Tempest by Meding Kelly

Author:Meding, Kelly [Meding, Kelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Pocket Star
Published: 2013-04-21T22:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

Crisis Point

Teresa forgot to mention that “secured permission” came with a couple of caveats, the largest being that Warden Hudson was accompanying us. I swallowed back a comment about being babysat, because I wanted to get out there and poke around a lot more than I wanted to irritate the warden. The other limit was the number of people who could go, so only Teresa, Simon, Aaron (with Scott’s mask back on), Marco, Derek Thatcher, and I boarded the copter for the short flight north.

The copter did a flyover before landing, giving us a bird’s-eye view of the blackened structure below. The building was gone, burned and blown to pieces, along with both pavilions. Only the stone patio and the two sets of steps remained, most of them blackened with soot.

Heavy odors of burned wood and oil surrounded us as our group walked up the eastern steps, past the spot where Andrew had lain bleeding on the ground. Warden Hudson led the way, and two armed guards brought up the rear.

I stuck close to Teresa and Marco, alert for their reactions to being back here after so many years. The last thing they needed to do was lose their shit in front of Hudson.

Bits of the copter’s frame poked out from the remains of the castle, a burned skeleton of the beast that had tried to kill us. Hudson told us the body of the pilot had been removed, but knowing someone had burned to death in there kept me far away.

“Walk me through it,” Hudson said.

I went first, describing where we’d each been standing and the events up until getting blown into the pond. Thatcher and Aaron added a few details, creating a vivid picture that the warden absorbed in silence. He looked where we pointed, nodded a few times, but offered nothing. We’d told him all of this before.

Maybe he needs it drawn in pictures, too?

“You say it was already halfway to the park before you got the alarm on your walkie?” Hudson asked after we’d stood in silence for a good thirty seconds.

“Yeah, about halfway,” I said. “I’m guessing, of course, based on the skyline, but I’ve studied maps of Manhattan. I know the distances pretty well.”

“And it was over the Park when it was shot down?”

“Practically on top of us already. The copter was on a straight path the whole time, right for this spot.”

“You’re sure of that? No deviation from their course?”

“The pilot flew like he was half drunk, but there was no actual deviation that I could tell.”

Aaron and Thatcher offered their similar impressions. Hudson’s questions confirmed my own suspicions that this hadn’t been an accident. We were targets the entire time. But how did the pilot know we’d be at the castle?

“Warden Hudson?” Teresa asked. “What’s the normal response time for determining if a bogey is hostile and then acting?”

Hudson gave her a thoughtful look, then replied, “That’s privileged information, Trance. However, the copter received multiple warnings before it entered restricted airspace, and twice again before it crossed the prison walls.

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