Holdin' On for a Hero (83 page)

“Do you have any idea how many people will die if you do as he says? Aren’t all those lives worth more than ours?”

As if a veil had been lifted from her eyes, she saw the truth. He was so right. Even if all of them died, it would be nothing compared to the possible thousands or even millions Kitaro might kill if he possessed the craft. She smiled at Konnor, hoping that he knew just how grateful she was for his wisdom and his love. In his eyes she saw an answering depth of feeling that gave her courage.

“No,” she said firmly as she turned to Kitaro. “I won’t.”

“Then she dies.”

“I’m sorry, Min.” She looked at Minora. “But we can’t let innocent people die.”

“Senna.” Tears appeared in Minora’s eyes. “I know this is selfish but I’m scared and I don’t want to die. Please, I’m begging you, as your mother. Please, don’t let him kill me.”

A sob came from Senna’s throat. She was torn between what she knew was right and her love. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.” Then she turned away. She couldn’t bear the look in Minora’s eyes.

Kitaro kept the gun leveled at Minora but didn’t fire.

“Well?” Konnor broke the silence. “What are you waiting for? Go on! Get it over with!”

The gun swung around to point at Konnor’s head. “If you are so eager, then perhaps I should start with you.”

For a moment Senna was stunned. Unless he had completely gone off the deep end, Kitaro would never risk shooting Konnor. He had to have him to activate the system. Then it dawned on her. When she had told him he was looking at the gate, he had been looking at her. He had not realized the gate was Konnor.

“No!” she exclaimed without thinking. “You don’t understand!”

“Yes, he does.” Konnor stepped around from behind her. “Or at least he thinks he does. He thinks you’ll do anything to save me. But he doesn’t know you the way I do. He doesn’t know that you’re willing to watch me die to prevent him from getting control of Sumer.”

She couldn’t help but understand what he was doing and even though she admired and loved him for it, it broke her heart. He knew that if he died, there was no way to activate the system. Kitaro and everyone else who might want the technology would be stopped. With his death he could save not only the innocents who would suffer, but Senna as well.

The problem was, she didn’t want to live if he died. “If you kill him I’ll never help you,” she challenged Kitaro.

“Then you will watch him die, slowly, an inch at a time,” Kitaro replied. “Followed by your dear mother.”

It had come down to the wire. She had to choose. Closing her eyes, she prayed to whatever forces there were that she had the strength to do what was right. Then she opened her eyes. “Then kill them.”

Kitaro blinked in surprise and didn’t move. She watched him in bewilderment, seeing the indecision on his face mixing with the rage. Something flashed over his face, a change in expression that was almost too fleeting to see but she recognized what was happening.

“Shen!” she cried. “Help me!”

Kitaro’s gun hand shook and Senna saw Konnor inch forward, knowing that he was waiting on the opportunity to spring on Kitaro. Minora looked over at Konnor at the same time then leaped forward at Kitaro.

“You fool! Can’t you see what she’s doing?” Minora grabbed for the gun but he snapped to and jerked it in Konnor’s direction.

Both Konnor and Senna were looking at Minora, dumfounded at what they had seen and heard. She looked from them to Kitaro and he shook his head in disgust. After a moment she shrugged. “Well, I suppose the gig is up, as they say.”

Unexpectedly, Senna’s anger flared. She was so tired of being tricked and lied to. It seemed that everyone she had ever cared about had done nothing but lie to her and use her. Realizing that Minora was no better than the rest of them infuriated her and made her feel like a complete idiot.

“I’ve had it with all of you!” she shouted. “Do you hear me? You’re all nothing but a bunch of perverted, power-hungry psychopaths who don’t deserve spit in the desert!”

“Kill Chase,” Minora said to Kitaro.

Kitaro’s finger tightened on the trigger. Minora looked at Senna. “You can save him. All you have to do is activate the system and we’ll let you go. I give you my word. No one will ever know the part you played. Just activate it and he lives.”

Once more, Senna felt as if she had reached the end of the line. If either she or Konnor died the system would never function. What no one besides her and Lucas knew was that the system’s encryption was based on her and Konnor’s genetic codes. Whoever had originally drawn up the plans had made sure of that. Lucas had never told anyone and unless someone had just happened to stumble on it they would never have guessed that the programming was designed in that manner.

“I…” She turned to Konnor. “I…Konnor, help me. I can’t…tell me what to do.”

He looked at her for a moment then suddenly looked past her at something. She turned to see what he was looking at. Colton Ryder stood in the doorway. Minora turned and smiled. “I was wondering where you were. Come on in. Senna was just about to activate the system for us, weren’t you, Senna?”

Colton walked past Minora and Kitaro and stopped in front of Senna. She looked up at him and when their eyes met everything changed. For the first time in her life she was sure.

“Father,” she whispered in awe.

“Yes.” His hard features softened in a smile.

“Tell me what to do.”

“You have always known what you must do,” he replied. “Now it is just a matter of doing it.”

She nodded and turned to Konnor, extending her hand. “Please,” she implored with her voice and her eyes.

He looked down at her hand then into her eyes. “Do you understand the choice you’re making, Senna? Can you live with it?”

“Yes.”

He took her hand and she led him to the dais. He took a position on the opposite side as she stepped up to the control panel. “Please put on your headset,” she directed Konnor.

He pulled a device from a slot in the dais. It looked like a headband with microphones that fit into the ears except that it had a sensor attached on either side that fit against the temples. He put it on as she put on an identical one.

She keyed in a series of commands and a jolt of energy passed through her that made her feel as if every cell in her body was vibrating. The sensation lasted only a moment. Her fingers moved over the lighted pads and she jumped slightly as Konnor’s thoughts sounded in her mind.
Damn! What the hell was that?

She smiled and looked at him.
I’ve activated the telepathic communicators. Activate sequence omega 3, zeta 2, 4, 7, omicron 5.

She saw his fingers move on the keys then a blank look took hold of his face. It took a couple of seconds for his eyes to focus again.
I remember!
she heard him think.
But what exactly are you doing?

Just trust me,
she replied mentally.
And hope I’m not wrong.

“We must be in a stationary orbit in order for the targeting computer to lock on.” There was a slight vibration under their feet.

She looked at Kitaro and Minora. “This shouldn’t take long. Activating exterior visual.”

The holographic globe above them swirled for a moment then the scene from outside the craft was displayed. Kitaro and Minora watched in fascination as the walls of the building seemed to melt from the heat of the engine. The craft lifted up, tearing through the metal ceiling of the hangar as if it were paper. Then they were free, free, hovering above the destroyed building.

Senna looked over at Colton. He pulled a small microphone from his pocket. “Scramble the fighters,” he said too softly to be overheard.

She smiled and navigated the craft up to thirty thousand feet. “Short-range sensors online,” Konnor announced.

She looked at the display. Within thirty seconds a squadron of F-117 Nighthawks was moving in from the east. From the west a squadron of F-16s gained altitude.
Can they destroy us?
she heard Konnor’s mental question in her mind.

I believe so,
she replied, then started in surprise.
Konnor! What is that?

He looked at the display.
Too big for a plane.

She turned to look at Colton. A split second later the sensor system registered an alert and the holographic globe displayed what was going on in the sky around them. One of the F-16s was firing.

Kitaro jerked around with his weapon gripped in both hands. “Activate all weapons!” he yelled.

Senna looked at Konnor with wide eyes. He met her eyes and shook his head negatively. They both knew that at any moment they would die. Kitaro shouted again. “Shoot them down!”

“No.” Colton turned to face him. “This craft must be destroyed.”

Kitaro howled with rage and started firing. Instantaneously a blue light appeared around Colton. The bullets ricocheted off the light, striking metal and consoles. Several lights flickered out. Among the sounds of gunfire, Minora screaming and Kitaro bellowing, a computer voice announced in a monotone the damage that was being done.

Senna looked at the tactical display. Three of the F-16s had locked their weapons systems as they came in from the west. Two Nighthawks screamed in from the east. As she watched, the computer noted the lock of their weapons.

She reached across the top of the panels for Konnor’s hand and he grasped it firmly. “I love you.” She tried to keep the quiver out of her voice.

“I’ll never love anyone else,” he replied.

She could not stop herself from looking at the tactical display. The military jets were bearing down on them. At best they had only a few seconds. Suddenly the strange object they had spotted before appeared on the display. It seemed to be right above them.

“What is that?” she shouted.

All at once there was total silence. Kitaro and Minora were staring at the holographic display in astonishment. The light surrounding Colton disappeared and he stepped up beside Senna at the control panel.

“It is time to choose.”

“Choose what?” she asked in bewilderment.

“Kill or die.”

She looked at Konnor and he gave her hand a squeeze. She felt his thoughts and knew that he knew hers. Whatever happened, she had known love. It would have to be enough. “We won’t kill innocent people.” She spoke the words for both of them.

Colton smiled and keyed in a command then looked at her. “You have surpassed our expectations. I am very pleased. I ask you to come with me. Both of you.”

“Go?” Konnor looked at him oddly. “Where?”

Colton smiled and looked at Senna. “You must choose now. There is no more time.”

She looked from him to Konnor. “Please,” she said softly. “I want to go.”

Konnor stared at her for a moment. “Do you have any idea at all what will happen?”

She smiled at him. “Yes.”

He smiled and touched her face then nodded. “I’m with you, all the way.”

She held his hand tightly and reached for Colton with her free hand. “We’re ready.”

“No!” Kitaro shouted from behind them. They all looked to see him taking aim at Senna. “Destroy them!” he shouted in panic. “Do something now!”

“We are,” Colton replied and looked at Minora. “I am sorry.”

“Colton.” Her voice was a plea. “Please, I love you. I always have.”

“No.” His voice was gentle. “You do not love me, Minora. You do not even know me.”

“What do you mean?” she cried. “We were lovers. You fathered my child. I know—”

“You know only what I allowed you to see. There is no Colton Ryder. That man does not exist. He is merely an identity I created in order to ensure that the technology we left here and all knowledge of it was finally destroyed.”

Her laugh was hysterical but turned into a wail of terror. “Why are you doing this? Can’t you see what’s happening? We’re going to be killed if you don’t do something. Call the fighters off!”

He looked at the tactical display. The missiles would make contact within moments. He touched several of the control pads then looked at her. “My name is Enlil,” he said softly. “Goodbye, Minora.”

She screamed and ran at him. Kitaro started firing, shrieking in fury. A fraction of a second later the missiles found their mark. The first rent the side of the ship. Kitaro’s body was sucked through the vacuum. Minora was thrown against the wall and clung to the torn metal. Her mind didn’t even register the explosion as the fuel supply was hit by the second missile. An enormous fireball lit the sky. Two of the jets swerved around the edge of the inferno, three others pulled up and climbed, racing the billowing cloud of fire and smoke.

Within minutes all that was left were chunks of charred and twisted metal that rained to the earth below.

“Red leader to Nighthawk 1,” the wing commander of the F-16s radioed. “Do you have anything on radar?”

“Negative, Red Leader.”

“Red Leader to Base. The target has been taken out. Do you have anything on radar?”

“Negative, Red Leader. We did have something but it disappeared just before the target was destroyed. Radar’s clear. Stand down from alert and return to base.”