Authors: Carolyn McCray
The priest got into the long line leading up to the barista. Several people moved out of the way, allowing Benidicto
to jump
ahead of them. If only the masses respected the Disciples in such a way
. Soon
,
though
.
S
oon
, Frellan reassured himself.
“
I did not say we would always be aligned,
”
he explained in
A
ncient Greek.
“
But today, today we both seek the same thing.
”
Monnie interjected.
“
And that would be?
”
she asked in Aramaic.
“
Come with me,
”
the priest said with a knowing smile
,
“
a
nd I shall show you.
”
Frellan glanced about.
“
And your escort?
”
Benidicto shrugged.
“
There is only I.
”
Alone? Who was this priest? To walk freely amongst the Disciples? Once outside of the city
,
they could easily gut him and leave hi
s
carcass on the side of the road with no one the wiser.
However, the priest seemed decidedly unconcerned with his fat
e.
“
Latte
anyone?
”
* * *
Apparently
,
things weren
’
t going well. Stark
’
s fingers flew over not just one keyboard
,
but three. For hours. For hours
,
he had fought off the attack, deflecting the hack, but it looked like the defenses just wouldn
’
t be enough. Prenner had wanted to pull out hours ago
,
and Emily was telling Langley they
would
be there in fifteen minutes all night long.
The only reason they had stayed was that Stark was learning as much has he could about the hacker. His style. His moves. And hopefully
,
his identi
t
y.
However, Stark finally threw his hands up in the air.
“
That
’
s it.
”
He reached over and pulled the plugs on the CPUs. Drives winded down as Stark turned off the screens.
“
Al
l
right,
”
Emily said, getting her phone out again.
“
The car is waiting around the block
.
I can have it here in just a minute.
”
“
What do you mean?
”
Stark asked.
Emily looked to Prenner, then to Bunny.
“
We need to establish a new HQ.
”
“
Duh,
”
Stark said
,
standing up and stretching, probably the first time he had in six hours. Without another word
,
he led them out of the basement and into the kitch
en, where they found his mother
,
who
shook her head.
“
Burning the candle at both ends. Not good for the skin.
”
Stark went over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“
Mom, how about some breakfast?
”
“
Animal pancakes or biscuits and gravy?
”
Stark looked to the group.
“
Well?
”
When no one answered, he turned back to his mother.
“
How about both? Plus some hash browns. My brain needs a carb kick
-
starter.
”
“
Only because we have guests.
”
Stark gave her another kiss on the cheek and led them upstairs.
“
I am not going to remind you of the incredibly tight timetable we are on,
”
Prenner said as they climbed up to the second floor.
“
Yeah, thanks for trusting me so much
.
Y
ou didn
’
t have to remind me of that.
”
Stark grabbed a chair, stood on it, and pulled down the staircase to the attic. Obviously intrigued
,
no one asked where they were going. Once in the attic, Stark turned on a light to reveal a techno-geek
’
s wet dream. If the basement had been a command center, this was the mother of all command centers.
Computer after computer booted up.
“
I don
’
t understand,
”
Bunny said
,
trying to count the number of screens lining the walls.
“
It
’
s my doomsday room. I set this system up, routed it through Thailand
,
and have never used it since. This baby is virgin. No IP addresses. No browsing history. No cookies.
”
You know what? If Davidson
weren
’
t
just so damned sweet, Bunny might
have
learn
ed
to love the geeks.
* * *
Even Davidson could hear the squawk of the air traffic controller through Lopez
’
s earphones. Although
,
to be perfectly honest, Davidson was pretty dang sure the corporal was enjoying the berating. How often did Lopez get to use his colorful Spanish language on someone who actually understood him?
“
What
’
s happening?
”
Rebecca asked from the seat behind. Brandt still hadn
’
t popped an eye open
,
although Davidson knew the sergeant was wide-awake.
“
It sounds like air traffic control is trying to wave us off because our plane is too big,
”
Lopez reported.
Rebecca looked back over her shoulder from the first
-
class sect
i
on to the hundred
-
plus empty seats behind them. At the time
,
ditching their small prop plane and stealing a Boeing 747 that was scheduled for maintenance in Athens, Greece
,
seemed like a great idea. It hadn
’
t occurred to anyone that the closet airport to the northern region of Spain would be a small regional airport.
Although
,
the more he thought on it, the more Davidson began to wonder if Lopez in fact
did
know this information.
Because
,
come on, they weren
’
t being shot at. There was no bizarre weather disturbance
,
and Brandt had forced the corporal to fly at
“
regular
”
speed. Lopez had belly
ached the whole way about the embarrassingly long flight time.
So the only way Lopez could make this one-on-a-scale-of-ten routine flight into an eight was to increase the difficulty of the landing.
And trying to set down a jumbo jet on a tiny airstrip might just do it.
With the cockpit door propped open, Davidson could hear Talli complain,
“
They
’
re saying if we try to land
,
we
’
re going to crack the pavement and go nose first into the ground.
”
“
Sure,
”
Lopez agreed,
“
i
f
they
were flying the plane.
”
Lopez hit the mic and threw out a string of what Davidson could only imagine were choice Spanish curse words. For once
,
he was glad he wasn
’
t fluent in the language.
Vakasa pointed out the window as the Pyrenesse
M
ountains came into view. She clapped loudly
,
pointing and speaking in her catch-as-catch-can manner.
He didn
’
t think he needed to translate. She liked mountains, that was pretty clear.
“
Aren
’
t we coming in a bit fast?
”
Rebecca asked.
“
And steep?
”
“
I think that
’
s part of the deal,
”
Levont said, grinning ear to ear.
Rebecca was right
,
though. Davidson rose and made his way to the cockpit.
“
Lopez,
”
he tried to reason
,
“
t
here
’
s having fun
,
and there is unnecessary risk.
”
The corporal shrugged him off too.
“
Says the guy who was
outside
the Sphinx when it came down.
”
There was no more time to argue
,
as wind screeched as the flaps went up
,
finally slowing them
—
some.
“
Come to Papa!
”
Davidson braced himself as the plane leveled out for a split second, the ground rushing up at them. Then Lopez brought the plane
’
s nose up. He tugged hard on the yoke. Was he trying to land them on their tail?
Hysterics with rolled
r
’
s
and lispy
s
’
s
spewed from the radio. They were tilted so far up Davidson couldn
’
t even see the ground anymore. Then their back tires made contact with
the
ground, but Lopez kept enough thrust that they were literary wheeling down the road rather than landing. Slowly
,
the corporal lowered the front tire.
And that was it. They were out of the air and on the ground. They
had
barely felt it. Davdison looked back out of a window. Not even a scratch on the runway.
“
Um, Lopez,
”
Talli said in his
“
I
’
m panicking but trying not to seem like I
’
m panicking
”
voice
,
“
t
his isn
’
t a very long runway.
”
Talli was righ
t. Sure
,
they were on the ground
.
H
owever
,
they were r
olling down the runway at break
neck speeds. Literally
break
their
neck
s
if they hit the retaining wall at the end of the runway.
“
No,
”
Lopez admitted as he put the flaps up f
a
rther and tapped the breaks.
“
No
,
it
’
s not.
”
If the corporal tried any harder to stall their speed
,
he could end up putting them nose first into the runway, which
,
of course
,
was not ideal. Behind him
,
Davidson could hear Rebecca getting Vakasa into crash position.
Which
was
what Davidson should have been doing
,
only he had a fascination with watching Lopez work his magic. As the plane shimmied around them, Lopez worked the flaps, the brakes
,
and the radio all at once.
“
Here
’
s for nothing!
”
Lopez said as he turned the plane. The craft careened for a moment
,
then fell into sharp left turn
,
which evolved into a full
-
on spin. They doughnuted down the short runway. The smell of burning rubber filled the air. Then they were out of rubber
,
as the metal axels screamed against
the
runway.