Transport by Phillip P. Peterson

Author:Phillip P. Peterson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: JMP
Published: 2016-09-27T22:00:00+00:00

16. Bridges

During the night, Russell was suddenly woken up by the sound of alarm sirens. He jolted upright and looked at his watch. It was just before five a.m. Hurriedly he pulled on his jacket and ran outside. A truck full of soldiers had just arrived, and General Morrow was driving a Jeep past the guard post and into the compound.

“General. What happened?”

“Bridges knocked out one of the guards and escaped through the fence!”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ve requested for a helicopter with thermal imaging equipment, which should be here any minute now. We’ll find him. It’s only a matter of minutes. Tell Rogers that he will take over the mission today.”

“What will you do with Bridges?”

“He’ll be taken to the military police base to be court-martialed and shot.”

“Let me fly with you and talk to Bridges. He’s scared. Give him a chance.”

“Bridges has made his decision.”

“General. Let me talk to him and I guarantee you that he will do his mission tomorrow. We haven’t found out anything up to now. You can’t afford to lose one of the volunteers.”

Morrow considered. Russell knew that he’d hit the bulls-eye.

“Okay, come with me.”

An old Bell UH-1D landed in front of the fence. Russell recognized the thermal imaging camera on the underside.

He and the general ran over to the helicopter and sat down in the rear cabin. Two soldiers with sniper rifles were already sitting inside. The pilot took off and flew in a southerly direction. Morrow put on headphones with an integrated microphone and gave instructions.

“He’ll try to get to the next road. Fly south. I don’t know exactly when he escaped, but he can’t have gone further than twenty miles. It’s fifty miles to the next interstate, so we’re sure to find him. Go to three-thousand feet and scan the whole area.”

The pilot flew in big S-curves toward the road. After half an hour he reported back.

“I’ve got a signal. Switch on your screen.”

Morrow activated a screen above one of the seats. At first, Russell could only see a blue fuzz. Then he was able to make out the red outline of a running man. Outside, dawn was already breaking and from the side window he could see Bridges, who was running toward the distant horizon.

“Put me on loudspeaker,” said the general, before speaking to the runaway. “Bridges! Stop, or you will be shot immediately! We have snipers on board.”

One of the soldiers who was secured by a harness, leant out of the helicopter and propped himself on one of the skids. He took his heavy gun and aimed.

“Ready, General.”

Russell waved at the pilot to put him on loudspeaker too. “Bridges. Russell here. Stop—it’s over. General Morrow is serious. Don’t move, or you’re a dead man.”

Bridges slowed down and came to a halt. Angrily he shouted up at the helicopter, waving his fists. “Leave me in peace. Fuck off!”

The helicopter landed about three-hundred feet away from him. Russell stepped out and walked calmly over to his comrade.

“There’s no point—you must realize that.

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