in accomplishing that.
Adjusting her toggles, Neeley aimed for the power station.
The helicopter on the back deck of the Splendor lifted off and raced upriver.
With no one at the controls.
It flew directly at Eagle in the Snake and the Apaches on his flanks. Eagle had flipped down the display for the Integrated Helmet and Display Sighting System (IHADSS), and the 30-mm guns underneath each Apache were slaved to whatever he targeted.
He was targeting the yacht when a proximity alert went off. Shifting from focusing on the IHADSS to the outside world took a moment, a delay that almost cost Eagle his life as the Splendor’s helicopter was on a collision course.
Eagle dove and the chopper passed overhead, barely missing him.
It didn’t miss the Apache to Eagle’s left.
A fireball lit up the sky.
“One Apache down,” Eagle announced. “And another Firefly.”
Nada stood in the front of his Zodiac, two compartments losing air and the boat sluggish to the helm. The yacht was completing its turn, but he estimated he had about a minute and a half before it could bear down on his boat again. The crane on the barge was just out of range, although the tug pushing the barge was in full reverse, trying to correct that.
The Fireflies had managed to gather a lot of power, but none of it was very agile other than the helicopter, which was now in the river along with the Apache it had taken out.
It was a delaying tactic.
Nada began issuing orders:
“Kirk, put a fire mission on that yacht. Eagle, use the second Apache and take out the barge. Moms, you there?”
“Roger. We’re in the water but all right. We’ll break a chem light once our little problems are dealt with.”
“Scout?” Nada asked last, but not least importantly.
“I’m back on my Sea-Doo,” Scout reported.
“Stay out of trouble until we deal with this,” Nada ordered.
“Oh, right,” Scout said. “I’d forgotten about that part.”