SYLO (THE SYLO CHRONICLES) (39 page)

It got worse.

“Oh no…no,” Olivia cried with despair.

I turned to see that she was looking back toward Pemberwick, where another boat had just rounded the tip of Chinicook and was headed our way.

“Please tell me that’s one of the boats from the cave,” she whined.

Kent stood up and took a hard look back.

“It isn’t,” he replied soberly. “That’s a fast-attack military boat.” He turned to me and said, “What do you want to bet that Granger’s on board?”

“I hope he is,” Olivia said hopefully. “We can surrender to him.”

Any thought of surrender being a good idea was shattered when the pursuing gunboat opened fire on us. The clatter of a machine gun was unmistakable, even above our roaring engines.

“Jeez!” Kent yelled and fell to the deck along with Olivia.

I started to do short, quick course corrections to make us a difficult target. I had no idea of the range of that gun, or if we were fast enough to stay ahead of them, or if I even knew what I was doing. I was acting out of instinct rather than experience. I knew boats, not hurtling pieces of machinery. Or guns.

“Still want to go back?” I yelled.

I got no answers.

The hope of escape was fading rapidly. It was now about survival.

“I’m going for the fleet,” I said. “Maybe there’s somebody there with a cooler head who will capture us instead of—oh my God.”

“What now?” Kent yelled.

I pointed west, to the sky over the mainland, where a long line of what looked like black dots had appeared. They were high enough that they could be seen above the warships—and they were growing larger.

“They’re back,” Tori said, aghast.

“I don’t think the Navy’s going to worry about dealing with us,” I added soberly.

“Why?” Kent asked anxiously. “What are they?”

There was too much engine noise for us to hear the musical engines of the incoming aircraft, but there was no mistake: A formation of the mysterious fighter craft was headed our way. Behind us the gunboat was closing but had stopped firing. I didn’t know if that was because they were waiting until they could get a better shot, or because they had seen the incoming aircraft and were just as stunned as we were.

“What do we do?” Olivia asked in a shaky voice.

I had no idea and didn’t have time to wonder because the war was about to begin.

T
he first shot was fired by the Navy.

A missile was launched from one of the ships. Followed by another and then another…all aimed at the incoming swarm of planes.

As the dark spots in the sky grew close enough for us to make out their stingray shape, they quickly scattered to evade the missiles. There were far more of them than we had seen in the earlier battle. It was an invasion-level force with multiple waves of planes. Several missiles found their mark, hitting the dark crafts and turning them into spectacular fireballs in the sky. The fiery wrecks plummeted to earth, splashing down in the ocean on the far side of the line of Navy vessels.

Kent joined me at the control console, his eyes fixed on the mayhem in the sky.

“What are they?” he asked numbly. “Stealth bombers?”

“I don’t know. They’re not like any planes I ever heard of. According to Feit, they belong to SYLO.”

“So that would make the Navy the good guys,” Kent said. “But
SYLO is part of the Navy, so why would they be shooting at their own planes?”

My mind raced, calculating the possibilities.

“It doesn’t make sense. Unless…”

“Unless what?” he pressed.

“Unless Feit was lying.”

We shared sober looks. That possibility turned everything on its ear, once again.

“So who do we root for?” Kent asked.

“I wish I knew.”

The clatter of a machine gun added to the mayhem. I whipped around to see that the attack boat had drawn closer and had opened fire on us. I’d almost forgotten about it. Almost. I took another quick turn, nearly throwing Kent off of his feet.

“Stop that!” he complained.

“Do you want to get shot?” I yelled.

Kent started to argue, but held back and said, “Do what you gotta do.”

The Navy kept launching an intense barrage of missiles, creating a daytime fireworks display in the sky. Some hit, most didn’t. The black fighters were amazingly agile as they quickly veered to avoid being hit. I had the fleeting hope that the Navy’s attention would be so focused on the aerial attack we would be able to slip past them unnoticed.

Behind us, the attack boat was still closing but had stopped firing again. All I could do was keep pushing ahead.

From the south, four new fighters entered the fight. They were traditional military jets that had probably come from an aircraft
carrier. With their arrival the sea-to-air battle turned into a dogfight. The streaking military jets broke formation and made runs at the black crafts, launching their missiles, then pulling out to set up for another pass. Several more shadow planes exploded and dropped from the sky.

“This is horrible,” Olivia said with a gasp. “We’re watching people die.”

“Why aren’t they fighting back?” Tori called.

Her answer came seconds later, when the black planes went on the attack. I expected them to unleash the laser-like weapons we had witnessed before. Instead, what we saw were explosions on the Navy ships without any sign of the missiles that caused them. There were no flashes of light, no smoke trails, no clatter of guns. But the black planes were definitely firing, for they would swoop down low for an attack run and then seconds later an explosion would erupt on one of the ships. The only thing I can say for sure was that they were not using the weapon that made the
Patricia
evaporate.

The four fighter planes were given the same treatment. A black plane would chase one down, and then seconds later it would be blown out of the sky without warning.

Tori struggled to join us at the console. She was in pain and needed to hold on to the control panel for support but she fought through it to be with us.

“I don’t get it,” she said. “Why aren’t they using the weapons they used before?”

Nobody had the answer. Instead of the ships lighting up and disappearing, the results were much more conventional. Fires burned
everywhere. The ships finally started to take evasive maneuvers as the long line that had blockaded Pemberwick Island went ragged. Within minutes most every ship had been hit and was damaged to one degree or another. Some fatally. A few listed and started to sink. Smoke billowed from the ships and settled over the ocean like a dense, dark fog. The smell of burning oil hit us quickly.

“This is our chance,” I exclaimed. “We can try and make our way through.”

“You want to drive us through that mess?” Kent said.

I glanced back at the attack boat that was still on our tail.

“It’s either that,” I said, “or face off with them. I’d rather take my chances picking our way through.”

I had seen movies of battles at sea, but nothing compared to the reality of what we were barreling toward. The Navy was taking heavy losses. We were still maybe a half mile from the first ship but we could already see lifeboats in the water. The jet fighters weren’t doing much better. Several more rocketed in and took down their share of the black planes, but every last one of them paid the price and was blown out of the sky. Still, there was no sign of the deadly laser weapons.

“It’s daylight,” Tori said.

“Yeah, so?” Kent said.

“Maybe that’s why those laser-light weapons don’t work. They might not function when it’s light out.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Kent said. “They don’t need any laser guns. The Navy’s getting their ass kicked.”

“Are they?” Tori argued. “They’re knocking a lot of those planes out of the sky.”

“But the planes keep coming,” Kent shot back. “There could be thousands of ’em.”

“And that’s as far as they’re getting,” Tori said thoughtfully. “The Navy’s targeting the lead planes like they’re trying to prevent them from getting any further. None of them have made it past the ships.”

“Why would the Navy care?” I asked. “If they’re protecting the mainland, it’s back the other way.”

Tori looked me dead in the eye and said, “But Pemberwick Island is
this
way.”

The idea rocked me.

Was it possible that the Navy was here not just to quarantine Pemberwick Island, but to protect it?

The sound of machine gun fire brought us back to our immediate trouble. The attack boat had closed considerably and was firing at us again.

“Doesn’t that guy ever give up?” Kent asked angrily.

“We gotta go for it,” I said. “I’m driving us through the battle. It’s our only chance of losing him.”

I changed direction slightly to take us on a more direct path to the turmoil on the sea. Thick smoke from the burning vessels was growing. It would make perfect cover.

“When we hit the smoke, I’ll change direction,” I said.

“You gotta be careful, Tucker,” Tori cautioned. “There’s a lot of debris in the water.”

Debris was a nice word for the mess we were speeding toward. Huge chunks of steel that had been torn from the warships were floating everywhere…and then there were the warships themselves.
Most were still under power and taking evasive action but many were foundering. Several were dead in the water or sinking fast. We didn’t want to collide with a ship fifty times our size or run down a life raft full of sailors. It was a dangerous, moving minefield but navigating through it was our best hope for escape—and survival.

“I don’t like this one bit,” Olivia said the instant before we hit the leading edge of the smoke.

It was like driving into a fog—a dense black fog that smelled of death.

“Slow down, Tucker,” Tori wisely suggested.

I eased back on the throttles and it was a good thing I did because no sooner did we drop our speed than our bow was crossed by a frigate that had no idea we were there. We were buffeted by its wake and Tori was thrown to the deck. She hit hard and yelped with pain.

Olivia instantly ran to her and helped get her into the copilot’s seat.

“I’m okay,” Tori said through gritted teeth.

“You should buckle in,” I said.

Before Tori could respond, Olivia snapped the belt around her waist.

“That feel okay?” she asked.

Tori nodded, though she wasn’t feeling close to okay.

Olivia gave her a comforting rub on her good arm. I was beginning to like Olivia, and it had nothing to do with memories of her bikini. She may have been totally out of her comfort zone, as we all were, but she showed a caring side that made me realize she was more than just a pretty, spoiled rich girl. I guess conflict brings out
the best in people. Or in some cases, the worst. I won’t mention any names.

It was no longer about speed. We had entered into a game of cat and mouse with an attack boat on our tail that was hunting for us.

“Relax Tucker,” Tori said. “If you grip the wheel any tighter, you’ll snap it.”

“I’m fine,” I said, lying.

“I know you are,” she replied. “You’re doing great.”

From her, that was a huge compliment. It helped my confidence. A little. My entire concentration was focused on the few feet ahead of our bow.

“I’m changing course,” I announced. “Or it’ll be too easy to track us.”

Visibility was near zero but not being able to see the action didn’t mean that it didn’t exist. The steady
whoosh
sound of missiles being fired and tearing through the sky, exploding planes, and watery crashes meant that the fierce battle was still raging. Being in the center of the conflict, blind, was beyond nerve-wracking. There was no way to know if we were on a collision course with a ship, beneath a burning plane that was tumbling out of the sky, or about to be strafed by Granger.

“Keep headed west,” Tori said, tapping the compass.

I listened for the engine of the gun boat, but there was too much else going on for me to pick it out. For all I knew it was only a few feet back, ready to blow us out of the water.

“Look out!” Kent called.

Too late. We smashed into a chunk of floating debris that looked to be a hull section the size of a VW. We hit it hard and our
boat rocked so violently that I thought we would capsize. I spun the wheel to my left and managed to regain control—in time to run head on into a massive gray wall. The impact sent us all tumbling forward. Kent and Olivia fell to the deck. I was thrust onto the steering wheel so hard it knocked the wind out of me. The only one who didn’t move was Tori because she was buckled in, but the sudden jolt was painful for her just the same.

The gray wall was the hull of a ship that was so monstrous I couldn’t see up to the deck. Gasping to fill my lungs with air, I spun the wheel hard to the right and we quickly came around until we were traveling parallel to the ship. But we were still so close that we scraped against the steel hull, creating a shrieking sound that made it seem as if our boat was being ripped apart.

“Pull away, Tucker,” Tori said coolly.

Her calm voice helped me get my head back together enough to steer away from the behemoth and end the torturous noise. It took another minute for my heart to stop thumping.

“Anybody hurt?” I called out.

Nobody answered, so I took that as a good sign. Tori gave me a smile. I looked at her bandage and was grateful to see that no blood was seeping through. Maybe Olivia had earned a gunshot-wound merit badge after all.

“I’m fine!” Tori yelled, as if annoyed by the fact that I had been looking at her for too long.

“Kent, go to the bow,” I commanded. “Check for damage.”

I expected him to complain and refuse but he immediately crawled forward, knelt on the seat, and leaned over to inspect the bow.

“The fiberglass buckled,” he called back. “There are some cracks but I don’t think it’s fatal.”

“Stay there,” I called. “You gotta be my eyes.”

Kent didn’t question and stayed where he was, his attention focused ahead.

Olivia crawled back to us and stood behind Tori’s chair, holding the back for support.

“Let’s not do that again, okay?” she asked sweetly.