Striker (The Alien Wars Book 2) (21 page)

“What if you head
for the coast instead?” Kenneth suggested. “You heard what that man said, about
the
Philadelphia
.”

“Doesn’t matter.
The aircraft carrier
could be anywhere along the coast, and I don’t have time to find out where it
is. The lodge at
Stinson
Beach
has everything we need—well, almost everything. It doesn’t have a
doctor, but that can’t be helped.” As he folded up the map, he glanced at the
teens. “I can’t see how I’ll find my way back here in the darkness, so whoever
is left behind will have to stay here overnight.”

“Hey, I just
thought of something,” Kenneth said. “Why don’t you fly Lucy to
Stinson
Beach
while
the teens and I drive to the coast in the van?”

“I’m not sure how
much gas is left.”
Logan
skipped over to the van and switched on the engine. As the needle
hovered just above zero, he ground his teeth until something chipped off. “It’s
not going to be enough to get you to
Stinson
Beach
, let
alone the coast.”

“I’m sure we’ll
be able to find some gas along the way.” Kenneth looked at the teenagers. “What
do you think?”

“I don’t want to
end up like that man on the dirt outside,” Molly said.

“I say we wait
until the craft can no longer be seen, and then we’ll make a decision.” Derek
jogged over to the barn doors and peered out of a crack. “There’s still one
Conqueror above
Redding
, so as long as that stays there, I’m not going anywhere.”

“Neither am I,”
Logan
said. “I just
hope it doesn’t stay too long. I know I can survive the night in this barn if I
have to, but I’m not sure Lucy can.” He dashed over to the van. “Kenneth, can
you help me get her out of the vehicle so we can lay her down on this pile of
hay over here?”

“Sure,” Kenneth
replied.

The two brothers
carried Lucy out of the van and placed her on the hay. As they did so,
Logan
bent down and
traced a finger across the necklace around her neck. “Where did this come
from?”

Kenneth frowned.
“I didn’t know Lucy was wearing a necklace.”

“Me neither,”
Molly said.

Logan
gently
unclipped the necklace and examined it in his hand. “I wonder what this key is
for.”

“Maybe she found
it amongst the rubble somewhere,” Derek said

Logan
shook his
head. “No, Lucy doesn’t do that. She’s also not a
hoarder
.
Whoever gave her this necklace was important to her.”

“Maybe it was
from her father, then, as a wedding gift,” Kenneth suggested.

“Possibly.
But I’m …”
Logan
hesitated and
sat down, thinking deeply.

“What is it?”
Molly asked, seeing the confused look on the face of her friend.

“I was talking to
her earlier today, and I could have sworn she wasn’t wearing it then,”
Logan
said. “Before
I went to sleep, we had a small talk. I remember gazing at her and thinking how
beautiful she looked, even when she was angry.”

“She was angry?”
Kenneth repeated.

Logan
laughed.
“Well, frustrated, actually. She wanted to know when
was the
first time that her father and I met
.”

“What has that
got to do with anything?” Molly asked.

“I don’t know,”
Logan
admitted. “I
thought she was just scared and was letting her emotions get the better of her,
but now I’m wondering if this necklace had anything to do with it.” He studied
the key once more. “The thickness and weight of it is quite different from a
car key.”

“Let me have a
look.” Kenneth held out his hand and took the necklace that his brother offered
him. For half a minute or so, he didn’t say anything. Then he looked curiously
at
Logan
. “I might be wrong, but there’s something about this key that is
strangely familiar. As you said, it doesn’t feel anything like a car key or a
house key, but I still believe that I’ve seen a key that is like this.”

Logan
frowned. “You
have?”

“When?”
Molly asked.

“I can’t recall,”
Kenneth stated. “But it was some time ago, back when Mom and Dad were alive.”

Logan
sighed.
“There’s no chance of me remembering then. You’ve got the better memory out of
the two of us.”

“But you’re two
years older than me,” Kenneth stated.

“Yes, that’s
true,”
Logan
admitted, “but that doesn’t help.
Now if I had a
photographic memory, I would be able to tell where this key came from.”

“Well, I’ll keep
thinking, but Lucy can tell us when she wakes up,” Kenneth said.

“Maybe.”
Logan
knelt down
next to Lucy and felt her pulse. He listened for a minute as he calculated her
heart rate. He grimaced.

“Is it worse than
before?” Molly clasped Lucy’s hand.

“Yes, it’s
dropping.”
Logan
felt the woman’s forehead. “She doesn’t seem to have a temperature,
and I can’t see any other symptoms.”

“It’s almost as
though she’s in a coma,” Derek piped up.

“Looks that way.
However, to test
that theory, I should pop over to the farmhouse and see if I can find some
water. If she doesn’t respond to that—”

“But what about the Strikers?”
Derek
interrupted.

“I’ll see if
they’re gone.”
Logan
hurried over to where there was a small hole in the door and looked
through. “I can’t see a Striker, but a Conqueror is still above
Redding
.” He opened
the barn door. “I’ll be back soon.”

~*~*~

Sunset swooped in
fast as Kenneth gazed up at the sky. “You’ll have to fly out tomorrow morning.”

Logan
shook his
head. “There’s a chance no one in the Conqueror will see me.”

“But if they do,
Strikers will be sent out after you, then you’ll have no chance,” Kenneth
muttered. “It will be murder.”

“There’s no other
option.”
Logan
pushed open the big barn doors. “If I wait till tomorrow, Lucy
might not survive. Besides, who knows how long the Conqueror will stay above
Redding
.”

“Can people stay
in a coma for a long time?” Molly questioned.

Logan
made his way
back to the airplane. “Yes, but the longer they stay unconscious, the greater
the chance they won’t ever wake up.” He opened the passenger door of the
machine, and after tossing out a few odds and ends that had been left in the
craft by the owner, he walked over to Lucy. “Kenneth, can you help me carry her
to the plane?”

“I don’t see how
the Conqueror can fail to spot you, but it’s your decision. However, I think
the teens and I should stay here.”

“But there’s room
for two more people,”
Logan
argued as he and his brother carried Lucy toward the plane.

Derek looked at
his sister. “I’m not losing my sister again.”

“And I’m not
losing my brother,” Molly said. “Derek is all I have until our parents are
found, and I wouldn’t feel safe flying in that plane with the Conqueror within
view, but Kenneth can go with you.”

Kenneth shook his
head. “I’m not leaving you two alone in this barn. Besides,
Logan
will have to
come back regardless if I join him this time or not, so there’s no point in me
leaving you unguarded. I said I was going to help you find your parents, and
until that happens, you’re my responsibility.”

Logan
chuckled to
himself. “Like a dog with a bone, but okay, as you wish. I’ll leave
Stinson
Beach
first
thing in the morning.”

Kenneth stood
back as he finished helping Lucy inside and watched as
Logan
did a
last-minute flight check.

Suddenly, a gust
of wind blew one of the barn doors closed.
Logan
stuck his
head out. “Can you open it?”

Kenneth nodded,
turning to the teens as he did so. “Make sure the other one doesn’t blow open.”
He hurried to the closed door and pushed it back open while the teens held on
to the other door.

As the engine
started, Kenneth gazed up at the sky, astonished to see it had rapidly changed
in just the last few minutes. Black clouds scurried across the sky. A change
was afoot in the weather, and off in the distance, it was even raining.

As
Logan
taxied the
machine out onto the dirt and headed toward the nearby field, Kenneth waved
goodbye. The approaching storm might give his brother the break he needed to
escape from the Seods. Then again, it might prove to be his undoing. He hadn’t
flown a plane for some time, and to fly one in this type of weather would be
hard.

Kenneth and the
teens closed the doors and held their breaths as
Logan
taxied across
the grass. The plane spun around, engines already redlined, and rocketed down
the redneck airstrip.

As the wheels
lifted off the grass, Kenneth gave a sigh of relief. The field hadn’t been that
long in length, and without doing a trial run, there had always been a chance
that
Logan
would run out of grass long before he got up to speed.

But that had been
the easy part.

“Do you think
he’ll make it?” Molly asked.

Kenneth nodded
confidently. “Yes. If anyone can make it, it’s
Logan
. He and I
have been through some pretty tough times lately, but we somehow always manage
to get through whatever comes our way. Besides, there’s no point in us thinking
that he won’t …” Something moved in the sky above. His face hardened like steel
as two Strikers shot out of the Conqueror.

 
They aimed directly for
Logan
’s plane.

As red bolts
lanced past
Logan
, singeing the paint with their heat, he glued his attention to the
cheap civilian radar. Despite their head start, the enemy’s
warbirds
were closing in fast. Cursing, he stomped down hard on the rudder, slipping the
plane out of the next burst’s deadly crosshairs.

Straining against
the
g’s
, he forced his eyes open. The heavy rain off
to starboard caught his attention. Without thinking, he dragged the control
stick toward the storm. There was no way he could evade both Strikers in clear
conditions, but if he could make it to the rain clouds, then he would have a
chance. It was recklessly dangerous, but hopefully the murky conditions would
be just as much a hindrance to the Seods.

As another red
bolt shot toward him, he descended sharply. His aircraft sped across abandoned
farm fields below tree height, kicking up a cloud of dust as they shredded corn
and wheat. He weaved left and right, thankful for every second they defied the
odds and edged closer to the storm.

The two Strikers
split up and flew on either side of him. Then, as red bolts sped across the
gap,
Logan
did the only thing he could do. Pushing the rudder hard, he spit in
the face of gravity and tossed the plane into a tight loop. As the craft spun
around, barely under his control, he climbed directly for the sun, praying the
Seods would be blinded for just a few seconds more.

He didn’t have
time to waste as black clouds scurried across the sky and hid the sun. With
nothing better to do while waiting for death, he stole a glance behind him to
check on Lucy. She was still unconscious.
Lucky girl.

Out the corner of
his eye, he caught sight of yet another red bolt. Spinning the machine out of
the way, he dove for the rain clouds. It was now or never. He counted his
heartbeats as they approached the rain drops. And as they splattered down on
his windshield, he let out a sigh.

He wasn’t out of
danger yet, but he now had a chance. And as long as he had a prayer, he would
continue. With every passing second, he
barreled
deeper into the storm. As thunder rumbled all around and the radar fuzzed over,
he craned his neck to peek out the
viewport
.

Logan
couldn’t see
his pursuers, not through all the blinding lightning strikes. It must have cut
both ways, since he was still alive. Now it was time for the final touch.
Shoving the stick to the right, he banked hard for the darkest cloud around. A
red bolt flashed by him only milliseconds after he turned.