* * *
Cruz, taking up position with his squad behind a large ornamental wrought iron gate, did see. The pyramid itself, still buried somewhere inside the Regenstein, wasn’t visible from their vantage point. But a sudden violet flare seemed to reach through the wall of the library and intersect the body of the Blackhawk.
It didn’t disintegrate the helicopter. It did cut the engines.
It also “disappeared” two of the soldiers inside the helicopter, including the copilot. Reacting frantically to the Master Caution Light—practically every light on the warning panels was on—the pilot lowered the nose steeply to avoid stalling and flattened the blades. Forty feet from the ground, he yanked on the collective to make the blades bite and slow the descent.
Watching from the ground, Cruz knew nothing about what was happening inside the helicopter. But he did understand that the pilot was trying to bring it down by autorotation—and Anibal knew as well that “autorotation” is a euphemism for controlled crash.
He was hollering for a medic before the helicopter hit the ground in a crumpled mess straddling the pavement and the street. Men spilled out like fury, running for cover. The pilot, his face a bloody mask, staggered out clinging to someone’s shoulder.
Sergeant Cruz exhaled. He hadn’t even realized he’d been holding his breath. Aliens!
He tried to console himself with the thought that the helicopter hadn’t actually been disintegrated or anything. The thought did not cheer him up very much.
5
It looks fishy to me.
To a younger son of a farmer, the army had seemed like a pretty good option. Hell. It had seemed like the only option at the time. A short stint and then college. Shepherding these two along to Major Gervase, Corporal Jim McKenna began to seriously wonder about other options. The tall civilian named Professor Tremelo seemed okay, even if he was dressed in what seemed to be his pajamas and a lab coat. Hell, he’d been herding the police officer along. The guy was supposed to be a lieutenant, for Christ’s sake. The heavyset cop had been acting like a kid with a wet diaper when the professor had called them.
That hail had nearly gotten them shot. The paratroopers were more than a little jumpy after what had happened to the chopper. Fortunately, Sergeant Cruz had steady nerves and quick reactions, so he’d kept his men from opening fire. McKenna was more than a little jumpy himself, truth to tell. Seeing two crewmen disappear in a violet flash wasn’t something they prepared you for in jump school.
* * *
Major Gervase was on the telephone in the command post when Corporal McKenna came in with the two men he was escorting.
“Yes, sir,” the major was saying. “You can reassure the President that whatever the thing is doing, nothing has come out of it—yet. And the alien object is still just a single item. No sign of any more being built. I’ve got scouts within thirty-five meters of it.”
The major raised his eyes to heaven as the distant questioner held forth. “Yes, sir. As I’ve already said, sir. Distance and cover seem to make no difference at all within a radius of about five hundred meters. We lost a man standing behind a building which separated him from the object. All I can say is that if any victim is touching another, sir, it seems to mean they both go.”
He paused again. “Yes, sir. The area is being evacuated. Yes, sir. I am aware of the Posse Comitatus regulations.” The major eyed the police lieutenant McKenna had shepherded into the room. “We’ve established liaison with the Chicago police. The colonel will be here within the next few minutes, sir.” McKenna could hear a loud voice droning from the telephone in Gervase’s hand. “Yes, sir.” Drone, drone, drone.
A soldier came hurrying in. The major eyed the out-of-breath runner with relief. “I’m sorry, sir.” He interrupted the flow. “A runner has just come in from one of the outposts. I must deal with the matter immediately, sir.”
The major put the phone down and turned to the panting runner. “Well?”
“Sergeant Roberts sent me, sir. Reporters, sir. Two of them must have sneaked through the cordon. The pyramid got the one. We’ve got the other. She’s, uh, flipped. Sir.”
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156