Payback

127

A cacophony of confusion spread out in the darkness below the MH-6 “Little Bird” helicopter Lia and Karr were flying in north of Washington, D.C. The helicopter and its pilot were members of the famed 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. Besides carrying surveillance gear that included a forward-looking infrared radar capable of seeing in the dark, the helicopter also had a.50-caliber machine gun, which was loaded and ready for use.

The road network around the capital had been effectively shut down, and while it was very late — or early, depending on how you interpreted 12:30 a.m. — the traffic jams were massive. Air traffic had been curtailed, and civilian flights that were allowed had to fly very precise routes or risk being shot down.

“What’s your estimated time of arrival at Crypto City?” Telach asked Lia over the Deep Black com system.

“Another ten minutes,” she told Telach.

“Good. As soon as you refuel, head up to Pennsylvania. They only have one AEC person covering the area up there.”

“AEC” stood for the Atomic Energy Commission — other bomb experts assigned to work with the local task force. There were already two in the D.C. area and another three in nearby Virginia.

“Where’s Charlie?”

“He’s in a helo en route to Philadelphia with the troopers there.”

“Tell him I said hi.”

“Will do.”

Lia looked out the side of the small helicopter. If you ignored what was going on and just stared at the lights, they looked beautiful.