A roar from outside the tower, rising rapidly and then falling again, signaled the unknown intruder making a low pass over the base. Charlie turned in his seat to confront the stunned expressions on the faces of Keene and Colby. Lacey, his face paling, stepped forward behind them. “We’re too late,” Charlie repeated, his voice barely above a whisper. “All this time we’ve been trying to figure out how to stop them getting in. And they’re in there already!”
34
Most of the others around the floor were too busy with their tasks to realize what was happening. Lacey’s adjutant, however, had been following from a short distance and came across. “It was the C-130,” he breathed.
Numbed, Keene merely jutted his jaw at Lacey inquiringly. “We had an old C-130 come in earlier,” Lacey said. “With everything that’s been going on I’d forgotten about it. It had all the proper clearances from Launch Operations. We sent it up by Security Gate Three, which leads straight through to the Boxcar launch area. That has to be how they got in.”
“Queal fixed for it to be opened from the inside,” Colby groaned.
“The Distress Call is on final, looking okay,” the operator tracking the approaching plane from the west announced.
On the screen showing the inside of OLC-6 East, Andy Lintz looked up, sending what looked as if it was meant to be an apologetic grin to someone behind the viewing angle, and backed away with his hands raised. A moment later, the screen blanked out.
“What’s that intruder doing?” Lacey shot across at the other operators.
“Going into a tight turn about five miles out, climbing slightly. Looks as if it’s going to circle.”
“Maybe they’re not all in yet,” Colby said suddenly. “The C-130 might just have been the door-opener for Queal’s FAST team to make contact with the inside group.” He pointed to the console where the intruder was being tracked. “That has to be Voler and the rest of them showing up now. They were supposed to land as soon as the move was made inside, but the runway’s obstructed by that S.O.S. that’s coming in.”
It made sense. “Maybe . . .” Keene nodded slowly. But what could they do about it? An AP officer was trying to pull together a security contingent, but he hadn’t reported back. In any case it was all too late now. All they could do was watch impotently and wait for events to unfold. To have gotten this close . . . As the realization slowly soaked in, Keene found himself feeling sick somewhere deep in his stomach.
And then the adjutant officer took a call from the tower switchboard downstairs. “Somebody in OLC-6 is asking to talk to the tower supervisor,” he announced.
“Tell them to put it through here,” Lacey said. Moments later, a swarthy-faced figure wearing an Air Force parka and colonel’s insignia appeared on an auxiliary screen of the console that Charlie was sitting at. “This is Colonel Lacey, base commander, at present supervising tower operations. Who is this?”
“It doesn’t matter who I am. All you need to know is that we have control of the OLC complex and access to it from the runway area, and we are currently holding General Ullman and his immediate staff. Just cooperate, and nobody need get hurt.”
“His name’s Delmaro,” the adjutant murmured, moving alongside Lacey. “One of General Ullman’s staff officers.”
Keene started and caught Colby’s look as his eyes widened. Ullman hadn’t been part of it! Queal’s inside man was one of Ullman’s subordinate commanders. They could have gone to the top, all along. Keene’s feeling of nausea increased.
“What do you want?” Lacey asked tightly.
“Good.” Delmaro nodded. “The aircraft that is about to land on the main runway now is carrying the visitors from Kronia, who are under armed supervision. Their well-being, I don’t have to remind you, is a matter of considerable importance to the government of this nation. It will therefore be in your own best interests to cooperate. We require safe passage for them to Security Gate Three, where they will be received by a force from inside this complex. Is that clear and understood?”