CODE X:Episode 1 (12 page)

Eddie stops and shrugs facing them. “Our
government doesn’t even admit this place exists. Groups call it
Area 51, Dreamworks. It’s not on maps. Zero! A blank spot...its 80
miles outside Vegas and with a Level 9 security for a 15 mile
circumference.”

Back Inside the Attack Chopper

The Apache pilot points a go finger at
Henry. Captain Rooney then nods his head, “Henry, we’re 20 klicks
from the compound. We’ve had their radar jammed since midnight. You
wanted to coordinate our missile launch with the Reaper’s strike.
I’ve scheduled missile impact to hit the compound at 0700. We need
to be at two klicks out for our mop up strike. Our ETA is one
minute.”

Hovering off in the distance, Henry watches
as two drone missiles approach the camp.

Henry barks orders to the pilot through his
headset, “Launch missiles.”

A series of missiles launch from the Apache
hovering in attack formation and close in on the compound. They
look like smoking tails of snakes flying in the air on their path
of death and destruction.

Eddie leads as he turns on the steps.
Biggins trails behind Eddie and over her shoulder; she spots
incoming streaks of fire.
Missiles!

She yells, “Incoming!”

In nanoseconds, Eddie leaps inside! Biggins
jerks Parks back and shoves him hard away from the center. They
take three strides as Biggins screams back at the hut in midair,
“Eddie ...”

She watches in what seems like slow motion
to her eyes, like tossed flaming matches; the missiles make a sharp
right turn down to impact. Biggins jerks Parks down to dig
dirt…

She looks back to see Eddie emerge from the
doorway flap when --
BOOM
! -- A deadly explosion catapults
his body skyward. His broken body falls right in front of them. All
around them, near and far, missiles impact.

The camp is in a shambles. Burning tents all
around with men on fire screaming in pain as they try to run from
the death that holds them.

Biggins pulls Eddie up by his shoulders. She
screams at him through her tears. “You can’t die on me...I won’t
allow it...you hear me mother fucker?”

Eddie stirs to life. He faintly stutters out
his attempt to talk, “How many-times I gotta-tell you-I’m-no mother
fucker.”

She laughs shaking her head no--scared.
“Don’t you dare.”

He weakly unfolds his scorched hand to
expose a mini laser disk. “This...is all you need.”

“You’re not leaving me.”

“The code is Baker-1-Mary-48-Zebra, the
blueprints, weak points. It’s everything the…Russians…gave…me.”

Eddie’s body slumps limp in her arms. “No,
damn you...”

Parks takes the disk from Eddie’s hand. She
sobs. Parks gently tugs at her as he holds her shoulders. The whir
of chopper blades grows near.

“Biggins...they’re coming.”

“You’re right.” She jumps back up, ready for
action.

Back inside the Apache, Henry talks into his
microphone, “Command leader to all units...Watch the perimeter for
stragglers. Make it a clean sweep.”

The chopper carrying the ten men lands at
the burning camp’s perimeter.

Biggins and Parks run towards a row of dirt
bikes under camo. They rip the cover off of them. She grabs an
assault rifle from a stack and tosses it to Parks. He snatches it
midair and slings it onto his shoulder. She slings one onto her
shoulder as well.

They kick start the bikes which roar to life
and speed off down a trail.

Meanwhile, Alomet goons are sweeping through
the camp, killing anything that moves.

Inside the AWAC circling above the camp, a
tech watches a radar screen as two tiny blips move away from a
large cluster of blips centered on his screen.

The tech announces through his mic, “Command
leader, we have two fast moving bogeys heading away from you at two
one niner...”

Henry presses his finger onto his earphone
to hear the tech better, “…at a speed of 65 mph.”

He taps Rooney’s shoulder, “Let’s go.
Runaways.”

“I heard. I’m on it.” He moves the joystick
to chase them down.

Parks and Biggins race across the desert.
She motions him to stop.

“Those were American missiles back there.
They’re tracking our body heat. When he comes at us, figure 8.
Remember, choppers can’t make hard turns.”

They zoom off. Behind them, Henry’s chopper
looms in the background.

Henry barks an order to Rooney, “Fire a heat
seeker.”

“They’re for aircraft.”

“They’re together. I said fire.”

“You’re the boss.” He presses the fire
control and launches a Sidewinder. Like a slow moving streak that
increases speed, the missile gains on Parks and Biggins.

She sees the puff of smoke from the launch
and signals Parks to change direction. They split apart on hard
opposites. The missile strikes where they were.

The chopper bursts through missile
after-smoke lingering in the air.

Rooney exclaims, “They’ve got combat
experience.”

Henry barks, “I don’t want to hear your
fucking problem, take them out.”

The Apache makes a U-turn, and then heads
for Parks. Biggins stops. She watches and bee lines it back to
Parks.

Parks and Biggins are far apart, but closing
fast.

Parks glances back at the closing monster
fire its guns. The bullets trail a track of destruction towards him
in the dirt. Right before they reach him, he makes another hard
turn.
Missed!

Henry’s still smiling. “You missed asshole.
You call yourself a gunship pilot?”

“These birds kill tanks, not dirt bikes.
They’re using Special Forces tactics.”

He swings the chopper back around…hovering.
No bikes are seen anywhere.

Parks and Biggins have stopped. The aircraft
passes by them on the opposite side.

Biggins declares, “AWAC will send our
infrared images any second. I’ve got an idea. Sit tight, don’t
move. After you hear me fire, hightail your ass to the river.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

“The deal was that you’d take orders from
me. Don’t endanger our mission.”

“But...”

“Damn you. We have extra bikes down river
just for this fucking situation. Do as I say...”

The bird hovers off in the distance.

Biggins straddles her bike, grabs the
controls, revs her engine, readies to move out, “…I don’t want him
to get a fix on the two of us before his friends come to help. See
ya.”

She speeds off on a high pitched whine of
her motor.

Back inside the chopper, Henry barks,
“Fucking AWAC...Where are they?”

The Apache’s radar screen shows a fast
moving blip.

Rooney, “One of them’s moving.” He speeds
off to intercept.

Biggins stops, unslings her weapon and fires
as the bird swoops down on her. The bullets bounce off the
chopper’s armor.

Rooney laughs, “Now that’s just stupid. A
pop gun against my armor. Gotcha!” He turns and races right for
her.

Biggins talks to herself, “Now if I can make
it to the road.” She hops back on the bike.

The ground around her explodes from bullet
strikes. She speeds towards the chopper and he overshoots her as
the bike races by underneath!

The AWAC technician contacts Henry. “Command
leader, on my mark, auto target acquisition hot.”

Captain Rooney acknowledges the
instructions. “Bigeye! Mark! Gun sensors on...” He turns to Henry,
“When he locks-scratch one bogey.”

Henry snarls, “Flyboy, bout time you quit
fucking up.”

Biggins swings out wide. The chopper swoops
another U-turn. The race is on.

Biggins says (to herself) “Alright asshole.
Just a little closer.”

Her bike’s engine sputters, then dies. She
tries to restart, but it’s no use as the chopper closes in. She
leaps off her bike. She fires her weapon as the chopper fires back.
The AWAC’’s sensors lock on her bike. The Apache’s bullets’ fire
trail leads right to her...

Biggins disappears in an instant as Parks
snatches her right out of their path. Her bike explodes! Like he’s
holding a feather, he swings her behind him. He skids to a stop.
The chopper roars past as it misses them.

Parks grins at her, “Just like a woman...You
can’t live without this man.”

Chopper hangs a U-ey and comes right back at
them.

Parks roars off in a zig zag pattern.

The moving green image on the Apache’s radar
screen blinks closer toward the red fire zone in the center of the
radar. As soon as the bike hits the zone, a green circle flashes
around it as radar locks on -- guns automatically fire...trailing
impacts right up to Parks.

In a flash, a huge lasso of wire wrapping
itself around the choppers main rotor stops it dead instantly as
wires wrap around the blades. An eerie silence fills the cabin as
it tilts back and forth and the ground rushes up. There’s a long
pause before the crash.

“Oh shit!” Rooney swears.

The cockpit of the helicopter bounces up,
twice as it slides on the ground. Its skids catch a rock and in
slow motion flips over. Silence. They’re hanging upside down.

Henry’s smiling as always. “Help me down
from here you fucking idiot.”

“No problem...” He reaches over, pulls
Henry’s rear release. There’s a loud thump as Henry crashes down
from the seat on his head. “…Boss.”

Parks, with Biggins sitting behind him, is
running his bike like a bat out of hell.

All of a sudden a plane flies down alongside
them on the ground matching their speed as its wheels bounce
along-Dubrowski! He signals to get in. The side door to the plane
approaches and Biggins reaches over, grabs it, turns the handle and
the door swings open.

She grabs the side to the door and swings
herself into the plane.

Parks, Biggins and Dubrowski see a thick
jungle looming ahead. There’s only seconds left to get inside.

Biggins yells, “Jump now! There’s no time
left.”

Parks guns the bike ahead of the plane door
and leaps. He’s able to grab the bottom of the support side rung
with both hands. His feet are dragging on the ground as Dubrowski
guns the engines and the plane strains to rise. Parks’ feet are
bouncing on the ground. Biggins tries to pull him in but it’s a
dead weight of 220 pounds and she has no leverage.

The plane starts a slow rise. Parks yells,
“Grab my belt loop, I need a little boost. Wait for my signal to
pull.”

The engines strain to lift the monster into
the sky. Parks is dangling as the plane barely makes it above the
trees as his legs hit the tops. Now, he would die from the fall. He
knows he has one chance. He holds his breath and yells, “Now!”

His arms’ veins are bulging. Biggins grunts
and screams as she tries to pull. His foot catches the inside door
edge. He has no way to swing in as the slipstream pulls to drag him
out. She sees his boot’s toe twisted inside to hang onto the door’s
edge. She grabs his leg and jerks hard. He’s half in and out.

Biggins screams, “Now!” She pulls his leg
in, his boot braces from inside against the plane’s side, and Parks
grabs hold of the door edge with one hand. “Hold on,” she yells as
she grabs his wrist with both hands and jerks hard as she braces
her foot against the inside of the plane.

She does it. He rolls inside as the plane
rolls to the right to help keep him there.

Parks lays there trying to catch his breath
alongside an equally spent Biggins.

Dubrowski yells back, “Whooee! That was fun.
Get up here when you’re ready.”

After a few minutes to recuperate, they move
to the front of the plane. Dubrowski explains, “Look, we’re being
tracked by AWAC. This was an off the reservation assault, not by
the U.S. government. I came in to pick you up and I see the whole
compound destroyed. But, I saw the men searching and a transport
chopper waiting for them. I circled to see if you two were still
alive and damned if you were.”

Biggins smiles at him. “You sure are a sight
for sore eyes. Just like old times, saving my bacon again.”

“I caught the tail end of that chopper
crash. Whoever was chasing you is still alive. Since we are in
Mexican air space and that troop transport doesn’t have the speed
to catch us, you’re going to have to jump as I wind my way out.
I’ll climb to two thousand feet so you can make a low level drop.
With the shit storm we left behind, there’s no way I can land back
in the good old US of A with you on board Parks. My plane would be
confiscated. Radar won't be able to track two chutes. I’ll put 300
miles between you and that camp and fly you deeper into the Mexican
wild.”

“Can you leave a 500 mile zig zag trail from
the compound?” Biggins asks.

“Yee ha. I sure can. I’m just eatin into my
wing tanks now. You’re the boss gal. They don’t even know I picked
you up.”

“Let me see your aerial map for this section
of Mexico.”

Dubrowski rustles through some maps and
hands one back to her. “Here you go. Let me know where to drop you
guys. Pick your spot.”

Biggins studies the map for a few minutes,
then slaps her finger on a section and shows it to Dubrowski. “I
think the best chance we have to avoid detection is that we can try
to drop over a river. How’s that drop zone look to you?”

“No problem, that’s within range.”

She moves back to Parks. “Alright. Look, I’m
gonna have you jump first and count to five before you pull the
ripcord. You steer it by pulling on the right or left cords. We are
going to try and land in a river so they can’t see our body heat on
radar. If you land in one piece and so do I, we’ll try to get back
and decipher the disk.”

“Geez, I’ve never used a parachute
before.”

Dubrowski chimes in, “All it takes is guts
and luck. You feelin lucky? You look lucky. Hey, has he got the
guts?”