Pulse

FIFTY- TWO

"This is nuts." Rook sat on a bench pretending to read a newspaper, looking relaxed despite his drenched and itchy feet. They had followed, on foot, the sometimes submerged shoreline around the rock of Gibraltar in order to reach the city. Queen sat next to him. Together they eyed the security situation at the civilian Gibraltar airport. The six-thousand-foot-long airstrip stretched from one side of Gibraltar to the other, marking the border between the United Kingdom territory and Spain. The airport had been built and expanded by the U.K. for military use during World War Two, but in 1987 the airport was reduced in status to a civilian-run facility. Which suited Rook just fine. Security, from what he could see, had been reduced to one checkpoint, perhaps with an armed guard, and barbed wire on top of a chain-link fence. Some people even strode back and forth across the landing strip to reach Gibraltar from Spain, which made what they were attempting that much more insane.

Beyond the fence, a family who had just strolled across the landing strip entered the small reception building and stopped briefly at the check-in desk. A guard, armed, stood and checked their passports before letting them through. He would pose a minimal threat, but neither wanted to injure a man for just doing his job. "Over the fence, then," Queen said.

"Ayup." Rook checked his watch. Their ride would arrive in ten minutes.

After leaving Alexander Diotrephes and his strange cave of Herculean Society secrets, they'd jogged the half hour back to the city of Gibraltar, retrieved their clothing and equipment from a lock box, and placed a call to Deep Blue. He related what King had learned from Beck and that they were in the process of infiltrating the facility, which Knight had apparently already entered. Rook grumbled about not being part of the raid, but after Queen mentioned the test tubes acquired from Alexander, and what they were meant for — one for Pierce, two for the creature — Deep Blue decided it was best to get them both to the New Hampshire Manifold facility ASAP. The Crescent scrambled ten minutes later, en route for Gibraltar. That was nearly two hours ago.

Rook checked his watch again. Almost time. He looked to the west. Bright white clouds hovered in the blue sky. Seagulls danced about. Kites flew high at the distant beaches. But nothing else.

Then he saw a black, straight-flying boomerang cut through the clouds and swoop toward the ocean. "That's our ride."

Queen jumped up and ran across the street. Rook followed close. She quickly scaled the chain-link fence, tossed the thick wool blanket over the barbed wire, and heaved herself over. Rook was up and over, just as quickly. As he hit the pavement on the other side, the guard inside the reception building noticed them and made for the door. But they were already in a dead sprint for the tarmac when he exited and shouted for them to stop.

Screeching tires tore up the pavement behind them. Rook looked back. Two armed jeeps roared from a garage. The lax security wasn't as lax as they were led to believe. "Run faster!"

They ran at an angle toward the end of the runway, knowing that the Crescent would need almost all of the six thousand feet of pavement to fully stop. It was the equivalent of a mile-long sprint. Both Delta operators could achieve the task, but neither could outrun a speeding jeep… or bullets.

Shouted voices rang out from behind them. The jeeps were closing in. "Stop or we'll be forced to shoot!"

Rook was about to split away and allow Queen, who was carrying the container of test tubes like a football, to escape, when a massive gust of wind nearly knocked him over. Tires squealed as brakes were applied. The massive black plane appeared silently, like an apparition. When the brakes were applied and engines reversed, the thunderous roar drowned out all else. Rook looked back. It had also stopped the guards in their tracks. The Crescent looked more like a UFO than any other kind of aircraft. It was something no civilian had seen before, and something these guards would never see again. On top of that, any airport, tourist, or surveillance camera, along with every other electronic device for a square mile, was now dead thanks to the EMP discharged by the Crescent before landing. Distant cameras would record the passage of the giant plane, but the details would be lost in the mash of pixels. No one would know what landed there that day.

The Crescent never came to a complete stop, but a staircase did descend. Rook and Queen leaped on it and climbed inside as the plane began spinning around on the tarmac. Both made it to their seats just in time to be plastered to the back of their chairs by massive G-forces. They were aloft and breaking the sound barrier thirty seconds later. New Hampshire, Manifold, and their teammates awaited them at the end of a two-hour flight. Until then, they would prep the serum for use against a mythological creature and hope they wouldn't have to use it.