The War of Pawns (The Human Chronicles -- Book Three) (15 page)

“Will I be able to call my folks?” Sherri asked.

“’Fraid not, Ms. Valentine, maybe later.”

“If there will be a later…” Riyad said, half under his breath.

“Be that as it may, we’re leavin’ here in a few minutes and taking a helo all the way to HR—”

“Where?” Sherri asked.

“Sorry, ma’am – Hampton Roads. I was able to convince them that SEALs should watch over SEALs, and they agreed. So…up! Let’s go—” And then Tobias grabbed Adam by the arm and squeezed it tight. “And chill out, mister. Don’t try nuthin’, or I will have to put you down.”

The lieutenant’s gray eyes burned unflinchingly into Adam’s. He had known Tobias for over a year before his abduction, and he knew that the lieutenant was someone you did not want to tangle with. He was the kind of man who made
other
SEALs nervous. Adam just nodded, and then he led the parade out of the cell, and to the waiting contingent of guards outside.

Chapter Sixteen

They boarded an MH-47 Chinook helicopter for the ride down to Hampton Roads, Virginia and the Little Creek Naval Amphib Base. During the two-and-a-half hour trip, Adam couldn’t help but think of Maria and Cassie, and how they would be only seven short miles from each other, and yet his family wouldn’t even know he was there.

But worse than that, he feared for their safety. Even though he had heard the Klin speak dispassionately about how the Juireans would concentrate on the largest population centers first, as they attempted to kill as many Humans as possible, he couldn’t convince himself that the Juireans would skip over Hampton Roads in their initial salvos, not with the area hosting the largest concentration of military forces anywhere in the country. If Adam’s assessment of the Klin was correct, and the Klin did eventually stop the Juirean attack before the entire planet was destroyed, his only hope would be that his wife and child would be spared long enough for the Klin to act.

Yet in light of his other assumptions of late, Adam wasn’t feeling too confident in his assessment. And now here he was, being transported to military ground-zero for the United States, a prime target if ever there was one. As he sat in the incredibly noisy helicopter, staring out the window at the verdant Virginia landscape whizzing by far below, he couldn’t help believe that all his troubles were only about a week away from coming to a sad and tragic end.

Adam felt a rush of emotions as the helicopter swept in low over the Chesapeake Bay, and slowed for a landing in a field at the east side of the naval base. Once down, they were hustled into a waiting van and driven to a non-descript building on the base at the corner of 5
^th
Street and Hewitt Road.

Throughout the transfer, the guards maintained a hawkish watch on the three ‘prisoners,’ even though Adam had no idea what actual crime they were being charged with in order for the government to detain them this way. However, in this charged atmosphere, he was sure no one would be looking out for their civil rights once the Juirean attack began.

Inside the building were dozens of additional guards, and they soon learned that the building was actually a warehouse that had been quickly modified to house the 32 other men from the shuttle. In a large separate room, cots had been moved in, as well as a long table with food and drink. There was even a large flat-screen TV to one side of the room, where nearly all of the men were gathered watching Fox News. They were all so starved for information about their homeworld that they sat with rapt gazes, staring at the screen, and listening as a cute woman with impossibly white teeth drone on about a labor strike happening somewhere in Detroit.

No one noticed Adam and the other two as they were escorted beyond the main room and placed in two other, more secure rooms, in the back of the building. Sherri was given a private room, while Adam and Riyad had to share accommodations. After telling the three of them that they would need permission, as well as escorts, to go to the bathroom, the guards shut and locked the doors and took up positions outside the rooms.

It was obvious to Adam that the other men in the facility were not considered such high security risks as the three of them. Adam didn’t mind not being housed with the others. He was glad he didn’t have to explain to them how bleak the future looked, not only for them, but also for the entire planet.

As with so many things that had happened to him over the past year, his joyous and triumphant homecoming had suddenly disintegrated into a nightmare of Titanic proportion.

Chapter Seventeen

 
Lieutenant Andy Tobias left the building and had a driver take him the eight miles to the Training Support Center, at the Dam Neck Naval Base. This was the HQ for the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or DEVGRU. Although Tobias had been in the military for over seven years already, he still hated the acronyms, so he often referred to his unit simply as ST6 – SEAL Team Six.

As he entered the surprising old wood building, which housed one of the planet’s most elite military units, he was surprised to see the anteroom filled with over 20 members of his Team, and all looking anxiously at him. He knew instantly that the word of Cain’s return had spread throughout the platoon, and probably beyond. The SEALs were an extremely tight-knit group, and news of a fallen comrade returning from the dead would be a major event. And even though Tobias had to maintain a high level of security regarding Cain and his reappearance, there was just no use trying to deny it to this bunch. They were all too intelligent to fall for anything but the truth.

“It’s true,” he said, wending his way through the assembled bodies. “Cain is alive and well.”

“Where’s he been?” a voice called out from the crowd.

“That’s classified for the time being.”

Tobias approached a man sitting on a chair near the first cubicle in the room, his head hung low, posture showing defeat. His name was Gill Norris, otherwise known as ‘Peanut,’ a term of affection for the good ol’ boy from Georgia. Tobias put his hand on the man’s shoulder, and when Norris looked up, there were tears in his eyes.

“He’s safe, Norris. And he’s home.”

Norris nodded, and pressed his lips tightly together, fighting hard to hold back the tears. After all, SEALs didn’t cry…usually.

Peanut had been with Adam during the raid in Afghanistan, and for over a year, he had been blaming himself for Adam’s disappearance – even though no one else in the unit felt the same.

He and Adam were buddies, and it had been his responsibility to keep an eye on him while in the field. One moment Adam was on his six, and then the next, Norris’ night vision had been destroyed by a brilliant flash of light from behind him. When he’d turned, and his vision cleared, Adam was not to be found.

The four others in the squad called off the raid and joined in the search, but to no avail. Eventually, a helo arrived to hustle them out of the area. Whatever the light was, it had surely alerted the Taliban. Staying any longer would have only endangered more lives.

“What the hell’s going on, LT?” one of the other men asked. “I feel there’s something coming down, and we’re not part of it.”

Tobias surveyed the young and anxious faces looking back at him. Even though they were young – only a couple over 25 years of age – these were the best of the best; hard-charging, gung-ho fighting men who would never shrink from a fight. Tobias knew he couldn’t tell them even a tenth of what he knew, yet he had no doubt, they would all learn soon enough.

Tobias had stayed in the massive war room after Cain and the other two had been removed, so he knew of the coming attack, as well as the desperate attempt to negotiate with the aliens. But he had also been in the military long enough to know that diplomacy usually failed – at least in the long run. Even though hands may be shaken – or maybe tentacles in this case – eventually the true nature and intentions of the opposing parties would surface, and then the military would be called in to settle things once and for all.

“There’s nothing I can really tell y’all at this time. Just stay loose. Hopefully, Cain will be back in the unit in about a week. For now, you’re all dismissed for 48 hours. Go home and chill. Oh, and someone take Peanut out and get him laid!”

He then left the room and proceeded further into the building. The CO had to know what he knew. Contingency plans had to be made.

Chapter Eighteen

Riyad Tarazi had the unique ability to make himself at home just about anywhere he went, and their new prison was no exception. He lay on a cot, his hands clasped behind his head with a pillow stuffed up against the wall, and absently watching the WAVY-TV 10 News on the flatscreen TV mounted on the wall. Adam, for his part, still paced the floor.

Finally, Riyad looked over at his roommate and smiled. “I supposed you wish you were back among the aliens now, where all your superman abilities could be utilized? They’re not of much use on a planet full of supermen.”

“I don’t know how you can stay so calm, Riyad. There’s a whole lot of shit about to come down, and we’re being blamed for it.”

“True, but what can we do about it? You tried to explain what we know, and your people had us locked away. Pretty soon they will learn that the Klin are not going to let anything, or anyone, get in the way of their plans. You and I are only tiny cogs in their overall scheme. At the moment, we just happen to be convenient scapegoats. Besides, even if we had convinced the men in that room that the Klin were manipulating both the Juireans and us into a war, what could they do? We are defenseless against the Juireans. They need the Klin.”