D. MacHale - Storm

I yelled to Olivia, “Good thing we don’t have a camera or we’d really be in trouble!”

She didn’t find that funny.

Kent and Tori caught up, and Kent gave me a thumbs-up.

I motioned that I was headed off-road, and he nodded in understanding. I jammed my foot to the floor, turned the wheel, and rolled onto the dry, flat lakebed that would lead us to the infamous Area 51.

There was no way to know if we’d have success, or what that success would mean in the larger war. There was every reason to believe that we would never make it out of this place. Only one thing was certain: We were on the last leg of a journey that began on Pemberwick Island, brought us through the nightmare that our country had become, and found us knocking on the gates of hell.

What we would find once we got inside was anybody’s guess.

Driving across the desert floor was exciting… and terrifying.

It was a breakneck dash across wide-open terrain that left us totally exposed as we moved closer to the death machines that had changed our lives and forever altered the natural course of human events.

I was glad to be behind the wheel. It helped me stay focused. There were too many conflicting thoughts racing through my head. For the longest time, I had put a face on the enemy. Captain Granger. He had held us prisoner on Pemberwick Island and coldly murdered those who crossed him, including Tori’s father. But as the scope of the conflict revealed itself, it seemed possible that Captain Granger and SYLO might have been using their extreme tactics to battle an even greater enemy: the Retros.

I had come close to murdering Granger. That’s how deep my rage went. It was confusing to try to refocus that anger onto a fleet of faceless machines. I needed to hold someone responsible. But who? Was it Feit? I didn’t think so. He was just a cog in the machine, like Chris Campbell or Jon Purcell. I wanted to know who was behind the heinous plan. Was it an individual? A rogue group of Air Force officers? An extremist arm of the government that took control of the Air Force and its most advanced, lethal technology? It might even be a foreign government that was intent on bringing down the United States.

Or was Kent’s theory the truth? Were we battling an invasion from another planet? As strange as it sounds, that would be the easiest explanation to accept, based on the impossible technology they had. It went back to what the old Paiute man said. He couldn’t believe that anyone of this earth could commit such horrible crimes against their own people. We might be battling an advanced civilization from another world that considered the people of earth to be primitive and expendable.

I wanted to hate somebody. I wanted a villain. I wanted somebody to suffer for what was happening. I would have to settle for putting the villains out of business and hope that someday, somehow, the guilty would be brought to justice.

I scanned the desert to both sides, looking for signs of the other teams that were doing the same thing we were. The Chiefs’ plan called for the base to be surrounded by dozens of teams that would converge on Area 51 like a tightening noose. I thought I saw a couple of kicked-up dust clouds in the distance, which would mean that other teams were racing for the planes. We would need every one of the teams to get through, because after seeing all those black planes, I worried that we wouldn’t have enough charges to damage them all.

As we drew dangerously close to the base, I realized that there wasn’t a fence surrounding it. I guess it wasn’t needed. Nobody got this far when it was officially in operation.

I wanted to get close enough to our targets to avoid a long walk but didn’t want to get so close that we might alert someone. It was a strange game of chicken. I finally couldn’t take it anymore and waved to Kent that we were stopping. I gradually slowed as Kent pulled up next to me. We both killed our engines, and the silence of the desert returned.

I pulled off my helmet and listened for any signs of life from the base. There was nothing. I did hear what could have been the engines of other dune buggies off in the distance. Or was it the mysterious helicopter that had checked us out? I couldn’t tell, but it made me realize that as much as we hadn’t seen a single soul since the Paiute man and were in the middle of nowhere, we definitely weren’t alone. But there were no alarms. No counterattack. No defensive move from the base whatsoever.It was looking as though the base was truly unmanned.

I got out of the buggy, tossed off my helmet, and grabbed the pack with the charges.

“Rest of the way on foot,” I announced.

Kent and Tori joined me, ready to go.

Olivia didn’t move.

Uh-oh.

“We gotta go, Olivia,” I commanded.

She took off her helmet but stayed curled in the fetal position.

“I can’t,” she replied in a small voice.

“We can’t leave you here,” Tori scolded.

“Yes, you can,” she whined. “One less person won’t make any difference. Take my stupid bombs. You can still use them.”

Tori gave me a concerned look. “We’re not leaving you alone,” she said more forcefully. “It’s too dangerous.”

“More dangerous than going into that place?” she cried. “I don’t think so.”

She could have been telling the truth and was too scared to move—or she could have been stubbornly pretending to be scared so we’d leave her alone so she could warn the Retros. Either way, I didn’t know how to force her to come.

“Jeez, enough, Tucker,” Kent said. “You already bullied her into coming this far. What’s the difference if she stays here or not? I’ll take her charges and set them.”

“Thank you, Kent,” Olivia said.

I looked to Tori for help.

She had an idea, but it was a drastic one.

She had taken out her pistol.

If Olivia was an infiltrator, she could jeopardize the entire mission. If she refused to come with us, there was one thing we could do to make sure she wouldn’t give us up.

Tori raised the gun.

“No,” I commanded sharply.

It was meant for both Kent and Tori.

I grabbed Olivia’s pack of charges.

“I’ll set her charges.” I then looked right at Tori and said, “Olivia will be here when we get back.” I looked at Olivia and added, “Right?”

“Where else would I be?” she asked innocently.

Tori gave me a grave look and returned her pistol to her belt.

I could only hope that I wasn’t making a horrible mistake. I wanted to believe that Olivia was exactly who she said she was, but I had to accept the fact that she could have been lying. But so what? What could I do about it? If I couldn’t pull the trigger on Granger, I sure as hell couldn’t pull it on Olivia. Or let Tori do it.

But what if I was wrong? No, I had to go with my gut and let her stay behind. I told myself that the operation was already too far along. Even if Olivia was an infiltrator, there wasn’t much she could do to stop it.

That’s what I told myself, anyway.

Kent knelt down next to Olivia and smoothed her hair.

“We won’t be long,” he said soothingly. “You’ll be fine here.”

He really did care about Olivia, in spite of the fact that he kept trying to hook up with Tori. Kent may have been a dog, but he had genuine affection for the girl who had saved his life.

“Thank you,” Olivia said. “I’m sorry. I just can’t.”

“Olivia,” I said and waited until she looked at me before continuing. “You’re a good person. I know you are. We don’t have to leave you here, but we will because you’re our friend and we care about you. Please remember that.”

She closed her eyes, as if trying to stop from crying.