“Where is Maria?” I finally ask. “Where is Kim?”
Daniel turns to me and puts his hand on my shoulder. “They’re safe. They’re both sedated.” He points to a couple of stretches. Maria and Kim are both secured and strapped in with oxygen masks over their faces.
Next to them is the man in the gas mask. Again, he is kneeling down. His hands are tied behind his back and he has a black hood over his head.
But they have bandaged his wound. They have stopped the bleeding.
This lets me know that they want him alive.
“Sir, we’ve got approximately two minutes before the countdown expires.”
“We’ll be long gone by the time this place blows,” Daniel says.
The choppers hover in closer. Ropes are dropped down to us.
“Do we have to use the ropes to get out of here?” Jack says. “Why can’t we use the platform?”
“We don’t have time,” Daniel says. “The platform is too slow. We need to fast rope out of here.”
“Wait. This place is set to self-destruct?” I ask.
“Yeah,” Daniel answers as he points to the man in the gas mask. “We believe he set the charges. It might’ve been the military. But that seems unlikely.”
I shake my head. “No. He didn’t set the place to self-destruct. He wouldn’t do that.”
“Why not?” Daniel asks. “He’s done it before.”
“Because he wanted to publicly execute Maria. He wanted the world to watch. Blowing this place up doesn’t make any sense.”
Daniel has a worried look on his face.
Ben starts moving away. He knows something is wrong. So do I. Something is indeed wrong. Something is messed up.
Daniel moves over to the man in the gas mask and removes his hood. “Did you set the self-destruct sequence? Is this place set to blow?”
No response from the man in the gas mask.
“What happens when the countdown reaches zero?”
The man in the gas mask is on his knees. He has several rifles pointed at his head. But he doesn’t seem to care. He is calm. He is at peace. He is staring up at the unbelievably blue sky.
And he does not answer Daniel.
“One minute.”
Daniel draws his sidearm and presses the barrel against his temple. “Answer me!”
Suddenly we hear several explosions. Three of them. One after the other.
But they are not explosions. Not really.
The noises sounded like they came from outside. From out in the desert somewhere.
We all look up to the sky through the blast doors. A few seconds later we see the smoke trails.
We see three of them.
Majestically. Beautifully choreographed.
They are soaring to the heavens.
Higher and higher.
Until we can no longer see them.
We can only see the smoke trails.
The countdown was not for a self-destruct sequence. The countdown was for a missile strike.
“I had a dream about freedom,” the man in the gas mask says. “About a world on fire.”
Suddenly a bright flash lights up the sky, turning it from blue to white. It’s like the sun has intensified a million times. And after the flash, the sky turns the color of fire. And I think to myself, he is going to burn down the old Empires.
The Ospreys and the choppers and the aircraft that I don’t recognize, begin to spin out of control.
They are falling from the sky.
They are coming right for us.
“Secure the targets!” Daniel says, “Take cover! Run!
We turn away from the platform, from the blast doors; we turn away from the sky and the one and only exit point.
We run.
The Ospreys and the choppers and the other aircraft have all spun out of control. They have collided with each other.
They are out of control and falling and crashing through the access point, through the blast doors.
They are coming right for us.
We take cover behind the Humvees. Kenji has his arms around me and I bury myself in his chest.
And Daniel was wrong.
We are not getting out of here. We are not going to be all right. We are not safe.
The aircraft crash into the Vehicle Access Point and turn into fireballs.
The heat burns us, and forces us to duck and cover our heads.
And close our eyes.
And hold our breath.
And pray.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Coming Soon in 2014
A World on Fire
OUT NOW
The Lost Journal of Private Kenji Yoshida
Part 1
Part 2
Copyright © 2013 by James Harden
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the author.
Table of Contents
Three days to live. Three days to die.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
The Final Countdown
Coming Soon in 2014
Copyright