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Category:
Science Fiction
Publisher: BWL Publishing Ltd.
Type: Fiction
Pages: 350
Copyright: Feb 22, 2011
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
Dr. Melissa Campbell, researcher at the San Francisco Center for Disease Control, requests help to protect her precious vaccine, one that could end the deadly alien plague. She didn't expect a crazy renegade like Bennett for a bodyguard. She hates military types, and this genetically enhanced super-soldier is pure testosterone, hot-headed, quick-tempered, impulsive, and downright impossible. But these are dangerous times with riots in the streets, and rumors of alien invasion. In a breathless race against time, experience the decisive battle for humankind, one that will decide whether Earth belongs to humanity, or to a powerful alien race...
This is the third and last book in the Ancient Enemy Series. The other books in the series are:
ANAZ-VOOHRI - Book One
RELICS - Book Two
Excerpt
As she emerged in the chilly November night, she regretted not taking a jacket. With her white designer dress under the lab coat and high-heel sandals showing her manicured toes, she felt a little overdressed for the task, but she didn’t have a change of clothes. Not that she owned any casual clothing. Lucky enough to be tall and slim, Melissa always dressed like a fashion model.
"Will the breeze be a problem?" Peter drove the forklift toward the helicopter parked on the painted logo marking the center of the flat roof.
Excitement made Melissa’s heart beat faster as she hurried beside him. "The breeze is fine, it actually helps. As long as it doesn’t rain." Could it be that simple to eradicate a deadly plague? For so many weeks she’d felt discouraged. Now she could almost taste victory.
A superstitious person would cross her fingers, but Melissa didn’t believe in bad luck. She made her own destiny, and tonight, with Peter’s help, she would save San Francisco, then the rest of the world, one city at a time.
Peter rolled the long, unwieldy containers and set them across the helicopter’s open platform, in the space usually reserved for gurneys. Maeve noticed that he secured the tanks in place with the nozzle sticking out the edge of the door. Good thinking.
Peter jumped off the helicopter. "We’ll just have to leave that door open."
Sometimes, Melissa wished she knew a little more about practical matters. But these days, she only had time for research, nothing else, not even a personal life. The last few months had been a nightmare in the biological warfare department.
Peter backed up the forklift to the side of the elevator, dismounted and returned at a run. Pulling a map out of the cockpit, he showed it to Melissa. "What route should we take? And how high?"
"Higher altitude allows for wider dissemination." Melissa stared at the map of the bay area and pointed at the city. "A wide circle over San Francisco first, then south around the bay and hopefully we’ll have enough to spray the whole periphery, east and north as well."
"Got it." Peter folded the map. "Climb in. I’ll start the engine."
Melissa had to lift her dress, too narrow to step onto the helicopter flat floor. At least, her sandals had tight ankle straps and would not slip off her feet. "To open the gas, I just turn the wheel clockwise, right?" She hadn’t done that since her days as a medical student. It seemed like an eternity ago.
"Right. You may want to strap yourself. I’d don’t want you to fall to your death through that open door."
The rotors began to move, slowly at first, shaking the whole chopper. Melissa found a harness at the end of a short line sliding on a high horizontal bar. She secured the harness around her waist then knelt on the floor, ready to open the valve of the first tank.
"Hold on," Peter yelled over the engine noise. "Here we go."
The helicopter lifted then banked between tall buildings. Melissa suddenly remembered with dread her fear of heights. But she couldn’t fail now. Struggling to keep her balance, even on her knees, she avoided looking down through the gaping door. Eyes to the floor, she reached for the closest tank and opened the valve completely. The goal wasn’t to save the vaccine, but to disperse it as far and wide as possible in the shortest amount of time.
It took less than five minutes to empty the first tank. Great satisfaction flooded Melissa. She almost forgot her fears. As she opened the second tank, however, she noticed a military helicopter flying alongside.
"Return to base immediately," the military pilot yelled through its crowd control speakers. "This flight wasn’t authorized. No medical bird is allowed in the air during curfew. This is a warning. Desist immediately."
Melissa could see Peter sweating despite the chill. He managed to remain on course and pushed a button on his helmet to transmit back. "This is an emergency rescue mission for the Center for Disease Control, authorized by Dr. Melissa Campbell. The Department Head is personally on board."
"I don’t care if you have the president of the freaking United States on Board. This flight is not authorized." The military voice sounded louder. "Return to base immediately or we have orders to shoot you down."
"Listen, man, we have the vaccine to the virus, and we are saving your necks out here, so don’t interfere, okay?" Peter sounded very convincing. "Millions of lives are at stakes, and we can’t wait until morning, so let us do our job."
Melissa could see the pilot of the other chopper calling on his radio. He nodded. "Negative, my orders are to stand firm."
Peter shut off his communication and yelled to Melissa, "No sense talking to these guys. Hang on. It’s going to get bumpy."
"Would he try to lose them?" Melissa didn’t get a chance to protest. The helicopter banked and dipped, and she held on to the bulkhead in a white knuckle grip. She couldn’t believe these soldiers wouldn’t let her save the city. What was wrong with humanity?
But Peter seemed just as determined to complete this humanitarian mission. He even appeared to enjoy the chase. Shots exploded and orange streaks zipped through the night around the chopper. How dare the stupid soldiers shoot at them? Since Peter seemed confident he could evade them, Melissa checked the gage of the second tank. Almost empty. She loosened the wheel on the third bottle, listening to the hiss of escaping mist.
Peter struggled to stay on course, plunging, rising and banking in odd patterns to avoid the line of fire of the other bird. According to the map, Melissa should have enough vaccine to cover the whole bay area, if only the military would let them finish the job.
Then a second army helicopter joined the first, Melissa yelled to Peter, "Are you sure you want to go on?"
Peter gave her a thumbs up and nodded. Melissa could swear he was smiling, even though she could only see the back of his helmet. He definitely enjoyed the dangerous game. Men!
The thought that they might be shot down, even killed, crossed Melissa's mind, but she had a mission to complete. In the morning, she would probably have to flee to a safe place, and this was her only chance to save San Francisco and remain a free women. As the only one with antibodies in her blood, she had responsibilities. As soon as others found out about her, she’d become a fugitive, a prized target for the rich and the powerful.
Hanging on for balance, Melissa opened the last tank. The chopper flew erratically but she felt a sudden change. Had the military given up the chase? They seemed to be shooting at something else. What?
As she rose, holding on to a ceiling strap, Melissa looked up and shivered. Piercing the clouds above, strange orange lights shimmered. Something shot from the bay electrified the sky and revealed a dozen golden vessels with strange markings. They had dropped unseen through the cloud cover. Alien ships!
Lightning surged from these vessels, as if aimed at the choppers. Suddenly the sky exploded with the roar of many fighting jets attacking the vessels like bees stinging with explosive darts. So that was the elusive Anaz-voohri? The alien race that wanted to annihilate humanity?
Soon artillery from the military ships in the harbor showered the alien vessels with missiles, but an invisible cocoon seemed to envelop the alien craft. The military projectiles exploded harmlessly against it.
The alien vessels responded with sizzling lightning strikes, illuminating the night sky. Fighter planes burst into flames and fell. Then an orange flare, shot from down below and spread across the sky like the northern lights. The cocoon around the Alien vessels dissolved. The top gun shots now hit their hulls.
The helicopter shook, sending Melissa flying through the open door at the end of her tether. As she heaved herself onto the landing blades, a thick cloud of smoke surged from the helicopter tail.
"May Day! May Day!" Peter yelled. "We’re hit." Peter extracted himself from his seat. "We have to jump while the helo is still moving forward. Or when it goes down, the blades will get us."
Jump? Melissa realized she was strapped to the crippled helicopter. Peter joined her on the landing blade and, maintaining a precarious balance, helped her unfasten the harness.
Paralyzed by her fear of heights, Melissa clung desperately to the landing blades. "I can’t do this... I can’t!"
As she hesitated, Peter pushed her off the chopper.
Plummeting toward the dark waters of the San Francisco Bay, Melissa screamed. Peter hadn’t asked whether or not she could swim.
She couldn’t.
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