Page 28 of Zero Visibility

Ben scrubbed a hard across his face. “I have no idea what to do. I’ll call Cole for a location to land and a means to be mobile.” He fished out his phone and hit redial.

“Are you safe?” Cole asked in the way of greeting.

Ben hated giving his friend bad news, but it was unavoidable. “Far from it. Legion’s people showed up at the landing strip. They shot Jen—” His voice broke with worry for his wife.

“Oh, Ben. I’m so sorry. Is she going to be okay?”

Ben tried to collect himself. “I don’t know. Doctor Simpson has her stable. We’re in trouble, Cole.” He told Cole about the missile strikes. “Legion will be tracking us now. I expect them to scramble fighter jets to shoot us down at any time. We need a way out and we need it quickly.”

“Hold on.” Ben could hear Cole speaking with James, their technology guru, before he came back on the line again. “We’re going to try and hack into the North American Air Defense computers. See if we can scramble their tracking radar. In the meantime, I have a suggestion. There’s a ranch about a hundred miles from your location. I know the owners and I’ll notify them you’re coming. There’s plenty of open fields around. The landing will be rough, but you don’t have much of a choice. I’ll have them lend you a vehicle that should get you all here safely.” Cole gave him the coordinates.

“James’s team is good, but I don’t know if they’re good enough to hack the Air Defense computers and he’s still working on the cloaking software that will make the plane untraceable. Until James has it completed, you need to get on the ground as soon as you can.” Cole didn’t mince words. “I’m praying for Jen. God’s got her in the palm of His hand. Trust Him.” Cole ended the call.

Ben desperately wanted to believe his friend, but a lot of things had taken a beating with Legion’s rise to power. One of them, his faith.

“Cole’s got a place for us to land.” Ben gave Lincoln the coordinates. “We’ll have to land in a field, but Cole knows the owners. They’ll keep quiet and they have a vehicle we can use.”

“That’s good news,” Lincoln said and put in the coordinates.

Ben just hoped James was able to keep the jets off them long enough to reach the landing spot. As if in answer to his troubling thoughts, Lincoln gave him the dreadful news. They had hostiles on their tail.

“Lincoln, we need a miracle.” Ben was all out of suggestions. It was time for God’s intervention if they were going to escape this latest threat.

“I’m going to try to outmaneuver them. There’s a mountain range up ahead. If they’re not used to flying under these conditions, we have a chance. Everyone, hang on!” Lincoln increased the plane’s speed. It didn’t work. “They’re gaining.”

Ben stared out the front of the plane. They were heading straight for the mountain range in front of them. “You got this?” Ben asked Lincoln. The rocks were coming up quickly.

“I sure hope so.” Lincoln suddenly pulled up. Ben hit the floor hard and slid toward the back of the plane. He scrambled to help keep Jen stable while the cabin’s pressure made his ears pop.

They plane was almost completely vertical now. Ben braced himself to keep Jen from slamming against the wall. Everett and Nancy were not as lucky. They hit the side of the cabin. Nancy banged her head. The plane slowly leveled out.

“We’re clear,” Lincoln announced. “Now we see how welltheycan fly.”

The plane cleared the mountain chain. Ben relaxed his grip on the seat and knelt beside his wife.

The cabin rocked with the effects of an explosion as one of the jets struck the side of the mountain and went up in a fireball. Where was the second one?

Lincoln dived low and tilted on the plane’s right wing. Nancy screamed. At the front of the plane, Lincoln white-knuckled the lever until it was righted. “Still back there.” Lincoln shouted out. “They’re on our tail. Hang on.”

Ben braced once more. The fighter jet opened fire. Shots tinged off metal.

“They’re trying to shoot us down.” The fear on Everett’s face was clear.

“The engine’s hit!”

Ben rose and hurled himself toward the cockpit. “Can you land it?”

“I can if that fighter doesn’t do it for us.”

The reality of their situation threatened to take Ben’s legs out from underneath him. “Do what you have to do.” The words were barely out when another attack took out their second engine.

“We’re in trouble,” Lincoln told them. “The second damaged engine is on the same side as the first one. That’ll create more drag. We’re too heavy and high. I’m going to reduce altitude and get as low to the ground as I dare. Hopefully, that Raptor won’t be able to follow.”

The plane dove quickly. Ben glanced out the window. They were just above the treetops.

“We’re almost to the location for the landing. We can’t afford to go down there. They’ll have troops to the spot before we can get out of sight.”

“What do you suggest?” Ben asked Lincoln as the plane continued to hover above the trees.

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