For a few moments it seemed to Jim Hilton that the shooting had nothing to do with them or with the hovering Chinook.
The amplified voice carried on for several seconds, as though the speaker was oblivious to what was happening below them.
“We’ll take you north, to the secret base. Code name is Aurora. Before we land there’ll be identification and… What the sweet fuck is going on, Major?”
The noise was like someone tearing along a seam in a bolt of silk.
Kyle was closest to Jim, yelling. “What they shooting?”
“Don’t know. Machine gun of some sort, I guess. Nanci?”
“Probably they’ve somehow managed to obtain a military SAW.”
“What’s that?”
“Squad Automatic Weapon. Replaced the good old M-60 years ago. Lighter and faster. Listen to it go. The M-265. Eight hundred rounds a minute. Put a hole in a steel helmet at a mile.”
The chopper had started to climb, slipping sideways toward them as it tried to dodge the stream of bullets from out in the desert. There wasn’t just the machine gun, but the single shots of rifles, as well. The searchlight had gone off, but the loudspeaker was still switched on.
“Get the missiles primed, Major! Jesus, they hit us!”
Down on the ground they could hear the end, even before they saw the flash of fire. Lead sliced through the camouflaged fuselage of the big helicopter, perspex smashed, men yelled. The turbo-powered engine was faltering, then racing out of gear.
“That’s it,” Nanci shouted.
There was enough light now for them to see that the Chinook was doomed. One rotor had jammed, and the other was flailing erratically with broken blades. The whole body of the chopper was starting to revolve, nose up. Someone managed to get a missile off in those last, doomed seconds. It flew erratically into the air, straightening toward the west, and vanished, leaving only the pale, feathered plume of its vapor trail behind it.
The shooting had stopped abruptly, the hidden group of ambushers able to see that they’d achieved their aim.
“Look out!” shouted Jeff Thomas, throwing himself flat in the street, followed by Sly Romero, whimpering in terror.
But the rest of them could see that the tumbling helicopter wasn’t going to come down all that near to them.
Like a demented banshee, the amplified voice gave a final truncated cry.
“Hilton… Aurora. North to… Oh, shi—”
There was a dazzling burst of light, blooming from near the tail of the Chinook. It was white-hot silver at its center, shading through gold to smoky crimson near its edges. There was surprisingly little noise for such a bright explosion, just a soft rumble that rolled out across the wilderness all around the old ghost town, echoing from the distant mountains in a whisper of sound.
The point of impact, as near as Jim Hilton could figure it, was around six hundred yards from the edge of Calico. Roughly northeast, in the general direction of the long-abandoned military installation of Fort Irwin,
The fire burned with a terrible crackling intensity for less than twenty seconds, then the night came flooding in again, riding on the back of an immense stillness.
“No point going to look for survivors from that,” said Carrie.
Steve had helped his son to his feet, patting him on the shoulder to reduce the trembling terror to an occasional gulping sniff.
“That’s the end.” Jeff Thomas turned on his heel and started to walk quickly back toward their sleeping quarters.
Jim Hilton stopped him. “Wrong,” he said. “Guess it’s more like a beginning.”
Kyle Lynch had brought out his Mannlicher .357 rifle and now he rested the stock gently on the stones by his bare feet. “You reckon those guys with the guns’ll be coming in to see us, Captain?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Nanci started to speak, but he talked over her. “They’ll have heard the loudspeaker and know that we’re here.”
“Whoever they are,” said Kyle.
“Could make a guess.” Nanci Simms was looking around at the desolate ruins of the old township. “Best get ready for them, Jim,” she said.
“Sure. But who do you think they are?”
She took him by the arm, leading him away from the others with a surprisingly strong grip. “You know that Jeffs told you I’m a teacher.”