Ever Hayes - Emergency Exit

The two approaching helicopters were Apaches, far more armed and dangerous than their Blackhawk, but they weren’t expecting the helicopter to be hostile. As Lazzo flew the Blackhawk inside their defense range, he fired two missiles at each. The Apaches tried to avoid them, but it was far too late. They both exploded into flames, and Lazzo flew the Blackhawk directly between the balls of fire. Danny directed him to fly to Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. It was north from the direction we’d been traveling but through largely remote desert space. From the helicopter we could hear nothing but radio silence for now, thanks to Eddie. That wouldn’t last long. While it was unlikely anyone would be radioing Denver directly from the lake, it wouldn’t take them long to get past Eddie and get to a radio in Page. The higher chain of command would be reached and updated quickly after that, and half an hour or so later they’d be mobilizing aircraft from all the southern bases. It was unlikely anyone would see a reason to contact Nellis, well north of Lake Powell. At least that’s what Danny was counting on.

He turned around and looked back at the rest of us. Tara and Kate smiled up at him. Blake and I both gave him a thumbs up. Sam was sitting a few feet from him, with his back to Danny. Danny tapped him on the shoulder and Sam turned to look at him. Danny held his hand up. “High five!”

Sam smiled. “Ha ha. Jackass.”

Man, it was good to see Danny smile!

This time Danny was right. No one was expecting us to head north, at least not to Nellis Air Force Base. We landed at the base, not long after midnight, and caught the few guards who were there by surprise. They approached the helicopter, and Lazzo ducked out, in uniform, to talk to them. The rest of us stayed in the helicopter. A few silenced gunshots later, Lazzo opened the passenger doors and led us towards a dark hangar. We entered the hangar and found the midsized cargo plane, a C-130, right where the last living guard had told him it would be. He and Danny hid us on the plane and then left for about twenty minutes with some explosives. They came back and calmly boarded the plane, merely nodding to the rest of us. We didn’t ask any questions.

We knew the plane engines would draw a curious crowd but powered it up anyway, pulled out of the hangar, and rolled towards the distant runway. Sure enough, troops came scrambling out of a nearby building to see what the noise was. Fortunately, without reason to suspect any form of threat, they merely either headed back to bed, or wandered towards the tower to see what was going on. The explosion that greeted those who opened the tower door also took out the entire communication system. Similar explosions followed minutes later as we took off and the troops behind us scrambled to open the other hangar doors. As best they could, Lazzo and Danny had limited their options of both communication and pursuit.

We began our eight-hour, 2,800-mile, direct line flight towards Hawaii on a nearly full tank. Lazzo figured we’d be cutting it close, but with an approximate three-thousand-mile range, the C-130 should make it. It was what was coming behind us we were more worried about. The C-130 had no defense system. A one to two-hour head start would have to be enough. Lazzo told Danny most jet fighters could fly almost 1,400 miles an hour. If they knew where to find us, we’d never make it. Danny didn’t tell the rest of us that.

We were huddled in the back of the airplane with two brand new jeeps and crates of weapons. The events of the day, and for many of us the entire trip, were flashing through our minds like slideshows. We’d seen so many things we’d never dreamed of. The kids were scared but holding it together. Tara and I were snuggling for extra warmth, with Emily wedged between us. No one was talking. We were content to just sit together in the dark, to pray, and to wait—and pray. We’d made it this far. We only needed to make it a little bit further. But then, we all knew about the defense system protecting Hawaii. How were we supposed to get past it? Would we get shot down ourselves?

Nine hundred miles from Hawaii the first planes crossed our radar screen, but they didn’t seem to see us. Lazzo explained about the Integrated Defense Avionics system in C-130s. It was advanced technology, but other aircraft with the same system would be able to detect us. Some jets had it, others didn’t. Basically the system allowed aircraft to fly low over occupied enemy territory and map out troop movement and placement. It scrambled radio signals and bounced radar “flags” off inanimate objects. If we passed over a ship, our radar position could be redirected to that of the ship temporarily, something to that effect. It wasn’t new technology, but it was all we had.

An hour later, there were five dots on our radar screen. Three of them passed behind us and apparently didn’t see us, but the other two passed directly in front of us, and they definitely saw us. We were only 560 miles out now from the Hickam-Pearl Harbor Air Force Base. Danny was radioing every five minutes, desperately trying to reach someone in Hawaii. The airplanes circled around and flew by us one more time. The radio crackled, and we heard a voice speak in poor English. They were asking for a code word. We knew nothing of any code word and knew if we gave the wrong one we’d be shot down instantly. We ignored it, and Danny yelled back at us to put our parachutes on. He came back and helped strap us in as quickly as he could. He assisted Blake and Sam first, and they helped everyone else. Lazzo whistled at him and said, “Danny, they’re coming.”

“Open the back door!” Danny yelled. Lazzo flipped the lock switch and then released the back door. Danny tried the radio one more time and said, “Hawaii, this is Air Force One. Please respond.”

He was shocked when a voice replied.

“Go ahead Air Force One,” it said.

Danny had been about to put the radio down. Instead he squeezed the talk switch as Lazzo slugged his arm and pointed at the screen. Missiles had been fired. Danny screamed at the rest of us, “Hold on. Grab the kids.” We did as the plane rocked violently to the side. Most of us managed to hold on as two more explosions rocked the plane even more violently. These explosions jarred Mom, Isaac, Emily, and Kate loose, and they were launched across the back of the airplane. I heard Tara scream, and saw she wasn’t holding Emily anymore, but I couldn’t see where she’d gone. Isaac went straight out the door. Kate rolled across the floor of the cargo hold, bounced off the wall hard, and spun limply out the door. Mom caught a handhold momentarily by the back door but was barely holding on.

Dad was up instantly when Mom and Emily were separated from us. As I stood he shoved me back down and yelled, “Stay there!” Blake was second up and, as Isaac was sucked out, he too was running, with Dad, towards the back door. He had reached out for Kate, as she tumbled by, but he’d missed her and she disappeared out the back with Isaac. Blake grabbed a large bag off the wall, containing an inflatable raft, and threw it out the back door, launching himself out after it. At the same time Dad had caught up to Emily and was no more than a few feet from Mom. He had a firm hold on Emily, but he couldn’t hold on to her and reach Mom. He could only save one. “Don’t let her go!” Mom yelled at him. I watched in what seemed like slow motion as Mom seemed to intentionally let go and was sucked out the back door. She apparently didn’t want Dad to have to make that decision. She hit something hard on her way out, and Dad just held Emily tight. The rest of us were frozen in place.