The Quantum Leap - Part 23

“Do we have a 20 on where that hostile air come from?” Daniel asked, making a few more notes on his handheld. His voice was getting deeper.

The Shadow behind him pointed out several technical details on their monitor and then replied, “It appeared approximately 1-5-0 miles below the planet’s stratosphere.” The planet was surrounded by a blanket of friendly spacecraft. There was no way in heck anything was gonna get through a perimeter like that—not with the Shadows in tactical command.

Tactical data from New Horizon was still coming in about the orbiting Union ships. A meteorite the size of a tennis ball didn’t have a chance. The other Union ships were helping to form an extended perimeter—Britain, Russia, Peru, and Brazil were right on time. And according to the long-range sensors, more ships were coming. The Shadow at comms was going to have more to relay to Major Storm before long.

Daniel’s eyebrows dropped as he turned to look over his right shoulder, confused at what he had just heard. “How did they get through the orbital perimeter?”

But did they? The Shadow asked himself. More tactical data had just come in. He scanned the new tactical data in three seconds and then looked at Storm, “Negative! They didn’t! They used some kind of inter-dimensional transit system that is not on record.” What he had to report next didn’t make any sense to him, “They’re heading for a landing pattern about ten clicks south-south-west of our position.”

“Have we been detected?” Daniel asked directly.

The Shadow turned his head, “Negative. Hostile air is continuing on their original course. They’ll pass over us at about two-hundred-meters out. They appear to be armed for bear,”

Daniel faced forward. “Comms, let’s get the contact on New Horizon’s radar. Advise possible shoot-down needed.” What the heck are enemy aircraft doing here, now? Daniel asked himself, eyeing the contacts in a corner of the viewscreen.

“Sir, group two has stopped. Bio scans are indicating numerous hostiles directly ahead of their location,”

Daniel was fixed on the viewscreen.

The leading soldier of group two led group two to the right, and then a sharp left, hugging the wall as three aliens walked by in a hurry. The aliens seemed completely oblivious to them. Good.

Group two’s lead’s I.R. scanner attachment scanned the corridor ahead. The results appeared on his headgear—there was what appeared to be some kind of a utility management room to their right. He gestured to phase through the wall. Breaching it would draw unwanted attention and could put the hostage at risk. Not an option.

Group two reached for their phase unit on their left shoulders. Group two’s lead entered a brief numerical sequence and then nodded. Lead noticed another group of aliens was rushing down the corridor. Group two activated their phase units—seemingly moving through the wall’s inner mechanical workings, and then stopped inside the room. Thank goodness for infrared and thermal vision. Another I.R. scan revealed the facility infrastructure led throughout the bowels of this place, including where Captain Winter’s bio-signs were coming from.

“I need eyes on the hostage!” Daniel commanded over the encrypted radio. “Deploy microdrone!”

Group two’s lead gestured for the rest of the group to take up defensive positions in the room. Two soldiers aimed at the doorway, the rest formed a rectangular formation, enabling the rest of the squad to monitor any other potential entrance into the room. Group two’s lead reached for a small gum stick-sized gadget on the back of his waist utility belt then placed it on the top of one of the pipes leading into the brick face. The gadget’s magnetic base quietly attached to the pipe in an instant. It maintained its phase. He tapped a few buttons on the back of the device to activate it and then activated an uplink relay to Odyssey.

“Activate electro-mag propulsion on the drone,” Daniel commanded to the Shadow sitting behind him.

“Roger that. E-M propulsion is enabled at this time,”

The drone instantly hovered one-half-inch over the pipe.

The microscopic ultra-high-definition infrared camera on the front of the device sent a secure video feed to Odyssey’s main viewscreen. “Alright, let’s move out the drone. Get the drone to Captain Winter’s location as quick as possible,”

“Aye, sir!”

After rapidly navigating miles of the base’s infrastructure, the Shadow behind Daniel ordered the drone to stop, then rotated the drone left by 60 degrees. The Shadow changed the camera’s vision mode to X-Ray. The video and audio feed was clear. Captain Winter was strapped down to a chair and appeared to have been mistreated with some bruising on his face and a few small cuts on his chin.

A dark figure entered the room and approached the dark figure that was standing in front of Aaen, handing it a small device that the first dark figure proceeded to hold to its head.

“Yes, sir?” The alien said darkly, then paused. “WHAT?—WHY? We have the goods, plus a hostage, now!. . . There is NO evidence The Union is involved, or that they have any idea we are holding one of their officers’ hostage!. . . We can still pull this off! If you just give us the time we—!. . . You’re really going to do that? WE HAD A DEAL, QUAKE! . . . WELL, I’M THE ONE WITH THE OLYPHIUM! AND I CAN STILL WEAPONIZE IT and deliver it to where we DISCUSSED!. . . WHAT DO YOU MEAN?. . . .You-wouldn’t-DARE! You’re not the only one with access to your own fleet and the resources to hunt people down! I can find you just as easily!”

“Get me a trace on that wireless signal,” Daniel commanded. “Record the conversation when ready,”

“Aye, sir!” the work was already going swiftly.

The alien lowered the mobile as the line visibly disconnected on the mobile’s display.

“What happened?” the other dark figure asked, looking at the first dark figure.

“Quake just cut us off,” the figure paused, “We’re on our own. He said he will get the Olyphium from somewhere else,” it replied darkly.

The second dark figure turned to Aaen and then darkly asked, “What do we do with the hostage?. . . Should we kill it?”

The first dark figure turned its head and raised its right hand as though to casually gesture to stop, then looked at Aaen, noting he was breathing hard and slowly as though from near-exhaustion; Aaen could feel the throbbing and the sharp soreness of the bruising on his face.

The dark figure said in a grizzly voice, “No. . . I have a different plan in mind.”

*****

Steve H. told Jordan Foutin, "You are the next Tom Clancy. You really are a gifted writer."

Another reader told Jordan Foutin about his novel, "Absolutely life changing. God bless you for this piece of art."

Jordan Foutin's novel Daniel Storm is being given a new title and cover! The novel's new title is STORM TEAM, and will be published on Amazon.com soon as a Kindle eBook, audiobook, and softcover! 

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