Page 25 of Firestorm

James trusted Hannah’s expertise completely. He and Sarah stepped away to give Hannah room to work. “She’s one of our best,” he said because he could see how worried Sarah was.

Sarah watched the people trying to move the plane from the building. “I feel as if I’m going to wake up and realize this is all a dream.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I know that feeling. I’ve had it for…oh, about five years now.”

She slowly faced him. “How do you do it?”

He understood what she meant. The easy answer wasn’t anything close to being easy. “Day by day.” But the truth went much deeper. Until Anana Harbor and Sidney, he hadn’t realized how alone he’d allowed himself to be. After they’d been forced underground and Strike Force was formed, he’d found the family he’d been looking for a long time.

Once the 747-8 was out of the hangar, Peter and Kaid moved the SUV and van into the hangar while the extraction team boarded.

Tucker was the last onboard. He claimed the pilot seat. “Heads up. There are multiple vehicles on the road we just traveled down.”

James looked out the window and saw what Tucker had. “Get us in the air.” James moved to the command center. “I’m going to load the cloaking software while were taxiing. We can’t afford to have them locking radar onto us.”

Deacon claimed the copilot seat. “I figured Lincoln could use a break.” He smiled at his friend who willingly agreed.

“Thank you, brother.”

Tucker headed the plane onto the runway that was just wide enough for the massive cargo plane. He didn’t waste time maneuvering it down the runway.

“I count at least three vehicles moving this way,” Ben told them.

“This plane will take a lot of beating, but if they hit the engines, we’ll be in trouble.” James finished the cloaking software load. “How are we coming, Tucker?”

“Hang on. We’re lifting.” Tucker pulled back on the yoke and the heavy plane lifted off, while the vehicles advancing on them did their best to stop them.

Bullets resounded off the side, somehow missing the engines. Once in the air, the massive plane continued its straightforward pattern.

“While your cloaking software might keep them from tracking, they’ll scramble fighters. We won’t be able to hide from them,” Tucker told him.

“Can you keep us from taking a hit if they spot us?”

Tucker smiled, and James liked the man’s moxie. “Oh yeah. Uncle Bud had this plane fully equipped with missiles. No one knew about it but me. I think my uncle suspected something like this might happen one day.”

James wished he’d had the opportunity to meet Uncle Bud. “If we have to use them, we will.” He slipped into the seat beside Sarah.

“Do you think they’ll send fighters?” she asked.

“Probably. The software will keep them from tracking us, but if they scramble fighters in time to catch us before we’re out of this airspace, we’re going to have a battle on our hands to survive.”

The fear in her eyes made him wish he had better news. He clasped her hand. “Tucker knows what he’s doing and so does Deacon. I trust them with my life.” And that’s exactly what they’d be doing.

James called the team in Wyoming to tell them the news.

“Are you all safe?” Victor asked the second he picked up.

“For now.” James told him about Dustin’s betrayal and the race to reach the plane. He turned away slightly because he didn’t want Sarah to hear his doubts. “They saw us, Victor.”

“You think they’ll have fighters on their way soon?”

“I do.”

“What can I do to help?”

James’ mind flew over a possible solution. “We can’t risk our people coming here. It’s too far and too dangerous.”

“James, it’s Garrett. Let me reach out to some of our contacts with planes. We’ll see if we can get you some backup. What’s your location?”

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