Project Hyperion (A Kaiju Thriller) (Kaiju #4)

“Yeah.”


“Ashton is about one mile south of our current location,” I say. “Take a look.”

Five seconds pass and then I hear him curse, again and again as he scrolls through the town.

There’s a click and I can tell by the switch in audio quality that I’m on speaker. “What happened?” It’s Cooper. She must have been standing beside him when he zoomed in.

“Short version,” I say, “is that our big problem is a hell of a lot bigger now. Ted, scan south and zoom out a bit. See anything?”

Watson’s voice has a quiver to it as he replies. The top view of the town’s destruction and gore is probably shocking. “Just lots of trees and—wait, there’s a helicopter. It’s pretty high, though. Headed in your direction.”

“There’s nothing behind it?” I ask.

“Like in the air?” he says. “No.”

“Or on the ground?” I say.

“No, nothing,” he says. “Should there be?”

Part of me thinks, God no, but the rest of me realizes that if the monster isn’t coming back, it has continued its rampage toward Maine’s most dense population.

I ignore the question. “Coop, please inform Director Stephens that Ashton, Maine has been destroyed. Hundreds, possibly thousands are dead. Tell him that if he delays a request from me again I will personally put a bullet in his head.”

“That’s not going to help,” she says plainly.

“Then translate it into whatever kind of threat will help.”

“Done,” she says, all business, no emotion. It’s cold, but it helps me focus.

“What kind of response do we have available?” I ask.

“National Guard is on stand-by, as are SWAT teams in Portland and Northern New Hampshire. Heavier hitters are farther out.”

“What about Air Force?”

“You want an airstrike on U.S. soil?” Coop asks, sounding a little surprised.

“Might save a few thousand people,” I say. “So, yeah. I do.”

“I’ll look into it.”

“No, Coop,” I say, nearly shouting. “You will God damn do it and right this fucking minute.”

Silence.

I continue. “Pick out a strategic location where we can defend the Northern area of the city; the nearest forested area and as far away from the population as possible. Have everyone available rendezvous there. Ted, once this location has been chosen, forward the satellite feed to Collins’s phone and mark the LZ. By the time I get there I better see an army waiting for me and A-10 Thunderbolts circling the city, understood?”

More silence. I’ve been working with both for years, and they’ve gotten accustomed to my lax temperament, so my spitfire is probably throwing them for a loop. The loudest they’ve ever heard me shout before was when I lost a game of ping pong and fifty bucks, against Watson. I make an effort to lower my voice. “Guys,” I say. “I can’t do this without you. You can hate me later.”

“Done,” Cooper says, and I hear her heels clacking away.

“Yeah,” Ted says. “And boss, next time I’ll just take the satellite.”

“You can do that?” I ask, surprised and a little confused.

“I can do a lot,” he says, and the way he says it makes me wonder if there is another reason Watson got posted to the ass-end of the DHS.

The helicopter thunders overhead and descends toward the street.

“Thanks, Ted,” I say and hang up.

Collins heads for her car while I rush toward the helicopter as it sets down. I take my seat in the front of the chopper and put on the headset. Woodstock looks to me, his face grim. “Where we heading?”

The side door slides open. Collins climbs in with weapons, ammo and a spare tactical vest for Woodstock. She slams the door closed and shouts, “Let’s go!”

As the helicopter lifts into the air, I answer Woodstock’s question. “Take us south to Portland. Exact coordinates are incoming.”

“We going to kill that sonuvabitch?” he asks.

Despite my advice to Watson, and Yoda’s advice to Luke, I say, “We’re going to try.”





27



General Lance Gordon had rarely, if ever, felt so good in his life. The new heart had returned him to the energy of his youth and beyond. He felt sharper, more focused and had a sense of purpose that went far beyond anything he had done for the U.S. military and his covert employment with Zoomb since. The enemies destroyed, the lives saved and the technology developed, all of it seemed trivial now.

His mind was awake for the first time in his life. He wondered if his heart had just been shitty from the get-go and this is what other people felt like. But when he looked around and saw the sluggish look in the day-to-dayers passing by the car, he knew that wasn’t true. If anything, he’d already lived a fuller life than most.

“How much longer?” he asked.