The Four Corners of the Earth

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Fort Sill exploded into action. The base commander screamed for a techie to come over and take apart the recording, the screen and anything else they might find inside the coffin. Hayden saw bundles of old clothing and bones at the bottom and had to assume the Order had simply placed the screen inside and left it for somebody to find. Could a signal have gone out, piggybacking off the base’s Wi-Fi the moment they opened the coffin?

I have to believe so. The unsealing started the recording. Most likely, sensors were involved. Whoever did all this was tech savvy. Which threw up another question.

“Have we just jumped forward from Nazi war criminals operating fifty years in the past to right now?”

“I don’t get it,” Smyth said.

The team had backed away from Geronimo’s grave to allow others to get involved and now stood in a group underneath some trees.

“I thought it was pretty clear,” Hayden said. “The guy said we are the Order of the Last Judgment. They still exist.”

The base commander strode over. “Okay people, we’ve double and treble-checked our perimeter. No signs of your Special Forces enemies. Looks like they gave this one a clear miss, and I done blame them. Lots of firepower here.” He indicated the soldiers stood around the fort.

“That doesn’t mean the signal that came out of that grave wasn’t broadcast elsewhere too,” Lauren pointed out. “Any number of people might have seen it in one form or another.”

“Whilst that is true,” the commander nodded, “there ain’t a whole lot we can do about it. Now what we can do, is call Strask Labs and give those boys the proverbial heads up.”

He indicated a man close by, already with a phone to his ear.

Hayden knew she should call Secretary Crowe but held off as the soldier’s call went through on loudspeaker, the endless ringing tone making the SPEAR team glance worriedly around.

“This a twenty-four-hour manned laboratory,” the base commander said. “On call to the military and the White House. I cannot impress how bad this is.” He indicted the ringing phone.

“You don’t need to.” Hayden said. “Can you liaise with the local authorities? Get them to Strask and tell them we’re on the way.”

“Right away, Agent Jaye.”

Hayden started sprinting for the chopper. “We have to get to Dallas! Now!”