Aaron Cross tore down the interstate at a rate that even he deemed unsafe and Maj. Paige Tyler had been white knuckling it for more than a few miles.
"So, you think they took my plane?"
"No," he said flatly as he drove on the shoulder causing her to cringe.
"So… are we trying to go 'back in time'?"
He glared at her briefly before cutting back onto the road. "All of this is wrong. Everything about it. It's all wrong…"
She threw her hands on the dash as he crossed into the oncoming lane, passed a car, and cut back to their lane seconds before hitting a car head on. "JESUS!"
"I rather be Moses right now…"
"Funny. I feel like I'm on a rocket sled. I knew I shouldn't have let Eric talk me out of NASA…"
"I saw that in your bio. Who turns down an offer like that…"
"An idiot in love I guess."
"You really loved that guy?!" he said with clear disdain.
She giggled, "No, not really. We met in Vegas; it was one of those drive through deals."
"Why'd you marry him?!"
She blushed furiously, "Well, he's really great in bed," she laughed. "I was in a few loving relationships with bad sex and figured I'd rather have it the other way around. It seemed like a good idea at the time."
He voice turned serious, "What's the typical procedure?"
"For what? Preflight?"
"What? No! The guards. What happens when you pull up? Do they check your ID or what?"
"Yeah, but I've met them all I think. I was paranoid the first few days and came out here a few times per shift to check on her."
"So, they're to follow your orders?"
"Yes, unless there is an obvious reason not to."
"What about your co-pilot. Did they meet him?"
"Not the third shifters. He and I don't exactly get along. Well, I guess we didn't get along. I'm assuming he was in the hotel along with Eric…"
Cross huffed, "He wasn't in that. In fact he probably ordered it."
She scolded, "No, he wouldn't. I know what you think of him, but losing his wife and little girl really screwed him up and seeing all the dead children at Waco didn't help matters. He'd never blow up a hotel like that during a holiday… If it was a factory, or hell even a college or something, I might be able to see it. He'd never kill so many children when there were other ways to accomplish the same goal."
He looked at her and refused to counter; he'd never be able to convince her of his true nature.
"Okay, when we get there: this is what I want you to do…"
Aaron Cross pulled up to the airport gate and the guard peered in the car, "Ah, Major! Jesus, are you both okay?" he said gawking at them, covered in glass, plaster, blood, and clearly disheveled.
"No, but we've been ordered to inspect the craft immediately."
"We've been expecting you to check in since we heard the news. The aircraft is secure," he motioned behind him to the large white tent at the far end for the airfield. "I'm sorry they dragged you out here, but we're in good shape Major…" he said clearly thinking this would alleviate her concerns.
"Thank you airmen, but we'd rather go ahead with an inspection while we're here."
"Yes, ma'am." He waved them through.
Cross pulled through and she hissed, "he's not an airmen, he's a staff sergeant." He didn't need her to tell him the guy was an impostor. His uniform was too small and the guy looked like a hired merc; he was a killer, not a Air Force schmuck.
"Too bad he doesn't know that," he muttered as he turned the car off while leaving it in drive and put the brake on. "Stay here…" He tried to start the car several times as the guard approached the car.
"Problem?"
Cross shrugged, "It just died." He turned the key again and nothing happened as the car was in drive. He turned the lights off and got out of the car and walked to the trunk, "I think I have a flashlight back here…"
He only got two steps before the fake guard saw through the ruse and tried to raise his rifle, which was slung under his arm at 'the low ready'. Cross surged forward, grabbed the barrel and punched him in the throat before using the gun as a leash to spin the stunned man around and put him in a choke hold.
"Jesus," she breathed, he looked up and was proud to see her still in the car, but leaning out the window.
Cross quickly stripped the man and switched into his clothes, bound him and dumped him in the backseat.
{We lost visual; what's your status…} came a voice from the ear piece Cross had just put in his ear.
{Major Tyler is here for an inspection. I'm sending her up…}
The voice on the other end laughed, {Roger that.}
A few moments later they pulled up in front of a massive tent which was suspended from cranes, on each side. It was set up as a temporary hanger to keep the sun from baking the planes radar resistant coating off. There were lights set up all around it which in the early morning fog gave the otherwise empty tarmac an eerie UFO military cover up vibe to the whole scene.
"Remember," he chided, "do exactly as I said. Don't improvise."
"I got this," she snapped.
They had switched seats and she was driving. She pulled up, but chose a darker spot and not too close to the craft. He hopped out of the car quickly and saw him duck under the flap as he tucked in his shirt in the front and then the back where his pistol was tucked.
She flung the rifle out window, got out of the car, shifted it into drive and let it move forward at an idle. She scooped up the M4 assault rifle and checked its safety, load, and switched the fire selector to single shot. "Okay Paige: stay low, in the dark, and don't shoot Cross."
Cross ducked under the flaps of the tent and surveyed the scene in a second. The plane was massive and encompassed most of the makeshift hanger. Six men were in a semicircle in front of him dressed in unmarked black combat gear, body armor, and their rifles were slung at the low ready position so they just needed to raise them to fire.
"Hey fellas!" Cross greeted warmly while tucking his shirt in: first in the front and then the back. "Have you seen any keys around here, because Alisha is looking for hers," he joked as he finished tucking in his shirt and whipped his pistol out and fired three times before the men started to react.
The first bullet hit the merc on the far left in the forehead, the second hit the next man in the Adam's apple, the last hit the third man in his front teeth and took out his spine on the way out. Cross dove for cover behind the front landing gear and wheel blocks as the other three men raised their rifles or ran for scant cover.
He screamed, "Bourne! We got three up, three down!" He heard the car idle through the tarp and rip part of it down, which was followed by three rifle shots from Paige. The three men opened up on the empty car thinking Bourne was in it. Cross was able to get a shot off at one and hit him under the arm, where his vest lacked protection. The man fell and clawed desperately at the wound.
"Two up, four down!" he screamed as he sprinted to the car as it rolled between them. He dove into the passenger side window and rolled to the floorboard as the mens guns went dry. He pounded on the accelerator with his hand, reached up, and cranked the wheel a quarter of a turn toward where the two men had been. He was rewarded with a thump and a blood curdling scream as the car ran over as least one of them.
Cross tried to keep the accelerator down as he climbed into the drivers seat and spun the car around. He floored it and bore down on the last man standing, who was trying to decide between running and reloading. He chose flight and tried to sprint to the landing gear, but he was too slow. At the last second he tried to time a jump and roll onto the windshield like a stunt-man, but Cross was ready for it and stood on the brake once he jumped, then jerked the wheel. The merc hit the front grill and when he jerked the wheel the car turned as to only run over his legs.
He ignored the screams of the two men, got out of the car, put it in drive and let it idle away again. He was disarming them as the Major joined them. "Are you okay Cross?"
He nodded, "Better than these guys. Go check your plane." She saw him unnecessarily check his pistol's magazine and knew he didn't want her to see what was coming next.
"On it."
He waited for her to climb in before addressing the two men, "One of you lives and one of you dies. Who's going to talk?"
"We're not telling you-" one started and the other blurted, "I will!" Cross turned and shot the first man without hesitation.
"So, talk. You're a merc right? Who hired you?"
Cross checked his injuries, he was the second man he ran over. He saw his legs were crushed, but he wasn't bleeding heavily.
"In… Internet job. Anonymous source. Suppose to secure the field for the flight, scatter some evidence at the scene, and keep quiet. Money's in the Middle SUV."
"All of it? Up front?"
"N-no. Half now. Half Later."
"…and the other half?"
"Phone number for when the job is complete. Here, take it!"
"Thanks," Cross stood and promptly shot him once.
He bound up the ladder into the underbelly of the aircraft, "Major, you need to get this thing off the ground. They are framing us…"
"What? So, they used 'her' and brought her back? Why? I mean why frame us?"
"Doesn't matter. Who could've flown this- who has access?"
"Well, my co-pilot hates me and is the most likely."
"Well, I hope you didn't like him, they would've killed him afterward. Do your preflight. I'm expecting a clean up crew any minute."
He grabbed her purse from the copilot seat and dug through it without her protesting as she was furiously pressing buttons. She sighed, "I really miss toggle switches."
"Yeah? Aren't you a little young for those?"
"Been flying since I was little. My dad was Air Force too."
"Pilot?" he asked as he programmed her phone.
"Not in the service. He was one of the 'two guys in the room with a key'."
"Wow… in a nuke silo? Like father like daughter. Okay I programed my number into the phone. Here's an ear piece. Take off and don't land, no matter what. They are going to want you dead."
She stammered, "Y-You aren't coming?"
"No. I'm going to go kick a hornets nest. Close the hatch…" He slid down the ramp. "Okay, can you hear me?"
"Yeah."
He quickly checked the SUV the merc had referred to, gathered the rifles and other weapons, and threw the ones he didn't need in one vehicle. He took the bodies and put one in his car and the others in the spare SUVs. He drove the SUV he was keeping fifty yards away before running back to the plane.
He grabbed some duct tape from his truck, then taped the steering wheels in place. He taped the barrels of the rifles to the side mirrors and around the necks of the corpses. He then cut two fifteen foot lengths of rope for each car, ran one through the trigger guard, the other he tied to the accelerator and ran under the brake pedal, he then ran them out the window of the car.
"Cross, did you pull out the wheel blocks?"
"No. I will but don't start the engines yet. I got to make a call. Be quiet a minute."
He dialed the number on the mercs phone, "Yeah?"
Cross did his best to impersonate the last man he killed, "We're all done here. Everything was handled per your instructions. Our payment?"
"Look to the north. You see the Holiday Inn sign? Second floor vending machine, buy all the diet ginger ales." The line went dead.
"Okay Major, start it up. If I'm right they will come to kill these guys to make sure there are no loose ends."
"Okay. So, you think they stole the nuke?"
"Wait- What? It's armed now?!"
"Not much use if it isn't."
He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Just get out of here. Go to black out and don't land." He yanked the wheel blocks out as she started the engines.
"Cross, your friends are here…"
He looked up and saw there vehicles turning on to the airfield. "Shit. I thought they'd be coming light." His mind worked furiously, "Is that thing fully loaded?"
"No, but I do have some regular ordinance."
"Good. Take off, circle around, and drop your smallest ones on the largest concentration of headlights. Take out a twenty-five yard area."
"Can do, and Cross? You got a cute butt, I hope you know how to move it."
He laughed as he looked up at the oncoming cars, "Don't worry about me. I pulled your blocks out. Get out of here."
She took off down the dark runway, with all the running lights out, and was airborne before the cars knew she was there.
Cross quickly started the vehicles one by one and they sped down the empty tarmac toward the oncoming cars. Whenever the rope tied through the trigger guards bounced under the rear wheel it was yanked and fired a single bullet. Whenever the one looped under the brake and tied to the accelerator was yanked the car sped up then slowed after the rope rolled from under the wheel.
Cross's puppets show was crude and he hoped it would suffice, but he added the final touch himself as he lay on the tarmac and fired one round at a time at the oncoming cars, adding his rounds to the façade. He didn't need to disable the cars, just distract them long enough for her to take off, circle the tarmac, add drop her ordnance.
Cross laughed as the cars started their pursuit but realized they were closing the ground too quickly; it wasn't going to give him enough time. He fired three more rounds and started sprint to his own car. He dove in an dialed Goens. "It's Cross- I'm about to use an acquired phone to call another number. I need you to ghost the call. Here are the numbers."
He heard hammering on a keyboard, "Okay Cross, I'm on it. Go ahead."
He hit redial on the phone he acquired from the merc.
"Yeah?" came the voice on the other end.
"I'm sure that by now that you've run voice recognition and you know who you're talking to."
"Yes, Mr. Cross. I'm assuming Mr. Goens is on the line-"
Aaron cut in before he could continue, "I didn't call to hear your super villain monologue. I'm just hoping you aren't in one of the cars on the tarmac."
"Why is that?"
"Because it looks like rain…" he laughed and hung up. Rain had long been used as military jargon for bombing or artillery. He saw one of the enemy vehicles break off suddenly and barrel toward the gate.
"Bingo, we have a winner." He stomped on the gas and barreled down the tarmac as the clock in his head continued to tick. He knew he was out of time, but he also knew that she was flying the most advanced piece of military hardware ever made. She would be able to see every source of heat or motion for miles around. As he closed the distance to the gate, he knew the other cars had turned towards the gate as well. Cross took the best line he could to shorten the distance between himself and the lead car and braced himself for the blast; he knew she would try to localize it to the airfield to avoid civilian casualties.
The explosion hit him from behind and lifted the back of the SUV and he was sure he was going to flip over and he stomped on the gas in a desperate attempt at forward momentum. The front wheel caught and screeched shrilly as Cross tried to arrest the momentum. He won the battle and the rear of the car slammed down and he jerked the wheel to correct his course.
He saw the car he was after turn left and Cross barreled straight through the intersection. There was only one way out of the complex and Cross was highly motivated. He reached under the dash and ripped the cover off the fuse box and then ran his fingers over the fuses as if reading Braille. He found the one he was looking for pulled it out.
It took all he could do to make the next turn at normal speed. He saw the car barreling toward him and waited until the last second to jerk the wheel left so that the car t-boned him. Thankfully he pulled the correct fuse and his airbag didn't deploy. The man in the other car wasn't as lucky, the air bag deployed and rendered him unconscious- as they are prone to do.
He ran up to the driver's door and yanked the man out, cuffed him in riot cuffs the man had on his dash, drug him out, dumped him in his backseat and muttered, "Just one more stop to make…" as his phone rang.