David Golemon - Event

"What about the special troops Mr. Compton has asked for?"

"They just landed outside of the town and are being airlifted to the site by Blackhawk. The best we have, sir. Major Collins will have a strong element of Delta and Third Rangers to add to the Group's tunnel and mine teams."

The president turned and looked into the camera. "Mr. Compton, I know this is a lot to throw at you, but what have we learned from the crewman of that saucer?"

Niles pushed his glasses back up on his nose and looked into the camera.

"With maybe only two or three of the offspring killed or wounded, that leaves approximately ninety-plus healthy ones, not counting the adult, which hadn't been present at the attack that we know of. The surviving crewman assures us if we can kill all the young and then get to the mother in another"--he looked at the clock on the wall--"nine hours, we can avoid having to deal with another, even larger hatching cycle, as each surviving animal will give birth to another hundred young."

"And if even one of the offspring survives?" the director, CIA, asked.

"It starts all over again," Niles said.

The president looked from each of his highest advisers, then back into the camera. "Mr. Compton, you are to take complete control of the visitor, and Major Collins and your Group are still in charge of everything underneath the soil of that valley. Tell Major Collins to kill the bastards, Niles."

Julie watched as the giant MH-53J Pave Low Ills of the Third Special Operations Squadron circled the town. She felt somewhat safer after she noticed the large rotary cannons sweeping the desert below from the side doors and rear ramps. Also crisscrossing the town were ten AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters with their lethal load of sixteen Hellfire missiles, and seeing the chin-mounted M230 thirty-millimeter chain guns moving and covering the area around the buildings at least gave the survivors the illusion of safety. Above even them were hordes of streaking fighter aircraft. Upon their arrival, the few surviving townspeople and news crews gave a loud cheer.

But Julie's mind was somewhere else. She looked at the injured soldiers and civilians spread out over the rooftop of her once quiet and out-of-the-way bar and grill, their awful wounds being tended to by army medics, and bit her lower lip as she made a fateful decision.

"Mom, what are you doing?" Billy asked, trying to catch up with her retreating form. "Lieutenant Ryan said to stay put."

She quickly walked to the small trapdoor that some of the fleeing patrons had used to access the roof. She looked around to see if anyone was watching, but they were still staring skyward as the giant twin-turbocharged helicopters started making their run for the rooftops.

"You stay here, I've got to find out if Hal and Tony are alright," she yelled over the rotor noise. "I just can't leave without knowing."

"Mom, that's nuts. Ryan said he would be right back, and that major guy will be seriously pissed," Billy pleaded, tugging at her shirt. "Let them check, Mom, they won't leave anyone."

"They're our family, Billy. We have to be sure. I'm only going in for a minute." Then she opened the trapdoor and disappeared down the darkened staircase.

Billy looked around nervously and wished Gus were here, but he and Matchstick had been lifted off with Ryan, the colonel, and the major twenty minutes before. He was guessing they were at the crash site. He bit his lip as he too made a decision, then followed his mother.

You're going to what?" Lisa asked a little too loudly.

Sarah checked her pack one more time, then she looked around at the preparing Delta and Ranger teams as they checked their equipment. Only a few of them looked their way when Lisa raised her voice. Sarah looked at her friend and nodded toward the commandos sitting around them at tables. Then she withdrew the nine-millimeter automatic from the shoulder holster and chambered a round, checked the safety, then replaced it. She checked for the fifth time the small oxygen tank that was lying on the cot and saw the needle well into the green. Then she turned and faced her friend.

"I'm leading the main excursion into the first excavation made by the parent, right here at the crash site," she finally answered as nonchalantly as she could.

"That's nuts, sister of mine. Did you hear what those things are capable of? Did you see the wounds on some of those airborne guys?" Lisa looked around her and stepped closer to Sarah. "Does Major Terrific know about this?"

A few more of the Delta and one or two of the Rangers looked up at the two women, who stood toward the front of the huge tent. Lisa eyed them until they looked away.

Sarah held the night-vision goggles to her eyes and adjusted the width of the eyepieces. "Lisa, it's my job, and, yes, it's the major's plan. He chose me. The geology teams are split up among the other tunnel teams." She lowered the ambient-light device and looked at her taller friend. "Look, we have to find these things in less than nine hours, and if the air force is cut loose on them, we won't be able to piece together enough bodies to tell how many we bagged. It's not like I won't have company. Other members of the mine and geology teams, plus the zoology members, are leading groups into over fifty holes. Besides, since those Delta guys and Rangers arrived, our odds of surviving have gone up substantially."

Lisa walked over and closed the tent flap, cutting off some of the sunlight and noise from the helicopters coming and going.

"That's those things' turf down there, and now you're volunteering to go into those holes? Has the major lost his fucking mind?"

Sarah turned and looked at her roommate while inserting a thirty-round magazine into her XM8 light assault rifle. "Why aren't you that concerned about Carl or the commandos going down there? Why me?" she asked, looking her friend directly in her eyes.

Lisa didn't back down. "Because, goddamn you, they're macho schmucks with not one fucking ounce of brains, which I used to believe you had, but I guess not."

"It's my fucking job, Lisa," Sarah said in a harsh whisper. "What do I say on my first mission, 'Oh, can't do it... a little too dangerous'?"

Lisa lowered her head and bit her lip, cutting off more of her argument because she knew her friend was right.

"I'll be okay. If I have to, I'll toss a few of those Delta Force guys in front of me and run like hell, alright?" Sarah looked over and smiled at the few of the elite troops who were still watching them. They nodded.

Lisa smiled for the first time since her friend's arrival. "Just watch out for Carl, he thinks he's the hero type."

"I would, but he's not on my team. But he's with Jack, that spunky little navy guy, and Will Mendenhall, so he'll come back, I promise," Sarah said, taking her friend's hand into her own. "I've got to go, Lisa. We have a briefing in five. Those things don't know it yet, but it's our turn to start hunting them."

Julie slowly stepped off the bottom rung of the ladder, afraid the noise of her tennis shoe coming into contact with the broken floor would be enough to bring one of those things up through the broken tile and grab her away. But all was quiet in the kitchen. She saw a hole that had been made during the attack and stared into the dark and forbidding pit and shivered. Blood lined the mouth of the hole, and she silently prayed it hadn't been Hal or Tony who had been pulled down to their death. As she moved forward, she heard the hiss and pop of the jukebox as the needle was stuck and kept hitting the stop and sliding back.