Overlord (71 page)

“We use our six AMRAAMs and punch a hole in her skin right here, and then get our asses over to the hole the
Lee
made in her and enter from there. If we stay out here much longer we’re not going to be mistaken for floating debris.”

“You’re the fucking pilot, what in the hell are you asking me for?”

Ryan cursed and slammed his stick as far right as he could, praying the men attached to their roof stayed right there.

“Firing braking jets,” Jenks called out as the shuttle approached the silvery skin of the enormous power replenishment ship. The forward thrusters fired, using up precious JP-5 fuel. Jenks shut them down even before the shuttle stopped. Still drifting forward and before they got too close, Ryan flipped up the cover for his weapons selection and hit the switch six times. Under the stubby wings of the shuttle, six large AMRAAMs slid off their rails and went straight for the saucer. The small weapons would do relatively light damage to the behemoth, but maybe it would be just enough to create the hole they needed.

The missiles struck at one time, creating a straight line of destruction and making Ryan fearful of not concentrating the powerful conventional warheads close enough together. The resulting detonation rocked the shuttle and pushed it away from the saucer. Jason saw a thirty-five-foot hole had been blasted into the material—but the hole started to repair itself. Ryan saw the material start to scab over a foot at a time.

“I’ll be damned,” Jenks said as he saw the first of the SEALs and Delta team start moving toward the hole. Everett was the last, using his little bit of fuel to propel himself after his team. He turned on his back and gave Ryan and Jenks a thumbs-up. For once Jenks didn’t have anything to say as he saw his old student head into the damaged section of saucer, just as the material completely covered the hole. Jenks hit the forward OHMs engines and the shuttle quickly backed away. “Good luck, Toad.”

As Jason backed out he didn’t see the small saucer waiting for the shuttle.

CHATO’S CRAWL, ARIZONA

Gus, wrapped in a blanket, smiled at Matchstick as the small alien sat next to him. Denise Gilliam kept a close eye on the prospector as they neared the compound.

Pete Golding and Charlie Ellenshaw dozed in the seat facing the trio as the large Black Hawk circled the old house and the two-story Victorian before setting down. Pete awoke and looked at Corporal DeSilva, the lone security man onboard, as he looked out the wide window. The old Marine looked troubled as the helicopter slowly started to settle.

“What’s the matter?” Pete asked as he nudged Charlie awake.

“Half of the compound security lighting is dark,” DeSilva said as he continued to study the grounds.

“Partial blackout, you think?” Pete asked as Charlie leaned over and also looked at the ground far below.

DeSilva got on his helmet mike and called to the pilot. “Get ahold of gate security or the main house and find out what the deal is. I haven’t worked with these retirees before, and I don’t know what they’re thinking.”

The pilot nodded his head. He banked the Black Hawk into a wide turn and remained at altitude.

“Sienna One, to Crow’s Nest, Sienna One, to Crow’s Nest, what’s the deal down there?”

“This is Crow’s Nest, we have a power line down between here and Chato’s Crawl. We’re running on generators but expect to have the power up in fifteen, over.”

“Look, Doc, I don’t like this.” The old corporal leaned closer to the window to study the two houses below. “Our gennies can run the two houses, the security lights, and the whole damn town if we have to.”

Gus frowned as he listened to the men speak. Matchstick placed his long-fingered hand on Gus’s and then smiled. He then looked at Denise.

“Look, fellas, I don’t pretend to know your business, but we have to get Gus inside pretty quick. I was against this little foray from the beginning.” Denise looked at Pete and raised her brow, asking him to overrule any security concerns. Gus was exhausted and just getting him home would do the man wonders as far as recovery went.

Pete shook his head as he raised his glasses and looked out over the semi-dark compound. He looked from that to Gus, who laid his balding head against the padded support of the Black Hawk.

“Ask the gate guard to show himself, DeSilva,” Pete said.

The pilot relayed the request and as the helicopter banked once more the guard stepped from the darkened booth and waved. DeSilva sat back and cursed under his breath, then looked Gus, who wasn’t looking that well. He had the cold chills and Matchstick was staring at the Marine like it was his fault.

“Look, I want our friends up front to stay with us until we can confirm what’s going on.” DeSilva nodded toward the pilot and the copilot of the Black Hawk.

“Whatever you think is best, Corporal,” Pete said, relaxing somewhat.

“Okay, take us down,” DeSilva said, not really happy with the compromise.

The burly gate guard lowered his waving hand and then turned to the man hidden well inside the gate. The man who had been a bartender a day ago was satisfied as the Black Hawk started to settle onto the pad. He turned away from the blowing sand as he eased the shotgun free of the shack. His brother, hiding near the bodies of the six-man security team they had killed earlier, smiled as the helicopter touched down.

Hiram Vickers watched from the darkened window of Gus’s old shack as he slowly pushed the screen door open. The taking of the compound had been too easy as the fatal flaw was quickly found in the replacing of the normal military security team. That flaw was about to cost the strange group under Nellis Air Force Base their asset.

The tall redhead smiled as he thought of Daniel Peachtree and the now-disgraced President Giles Camden.

21

FIVE HUNDRED NAUTICAL MILES ABOVE ANTARCTICA

The armada of saucers had covered the distance between Moon Gap and Earth in less than half an hour. The burning
Garrison Lee
was still hanging onto the huge power-replenishment ship and her superstructure was now covered in space-suited Grays as they boarded looking for anyone still alive.

Ryan saw how big the Earth was growing in the windscreen and hurried the shuttle toward the enormous deflector plow embedded deeply in the saucer, which had already healed itself as much as the deflector plow would allow. The battleship was now attached to the large saucer. Jenks again hit the braking thrusters and was satisfied when the shuttle started to slow. Then the fuel lines quickly ran dry as Ryan saw the fast-approaching deflector plow growing larger in the windscreen.

“Oh, shit.”

The shuttle first slammed into the bow of the
Lee
and then careened into the thick steel-reinforced plow. The shuttle slammed to a stop.

“All hands, time to go.” Jenks blasted open the twin bay doors. As the men started to use their backpacks to get into the air, several laser shots blasted by their heads. The men slowed, as they didn’t know where the fire was coming from.

“Damn it, they were waiting on us.” Ryan wished he had a cannon mounted on the nose of the shuttle.

Suddenly a rail gun sprang to life, firing a single round in front of the fast-moving assault element. The tungsten round slammed into the opening of the damaged section and took out five Grays as they thought they had easy floating targets. The rail gun fell silent as a team of Grays hit the mount, blowing it into oblivion.

The assault element entered the saucer though the giant hole created by the
Lee.

Jenks removed his helmet, forgoing the danger of a hull breach, and then popped a dead cigar stub into his mouth.

“Well, all we can do now is wait, flyboy.”

*   *   *

Everett had lost one man as they floated through the strange interior of the large craft. The curved walls were luminescent in a soft green glow. The expanse of deck was empty, with the exception of debris that had blasted into the interior from Ryan’s AMRAAMs. As they gained a foothold, they found the farther they got from the damaged area, the more gravity they were feeling. Soon they were able to place feet on the deck and move far more rapidly. They soon found the flooring to be slimy underneath their boots. The vessel seemed to pulsing with a life of its own.

Suddenly they were confronted by an unhelmeted Gray as the creature rounded the curvature of the corridor. The Gray reacted faster than the assault team as it raised its long staff of a weapon and fired point blank into one of the Delta team as he was caught totally unaware. The laser weapon tore a large hole into the kid and he was blown backward. Before the Gray could re-aim his clumsy weapon, Everett and three others opened fire with their seventy-five-watt laser rifles. The beams caught the Gray and neatly sliced its head and arms away as if he was cut with a butcher’s saw. Everett checked on the downed Delta man, who clearly was dead. He quickly removed the large nuke from his back, cutting easily through the duct tape, and slung it over his oxygen tanks.

Everett knew then the assault team was bound to run into more Grays inside the vast ship, and the admiral also knew they would never make it as far in as they had planned.

“Attack team Alpha, we’re placing charges right here. We’ll get cut to pieces before we get to the target area.”

“Attack team Alpha, this is Bravo, we understand, we are running into heavy Gray activity. Will progress further and see if resistance is lighter, over.”

“Bravo, negative, say again, negative. Set your charges at current pos. I repeat, your current position. I believe the nukes will be enough to set off a chain reaction inside the ship. Look at the walls, the whole thing is one big massive power cell, over.”

*   *   *

Ryan and Jenks heard the radio calls and exchanged looks.

“Carl will never have the time for his team to find another way out. And we’re all out of heavy ordnance.” Ryan felt helpless as he knew Everett would set off the charges regardless.

Jenks looked frustrated as he tried to think. He removed the cigar and threw it hard against the glass. “Goddamn it, I knew that asshole Toad would go and blow himself up!”

“Ryan, do you copy? Over,” a call pierced their helmets. “Ryan, do you copy? Over.” The call came in the clear.

“This is Ryan. Jack, is that you?”

“Listen up, we have control of the last functioning rail gun, but we have Grays crawling all over the place. Leave the section you’re currently in and make your way back to the same location where the admiral and his men entered the saucer. We have the coordinates and will blast open the hole again. Get those men off that are near you and Lieutenant Tram will bring your team over to the escape pods, over.”

Jenks whistled. “Ballsy, but that may be the only way of getting two birds with one stone.”

“Roger that, what about you?”

“Just follow orders, Jason. Now get a move on; I fire this thing in two mikes, over.”

Jason saw the first of his assault team as they started to gather at the damaged section where the deflector plow was buried deep into the saucer. That was when he felt a strange vibration course through the shuttle.

“What in the hell is that?” he said to Jenks.

“Oh, shit,” the master chief said as he looked closely at his radar screen. The familiar displacement of space and time started to show up on the sweep of radar. “We have a large buildup of power emissions coming from that ship. I think it’s trying to power up to form a time-displacement wormhole. Goddamn it, can we catch a break here?”

Jason didn’t hesitate further. He tried to fire his maneuvering thrusters, but they failed to fire.

“Forget it, mister, we’re bone dry on JP-5 for the thrusters. All we have is main engine power. You’re going to have to push us through the steel of the
Lee
to get us out.” Jenks quickly replaced his helmet. “Bravo team, do you understand the plan? Over.”

“Weapons set and operational—ten minutes to detonation. Team Bravo regressing to evac point, I hope someone’s there to cover our asses,” said the SEAL lieutenant.

Jason grimaced as he looked over at the master chief. “Sorry about this.” He pushed the joystick on the left armrest to its stops, at the same time firing the starboard maneuverings jets. The shuttle started coming forward, farther into the damaged section of saucer. The large deflector plow scraped hard against the tiles of the shuttle as Ryan applied more forward pressure. They heard cables and electrical wiring snapping like piano wires as the shuttle cut through the stabilizing rigging for the plow. Jason applied more fire to the starboard OHMs burn. The shuttle started turning as they entered the interior of the giant saucer. The inside of the cockpit glowed green and blue as the walls of the ship illuminated the men’s two faces. Then Jason felt the pressure holding back the shuttle ease as he broke through. He turned tight and then she was free.

“Go, go, go!” Jenks shouted. The small shuttle broke into the open with her main engine shooting a long flash of bright blue flame, her engines at full power. She sped along the centerline mass of the saucer, heading for the scabbed-over area where Carl and his men had vanished, hoping Collins was right about a rail gun being operational.

*   *   *

Tram was at the very bow of the
Garrison Lee,
waving the attack team forward. He saw Grays close behind and so he lowered himself behind the large deflector plow, then brought the very old gift he had received from Jack Collins four years before to his shoulder. The M-14 was settled into a conjoined seam of steel for a steady support, and the Vietnamese sniper took careful aim. The Grays were firing at the men trying desperately to escape through the hole. They started to scramble over the area the shuttle had just destroyed when the first of the Grays started shooting.

The SEAL lieutenant was shot in the back before Tram could cover him. The small man cursed his slowness but still drew a bead on the monstrous being bearing down on the retreating assault team. He fired. The 7.62 millimeter round caught the first Gray in the exact center of the helmeted head, dropping him immediately. The second powerful round took the next one in line and was just as deadly. The third took two shots to bring it down. The assault team now had the time to go hand over hand across the plow to reach Tram’s position.