Wings of Steele - Destination Unknown (Book 1) (78 page)

"They're
almost on top of us, Jack..."

"Ok,
let us out..." Alité opened the door without extending
the ramp
and
Brian dropped the ship to two feet without using the landing gear.
"See ya' later..." Jack kissed Alité and jumped to
the sand as two F16s whistled overhead. "Uh oh," breathed
Jack, looking up. Fritz jumped, then Lisa. They ran towards the
house as the door of the ship began to close and in the distance the
F16s split in a
Y
,
banking in a tight turn to make a return pass. The Invader lifted
slightly and turned slowly to face the advancing fighters.

"This
is Major Sutton, United States Air Force, unidentified craft do you
copy?
Please
identify yourself..." Sutton had already instructed his wingman
to call for additional aircraft. "Unidentified aircraft, this
is American airspace, please identify yourself or I will be forced
to shoot you down."

"Drifter,
this is Wet Willie..."

"Go,
Wet Willie..."

"Major,
there are two more birds on the way, and we are cleared to
fire
over water. I repeat, over water, clear to arm and fire."

"Copy
Wet Willie, clear to fire over the drink."

"Hello,
Air Force," responded Paul on their frequency. He flipped the
switches
for the main engine burners and adjusted the forcing cones for
maximum thrust, the Invader coasted out over the water. "Commander
Paul Smiley, United States Navy, don't shoot."

"Navy?
You are not displaying an IFF beacon... A full identification
please," insisted the Major. "And if you
don't
mind me asking, what the hell
is
that thing?" The F16s passed overhead to the left and right of
the Invader, disappearing from view over the houses. Two more F16s
appeared in the broken clouds at about six thousand feet, flying a
protective CAP.

"No
beacon - Black OPS exercise,” lied Pappy. “ And you
wouldn't believe me if I told you, Major..."

■ ■ ■

Jack,
Lisa and Fritz, huddled at the foot of the steps to the sundeck
of
his house, watching. Jack could see the burner rings inside the
Invader's engines turn from a dark cherry red to a bright pink and
the tails of the forcing cones as they narrowed. "Heads down,"
he instructed. The trio ducked and covered themselves as the F16s
passed overhead and the Invader accelerated away, first on anti-grav
then igniting her main engine burners as she passed low over the
first of the waves breaking on the sandbars. The water split beneath
her down to the sandy bottom with a boom, sending a sheet of water
and sand over a hundred feet into the air on either side of her.
Thunder boomed and rolled out across the Gulf of Mexico, the Invader
easily outrunning the noise.

"Holy
shit
!"
squeaked Lisa, peeking. In a blink, the Invader was
nothing
but a brilliant speck of light low on the horizon, a trail of
churning water and mist the only signs of her departure. The F16s
gave chase, igniting their afterburners and creating a sonic boom in
the distance. They would have as much hope of catching the UFO, as a
Piper Cub would of catching them.

Lisa
could barely see it now as it climbed straight up into the
morning
sky. "Good God," she whispered, how fast
is
that thing?"

Jack
shrugged. "It's supposed to do about twenty-five thousand in
atmosphere."

"Miles
an hour?"

Jack
nodded casually, "Yep."

Fritz
cocked his head. "Ssshh, people," he whispered. They
huddled
back
down as two men in business suits ran from between the houses onto
the beach. "I
told
you!" insisted the first.

The
second was watching the F16s through a pair of binoculars. "I
don't
see anything but the Falcons, Tom."

"I'm
telling you, there was something else. It looked like it was
on
the beach..."

"Well,
look," said the second, "if there was something here, it
didn't
leave
any marks..."

"C'mon
Frank, I saw
something
,
maybe it was a helicopter..."

Frank
shook his head. "There's not a helicopter alive that could
outrun
an F16."

"Well
it
was
kinda' bulky." He made gestures with his hands to
approximate
a shape.

"You're
not trying to tell me you saw a UFO, are you, Tom?"

"Well
I..." he saw the other man's expression. "Ahem, I, well,
no. No,
of
course not. No. Definitely not." He turned and walked back
toward the street. "Let's go get some coffee." They
disappeared between the houses.

"Neighbors?"
whispered Lisa.

"Not
unless some new ones moved in," said Jack. "It's Saturday,
right?"
His sister nodded. "Mmmm," nodded Jack, "suits before
six in the morning, on a Saturday. My guess is alphabet soup..."

“
Alphabet
soup...?”

"FBI,
CIA, NCIS, NSA... whatever." He stood up. "We'd
better
get inside." He searched his pockets as Lisa brushed herself
off. "Damn," he growled, "I left my keys in my bomber
jacket, guess we'll have to knock."

"Your
eye," said Lisa.

"Oh
yeah..." he paused on the bottom step. "Also in my bomber
jacket. Got
any
sunglasses?"

"Yeah,
sure, cuz I need those all the time in the middle of winter in
Chicago..."

Jack
smiled. "Yeah... Well, maybe they won't notice..."

Lisa
laughed loudly. "And pigs fly, right?"

Jack
stood ready to knock at the sliding glass door into the kitchen
but
froze. This was home, and for a second, it was as if the last
sixteen months hadn't happened. But they had. And suddenly he felt
like he didn't belong there anymore, a foreigner in his own world. A
stranger at his own home. He backed away from the door.

"What's
wrong?" asked Lisa.

"Ah,
well, maybe we should wait a little bit, it's awful early..."

"Oh
sure!" she retorted. "It's Ok to wake
me
at some ungodly hour,
but
you're too chicken-shit to wake mom and dad!" She pushed him
and he bumped the door, making it rattle. "Knock, you weenie!"
The family dog barked from inside the house and Fritz barked back
out of reflex.

"Now
look what you've done!" said Jack, backing away from the door
again.
He grabbed her by the arm and put her in front of the door. "You
talk to them first," he told her, "my eye... you know."
He moved out of view.

She
smirked. "Yeah, sure. Right. Your eye." The curtain moved
and
her
mother peeked out. The curtain closed again. "What am I
supposed to say?" hissed Lisa.

"Break
it to them gently, I'll stay out here..." He pulled the
comm
unit off his ear and slid it into a pocket inside his jacket.

"Now,
how am I supposed to do that...?" Lisa spun toward the door
when
she
heard it begin to slide. "Oh, hi, mom!"

"Lisa?
What are
you
doing h
ere?"
Lynnette Steele slid the door wide
to
let her daughter into the house.

"Funny
you should ask me that," said Lisa casually as she stepped
past
her mother, tossing her duffel bag on the floor.

■ ■ ■

Lynnette
jumped up off the couch. "He's here? Why didn't you say so
in
the
first
place?!" She moved forward. "Where is he?"

Lisa
stepped in front of her mother to head her off. "Just a minute,
mom.
Yes, he's here. But he's changed..."

"Changed
how?" Kyle's expression was one of anticipation, but he
remained
calmly seated on the couch.

“
Different,
maybe that's a better word, he's
different
...”

"He's
hurt, is that it?" said Lynnette.

"No.
No, he's not hurt... he
was
,
but he's all healed now."
Just
don't
squeeze his arm,
she thought. "He's Ok, honest."

Kyle
rose from the couch. "Well, let him in, girl! Don't make him
stand
outside!"

Lisa
raised her hands. "Ok, Ok! Just don't stare at his eye..."

“
What's
wrong with his eye?" Asked Lynnette, almost in tears.

Lisa
thought how she might explain it. "Well..."

"Well
what?" Her mother tried to get around her.

Lisa
held her. "Wait, mom..." She sighed, there was no easy
way. "His
left
eye isn't real, and it might be a little scary..."
Ok,
a lot scary,
she thought. She saw the tears rolling down her mother's cheek.
Dammit,
Jack,
she thought, I hate when you make me do this stuff. "It's Ok,
mom, he can see fine, it's just not a real eye." Lynnette
pushed past her daughter and ran to the door, peering through the
glass.

Always
in control, Kyle moved casually to the door and stood next to
his
wife. "He looks fine." said Kyle quietly, resting his hand
on Lynnette's shoulder.

Jack
stood motionless on the sand halfway between the water and the
house,
watching Fritz splash happily at the water's edge. The dog had been
eyeing the surf and Jack had decided to let him play. The water was
fairly cold, and Fritz was only getting his legs wet, but he was
having a terrific time. The broken clouds were giving way to clear
sky, the eastern horizon behind them turning a rosy shade, casting
slivers of color between the houses and across the sand. Jack drew a
deep lungful of the fresh air and could almost taste its substance.
What
a beautiful morning,
he thought,
absolutely
outstanding
.
How he missed this.

But
when he glanced up at the sky, he saw the three-quarter morning
moon
hanging there. Pale, cool, quiet. It beckoned to him like a sleeping
lover. And then he knew. This would always be his home, but out
there was where he belonged. Where he was destined to be.

"Jack..."
Jack spun around and the Shepherd stopped playing, turning
toward
the house. Kyle and Lynnette stood at the rail on the sundeck and
Lisa stood in the doorway to the kitchen, waving him in.

The
greeting was full of hugs, tears... and stares. Jack had to
grit
his teeth and Lisa thought his eyes would pop out when their mother
hugged him across the wound on his arm. But he made it through. His
parents must have dismissed the tears in his eyes as the result of
the emotions of the moment.

Lynnette
couldn't help herself. Lisa had said his eye looked odd,
but
she couldn't have imagined it like it was if she tried. And poor
Fritz, he looked like a dog version of Phantom of the Opera with a
small camera lens stuck to his face.

Jack
and Lisa had a few moments alone as Lynnette made breakfast and
Kyle
showered. "I don't get it," whispered Jack, "they
haven't asked me a thing. How much did you tell them?"