Off-Roading #2
Demon pressed a few keys on the dashboard that looked like typical radio controls, including a few extra ones that normally wouldn’t be there.
The lights on the outside of the truck went off, and there was a moment of panic until he realized he could still see outside because the windows were showing green, gray, and black shapes.
Ironically, he could actually see better than with the traditional headlights.
Steel accelerated, and they barreled around a bend in the road, which Triumph was sure they did on two wheels.
He barely managed to pull Glennon into his lap when the vehicle veered sharply into the terrain to the right.
The truck felt like it went airborne for several seconds, then hit the ground and kept right on going.
Making sure to clutch her head to his chest to prevent it from bouncing and snapping her neck, he watched out the back of the truck, but nothing followed them.
They’d dodged the other vehicle. There really hadn’t been time to register more than a quick adrenaline rush, but now relief passed over him.
It quickly dissipated when Steel spoke again.
“They continued on that road. We’ll lose a little bit of that extra time to off-road travel.
We’re gonna have about one minute when we get to the airstrip, so have your backpack on and be ready to move.
Demon will grab Glennon. Our pilot will take off before we’re even out of the truck, so you’re going to have to get buckled into your seat quickly. ”
The next few minutes were tense. When they finally came out of the trees, the airstrip loomed ahead, and the jet was running and waiting. Suddenly, a loud whistling hit the air above them, and then an explosion as a grenade hit too close to the jet.
“Feck! Guess they were closer than we thought,” Demon shouted. He spoke into his watch. “Medusa, get the hell out of there!”
Seconds later, Triumph watched as the pilot flew out of the back of the plane, zigzagging across the dirt strip.
Steel changed his direction and headed to cut her off.
The next thing Triumph knew, the plane was a fiery mass, the shock wave of the explosion sending Medusa face-first onto the ground, but on the other side of a giant fireball.
Holy fuck! The only reason he wasn’t completely losing his shit was that he knew only Medusa would have been aboard the plane, and he’d witnessed her exiting.
“Mierda!” Steel shouted. “Medusa, come in!”
There was nothing but silence over their earpieces.
Demon shouted, “Get out of here, Steel. Fire trail!”
No questions asked, Steel floored the accelerator and took off in the opposite direction of the plane.
Triumph looked out the rear window to see the flames from the initial explosion were racing along the ground toward the tree line.
Fuel had spread along the dirt runway, allowing the fire to feed.
Moments later, a second explosion wracked what was left of the jet wreckage.
His eyes searched the fire line, desperate for any sight of the pink-haired pilot, but the flames were too high and fierce now.
“Guess it’s time for plan B,” Demon yelled. He punched another button that made the entire dashboard light up red, then pressed another button that brought up a video chat.
“Midas, we lost the jet on the airstrip. Medusa managed to escape the jet before it blew up, but we can’t raise her on the comms. We’re cut off from her by a fire line stretching the length of the runway.”
On the screen, a man with dark, close-cropped hair and gold wire-rimmed glasses appeared. He was the tech guru on the same team as Demon and Steel.
“We’ve got her tracker and body cam online. She’s fine and already heading in the opposite direction. She’ll get herself to another rendezvous point.”
Triumph felt relief that the pilot was okay, but she was out there alone. They were just going to leave her? That didn’t seem right.
“Shouldn’t we—”
Demon laughed. “Medusa is more dangerous to them than they are to her. Trust me. She’s fine. How’s the patient?”
“Still out. Not sure how she slept through all of that.”
“Her body needs rest. The brain has probably shut down everything it can to protect the body.”
“What’s the plan, Midas?”
“We need you to find us another route out of here and fast. It won’t take them long to realize we’re alive.
” His eyes were off-screen, staring intensely at another monitor, and his fingers were flying across the keyboard, his face scrunched up.
“There’s only one road in and out of that place.
Are you seriously off-roading in the middle of a forest?
Cool. Lemme know how the suspension holds so I can report back to Medusa. ”
“I’ll get right on that. C’mon, Golden One, get us out of here. I’d rather not get caught out here with our dicks hanging out,” Demon replied.
“Amen,” Steel murmured, just loud enough for Triumph to hear him.
“I hate that nickname,” Midas muttered.
Triumph spoke up from the back. “Not to ruin the fun, but you mentioned plan B. What’s plan B?”
Demon answered, “Steel has friends in a small village not far from here. About an hour. They can give us a place to spend the night and regroup.”
“What about our friends at the airstrip?”
Midas piped in. “I’ve got no visual, gang. Cameras on the jet are fried, and there’s nothing anywhere near that airstrip. You’re blind.”
“Mierda,” Steel murmured. “Can’t you hack a drone or a satellite or something? Why do we have you?”
“Bite me. I said ‘I’ve got no visual,’ not that I wouldn’t get one eventually.”
Triumph moved as close to the interior window as he could, inserting his head between the driver and passenger.
“Midas, I might have an option, but I can’t get to my tablet at the moment.
Call Tripoli. He’s got some military contacts in San Diego, and he’s collected a lot of markers over his twenty years in the Navy.
He might be able to get you something military, and it will be faster than either of us hacking in. ”
“Pays to collect markers. Keep the channel open, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can find something.” The screen went black.